Medium: Embroidered wool

Date: c.1878

Country: USA

Credit: Gift of Florence Anderson and Mary A. Seymour

Peignoirs (taken from the French peigner, to comb) were alternately known as combing dresses, wrappers, and morning robes. They were designed for women to wear in their own homes, offering them a reprieve from corsets. While earlier peignoirs often emphasized practicality over prettiness, this design exemplifies a late nineteenth-century shift toward more lavish intimate apparel.

Object Number: 80.1.5