tarlatan
/ˈtɑːlətən
/noun [mass noun]
A thin, open-weave muslin fabric, used for stiffening ball dresses.It took merely a few minutes for her to grow bored, and she stood, and with wobbling limbs made her way to the bag, produced a flowered sage tarlatan dress, put it on, and straightened her hair....
- Lon's heart skipped a beat when he saw her, standing in her pink tarlatan dress, her hair done up in curls, and her hand clutching a dainty glass of champagne.
- Balanchine famously declared that "ballet is a woman," but the aphorism was far truer in Degas's day, when the ballet was an almost exclusively feminine preserve of layered tarlatan skirts, pink satin slippers and ribbons.
Origin
Early 18th century: from French tarlatane, probably of Indian origin.