Fichu

A fichu (/ˈfiːʃuː/, 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.

It originated in the United Kingdom in the 18th century and remained popular there and in France through the 19th with many variations,¹ as well as in the United States.² 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.³

The fichu found in several traditional cultures resembles a poncho that covers only the shoulders and chest.

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  Elizabeth Sewall Salisbury wears an embroidered fichu pinned at the neck, 1789.
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  Jeune femme au fichu blanc, between 1790 and 1800
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  American or European, cotton, mid-19th century.
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  Probably American, cotton, mid-19th century.
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  French, silk, mid-19th century.
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  British, linen, knotted, mid-19th century.
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  American or European, silk, mid-19th century.
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  Fichu en indienne, traditionally worn in the Comtat Venaissin.

• 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 65-10419. OCLC 223437.
• Ribeiro, Aileen: Dress in Eighteenth Century Europe 1715–1789, Yale University Prison, 2002, ISBN 0-300-09151-6.