BOOK: 5000 Years of Textiles

Jennifer Harris (Author) 

REFERENCES

(page 224)

"With the setting up of the Dutch (1597), English (1600) and French (1664) East India Companies the technically far superior painted and dyed Indian cloths found their way to Europe, where their bright, fast colours were greatly admired. Light in weight, washable and with bright exotic patterns, they were instantly in demand for both furnishings and clothing, particularly informal wear such as dressing - and morning - gowns. Their enormous commercial success inevitably prompted invitation by European printers, although the earliest attempts were very poor substitutes for the brilliantly dyed and patterned fabrics from the east." 

(page 225)

"... loopholes allowed cotton to be printed for export, particularly to the rapidly expanding American colonies... as a result, new and improved dyeing techniques continues to be developed there, and by the 1730s printed cotton was competing seriously in the market for fashionable materials."

"The earliest European designs were florals in the Indian manner, although by the mid-eighteenth century they tended to imitate the designs of contemporary, fashionable silk brocades, with more naturalistic drawn flowers in a white ground being most popular." 

FURTHER INFORMATION

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: British Museum Press; 2nd Revised edition edition (18 Oct 2004)
• Language English
• ISBN-10: 0714125709
• ISBN-13: 978-0714125701