18th Century Zone-Front Gowns

Last updated: Jan 7, 2024

“Zone front” is a modern term for a late 18th century style of gown bodice that appears to be cut away – often at an angle from the neckline, sometimes from slightly lower on the bodice – revealing a “zone,” a sort-of false waistcoat-front (like a compère) or stomacher – generally a more fitted gown than the earlier cutaway polonaise styles (see wearinghistoryblog, afracturedfairytale, couturecourtesan, etc.).

See the Glossary of 18th Century Costume Terminology (s.n. “zone”) for further discussion.

Zone front gowns

• National Trust 1362010, polonaise dress, c. 1775
• Kyoto Costume Institute AC9228 95-19-2AB,EF, a robe à l’anglaise, England, c. 1780
• Vintage Textile 2811, a French brocaded silk taffeta open robe, 1780s
• Met C.I.66.39a, b, a robe à l’anglaise, France, c. 1785-1787
• Philadelphia Museum of Art 1955-98-9, robe à l’anglaise, United States, c. 1785-1793
• Kyoto Costume Institute AC5784 88-19-13, a pierrot jacket, France, c. 1790
• Nordiska museet 183144, a pink silk gown, second half of the 18th century

Portraits and illustrations of women wearing zone front gowns

• Fashionable Dresses in the Rooms in Weymouth 1774
• Slight of Hand by a Monkey, or the Lady’s Head Unloaded, 1776
• The Feather’d Fair in a Fright, 1777
• Queen Marie Antoinette of France and two of her children walking in the Park of Trianon by Adolf Ulrik Wertmüller, 1785
• Madame de Serres by Joseph Boze, 1787
• Galerie des Modes, 59e Cahier, 2e Figure, 1787
• L’Indiscretion, 1788
• Stolen Kiss by Jean Honoré Fragonard, late 1780s
• Self-portrait with a harp by Rose-Adélaïde Ducreux, 1791
• Portrait of a lady by Rose-Adélaïde Ducreux
• Portrait of a lady with her daughter on her lap by Rose-Adélaïde Ducreux