Thenegligee ornégligée (French:négligé[negliʒe];lit. 'neglected'), also known in French asdéshabillé ([dezabije];lit. 'undressed'), is a form ofsee-through clothing for women consisting of a sheer, usually long, dressing gown.[1] It is a form ofnightgown intended to be worn in the bedroom. It was introduced inFrance in the 18th century, where it mimicked the heavy head-to-toe style of women's day dresses of the time.
By the 1920s, the negligee began to mimic women'ssatin single-layerevening dress of the period. The term "negligee" was used on aRoyal Doulton run of ceramic figurines in 1927, showing women wearing what appears to be a one-piece knee-lengthslip made ofsilk orrayon, trimmed withlace. Although the evening-dress style ofnightwear made moves towards the modern negligee style—translucentbodices, lace trimming, bows, exemplified in 1941 by a photo[2][3][4] ofRita Hayworth[5][6] inLife—it was only afterWorld War II that nightwear changed from being primarily utilitarian to being primarily sensual or evenerotic; the negligee emerged strongly as a form oflingerie.
Modern negligees are often much looser, made of sheer and diaphanous fabrics, and trimmed withlace or other fine material and bows. Multiple layers of fabric are often used. The modern negligee thus perhaps owes more to women's finebedjackets or bed-capes, and up-market slips than to thenightgown. It spread to a mass market, benefiting from the introduction of cheapsyntheticfabrics such asnylon and its finer successors. From the 1940s to the 1970s, the trend was for negligees to become shorter in length (e.g. thebabydoll of the 1970s). Negligees made from the 1940s to the 1970s are now collectiblevintage items.
In theUK in 2004, negligees accounted for only four percent of women'snightwear sales, women'spyjamas having dominated since the mid-1980s. However, UK negligee sales are said to have been the fastest increasing sector of the market since 1998.[7]
Media related toNegligees at Wikimedia Commons
