Quote from Fashion as Communication from M. Barnard

"In 18th Century England, printed cottons were relatively expensive and were worn only by the more affluent middle- and upper-class women. With the development of the cotton industry in Lancashire in the early 19th Century, however, these printed cottons beacme cheaper and working-class women could afford to buy the new cotton dress material for themselevs. Consequently, by 1818, a draper in London could report that these cotton prints were worn principally by servants and the lower classes. In response, the middle and upper classes abandoned printed cotton dress material in favour of 'plain white dresses'...inspired, it was said, by the wish to imitate the form of classical figures', (Forty 1986:73-5)" M.Barnard, pg.62