Dressing Gown through Ages and Cultures

Probably gown is the most primitive dress worn by the human beings in the colder regions. This was the easiest in make and the only thing a man could think of as a dress. Just a hole in the skin of an animal or some cloth sort of thing to slip in one's head and leaving the rest as covering the body made the complete dress. This could be the invention or innovation of cold regions. Gradually as the awareness increased and man learnt to make things better, it could have taken the shape of the present personalised dressing gowns. There is hardly any different in the basic shape. Dressing gown is a long loose sort of wear which has now become an outer wear with all details remaining the same.

What is a gown? It is defined as a loungewear worn in the house.  There are different descriptions if this dress item and would be informative to know about them.

If we see different civilizations or cultures we find this ‘robe’ present in same shape with slight differences. Europeans have tried to own it by devising its history in their culture. The word ‘robe’ came from old French language to Middle English meaning a garment. There are different names for this dress item with slight differences between them like: cloak, cape, robe and personalised dressing gowns. The basic difference is in the length and shape of sleeves. 

However the bathrobe despite having the shape of a gown is different and cannot be grouped in the category of dressing gown; though same in shape is made of some absorbent towel type fabric that dries the body as a towel, absorbs water and moisture.

Historically we see kings and the elite class wearing luxuriously decorated gowns over their dress. Chinese wore it since centuries. China has been famous for its production of fine silk and has been their ancient trade. The same fine silk was used in making this gown. The Persian kings wore the gowns made of Persian ‘tafta’ a specialty cloth made in Persia. We find this gown in the ancient civilization of Japan. Pathans wore it and similarly Tibetans wore these gowns made of wool. All above civilizations are much older than the European history. 

In Europe the personalised dressing gowns was adopted and usage is seen around mid 17th Century, initially only men wore it worn by men. It was the influence of China, Persia and other Asian nations where this dress was already in use. In those regions dressing gowns were well decorated carrying artistic designs and embroidered with gold and silver threads.