Banyan

From the sixteenth century, British gentlemen wore loose, informal gowns in the privacy of the home as a comfortable alternative to the stiff and physically restrictive modes of dress required for public settings. Trade through the European East India companies led to new styles of gowns, which were often made of imported materials and variously called nightgowns, morning gowns, India gowns, or banyans. This banyan, composed of a Chinese export silk and quilted for warmth, represents a more fitted style that developed in the mideighteenth century. Fitted banyans reflected a hybrid of Persian, Turkish, and Indian influences but followed the silhouette of contemporary European coats, making them well suited to wearing informally in town or when receiving guests at home. An essential garment for fashionable men, this elegant but functional form of “undress” suggested an urbane, worldly masculinity.