Gown  
A garment roughly equivalent to a dress that was worn by 17th/18th-century English and colonial women and young children of both sexes. A gown was worn over a shift (similar to a long shirt or nightgown) and petticoats (skirts). Gowns worn by girls and young boys laced up the back. Women's gowns were laced up the front over a stomacher, a decorative piece of stiffened fabric that covered the gap under the laces.

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