déshabillé

English translation: Banyan (morning gown)

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
French term or phrase:déshabillé
English translation:Banyan (morning gown)
Entered by: claude-andrew

14:48 Nov 17, 2019
French to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Textiles / Clothing / Fashion / Description of a pastel by Maurice-Quentin de la Tour
French term or phrase: déshabillé
Après avoir étudié en France dans les ateliers de Charles Le Brun et Louis de Boullogne, Louis de Silvestre (1675-1760) est nommé premier peintre du roi Auguste II de Saxe et s'installe alors en Saxe et en Pologne.
En 1748, à soixante-quatorze ans, il rentre en France et prend, en 1752, la succession de Charles-Antoine Coypel comme directeur de l'Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture.
C'est à cette époque que son ami Maurice-Quentin de La Tour exécute son portrait exposé au Salon de 1753.
Dans l'intimité de son atelier, le peintre porte une robe de chambre de satin bleu broché à ramages de fleurs et sur la tête un madras noué.
C'était le **déshabillé** élégant des artistes de l'époque.

Picture:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Maurice_Quentin_de_La_T...
claude-andrew
France
Local time: 23:58
Banyan
Explanation:
Hello
Posting this as it was in one of the references someone referred to but not suggested.
This word fits the time and place historically and the asker says it looks right compared to the picture
Selected response from:

SafeTex
France
Local time: 23:58
Grading comment
Thanks SafeTex - I added "morning gown" in brackets to explain the word to the reader.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
2 +5casual attire
Marco Solinas
3 +3housecoat
Wolf Draeger
4 +1dressing gown
Yvonne Gallagher
3 +2modishly careless attire
B D Finch
3house gown
Ana Vozone
4 -1Banyan
SafeTex


Discussion entries: 15





  

Answers


12 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
house gown


Explanation:
Normally, you could use "négligé(e)", tea-gown.
https://books.google.pt/books?id=CbOI4TCcnbQC&pg=PA96&lpg=PA...
But for men, house gown seems more appropriate.

https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ACYBGNQ28VGv9xoxiP9Le1Rr...

Ana Vozone
Local time: 22:58
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in PortuguesePortuguese
PRO pts in category: 11
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33 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
dressing gown


Explanation:
though I would seriously consider leaving the French word as well as déshabillé is used in English too.
However, these days it usually associated with women in a peignoir or negligée but it can just mean
an undressed or carelessly-dressed look (i.e. not dressed in formal day clothes)

but here we are actually told what he is wearing a blue satin dressing gown so rather than repeat dressing gown you could use
déshabillé or night attire

https://www.pinterest.ie/pin/207095282836905093/
https://books.google.ie/books?id=2UpOAAAAcAAJ&pg=PT33&lpg=PT...

https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Déshabillé

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Note added at 36 mins (2019-11-17 15:25:31 GMT)
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I think "housecoat" is far too mundane a word here. In fact you could just use "robe" (not bathrobe though as this is in satin)

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Note added at 40 mins (2019-11-17 15:28:50 GMT)
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some robes worthy of being in a painting!

https://www.harveynichols.com/brand/meng/217206-men-s-grey-p...

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Note added at 41 mins (2019-11-17 15:30:21 GMT)
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https://www.harveynichols.com/brand/meng/217206-men-s-grey-p...

Yvonne Gallagher
Ireland
Local time: 22:58
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 97

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Lisa Jane: I think blue satin robe is a good choice here and keeping the French word lends it that air of elegance needed
15 hrs
  -> Many thanks:-) I believe "satin robe" and keeping the French "déshabillé" is safest here. The French is well known in art circles and used in English but "morning gown" or "at-home robe/dress/attire" also used

neutral  SafeTex: A museum wants to use the terms of the period and "dressing gown" is not right. "Gown" was used then but not "dressing gown" Banyan is the correct term and the blogger has studied all this. Don't disparage experts 'cos they blog.
22 hrs
  -> a bald statement when you're using a blog as authority?! I repeat "banyan" is too specific here and as Ph_B pointed out, the cap should be included in "déshabillé" too so "at-home attire" in parentheses after the French? See note to Lisa//BA in Marketing?
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51 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5 peer agreement (net): +5
casual attire


Explanation:
In the preceding sentence, the author states that, in his studio, the painter wore a "robe de chambre" and a "madras noué". He then goes on to say that this was the elegant "déshabillé" of the artists of the time.
I think that this indicates a more general meaning of casual wear. The writer has already said that the artist was wearing a "robe de chambre"; there seems no need to repeat it just one sentence later.

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Note added at 1 hr (2019-11-17 16:16:48 GMT)
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Correct: there seems to be no need

Marco Solinas
Local time: 15:58
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in ItalianItalian
PRO pts in category: 12
Notes to answerer
Asker: Yes, I like this, nice and neutral. I feel that "housecoat" is rather a feminine term.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  mchd: je suis d'accord avec la réflexion et le développement !
27 mins

agree  Ph_B (X): déshabillé = robe de chambre + madras
1 hr

neutral  Yvonne Gallagher: it's a satin dressing gown so I think "casual" is not right
2 hrs

neutral  B D Finch: While it is "casual attire", it is a specific sort of such attire that would not have been worn outside the artist's home/studio.
2 hrs

agree  Cyril Tollari: Exactly what it means in this context. Déshabillé élégant = smart casual attire
4 hrs

neutral  Wolf Draeger: Too vague; a déshabillé is loose and open, not just casual, and I think casual wear at the time could be very tight-fitting and elaborate.
19 hrs

agree  kashew: https://art.rmngp.fr/fr/library/artworks/dame-en-deshabille-...
1 day 2 hrs

agree  Daryo: in the right direction - it's not any specific garment but a way of dressing.
3 days 14 hrs
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3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
modishly careless attire


Explanation:
I think that you have to avoid mundane terms like "housecoat" here, because that is really ahistoric.
This was not the equivalent of receiving your friends in your dressing gown or 21st century sleepwear. The upper classes in the 18th century dressed elaborately and formally if they were receiving company or going out. Dressing took time, care and the help of servants. This sort of casual attire mixing an elegant and elaborately woven and printed and/or embroidered satin robe with a fine printed cotton would have been fashionably oriental but only to be indulged in at home with family and friends. It would also have been considered "arty" and a little bit daring for anyone other than an artist.

There were no dry cleaners or washing machines in those days, so while the cotton could have been washed, satin probably couldn't and, so, it would not have been worn next to the skin, but over linen under garments. Still, showing your undies was not "done", and any glimpse of them would also have been daringly unconventional.

https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Chinoiserie
Chinoiserie is the European interpretation and imitation of Chinese and East Asian artistic ... First appearing in the 17th century, this trend was popularized in the 18th ... It was also popularized by the influx of Chinese and Indian goods brought ...

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Note added at 4 hrs (2019-11-17 18:54:25 GMT)
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I don't think that de la Tour was necessarily wearing a banyan and he would have been wearing his robe more casually than the man in the picture illustrating this article, but this gives an idea of the significance of that way of dressing:

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/68868/18th-century-men-w...
"Strolling down the streets of colonial Williamsburg, you wouldn’t have done a double take if you passed a gentleman clad in a flowing dress that looked like a nightgown. In fact, you might have complimented his fashion sense.

"The garment was called a banyan, and in 18th century America and England it was considered typical, informal day wear for educated men of leisure. As comfortable and forgiving as sweatpants are today, banyans were loose robes that provided a welcome relief from the period’s often-constricting coats.

"To modern sensibilities, banyans looked like nightgowns, or even bathrobes. In fact, they were originally inspired by styles from Japan, China, and India, which at the time had become fashionable in England thanks to the Dutch East India Company ...

" ... if you’re passing through a museum and catch sight of an 18th century oil painting depicting a man wearing a silk gown, don’t think he stole it from his wife’s closet. The outfit may look silly now, but back then the ensemble signified that an individual was well-read, cosmopolitan, and refined—the same way that an expensive Polo shirt or a pair of imported designer spectacles might today."

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Note added at 4 hrs (2019-11-17 18:58:53 GMT)
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The last paragraph quoted above indicates that the writer would have probably worn a crew cut and three-piece suit, rather than loon pants, in the '60s.

B D Finch
France
Local time: 23:58
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 112
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks for these comments BD. Yes, one has only to think of Downton Abbey to remember that the upper strata had appropriate dress for every conceivable activity (hence the need for valets and maids!)


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Daryo: convincing references
1 hr
  -> Thanks Daryo

agree  philgoddard: Good idea.
3 hrs
  -> Thanks Phil
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11 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +3
housecoat


Explanation:
As simple as that?

"When guests or other visitors are expected to enter the household while the host/s are partially dressed or undressed, the hosts may put on additional clothing, such as a dressing gown. A dressing gown or a housecoat is a loose, open-fronted gown closed with a fabric belt that is put on over nightwear on rising from bed, or, less commonly today, worn over some day clothes when partially dressed or undressed in the morning or evening (for example, over a man's shirt and trousers without jacket and tie).

Judging from the picture, not a dressing gown or bathrobe as we would understand it today, but housecoat sounds about right.

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Note added at 4 hrs (2019-11-17 19:00:23 GMT)
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Instead of "coat", perhaps "robe"—house robe?

Example sentence(s):
  • It was the elegant housecoat worn by artists at the time.

    Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathrobe
Wolf Draeger
South Africa
Local time: 00:58
Native speaker of: English

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Ana Vozone
1 min
  -> Snap! Thanks, Ana!

agree  Stephanie Benoist
1 hr
  -> Thanks, Stephanie!

agree  Lisa Jane: Robe would be my choice
15 hrs
  -> Thanks, Lisa!

agree  Yolanda Broad
1 day 9 hrs
  -> Thanks, Yolanda!

neutral  Ph_B (X): déshabillé (as used in this text) = robe de chambre AND madras, so "housecoat" alone doesn't cover it./It is. The structure of the text here is clear: C'était refers back to the (whole) description in the previous sentence.
1 day 16 hrs
  -> I don't think the headscarf is part of the déshabillé // Surely there's nothing "déshabillé" about a headscarf

disagree  Daryo: it's a specific way of dressing - "informal/relaxed wear in private" as opposed to being "properly dressed to appear in public", not any particular garment // all the "knowledge" you need is to just read and analyse the text as it is...
3 days 15 hrs
  -> And you know this for a fact?
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18 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -1
Banyan


Explanation:
Hello
Posting this as it was in one of the references someone referred to but not suggested.
This word fits the time and place historically and the asker says it looks right compared to the picture


    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banyan_(clothing)
SafeTex
France
Local time: 23:58
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 11
Grading comment
Thanks SafeTex - I added "morning gown" in brackets to explain the word to the reader.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Wolf Draeger: Tempted to agree, but may be too specific and understood by few readers/visitors.
1 hr
  -> Hello Wolf: This is true but often happens in museums. if they can see the picture while reading the description, they hopefully can make the connection.

neutral  Yvonne Gallagher: "banyan" is overtranslation in my opinion as it's a specific type of garment and would surely have been namechecked if that was intended//"robe" has been in English since 13th C and "gown" since 14th so not exactly modern words!
1 hr
  -> Would you translate "baggy pantaloons" as jogging pants? See: https://ezinearticles.com/?History-of-the-Dressing-Gown&id=5... ,originally call "Banyan" at that time !!!

neutral  Ph_B (X): déshabillé (as used in this text) = robe de chambre + madras, so "banyan" alone doesn't cover it./You're right, it doesn't, but Y. mentioned it in her comment, so I saw no need to repeat it there.
22 hrs
  -> Hello Ph_b. Does dressing gown cover madras then? Surely the answer is to add "madras" separately?

disagree  Daryo: it's a specific way of dressing - "informal/relaxed wear in private" as opposed to being "properly dressed to appear in public", not any particular garment
2 days 20 hrs
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