Spencer
Not on view
The sheer, lax form of Empire dress provided little visual or climate safety for the body. Almost immediately with the adoption of the new sheer styles, a Darwinian reaction occurred in the presence of spencers, adapted from menswear especially military attire, and shawls, taken first from the textiles of the East. These extras, even if provisional, shrouded the see-through and waft-through gauziness of Empire dresses.
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