Dress, 1858-1860, English. Printed lilac and beige cotton trimmed with whitework

The design is printed in lilac and beige and the dress is trimmed with white-work embroidery. The body of the dress has an all- over lilac sprig pattern and the flounce a formal floral design. The bodice has a plain, round neck and extra fullness at the bust gathered just above the waist. It fastens at the back. The sleeves are tight to just above the elbow, and then flare widely. The flounced skirt is gathered onto a slightly peaked waistband.

Given by Messrs Harrods Ltd.

This was part of a very large collection of items of dress and accessories which was given to the Museum by Harrods, the department store, in 1913. The collection had been formed by the artist Talbot Hughes, who wrote a book on the history of dress, illustrated with photographs of models wearing items from his collection. A large firm in America had offered to buy the collection and present it to the Metropolitan Museum, New York, but Hughes did not want it to go abroad. At the suggestion of Cecil Harcourt Smith of the V&A, Harrods bought it for £2,500 and gave it to the Museum for the 'public good'. Harrods displayed the collection for three weeks in December 1913.

This is an example of a fashionable summer day dress of the late 1850s. Typical of the period are the full ‘pagoda’ sleeves and the bodice gathered from the shoulders into the lower front waist. Tiered skirts were popular in the 1850s. The fabric was printed with a decorative border expressly for use as tiers of a dress. It was known by the French term à disposition’.

T.702-1913