Dress
Description
Wool printed challis dress worn by Mary Elizabeth Dorsey Farnandis (1795–1888). Fashionable paisley prints first gained popularity in the Western world during the late eighteenth century with the importation of fine goat-haired shawls from the Kashmir region of India. Nearing the mid-nineteenth century, textile manufacturers succeeded in producing paisley fabrics cheaper than those made in India, allowing entire dresses to be constructed from it.
Creator
Date
1840s