Not on display

Dress Fabric

1935 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This silk seersucker dress fabric is printed with a repeat of flowers and stems in white, pink, yellow, red and green, on a black background. Floral printed fabrics held a prominent place in every smart woman's wardrobe in the 1930s. Motifs floating on a plain ground worked admirably; navy, black and brown background colours were perennially in vogue. The use of floral decoration on cloth was hardly new but the flowers of the 1930s blossomed with fresh life and vigour. Detailed, naturalistic representations in the traditional manner were replaced with a freedom of line and form closely allied to contemporary movements in the fine and graphic arts.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Screen-printed silk seersucker
Brief description
Dress fabric of screen-printed silk seersucker, made by François Ducharne, Lyon, 1935
Physical description
Dress fabric of screen-printed silk seersucker printed with a repeat of flowers and stems in white, pink, yellow, red and green on a black background.
Production typeMass produced
Credit line
Given by Manchester Design Registry
Object history
Registered File number 1974/3231.
Registration number 356644.
Subject depicted
Summary
This silk seersucker dress fabric is printed with a repeat of flowers and stems in white, pink, yellow, red and green, on a black background. Floral printed fabrics held a prominent place in every smart woman's wardrobe in the 1930s. Motifs floating on a plain ground worked admirably; navy, black and brown background colours were perennially in vogue. The use of floral decoration on cloth was hardly new but the flowers of the 1930s blossomed with fresh life and vigour. Detailed, naturalistic representations in the traditional manner were replaced with a freedom of line and form closely allied to contemporary movements in the fine and graphic arts.
Bibliographic reference
Thirties Floral Fabrics. Series 3 (The Victoria & Albert colour books). London : Michael Joseph, published in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1988
Collection
Accession number
T.255-1987

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Record createdJanuary 15, 2004
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