A caraco is a style of woman's

jacket A jacket is a garment for the upper body, usually extending below the hips. A jacket typically has sleeves, and fastens in the front or slightly on the side. A jacket is generally lighter, tighter-fitting, and less insulating than a coat, which ...

that was fashionable from the mid-18th to early 19th centuries. Caracos were thigh-length and opened in front, with tight three-quarter or long

sleeve A sleeve ( ang, slīef, a word allied to ''slip'', cf. Dutch ) is the part of a garment that covers the arm, or through which the arm passes or slips. The sleeve is a characteristic of fashion seen in almost every country and time period, acro ...

s. Like gowns of the period, the back of the caraco could be fitted to the waist or could hang in

pleat A pleat (plait in older English) is a type of fold formed by doubling fabric back upon itself and securing it in place. It is commonly used in clothing and upholstery to gather a wide piece of fabric to a narrower circumference. Pleats are cat ...

s from the shoulder in the style of a sack back. Caracos were generally made of printed

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 ...

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 ...

.Cumming et al. (2010), p. 40Takeda and Spilker (2010), p. 141. The caraco emerged as an informal style in France in the 1760s, based on working-class jackets. It was worn with a

petticoat A petticoat or underskirt is an article of clothing, a type of undergarment worn under a skirt or a dress. Its precise meaning varies over centuries and between countries. According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', in current British Engl ...

and, if open in front, a

stomacher A stomacher is a decorated triangular panel that fills in the front opening of a woman's gown or bodice. The stomacher may be boned, as part of a corset, or may cover the triangular front of a corset. If simply decorative, the stomacher lies ov ...

or decorative stays. The English caraco was generally closed in front. A similar garment with a wrap front, called in English a

bedgown A bedgown (sometimes bed gown, bedjacket or shortgown) is an article of women's clothing for the upper body, usually thigh-length and wrapping or tying in front. Bedgowns of lightweight printed cotton fabric were fashionable at-home morning wear i ...

or short gown, was the standard working woman's costume of the later 18th century.

Gallery

Women's jackets and short gowns of the 18th century File:Liotard Schokoladen Maedchen.jpg, ''The Chocolate Girl'', 1743–45, wears a fitted jacket, petticoat, and apron. File:John Collet The Elopement detail.jpg, Working woman's bedgown and petticoat, 1764. File:Caraco jacket in printed cotton, 1770-1790, skirt in quilted silk satin, 1750-1790.jpg, Caraco jacket in printed cotton and skirt in quilted silk satin, 1770-1790,

ModeMuseum Provincie Antwerpen MoMu (Mode Museum) is the fashion museum of the City of Antwerp, Belgium. Founded on 21 September 2002, the museum collects, conserves, studies and exhibits Belgian fashion. The museum is specifically focusing on Belgian contemporary fashion d ...

. File:Caraco.jpg, Drawing of a Caraco, by David Ring.

Notes

References

* Cumming, Valerie, C. W. Cunnington and P. E. Cunnington. ''The Dictionary of Fashion History'', Berg, 2010, * Takeda, Sharon Sadako, and Kaye Durland Spilker, ''Fashioning Fashion: European Dress in Detail, 1700 - 1915'', Prestel USA (2010),

External links

Caraco and matching petticoat

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

, c. 1770s. {{Historical clothing, state=expanded 18th-century fashion Jackets History of clothing (Western fashion)