A gown, from the Saxon word, ''gunna'', is a usually loose outer

garment Clothing (also known as clothes, apparel, and attire) are items worn on the body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials and natural ...

from knee-to-full-length worn by men and women in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

from the

Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...

to the 17th century, and continuing today in certain professions; later, the term ''gown'' was applied to any full-length woman's garment consisting of a

bodice A bodice () is an article of clothing traditionally for women and girls, covering the torso from the neck to the waist. The term typically refers to a specific type of upper garment common in Europe during the 16th to the 18th century, or to the ...

and an attached

skirt A skirt is the lower part of a dress or a separate outer garment that covers a person from the waist downwards. At its simplest, a skirt can be a draped garment made out of a single piece of fabric (such as pareos). However, most skirts ar ...

. A long, loosely fitted gown called a

Banyan A banyan, also spelled "banian", is a fig that develops accessory trunks from adventitious prop roots, allowing the tree to spread outwards indefinitely. This distinguishes banyans from other trees with a strangler habit that begin life as a ...

was worn by men in the 18th century as an informal coat. The gowns worn today by

academics An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

s, and some

clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

derive directly from the everyday garments worn by their medieval predecessors, formalized into a

uniform A uniform is a variety of clothing worn by members of an organization while participating in that organization's activity. Modern uniforms are most often worn by armed forces and paramilitary organizations such as police, emergency services, ...

in the course of the 16th and 17th centuries.

Terminology

A modern-day gown refers to several types of garments. It can refer to a woman's dress, especially a formal or fancy dress. It may also refer to a

nightgown A nightgown, nightie or nightdress is a loosely hanging item of nightwear, and is commonly worn by women and girls. A nightgown is made from cotton, silk, satin, or nylon and may be decorated with lace appliqués or embroidery at the bust and ...

or a dressing gown. In

academia An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

, and other traditional areas such as the legal world, gowns are also worn on various formal or ceremonial occasions.

History

The ''gunna'' was worn by

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wit ...

women and consisted of a long, loose outer garment. The ''gunna'' was also called a cote, surcoat, or robe. Gowns were worn by students attending early European universities in the 12th and 13th centuries. The gowns, and the hoods that accompanied them, would indicate their status. From the 14th to the 17th centuries, the term "gown" was used to describe any long, loose, robe-like garment worn by both men and women. In the 1500s in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, a gown was known as a ''camora'' or by regional names in various locations. The look of the ''camora'' changed over time, starting out with a high waist and low neckline at the beginning of the century and gradually becoming low-waisted and high-necked by the end. Italian women also wore an overgown called a ''vestito'' or a ''roba''. In turn, these might be covered by a ''robone'' which was lined with fabrics or furs for warmth. By the late 16th century, gowns were no longer in style in Italy except where they were worn to denote a professional station, such as a banker or priest. In the 17th century, women's gowns in the

American colonies The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Founded in the 17th and 18th centur ...

included trimming around the neck and down the bodice, or in the case of an open gown, down front edges from hem to neck. Gowns may also have borders of silk, ribbons and other decorations. Women in the American colonies wore short gowns as working clothing and informal clothing during the 18th century. The gowns were t-shaped and had side godets for additional volume.

References

;Bibliography * Arnold, Janet: ''Patterns of Fashion 2: Englishwomen's Dresses and Their Construction c.1860–1940'', Wace 1966, Macmillan 1972. Revised metric edition, Drama Books 1977. *Ashelford, Jane: ''The Art of Dress: Clothing and Society 1500–1914'', Abrams, 1996. *Black, J. Anderson and Madge Garland: ''A History of Fashion'', Morrow, 1975. * * Kemp, Roger L. "Town and Gown Relations: A Handbook of Best Practices," McFarland and Company, Inc., Publishers, Jefferson, North Carolina, USA, and London, England, UK, (2013). (). * * {{Authority control Medieval European costume 12th-century fashion 13th-century fashion 14th-century fashion 15th-century fashion 16th-century fashion 17th-century fashion 18th-century fashion 19th-century fashion 20th-century fashion 21st-century fashion Academic dress Dresses History of fashion History of clothing (Western fashion) Judicial clothing Women's clothing

Terminology

History

See also

Types of gowns

References