Tea Gowns (1890s and 1900s)

In 1902 Mrs Eric Pritchard wrote in The Cult of Chiffon:

"And now let us seriously consider the question of the tea-gown from its varying aspects, and see how it is misunderstood and how it can form the ideal of all that is best in dress feminine.  For here we can vanish the practical, and let art have her say without a backward glance at utility.  What I mean is, we cannot trail about the London streets in the flowing garments of beauty; but in our drawing-rooms, when the tea-urn sings at five o'clock, we can don these garments of poetical beauty.

"... Fashion you can cast to the wind if you please, and impart meaning and intention in every fold, in every line of this garment of mystery which can be a very complete reflection of the personality of the wearer."

Tea gowns were loose dresses, usually made without a waist seam, and worn without corsets (or with loosened corsets).  They were closely related to wrappers and kimonos, and shared some of the characteristics of "rational" dress and of artistic styles.  As the quotation above indicates, they were primarily worn at home in the afternoon for relaxing and partaking of tea—but they weren't casual wear.  As the descriptions of the tea gowns below indicate, they could be very dressy garments indeed.

The Delineator, November 1890.  "Ladies Japanese Tea Gown" Figure no. 476L

"The Gown is composed of an under-dress of white India silk and a Kimono or Japanese dress of figured India silk.  The underdress has a full, flowing skirt, which depends from the edge of a fanciful body and is trimmed down the center of the front with a handsome jabot of Italian lace."

The Delineator, May 1896.  Ladies Tea Gown, Pattern no. 8333

"LADIES' TEA-GOWN—The tea-gown is especially handsome in the present combination of black peau de soie bearing large figures in subdued coloring, cream satin and figured maize taffeta, with lace net, lace edging, ribbon and insertion for decoration."

The Delineator, September 1898.  "Ladies Watteau Tea Gown", Pattern no. 1851

"LADIES WATTEAU TEA GOWN—Rich dark plain satin, and plain and figured light satin form the handsome combination here pictured in the tea-gown, and the trimming is original and pleasing, consisting of wide ribbon in a novel bow arrangement and narrower ribbon frilled and edged with lace."

McCall's Magazine March 1901. Tea Gown pattern no. 6442

"LADIES TEA GOWN—White challis patterned with pale blue and green made this artistic tea gown or wrapper.  The pattern is cut with a deep pointed yoke back and front, of pale blue silk entirely covered with white lace insertion, joined by beading run with velvet ribbon, and finished with a deep ruffle of lace... Entirely covering the center closing is a full jabot of white lace."

The Lady's Realm, March 1904

 "At this season of the year the tea-gown holds an important place in the society woman's wardrobe—not the picture frock, which is more or less decolleté, but the warm and cosy wrapper, which is yet smart enough for dining in. Some light, soft fabric, accordion-pleated and made very simply with a big collar or fichu, is charming, and this is a useful garment to wear over a separate slip."

Mrs Eric Pritchard, "London and Paris Fashions", The Lady's Realm, (March 1904)

The Delineator, August 1906, Pattern no. 9412

"9412—A tea-gown for mid-Summer combining daintiness and comfort is here portrayed in embroidered wash voile with lace and ribbon, in linon with German Val insertion and edging, and also in French challis with buttonholed edges."

The Delineator, June 1909.  Pattern no. 3083

"A more elaborate lounging -robe is shown in No. 3083, a ladies' tea-gown or wrapper.  The wrapper may be made in the round length or with the medium sweep and with the high, collarless or open neck.  The body of the wrapper is tucked to the fancy-shaped yoke and falls from the bust in graceful folds.  There are two styles of elbow sleeves, those which are left flowing and those which are gathered into the bands, as well as the full-length leg o' mutton sleeves.  The fancy shaped bolero may be omitted if desired..."

According to my reading, tea gowns were first worn in the 1870s by ladies at country house parties.  At first an informal garment, the tea gown became more elaborate as it moved out of the hostess's boudoir into other parts of the house.  Then in the 1880s it moved out of the country house altogether and down the social scale from the aristocracy to the leisured middle classes.

While tea gowns were worn until the early 1920s, they were at their most fashionable in the last years of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth.  As women's clothes became less constricted and their lives more active the tea gown fell out of favour.  Other styles took its place, including lounging pyjamas in the 1920s and 1930s and hostess gowns in the 1950s and 1960s.