Organza (or Organdie)
A fresh and crisp fabric, taking its name from the French organdi. A sheer but resistant thin cotton muslin, it was used in the 1800s to bind books. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was still primarily made of cotton but had silk organzine thread in the warp, when it was used for evening and wedding dresses, and to make ruffles, sashes, and trimmings for skirts. After World War II synthetic and articicial fibres are added to the blend, and organza was used to make colorful cocktail dresses with geometrical, striped, and checked patterns, and naïve and sporty designs that contrasted with its new-found fluidity. Organza was revived in the 1960s in the romantic neutral and pale shades of the 1800s, to make petticoats for wear under full pleated skirts.