The appreciation of the natural body turned fashion inside out. As fabrics used became softer and diaphanous, and fashionable short-sleeved gowns with deep necklines were predominantly made of cotton in a light colored palette with white as the preferred choice, the resemblance to shifts was greater than ever. The waistline began to rise and undergarments were modified to fit a new ideal of beauty. Traditionally, boned stays created a stiff conical upper body with a high bosom and a small waist towering above a full skirt made wider by panniers and quilted petticoats. The new silhouette defined the breasts individually and, through the soft drape of fabric below the bust, called attention to the limbs, especially while the body was in motion. Though the silhouette was now linear, a rounded figure was still required.

The transition from boned stays to corded corsets occurred roughly between 1795 and 1810. At first, the traditional fully boned stays continued to be worn under gowns of the 1780s and early 1790s. Stays then were modified to be shorter and to open in front. Progressively, they began to loose their waist tabs and minimized the number of whalebone inserts known as baleens. To accommodate the breasts individually, some transitional models inserted cups. Stays also helped to provide the proper posture as straps could pull the shoulders back. With time, the shoulders were returned to their natural place. This can be seen in the construction of early 19th century corsets and in the all-in-one "round" gown's evolution in which the very narrow back with sleeves set close to each other was abandoned. By the second decade of the 19th century, stays became corded rather than boned, though correct posture was insured by a narrow piece of wood called a busk which was inserted in a center front pocket. Each breast was accommodated by one or two gussets or through seaming that began at the hip of this newly elongated undergarment which came to be called a corset.

No longer hidden beneath layers of heavy cloth, the body was still restricted in some ways. The man's long tail shirt, which had long been used in lieu of drawers, began to have an extremely high collar tightly wrapped by a stock, or neck kerchief, in such a way that it was preferable to move one's upper body instead of turning one's head. Without efficient central heating, wearing thin muslin gowns with shifts required a stoic attitude. Some women wore cotton pantalets, first introduced for gymnastics and previously worn by children, while others, adorned in the what Louis-Sebastien Mercier described in Nouveau Paris (1798) as the skimpiest muslin shifts à l'antique, wore flesh-colored underwear of knitted silk.

In October 1798, a French critic asserted that "what dresses a women best is nakedness." Joséphine Bonaparte did not seem to agree as she scorned Madame Tallien and her friends for attending the Opera wearing knee-length tunics and sandals on bare be-ringed feet during the winter of 1799-1800. Horror and fascination coexisted. Nevertheless, the extreme nude look, based on the erroneous notion that white clinging dresses adorned Greek and Roman matrons, spread like wildfire throughout the Western world.

Dr. Anne Bissonnette
Curator