The problem of the green dress

As to the green dress mentioned in the chapter There is dancing:

I know that for much of the period, white was the preferred color for dresses and there were several reasons for this.

• If you’re in a dimly lit ballroom, you don’t want to wear dark colors or you will blend into the background.
• It was thought to be a modest color for an unmarried woman.
• It was easy to clean (probably in a process involving urine)
• Aniline dyes hadn’t been invented yet

So I know the dress Mary provides Jane should probably have been white, but my reasoning is that Mary had to make do with what she could borrow from the dressmaker. And darn it, I think she would like nice in it. I would appreciate your thoughts.

PS There is an article in the JASNA Winter 2010 newsletter about muslin that mentions white as a popular color. And Jane Austen’s World has an article about laundry and pee. And finally a video about the importance of pee:

To be honest, I include the video simply because I love Tony Robinson.