Mother Hubbard

English

Tahitian girls in their unadorned "Mother Hubbards" between 1880 and 1889.

From "Old Mother Hubbard", a nursery rhyme.

Mother Hubbard (plural Mother Hubbards)

(fashion) A long, wide, loose-fitting gown with long sleeves and a high neck, introduced by missionaries in Polynesia; Originally austere, later transformed into lighter and more colorful forms.
- 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, chapter 49
  Her arms were like legs of mutton, her breasts like giant cabbages; her face, broad and fleshy, gave you an impression of almost indecent nakedness, and vast chin succeeded to vast chin. I do not know how many of them there were. They fell away voluminously into the capaciousness of her bosom. She was dressed usually in a pink Mother Hubbard, and she wore all day long a large straw hat.

a loose-fitting dress