Why Are Evening Dresses Called “Toilet”? – Webtekno

Fashion has constantly changed throughout history and still continues to change. In this process especially in women’s clothing There are so many changes happening that it is quite difficult to keep track of these changes.

To make your waist look slimmer tightly bound corsets, layers of clothes and high heels that make it difficult to even walk… Behind these There are reasons you never expected But we will talk about these reasons in our other content. Now for the evening dress Why is it called toilet? Let’s take a closer look.

When we take a look at 17th century fashion, we see the puffy dresses of French and English women.

In the 17th century, French and English women often dressed in layers. Exaggerated, fluffy and colorful dresses It was pretty popular. The enrichment of Europe at that time was, of course, It is also reflected in fashion.

The reason why women dressed in layers back then was, increase in wealth and the desire to look magnificent that comes with it. Not only women, but also men’s fashion too They got their share of this wealth and they started to dress particularly magnificently.

Under these circumstances, it was becoming difficult for women not only to walk comfortably but also to breathe.

We may have difficulty liking things that seemed beautiful yesterday to us today. Anything that has become popular and influenced people before to the fashion trend Today we can look with different eyes. The first example that comes to mind is the one that is tightly attached and which we later question why it was used at that time. corsets.

Corsets are used not only by women but also by men, first in italy started to be produced. in the beginning as underwear Although it was used, it continued to be produced as a complement to clothing over time due to rapid changes in fashion.

Of course, because it goes beyond the purpose of production by French court women She was attracted to look beautiful and slim. In addition, we started to see that men also use corsets. You ask why? Because to look magnificent, It was always a sign of wealth.

Women could not wear these dresses in daily life; at that time, they had to wear them only when in the palace in the presence of the king.

Women spend hours in these dresses and They had difficulty moving. When they want to meet their personal needs when they are in the presence of the king in the palace or with the aristocrats, permission They had to take it.
Let’s say a woman took permission to go to the toilet in this dress, but she needs to take off her top. Since he was dressed in layers and it would be quite difficult to take off his clothes, they developed a different method.

To the women waiting there to meet their toilet needs after getting permission, maids held saucepan-like bowls in their hands. a porcelain pot They were coming with. We can call it a kind of potty and “Bourdaloue” The image of the porcelain pot we mentioned is just below.

What is this “Bourdaloue”?

A bourdaloue made of porcelain.

Bourdaloue, usually made of porcelain and resembling a sauce bowl some kind of potty. Women met their toilet needs with this chamber pot. At that time, underwear was short, very short, and even genital area cut off They were stuffing the dress between their underwear. However, some women use Bourdaloue to make it easier to use when they wear layers of clothing. They weren’t even wearing underwear.

among aristocrats Because there is no concept of privacy People were able to meet their general toilet needs. Since most women used this method at that time, it did not seem strange to anyone.

So, did these clothes start to be called “toilet” just because they used to go to toilet in public? Of course no.

Origin in French “toilet” The word toilet has more than one meaning. Except for the toilet as we know it. rag, women’s outfit, clothing and make-up room has meanings. When we look at the meaning of the word, we can better understand why evening dresses are called toilet.

Due to the rapid change of fashion, the clothes worn by women have changed, but the names of evening dresses and other evening dresses It continued to remain as a toilet. At first this incident “What does that have to do with anything?” If so, now you can understand why better.

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