ADVENT WINTER COAT

Advent Calendar Day 10

A winter kashmir shawl with fringed collar and sleaves

   

Victorian surcoat made of Kashmir shawl pieces

Woven from the fleece of a Himalayan mountain goat, Kashmir shawls were famous for their lightness, softness and warmth.

The word cashmere is an anglicisation of Kashmir. A luxury product traded from India to Europe, the Kashmir shawl was a fashionable item of clothing in the late 1700s and early 1800s in Europe. When cheaper machine-made shawls began to be produced in places such as Paisley in Scotland, native Kashmir shawl production fell into decline.

Shawls fell out of use when the bustle silhouette entered fashion at the end of the 1860s. By the late 1800s other fashionable articles were devised to make out of shawls such as this late 19th-century surcoat formed of Kashmir shawl pieces of the early/mid 19th century.

Surcoat made of Kashmir shawl pieces

Wool
28 x 23 cm
Kashmir, India
EA2000.39

Not currently on display

  

Back of a winter Kashmir shawl with fringed collar and sleeves