The Trousseau

Nicola here. Last night we had dinner with my mother-in-law and when I admired the beautiful, hand-embroidered table mats, she told me that she had made them in 1961 as part of her trousseau. That made me think; I hadn’t heard that word in such a long time and I have always loved the sound of it. And I also wondered whether people still had a trousseau or if it was another thing that has gone out of fashion.

The definition of “trousseau” is the clothes, linen, and other belongings collected by a bride for her marriage but originally the trousseau was the box itself. It’s also known as a hope chest or dowry chest, glory box or “bottom drawer.” It’s this last term that I remember from when I was growing up. My grandmother used to refer to putting things in your bottom drawer for when you got married, but by the time I married in the later 1980s things had changed!

The “cassone” of medieval Europe were large, decorated chests  like the one in teh picture that were extremely valuable in themselves and were a part of the dowry of a bride from a rich and/or aristocratic family. Elizabetta Gonzaga of Mantua and Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, were betrothed in 1486 and married in 1488. In an inventory of Elisabetta’s trousseau corredo, compiled around 25th February 1488 was recorded: ‘Venti forzieri, dieci lavorati d’oro, dieci depinti a la divisa’ (twenty chests, ten gilded, ten painted with heraldic arms/devices" which included the flames of love. This was a trousseau on a very grand scale both in terms of the boxes and their contents!

The basic form of the trousseau chest was large and rectangular and the majority were made of wood. They were a practical piece of furniture as well as a means of transporting a bride’s goods to her new home. Once in place, they could continue to be used to store items and the flat top provided a surface that could be used as a bench or small table. Some had drawers in as well for extra storage. Often a smaller, special box was included inside for makeup and jewellery. In some countries such as Holland and Germany, the chests were tall with double doors and shelves inside, again so that they could be used as cupboards after the marriage. This Dutch version is now in a museum.

Trousseaux chests were often highly decorated. As well as the elaborate gilding on the medieval casson, wooden chests might be carved or painted. Painting was particularly common in Scandinavian countries and also in the Arab traditions. Flat chests were well suited to storing blankets, table and bed linens, and clothes as well in the days before wardrobes. And so the term trousseau changed from being the box itself to the contents: anything that a woman of any level of society might have collected and set aside ahead of her marriage. Traditionally this might also include mattresses, pillows, quilts,curtains and towels, especially those that were home made or hand-embroidered.

There was however, always a great emphasis on clothes. We are fortunate enough to have a complete trousseau list for a lady of the Georgian period from the poet Robert Southey in his Commonplace Book. First there is the lady’s gowns – four different gowns in black, pink, gold and white, then a pink lutestring petticoat, a velvet scarf and hood, two aprons one of which was pink and the other embroidered, two pairs of silk stockings, two pairs of shoes, a Turkey handkerchief, four fans and a watch. In terms of underwear there was a set of Brussels lace night clothes and another set of Mechlin lace, a Paris cap, a number of mop caps and ruffles and tippets and other lace items. There were also plainer aprons in cambric and lawn.

This was relatively modest; by the mid-Victorian era the aristocratic rule was that a trousseau should include “a dozen of everything” and in 1877 Tatler denounced this extravagance with the words “the trousseau with all its horrors rises before you… It’s Monstrous proportions indicate a Giant Horror from which you will shrink back, appalled.” It was now not uncommon to spend months on a shopping spree of epic proportions in the lead up to the wedding.

Whilst the British felt that the trousseau was best kept in the bottom drawer, or drawers, in France it was the custom to spread out all  the trousseau items on view at the wedding feast, including the petticoats and stockings. Paris fashions were of course considered the finest, as demonstrated when Frances Folsom married Grover Cleveland in Washington in 1886, having purchased all her trousseau in Paris. For British royals however it was important to be patriotic. Princess May of Teck commented that “we get trousseau things sent to us on approval from all parts of England, Scotland and Ireland…” Her “bottom drawer” had to be big enough for 40 outdoor suits, 15 ball gowns, 5 tea gowns, bonnets, shoes and gloves unnumbered.

By the 1930s The Brides’ Book or Young Housewife’s Compendium, designed for a more modest wedding, decreed that the rule of “a dozen of everything” should now apply to all trousseau items – but that you should make your own silk and lace nightdresses, bed jackets, chemises and knickers. Heaven help those women who had no talent for needlework! I would have had a tiny and badly-made trousseau!

With such trousseau-inflation for the middle classes, the upper classes had to increase theirs to compete. Sonia Keppel, daughter of a friend of King Edward VII, had three dozen night gowns, petticoats etc, a dozen pairs of evening and day shoes, six pairs of stays, evening and day dresses and endless other outfits with silver lace and silver lamé, plus a pink satin peignoir trimmed with ostrich feathers and grey cap trimmed with ospreys!

The trousseau was going out of fashion the 1970s in England but I’ll finish with a wonderful list from a fashionable girl’s honeymoon trousseau from 1973:

12 pairs of tights, 1 bra, 2 packs of paper panties, 1 pair of suede lace up to the knee boots with platform soles, 2 trouser suits, 1 pair of blue jeans, 2 skinny knit sweaters, 1 beach outfit, 1 mini skirt, 1 ankle length granny dress for day wear and one slightly longer and “barer” dress for evening wear.

Her husband’s trousseau meanwhile, consisted of 1 lace shirt, 2 lace trimmed shirts, a hand-embroidered Japanese kimono, and six pairs of stretch bikini brief underpants “ranging in colour from sky-blue with flowers to fire engine red”!

Did you have a hope chest or a bottom drawer, or did someone in your family have one and can you remember those items that went into it, either clothing or other special household items? Has the idea of the trousseau gone out of fashion and should it be revived - for both men and women?

Comments

[theo]

Makes you wonder who could have worn all of that clothing! But I also wonder if that's where we get 12 place settings, 12 glassware, 12 dinnerware...if it's a holdover or something that made its way into the bridal registry of today, from the trousseau of yesterday.

I did not have a trousseau. Neither did my mother. I do have hand embroidered linens from my grandmothers and their grandmothers however that have stood the test of time and were done for their own trousseaus. I also have a tea set that is about 170 years old now that came from my great, great grandmother and managed to make it across the ocean in the late 1800's with only two pieces lost in transit. Unfortunately, Replacements Limited has never shown any pieces but I keep looking. It's so very fine that even without the light behind it, you can see the pattern of the tablecloth it sits on, through it. Alas, any clothing is long gone. Thankfully, my girls appreciate the value in the history and will keep them when I'm gone and treasure them as much as I do.

[Nicola Cornick]

Hi Theo! LOL, I'd never work my way through "twelve of everything" or at least not whilst I was the same dress size! That's an interesting point about whether that was the origin of the 12 settings idea.

How lovely that you have inherited linens and a tea set. I think these items are so special, even more so when like yours they are so fine and delicate, and also have family stories attached.

[Christina Courtenay]

I had one, although mine was all about household goods and not clothing :-) I had a dinner service for 12 people (in my chosen pattern of Royal Copenhagen Blå Blomst), various sets of glasses, 12 of each, and a dozen sets of cutlery, plus lots of handmade sheets and pillowcases embroidered with my initials, as well as towels ditto and tablecloths of various sizes. I inherited my mother's bridal chest which was made of oak and I have now passed that on to one of my daughters, although I very much doubt she'll be putting a trousseau in it! I was probably the last person in my family to collect stuff like that. A shame as I treasure all the things that were lovingly made for me by my grandmother and other relatives!

[Misti]

I inherited a cedar chest from my grandmother (it's old and except for some scratches on top it's in beautiful condition and still smells so good) and my mom used to refer to that as my trousseau, but it never had clothes or dishes in it. Right now it's holding pretty much everything I kept from my childhood except for photos. I don't open it up very often, but when I do it's a big box of cedar scented nostalgia!

[Kareni]

I'd thought that the service for twelve might be due to Jesus and his twelve disciples sans Judas.

[Kareni]

What a fascinating post, Nicola. I don't know if any of my forebears had trousseaux; I know that when my mother immigrated from the Netherlands to New Zealand in the mid-fifties as a young single woman she was limited to about one cubic meter of belongings. I don't think that left much space for a dozen ball gowns!

I have to admit to being curious as to the paper panties from the fashionable girl’s honeymoon trousseau from 1973.

[Nicola Cornick]

Interesting theory!

[Nicola Cornick]

How wonderful, Misti, and the thought of that lovely nostalgic cedar scent as welll!

[Nicola Cornick]

Thank you, Kareni, I’m very glad you enjoyed it. I loved finding out more about the history of the trousseau. How difficult it must have been for your mother to have had to fit all her precious belongings into such a small space!

[Robin C]

My mom and her younger sister had Hope Chests hand crafted by my grandfather after they were born. My great-grandmothers help fill it with embroidered linens, towels, aprons and quilts until they turned 21. My mom still has most of her items. Growing up, my younger sister and I had Bottom Drawers filled with all our "special stuff" we collected through our childhood. Even my dad on his cleaning/clearing out rampages never touched our Bottom Drawers. I still have my "Bottom Drawer Box"(a plastic bin labeled with permanent black marker) which I have carried with me through 17 moves and added more "special stuff" to over the 30 years since I left home. So, not a trousseau exactly, but just as special and treasured over the years.

[Sue McCormick]

I never had a trousseau (nor wanted one) but I did intend to have a dozen items of tableware. I never made it in the flatware department, but I did buy my plates, salad bowls in that order. How else do you have enough when the family comes home for holiday meals?

I never made it in the flatware department: I have 7 place setting in my sterling silver pattern and 11 complete settings in my stainless. Luckily for me they look well toegehter. I can do a place setting in silver next to a place setting in stainless, and so on around the table and they look well together. As if it was on purpose.

[Lucy A Mitchell]

Nicola,
Your article about trousseau chests and their contents reminded me that when I graduated from high school in 1953 one of the furniture stores gave all the girl graduates a small cedar chest. It was too small for actual trousseau articles but it became a great place for storing letters.

[Constance]

Imagine having your underwear displayed for wedding guests to see! Lovely post, Nicola, but I, too, would like to know more about paper panties. I wonder if it had something to do with the rationing of so many materials? I did not have a trousseau, but when I became engaged I was given hand embroidered linens and the most beautiful crocheted bedspread, all made by my Great-Aunt Eula for her trousseau. She was born in the 1870s and was engaged three times, but never married. She was the oldest sister and I was the oldest niece, so I was told from a young age that her items would come to me. I cherish them and decorated our guest bedroom around them - but I always remove them before anyone actually sleeps there!

[Nancy Mayer]

We all received those little chests for jewelry as well.That was in Columbus, GA. I had a cedar chest but certainly never had a dozen of everything. I was teaching school and my husband was a lieutenant in the army when we married. We were lucky to have two of everything.

[Pat Dupuy]

Me too! I was living in the New Orleans area when I graduated from high school. I got a letter in the mail inviting me to come to a furniture store to pick up a gift. It was the little cedar chest made by Lane that was perfect to hold jewelry. I'm sure they were hoping I would come back to buy a Lane hope chest someday. I know of only one person who had a hope chest. My college roommate one year had one. She married in 1969. I think her parents bought it for her; she was an only child. I have no idea what she kept in it.

[Annette N]

I did not have any special things when I married. There were wedding gifts, that was it. But, I had several aunts who had hope chests.

Y'all reminded me, that when my son graduated from high school in a small Texas town, each graduate received a small cedar chest. He used his for change, fishing lures and hooks. I bet Lane would never have expected that.

When you think about it, it is probably no longer a necessity. People are more self sufficient, marry at an older age and have been in the workplace earning money. But, wouldn't it be amazing to have 12 ball gowns? Then of course one would have to find some balls to attend. I bet that in some parts of the world, there are still chests sitting in homes filled with linens and beautiful things.

This is a wonderful post. It certainly illustrates the fact that life has become much different.

Hope everyone is well and safe and happy.

[Nicola cornick]

Robin, how lovely that your Mom and sister had hope chests! And I love that your bottom drawer contained such special items and that you still have it with you!

[Nicola cornick]

Sue, I love your creativity in matching the silver and stainless steel settings together!

[Nicola cornick]

Wow, how beautiful, Lucy, and what a generous thing to do. I love the idea of a letter storage wooden box.

[Nicola cornick]

LOL, Nancy! Yes, two is fine and twelve a definite extravagance!

[Nicola cornick]

I’m glad that some people at least had a Hope chest although I love the idea of a little wooden jewelry box.

[Nicola cornick]

Hi Annette! Great to hear the male version of what to do with those little cedar boxes! I think you’re right that these days people often already own loads of stuff and don’t need to put things aside in the same way.

[floridagardener]

I wondered what that meant. To me in the literal sense it wouldn't be practical. Having been a young women in 1973, I have never heard the term. I am curious as to what type of garment it was or to what it referred.

[floridagardener]

With young couples often living together or establishing households bef0re marriage, the idea of a trousseau has a different meaning. When my granddaughter was in grad school, she was living in an apartment. I gave her our dining room and living room furniture, plus household items as we were down sizing. I did give her some items which belonged to her grandmother. So that was a modern version of her trousseau. Although at the time she was single, she was planning to live with her significant other so in a way this would benefit him as well. They remain together after these last 10 years.

[Nicola Cornick]

Yes, that's the trousseau in a modern form, isn't it. It's good to see that these traditions change and develop yet still remain!

[Nicola Cornick]

Apparently paper knickers were popular in the UK from the 50s to the 70s. People bought them at the chemist when they had run out of underwear at the end of their holiday. They were disposable.