Strolling down the streets of colonial Williamsburg , you would n’t have done a dual take if you passed a gentleman clad in a flowing attire that reckon like a nightgown . In fact , you might have complimented his style sense .
The garmentwas called a banyan , and in eighteenth C America and England it was considered typical , informal day wear for develop men of leisure time . As prosperous and forgiving as sweatpants are today , banyans were loose robe that provided a welcome reliever from the menses ’s often - constrict coats .
To modern sensibilities , banyan looked like nightgowns , or even bathrobes . In fact , they wereoriginally revolutionize bystyles from Japan , China , and India , which at the time had become stylish in England thanks to the Dutch East India Company . ( The name “ banyan ” is actually an Anglicized variant of a Gujarati word for “ trader . ” )
Even though they were “ everyday ” clothing point , some East Indian fig tree were fancier than others . fabric ranged from uncomplicated linens and cotton plant to more elaborate chintz fabrics , brocades , and silks . Therewere also stylistic variation — go vs. loose , ties vs. buttons , and gear up - in sleeve vs. a shift cutting . Some Indian banyan were quilted and line , yet others were cool and lightweight . Patterns and colors also browse wide . The variations were just about dateless .
A banyan was wear over a shirt and breech ; a small , matching hat called a “ negligé cap”topped off the lookand kept a mankind ’s bald head warm when it was n’t covered by a wigging . The oufitwas ordinarily wear inthe concealment of a man ’s home — particularly in the early dawn or evening hr , during which he ’d dine with his family , write missive , and say Book .
However , Indian banyan were also worn in public . gentleman’s gentleman in colonial Virginia donned banyansduring the humid summertime months . And since the loose cutswere recollect to beconducive to “ the easy and vigorous exercise of the faculty of the mind , ” intellectuals like Benjamin Franklin and Sir Isaac Newton were often painted wear banyans .
So if you ’re communicate through a museum and catch sight of an 18thcentury oil painting describe a piece wearing a silk scrubs , do n’t think he stole it from his married woman ’s closet . The outfit may look silly now , but back then the ensemblesignified that an individualwas well - read , cosmopolitan , and rarify — the same way that an expensive Polo shirt or a pair of imported interior decorator spectacles might today .
