georgette

Georgette is named after Madame Georgette de la Plante, a French modiste (dressmaker) active in Paris in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She developed or popularized a sheer, lightweight, crinkled fabric made from tightly twisted yarn. The fabric — crêpe georgette — became associated with her salon and took her first name. It is one of the rare cases where a textile is named after a specific person, and even rarer that the person was a woman.

Georgette is made from highly twisted yarns — typically silk, though polyester georgette is now common. The tight twist creates a slight crinkle in the fabric surface, giving it a grainy texture that distinguishes it from smooth chiffon. Georgette is more opaque than chiffon, has more body, and drapes differently. The two fabrics are often confused. The distinction matters to dressmakers: georgette holds shape better, chiffon floats more.

The fabric became a staple of 1920s and 1930s fashion. Its semi-sheer quality and elegant drape made it ideal for the flowing silhouettes of the Art Deco era. Georgette blouses, georgette scarves, and georgette evening gowns appeared in fashion magazines throughout the interwar period. The fabric carried the Parisian dressmaker's name into wardrobes across Europe and America.

Modern georgette is often polyester rather than silk. The word on a care label typically means 'sheer, crinkled fabric' without specifying fiber content. The distinction between silk georgette and polyester georgette is significant — silk georgette breathes, drapes differently, and costs ten times more — but the word does not distinguish. Georgette de la Plante's name now covers both the luxury and the mass-market versions.