Nightgown
The nightgown is a wide-cut, usually knee-length shirt with sleeves, often made of linen or cotton , but also made of fine materials such as silk , which is worn to sleep. Nightgowns used to be worn by women and men alike, but nowadays they are rarely used by men, but they never went completely out of style. The name Nightshirt is also common for men’s night shirts. These look very similar to a pajama top , but are cut about knee-length.
It was customary to sleep naked until the 16th century . Women sometimes left the shirt they wore during the day on. There were wide shirts made of white linen for sick people and women who had recently given birth . The first nightgown is mentioned in Italy around 1500. After that it was adopted by the entire European upper class and initially also called Herzschützer in Germany . Around 1880, full-length buttons in the front and a drawstring at the waist were introduced for women. Men wore it until around 1890, when pajamas became popular. Until the First World War , women generally wore nightgowns, not pajamas. In 1956 the babydoll was fashionable.
See also
literature
- Gundula Wolter , Ingrid Loschek (arrangement): Reclams Mode and Costume Lexicon . 6th edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 2011, ISBN 978-3-15-010818-5 .
