James Thornhill Portrait of Sir Isaac Newton

A banyan (through

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

and

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

, , from the

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

, /, , the

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub ...

, , meaning "merchant", ) is a

garment Clothing (also known as clothes, apparel, and attire) are items worn on the human body, body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials ...

worn by

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an men and women in the late 17th and 18th century, influenced by the

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese

kimono The is a traditional Japanese garment and the national dress of Japan. The kimono is a wrapped-front garment with square sleeves and a rectangular body, and is worn left side wrapped over right, unless the wearer is deceased. The kimono ...

brought to Europe by the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

in the mid-17th century. "Banyan" is also commonly used in present-day

Indian English Indian English (IE) is a group of English dialects spoken in the republic of India and among the Indian diaspora. English is used by the Indian government for communication, along with Hindi, as enshrined in the Constitution of India. E ...

and other countries in the

Indian Subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

to mean "vest" or "

undershirt An undershirt in American English (vest in British English, British and South African English, South African English, banyan in the Indian English, Indian Subcontinent, or singlet in Australian English, Australia and New Zealand English, New Zeala ...

". Also called a morning gown, ''robe de chambre'' or nightgown, the banyan was a loose, T-shaped

gown A gown, from the Saxon word, ''gunna'', is a usually loose outer garment from knee-to-full-length worn by men and women in Europe from the Early Middle Ages to the 17th century, and continuing today in certain professions; later, the term ''gown ...

or kimono-like garment, made of

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

linen Linen () is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant. Linen is very strong, absorbent, and dries faster than cotton. Because of these properties, linen is comfortable to wear in hot weather and is valued for use in garments. It also ...

, or

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the coc ...

and worn at home as a sort of

dressing gown A dressing gown, housecoat or morning gown is a robe, a loose-fitting outer garment, worn by either men or women. They are similar to a bathrobe but without the absorbent material. A dressing gown or a housecoat is a loose, open-fronted gown c ...

or informal

coat A coat typically is an outer garment for the upper body as worn by either gender for warmth or fashion. Coats typically have long sleeves and are open down the front and closing by means of buttons, zippers, hook-and-loop fasteners, toggles, a ...

over the shirt and breeches. The typical banyan was cut ''en chemise'', with the sleeves and body cut as one piece. It was usually paired with a soft,

turban A turban (from Persian دولبند‌, ''dulband''; via Middle French ''turbant'') is a type of headwear based on cloth winding. Featuring many variations, it is worn as customary headwear by people of various cultures. Communities with promine ...

-like cap worn in place of the formal

periwig A wig is a head or hair accessory made from human hair, animal hair, or synthetic fiber. The word wig is short for periwig, which makes its earliest known appearance in the English language in William Shakespeare's ''The Two Gentlemen of Verona' ...

. An alternative style of banyan was cut like a coat, fitted, with set-in sleeves, and was closed with buttons and buttonholes.

History

European women wore banyans in the 18th century as dressing gowns in the morning, before robing for the day, or in the evening before bed over undergarments, as described by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England. In the humid climate of

Colonial Virginia The Colony of Virginia, chartered in 1606 and settled in 1607, was the first enduring English colonial empire, English colony in North America, following failed attempts at settlement on Newfoundland (island), Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey GilbertG ...

, gentlemen wore lightweight banyans as informal street wear in summer. It was fashionable for men of an intellectual or philosophical bent to have their

portraits A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this re ...

painted while wearing banyans.

Benjamin Rush Benjamin Rush (April 19, 1813) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father of the United States who signed the United States Declaration of Independence, and a civic leader in Philadelphia, where he was a physician, politician, ...

wrote:

Loose dresses contribute to the easy and vigorous exercise of the faculties of the mind. This remark is so obvious, and so generally known, that we find studious men are always painted in gowns, when they are seated in their libraries.

Despite the name "nightgown", the banyan was not worn for sleeping.

Notes

References

* Ashelford, Jane: ''The Art of Dress: Clothing and Society 1500–1914'', Abrams, 1996. * Baumgarten, Linda: ''What Clothes Reveal: The Language of Clothing in Colonial and Federal America'', Yale University Press, 2002. * Cunnington, C. Willett and

Phillis Emily Cunnington Phillis Emily Cunnington (1 November 1887 – 24 October 1974) was an English medical doctor and collector, writer and historian on costume and fashion. She and her husband Cecil Willett Cunnington (1878–1961) worked together not only in the ...

: ''Handbook of English Costume in the Eighteenth Century''. London: Faber, 1972. * Payne, Blanche: ''History of Costume from the Ancient Egyptians to the Twentieth Century'', Harper & Row, 1965. No ISBN for this edition; ASIN B0006BMNFS *
A Colonial Gentlemen's Clothing: A Glossary of Terms

External links

Banyans at The Costumer's Manifesto

{{Historical clothing, state=expanded History of clothing (Western fashion) Middle Eastern clothing Robes and cloaks

History

See also

Notes

References

External links