Terms and Conditions
The artist, title and date of the work must be listed anywhere the image is reproduced:
England
Dress (c. 1815)
cotton, wool
118.5 cm (centre back)
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, NGV Supporters of Fashion and Textiles, 2018
Photo: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
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About this work
In 1815 Indian muslin was highly fashionable in Britain, despite there being more affordable locally produced alternatives. Its popularity was partly driven by textile merchants’ marketing strategies, which romanticised (and exoticised) the textile and conflated its fragility and purity with femininity and virtue. By the mid 1800s, however, Britain had cannibalised the cotton and muslin industries, mass-producing fabrics such as this example. The richly coloured florals and sprig embroidery is inspired by Indian chintz motifs.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
England
Accession Number
2018.1048
Department
International Fashion and Textiles
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Professor AGL Shaw AO Bequest