The design of this floral silk is typical of the 1740s, but the style of the outfit reflects 1760s fashions. It was typical for clothes in expensive materials like silk to be unpicked and re-sewn into more fashionable styles. Most of the Harris’s fashion collection dates from the 1800s but we have significant examples of earlier clothing. Alongside this Spitalfields silk dress these include a pair of men’s red embroidered slippers from the 1620s and men’s clothing from the 1700s. You can see more of the Harris’s fashion and textile collection on Google’s Art & Culture We Wear Culture website.