In the 1600s and 1700s Europe, fabrics were mostly made at home by hand on a small loom (this was before the Industrial Revolution). There were polka dot patterns surely, but perfectly round circles with exact spacing were difficult to achieve by hand. Once the Industrial Revolution arrived in the 1760s, machinated processes were possible. At last, the flawless, symmetrical polka dot pattern was born.
Europeans accented fashions with polka dot designs as soon as they could easily manufacture the pattern.
The Spanish called their dotted textiles—seen in Flamenco dresses since the 1840s—“lunares” (little moons). The Swiss wove delicate dots onto gossamer sheer fabrics which came to be known as “dotted Swiss.” Germans had a coin called a Thaler and their textile with coin-sized dots was called “Thalertupfen.”
In the 1840s, in Czech Republic, a new, trendy couples dance arrived called the polka. (The Czech word pulka means “little half,” possibly describing the circular steps in the dance.) The dance craze was real—people went polka wild.
Consequently, a smart marketer realized the dotted design pattern could be associated with the polka if they called the design pattern polka dot. And thus these two burgeoning trends became forever intertwined by sharing a name.
Europeans accented fashions with polka dot designs as soon as they could easily manufacture the pattern.
The Spanish called their dotted textiles—seen in Flamenco dresses since the 1840s—“lunares” (little moons). The Swiss wove delicate dots onto gossamer sheer fabrics which came to be known as “dotted Swiss.” Germans had a coin called a Thaler and their textile with coin-sized dots was called “Thalertupfen.”
In the 1840s, in Czech Republic, a new, trendy couples dance arrived called the polka. (The Czech word pulka means “little half,” possibly describing the circular steps in the dance.) The dance craze was real—people went polka wild.
Consequently, a smart marketer realized the dotted design pattern could be associated with the polka if they called the design pattern polka dot. And thus these two burgeoning trends became forever intertwined by sharing a name.
