This grey silk Brunswick is trimmed with striped ribbons. Lady Mary Fox by Pompeo Batoni, 1767.Self-Portrait at the Age of 56, 1776, oil on canvas, in the collection of the Uffizi
A Brunswick gown or Brunswick is a two-piece woman's gown of the mid-eighteenth century.
Description
The Brunswick comprises a hip-length (or three-quarter length) jacket with a high neckline and a hood, worn with a matching petticoat.[1] The jacket sleeves consist of an upper sleeve with flounces at the elbow and a tight, wrist-length lower sleeve.
The Brunswick is one of several informal jacket-and-petticoat costumes popular in the later 18th century, derived from working class costume but made up in fine fabrics (usually silk).[2]
Originating in France (based on a German fashion), the Brunswick was also popular in England and the United States as a traveling costume.
Today, the term is generically used to describe a hip-length, close-fitting padded coat with a neckline (and not necessarily with a hood).