smoking robe

[Drygoods]

Greetings,

In the next month or so I will be sewing a gentleman's smoking robe. The original images that I've seen show fine braid trim with vents or gussets at the bottom front panels and sleeves. What I would like to know is, are these same vents carried all around to the rear of the robe? Does anyone know of an original smoking robe that I may examine or find images online?
The fabric that I intend to use is a red, gold, and black finely woven brocade which is reversable and almost resembles a carpet weave. The shawl collar will be a black velvet with red and gold embroidery with gold bullion trim. It is really terrific and was my first choice for a woman's paletote but is ideal as a man's smoking robe.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Mfr,
Judith Peebles

[Carolann Schmitt]

Re: smoking robe

Greetings,

In the next month or so I will be sewing a gentleman's smoking robe. The original images that I've seen show fine braid trim with vents or gussets at the bottom front panels and sleeves. What I would like to know is, are these same vents carried all around to the rear of the robe? Does anyone know of an original smoking robe that I may examine or find images online?
The fabric that I intend to use is a red, gold, and black finely woven brocade which is reversable and almost resembles a carpet weave. The shawl collar will be a black velvet with red and gold embroidery with gold bullion trim. It is really terrific and was my first choice for a woman's paletote but is ideal as a man's smoking robe.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Mfr,
Judith Peebles

I've been doing a lot of research of smoking or house or lounging robes in preparation for a future presentation. I own three originals from the mid-19th century, including one child's; have examined four others; and have photos of several more. None of them have vents or gussets at the bottom front panels or sleeves. Can you post your image or send it to me privately and I'll try to help decipher it?

FWIW - The majority of the originals I've examined to date have been made from a twill weave wool or wool/silk blend. I do have photos of one other robe made from printed cotton. With the exception of the child's robe, which is made from a striped fabric, all of the rest have been made from a paisley fabric. The lining fabric on each of them has been a printed cotton, frequently in a bold pattern and in contrasting colors. One robe, c.1850-1855, is made of red paisley with a different red paisley lining. And with one exception, all of the robes have shawl collars, cuffs, and pocket flaps made of quilted silk taffeta in a contrasting color.

[Drygoods]

Re: smoking robe

Dear Carolann,

I found five images both from an ambrotype and lithographs of what I wanted to "create." As for the vents in the front, it would look as though the vent was cut in each front pannel and went up roughly 12-18 inches which I thought quite long. I figure this must have been done for ease of crossing the legs. Each vent was heavily trimmed, as were the slash-vent-diagonal-welt pockets. The same soutauche braid that surrounds the pockets and vents, continues all round the bottom and shawl collar of the robe. I'll do my best at trying to put an image here, otherwise, I'll have to snail mail it to you.

The fabric that I have is a wool-silk blend....it may even have a bit of linen in it as well. Very finely done and can be reversed, however, I plan to use a polished cotton for the inside. I will probably do the shawl collar in a black velvet, and possibly the pocket welts that way too. I've not decided to add cuffs, but I doubt that I would as I certainly don't want to carry it into looking too much like a modern robe. However, I may go ahead and make a cap with the same color scheme. I thought that Miller's Millinery has a good pattern for the cap.

Thank you for writing and sharing your information with your robes. I wonder how many men here wear smoking robes? I found a neat quote about them which I will try to type here later today.
Mfr,
Judith Peebles

[Drygoods]

Re: smoking robe

Carolann,

Here is a nice quote regarding smoking robes....

From Auguste Debay....
"this costume is as sumptuous as outdoor or town wear is simple....Formerly, when rich fabrics composed town dress and fashion sanctioned gold embroidery, braid, trimmings, and so on at home, neglige wear did not amount to much, but nowadays since fashion forces the black suit and top hat on dukes and bourgeois, financiers and shop clerks, our rich gents compensate for this insipid uniformity by wearing a magnificent indoor costume. Thus an elegant type makes his social calls in a simple black suit, but in his apartment he wraps himself in a superb dressing gown that cost ten times more than his suit. His have cost him a five-hundred-franc note, and his admirable slippers, of morocco covered with velvet, gold, and silk, surpass the finest patent-leather boots. The apartment in which Monsieur receives is as luxurious as his dishabille. And, believe me, he is not the only Sardanapalus whose glory and honor depends on astonishing his visitors with this magnificent display."

I would think that if this was the rage in England and France in 1858-60, would our countrymen be doing the same? I bet they did, well some of them anyway, probably those in town and trades.

Mfr,
Judith Peebles

[Hank Trent]

Re: smoking robe

I haven't done any research on men's robes/dressing gowns, but I happened to run across this story a while ago. It's from the May 1862 Continental Monthly. It's pretty entertaining, but I also wonder how accurate it is, since it seems to indicate dressing gowns were common in England but virtually unrecognized in America, at least in the social realm of the author. It starts on the bottom right-hand corner of the page here http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-b...ames=1&view=50 and continues onto the next.

The short version is that the narrator broke his leg, and while he was confined to limited activity, his wife made him a dressing gown to wear because "she first read about it in divers English novels and sundry American novels, the latter invariably a rehash of the first." But whenever he wore it, he was mistaken at a distance for a woman, since no one expected a man to be wearing a robe, and he therefore had all kinds of misadventures, including a neighbor who saw him in it through the window while his wife was away overnight, and thought he was cheating with another woman.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@Voyager.net

[Drygoods]

Re: smoking robe

Mr. Trent,

What a hoot that story is! No doubt people will think my husband mad when he wears one, and me too for making it! :wink_smil

Oh that's too funny
Mfr,
Judith Peebles