Dress, 1805-1810, At the beginning of the nineteenth century, whitework became the favored embellishment for fashionable Grecian-style gowns, the latest fashion, with low necks and high waists. The neo-classical design at the skirt's center front echoes the delicate swags on embroidered pictures, while the sheer gauze fabric (which required a solid color underdress to avoid indecent exposure) recalls the floating train on the Egyptian princess's dress in Ruth Green Barber's Moses picture.