---
title: "Chemise"
description: "A chemise is a loose linen undergarment worn next to the skin, the basic layer of women’s dress for centuries."
type: Glossary
url: https://teazle.art/glossary/chemise
published: 2026-10-14
updated: 2026-10-14
author: "The Teazle editors"
---

# Chemise

*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.


## Sources

1. [Chemise (AAT 300210542)](http://vocab.getty.edu/page/aat/300210542). Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus
2. [Chemise (Q1604733)](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1604733). Wikidata

Canonical: https://teazle.art/glossary/chemise