This pink and black silk dress with half-sleeves of black lace came from La Samaritaine, a Paris department store.
Large department stores were a new way for women to buy their clothes in the later 19th century. Dresses could be ordered and made to measure in the dressmaking workrooms of these shops.
http://www.fashionmuseum.co.uk/index.cfm?UUID=545A8E29-A8CD-45D8-948F9D9A0DDAAAEF
