18th Century Fly Fringe
This page links to 18th century gowns and other accessories that were trimmed with fly fringe or fly braid. Most of these gowns are silk, and often (though not always) brocaded silk. See the Additional Resources box at right for tutorials and photos on the construction of 18th century fly braid and fly fringe.
Costume historians refer to this style of decoration as “fly fringe,” but that term wasn’t used in 18th century documents. I suspect the English-language terms were far more generic — perhaps just “silk trimming,” or “French silk trimming.” Barbara Johnson preserved a small sample of it and described it as “fringe.”
From Barbara Johnson’s album: “a garnet Colour Paduasway negligee twenty two yards, ten shillings a yard. trim'd with 2 dozen and a half of fringe the same Colour at eight shillings a dozen. Christmas 1762.”
© Victoria and Albert Museum, London
In the Echantillons de Rubans des Manufactures de France recueillis par le Marechal de Richelieu (1736), this sample is labelled as a “galon de soie jaune accompagné de houpettes de sourcils de hannetons ainsi que de motifs de fils d’argent.”
The collection also includes Sourcils d’hanneton et Chenilles dont les Dames ont fait usage en 1735 and Ruban de Blonde Garni de Sourcil d’Hanneton en 1735.
Source gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France
Costume in England: A History of Dress from the Earliest Period until the Close of the Eighteenth Century by F.W. Fairholt (1860)
Additional Resources
This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
18th Century Fashion in Detail
Making 18th C. Floss Fringe for a Gown and The Trade (and Art) of Making 18thc. Trim
Knotting Fly Fringe Sewing Class
Adventures in Fly Fringe, and Gown Redo - Fly Fringe
V&A T.165-1970, “Fringe of plain silk, 3-ply, cut from pale blue braid of 2/10" deep. With a sparse cover of 'fly' fringe tied on a more vivid blue silk, sewn through the braid.”
Nordiska museet 171126, a silk outfit with embroidery, 18th century
Met 38.30.1a, b, robe à la française, French, c. 1710-1774
Met 1995.235a, b, robe à la française, British, 1740s
V&A 700-1864, a sack gown made in Great Britain c. 1740-1749
LACMA 63.2.5, a silk damask stomacher made in mid-18th century France and decorated with ombré ribbon, silk thread, and fly fringe
Bonhams 24-25 April 2013, Lot 379, a mid 18th century sack-back gown (robe à la Française) in cream damask brocade silk and trimmed with silk fly fringe
London Museum 89.56b, white silk satin petticoat ornamented with wadded and corded quilting and finished at the hem with white silk fly braid, c. 1751-1755
Kerry Taylor Auctions 14th June 2016, Lot 28, robe à la française, French, c. 1750-1760
Historic Deerfield F.356, a silk brocade gown and stomacher trimmed in fly fringe, gown made c. 1750-1770
Met C.I.59.29.1a, b, robe à la française, France, c. 1750-1775
Whitaker Auction Spring 2015, Lot 530, silk brocade robe a l’anglaise, Canada, c. 1750-1775
Marie Adélaïde de France by Jean-Marc Nattier, 1756
National Trust 602788.1/602788.2, polonaise robe and petticoat, 1760
Augusta Auctions Dec 4, 2024, Lot 250, a robe a la française with a ruched applied band edged with fly fringe and chenille, c. 1760
V&A T.77 to B-1959, sack gown, English, c. 1760-1765
National Trust 1350856.1/1350856.2, a sack back dress and petticoat, c. 1765-1769
Baby’s gown in the John Bright collection, silk satin trimmed with silk braid and fly fringe, 1760s
Historic Deerfield, 1760s
Kyoto Costume Institute AC4854 84-18-13, stomacher, Swiss, 1760s
Chertsey Museum M.2010.01a-b, yellow floral silk damask sack back gown and matching petticoat, both trimmed with white fly fringe, c. 1760-1770
V&A T.120 to B-1961, mantua, English, c. 1760-1770
London Museum A12981a, sack-back dress in watered silk in a striped pattern, with blue and white silk fly fringe trimming, probably made in England c. 1761-1770
Historic Deerfield F.660, a robe a la française and petticoat in a Dutch silk brocade with a chinoiserie pattern, trimmed with fly fringe, c. 1760-1775
National Museum of American History 315492, Catherine Livingston’s wedding dress, worn on January 23, 1764 in New York City; yellow figured silk trimmed with white fly fringe
Augusta Auction March 30 2011, Lot 304, brocade sack back open robe, c. 1765-1775
Kent State University Museum 1983.001.0008 a-c, open robe and petticoat, probably from France or England, c. 1760-1779
Met 25.12a-c, robe à la française, British, c. 1760-1780
V&A CIRC.85-1951, gown, English, around the 1760s
Stomacher in the John Bright Collection, England, 1760s-1770s
Cora Ginsburg, brocaded silk robe à la française, French, c. 1765
V&A T.471 to B-1980, sack gown made in Great Britain c. 1765-1770
V&A T.12 to B-1940, sack gown made in Great Britain c. 1765-1770
Kerry Taylor Auctions 17th March 2011, Lot 40, robe à la française, c. 1765-1770
Augusta Auctions Mar 30, 2011, Lot 304, a silk gown with ruched trim edged with fly fringe, c. 1765-1775
Marie Leszczyńska, Queen of France by Maurice-Quentin de la Tour
Kerry Taylor Auctions 10 June 2008, Lot 134, open robe the fabric late 1760s-early 1770s
Fly fringe on Hannah Palmer’s wedding dress, June 1768
Augusta Auction October 2006 Vintage Clothing & Textile Auction, Lot 647, silk brocade open gown, c. 1770
Charleston Museum, open-front sack-back gown, c. 1770
National Trust 1348724, open robe polonaise, 1770
National Trust 1348723, open robe, 1770
Colonial Williamsburg 1971-1388, child’s silk cap, French, c. 1770
Colonial Williamsburg 1975-340,1/1989-330,2, sack-back gown and petticoat worn by Elizabeth Dandridge in Virginia, c. 1770
V&A T.161&A-1961, sack gown, English, c. 1770-1775
Met 2009.300.648, robe à l’anglaise, British, c. 1770-1775
Colonial Williamsburg 2015-210, A&B, robe a l’anglaise, worn in New York and New Jersey c. 1770-1776
Kerry Taylor Auctions 20th November 2017, Lot 116, robe à la française, 1770
Kerry Taylor Auctions 23rd June 2015, Lot 35, robe à la française, 1770s
Kerry Taylor Auctions 23rd June 2015, Lot 42, robe à la française, 1770s
Kerry Taylor Auctions 24th June 2014, Lot 24, robe à la Piémontaise, 1770s
Colonial Williamsburg 1991-474,A, gown, English, 1770s
Colonial Williamsburg 1953-850, gown, English, c. 1770-1780
Mint Museum 2009.33.4A-B, formal open robe with petticoat, English, c. 1770-1785 (see also Augusta Auctions April 2009 Vintage Fashion and Textile Auction, Lot 286 and Wikipedia)
MFA 43.1822, muff, French, c. 1774-1793
Met 32.35.8a-c, robe à la française, French, c. 1774-1793
Colonial Williamsburg 1955-428,1, silk sack gown, France or England, c. 1775
Kyoto Costume Institute AC7716 93-5AB, robe à la française, c. 1775
LACMA M.2007.211.926a-b, robe à la française probably made in the Netherlands c. 1775
LACMA AC1996.221.2.1, caraco jacket (pet en l’air), French, c. 1775
Met 2005.61a, b, robe à la française, French, c. 1775
Kyoto Costume Institute AC9704 98-26AD, robe à la française, French, late 1770s
T.78-1973, white fringe supplemented by knotted flies of white, red, purple, lilac and dark green silk, made in France c. 1775-1799
Met C.I.61.13.1a, b, robe à la française, French, c. 1775-1800
Colonial Williamsburg 1941-212,A&B, sack gown, probably French, c. 1780
Colonial Williamsburg 1985-142, robe a l'anglaise in cream-colored silk brocaded with floral sprigs in multicolors, with silk fly fringe, English, c. 1780
Colonial Williamsburg 1994-160, child’s hooded silk cloak, British (worn around Boston, Massachusetts), c. 1780-1800
Historic Deerfield F.287, a gown, stomacher, and petticoat in painted silk and trimmed with fly fringe, c. 1785
Kyoto Costume Institute AC9125 1994-14-3, round gown, Italian, c. 1795
MFA 48.1198a-b, a wedding gown made in Marblehead, Massachusetts, about 1799
LACMA M.83.281.2, a woman’s bag (reticule), French, c. 1799
