{{Short description|Women's clothing of triangle-folded kerchief}} thumb|Descriptive drawing.
A '''fichu''' ({{IPAc-en|'|f|i:|sh|u:}}, from the French "thrown over") is a large, square kerchief worn by women to fill in the low neckline of a bodice. Similar to a ''pelerine''.
== Description == It originated in the United Kingdom in the 18th century and remained popular there and in France through the 19th with many variations,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lewandowski|first=Elizabeth J.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gbIsJ2tZJS4C&pg=PA107|title=The Complete Costume Dictionary|date=2011|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-7785-6|page=107}}</ref> as well as in the United States.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Volo|first1=Dorothy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yPLYqix19DIC&pg=PA289|title=Daily Life in Civil War America, 2nd Edition|last2=Volo|first2=James M.|date=2009|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-36604-8|page=289|edition = 2nd}}</ref> The fichu was generally of linen fabric and was folded diagonally into a triangle and tied, pinned, or tucked into the bodice in front.
A fichu is sometimes used with a brooch to conceal the closure of a ''décolleté'' neckline. The fichu can thus be fastened in the front, or crossed over the chest. The cross-over fichu sometimes extended all the way to the back. Some models include a large over-the-shoulders back piece.<ref>{{Cite web|title=fichu |date= 2018| series= Fashion History Timeline|url=https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/fichu/|access-date=2020-08-21|website=fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu}}</ref>
The fichu found in several traditional cultures resembles a poncho that covers only the shoulders and chest.
== Gallery == <gallery widths="200" heights="200"> File:Gullager Salisbury.jpg|Elizabeth Sewall Salisbury wears an embroidered fichu pinned at the neck, 1789. File:Anonymous - Jeune femme au fichu blanc - J741 - Musée Cognacq-Jay.jpg|''Jeune femme au fichu blanc'', between 1790 and 1800 File:Fichu MET 1979.165.7.jpg|American or European, cotton, mid-19th century. File:Fichu MET 1978.314.7.jpg|Probably American, cotton, mid-19th century. File:Fichu MET 38.271 CP2.jpg|French, silk, mid-19th century. File:Fichu MET 34.5869 CP2.jpg|British, linen, knotted, mid-19th century. File:Fichu MET C.I.69.33.20 S.jpg|American or European, silk, mid-19th century. File:Le fichu en indienne comtadin.jpg|''Fichu en indienne'', traditionally worn in the Comtat Venaissin. </gallery>
==See also== * 1700–1750 in fashion * 1750–1795 in fashion * Cravat * Kerchief * Neckerchief * Pañuelo
== Citations == {{Reflist}}
== General and cited references == * Baumgarten, Linda: ''What Clothes Reveal: The Language of Clothing in Colonial and Federal America'', Yale University Press, 2002. {{ISBN|0-300-09580-5}}. * Cunnington, C. Willett, and Phillis Emily Cunnington: ''Handbook of English Costume in the Eighteenth Century''. London: Faber, 1972. * Payne, Blanche: ''History of Costume from the Ancient Egyptians to the Twentieth Century'', Harper & Row, 1965. {{ISBN|9780060450700}}. {{LCCN|65010419}}. {{OCLC|223437}}. * Ribeiro, Aileen: ''Dress in Eighteenth Century Europe 1715–1789'', Yale University Prison, 2002, {{ISBN|0-300-09151-6}}.
==External links== {{Commons category|Fichu}} {{Wiktionary}} * [https://books.google.com/books?id=I8uxpd6ajqkC&pg=PA34& ''Victorian Fashions and Costumes from Harper's Bazar, 1867-1898''] * [http://larsdatter.com/18c/fichu.html 18th century women's kerchiefs and fichus] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101227201613/http://larsdatter.com/18c/fichu.html |date=2010-12-27 }} * [http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0000.838 Description from Diderot's ''Encyclopedie'']
Category:Neckwear Category:Shawls and wraps
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