Home » Home & Style » Antique Linens/Textiles » THE HISTORY AND DESIGN OF THE PAISLEY SHAWL - Page 2

THE HISTORY AND DESIGN OF THE PAISLEY SHAWL - Page 2

© Joan Lawrence

During the 100 years the shawl was in fashion, its shape changed to suit the dresses with which it was worn. From 1770-1810 simple high-waisted white muslin dresses became fashionable. With these neo-Classical dresses, simple long light stoles with narrow borders and deeper woven ends or small one-yard squares with narrow borders folded into a triangle were worn. The centers were either plain or had a small repeating sprig or pip design. The ends and narrow borders were separately woven often having small meandering flowers or pine motifs, using just three or four colors. Such a shawl would have cost about $50.

The 1820's saw great changes to the industry. Dresses were of silk, still with highish waists but with bodice detailing such as pintucks and wide puff sleeves, which required a larger shawl. With the Jacquard loom, shawls could be woven in one piece with much bolder design and more color.

During the 1830's the skirt got larger, balanced by huge sleeves, until by 1840 several starched white petticoat or a horsehair petticoat were worn, replaced in 1856 by whalebone hoops or the crinoline frame. It was at this time of the widening skirts that the shawl really became popular, with every better class trousseau including one. In Scotland they were known as 'kirking' shawls when they were worn to church on the first Sunday after the wedding and then at christenings.

By 1850, Edinburgh could no longer compete with Paisley, where they managed to undersell their shawls by a greater sub-division and specialization of labor and by aiming at the mass market-the middle and working classes. France and Norwich still produced very good quality examples.

With the crinoline frame (wire underskirt) it was difficult to wear a coat although short mantles were worn. Most people preferred a warm enveloping shawl, which was so much more attractive to wear. From 1840-1875 shawls were made much larger to cover the skirt: 5 feet square; 5 feet by 10-12 feet; 5 feet by 8 feet 4 inches. Square shawls were folded in triangles with a top flap just slightly turned over, while the large rectangles could be folded into two and caught at the front with a brooch and with the full splendor of the shawl over the crinoline.

A combination of events led to the decline of popularity of the shawl in the early 1870's. A shawl could not fall very successfully down the back with the bustle, that rear wired protrusion which became so fashinable at the time. The Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871 halted exports of shawls from Kashmir, resulting in the collapse of the industry. By 1870 a woven Jacquard shawl could be purchased for $1 and an identical patterned cotton shawl for a few cents.

The copyright of the article THE HISTORY AND DESIGN OF THE PAISLEY SHAWL - Page 2 in Antique Linens/Textiles is owned by Joan Lawrence. Permission to republish THE HISTORY AND DESIGN OF THE PAISLEY SHAWL - Page 2 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.