A Century of Cotton: Selections from The Helen Larson Historic Fashion Collection, 1800–1900

Showcasing the beauty and versatility of cotton fabrics, this exhibition highlights selected cotton garments and accessories from The Helen Larson Historic Fashion Collection. Beginning in the late seventeenth-century, lightweight cotton fabrics gradually supplanted the dominance of fragile and expensive silks. As cotton became increasingly popular, fashionable dress incorporated this new medium into its vocabulary. Including woven, printed and embroidered cottons, A Century of Cotton also traces the dramatic changes that occurred in the fashionable female silhouette between 1800 and 1900.