Today, we say that the clothes we wear differentiate us from others. It is like a badge to our personality. But can textiles represent an identity of a country? Apart from the nomenclature that is mostly devised out of the technique or other aspects of its production, every piece of textile is more popularly labeled and known from the country it is most popularly been produced in.

This efficiently gives an insight into the creative potentials and inclinations of people of a particular country. The patterns, motifs, color palette, the religious influence on the motifs and the significance of the choice of the particular colors. The list can go on and on. What must be asked now, is, that what has come to be the identity today, was it completely and solely the making of  the people of that country? What about the influences from Diasporas? More so, what about their concurrence in trade. There must be a palpable influence from the imports and the exports to others. The essay by Yuko Tanaka on ‘ A comparative study of textile production and trading from the beginning of the 16^th century to the end of the 19^th century’ sheds light over this aspect and helps trace the footsteps to where these distinctive identities began to be forged.

Chinoiserie cloth

The 18^th century English printed cotton had various patterns. One of the prominent ones was the Chinoiserie pattern, which was decorated with pagodas, Chinese figures, animals, birds and strange shaped stones. Chinioiserie is a French term, signifying ‘ Chinese-esque’. This technique was fostered during the renaissance period when the western designers tried to imitate the technical sophistication of the Chinese ceramics with only partial success. Evidently, Chinoiserie patterns were patronized by various European monarchs for it blended well with the much prevalent rococo style which is an elaborately ornamental Baroque style of decoration. William Kilburn, a leading designer and printer of calico (a cotton cloth), was the harbinger of floral patterns to Europe during the 1970s. His works are now displayed at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.  He petitioned for a design copyright protection in the textile industry to the Parliament. The reason for such actuation was people who copied his designs and produced a cheaper fabric.  As a result of this plagiarism, ‘An Act for the Encouragement of the Arts of designing and printing Linens, Cottons, Calicos and Muslins by vesting the properties thereof in the Designers, Printers, Proprietors for a limited time’ was passed. Then came the much known, chintz. It was originally glazed calico textile, imported from India, brought in by Portugese and Dutch traders. This had a great impact on the English and French mills as they could not produce chintz. As a result, the imports were banned. However, the loop holes in the legislation did not stop it from becoming a raging trend and so, it forced the local manufacturers to adapt and produce this kind of fabric. It is funny to note that typical chintz floral patterns are now remarked as being very European despite its Indian origin, whereas, Indian chintz is insinuated as being garish and florid. This again reminds me of Yinka Shonibare’s art works that talk about some European textiles being of African origin.  English chintz came into being with designs created by William Morris, a popular textile designer.

Chintz fabric

Another interesting point to be noted is, the numerous names by which the same style of textile is known in different places. The very influential Indian ikat textiles were commonly known as ‘Chintz’ by the English, ‘pintado’ by the Portuguese and Kalamkari in Persia, when referring to wax-resist dye method. However, kalamkari is truly the most elaborate and finest textile produced in India.

Also, As standardization of products became a very important requirement for the European markets, the weaver had to adapt his expertise to ensure standardization of yarn and cloth measurement.

As per Pires’ writings mentioned in the readings, the fact that trade plays a major role in influencing the ethics of a society is barefaced. The efficiently traced trade routes are a testament. Apart from trade, colonialism played a major role in this intangible but very important barter, for all Asian merchants were replaced by European ones. Also, Indian cloth was standardized for mass production by the colonizers. This simply means that the Indian production units were being customized to produce for European markets whereas the Indian domestic markets were flooded with European imports.

India and China were the countries producing world’s finest textiles at a point. History of Indian textiles can be tracked all the way back to Mohenjo-daro whereas, the Chinese textiles began 500,000 years ago. But it was in the Neolithic age when rearing of silk worms and weaving of cloth began.

Mughal tent

As if donning  of clothes was not enough to demarcate, Indians also have architecture made out of textiles. The sprawling Mughal palaces consisted of extravagant tents that were carried when the emperor traveled. All of these were made of red silk velvet embroidered with gold flowers and scrolling vines sometimes shaped into the tree of life, sometimes winding in a vertical framework. As well as royal palaces, there were also wedding canopies in the villages. These canopies had cloth ceilings depicting the dancing Krishna, peacocks, deer and flowers. Many cloth chandeliers with abundant strings and many kinds of textiles hung under the ceiling. Cloth friezes surrounded the canopy. All of this was implicative of how strong the status of a man was in the society. The camels were also donned with ornamented textiles. The quilts for camels were made from goat hair with intrinsic patterns that were believed to have some magical powers. Balinese textiles influenced these where cloth was central to any spiritual activity.

Balinese textile

The history of textiles needs to be looked at, efficiently and pragmatically, to trace the interplay between influences that have come to shape the textile prejudices today. This was just an excerpt into the vast and complex coactions throughout history. It is well emanated that no part of the world developed its textiles in social isolation. Influences discreetly creep into the accession and are bound to leave an impact.