The Grand Habit

           For 100 years, from the last decade of  Louis XIV until the French Revolution, The Grand Habit, AKA, the Stiff Bodied Gown or the Robe de Cour, was THE most formal dress in all European Courts. It was designed by Louis XIV when, as a crotchety old man, he decided that the ladies of the court were far too casually dressed. It was, in the Grand Old Man Fashion, based on fashions from when he was young. (To compare, imagine Elizabeth II insisting everyone dress like its the 50's.)

Louis XIV's wife , Marie Therese, in the inspiration for Court Dress, in the 1660's

The Grand Habit consisted of a bodice, or top, which had boning sewed in like a built in corset. There was also a very full skirt worn over hoops, sometimes drawn back to show a matching petticoat and a long train. It also had lace sleeves (called engageantes) that were detachable and attached to different dresses, as well as a lace edging around the neckline.

Detail of sleeve from a portrait of Archduchess Maria Christina

The Grand Habit HAD to be worn at court, except for the three days before the court traveled, when the women who were traveling were permitted to dress more casually. (Almost all did, to show that they were members of the inner circle.)
Pregnant women were also permitted to wear a looser, more comfortable dress, as long as their pregnancy was public knowledge. When Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette received the Venetian Ambassador during one of her pregnancies she made sure to apologize for not wearing the Grand Habit. If she hadn't, there would have been a diplomatic incident. 

Marie Antoniette in a Grand Habit

When Louis XIV reigned, he would send home any woman not wearing it. Madame, his sister in law, famously said that she wore only Court Dresses and Riding Habits.

She said "At Versailles which is considered the royal residence, everyone who comes into the King’s presence, or into ours, must be in full Court dress. At Marly, Meudon, and Saint-Cloud, mantuas are worn, also for travelling. I find Court dress much more convenient than mantuas, which I can’t endure."

Madame in one of the first Grand Habits

Mantuas were a less formal form of dress,which, while fully accepted in England for the most formal of occasions, was not tolerated by Louis.

M. Garsault in the 1769 Encyclopedia Description des Arts et Métiers, describes:

"The day the Lady is presented to the King and Queen, etc., the bodice, train and petticoat must be black: bit all the trimmings are of lace, net, etc. The upper arm, except at the top close to the shoulder where the black sleeve of the bodice is seen, is covered with two flounces of white lace, one below the other, to the elbow. Under the lower flounce there is a decorated band (bracelet noir, forme de pompons). There is also a border of white lace around the neck-line and under that a narrow black tippet (palatine) also decorated from neck to waist. The petticoat and bodice are decorated with puffs, all of which are made from net, lace, etc., also gold."

"When the day of presentation has passed, everything that was black is replaced by colored or gold material. This style of dress has long been worn and has remained unchanged until the present day for ceremonial wear.

If the Lady to be presented is not able to endure the heavily boned bodice than she is allowed to wear a lighter one, covered with a mantilla, with the court train and petticoat. As the mantilla covers the upper arm the top lace flounce, which would not be seen, is omitted. The mantilla is made from any light material such as gauze, net, lace, etc." 

The Grand Habit was extremely expensive, and most noblewomen bought them second hand, especially the black dress worn the first time at court. After all, if you are going to invest all that money in a dress, you want it to be a color that you like.The skirt alone required between 20-25 yards of  very expensive fabric. The top, or bodice, required another yard, plus loads of extremely valuable handmade lace. And then you had to pay a seamstress to sew it all together. And with materials that valuable, you were going to a really good seamstress who wasn't going to mess it up. In 1787 a grand habit cost the equivalent of 2,000 days wages for a worker!

Infanta Maria Ana of Spain, 

The Grand Habit was not as required in other countries as it was in France. Mantuas were considered acceptable court dress for all but the most formal occasions. However, a Grand Habit made of cloth of silver was the usual wedding gown for royal brides, from Marie Antoinette to Catherine the Great.

Princess Augusta, mother of King George III of England, in her wedding dress.

Though robe de cour were always made of rich fabrics, the bodices could be further ornamented with stomachers and jewelry (including jeweled stomachers). Queen Charlotte of the United Kingdom owned a famous diamond stomacher, which was fought over by her descendants. 

Queen Charlotte, wearing the stomacher.

Brooches were also pinned all over the skirt. Some of Catherine the Great's dress ornaments still exist today.

Catherine the Great of Russia

The shape of the skirt worn with the robe de cour had always changed with the fashions of the time, but the bodice, except for some very slight alterations in style, stayed mostly the same. (This is very much like The Russian Court dress a century later.) The only major change in the bodice style was a shift in the 1770's and 1780's from very low, scooped shoulder-baring necklines to slightly higher, squarer necklines that matched the current fashions

Elisabeth Christine, Holy Roman Empress. Portrait is before 1740

Dress from 1780's. Notice the difference in  neckline.

Anne Marie D'Orleans, Queen of Sardania, in 1720

The shape of robe de cour skirts, however, did change with current fashions. The first robe de cour were worn without hooped petticoats, as the panier did not become common in France until at least 1720. In the 1720's robe de cour had relatively restrained, conical skirts.(see above). By the 1760's the skirts become enormous, but very thin and rectangular:

By the 1780's, the skirts were not as extreme and rectangular, but they were covered with all sorts of trimmings.

There were also regional differences in skirt shape. In the 1740's-60's the English tended to wear a very rectangular hoop. The French wore a hoop, that while just as wide at the hem, was more sloping and less square at the corners.

Anne, Princess Royal of the United Kingdom

The train of the robe de cour could be worn either from the shoulders or from the waist, though the latter was more common. The length of the train was an indication of status: the longer the train, the higher the rank of the wearer.  The etiquette of train wearing varied from country to country.  In England one held ones train up, draped over one arm, as a sign of respect.  In France, despite the much-remarked upon filth of Versailles’ hallways, one wore one’s train down as a sign of respect.

Wedding dress of Sofia Magdalena of Sweden

It was extremely uncomfortable, and disliked by many women, especially Marie Antoinette. It was banned in France by the revolution, but held on in England until 1810, though it did look odd when women tried to wear them with the high wasted skirts of the Empire style.

Pictures and information were sourced from The Dreamstress, Grand Ladies, Isis's Wardrobe, Regency World, and others.