Chemise

Also: shift, smock

A chemise is a loose linen undergarment worn next to the skin, the basic layer of women’s dress for centuries.

The chemise, or shift, protected costly outer clothes from the body and was washed often. In the 1780s, a gown made like it, of white muslin, the chemise à la reine, caused scandal when Marie-Antoinette was painted wearing one, and it shaped the light white dresses of the 1790s.