During the late nineteenth century, kimonos were favoured dressing gowns and many tea-gowns contained elements inspired by Antiquity, the Middle Ages or the eighteenth century. Paradoxically, these female garments evoking distant times and places were bound to the home. Through an object-based study of clothing and an analysis of written clothing, this research examines the link between interior gowns, wearer, domestic interior and the ‘Other’.