The chemise, also called a smock or shift, is a simple garment worn next to the skin to protect clothing from sweat and body oils. Chemise is the French term. Italians called it a "camicia". The English called the same shirt a "smock" and the Irish called it a "léine" (pronounced LAY-nya).

The history of the chemise

The chemise seems to have been developed from the Roman tunica and first became popular in the European Middle Ages. Women wore shifts or chemises underneath their gowns or robes; men wore chemises with their trousers or braies, and covered the chemises with garments such as doublets, robes, etc. In those times, it was usually the only piece of clothing that was washed regularly.

In Western countries, women's shifts did not fall out of fashion until the early 20th century, when they were generally replaced by brassieres, panties, girdles, and full slips.

Men's chemises may be said to still survive, as the common shirt. However, the shirt is now an outer garment, and is often protected from skin oil and perspiration by an undershirt or T-shirt worn next to the skin. The chemise also morphed into the smock-frock, a garment worn by English laborers until the early 20th century. Its loose cut and wide sleeves were well adapted to heavy labor. The name smock is nowadays still used for military combat jackets in the UK, whereas in the Belgian army the term has been corrupted to smoke-vest.

Construction of the chemise

A chemise, shift, or smock was usually sewn at home, by the women of a household. It was assembled from rectangles and triangles cut from one piece of cloth so as to leave no waste. The poor would wear skimpy chemises pieced from a narrow piece of rough cloth; the rich might have voluminous chemises pieced from thin, smooth fine linen.