---
title: "Petticoat"
description: "A petticoat is a skirt worn under another skirt, or, in the eighteenth century, the visible skirt worn under an open gown."
type: Glossary
url: https://teazle.art/glossary/petticoat
published: 2026-10-14
updated: 2026-10-14
author: "The Teazle editors"
---

# Petticoat

*A petticoat is a skirt worn under another skirt, or, in the eighteenth century, the visible skirt worn under an open gown.*

In eighteenth-century dress the petticoat was often meant to be seen: an open gown such as the [robe à la française](https://teazle.art/glossary/robe-a-la-francaise.md) showed a matching or contrasting petticoat at the front. Later, petticoats became purely underskirts, starched or layered to give volume before the [crinoline](https://teazle.art/glossary/crinoline.md).


## Sources

1. [Petticoat (AAT 300209927)](http://vocab.getty.edu/page/aat/300209927). Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus
2. [Petticoat (Q1062620)](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1062620). Wikidata

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