Dress, 1810-1815, English, White cotton with woven blue buttah motif

Full length dress with long sleeves and short empire line bodice. White cotton with woven blue buttah motif (small), with decorative woven blue and pink border at the neck and hem. Dress fastens with cross over inner bodice covered with a bib front and tied with a drawstring.

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 ensemble demonstrates the very high-waisted styles of the period 1815-1820. Following the plain appearance of Neo-classical dress, a new decorative trend can be seen in the patterning of the gown and the embellishment of the shoulders.

T.762-1913