Round gown, Italian, ca. 1795, silk, linen. Length (a): 57 1/2 in. (146.1 cm). Purchase, Irene Lewisohn Bequest, 1979. 1979.20a–e, g. The Metropolitan Museum of Art © 2000–2016 The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

By the 1790s, the structure of clothing was undergoing dramatic change. This afternoon dress in the form of a round gown steadfastly keeps up appearances and can pass for eighteenth-century opulence, especially in its colors and textile richness. But the high-waisted dress, spencer, corset, and separate sleeves constitute a new anatomy, one that anticipates the century to come.