Dress
garment for adults, children, or infants consisting of a bodice and skirt made in one or more pieces
A dress (also known as a frock or a gown) is a one-piece outer garment that is worn on the torso, hanging down over the legs. Dresses often consist of a bodice attached to a skirt.
Dress shapes, silhouettes, textiles, and colors vary. In particular, dresses can vary by sleeve length, neckline, skirt length, or hemline. These variances may be based on considerations such as fashion trends, modesty, weather, and personal taste. Dresses are generally suitable for both formal wear and casual wear.
Historically, foundation garments and other structural garments—including items such as corsets, partlets, petticoats, panniers, and bustles—were used to achieve the desired silhouette.
History
Middle Ages
In the 11th century, women in Europe wore loose garments that were similar in shape to the tunics worn by men. Sleeves varied in fit and length, and hemlines fell below the knees, most often reaching the ankle or ground. These dresses were worn over ankle-length chemise garments.
The public source identifies “Dress” as garment for adults, children, or infants consisting of a bodice and skirt made in one or more pieces. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Dress, garment and adults.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q200539. The Library of Congress control number is sh97005993. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Dress” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.