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Silk jacquard – why is it so special?

Posted Feb 1st, 2017 in Style Knowledge

POSTED BY: AASHIF JAMANI

Silk jacquard is a rare, delicate fabric, and the hand embroidery involved in using this fabric to make a Smoking Jacket is time consuming and requires true artistry.

Silk Jacquard, Mens Smoking Jacket

Rich, Elaborate Fabric Patterning

Jacquard is a type of rich, elaborate fabric defined by the weaving process, and refers to materials characterized by intricate, woven patterns. It is a particular fabrication in which a pattern is woven directly into the material.

The jacquard weaving process is named after its inventor, a French weaver and merchant named Joseph Marie Jacquard.

His invention consisted of a loom attachment operated by a punch card system, in which each card represented one line of a pattern. Invented between 1801 and 1810, this machine allowed patterns to be produced quicker and more efficiently. Jacquard weaving allows almost any loom to create textured patterns by methodically raising independent threads.

Silk Jacquard & The Smoking Jacket

Silk jacquard is one of the most luxurious jacquard fabric patterns available, as it combines the utmost elegance of silk with the ornate detail of jacquard patterning.

While the Smoking Jacket has evolved over the years, it was originally seen as high-taste, luxurious loungewear. Traditionally made from softer materials like silk and velvet, the Smoking Jacket represented comfort and elegance.

In the seventeenth century, silk was one of the goods imported to Europe from Asia, India, and North America. It became trendy for wealthy men to have their portrait painted while wearing their silk robes.

While remarkable in its sophistication, the Smoking Jacket would also provide warmth, as most homes throughout the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries did not have proper heating and insulation.


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