18th Century Comperes
Sometimes the buttons on a compère front are functional, but they are often merely decorative elements on a separate stomacher.
Compères tend to be self-trimmed (if they’re trimmed at all), sometimes with fly fringe, lace, or metal threads; the ground fabric should match the rest of the gown. Most, but not all, of the dresses with a compère button-front stomacher are robes à la française. Some of the buttons are silk-wrapped.
Garsault’s Art du Tailleur (1769) includes a diagram and description of a compere.
The compere, Plate 15, is composed of two fronts, cut one on top of the other from a square of fabric about a third in all directions, one side of which is cut along the bias; it is doubled; a row of buttonholes is made along the left bias, and a row of small buttons on the right piece; each front of the compere is sewn under each of the fronts of the dress, so that the angled sides can be buttoned on the chest, from the throat to the waist.
National Trust 1348708, sack-back robe in cream damask; “8 hooks and eyes on compere”
Met 1976.235.2a, b, a buttoned stomacher, British, c. 1720
Met 2009.300.1089, a silk robe à la française, French, 1730-1740
London Museum 89.56c, c. 1751-1755; “White silk satin buttoned stomacher trimmed with pairs of cord-quilted tab-like straps placed at alternate fastenings. Lined with plain cream silk (lustring?). Hand worked buttonholes; upper and centre front edges finished by turning fabric layers in towards each other and sewing with small running stitches; side and bottom edges finished by double folding outer fabric to hem of approx ¼" and sewing with small running and fell stitches.” See also sack-back gown 89.56a and petticoat 89.56b.
Le Petit Déjeuner by Jean-Étienne Liotard, c. 1753-1756
Augusta, Princess of Wales by Jean-Étienne Liotard, 1754
Musée des Arts Décoratifs 49-32-3.A.B, a robe àa la française and petticoat in brocade with passementerie trim, France, c. 1760
Dress, c. 1760, at the Museu del Disseny de Barcelona
V&A T.593:1 to 5-1999, a sack-back robe with a buttoned stomacher in Chinese painted silk, made in London 1760-1765 (owned by Mrs. Eva Garrick)
Miss Ramsay in a red dress by Allan Ramsay, c. 1760-1765
V&A T.48-2008 and V&A T.49-2008, sillk compère stomachers made in Great Britain, both “trimmed with ruchings and a bow made of silk with pinked edges,” c. 1760-1769
V&A 269-1891 a gown (robe à l’anglaise) in figured silk with “a buttoned stomacher, sewn to the robings,” made in England c. 1760-1769
Met C.I.64.32.3a, b, a robe à la française in printed cotton, French, 1760s
MFA 2010.589.1-2, a robe à la française in persimmon orange silk “with compere (false waistcoat) front,” French, 1760s
Fashion Museum Bath, yellow silk robe à la française, 1760s
Met 2009.300.914a, b, a silk robe à la française, French, 1760-1770
V&A T.182-1958, an embroidered stomacher that “mimics the buttoned fastening and skirts of a man’s waistcoat,” made in Italy c. 1760-1780
Maria Amalia of Saxony by Anton Raphael Mengs, c. 1761
LACMA M.2007.211.929a-d, a robe à la française in silk, England, c. 1765
Met 2001.472a, b, a robe à la française, silk, c. 1765; “The closed, buttoned stomacher on this particular dress is referred to as a front”
Maria Luisa of Parma by Anton Raphael Mengs, c. 1765
Whitaker Auction Fall 2016, Lot 550, a robe a la française in Chinese blue silk, “bodice front panel with self buttons”
Kunstmuseum Den Haag 1026484, a gown in gray-blue moire silk, c. 1765-1775
Mrs. Martha Vinson by Jeremiah Theus, c. 1766
Henrietta Vernon, Lady Grosvenor by Thomas Gainsborough, 1766-1767
Viscountess Grimston, née Harriot Walter by Leon Pascal Glain, 1769
LACMA M.2007.211.718, a robe à la française in block-printed cotton, France, c. 1770
National Museums Northern Ireland BELUM.T2410, peach silk open robe with “buttoning compere,” c. 1770
Met 32.35.2a, b, a silk robe à la française, French, c. 1770
Colonial Williamsburg 1993-330,A, a woman’s sack-back gown in Chinese painted silk, made in France c. 1770
National Trust 1348709.1, a silk sack-back dress with a “centre buttoned stomacher of same fabric with self covered buttons,” 1770-1775
V&A T.198 to C-1959, a gown (robe à l’anglaise) in striped silk lustring with a “stomacher in the Brunswick style, made in two pieces and buttoned together with 7 silk covered buttons and buttonholes,” made in England c. 1770-1775
Centraal Museum 18093/001-002, a robe à la française in silk brocade, c. 1770-1775
Modemuseum Hasselt 1995.0148, a robe à la française in ecru silk woven with flowers, 1770-1775
Kyoto AC7621 92-34-2AB, a robe à la française in printed linen; “The front bodice of the gown is in the compères style, has two flaps attached to the inside of left and right front bodies, which are fastened by buttons. With the introduction of this style appeared in the late 18th century, the time-consuming stomacher, which had to be pinned to be worn, was no longer necessary.”
V&A T.60 to B-1934, a glazed wool sack, petticoat, and stomacher, England, 1770s
Manchester 1954.1006, a silk stomacher and bow, 1770-1780
Philadelphia Art Museum 1981-9-2a,b, robe à la française with attached stomacher and matching petticoat, French, c. 1770-1780
MoMu T13/587AB/J254, a a robe à la française in Chinese silk damask, 1770-1780
Colonial Williamsburg 1953-850, a robe a l’anglaise in embroidered ribbed silk, made in England c. 1770-1780; “The gown has a fitted bodice with attached stomacher having decorative center-front buttons (non functional). Stomacher is stitched in place under the right robing, with hooks and eyes at the left.”
Margaret Strachan (Mrs. Thomas Harwood) by Charles Willson Peale, c. 1771
Theodosia Hawkins-Magill, Countess of Clanwilliam, with her son Richard, c. 1772
The dress of the year 1774 by Ann Frankland Lewis
Met 32.35.8a-c, a robe à la française in floral striped silk, French, c. 1774-1793
Met 2005.61a, b, a dress (robe à la française) in silk brocade, French, c. 1775; “For all its conformity to the decorous sartorial requirements of the time, the button-closing front of the bodice is a development of the last half of the eighteenth century. Previously, the overgown did not close over the corset. The part of corset that was left exposed was concealed by an inverted triangle of fabric called the stomacher. Pinned in, it conveyed the impression of an overdress with matching underbodice and petticoat. This gown has the innovation of a compiegne, or vest-like stomacher, which is sewn onto the overdress and either pinned or, as in the case of these two gowns, buttoned closed at center front. Typically, the covered boxwood buttons repeat a detail taken from the design of the gown’s textile.” See also Let Them Eat Cake.
Met C.I.60.39.1a, b, a robe à la française in striped silk, French, 1775-1780
Met C.I.60.39.2a, b, a robe à la française in striped silk, French, 1775-1780
Met C.I.61.13.1a, b, a robe à la française in floral striped silk, French, 1775-1800
Archduchess Maria Christina, Duchess of Teschen by Johann Zoffany, 1776
A casaquin in printed floral stripes
Met 1978.85.1, a caraco in embroidered silk, c. 1780
Miss Drury Lowe by George Romney
© Victoria and Albert Museum, London