a shawl is a simple item of clothing

8/2/2019 A Shawl is a Simple Item of Clothing

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A shawl is a simple item of clothing, loosely worn over the shoulders, sometimes also over the head.

It is usually a rectangular or square piece of cloth that is often folded to make a triangle but can also

be triangular in shape.

Kashmiri shawls were high-fashion garments in Western Europe in the early- to mid-

nineteenth century. Imitation Kashmiri shawls woven in Paisley, Silk shawls with fringes were first

made in China and were available by the first decade of the nineteenth century. Ones with

embroidery and fringes were also available in Europe and the Americas by 1820. These were called

China crepe shawls, and in Spain "mantones de Manila" because they were shipped to Spain from

China via the port of Manila. The importance of these shawls in fashionable women's wardrobes

declined between 1865 and 1870 in Western culture. These embroidered shawls were revived in the

1920s under the name Spanish shawls, a named derived from their use as part of the dress of

Spanish Gypsies, also known as gitanas. Their use as part of the costume of the lead in the opera

Carmen contributed to the association of the shawls with Spain rather than China.

Today, shawls are worn for added warmth (and fashion) at outdoor or indoor evening affairs

where the temperature is warm enough for men in wool suits but not for women in dresses and

where a jacket might be inappropriate.

The shawls made in Kashmir occupy a pre-eminent place among textile products. The

Kashmir shawl is characterized by the elaboration of its design, in which the "cone" pattern is a

prominent feature, and by the glowing brilliance, depth, and enduring qualities of its colours. The

basis of these excellences are found in the very fine, soft, short, flossy under-wool, called pashmina,

found on the shawl-goat. There are several varieties of pashmina, but the finest is a strict monopoly

of the maharaja of Kashmir. Of shawls, apart from shape and pattern, there are only two principal

classes: Loom-woven shawls called tiliwalla or kani kar - sometimes woven in one piece, but more

often in small segments which are sewn together with such precision that the sewing is quite

imperceptible; and embroidered shawls in which over a ground of plain pashmina is worked by

needle a minute and elaborate pattern.

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Shawls of Paisley design were in fashionfor nearly 100 years.

Pashmina shawls are of the highest quality made from the pashmina goat fromKashmir, India. Its fleece has been used for thousands of years to make the highestquality of shawls called pashminas. Cashmere or Kashmir shawls were of a very softfabric made from the wool of the Cashmere goat.

KASHMIR AND SHAWLS OF PAISLEY DESIGN

(1) Mother and Two Children by A E Chalon, c. 1812. (courtesey of

the Geffrye Museum)

Shawls of Paisley design were in fashion for nearly 100 years, from around 1780

until the 1870s (1). During this time millions were woven, embroidered and

printed in Kashmir, Persia, India, Russia, USA and Europe, in France at Paris and

Lyon, Austria in Vienna, in England at Norwich and in Scotland at Edinburgh,

Glasgow and Paisley itself. It was the woven Kashmir shawls which first caught

women's imagination, with European manufacturers quick to emulate by weaving

or printing. Paisley produced shawls the most economically and for the longest

period, the name becoming synonymous with the place of manufacture.
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In order to write about shawls of British manufacture I need first to explain about

the Kashmir shawl industry.

Kashmir Shawls

Shawls have been woven inKashmir since about theeleventh century, but theindustry producing what werefer to as a Kashmir shawl isthought to have begun duringthe fifteenth and sixteenthcenturies (2,3). During thefifteenth century Persianreplaced Sanskrit as the officiallanguage and the world shawlderives from the Persian shal,denoting a class of woven fabricrather than an article of dress.

During its hitext Kashmirexperienced Mughal, Afghanand Sikh invasions, all of whichleft their stylistic influence onthe shawl.The Mughals, who inhabited the

vast Central Asian steppe,

conquered Kashmir in 1586.

Under their rule the arts

blossomed and the shawl

industry grew. Weavers were

brought in from Eastern

Turkestan where the type of

weave later used for Kashmir

shawls was practiced. Persian

men had traditionally worn

narrow waist girdles of shawl

fabric, as part of male dress,

while the Indians wove wide

shoulder mantles for male

attire. These were usually given

as prestigious gifts, and one can

clearly see the honour in which

they were held by looking at miniatures of the period, where the proud owner is

seen wearing such an accessory. From about 1775 Kashmir shawls were acquired

by travelers, explorers, military personnel and members of the East India Company

who appreciating their beauty and warmth, brought them back as presents. In

Carola Oman's Life of Sir Walter Scott, The Wizard of the North, it is recorded that

Scott's French bride Charlotte Carpentier was given a Kashmir shawl in 1797 for

her trousseau which cost 50 guineas (50/ $100), a huge sum.

(2) Woven Kashmir pashmina shawl, c.

1820

(3)
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Motif DevelopmentThe earliest design on Kashmirseventeenth and eighteenth centuryshawls was a single flowering plantcomplete with roots, inspired by Englishherbals (books with plant illustrations)which reached the Mughal court duringthe seventeenth century. This designgradually developed into an uprightspray of flowers, and by around 1800became the stylized cone-shaped motifknown as the boteh, which we now tendto call the Paisley pine. The shape of themotif changed over the decades, from asmall squat cone to a very elongatedcurve.

There are many theories about theboteh or pine motif; Paisley Museum's

explanation seems perhaps the most

logical. The pattern can be traced back

to ancient Babylon, where a tear-drop shape was used as a symbol to represent

the growing shoot of a date palm. The

palm provided food, drink, clothing

(woven fibers) and shelter, and so

became regarded as the Tree of Life',

with its growing shoot being gradually

recognized as a fertility symbol.

ProductionMethods

By the mid-nineteenth century demandin Europe for Kashmir shawls wasenormous and the demand could not besatisfied. Before 1850 one man wouldweave a shawl on a hand loom. Afterthis date several men or boys wouldweave a small section of a shawl, whichwould be cut out and pieced together, a

patchwork of small pieces, and sewn intoa shawl by a shawl tailor or rafugar. Anorder worked in this way could becompleted in one-and-a-half monthsinstead of the two to three years itwould take to weave a shawl. Anothereven quicker method to increaseproduction was to embroider shawls,either partially combining this techniquewith woven shawls or completelyembroidering.. Amazingly, with boththese methods joins cannot be detectedand the design flows over the wholeshawl.The European manufacturers were not
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slow to realise the potential of the shawl market, with Britain taking the lead. Both

Edinburgh in 1790 and Norwich in 1792, began to imitate Kashmir shawls on hand

looms; Paisley followed in 1805 (6). Paisley introduced an attachment to the

handloom in 1812, which enabled five different colours of yarn to be used, instead

of just two colours, indigo and madder, thus better imitating the Kashmir shawls.Agents were sent from Paisley to London to copy the latest Kashmir shawls as they

arrived by sea and, in eight days imitations were being sold in London for 12, the

original Kashmir shawl costing 70-100.

Differences Between Kashmir &European Shawls

The two basic differencesbetween Kashmir shawls andtheir imitators are the type ofcloth and the weaving method.The Kashmir shawls beingwoven from hair, were lighterand smooth with a naturalsheen, whilst the Europeanshawls, until the end of the1830's, were woven from silk orwool which made them muchheavier and less fine (6,7).

Methods of weaving were quite

different in Kashmir and

Europe. In Kashmir the shawlswere woven in the twill tapestry

technique, which is similar to

weaving a European tapestry.

The wefts (horizontals) which

form the pattern do not run

right across the fabric, but are

woven back and forth around

the warp (vertical) threads, where each particular colour is needed. Woven with

goat's fleece, the finest softest

fleece, shah tus (king's wool)

came from beneath the coarse

outer hair of the underbelly of

wild central Asian goats. These

goats had such hair as a

protective layer against the

extreme cold in the high

altitudes of the Himalayan region

at 1,500 ft. In spring, the goats

would rub themselves against

the bushes from where it was collected. This quality of fleece was used only for the

most expensive shawls. The majority being woven from pashmina, hair from the

(6) British hand loom woven wool & silk

stole, c. 1810 Notice the similarity of

design of this and below.

(7) Kashmir stole, 1830


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underbelly of domesticated goats. The best fleece was left the natural cream

colour, whilst the darker pashmina was dyed with natural vegetable dyes.

The early British shawls had

warp (vertical) threads ofcotton or silk. These threads

were strong and could bear the

strain of being lifted to

introduce the pattern threads

of the weft (horizontal) thread.

These could be of wool, cotton

or silk. Wool was not strong

enough for use as a warp until

the French invented a yarn of

wool fibres spun round a silk core. This, together with the invention of the Jacquard

loom at the turn of the nineteenth century, enabled more intricate patterns to be

woven and established the French as leaders in the field. The first all-wool shawls

were not made in Paisley until 1823.

Up until the 1820s when the Jacquard loom was introduced into Paisley, weaving

was a cottage industry, with a weaver owning his own handlooms. He lived

typically in a single storey house with a passage through the middle; on one side

were his living quarters, comprising one or two rooms plus a loft, on the other side

a weaving shop with up to four looms.

The weaver, who was always a male,carried out almost all the differentprocesses involved in weaving a shawl,often preparing the simple designs of theearly period and making the cards whichdefined the pattern, as well as selling theshawls. Sometimes a merchant financedthe materials and provided transport whilstan agent acted as middle man between thetwo. With the introduction of thedrawloom, which required a drawboy topull the ropes controlling the overheadharness, the weaver would call out his

instructions. The shawl was woven withthe underside facing the weaver so if these

instructions were misconstrued, defectsmight not be noticed until a few hourslater.

The finished shawls would be taken to the

merchant who only paid the weaver if he

was satisfied with the quality. The shawl would then be clipped to remove the loose

threads at the back, washed, stretched and pressed to give a surface sheen. The

Jacquard loom, introduced to Paisley in the 1820s, used punched cards instead of

a drawboy, eliminating human error and reducing the workforce on a loom to one.

These looms, much larger and more expensive, changed a cottage industry into a

factory based one. Now there was a division of labour and people were employed


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for particular skills.

Fashion DictatesDuring the 100 years the shawl was infashion, its shape changed to suit thedresses with which it was worn. From1770-1810 simple high-waisted whitemuslin dresses were fashionable. Withthese neo-Classical dresses, simple longlight stoles with narrow borders and

deeper woven ends or small one-yardsquares shawls with narrow bordersfolded into a triangle were worn. Thecentres were either plain or had a smallrepeating sprig or pip design. The endsand narrow borders were separatelywoven, often having small meanderingflowers or pine motifs, using just threeor four colours. Such a shawl would have

cost around 20.The 1820's saw great changes to the

industry with the Jacquard loom being

introduced into Paisley. Now shawls

could be woven in one piece with bolder

designs and more colours. Dresses were

of silk, still with high waists but with

bodice detailing such as pintucks and wide

puff sleeves, requiring a larger shawl.

During the 1830's the skirt got larger,

balanced by huge sleeves, until by 1840

several starched white petticoats or a

horsehair petticoat was worn, replaced in

1856 by whalebone hoops or the crinoline

frame (10).

It was at this time of the widening skirts

that the shawl really became popular, with

at least one being included in every better

class trousseau. In Scotland they were

known as 'kirking' (church) shawls when they were worn to church on the first

Sunday after the wedding and then used again at christenings.

Paisley had become pre-eminent in Great Britain by reducing costs through sub

division and specialization of labour. They appealed to the mass market of the

middle and eventually working classes. By 1850, Edinburgh could no longer

compete with Paisley and stopped producing shawls. Norwich and France continued

to produce very good quality examples.


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It was difficult to wear a coat with a

crinoline frame (wire underskirt)

although short mantles and capes

were worn. Most people preferred a

warm enveloping shawl, with astunning design (11). From 1840-

75 shawls were made much larger

to cover the skirt: 5 feet (1.50 m)

square; 5 feet (1.50m) by 8 feet 4

inches (2.50m); 5 feet (1.50 m) by

10/12 (3/3.60m) feet. Square

shawls were folded in triangles with

a top flap just slightly turned over,

whilst the large rectangles could be

folded into two and caught at the

front with a brooch and the full

splendour of the shawl splayed out

over the crinoline (12).

Paisley called these large shawls

'filled harness' plaids or shawls (13). By

1860, a large shawl could cost about

17s.6d to (46s old money), or 87p to

1.35, took 18 days to weave and could

have up to 15 colours, whilst a Kashmir

shawl could have four times as many

colours. The Paisley would weigh 50 oz

whilst the Kashmir, of slightly smaller

size weighed 5 -9 oz, making the

Kashmir shawl greatly popular with

those who could afford them. By 1865 a

reversible shawl was invented at Paisley

which was of double thickness with all

the loose unclipped threads sandwiched

between the two layers, resulting in a

heavy and unpopular shawl.

Norwich, Paisley, Glasgow and other

towns printed shawls which were

immensely popular. Beautiful flimsy silk

gauze examples, with bright clear

colours were printed for evening wear

for the middle and upper classes (14).

Heavier shawls of wool and silk with

light coloured centres were used for

summer wear and dark centres for

(11) Typical Paisley worn with

crinoline skirt, when it was at its

widest. c. 1865

(13) Paisley woven wool and

silk shawl with a typical allover

design, c 1860


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winter. Printers copied the designs of the woven examples, using wooden blocks

and later blocks with the

pattern lines inlaid with metal

(15).

The blocks could of course beinterchanged to produce aninfinite number of designs.Later, roller-printed shawlswere produced. Millions ofshawls were printed for themass market, mainly on wooland cotton or wool and silkgrounds. These were usuallyextremely attractive, with

clear vibrant or soft prettycolours.A combination of events led

to the decline of popularity of

the shawl in the early 1870's.

The Franco-Prussian war of

1870-1871 halted exports of

shawls from Kashmir to

France, resulting in the

collapse of the industry. A

shawl could not fall very

successfully down the back

with the bustle, that rear

wired protrusion, which

became so fashionable at the

time. But probably the most

defining factor was that by

1870 a woven Jacquard shawl

could be brought for 20 s or

1 and an identical patterned

cotton shawl for a few

shillings. Once shawls had become so inexpensive that every woman could afford

to own at least one, they fell out of fashion. Many were cut to make into stunning

mantles which could be worn with the bustle dress.

(14) Hand block printed silk gauze

shawl, c. 1850

(15) Hand block printed silk shawl, c.

1850


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(12) Three ways to wear a shawl

1860s.

Further Reading:

Irwin, John The Kashmir Shawl. Victoria and Albert Museum, 1973. ISBN

0112901646

Frank Ames The Kashmir Shawl. Antique Collectors Club, UK 1986 but

recently reprinted. ISBN 0907462626

Clabburn, Pamela. The Norwich Shawl. HMSO, U.K. 1996. ISBN

0117015849

Clabburn, Pamela Shawls, Shire Books, re-published 2005.

(www.shirebooks.co.uk)

Reilly, Valerie The Paisley Pattern The Official Illustrated Hitext. 1987.

Richard Drew, Glasgow ISBN 086267

Levi-Strauss, Monique The French Shawls. 1987 Dryad Press Ltd 1987.

ISBN 0852197594
http://www.shirebooks.co.uk/http://www.shirebooks.co.uk/


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About the Author:

MEG ANDREWS web site: http://www.meg-andrews.com

Meg Andrews has been buying and selling collectable, hangable andwearable rare, unusual and interesting antique costumes and textiles for 22years. Prior to this she established the Costume and Textile Department at

Sotheby's. Andrews sells to major museums in the UK and abroad,particularly America. She also sells to collectors worldwide and to individualswho want a beautiful textile for purely decorative purposes. For 18 years,Andrews lectured at Sotheby's Institute on English Furnishings of the 16thand 17th centuries, Chinese Court Costumes and Kashmir and Shawls ofPaisley Design. In 1986 she lectured at the Treasure Houses of Britainexhibition in Washington, DC on the textiles and costumes in the portraits.

Further reading:

"A Chapter on Shawls"

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