.. became more saturated as the 1850’s approached. The pale delicate and girlish dimity fabrics became the rich colors of a Scottish plaid, or an imported silk.
High fashion, directed by a young and newly wed Queen Victoria, came out of England, but with the vast communications, trade, and import/export worldwide opening up with improved merchant ships and development of railroads on every continent, “English only” meant any idea or material brought from anywhere in the world.
(Photo: Your 1845 cat is a dog! In this early daguerrotype from England, you can see the engageante sleeves, Van Dyke collar (see last week’s posts), and deep “V” of the bodice.. but even in black and white you can tell the colors are deep and rich, and the fabric is fine in this middle class portrait)