What Is a Camisole?

Where does the camisole come from?

The camisole takes its name from French, and its meaning has shifted since it reached English: the earliest English senses describe a short jacket or top with sleeves, and by 1900 the word also meant a sleeveless undergarment. The Online Etymology Dictionary traces French camisole (16th century) to Provençal camisola (“mantle”), a diminutive of camisa (“shirt”), from Late Latin camisia, “shirt, nightgown”.

The sources disagree on the first English use. Etymonline dates it to 1816, for a “short, light garment with sleeves”, formerly worn by women as morning dress; Merriam-Webster records the word earlier, in 1802, for “a short negligee jacket for women”, and says the French word was probably borrowed from Occitan camisola. Etymonline dates the sense “a sleeveless undergarment for women” to 1900. In the late 19th century the same word also meant a straitjacket.

What museum examples show

A dated museum piece shows the sleeved form. The V&A holds a white cotton camisole made in England around 1850–60. It is hip length and shaped in at the waist, with short set-in sleeves, a low round neck and six cotton-covered buttons down the front. Its neck and sleeves are edged with broderie anglaise, and it is stitched by hand.

Modern museum terminology describes a garment that hangs from straps instead of sleeves. The vocabulary used by the Fitzwilliam Museum (drawn from the Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus) describes camisoles as underbodices usually worn over a corset or bra, usually cut straight across the bustline, with straps made separately from the body.

The camisole top also appears on dresses. The Museum at FIT calls the slip dress “a ubiquitous nineties garment”, and its 1998 example is a full-length slip in black polyester jersey with a camisole top on adjustable straps.

What makes a camisole a camisole?

A camisole is defined by four things together: no sleeves, a top edge cut straight across the bust, straps that are separate pieces sewn onto the body, and a length that stops at or just below the waist. Those last three points come from the Getty thesaurus definition above; the absence of sleeves comes from the modern dictionary sense.

• Straps. Sewn on separately; they may be thin spaghetti straps, and are sometimes adjustable, as on the 1998 slip-dress top at the Museum at FIT.
• Neckline. Straight across, or shaped only slightly; the straps carry the garment rather than a cut-on shoulder.
• Length. To the waist or just below it.

How is a camisole different from its look-alikes?

What are the main types of camisole?

Camisoles divide by what they are worn for and how they are cut: as hidden underwear, as a visible top, or as the bodice of a slip dress, in woven or knitted cloth.

How do you tell a well-made camisole?

Read the fibre label first, then hold the camisole up by its straps and check the grain, seams and edges: a small garment hides little, and the standards for a good one are measurable.

Read the label

• Satin is not a fibre. Under US law, fibres must be named by their generic names, with percentages by weight in descending order. A “satin” camisole’s label tells you whether it is silk, polyester or something else.
• “100% silk” means silk. The FTC’s own example: a blouse of 97% silk and 3% polyester cannot be labelled “100% silk”, because the polyester was added on purpose.
• Small amounts. In the US, fibres under 5% are generally disclosed as “other fiber”, unless an exception applies; wool and recycled wool must always be named with their percentage.
• Trim and elastic. Binding and other trim are excluded from the fibre content, and decorative trim is exempt up to 15% of the surface area, so the fibre of lace edging may not be listed; the label then reads “exclusive of decoration”. Where a product is part elastic and part other fabric, the content must be given section by section.
• Origin. On imported products the country of manufacture must be on the front of the label, and “Made in the European Union” alone is not enough.

Check the grain

Hold the camisole by its straps. A 1978 University of Idaho Extension quality guide asks for the lengthwise grain to hang perpendicular to the floor and for the grain on the right half to match the left. A bias-cut camisole is the exception, because its grain runs on the diagonal by design; there, check that both halves still mirror each other.

Check seams and edges

• Seams and seam allowances lie flat and free from puckering, with stitches of equal length and balanced tension.
• Raw edges are secure, stable and free from ravelling; any finish on them is flat and smooth.
• The neckline is flat with smooth, gradual curves, and any facing is flat, held in place.
• Plaids, stripes and other designs meet at the seams, and any topstitching is uniform.

Red flags

• A label that says “satin” or “silky” without a fibre name and percentage.
• Left and right halves hanging on different grain when held by the straps.
• Puckered seams at the strap joins or along the top edge.
• Fraying raw edges inside, or a facing that rolls to the outside.

How do you wear a camisole?

Wear a camisole either as a hidden layer under a sheer or open top, or as a visible top in its own right, and choose the fabric for the job.

• Under a sheer blouse. Pick a camisole close to your skin tone or to the blouse’s colour, so the layer reads as one.
• Under a jacket or cardigan. A woven camisole gives a smooth line under tailoring; check that its straps sit inside the jacket’s shoulders.
• On its own. Choose an opaque fabric and a length that meets the waistband, and fit the straps so the top edge stays level across the bust.
• With a bra. Match strap positions, or choose a camisole whose straps cover the bra straps.