Evening dress

Sprigs, hand-embroidered in chain stitch with gilt metal thread and embellished with spangles (sequins), decorate this delicate evening dress. It is made of machine-made black silk bobbin net and would have been worn over a silk underdress of a lighter colour. Elaborate and delicate dresses like this one were worn for special occasions such as balls.

Net dresses were very fashionable and their popularity was spurred by new inventions. The development of machine-made net in the late 18th and early 19th centuries meant that gauzy lace effects were increasingly affordable either as trimmings or garments. The bobbin-net machine was patented by the Englishman John Heathcoat in 1808 and produced a superior net identical to the twist-net grounds of hand-made bobbin lace. It was so successful that women in the highest ranks of society, including the Emperor Napoleon's first wife, Josephine, wore machine-net dresses. Initially, however, all machine nets were plain and had to be embroidered by hand.