''French maid'' was a term applied in the

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

and early 20th-century periods to a

lady's maid A lady's maid is a female personal attendant who waits on her female employer. The role of a lady's maid is similar to that of a gentleman's valet. Description Traditionally, the lady's maid was not as high-ranking as a lady's companion, who wa ...

of French nationality. A lady's maid was a senior servant who reported directly to the

lady ''Lady'' is a term for a woman who behaves in a polite way. Once used to describe only women of a high social class or status, the female counterpart of lord, now it may refer to any adult woman, as gentleman can be used for men. "Lady" is al ...

of the house, and accompanied her mistress on travel. She helped her mistress with her appearance, including make-up, hairdressing, clothing, jewellery, and shoes, and sometimes served as

confidante The confidant ( or ; feminine: confidante, same pronunciation) is a character in a story whom a protagonist confides in and trusts. Confidants may be other principal characters, characters who command trust by virtue of their position such as d ...

. A French maid was considered likely to be more expert in current fashions, and was also able to apply her knowledge of the French language when travelling in Europe.

Later history

Erotic fantasies revolving around young French women later led to the appearance of French maids as desirable and stereotypical

soubrette A soubrette is a female minor stock character in opera and theatre, often a pert lady's maid. By extension, the term can refer generally to any saucy or flirtatious young woman. The term arrived in English from Provençal via French, and means " ...

characters in

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

dramas and

bedroom farce A bedroom farce or sex farce is a type of light comedy focusing on the sexual pairings and recombinations of characters as they move through improbable plots and slamming doors. Overview Georges Feydeau plays, presented in Paris in the 1890s, a ...

s. This

stock character A stock character, also known as a character archetype, is a type of character in a narrative (e.g. a novel, play, television show, or film) whom audiences recognize across many narratives or as part of a storytelling tradition or convention. Th ...

was a flirtatious, cheeky, and saucy figure. The term ''French maid'' is now often applied to an eroticised and strongly modified style of servant's dress that evolved from typical

housemaid A maid, housemaid, or maidservant is a female domestic worker. In the Victorian era, domestic service was the second-largest category of employment in England and Wales, after agricultural work. In developed Western nations, full-time maids a ...

's black-and-white afternoon uniforms of 19th-century France, despite a housemaid being junior to a lady's maid. Some styles are conservative while others are revealing. The French maid costume is often used in

cosplay Cosplay, a blend word of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and Fashion accessory, fashion accessories to represent a specific Character (arts), character. Cosplayers often i ...

sexual roleplay Sexual roleplay is roleplay that has a strong erotic element. It may involve two or more people who act out roles in order to bring to life a sexual fantasy and may be a form of foreplay and be sexually arousing. Many people regard sexual role ...

ing, and

uniform fetishism Uniform fetishism is a particular type of clothing fetishism in which an individual is sexually aroused by uniforms. It is a form of sexual fetishism. Uniform fetishism has been associated with a variety of different uniforms, including schoolg ...

. Depending on design details, some forms can be classified as

lingerie Lingerie (, , ) is a category of primarily women's clothing including undergarments (mainly brassieres), sleepwear, and lightweight robes. The choice of the word is often motivated by an intention to imply that the garments are alluring, fashio ...

. In the

anime and manga fandom The anime and manga fandom is a worldwide community of fans of anime and manga. Anime includes animated series, films and videos, while manga includes manga, graphic novels, drawings, and related artworks. The anime and manga fandom traces ba ...

, and especially among , maid outfits are considered to be . In the 21st century, restaurants known as "

maid café are a subcategory of cosplay restaurants found predominantly in Japan and Taiwan. In these cafés, waitresses, dressed in maid costumes, act as servants, and treat customers as masters (and mistresses) as if they were in a private home, rather ...

s" have been opened in Japan and other countries to appeal to the aforementioned ''moe'' aesthetic.

Costume details

Though not strict to historically accurate uniforms, the French maid outfit has an easily recognizable pattern and black-and white theme that remains the template for other forms of the costume. The typical French maid costume includes: * A black dress with white trim, with a full skirt at or above knee length * White half-apron, usually with ruffle or lace * A ruffled or lace headpiece or a

bonnet A bonnet is a variety of headgear, hat or cap. Specific types of headgear referred to as "bonnets" may include Native American *War bonnet, feathered headgear worn as an earned military decoration by high-ranking Plains Indians United King ...

Tights Tights are a kind of cloth garment, most often sheathing the body from the waist to the toe tips with a tight fit, hence the name. They come in absolute opaque, opaque, sheer and fishnet styles — or a combination, such as the original concep ...

or stockings * High heels, usually black * A

feather duster A feather duster is a cleaning tool that is typically made from a wooden dowel handle onto which feathers are wound with a wire. The feathers are most often long. Some dusters have a retractable casing instead of a dowel handle and these are t ...

* White or black lace

garter A garter is an article of clothing comprising a narrow band of fabric fastened about the leg to keep up stockings. In the eighteenth to twentieth centuries, they were tied just below the knee, where the leg is most slender, to keep the stocking f ...

Optional accessories depend on design and context: *

Choker A choker is a close-fitting necklace worn around the neck, typically 14 inch to 16 inch in length. Chokers can be made of a variety of materials, including velvet, plastic, beads, latex, leather, metal, such as silver, gold, or platinum, etc. Th ...

necklace * Other cleaning equipment

References

{{Reflist Cosplay Costume design Dresses Fetish clothing Women's clothing

Later history

Costume details

See also

References