The Paris Exhibition of decorative arts of 1925 had an enormous impact on American design when it toured the USA the following year. It encouraged American designers to create furniture and interiors in the modern style. One example is this printed silk dress fabric called ‘Mothballs and Sugar Cubes’. It was designed by the well-known photographer Edward Steichen for the Stehli Silks Corporation. The pattern is adapted from a photograph of mothballs and sugar cubes lit from different angles so that they form an abstract pattern in black, grey and white. It is part of the ‘Americana’ range of dress fabrics, which the firm commissioned from leading artists in 1927. To make a change from ubiquitous floral patterns, these fabrics were designed specifically to depict contemporary American life.