This beautiful textile is an example of an amli shawl, a technique where small woven pieces are hand sewn together and then further embellished with embroidery. Every step of the making process was labour intensive and required high skill levels meaning that amli shawls were highly prized luxury items. Unlike many other styles of shawl […]
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Finely woven Kashmir wool shawls from India became status symbols in Europe in the 18th century, and were considered the height of fashion up until the 1870s. As highly desirable commodities, factory-owners in Europe were quick to capitalise on their appeal and employed new industrial machine weaving methods to maximise profits. Towns such as Norwich, […]
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This Qing era robe has a typical straight cut, loose fitting body with square sleeves. The simple shape is designed to make efficient use of narrow widths of silk so that as little as possible of the expensive silk fabric is wasted when the garment is constructed. The main fabric is a lightweight silk with […]
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This yellow brocaded silk was probably intended for use as garment fabric – perhaps as a woman’s gown or a man’s coat or waistcoat. The silk has a damask weave creating a self-coloured background pattern overlaid with vibrant, colourful floral sprays that have been added with additional brocade weaving. The brocade is further enhanced with […]
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