The 1680s was a decade of change in women's fashion. The new loose-fitting mantua gown vied for popularity with traditional gowns that contained structured bodices (a battle that the new style would win in later decades) and bodies slowly began to be called stays during this decade. One of the best written sources we have… Continue reading Randle Holme’s The Academy of Armory (1688) and late Seventeenth-century Women’s Dress Terminology
