A stomacher is a triangular panel covering a U- or V-shaped gap in a doublet or gown. A stomacher may be boned, part of a corset or cover the corset. Stomachers were normally very ornamental. During the latter half of the fifteenth century, many European urban men and women started to wear stomachers (which were then called a ‘placard’ or a ‘placket’) with open fronted doublets (men) and gowns (women).