18th century men’s banyans, morning gowns, night gowns, and wrappers
BANNIAN. ſ. A Man’s undreſs or a morning gown.
(A Dictionary of the English Language, 1768)
The V&A’s website describes these garments: “In the 17th and 18th centuries a nightgown was not a garment worn to bed but a version of the modern dressing gown. Donned over breeches and a shirt, the night gown was worn upon arising in the morning and before dressing in the formal clothes required for public activities. At the end of the day, many men removed their coats and waistcoats, and put on a night gown for relaxing in private at home.”
Some more background from Historic Deerfield: “Since the 16th century, banyans or dressing gowns functioned as loose robes worn by Western gentlemen in the privacy of their homes. The Oxford English Dictionary defines ‘banyan’ as a 16th-century Arabic word for a Hindu trader; by the 1720s, the term had changed to indicate this piece of leisure clothing worn by men at home. Banyans are also described in period literature and diaries as bannians, Indian gowns, morning gowns, loose gowns and nightgowns. There are two basic styles: a loose T-shape, kimono-like garment; and a more fitted coat style, usually with a matching waistcoat, which may be attached to the banyan at the side seams and with some sort of front closure such as frogs or tassels.”
Additional Resources
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Indian Gowns and Banyans — New Evidence and Perspectives
Nightgown into Dressing Gown: A Study of Men’s Nightgowns, Eighteenth Century
Neal Hurst & Mark Hutter on Wrapping Gowns and Banyans
A Gentleman’s Banyan, or the Best of Everything
What Clothes Reveal: The Language of Clothing in Colonial and Federal America
Patterns from Burnley & Trowbridge and Rocking Horse Farms
Patterns for men’s banyans in Fitting & Proper
Pattern from a banyan made in the Netherlands c. 1750-1760
“Studious Men are Always Painted in Gowns” in Dress, 2002
“Eighteenth Century Nightgowns: The Gentleman’s Robe in Art and Fashion” in Dress, 1984
What’s the difference between a “banyan” and a “morning gown”?
Museums and costume historians sometimes use the terms interchangeably, but the terms “banyan” and “morning gown” meant different things in 18th century descriptions. For example, A. Lucas advertised in The Observer (November 4, 1798) that he was selling a range of goods that included “Gentlemen’s Banyans, Morning Gowns, Dressing Jackets, Shirts, Cravats, &c.”
The Annals of Philadelphia suggests that the fabric is how one tells the difference: “In the summer season, men very often wore calico morning-gowns at all times of the day and abroad in the streets. A damask banyan was much the same thing by another name.”
Here’s how I’d delineate between the two, but there’s a lot of hybrids and gray area. Some loose morning gowns are made of silk, and some fitted banyans are made of quilted cotton. Fashions shifted through the century as well. Perhaps the criteria for differentiation involved a combination of style and materials.
Banyan
Manchester 1960.301 is made of damask, though others are made of quilted silk. It’s well-tailored and fitted through the body.
Image courtesy of the Manchester Art Gallery
Morning Gown
LACMA M.2005.42 is made of cotton. It’s a loose, unfitted T-shaped garment. Other morning gowns are made of chintz or calico, and many are lined.
Image courtesy of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Extant examples
Palais Fesch MFA852.2.326, a red silk robe
MFA 44.6, a silk brocade banyan, 18th century (remodeled)
ROM 959.112, a chintz banyan, “Textile made in coastal southeast India, constructed in the Netherlands,” early 18th century
Centraal Museum 21651, 18th century; chintz with a linen lining, close-fitting with an upright collar; the patterns for the borders and pockets and closure were designed into the print, and it has a separate waistcoat-front
Colonial Williamsburg 2010-20, “Gold silk damask lined with red woven silk; woolen inner lining,” England, early 18th century
Met 1983.479.5, silk, England, first quarter of the 18th century
CMA 1936.443, a man’s morning gown, resist-dyed cotton with applied gold leaf, India, first half of the 18th century
LACMA M.2005.42, mordant painted and resist-dyed cotton from India, c. 1700-1750
Man’s banyan of painted-and-dyed cotton, Indian export for the European market, first half of the 18th century
V&A T.281-1983, a nightgown in Spitalfields silk, interlined with wool, and lined with silk; England, c. 1707-1720
Kunstmuseum Den Haag 0555890, red chintz, c. 1710-1725
Fashion Museum Bath, “salmon pink silk damask dressing gown or banyan dates to about 1715”
V&A 1182A-1899, silk lined with block-printed cotton, possibly made in Flanders, 1720s
V&A T.31-2012, silk damask woven in China, banyan made in Britain or the Netherlands, c. 1720-1750
Nordiska museet NM.0263181, c. 1720-1775. Printed cotton fabric woven in India, probably sewn and purchased in London.
Met 1973.195.1a, b, cotton and linen, America, c. 1725-1799
National Trust 814598.1 & 814598.2, a green silk damask banyan with tied-on waistcoat-flaps, c. 1726-1735
Met C.I.53.74.7a, b, silk, France, c. 1730
Colonial Williamsburg 1991-556, brocaded silk lampas lined with coarse brown linen, made c. 1730 and remade in the late 19th century
Met 1981.208.2, figured silk faille, England, c. 1735
London Museum 76.12, c. 1735-1765; “Banyan of pale brown worseted wool damask with a large-scale pattern of stylised flowers and scrolling acanthus leaves (fashionable in silks up to 1743) . Constructed from two widths of fabric seamed together at centre back, continuing over shoulders with no shoulder seam and falling straight to floor at front. Triangular inserts at side seams, front and back. Fabric shaped underarms to form upper sleeves, with additional length of fabric to create full length sleeves. Small rectangular section of fabric inserted at back of neck to form stand collar. Lined with brown camlet (?). As this is a slightly cheaper material it could have been woven a year or two later and certainly worn a little later, since it was an informal garment. Selvage invisible as garment lined with plain glazed worsted throughout.”
LACMA M.79.140, Spitalfields silk damask, England, c. 1740
Nightgown in blue wool damask, c. 1740
Kunstmuseum Den Haag 0555930, dark red silk damask lined with green silk, loose belt at waist, 1743
Historic New England 1918.546, wool damask lined with twill, c. 1740-1750
Manchester 1949.73, olive green silk damask lined with silk twill, England, c. 1740-1750
National Museum of American History 28810, a banyan or dressing gown, brown striped linen, made c. 1745-1769 and worn in Stonington, Connecticut
Nordiska museet NM.0192128, silk damask lined with printed cotton, mid-18th century (c. 1740-1770)
FIT 2010.98.2, pink ribbed silk with brocaded design in silver frisé thread, Germany, c. 1748-1760
Paxton House 605 (i), “Banyan, or dressing gown, in green silk damask figured with a large trailing floral design against a textured ground, high round neckline with very short standing collar, collar fastening centre front with one covered button, full-length sleeves cut to form T-shape across upper garment, open down centre front, banyan extending to lower calf length with skirt falling in A line with gussets in lower sides, welted pocket opening at each hip, fully lined in green silk, with matching waistcoat 605c(ii), hand-stitched, associated with Patrick Home (1728-1809): c.1750”
Fries Museum T1957-434, printed cotton, c. 1750
Kunstmuseum Den Haag 0556148, cotton painted in a chintz style with red and pink flowers on a blue background, c. 1750
Kunstmuseum Den Haag 1011343, cotton printed with large oriental motifs, c. 1750
Kunstmuseum Den Haag 0394450, reversable printed cotton (yellow background on the outside, cream background on the inside), c. 1750
Kunstmuseum Den Haag 0241670, cotton print with a pale purple background, belt at waist, c. 1750
Manchester 1960.301, pale blue silk damask lined in silk, Britain, c. 1750-1760
Kunstmuseum Den Haag 1038640, blue silk damask with matching slippers, c. 1750-1775
Kunstmuseum Den Haag 0556461, orange/yellow silk damask, c. 1750-1800
Met C.I.56.5.1a-c, silk, wool, and linen, European, second half of the 18th century
LACMA M.2007.211.797, silk satin and silk plain weave (damassé) woven in China in the first half of the 18th century, made into a robe in the Netherlands c. 1750-1760; see also pattern
V&A T.215-1992, a banyan in painted and dyed cotton, with printed cotton lining, possibly England or the Netherlands, c. 1750-1775
MFA 43.122 reversable (silk satin on one side, silk-embroidered linen on the other), second half of the 18th century
Bijlokemuseum, printed cotton, c. 1751-1800
LACMA M.2007.211.949, patterned silk satin with striped silk lining, France, c. 1760
Kerry Taylor Auctions Dec 12 2016, Lot 41, a gentleman’s brocaded silk banyan, c. 1760
Man’s silk satin damask banyan, England, c. 1760
Bonhams 12 December 2006, Lot 450, “A Banyan Circa 1760 Of blue silk made in China for export, hand stitched and quilted with a high standing collar, long sleeves and deep cuffs, fitted into and flaring from the waist, with fastenings to either side at the front. s.d. NB: This Banyan is virtually identical to the example in Brighton and Hove Museum which belonged to Captain William Farrell. Both Banyans have a mixture of Oriental and European features which is unusual, the collar fastens to the right (which is Oriental in style), but with button (which is European), the rest of the Banyan fastens to either side, but with loops (instead of buttons) which is an Oriental style, the matching waistcoat (worn inside for extra warmth) is cut in a European style.”
Met 2008.75, quilted silk, c. 1760-1770
Met 1976.149.1, silk, France, c. 1760
London Museum 53.101/10, made of Spitalfields silk woven c. 1731-1740 that was originally a different garment, resewn into a banyan around the mid-18th century; the lining is Indian glazed cotton painted with a floral design, c. 1740-1760
Christie’s Lot 329 / Sale 5922 or V&A T.77:1, 2-2009, a c. 1750s banyan and waistcoat made from a dragon robe; see also Fashion Unpicked: Banyan made from a dragon robe
Kunstmuseum Den Haag 0321790, light blue silk damask with blue silk soutache frogs, c. 1750-1775
ROM 2010.28.1, silk damask banyan, Spitalfields silk woven 1742-1743 and robe made c. 1760
Historic Deerfield 2001.10.1, a banyan with attached waistcoat in cherry-red Spitalfields silk, c. 1760-1770
Colonial Williamsburg 1941-208,1, brocaded silk banyan and matching waistcoat, Britain, c. 1750, remodeled 1760-1770; “Old pleats at the front are evidence that this banyan was remade from a woman's sack-back gown. Men's clothing usually differed in pattern from women's gowns. Except for embroidered formal wear, most suits were made with solid, striped, or small-patterned textiles. Only loose banyans such as this were considered suitable for large-scale damasks or brocaded silks.”
A man’s banyan, c. 1760-1800, in Fitting & Proper: “A banyan in unlined Indian cotton chintz”
Quilted silk banyan, China Trade, English Market, c. 1760-1770; “The width and selvedges of the satin indicate a Chinese manufacture, while the cotton interlining and the cut suggest that the piece was made up in India. This example is also nearly identical to a quilted blue satin banyan in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (655A-1898), and relates to another blue silk gown in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto (968.173.2).” (See also Met 2008.75.)
Manchester 1951.11, printed and quilted cotton (reputedly worn by George III), England, c. 1760-1780
Manchester 1954.966, dark green silk damask with silk twill lining, England, c. 1760-1780
LACMA M.63.53a-b, silk with wool flannel lining, France, c. 1765
ROM 2009.110.1, chintz banyan, “Made in coastal southeast India for the Western market, tailored in Europe,” c. 1765-1775
Historic New England 1980.1047, wool damask with wool lining, c. 1768-1799
Royal Ontario Museum 2016.43.1, cotton chintz, c. 1770; “Textile made in coastal southeast India, garment perhaps made in the Netherlands”
London Museum 58.40, c. 1771-1790; “Men's quilted dressing gown or banyan, with false waistcoat fronts, in hand painted Indian cotton with a naturalistic floral design. Lined with cream linen … carefully quilted (probably with cotton quilting). It is joined by red and white plaited cords and buttons covered with a matching crochet or knitted fabric.”
Historic Deerfield 2000.12, block-and hand-painted cotton made on the Coromandel Coast of India for the English/American market in the 1770s or early 1780s
Nordiska museet NM.0186307, floral-print cotton, c. 1770-1790
Snowshill Wade Costume Collection National Trust 1349100, c. 1770-1800; “A late 18th century banyan or dressing gown in beryl blue silk. Lining - fronts and hem is of cream silk. Back possibly 'kasha'. Kasha is a soft silky fabric of wool and goat's hair with a twill weave. Body slightly padded with soft blue wollen fabric. Interlining at shoulders of red woollen fabric. Interlining at shoulders of red woollen fabric. Cuff interlined linen. Cut - Ankle length, loosley cut, slightly flared from waist. front closure with wide overlap. Deep stand collar. Sloping shoulder seam. Back cut in one piece. Wide, shaped, set in sleeves with slight fullness at rear. Deep, close round cuffs. Trimmings - Wide frogging, across front and cuffs, pale peach coloured silk ribbon decorated with large silver sequins. Fastenings - 7 small flat self covered buttons from, and inculding, collar to hip line, buttonholes all cut.”
Colonial Williamsburg 1954-1010, India chintz with silk facing, England, c. 1770-1810
Colonial Williamsburg 2009-123, tartan lined with wool, England, c. 1770-1810
Kunstmuseum Den Haag 0722439, silk damask, c. 1775-1799
Rijksmuseum BK-NM-13160, a quilted robe in silk damask, c. 1775-1800
Centraal Museum 15195, printed cotton with a cotton lining, c. 1775-1800
Nationalmuseet 3614/1968, a dressing gown in cotton, used in an opera (Fiskerne), made c. 1780
Royal Ontario Museum 909.33.1, a banyan from France, cut about 1780 from silk woven c. 1735-1740
Chintz banyan worn by George IV when Prince of Wales, 1780s
Brighton & Hove Museums CT002728, c. 1780-1790; “White cotton printed with design of red and purple flowers and blue leaves outlined in black (Indian chintz with pattern printed in iron and allum mordants and dyed in madder, washed, resist dyed in indigo…), quilted with white cotton thread in a lozenge pattern worked in running stitch, standing collar 6 cms high, full length shaped sleeves with deep narrow cuffs fastened with 4 self-covered buttons, double breasted, trimmed c.f. with braid frogging of blue and white plaited silk cord, long flared skirt, single breasted waistcoat front panels attached into side seams of gown, fastening c.f. with 13 self-covered buttons, slim triangular cotton panels inserted between waistcoat fronts and side of gown to allow for additional girth.”
Maryland Center for History and Culture 1918.6.58, red striped silk banyan made in the 1780s and worn by Solomon Etting, a merchant involved in the Baltimore East India Trading Company
Snowshill Wade Costume Collection National Trust 1348897, c. 1780-1800; “Made of cream and cinnamon striped cotton. Lined with unbleached cotton. Front straight cut; side back seams slightly curved; no seam at waist; sword slit in left vent; deep pocket in right vent, vertical flaps fastened with 2 buttons with 1 at top of vents (1 missing). Sleeves curved with 2.5 (64 mm) flase cuffs fastened with 2 buttons. Stand and fall collar fastened with 1 button (missing). 10 self-covered buttons down front with 5 buttonholes. A 6th buttonhole added later, button missing.”
KCI AC5631 87-22, red Chinese silk damask and contrasting green lining, England, c. 1785
Colonial Williamsburg 1993-66, banyan with attached waistcoat fronts, block-printed cotton lined with linen, Europe, c. 1790-1830
Met 1978.135.1, silk, England, c. 1780
Winterthur 2014.0024, discharge-printed exterior with checked lining, 1780-1790
Kunstmuseum Den Haag 0556761, printed cotton with sewn-in waistcoat fronts, pre-printed borders and pockets, c. 1780-1800
Meg Andrews 7717, a gentleman’s morning robe, in a dark block-printed chintz with a linen/cotton check lining, c. 1795
Christie’s Lot 8 / Sale 5945, 'hard' tartan wool with green silk lining, c. 1800
Historic Deerfield 2004.22, Chinese silk damask weave nightgown in a large flower and leaf pattern with a twill-woven, shot olive silk half lining assembled in England or America, c. 1800
Depictions
The Astronomer and The Geographer by Johannes Vermeer, c. 1668
Abraham van Lennep by Caspar Netscher, 1672
Monsieur Le Noble by Antoine Trouvain, 1695
Monsieur *** de L'Academie Francoise En Robbe de Chambre by Henri Bonnart, late 17th century
Nicolaes Hartsoeker by Caspar Netscher, end of the 17th century
Sir Isaac Newton by Sir James Thornhill, c. 1709-1712
Jean-Baptiste Rousseau by Nicolas de Largillière, 1710
Matthew Prior by Thomas Hudson, c. 1718
A Tea Party by Joseph van Aken, c. 1719-1721
The Distrest Poet by William Hogarth, 1736
Painter in his studio by Pietro Longhi, c. 1740-1745
Edward Bromfield by John Greenwood, c. 1746
Mr Bell, engraver of Edinburgh by Paul Sandby, c. 1750
The Apothecary by Pietro Longhi, c. 1752
The Tickle by Pietro Longhi, c. 1755
Family Portrait by François-Hubert Drouais, 1756
Portrait of a man by Carle van Loo
The Family Concert by Pietro Longhi, c. 1760
Saint Nicholas Day in the Imperial Family of Austria, 1762
Dr. John Morgan by Angelica Kauffmann, 1764
Unknown man, possibly Jacques Germain Soufflot (or someone else?) by Carle van Loo
Denis Diderot by Louis-Michel van Loo
Denis Diderot by Louis Michel van Loo, 1767
Ebenezer Storer by John Singleton Copley, c. 1767-1769
Joseph Sherburne by John Singleton Copley, c. 1767-1770
Nicholas Boylston by John Singleton Copley, c. 1769
High life at noon, 1769
Reverend Thomas Cary of Newburyport by John Singleton Copley, c. 1770-1773
A father with his son by Remi-Fursy Descarsin, 1771
Cadwallader Colden and his grandson Warren de Lancey by Matthew Pratt, c. 1772
He! Ho! Heavy, dull and insipid by all that's good, 1772
An old man in his dressing-gown in The Unlucky Visit, or a Discovery of the Tid-Bit for Old Square-Toes, 1772
The macarony dressing room, 1772
A macaroni dressing room, 1772
The old beau in an extasy drawn from the life & ext. by J. Dixon, 1773
The old political macaroni with his wise family at breakfast, 1773
Domestic scene, c. 1775-1780
Portrait of Monsieur Noguier, Consul d’Arles by Antoine Raspal, 1778
The Savage Family by Edward Savage, c. 1779
A lawyer in his dressing gown and cap in A Country Attorney and his Clients, c. 1780
Galerie des Modes, 31e Cahier, 5e Figure, 1780: “Dressing Gown with sleeves en Pagode, of painted Linen, lined with Taffeta. Wide Shirt collar, turned down over the Cravat … At any rate, the Dressing gown or nightgown has taken diverse forms, since the epoch of which Brantome speaks. It has even managed to be accepted, for some years, as a day deshabillé, simple or paré. The deshabillé is paré when it is curled, shod, collared, in a word, when it lacks nothing but an Overcoat or a Coat to be entirely dressed. The simple deshabillé, or night deshabillé, admits slippers and rejects garters and all the ties: the night cap, equipped with a wide ribbon which serves as a headband and topped with a little puff of lace, also makes a part of the simple deshabillé. We have tried to give an idea of these two costumes in this print. The upper part offers the deshabillé paré, while the simple type is found in the lower part, which together form a mitigated deshbillé. Observe also, in this Print, that the fashion is introduced of turning down the collar of the shirt over the ordinary collar, or on the cravat; which seems to announce the fashion of rabats or mounted collars, which had such a vogue in the last century; but only time will tell what will be the success of this renewed fashion.”
David Hartley by George Romney, 1780
Benjamin Rush by Charles Willson Peale, 1783
Alfonse Leroy by Jacques-Louis David, 1783
Out of place, 1784
Samuel Blodget by John Trumbull, c. 1784
Self-portrait of Martin Ferdinand Quadal, c. 1785
Self-portrait of Martin Quadal, 1788
Rev. Nehemiah Strong by Ralph Earl, 1790
David Rittenhouse by Charles Willson Peale, 1791
Dr. C playing chess with Death by Remi-Fursy Descarsin
The patient turn’d doctor, or, The physician forced to take his own stuff, 1794
David Rittenhouse by Charles Willson Peale, 1796
Descriptions
“a Banyan of several Colours … a Banyan of a stingey Colour” (trial of William Norman & Elizabeth Morris, 4 April 1733)
“One long Blue India Satten Banyan Gown.
One Ditto Quilted.
One long ſtrip’d Gingham Banyan.
One ſhort Ditto.
One ſhort Ditto Quilted.”
(The Daily Gazetteer, London, November 8, 1735)
“a Stuff Banyan, value 5 s.” (trial of Isabel Drysdell, 8 September 1736)
“gray Cloth Banyan lined with Calimanco of two different Colours” (The American Weekly Mercury, May 5, 1737)
“a grey flower’d Damask Banyan lin’d with Tammy, made to wear either Side outwards” (The Pennsylvania Gazette, November 24, 1737)
“Sir, I was just going from the Stall and I saw a Gentleman with a Plaid Morning Gown” (trial of Jane Evans, 26 February 1746)
“a ſtriped Linen Banyan” (Maryland Gazette, August 30, 1764)
“John Tresler was indicted for stealing a crimson damask night-gown, value 5 s. …
George Grece. I am a Hanoverian, and a taylor by trade. I lost a crimson damask night-gown, lined with India silk, and a piece of chints cloth. They belonged to a nobleman …
Jane Emmit. Eleanor Ogle brought a man's morning-gown to me to make up into a petticoat; it was crimson damask.”
(trial of John Tresler, 5 April 1769)
“PETER LLOYD was indicted for stealing a worsted damask gown, the property of James Delator …
Richard Delator. I lost a damask gown last Saturday after dinner …
Grace Taylor. Last Saturday about three in the afternoon we heard a noise on the stairs, and I took hold of the prisoner; he had Mr. Delator's morning gown under his arm.” (trial of Peter Lloyd, 13 January 1773)
“One chintz, and one calico morning gown.” (The Pennsylvania Evening Post, November 1, 1777)
“one calico morning gown” (The Pennsylvania Ledger, November 19, 1777)
“a coarſe chintz ſtriped morning gown, almoſt new, a hole which is darned in the back and near the tail” (Poulson’s American Daily Advertiser, July 24, 1779)
“One light chintz morning-gown.” (Poulson’s American Daily Advertiser, March 26, 1782)
“THOMAS CLARK was indicted for stealing, on the 17th of October , a cotton quilted morning gown, value 20 s. a flannel gown, value 20 s. and another cotton morning gown, value 10 s.” (trial of Thomas Clark, 31 October 1792)
“one calico morning gown, value 3s. … a calico printed morning-gown … the calico morning-gown was made out of a long gown, I have a piece of it in my pocket” (trial of Thomas Joslyn, 15 February 1797)
“a calico morning gown” (The North American, July 12, 1798)