Looking back in history, it is worth mentioning that items of negligee were not very widely used, and if they actually were produced the only area of their implementation was to wear in the bedroom. By the 1920s it began to mimic women's satin single-layer evening dresses of the period. The term 'negligee' was used of a Royal Doulton run of ceramic figurines in 1927, showing women wearing what appears to be a one-piece knee-length silk or rayon slip, trimmed with lace. The word comes from the French 'nēgliger', meaning 'to neglect', 'to disregard' or 'to overlook'. Although the evening-dresses style of nightwear made moves towards the modern negligee style (translucent bodices, multiple layers of fabrics, lace trimming, bows - exemplified in 1941 by a photo of Rita Hayworth in Life), it was only after World War II that negligee wearing changed from being primarily utilitarian to being primarily sensual or even erotic; the negligee emerged strongly as a form of lingerie. Modern negligees were often much looser and made of sheer and semi-translucent fabrics and trimmed with lace or other fine material, and bows. Multiple layers of fabrics were often used. The modern negligee thus perhaps owes more to women's wear in the bedroom of fine bedjackets or bed-capes, and up-market slips than to the nightgown. Negligee wearing spread to a mass market, benefiting from the introduction of cheap synthetic fabrics such as nylon and its finer successors. From the 1940s to the 1970s, the trend was for negligees to become shorter in length (e.g. the babydoll of the 1970s). Negligees made from the 1940s to the 1970s are now collectible items. In the UK at 2004, negligee wearing accounted for only four per cent of women's nightwear sales, women's pajamas having dominated since the mid 1980s. However, UK negligee sales are said to have been the fastest increasing sector of the market since 1998 (Source: BBC, Dec 2004). Multiple layers of fabrics that provide full coverage of the most alluring parts of a woman's body are no longer necessary as contemporary society has lifted all the restrictions concerning negligee wearing and therefore women are now free to express their sexuality in any way they think it is possible. It is by way of negligee wearing that women are able to accentuate in their appearance what they want others to focus the attention on. It is no longer necessary to follow the patterns of accepted behavior and conform to the standards imposed by the rigid public opinion. Negligee wearing is no longer treated like a subject discussed in limited circles and has no become something open and widely accessible. Negligee is created and manufactured not only to wear in the bedroom, but also on stage. It used to be assembled from rectangles and triangles cut from one piece of cloth so as to leave no waste. The poor would wear skimpy garments pieced from a narrow piece of rough cloth; the rich might have voluminous items pieced from thin, smooth fine linen, multiple layers of fabrics. There now exists a tremendous number of negligee types which can satisfy any taste. Negligee nowadays produced out of good quality materials, multiple layers of fabrics, and this enables those who wear it get a very pleasant feeling and enjoy wearing it even more.