Evening dress

This sheer muslin evening dress demonstrates the survival of neo-classical elements of women’s dress into the early 1820s. While heavier fabrics in brighter colours appeared in day dress, white remained fashionable for evening. This particular example may well have been for summer wear. It would have been worn with an under-dress of silk, possibly in coloured fabric. The off-the-shoulder neckline and short sleeves were appropriate evening styles. By the early 1820s, skirts shortened to ankle length and decorative flounces appear at the hem.

Embroidery in white, called whitework, was a popular style of decoration on white muslin. The wheel motif embroidered in buttonhole stitch, also includes a technique known as cutwork. The muslin at the centre of each wheel is cut away and the spokes worked in picot bars.