Woman in Muslim Gown, 1780s

In the 1780s, fashionable French women embraced simple gowns, worn without hoops. They were influenced by the comparatively simple clothes worn by the English gentry. The availablity of cotton and the manufacture of printed textiles brought white and pastel prints into vogue.

Marie Antionette, who had always detested rigid, formal court dress, eagerly accepted the new style, especially when playing shepardess at her cottage on the grounds of Versailles. Fashionable women adopted soft, frizzled bouffant hairstyles, but continued to powder their hair.

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