Mantua (clothing)

Initially a loose gown, the later mantua was an overgown or robe typically worn over stays, stomacher and either a co-ordinating or contrasting petticoat.

The mantua, made from a single length of fabric pleated to fit with a long train, was ideal for showing the designs of the new elaborately patterned silks that replaced the solid-coloured satins popular in the mid-century.

Previously,  predominantly undertaken by tailors, a trade heavily made up by men, the making of outer-garments only involved women in a less formalised manner.

The earliest mantua emerged in the late 17th century as a comfortable alternative to the boned bodices and separate skirts then widely worn.

[5][6] Known as the sack, sack-back, Robe à la Française, or French gown, this garment was supported by panniers which expanded in width in the 1740s and 1750s, and fronted by a decorative stomacher.

The English-style gown featured a fitted back and open front skirt to display decorated underskirts, as in the Robe à la Française.

Instead of the elaborate draperies and folds of the late 17th and early 18th century, the train had evolved into a length of fabric attached to the back of the bodice, as illustrated in an example in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

[13] The Victoria and Albert Museum owns an extremely rare late 17th-century fashion doll dressed in a pink silk mantua and petticoat.