Banyan (clothing)
A banyan is a garment worn by European men and women in the late 17th and 18th century, influenced by the Japanese kimono brought to Europe by the Dutch East India Company in the mid-17th century.[1] "Banyan" is also commonly used in present-day Indian English and other countries in the Indian subcontinent to mean "vest" or "undershirt".
Also called a morning gown, robe de chambre or nightgown, the banyan was a loose, T-shaped
History
The word comes through
વાણિયો, vāṇiyo, meaning "merchant".European women wore banyans in the 18th century as dressing gowns in the morning, before robing for the day, or in the evening before bed over undergarments, as described by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England.[1]
In the humid climate of
It was fashionable for men of an intellectual or philosophical bent to have their
Loose dresses contribute to the easy and vigorous exercise of the faculties of the mind. This remark is so obvious, and so generally known, that we find studious men are always painted in gowns, when they are seated in their libraries.[3]
Despite the name "nightgown", the banyan was not worn for sleeping.
See also
- Portrait of Benjamin Rush in a banyan, 1783
- Smoking jacket
- Kaftan
- Robe
- 1700–1750 in Western fashion
- 1750–1775 in Western fashion
- 1775–1795 in Western fashion
Notes
- ^ a b "Banyan - Victoria & Albert Museum - Search the Collections". Retrieved 2019-10-05.
- ^ Waugh (1994), p. 89
- ^ "Franklin and Friends". Retrieved 2006-03-19.
References
- Ashelford, Jane: The Art of Dress: Clothing and Society 1500–1914, Abrams, 1996. ISBN 0-8109-6317-5
- Baumgarten, Linda: What Clothes Reveal: The Language of Clothing in Colonial and Federal America, Yale University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-300-09580-5
- Cunnington, C. Willett and Phillis Emily Cunnington: Handbook of English Costume in the Eighteenth Century. London: Faber, 1972.
- Payne, Blanche: History of Costume from the Ancient Egyptians to the Twentieth Century, Harper & Row, 1965. No ISBN for this edition; ASIN B0006BMNFS
- Waugh, Norah (1987). The Cut of Men's Clothes, 1600–1900. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-87830-025-2.
- A Colonial Gentlemen's Clothing: A Glossary of Terms
External links
Clothing generally not worn today, except in historical settings | ||
| Body-length |  | |
| Tops | ||
| Trousers | ||
| Skirts | ||
| Dresses | ||
| Outerwear |
| |
Underwear | ||
| Headwear |
| |
| Footwear | ||
| Accessories | ||
