"Dream of Cashmere, Cashmeres of dream "

The Shawls Cashmere printed in Alsace in 19th century

 From  November 13th 2009 to October 16th 2010

The shawl cashmere determined the European fashion during the whole 19^th century.  Already by the end of the 18^th century the ladies of the French high society made use of it as garment or as an decorative accessory. We can see the shawl thrown on a chair, and more rarely worn by fashion-concious ladies, like for example Madame de Torcy who was painted so beautifully by David in 1790.
If in Europe the shawl cashmere is a purely feminine accessory, in India, its country of origin, it is reserved for men, who wear it as a belt or a turban. Woven in Kashmir since the 15^th century from a fine, short flossy under-wool of a goat living in the elevated region of Tibet the cashmere shawl mostly is rectangular. Its décor is constituted by a plain centre finished on both sides by borders which are decorated with the boteh, the Indian name for the paisley design.
The real origin of this pattern is not known. Some people think that this pattern is a tear of Buddha, a pine cone or a drop. Others think that it could be an interpretation of an stylized pink or at least would have a link with the floral world: because Boteh in Persian means Bouquet of flowers.

In France the cashmere shawl owes its fame to  Napoleons Egyptian campaign in 1798. His officers brought it to France. From this time on the shawl was an important element of the feminine fashion  for more than 70 years as well as a social status symbol.

The fashion of this shawl in Europe will have repercussions, not only on the Indian local production, which, in order to answer the demand will have to modify  the methods of manufacturing and the style of the décor, but also on the European textile industry which will start  to imitate the shawls to answer a growing demand.It is difficult to measure the dimension of this exaggerated preference for the cashmere shawl but it should  be emphasized that the motives which were sketched for this shawls have affected even the gardening art under the second empire.The S form, a layout of the Boteh, was applied by landscape painters famous for the creation of parks in Paris, such as the Montsouris for example.

Manufacturing centres for cashmere shawls will develop in England, in Austria, in France and in Russia. To imitate the Indian shawls weaving is  the main method but  wool printing is also employed. We should point out that the therm “cashemere” refers  as well to the support which is used for the shawls as to the motives. In fact, cashmere is rarely used to produce  the printed shawls. They mainly are made of wool or mixed fabrics like wool and cotton, or wool and silk.

For a long time printed shawls were considered as minor productions, intended for a lower class.This assertion however must be qualified today. First of all we noticed that the important manufacturing centres for woven shawls, like Paris, Lyon and Nîmes in France, Vienna ins Austria, Norwich and Paisley in England and Moscow in Russia also produced printed shawls.