Story of Paisley Pattern Cashmere Shawl - Odile Hughson
Wed, Dec 15th 2021 at 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
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Odile gave a very detailed talk which included the wearing and shape of shawls over the centuries and the place of the bent flower in the motif. The shape represented the seed of the date palm tree and this was essentially the tree of life. At some stage the design became called a boteh. After 1800 the shawl became an essential clothing item and Napoleon’s wife, Josephine had hundreds as well as thousands of pairs of shoes. Shawls were made in Edinburgh but in 1805 production was switched to Paisley where they were made until 1870. Odile spoke about the history of the loom and how with automation shawls became cheap and everyone including the servants of the upper classes had one so they went out of fashion.
Doug Marr gave the club’s vote of thanks
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