wide hoops under the dress to extend the hips out sideways and they soon became a staple in formal wear. This gave the Rococo period the iconic dress of wide hips combined with the large amount of decoration on the garments. Wide panniers were worn for special occasions, and could reach up to in diameter, and smaller hoops were worn for the everyday settings. These features originally came from seventeenth-century Spanish fashion, known as guardainfante, initially designed to hide the pregnant stomach, then reimagined later as the pannier. 1745 became the Golden Age of the Rococo with the introduction of a more exotic, oriental culture in France called a la turque. This was made popular by Louis XV's mistress, Madame Pompadour, who commissioned the artist, Charles Andre Van Loo, to paint her as a Turkish sultana. In the 1760s, a style of less formal dresses emerged and one of these was the polonaise, with inspiration taken from Poland. It was shorter than the French dress, allowing the underskirt and ankles to be seen, which made it easier to move around in. Another dress that came into fashion was the robe a l'anglais, which included elements inspired by the males' fashion; a short jacket, broad lapels and long sleeves. It also had a snug bodice, a full skirt without panniers but still a little long in the back to form a small train, and often some type of lace kerchief worn around the neck. Another piece was the 'redingote', halfway between a cape and an overcoat. Accessories were also important to all women during this time, as they added to the opulence and the decor of the body to match their gowns. At any official ceremony ladies were required to cover their hands and arms with gloves if their clothes were sleeveless. Gallery Architecture Engravings Painting Rococo era painting See also Italian Rococo art Rococo painting Rococo in Portugal Rococo in Spain Cultural movement Gilded woodcarving History of painting Timeline of Italian artists to 1800 Illusionistic ceiling painting Louis XV style Louis XV furniture Notes and citations Bibliography (French translation from German) Further reading Arno Schönberger and Halldor Soehner, 1960. The Age of Rococo. Published in the US as The Rococo Age: Art and Civilization of the 18th Century (Originally published in German, 1959). External links All-art.org: Rococo in the "History of Art" History of Rococo. Art, architecture & luxury History