A chemise or shift is a classic smock type of women's undergarment or dress. Historically, a chemise was a simple garment worn next to the skin to protect clothing from sweat and body oils, the precursor to the modern shirts commonly worn in Western nations.
Chemise, linen, c.1790-1810. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute: 2009.300.392.
A drawing of a chemise, laid flat. (2014)
Marie Antoinette wearing a dress that came to be known as chemise à la reine.
Chemise, cotton, probably American, c.1880s. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute: C.I.51.30.1.
A smock-frock or smock is an outer garment traditionally worn by rural workers, especially shepherds and waggoners. Today, the word smock refers to a loose overgarment worn to protect one's clothing, for instance by a painter.
A 19th-century shepherd in a smock-frock. Detail from Found by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1854.
Walter Langley, Between The Tides, 1901, Fishermen wear knit-frocks and fisherman's smocks
Detail from May Day by Kate Greenaway. The child in green wears a smock-frock.
Liberty art fabrics advertisement showing a smocked dress, May 1888