tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22398907388957565842024-03-06T03:15:57.143-05:00Paisley DiariesEssays from a world of writers documenting life with one of the most loved motifs. Edited by JP.Paisley Diarieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546825746655623055noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239890738895756584.post-19341357717051383212015-02-07T15:53:00.000-05:002015-02-07T15:53:18.553-05:00IS THIS THE WORK OF KIM JONES?<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">EDITORIAL PAISLEY FROM T MAGAZINE</td></tr>
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France has always been in love with technology. It has even figured out a corporate way to have a mother ship in the U.S. that links into all Louis Vuitton stores. There are phone agents who take your requests and contact the appropriate store. In my case, I just wanted the name of the PR agency that handled Vuitton menswear or at the least affirmation that the LV's menswear style director, Kim Jones, was responsible for the outstanding paisley shirt that appeared in the spring-summer T Magazine from The New York Times.<br />
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No go. After many, many tries at the mother ship, I called Paris LV. When I told them what I wanted, I was disconnected.<br />
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The shirt in question featured a brilliant fabric design, bringing bandana-inspiration to a new level of sophistication and worth every bit of the $815 listed as the retail price. And if it is the work of Mr. Jones, someone please give him my congratulations.<br />
<br />
However, I am concerned about the model. It seems as if he is role-playing the waif, having spent $1,020 on those Bottega Veneta pants with their paper-baggy-looking front. It appears that he hasn't had enough money for food in quite a while. <b>JP</b>Paisley Diarieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546825746655623055noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239890738895756584.post-59199204322253172362014-10-09T08:30:00.000-04:002014-10-20T13:56:13.215-04:00PROVENÇE BLUES<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim0ivoIYuvFJOa0o-5U_2buhaLXB37gSuH2rdXtuUxwOODhTlljzYgtRigP42Tb4WE34yrbV6ubT-CvtjksFtUzIhc3ZeZRzyudmQ8phJKhoLqAIDupn5Jvg54EtWyAwRzqLrieUu8pqpk/s1600/img005s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim0ivoIYuvFJOa0o-5U_2buhaLXB37gSuH2rdXtuUxwOODhTlljzYgtRigP42Tb4WE34yrbV6ubT-CvtjksFtUzIhc3ZeZRzyudmQ8phJKhoLqAIDupn5Jvg54EtWyAwRzqLrieUu8pqpk/s400/img005s.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Giant 1970s paisley grouping from the book, Pantone: The 20th Century in Color.</b></td></tr>
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Pantone, the New
Jersey company that standardized color production and
gives the world seasonal charts of what colors are trending in manufacturing,
produced an interesting book, <i>Pantone: The 20th Century in Color</i> ― and paisley is treated as part of the
1970s.
<br />
The copy opines that just as van
Gogh escaped some of his woes by moving to the Provençe of the late 1880s, the
visual remembrances of that countryside have also soothed some of the stresses
of the 1970s for everyone. And paisley,
with the popularity of Pierre Deux and Laura Ashley, was part of that treatment.
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The book features giant 1970s
lavender motifs against a Mediterranean blue-green. Provençe-based fashion professional, Deanna
Littell, said that from her view on a recent trip to St. Tropez, the sea was
indeed aquamarine, the painter's word for blue-greens. What she likes about Provençal paisleys is
the mix of monotone colors. She pointed out
that Pantone's example of a Mediterranean blue ground with lavender paisleys
made her think of fields of lavender against a deep blue sky.
<br />
<br />
It is also interesting that blue-greens
have been on the fashion Pantone charts for a few seasons now. <b>JP</b>Paisley Diarieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546825746655623055noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239890738895756584.post-7799277586841204912014-08-24T15:14:00.001-04:002014-08-24T15:14:19.091-04:00THE AMERICAN ART OF PAISLEY<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>From <i>Tex</i>t<i>iles in The </i><i>Metropolitan</i><i>
</i><i>Museum</i><i> of Art</i>,
1995, The Metropolitan Museum
of Art.</b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Lift-out from the American rug.</b></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSsFmowL6SMK3FfZjvVlXYdDdF-Z-NAYZUfNop3qb4DvKZJHHrWJ1SixbjSELKjN9gbK7UXr2NZzp5tNKaBJsxkfYXjGb-ufauhlAO8IixY11MCr4Atiz0B8rmI9XDQYeI1aLDqf1Bj-De/s1600/paisley003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSsFmowL6SMK3FfZjvVlXYdDdF-Z-NAYZUfNop3qb4DvKZJHHrWJ1SixbjSELKjN9gbK7UXr2NZzp5tNKaBJsxkfYXjGb-ufauhlAO8IixY11MCr4Atiz0B8rmI9XDQYeI1aLDqf1Bj-De/s1600/paisley003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black;">In early-19th-century American textiles, an occasional
paisley shows itself as sort of a streamlined reference to the fine,
complicated work that was done in India
and Persia, Europe
and Russia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of these exceptions is an embroidered
carpet of wool by Zeruah Higley Guernsey Caswell, (1805-1895?). Castleton,
Vermont, 1835.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></a>
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<span style="color: black;">
</span><span style="color: black;">Known as the Caswell carpet, it is said to be made of wool
Zeruah sheared from her father's sheep, then spun, dyed and wove this
spectacular rug into its fabric base. Each square was embroidered with a chain
stitch. Eleven years after the work's completion, the artist married Mr.
Caswell.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="color: black;">The carpet spent many years in
the family's best parlor. The piece at lower left is a rectangle designed to be
lifted out and laid over the parlor's empty hearth.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>
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<span style="color: black;">In the lift-out photo, the man seems to be leading the woman
into the next frame ― a fantasy forest.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="color: black;">Over their heads, three paisley motifs join to look almost like the
focal point at the front of a church.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <span style="color: black;"><b>JP</b></span></span></div>
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</span></a>Paisley Diarieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546825746655623055noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239890738895756584.post-76924227997874811612014-07-13T13:24:00.000-04:002014-09-23T12:49:21.646-04:00ANTONIO'S PAISLEY SKETCH<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLjX973RgUtcDPzZ6x52HApQXc-d6DUYO3mCmWHnEXDkKFH1yaq8qYuIoIkKCeWhg6cShAvUnDs_a_i3iPJqIOMRvEk6tlsoPcB0jNBcf6Vhkf4l_ivr1kU7UVVpmPM4fvKbCCHBYJBURr/s1600/cover_hue.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLjX973RgUtcDPzZ6x52HApQXc-d6DUYO3mCmWHnEXDkKFH1yaq8qYuIoIkKCeWhg6cShAvUnDs_a_i3iPJqIOMRvEk6tlsoPcB0jNBcf6Vhkf4l_ivr1kU7UVVpmPM4fvKbCCHBYJBURr/s640/cover_hue.jpg" width="450" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>FROM A 1981 BLOOMINGDALE'S NEWSPAPER AD</b></td></tr>
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The sublimely talented fashion
illustrator and artist, Antonio Lopez (1943-1987), <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>student of The Fashion Institute of Technology
and a million other achievements, has been on my mind for some time now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The artwork shown, from a Russian-themed
Bloomingdale's ad from 1981, was used for the fall/winter 2012 cover of FIT's
excellent <i>Hue</i> alumni
magazine and was put aside for this blog to illustrate yet another paisley
story.</div>
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Obviously, lots of other blog ideas
seemed to have crowded ahead of Antonio. But when I read Elaine Louie's touching
"Charles James and Me" feature on the front page of<i> The New York
Times ThursdayStyles</i> (April 24), there was Antonio again to remind me. </div>
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This past May, in the UK's <i>Business
of Fashion</i>, Colin McDowell recalled that in the 1970s, Antonio and his
partner Juan Ramos set about to create a drawn record of James's work, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>which took the pair 10 years ― and seems to me
to be such a loving project for them to take on. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Louie writes that the June 1975 "Charles
James" exhibit at the Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse,
featured 250 drawings by the designer himself plus 50 by Antonio. The writer
also recalls how her friends Antonio and Juan called upon her to act as <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"walker" for the star designer on
opening night of the Syracuse
exhibit. Her mission: to keep him from mentioning Halston and Diana Vreeland,
both of whom lived with public CJ feud-clouds over their heads.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Louie and I talked on the phone occasionally,
she as editor of <i>Art Direction</i> and me, an editor of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>publications about advertising.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I was doing a story on an artist for his
striking Bloomingdale's fashion campaigns and probably called her, wanted her
thoughts on the work. I remember phoning Antonio for an interview and somehow
blurting out something like, do you know what a special talent you have? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What could the poor man say after that!</div>
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I believe it was also 2012, at The
Morgan Library & Museum exhibit of drawings from Renaissance Venice, there
was a little sketch of a piece of fabric being draped by a hand, I cannot
remember whose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seemed that one could
actually feel the fabric on the hand, on the skin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"Antonio, you drape like that," <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I told the spirit-him.</div>
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In any event,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>hopefully there would be some of Antonio's drawings
in the "Charles James: Beyond Fashion" exhibit. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Located in the lower-level portion of the
two-part exhibit, I could spot only two Antonio drawings among the designer's
selected portfolio pages, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>both with
strong, bold lines that perfectly represented the designer's work and attitude.</div>
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Walls that edge the Met's main floor
exhibit area are filled with sparkling, opinionated quotes from James.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of my favorites:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"My dresses help women discover feelings
they didn't know they had."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can
just imagine the power and fantasy I would feel wearing the displayed Charles
James straight-line gown with its enormous, frothy sheer tail, much like the
powerful rooster tails of hydroplane speed boats when they seemed to break the
sound barrier in races on the Detroit
River.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dangerous. <b>JP</b></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">"Charles James:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Beyond Fashion" remains at the Met through </span></i><i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">August 10, 2014</span></i><i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">.</span></i></div>
Paisley Diarieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546825746655623055noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239890738895756584.post-25772621628819110062014-03-05T10:01:00.000-05:002014-03-06T15:07:51.353-05:00WORDS OF ANN HAMILTON/ BUTA OF INDIA<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdbv2sj9ykEKPpcmhb2_HcZvGDrW_QeZfmtg2sqVwVmBpHjl8SaaxS2Y_xCGlcpjEClHwIou6xMN4VzzKC6VIgeFRmpccE4VWKzv1edDJtk9apH4BcIOhQsZlyjr4iE8PhSSgijZoFKaox/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdbv2sj9ykEKPpcmhb2_HcZvGDrW_QeZfmtg2sqVwVmBpHjl8SaaxS2Y_xCGlcpjEClHwIou6xMN4VzzKC6VIgeFRmpccE4VWKzv1edDJtk9apH4BcIOhQsZlyjr4iE8PhSSgijZoFKaox/s1600/photo.JPG" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">INDIAN PRINT FROM THE J. FORBES WATSON COLLECTION OF SPECIMENS AND ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE TEXTILE MANUFACTURERS OF INDIA, LONDON, 1873-1880. Photo by Jolie Stahl.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was very lucky to have chanced upon the late February NPR
program, <i>On Being</i>, when Krista Tippett interviewed exhibition
"maker"<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ann Hamilton,
professor at Ohio State
University,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Columbus,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and the person responsible for last year's
exhibition at New York's Park
Avenue Armory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Hamilton
prefers to be called a "maker" rather than an artist.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In that huge Armory exhibit, "The Event of a
Thread", <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New Yorkers were able to
climb onto swings attached to giant white curtains that hung from mile-high vaulted
ceilings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Somehow, as <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>swingers swung, the curtains opened and
closed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Facing the swingers was a row of
stenographers working away on endless rolls of paper, totally unconnected with
the fellow humans visiting the exhibit. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was all quite visceral, and somehow I
didn't want to linger too long.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What intrigued me in the radio interview was the elegant
expression of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hamilton's
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>theory that thread and textile were both
important forms of communication.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
told Tippett that when she first started making things out of textiles she
thought of the textile as an animated surface that both covers and reveals, a
place of embodied knowledge, the first house of the body.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She recalled body memories of sitting close to her grandmother
as a child, knitting or doing needlepoint as her grandmother read aloud.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The rhythm of the two acts were remembered
together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The threads of needlecraft and
the threads of ideas produced the same experience for her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She continues to find a tactile experience in
words.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With me, textiles often evoke a tactile emotion, sometimes a
happy one, sometimes one full of wonder, sometimes a sad one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Examples from J. Forbes Watson volumes of
Indian fabrics, published in 1866, were on display near The Metropolitan
Museum's Antonio Ratti Textile Center,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>coordinated with The Met's major exhibit, "Interwoven Globe: The
Worldwide Textile Trade".<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
exhibit's long run ended late last year.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Watson was a doctor who traveled to India
with the Bombay Army Medical Service in 1850 and lived there for three years. There
is no accounting for his interest in Indian fabrics. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The fabrics he presented in his pattern books
were manufactured in India and "were meant to inspire textile
manufacturers in India and England."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Admittedly the paisley or <i>boteh/buta</i> motif is too
powerful for eastern cultures to keep just to themselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shown above, a charming floral with budding
branches that turn into the teardrop motif.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But it is just so hard to see India
at this point (1866), <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>losing what was
left of its industry to a more industrially-savvy country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was even sadder when I came upon a pattern
book at another library that showed a cotton print of English roses mixed with the
motif, intended to be sold back to the Indian customer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Still the small exhibit was a welcome one and part of our shared
embodied knowledge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Hamilton
told Tippett, text and textiles are always woven experientially for her – as
they can be for us all. <b>JP</b></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Paisley Diarieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546825746655623055noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239890738895756584.post-52207323693800079272013-10-20T09:14:00.000-04:002013-10-27T19:00:21.910-04:00BRAND PAISLEY<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHUt09wK4oFBhuMoIjf8iNps07HTsl1Zf2Km7KF6f_uEd0SiY-rS6OyYZHcGj1hHBzquPcksHx7KxJPum_39Dp9vH5398eI8BCjKDC2h3eTsFUD6K0dFlUq9jGWWXlCGxPQGv1txGjY8lV/s1600/IMG_0201.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHUt09wK4oFBhuMoIjf8iNps07HTsl1Zf2Km7KF6f_uEd0SiY-rS6OyYZHcGj1hHBzquPcksHx7KxJPum_39Dp9vH5398eI8BCjKDC2h3eTsFUD6K0dFlUq9jGWWXlCGxPQGv1txGjY8lV/s400/IMG_0201.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Green bottle with motif center and upfront displayed at<i> The Art of Arab Lands</i>, The Metropolitan Museum Of Art.</b> <b>Below: Vera Bradley tin for mints.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWBiHrJiOixJgByCQavnLKRr4cEOBS1qRiHy1YqPRsOnTzi_2pCn6HE-vyjBx3bFEIDoTPfUY18EOcNIVDWCD9g1dEmx37_63GlMTmhx4xVxzlBNvcsHLmjugUyHOLyFV-Gdd6Wat3E4pq/s1600/box008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="351" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWBiHrJiOixJgByCQavnLKRr4cEOBS1qRiHy1YqPRsOnTzi_2pCn6HE-vyjBx3bFEIDoTPfUY18EOcNIVDWCD9g1dEmx37_63GlMTmhx4xVxzlBNvcsHLmjugUyHOLyFV-Gdd6Wat3E4pq/s400/box008.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black;">We are at a silly point in </span><span style="color: black;">U.S.</span><span style="color: black;"> marketing, where humanity is being drained out of
advertising and public relations communication.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The symbol or graphic image is all, and the product is lifeless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Years ago, the ultimate branding concept
first sent shivers down my spine when Martha Stewart told PBS's Charlie Rose
that she wanted to become a brand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes,
from a corporate sense, it was a logical decision.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After she is gone, the corporation will have
an identity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But at what cost to her
humanity?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember Ms. Stewart<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>from her early days in the Kmart licensing
program.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She may have acted up behind
the scenes, but she was still human with a lot of great advice for home and
table.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black;">On to the green-glass bottle that
was displayed in <i>The Art of Arab Lands</i> at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
over the past spring-summer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some smart
person in the 17th century decided to do a nice fragrance bottle with a large
boteh (paisley) motif simply placed up front and center.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wasn't designed to sell billions. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It communicated love of the motif, and it was
probably a pleasant experience to use that bottle.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black;">Vera Bradley, a successful gift
company both online and in stores - known for its prints in fabric totes, home accessories
and children's wear - produced the little round candy tin pictured.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lovely to put in a handbag.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This year, they even have a paisley Christmas
ornament.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don't think paisley is the
total branding message for them but I am sure that the gift customer loves the
beautiful design when it pops up in the collection.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Perhaps the point of all of this
is, perhaps we should get back to making products that are pleasant to use and stop
obsessing about vacant, unhuman brand images. Remember, humanity separates us
from the limiting world of the algorithm.<b> JP</b>
<br />
<b><br /></b>
PS: VB candy tin is courtesy of
Dodie, who is this blog’s copy editor.
Paisley Diarieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546825746655623055noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239890738895756584.post-32873677346105441302013-09-10T12:11:00.000-04:002013-10-01T12:12:14.453-04:00THE FABRIC OF OUR LIVES<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifHnFupQ-4_jSXkPbvNvXLWoYVj8TJnHndn7xUOp4L26cIduI-e_StT01CSMM4vFoymJkYm0Z7hHoVXPMHET43lcAxmsZioN6W1d6oQSQiSGGG0Sy1y7Qpw7embFFG3H0y8IRciNKXs1L0/s1600/Story+of+My+People,+Edoardo+Nesi+.jpeg"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifHnFupQ-4_jSXkPbvNvXLWoYVj8TJnHndn7xUOp4L26cIduI-e_StT01CSMM4vFoymJkYm0Z7hHoVXPMHET43lcAxmsZioN6W1d6oQSQiSGGG0Sy1y7Qpw7embFFG3H0y8IRciNKXs1L0/s400/Story+of+My+People,+Edoardo+Nesi+.jpeg" width="263" /></a></div>
<br />
Edoardo Nesi's book, <i>Story
of My People,</i> is an emotionally difficult book to read. It takes you right into the Northern Italian
city of Prato and its ghost-town of empty factories and of
factories turned into sweatshop dormitories. Nesi's book also reminds me so
much of my hometown, Detroit.
In one of my first blogs, I
wrote about visiting Prato and seeing first hand how the spirit was cut right out
of its textile craftsmanship and its community.<br />
<br />
As Nesi points out it had a long tradition of the highest level of work,
patronage and commercialism that dates back to the 15th
century, the days of Cosimo and Lorenzo de Medici. In fact, it was a chance to
see Lorenzo's final villa located close to Prato, that brought me there in the first place. And it was the overwhelming sadness of the
current Prato that made me flee once I had visited the villa – a
villa which Lorenzo planned but never lived to see built.<br />
<br />
We are coming to realize that
globalism for the sake of chasing the lowest price will not only lead to corporate
riches but also to the grief of individual societies and to the destruction of
highly-developed and century-honored trades. <br />
<br />
For Detroit, the motto is "Speramus meliora, resurget
cineribus." (We hope for better things; it will rise from the ashes.) This
is from a quote from Fr. Gabriel Richard after a terrific downtown fire in 1805
that included his parish. And people of Detroit are talking about that motto today.
<br />
<br />
In my opinion, for an
understanding of the true spirit of Detroit, the best book is <i>Detroit City Is the Place to Be</i> by Mark
Binelli and for Prato, it is Nesi's <i>Story of My People.</i>
<br />
<i><br /></i>
In the most recent decades, Prato seems to have done more fine menswear stripes and
plaids than paisley motifs. But since
the teardrop is a symbol for life springing forth, maybe someone in town will
weave a little paisley for me? I also
recommend that Mr. Nesi read the story of the Highland Park firemen in Mr. Binelli's book. It will give him heart but also might make him cry. <br />
<br />
The urban struggle and struggle of the spirit are not new. Marsilio Ficino – translator of Plato into Latin and mentor to both of his patrons, Cosimo and Lorenzo de Medici –wrote in one of his loving letters to mankind: "Labor so that you may be good and shine with beauty; suddenly all things are good and shining with
beauty for you." This, even when the outer world looks like hell as it often did in Ficino's Florence. <b>JP</b>Paisley Diarieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546825746655623055noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239890738895756584.post-39554907931532199132013-08-06T18:59:00.000-04:002013-10-01T12:12:41.921-04:00PAISLEY AND THE ART OF HOME ECONOMICS<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBTYXOWmHH7fuGn7NjY1_28x2Z53unct9mMSMgtJz7-A_H1yxOOU6mIKevoP4nipp4yO2hXvFZme4mGiIJpj0md8BeLAjEmsTLeQW_yrAdlZ3A-rzMdqTH-VUucAq4vRgcOnwNUdV5k5Vv/s1600/jolie+paisley.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBTYXOWmHH7fuGn7NjY1_28x2Z53unct9mMSMgtJz7-A_H1yxOOU6mIKevoP4nipp4yO2hXvFZme4mGiIJpj0md8BeLAjEmsTLeQW_yrAdlZ3A-rzMdqTH-VUucAq4vRgcOnwNUdV5k5Vv/s1600/jolie+paisley.JPG" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>PAINTING ON A WOODEN SLAB <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>PLUS
PAISLEY FABRIC. ARTIST<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>JOLIE
STAHL REFERENCES THE KEELING HOUSE, VIRGINIA BEACH,
CIRCA 1740.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
After the first appearance of the
woven paisley shawl in 17th century Kashmir, some
citizens of the Middle East expanded shawl usage for the
home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They hung shawls as wall coverings
for warmth and beauty, placed<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>them over windows
and doors as shelter from the sun and used border strips to accent shelves .Shawls
were spread on the ground for lush banquets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In the late days of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the 19th
century, retailers sourcing The East India Trading Company, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>developed an Empire cache by popularizing
paisley upholstery and wall covering. And<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>of course, there was the ubiquitous shawl that got draped over the grand
piano.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
Now, working artist Jolie Stahl ,
has incorporated<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>bits of a fine
paisley-printed scarf fabric into one of her house paintings-and-found-object
collages being prepared for an exhibition titled Home Economics. It will be
held at New York's Hudson Guild
Gallery in Chelsea, starting March 20, 2014. Stahl is also
curating the show that will include the sculpture of Tom Otterness.
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
Here, Stahl shows a home
referencing the American Colonial period circa 1740, not that colonials had a
lot of paisley to work with.. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It took
another century for<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>both Queen Victoria
and Napoleon to create a full-on paisley-at-home trend in Europe
with their sharp eyes for local fabric industries.
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
Stahl says that the dismal home
foreclosure figures of the past seven years prompted her to focus on the future
of the American home and what the dramatic changes might mean to our
culture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The artist is also director of
Ddora Foundation which is dedicated to preserving applied arts<b>. JP</b>Paisley Diarieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546825746655623055noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239890738895756584.post-73311319399732725342013-07-26T09:17:00.000-04:002013-09-10T11:57:10.082-04:00WHO WORE IT BETTER?<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm-k6_VWNCPV4zWynsrRdxHpjlUEsYcu42r_hK0a989R61l4Q9TwdaZfCUH9CTbMcVb1HU_VhD1ljtAyRrmVPuA-H896fJIFDogO977SKRfqu5YwDxEYMDMDHzagf_2dUMNZYLIrZ4F4hq/s1600/portrait-of-madame-riviere-nee-marie-francoise-jacquette-bibiane-blot-de-beauregard.jpg!HD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm-k6_VWNCPV4zWynsrRdxHpjlUEsYcu42r_hK0a989R61l4Q9TwdaZfCUH9CTbMcVb1HU_VhD1ljtAyRrmVPuA-H896fJIFDogO977SKRfqu5YwDxEYMDMDHzagf_2dUMNZYLIrZ4F4hq/s400/portrait-of-madame-riviere-nee-marie-francoise-jacquette-bibiane-blot-de-beauregard.jpg!HD.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Above: Madame Riviere, 1805-6 by Inges</b>. <b> Below: Madame de Stael by Gerard</b></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU5_997yaGy7LBNZimGSQvwdduCCJEsPZrdWA0qJrZ-yKnXpW-bS1ApzkFVXubCK4qUdFbOBoqg4k-KNBZGoitpUnyR4crJWezpIpCqWaTIOOW3FqUIHN3v3-apMtBDGpapWqvHpR35xTd/s1600/427px-Madame_de_Stae%CC%88l.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU5_997yaGy7LBNZimGSQvwdduCCJEsPZrdWA0qJrZ-yKnXpW-bS1ApzkFVXubCK4qUdFbOBoqg4k-KNBZGoitpUnyR4crJWezpIpCqWaTIOOW3FqUIHN3v3-apMtBDGpapWqvHpR35xTd/s400/427px-Madame_de_Stae%CC%88l.jpg" width="284" /></a>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The reading of Paula Byrne's <i>The Real Jane Austen</i>
brought me to finally pick up <i>Madame de Staël </i>by Francine du Plessix
Gray.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It appears that Austen passed up
meeting Madame S at one of her publisher's Mayfair
salons in 1812.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Possibly the Force of
Nature that was Madame S might not have been Austen's cup of tea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But since we are all fashion obsessed these
days, who would have worn her shawl better?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Austen, with her fine shawl shown in a previous blog? Or Madame S, who
despite the fact that her father, Jacques Necker, began his financial career as
"a brilliant head of the East Indian Company," liked her shawls solid
color with geometric patterned borders?
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Why are there no portraits of the fashion rebel, Madame S in
a paisley shawl?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps as French
cultural historian, Dr. Joan Rosasco, points out, Madame was more interested in
imitating the classic drapery of Greece
and Rome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It might also be that the
non-paisley look was part of her anti-trend stance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her turbans rather than wigs fit into this
pattern as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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But who wore it better?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My vote is neither.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Madame
Rivière portrait, 1805-6,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>by Inges, Madame
R, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the wife of a Napoleonic empire
government official, wore her shawl most beautifully against the whites of her
silk gown and muslin veil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Art
cognoscenti have called it a symphony of textures. <b>JP </b></div>
<br />
<br />Paisley Diarieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546825746655623055noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239890738895756584.post-24408262428154977062013-07-05T12:40:00.000-04:002013-07-05T12:40:54.205-04:00FROM THE LAUDER POSTCARD COLLECTION<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifrkEPjmzdwWxD0jMeBYxgg_c8lon4fJkWEqEiS34QpZQVaCEJDiyvz_JbNjkuVUo7jBpVZL4wAIzayaGE_tkzp5yFZI3WOyu9XazcZZ-QKX7YaGnzoZM6RaYMhq_5_tBIp7LFmye_3fjC/s1600/The_Elements.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifrkEPjmzdwWxD0jMeBYxgg_c8lon4fJkWEqEiS34QpZQVaCEJDiyvz_JbNjkuVUo7jBpVZL4wAIzayaGE_tkzp5yFZI3WOyu9XazcZZ-QKX7YaGnzoZM6RaYMhq_5_tBIp7LFmye_3fjC/s640/The_Elements.jpg" width="450" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>PAISLEY'S FORM AS A SYMBOL FOR WACKY WEATHER</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The viewer can feel the power of nature in this graphic from
The Leonard A. Lauder's Collection as shown in 2011, at the Museum
of Fine Arts, Boston.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It somehow seems appropriate to show this
wonderful wave in this season of wacky weather.
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Artists have long been inspired to use paisley-like shapes
for droplets of water or giant waves, tree leaves or huge trees, sparks of fire
or tongues of fire over the heads of Biblical apostles, a single puff of air or
a wind storm.</div>
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Many
postcards from the Boston exhibit
are still online for your enjoyment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mr.
Lauder, chairman emeritus of the Estèe Lauder Companies Inc., has promised this
collection of 450 cards to the museum<b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> By the way, the lower-left box was neatly designed for the card's address, leaving the entire back for the message.</span></div>
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<b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>JP</b></div>
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Paisley Diarieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546825746655623055noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239890738895756584.post-68201046801074100742013-06-21T09:57:00.000-04:002013-06-21T09:57:03.540-04:00PAISLEY AS KING<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCcs9uKLNk0sgkxnQmZvzY1EOVvsIGsLdbhvq3qKkPKmceYL2_O8NS1zZv0pQc-mnXzPtj-bCnkFzlTmw4yGufBP6BIikD9GDOay2ZlUfNmGkz4eXsKb__qwZlY0ntIvu3xerCxeeaeSNY/s1600/ralph+lauren_shawl001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCcs9uKLNk0sgkxnQmZvzY1EOVvsIGsLdbhvq3qKkPKmceYL2_O8NS1zZv0pQc-mnXzPtj-bCnkFzlTmw4yGufBP6BIikD9GDOay2ZlUfNmGkz4eXsKb__qwZlY0ntIvu3xerCxeeaeSNY/s640/ralph+lauren_shawl001.jpg" width="451" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Above: Corner of Ralph Lauren shawl. Below: Heraldic-like paisley at the center.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHCM4_l7z_pvVWo9zVeGNhEsA_KQdGQ1PXc58x52wVsNzxWTx0V6tl1gckoUmIFR-qABQtKg3L25CYAVDWcFiJ9EV66Vw2UP6NWhFs29gWfTVjX3ADjs9GAJArkS7Nm__j3a8A_kzN0vH6/s1600/ralph_lauren_vase_shawl.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHCM4_l7z_pvVWo9zVeGNhEsA_KQdGQ1PXc58x52wVsNzxWTx0V6tl1gckoUmIFR-qABQtKg3L25CYAVDWcFiJ9EV66Vw2UP6NWhFs29gWfTVjX3ADjs9GAJArkS7Nm__j3a8A_kzN0vH6/s640/ralph_lauren_vase_shawl.jpeg" width="451" /></a></div>
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This Ralph Lauren shawl from c. 1986 is an excellent example
of Paisley as a Royal Symbol.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The large center motif is shown as almost a
heraldic coat of arms with the paisley forming several outer frames.</div>
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Of course, when the Mughal King Akbar set out to establish
shawl production in mid 16th century Kashmir, the
intended target customer was the royal male.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The shawl was worn in a variety of ways, diagonally across shoulder and
chest, around the waist, as a turban.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Part of the Lauren design dynamic has always been paisley
and after Bill Atkinson Ltd. had closed its doors in 1982, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jeanne Atkinson was recruited as Director of
Ralph Lauren's Designer Division. It was an excellent match from both design
and financial perspectives. Unpublished figures show a sizable turn-around
profit for the division in 1986.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
shawl is from Atkinson's personal collection<b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>JP</b> </div>
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Paisley Diarieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546825746655623055noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239890738895756584.post-30580726331910116292013-05-27T12:22:00.000-04:002013-05-27T12:22:34.470-04:00TWO OF MY FAVORITE AUTHORS WERE INFLUENCED BY PAISLEY<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh21MkSRNgdwffKdJuukpJXwos7hhMZXbj6a9OuxiG_xWeD7GVW3RvqEESSmlF8m9VRZgYF8qiKwAutLH3pgbgfewr7ICsgztY_tSgoGYjHc2m3XFbS23epB7jVSjX8fSBlNDsCuBLOCwRx/s1600/Jane+Austen+Indian+Shawl+001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh21MkSRNgdwffKdJuukpJXwos7hhMZXbj6a9OuxiG_xWeD7GVW3RvqEESSmlF8m9VRZgYF8qiKwAutLH3pgbgfewr7ICsgztY_tSgoGYjHc2m3XFbS23epB7jVSjX8fSBlNDsCuBLOCwRx/s400/Jane+Austen+Indian+Shawl+001.jpg" width="365" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVP-xao0FeTjV-8UivdY2dL1Km82zLQ1CE1gMtglhODywI8uVyI4BWsbFGDy5QCTe6xKwyWCWmWfbxlPf-HXEo_bdOwBzLevPdh1OVrDjEafHOemg7ZLtzFpim7_RBbu32r8RWvC7INqJP/s1600/Jane+Austen+shawl+001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVP-xao0FeTjV-8UivdY2dL1Km82zLQ1CE1gMtglhODywI8uVyI4BWsbFGDy5QCTe6xKwyWCWmWfbxlPf-HXEo_bdOwBzLevPdh1OVrDjEafHOemg7ZLtzFpim7_RBbu32r8RWvC7INqJP/s400/Jane+Austen+shawl+001.jpg" width="365" /></a></div>
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<br />
The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things by Paula Byrne is a treasure of a book. Austen's life spins out through the writer's focus on a few well-chosen objects. One of the first objects is "The East Indian Shaw,l" with its bit of the shawl history.and the use of the correct term for paisley, boteh.<br />
<br />
Byrne mentions Austen's Aunt Phila,who was sent a shawl by her husband living in Calcutta in 1772. She also references a story that the young Jane created in 1792. Catherine, or the Bower was modeled after Phila who traveled to India in search of a rich husband. The book provides a color plate of what could be the young Austen sisters wearing shawls loosely around their shoulders with as much flirty charm as today's woman wears a multi-looped scarf around her neck. And there is second color plate of what might have been Jane Austen's fine red-yellow-and-tan striped shawl with tiny boteh within some of the stripes.<br />
<br />
Henry James's Washington Square also has its wonderful reference to boteh when Catherine brings a statusy shawl back to Aunt Lavinia after an extensive European tour. In the most recent Broadway production, The Heiress based on the James novel, costume designer Albert Wolsky has his looks pitch-perfect. And actress Judith Ivey plays Lavinia and her shawl beautifully. Lavinia self-importantly drapes it on her shoulders, takes it off and folds it as if it were a Cloth of Gold. One can see that the shawl was not only an object of desire in this era but part of the mannerisms of the day. <b>JP</b>Paisley Diarieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546825746655623055noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239890738895756584.post-15945403351303186612013-04-06T15:16:00.000-04:002013-04-06T15:16:20.565-04:00MUGHAL FLOWERS IN DETROIT<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCTz5OSwJz_HSoe79N7jhJHIUXeGosGbt9NLv7rh1ssUzSi5rHTjVXJGxfWi6Pf_uSAlxjibmnwNJNh4DkoTdcOTSSAbXd-vmIp2ZbPJp6tZ7oxF3QZ5-EoxUPW9I7tKy6z4kgs8LwkRe4/s1600/detroit_flower.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCTz5OSwJz_HSoe79N7jhJHIUXeGosGbt9NLv7rh1ssUzSi5rHTjVXJGxfWi6Pf_uSAlxjibmnwNJNh4DkoTdcOTSSAbXd-vmIp2ZbPJp6tZ7oxF3QZ5-EoxUPW9I7tKy6z4kgs8LwkRe4/s640/detroit_flower.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Paisley motif is formed of regal flowers in a vase. on an 18th century shawl.</b></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The book, "Mastery of Mughal Decoration: The Art and Architecture of Islamic India" helps recall the beautiful exhibit perhaps four summers ago at the Detroit Institute of Arts, "The Private World of India's Mughal Emperors". This Kashmiri design is especially refined with its little floral tips dipping to let us know that this really is the boteh (paisley to the English-speakers) motif. In 18th century India, the long shawl would be worn by an important man in the society either on the diagonal over one shoulder or as a waist sash.<br />
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However, there is another flowering in Detroit that is just as beautiful to me. It is the new Shinola craft-and-e business concept based on the establishment of local crafts shops. In the majestic Argonaut building, inside the College for Creative Studies, there is watch factory built on the Swiss crafts model. In Ste. Genevieve, Mo., there is a leather goods factory. In Waterford, Wisc., there is the Waterford Precision Cycle Shop. In Chicago, there is the Horween Leather Company. In Ann Arbor, Mich., there is the Malloy Paper Works.<br />
<br />
Often as I read and write about the brilliant days of Kashmiri weaving and see what happened when Europe took over the "paisley" shawl craft, I think of Detroit. Past mistakes are past mistakes and now Shinola is building small and carefully. Interestingly, the Shinola watch is already a male status symbol, just as the boteh sash once was. Hint: Shinola.com. <b>JP</b>Paisley Diarieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546825746655623055noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239890738895756584.post-55081948637509576842013-02-28T12:04:00.000-05:002013-03-02T14:39:29.662-05:00JEANNE ATKINSON'S SHAWL HAS BEAUTIFUL MEMORIES<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf1mwz9g-durClnIhrd1PZoul6mw6GHqzSrFotKpN9dE0hbN4bLzclKg2-E_p3Sfz7BEj3nmJSX9-svbZm23l6f395M8vOvQqppHe_9iC-7fTyWD6LXyY64aPQZDncDm8UjnVSQA6t-6Mx/s1600/etro_shawl.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf1mwz9g-durClnIhrd1PZoul6mw6GHqzSrFotKpN9dE0hbN4bLzclKg2-E_p3Sfz7BEj3nmJSX9-svbZm23l6f395M8vOvQqppHe_9iC-7fTyWD6LXyY64aPQZDncDm8UjnVSQA6t-6Mx/s640/etro_shawl.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Early Etro camel-and-maroon shawl was an accent for Bill Atkinson Ltd. fashions</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Atkinson's beautiful Etro shawls have been housed in their
drawers in recent years, at times taken out and worn, but mostly they have just
nestled in with other wonderful memories of her days as the dynamic CEO of Bill
Atkinson Ltd., <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1974 though 1982.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These were the years when Ms. Atkinson's late
husband Bill was the Coty-award-winning creative director and heart and soul of
the designer sportswear company that kept customers of the best specialty
stores in America
beautifully dressed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ms. Atkinson merchandised
the line, got it manufactured, sold to the stores and then flew around the
country twice a year, doing the personal appearances that went along with the
trunk shows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This plus caring for a
husband, two children and a big house.</div>
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During the late 70s and early 80s, Mr. Atkinson really
believed in the magic of the shawl.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His
wife thinks this shawl magic was ignited when the designer disappeared into Italy
for a month.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When he had emerged again,
he told stories of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>spending time with
Gimmo Etro, about falling in love with the paisley patterns, the Italian
workmanship. He also produced a deal allowing his company to distribute the
shawls in the states. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During these early
years, the shawls bore no logos.</div>
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It had become sort of expected of Bill Atkinson, that he
would pair beautiful Etro shawls with his fall-winter fashion collections.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The camel-and-maroon shawl shown here marched
down the New York Fashion Week runway with a reddish-brown suede jacket and a
sweep of black suede skirt with vertical bands of brown. For added charm, the
designer had a paisley pattern cut out on the shawl collar of the jacket. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To Mr. Atkinson's educated eye, shawl and
separates colors were meant to blend but never, never match. The sienna
brown of the jacket and true brown of the skirt details just lived happily with
the earth colors in their shawl.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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The shawl we show has always been one of Ms. Atkinson's
favorites.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now as manager and member of
Global Marketing Strategies LLC in New York,
she enjoys wearing the shawls and separates occasionally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When last I saw her, she looked very 2013 in one
of the Bill Atkinson gentle black suede skirts with a black jersey top and
graceful gold-chain necklace. When she went out for her day, she could easily
have added the shawl. <b>JP</b></div>
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Paisley Diarieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546825746655623055noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239890738895756584.post-3797453095237283362013-01-15T17:40:00.000-05:002013-01-16T13:11:55.431-05:00A PAISLEY CELEBRATION FROM UZBEKISTAN<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTFxyDiBnkPGRKUWi5qibV0vyIVMo7WjMrJKV3HERNHEMhWr4QmjFVJlqtlos9nQJGTzYbtMVpG8iVNAnV1ExpIvhLmEcB2dwMxinBeKtlatBeS2qg08PathwOYa_hQ6jhhSE4-H9Y2yeN/s1600/img002s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="325" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTFxyDiBnkPGRKUWi5qibV0vyIVMo7WjMrJKV3HERNHEMhWr4QmjFVJlqtlos9nQJGTzYbtMVpG8iVNAnV1ExpIvhLmEcB2dwMxinBeKtlatBeS2qg08PathwOYa_hQ6jhhSE4-H9Y2yeN/s400/img002s.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Luscious 19th century coat from the Bokhara province, located on the Silk Road</b></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
This, from <i>Asian Costumes and Textiles from the Bosphorus to Fujiyama</i>, (Skira editore, Milan, 2001), a book lent to me by the fashion legend, Gloria Sachs. The brocaded Chinese silk robe was made for an Ottoman dignitary. Its embroidered design is a red fruit-like paisley, framed by two white-and-airy paisleys. The lining is a Russian cotton print in a flower-filled paisley. Border trim, inside and out are perfect counterpoint prints for the paisley. All in all, the coat is a four-print smash-up that sings! <br />
And the photo by Mauro Magliani is a dream. <b>JP</b>Paisley Diarieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546825746655623055noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239890738895756584.post-11738054179984777212012-12-24T10:56:00.001-05:002013-01-16T13:16:12.391-05:00HOLIDAY PAISLEY FROM THE RUBIN MUSEUM<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlDZCE7Ycfab098LX85Po3vwSSqCVotAGHu7MXZ6Esa1BoFFyo5-25uCyKiYXvKLjy-3GtWP7cQhBIo5HmcDnb0YWgtp_ypAuhHHcz8SkeLvzyqHk73KPxwg5MmCQTukKqMR8g_-p8O_yR/s1600/img001s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlDZCE7Ycfab098LX85Po3vwSSqCVotAGHu7MXZ6Esa1BoFFyo5-25uCyKiYXvKLjy-3GtWP7cQhBIo5HmcDnb0YWgtp_ypAuhHHcz8SkeLvzyqHk73KPxwg5MmCQTukKqMR8g_-p8O_yR/s640/img001s.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Metallic gold and green design of graceful vines that have grown holiday paisley</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
When Akbar, the famous mughal emperor (1542-1605), first got
the inspiration to bring Kashmir's yarn producers and
spinners, dyers and weavers together — both Moslem and Hindu — for his
important shawl project, it was with the knowledge that the <i>boteh</i> or
paisley motif that would be used in the designs was sacred.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was to be worn only by very important men.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Somehow through centuries of weaving and
printing, we continue to recognize the power and dignity of the motif when it decorates
clothing, home furnishings and stationery, even birthday cards and shopping
bags.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Above, a hand-stamped design on a card from The Rubin Museum
of Art gift shop, New York. By
its very two-color simplicity on a blank card, it offers a special inspiration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Happy holidays. <b>JP</b></div>
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<![endif]-->Paisley Diarieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546825746655623055noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239890738895756584.post-37251471073860859992012-12-03T09:59:00.000-05:002012-12-05T17:06:57.723-05:00NOTICE-ME 1970s PAISLEY<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvNIC4tIljdL37tCP2SyAP6YzZEYXn4SZ2X8So6pvfT4ke51BfDxeidq_3r-9CafcdFW0D1sEATcr_0BPXrHONg-zcAAXo2iHtEvSsfX0WFs2OtxlycdemKu3QndPPH9HT7iTcWl9k1Bqh/s1600/j_adler1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvNIC4tIljdL37tCP2SyAP6YzZEYXn4SZ2X8So6pvfT4ke51BfDxeidq_3r-9CafcdFW0D1sEATcr_0BPXrHONg-zcAAXo2iHtEvSsfX0WFs2OtxlycdemKu3QndPPH9HT7iTcWl9k1Bqh/s400/j_adler1.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Jonathan Adler's paisley print for upholstery</b></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzNUMlwea1dEyOOQ0EZ3NTm_eDAbiwX-ZxurmYYpH6rm5Y1M8usMdd3ezC1k3zrujKnIB3eqS0MgXSl3II5LzHQfJaNZdazfx5ezdsa-Shl4pS4Q-3GQtNY5t6lw30w8ghOeM7i3Hlxp9w/s1600/j_adler2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzNUMlwea1dEyOOQ0EZ3NTm_eDAbiwX-ZxurmYYpH6rm5Y1M8usMdd3ezC1k3zrujKnIB3eqS0MgXSl3II5LzHQfJaNZdazfx5ezdsa-Shl4pS4Q-3GQtNY5t6lw30w8ghOeM7i3Hlxp9w/s400/j_adler2.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Madison Avenue window</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Isn't it interesting that giant prints for home, fashion and
art are making a<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>retro-return right now?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Take a walk down Madison Avenue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are seeing them in on the upholstery of
Jonathan Adler furniture and in fun-and-statusy Milly dresses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stop at a news store.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are seeing them on the 40th anniversary
cover of W magazine with Rooney Mara wearing a geometric-patterned Prada
coatdress. Make a turn onto Fifth Avenue
and there are two gigantic Warhol flower prints taking twin-star positions on
either side of The Met's main entrance doors, matched stunningly with equally
gigantic real flower arrangements in the flower niches.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Take Fifth down to around 24th Street and
there is a brand new Marimekko store with the same outsize poppy prints that
made them a sensation from the 1950s to 1970s.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Admittedly, these giant prints are not always paisley, but
there are enough paisleys to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>make a
noise about them -- not only Adler's upholstery, but single-paisley area rugs,
giant paisley drapes, pillows and tablecloths from a variety of design houses
and catalog companies.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It seems time to celebrate the Boomers (born 1946 to 1964)
-- a generation influenced by 1970s-80s<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Me
Generation and rushing towards grandparenthood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As Stéphane Houy-Towner observes, "Design fashion usually skips a
generation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The new generation likes to
look back to its grandparents".<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Perhaps Gaga's Little Monsters are not far from the Me's.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both generations want to be noticed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And yes, we do notice!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>JP</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Paisley Diarieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546825746655623055noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239890738895756584.post-32516903750666158692012-11-05T09:13:00.000-05:002012-11-05T09:13:12.206-05:00TRIGḖRE WAS PERFECTION<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2n0gGlY69Rqz_iBA5cKReihbR3xgtJ3H6h0BrLW3r2_dmw6MnxGi9vcaEMFCxlsEpaYjHlMTaVUQa99xVao-7_ai8yxzjRg7EpDk7WTeClXd2wvgy8fTm1EhJ2lh0yEfzrux4M7wvb8X1/s1600/trigere_gown.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2n0gGlY69Rqz_iBA5cKReihbR3xgtJ3H6h0BrLW3r2_dmw6MnxGi9vcaEMFCxlsEpaYjHlMTaVUQa99xVao-7_ai8yxzjRg7EpDk7WTeClXd2wvgy8fTm1EhJ2lh0yEfzrux4M7wvb8X1/s640/trigere_gown.JPG" width="323" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Outsized paisley print gown from the 1970s.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Society
ladies of the 1960s through the 1990s always talked about how well made her
clothes were, how the Trigère brand of glamour gave them a special
confidence. French-born, she was one of the first American designers to
adopt pants, not because they were trendy but because women wanted to wear them
and she could make women elegantly sexy in them. A couple of years before
her death in 2002, Pauline Trigère appeared on the F.I.T. (Fashion Institute of
Technology) stage during one of those famous Monday seminars, showed her
audience a large bolt of fabric, cut it in one swoop and then easily draped and
pinned that fabric into a perfect garment on her fit model. Those 15
minutes or so demonstrated an unforgettable blending of talent, taste and
incredible craft.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Then
there was a party for her jewelry where the designer pinned a turtle pin in the
perfect position on the dress I was wearing. I wore it until the day the
dress needed cleaning and in taking-off her turtle, I knew that I could never,
never get it in the perfect Trigère spot again.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
We
are showing a giant 1970s version of a Trigère evening paisley, probably
outlined in beading. Even though the print is outsized to our 2012 eyes,
there was an elegance of cut and pattern placement that again is
perfection. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Like
the motif itself, her memory has the power to lift our spirits; much needed in
the wake of Sandy the storm. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">JP</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Paisley Diarieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546825746655623055noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239890738895756584.post-81938992254186663092012-10-23T13:19:00.000-04:002012-10-23T20:12:13.661-04:00THE MET'S 17TH CENTURY ELEPHANT<div class="MsoNormal">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtXdQ4GirXlY_O8ivwKh4ZNmtR591KyRR49C9yRdo-7xZa2JW1RVqUsuDKrHXK-inicKIcB-3rhe32TJyWaSnEC6VklUOUaAZZUOZWQJ8lCaGlkShaDibZquAbfm5Xjp4rsoCEwNqVKe1w/s1600/elephant+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtXdQ4GirXlY_O8ivwKh4ZNmtR591KyRR49C9yRdo-7xZa2JW1RVqUsuDKrHXK-inicKIcB-3rhe32TJyWaSnEC6VklUOUaAZZUOZWQJ8lCaGlkShaDibZquAbfm5Xjp4rsoCEwNqVKe1w/s400/elephant+2.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><strong>ELEPHANT IN NEW YEAR'S BEST WITH BOTEH NECKLACE</strong></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This charming water color and gold-gilt work on paper, and cartouche
with the possible calligraphy of Shah Jahan (1610-1666) was presented to Mughal
Emperor Jahangir, Jahan's successor, during a New Year celebration of March 21
(year not given).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Elephants were prized possessions of the court at this time in
the Middle East and this is a particularly proud
elephant!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He or she is beautifully
outfitted with a special necklace of boteh (paisley), in addition to other
jewelry and tapestries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But my teeth sort
of ache for the way the poor tusks have been dulled and decorated.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The New Year's elephant is currently in the galleries of the
Art of Arab Lands at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. <b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>JP</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Paisley Diarieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546825746655623055noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239890738895756584.post-45223260047175528492012-09-29T19:47:00.000-04:002012-09-30T02:10:56.867-04:00HE PROMISED ME A PAISLEY WITH FEET<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp5LrBq4pZ8cfkKrpdSbSxfpCBOmmr_BP_hl4nPphEDZgVcxFcVi44aa4pTUBTMgKEDrZw71NQn2OyI7doVXm-NJnc3V7DBE6GFttyCPFMaCGnD8kG0vi_cIAYcJpPnODdLkbi8xXgO_WF/s1600/peter_elliot_ties.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp5LrBq4pZ8cfkKrpdSbSxfpCBOmmr_BP_hl4nPphEDZgVcxFcVi44aa4pTUBTMgKEDrZw71NQn2OyI7doVXm-NJnc3V7DBE6GFttyCPFMaCGnD8kG0vi_cIAYcJpPnODdLkbi8xXgO_WF/s400/peter_elliot_ties.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>PETER ELLIOT'S PAISLEY TIES, SOME KITON FROM ITALY, SOME NEW</b>-<b>YORK MADE.</b></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I once encountered a man with a special tie, the paisleys
all had feet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not so far fetched a
design idea when you think that the Victorian explorer William Moorcroft
thought that paisleys were rather humanoid designs. I thought I would see that
tie again but never did.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Visiting the Peter Elliot Men Madison Avenue store in late
summer, photographer and web designer Isabelle took photos of Elliot's
wonderful Italian-and-New-York-made paisley ties for this blog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I consider the owner, Elliot Rabin, one of
the Princes of Paisley and so asked him about the paisley-with-feet
concept.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Always enthusiastic, he said he
had a paisley-with-feet-fabric somewhere in his office and would find it for
me!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Forgiveably, Mr. Rabin appeared to
have more pressing issues that month than paisley with feet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In September came his letter to customers
explaining that the upper Madison Avenue store was closing but that Peter
Elliot Women and Peter Elliot Blue for Men and Boys would remain open.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He hasn't said why he is closing the one
store but I tend to believe that it must be that the New
York store-lords are continuing their efforts to
stamp out all smart small businesses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(One wonders how many Sephoras, H&Ms, Bananas and Gaps the upper
eastside can profitably hold.)</div>
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In any event, I have faith that when all the changes are
completed, Mr. Rabin will find that paisley with feet<b>!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>JP</b></div>
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Paisley Diarieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546825746655623055noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239890738895756584.post-66197013487230224212012-09-11T16:16:00.000-04:002012-09-11T16:16:57.054-04:00PAISLEY IN AN HBO SPECIAL<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFOQsjcd6s6Ft5dE3kTix8OBX56nS79djsi3wk9kr3ZQmtchcr61Mm1mr7gpW8F46yoxedZXoQk4RL0QTct-Fpuv2jVlU2D1clDyfcZN-bglaok8m6sbmjycpu6gN1OJ7p4skcBPSdBf_E/s1600/Killer_paisley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFOQsjcd6s6Ft5dE3kTix8OBX56nS79djsi3wk9kr3ZQmtchcr61Mm1mr7gpW8F46yoxedZXoQk4RL0QTct-Fpuv2jVlU2D1clDyfcZN-bglaok8m6sbmjycpu6gN1OJ7p4skcBPSdBf_E/s640/Killer_paisley.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
<br />
Last week's New Yorker Magazine cartoon reminded us that the paisley motif is always very alive, always up to some kind of trick to get our attention. Whether it is a one-celled creature, a paramecium as the much-loved New York designer Charles Nolan called it, when I asked for his definition. Or a magical repeat motif in scarf or blouse that wants to make every woman look much more feminine and attractive. Or a preppy tie design to please the American male, an empire reference for his Brit counterpart. Most of us love the paisley, even when he is being bad<b>. </b>When you come to think of it, he has had more seasons than Tony Soprano.<b> JP</b></div>
Paisley Diarieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546825746655623055noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239890738895756584.post-28788407909943752462012-08-30T20:22:00.001-04:002012-08-30T20:22:52.473-04:00PAISLEY GETS "ETROED"<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUoZXV6aY-PZjHrzeKNqjX6YlszQp-TrQ6oaCYgWPsKZU7DIIuxoNwrU2LMXWVepB-qv6nO8Ge48aPqlenW203lsnyms2Feu3TZav9jGBPp5iSZIcPjGduT5Va1-AYfU8nWUzNrDxkEAQ5/s1600/ETRO_fall_2012_ad_campaign.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUoZXV6aY-PZjHrzeKNqjX6YlszQp-TrQ6oaCYgWPsKZU7DIIuxoNwrU2LMXWVepB-qv6nO8Ge48aPqlenW203lsnyms2Feu3TZav9jGBPp5iSZIcPjGduT5Va1-AYfU8nWUzNrDxkEAQ5/s640/ETRO_fall_2012_ad_campaign.jpg" width="488" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">FOUR PAGES FROM ETRO'S FALL MAGAZINE CAMPAIGN</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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It is funny about paisley.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Some fashion seasons are universally paisley-friendly or even
paisley-obsessed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some seasons are
not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is hard to predict.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Sometimes, within the merchandising universe, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>paisley pops up only on the designer level,
sometimes only at Target level.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Sometimes it is strongest in the home decor area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A recent spin through Target's website didn't
turn up a single women's<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>paisley. Maybe
in all fairness, that is momentary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As
this is being posted, Target paisleys might be getting assembled in China.
</div>
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One of those paisley seasons for serious fashion appears to
be Fall 2012. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even Etro, the Italian-based
family company with conflicted emotions about the motif, has plunged into
paisley fashion with a big, bold ad campaign.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is a company that identifies with the motif as brand tradition for
its silk scarves, handbags, menswear and even dog beds, but sometimes gets nervous
about paisley for its fashion collection. Its chic women's designer often
prefers less predictable prints, maybe Aztec or Aboriginal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, this season, she applies a knowing
hand to the motif in bold, beautiful ways. Well done, Veronica.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>JP</b></div>
Paisley Diarieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546825746655623055noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239890738895756584.post-15009080486936076222012-08-15T14:33:00.000-04:002012-08-15T14:33:06.857-04:00DO YOU REMEMBER THE ITALIAN COAST?<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoka0OTOYCOvAQ1hh6z7owejzzOYdmFIe0hywjN4OCXiUtF8b1Us8zy6wlCU3pjfs4mYZYMqfOxD2-2tTER8asYriBxv8J9m6mBrKwqi4W9uJkf_9QgZmH3TnAggnVippZAk2VO26lwe4n/s1600/coast_shirt.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoka0OTOYCOvAQ1hh6z7owejzzOYdmFIe0hywjN4OCXiUtF8b1Us8zy6wlCU3pjfs4mYZYMqfOxD2-2tTER8asYriBxv8J9m6mBrKwqi4W9uJkf_9QgZmH3TnAggnVippZAk2VO26lwe4n/s640/coast_shirt.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>EARLY 2000'S COAST SHIRT FROM THE COLLECTION OF DEANNA LITTELL.</b></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b> </b></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b> </b></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b> </b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Women or men -- which do you think gets most misted up about
the paisley motif?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think it is men
with their tender remembrances of 70s and 80s decades past, often when they
link very specific shirts and ties with important events. If they are from the
Financial District, maybe the emotion is right now, tonight, with the
comforting custom-made silk paisley dressing gowns that they run home to,
accessorized by cigars and antique Waterford
stemware filled with reserve scotch liqueurs.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Then, of course, as a separate category there is the Coast
shirt of the early 2000s, not from the west coast of the U.S.
but from Italy
by way of Paris boutiques.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sold as teammates to Weber pants and Anhaus
knits, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>all three labels were designed by
Remo Ruffini, the man who is now CEO of the Moncler Group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bergdorf''s Men's Store seems to have been
the HQ for Coast shirts in New York
and recently a BG salesman predicted that the shirts will be staging a
comeback.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Coast shirts are <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>known for their wearable patterns, usually
touched with black.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are a soft
cotton not meant to be ironed, as in,"I just woke up early on the yacht
and didn't want to disturb anybody."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The shirts work with jeans and white pants and, because they are fitted,
women have been known to like wearing them also. <b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>JP</b></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
Paisley Diarieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546825746655623055noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239890738895756584.post-32845549198066666462012-07-24T11:06:00.000-04:002012-10-23T13:23:58.883-04:00NORELL ON-THE-TOWN PAISLEY<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcBiVghWzeAHfP7sDMf9zE4f9k32AFyGDb0NAJWoeZ9rf8azh4EkSLclOeh51Q9iqEvrS08iCew3o837xBTbfoQOAgrNhDl__Lg3UhO2d3MrC23C50fOZOK1qdbetukvbN7-AzTROfS2WI/s1600/norell_paisley2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcBiVghWzeAHfP7sDMf9zE4f9k32AFyGDb0NAJWoeZ9rf8azh4EkSLclOeh51Q9iqEvrS08iCew3o837xBTbfoQOAgrNhDl__Lg3UhO2d3MrC23C50fOZOK1qdbetukvbN7-AzTROfS2WI/s400/norell_paisley2.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">EMBROIDERED PAISLEY DESIGN ON NORMAN NORELL GOWN</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc-nt5xlBdC5ePuiJ2pmnKm1EFihGTKmtPGUhKS6JcSlS37rRjE08MVpsleAA-e7qMfBDaamE_mlr3w_fGYUH3J5m2B6OM_m87sz46O8tplCk98CM_sTgwxOZnXN8wAT314omhFzW1xl3_/s1600/norell_paisley1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc-nt5xlBdC5ePuiJ2pmnKm1EFihGTKmtPGUhKS6JcSlS37rRjE08MVpsleAA-e7qMfBDaamE_mlr3w_fGYUH3J5m2B6OM_m87sz46O8tplCk98CM_sTgwxOZnXN8wAT314omhFzW1xl3_/s400/norell_paisley1.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">MODELS IN MERMAID DRESSES SURROUND THE DESIGNER</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Somehow, contemporary fashionistas mistakenly think that
sexy was invented in years Madonna and post-Madonna. I remember a student who thought that time
was divided into Madonna and pre-Madonna, as in "Don't be such a pre-Madonna." I have now added post-Madonna which like
post-Modern, does not mean that Madonna and Modern are not important and
influential, it just is that the world has sort of moved on.</div>
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But the late American designer Norman
Norell knew elegant sexy from the get-go and designed it for Hollywood stars like Gloria
Swanson as well the east coast socialite of the late 40s, 50, 60s and into the
70s. He is said to have invented the
chemise, the dress that forgot its waistline. </div>
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Norell is shown here with a group of models wearing variations
of his mermaid dress with its subtle train. This clingy siren gown did remember
its waistline. The mermaid at the far right is embroidered with
feminine paisleys. The photo is not dated but must be late 1960s or early
1970s. And if Norell's paisley mermaid was
around today, it would be definitely be going to the best parties this fall. <b>JP</b></div>
Paisley Diarieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546825746655623055noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239890738895756584.post-58136012972170208652012-07-02T15:05:00.002-04:002012-07-02T15:05:39.401-04:00American Flower Quilt<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcPe5bhDZNBsQYprY1plrhfTzcgQIhAePEjwLKd4hWWNWTIVKHGdGvIZ-ZXtHkYTgUOsnvS6QJFAe84HvY0-lGAz-MG715LrWufEbUKq90sQhGSbDhJjbJgyjp-_r1X9ZQKAZ4UKy6bcYP/s1600/american_quilt1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcPe5bhDZNBsQYprY1plrhfTzcgQIhAePEjwLKd4hWWNWTIVKHGdGvIZ-ZXtHkYTgUOsnvS6QJFAe84HvY0-lGAz-MG715LrWufEbUKq90sQhGSbDhJjbJgyjp-_r1X9ZQKAZ4UKy6bcYP/s400/american_quilt1.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b> AMERICAN FLORAL QUILT MOTIF WITH PAISLEY PETALS.</b></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtHvFGQ8DVjuuGYJWiYGhSL7-Y0lYu6e9Og5gfwCDwnXEDc1owTGhEimqZaKrc2UHhxWg5mqAxnyPeHYI4zUi4Wsyb8A7n4DXC-Ao6-u-iOf_H3ngCykNR6tx3ancbMxmBrpDZ8b30P-9m/s1600/american_quilt2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtHvFGQ8DVjuuGYJWiYGhSL7-Y0lYu6e9Og5gfwCDwnXEDc1owTGhEimqZaKrc2UHhxWg5mqAxnyPeHYI4zUi4Wsyb8A7n4DXC-Ao6-u-iOf_H3ngCykNR6tx3ancbMxmBrpDZ8b30P-9m/s400/american_quilt2.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>CLOSE-UP OF BLUE PAISLEY WITH JAGGED EDGES.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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My first blog entry was the story of my mother's Aunt Flora
who came one summer for an extended visit. Readers may remember that it was
this woman who went shopping with me for a head scarf and selected a
paisley<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>because "a paisley is
always good."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She didn't,
however,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>have an answer for me when I
asked<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"What was a paisley?"</div>
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<br /></div>
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Aunt Flora had decided to make a floral patchwork quilt for
my bed during her stay and had evidently worked out the pattern of almost 150
flowers with unrepeated floral print petals well before making the trip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, she waited until she got to Detroit
to buy the fabric, with the help of my mother.</div>
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Her selection of floral prints and their corresponding solid
color companions took place at a small, local fabric store,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I really can't remember where.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I do remember that the job was done with
great efficiency and speed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In recent years, I
have used the quilt as a bedcover, frequently studying the 1950's patterns -- never
even hoped to find a paisley. Then on a recent day, there it was, blue with a
jagged border and three little red dots as inside filling, rather conventional
little flowers as companions and all against a white ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seemed somewhat strange that there was
only one paisley print.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps the
postwar paisley trend was just coming into its own and hadn't filtered down to
inexpensive cotton yard goods.</div>
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The discovery prompted the recollection of the importance of
American quilting as historical documentation -- of a family, an era, the
fabric industry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From what was been
observed, early American textiles were not the works of art that were produced
in Europe and Asia at that time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, the craftswomenship of quilting and
embroidery of the 18th and 19th centuries is outstanding and historically
important.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One can look back at the
milestone of the red-and-white quilt exhibit sponsored by the American
Folk Art Museum
in 2011, 650 quilts sensationally hung from the mile-high ceilings of the Park
Avenue Armory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is also the crazy
quilt genre that seems to have created a 1880s American fad after people saw
the Japanese Exhibit in the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And also of importance is the story of the
"Underground Railroad Quilt Code" and the possibility that the
display of these quilts offered messages for escaped slaves<b>. </b></div>
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So, thank you Aunt Flora for the little paisley message that
endures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>JP</b></div>
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<br /></div>Paisley Diarieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546825746655623055noreply@blogger.com