Orientalist Wardrobe - Persian Miniatures etc...

[mercyonthesubway]

Some of you who know me of old, and are aware of this obsession. I'm just in the process of reviving a few odd posts from my defunct blog about this... but I have a suggestion. I recently went to see this exhibition:

Lure of the East

And was quite taken with the portraits it kicked off with, such as Lady Wortley Montagu, who made it a fashion to wear Turkish (well Ottoman really) garb:

So I began thinking about my favourite variety of novelty print, and how often it is misinterpreted.

I've lifted a few images for memory's sake in the past from fellow VFG members for my own reference. But I wonder whether a VFG reference thread would be useful too?

I've seen prints of this type referred to as all sorts of things. One of the most common is 'ethnic', but 'oriental' and 'asian' are also popular (I just bought - by mistake, honest - one of these, called them 'ethnic people', which, in retrospect, is kind of funny if you're unfortunate enough to know Greek). Actually they're borrowing from a genre of Middle Eastern illustration which I see most often referred to as Persian miniature.

For an amazingly vivid murder mystery constructed around this tradition, see My Name is Red

So here's the first of my contributions: one of those Florida dresses which must have been made from textiles specially-printed with extra-large repeated images. I'm going to find out a bit more about Persian miniatures to add here, or on a blog-type-thing... but in the meantime...

.... I thought it would be useful to compile a visual resource from everyone's posts, as they come across things, for as long as images are hosted. Here's my first; I posted the whole dress elsewhere, by Flair of Miami:

It's the same image on the front and back:

Florida Handprints also produced these dresses; I'd be interested if any other firms did, or in any catalogue images people might have.

see you later,

L

 

[mercyonthesubway]

Tina Leser + 50s-60s? mixed scenes

Here's another example of the kind of scattered scene you see in dresses of the mid-50s (I think) through to the early 60s (if anybody could narrow this down, I'd be really interested). Here it's used by Tina Leser in a late, simple sheath dress:

the back,

detail:

Sorry, the images are a bit dark. Needless to say, neither of these are going in my clear-out sale... (hey, they're cotton, they fold up small).

 

[The Vintage Merchant]

i'm thinking Lynn (or is it Lynne?) has/had an interest & knowledge in these sorts of prints also

i think they're delightful!

 

[mercyonthesubway]

Ach, Mary, I can't see your picture! Was there one? Thanks though.

I don't have what you might call expert expertise... it's 'out of my period', but I deal in the same geographical area and love these images, so I wanted to raise their profile a bit. I'll have more in a sec... I'm sorting out my image files...

 

[mercyonthesubway]

The Millworth Converting Co. \'CASBAH\' print

Now for a really ubiquitous print.

I really must apologize for the next image, as I think it belongs to another VFG-er who long ago auctioned this skirt (I've yet to take pictures of my two examples), but it's a really striking example of this print, which was used by a number of different companies and by home sewers too. It came in assorted colour pallets on black, white, brown, saffron, pink and grey backgrounds, and perhaps more. It was part of a series of 'tourist' or 'destination' border prints by Millworth which included Venice and a couple of others in the same style, as if painted by the same artist.

I've seen it generally sewn into the style it seemed to be designed for: the full pleated skirt. But there were also dresses made, and I think Lizzie found a catalogue entry showing the dresses.

It was *so* popular, it was revived recently, perhaps from an old copyrighted pattern book, or something, by a textile supplier to Bernado, who made a line of longer and less full skirts with sequin ornaments. In adapting the print, though, they made a few changes: they removed all the crescents from the roofs and took away an old bearded begger who sat in the foreground of the original print - I think I remember posting about this at the time...

So not a Persian miniature borrowed from authentic paintings, but more of an Orientalist image, created as a stereotypical snapshot, derived from Hollywood etc, of 'the East' that people might aspire to visit.

 

[mercyonthesubway]

Florida Handprints

Possibly a little earlier and less well put together as the 'Flair Miami' example, but fully lined and thick fabric. The label states that this is 'imported fabric' - I'm kind of intrigued about where they got it from and whether this kicked off some imitations.

I'd love to see more examples of these.

 

[mercyonthesubway]

Don-About - Nelly Don takes the idea further

I posted images of this a *long* time ago. This dress almost seems to be further along the same line - cartoonish images derived from typical Persian miniature scenes are integrated into a rather more worked up design.

Still, the overall colourscheme and decoration are all decidedly drawing on the same idea of a Middle Eastern style.

 

[mercyonthesubway]

Courtauld\'s Tricel - 70s does 30s/40s

Further along the timeline, a fabric produced by Courtaulds (I only have a Courtaulds label in this dress, nothing else), which seems to be picking up the much earlier 30s-40s habit of using little Orientalist/Arabian Nights scenes and landscapes in small repeated prints.

Except this one is a little bit more mind-bending. You have to look closely to see the upright-and-upside-down domes and minarets, and even more closely to see the little groups of Persian musicians. I love this.

 

[fuzzylizzie]

Hi Lin.

I think some of the problem with the naming of these prints is that many Westerners (US residents, anyway) are taught so little of mid eastern/Persian/Arabian history.

Whenever I see prints like these that are so strongly influenced by another culture, I always wonder how much of the print is authentic, and how much is the fabric designer's fancy. That old fabric industry journal, American Fabrics, regularily featured how art influenced fashion and fabrics.

Anyway, here is another border print. Like the one you posted above, this one is part of a series done by the same designer. I'll check later to see if The fabric details are on the selvedge.

<img src=http://fuzzylizzie.com/myPictures/noveltyskirts/arabia.jpg>

<img src=http://fuzzylizzie.com/myPictures/noveltyskirts/arabia2%20001.jpg>

That Nelly Don has always been a favorite of mine!

 

[mercyonthesubway]

Hi Lizzie! I *love* that print. I think you're right about the lack of education in this area. It's the same problem that we have - the lack of Middle Eastern history in our curriculum is an axe that I frequently grind.

This fancy/inspiration thing is an interesting question. That's what I find so interesting about the ones that borrow closely from Persian miniature scenes (the 60s ones) - if they're imported, where are they being manufactured?

I have a border print skirt that I still need to photograph which was custom-made for the wife of a diplomat in India in the 50s or 60s; the fabric was screen-printed with local motifs, but in overall format looks kind of similar to these skirt designs. This (vague) line between copying and fantasy is something we can pin down more with all the images up here.

Also, it helps justify my decision to keep a suitcase-full of these...

 

[Jluthye]

ethnic dress?

Is this a kind of dress that you are referring to? I haven't listed it yet but I was planning on labeling it a Babayloninan print ethnic dress

 

[denisebrain]

Lin, perhaps you could ID this print...I think I am leaning toward Siamese for no educated reason. Now that I've seen your prints, mine looks sort of like Cutesy Persian!

 

[mercyonthesubway]

Oh sorry! didn't spot the new posts - those are both fantastic!

Jluthye, I'm not sure about Babylonian... Elephants generally point you towards Africa or the subcontinent - I mean, there *were* elephants in more wide-ranging Middle Eastern armies, but I think art-wise they don't wander far from their native habitats, if you know what I mean.

I wish I *did* have an example of a Babylonian print to show, but alas, one has yet to turn up (I did glimpse a novelty print shirt once, that looked like its image had been lifted from a seal image - you know, the kind of thing you find rolled on tablets - but it was almost too abstract to tell).

I can't put my finger on it, but the slightly chunkier vegetation, the figures' poses and, yes, the elephants, make me want to call it Indian. That is, it's kind of related to the same artistic tradition that's in the background of the Persian miniatures, but this is just much more specifically regional. The costume can sometimes look a lot more Moghul (Muslim dynasty ruling Northern India with Persian-speaking courts) too. Check this out:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/37/79126840_f9e79da5d9.jpg?v=0

And this:

elephant...

Margaret, I'll be back in a minute for yours, I'm just searching for something it reminds me of...

 

[mercyonthesubway]

Okay, I'm back...

What kind of garment is that, Margaret? Dress or shirt? It's fantastic, whichever. I think you're right on the money that it's 'Cutesy Persian'! I can see how Siamese might come in - essentially, wherever there are domes and pinnacles on the horizon, due to an Islamic tradition, you can begin to reminded of this stuff.

But in this case I think it's just that tradition of evoking an 'Arabian Nights' landscape pumped up with hyper-vivid colours. I'll show you what it reminded me of:

This is the Sandman graphic comic story 'Ramadan', written by Neil Gaiman and drawn by P. Craig Russell. It's one of my favourite examples of literary illustration, if you like. What I think both Gaiman and Russell do is take elements from the 19th-20th century tradition of story-telling/illustration using the Arabian Nights (stand out example, Edmund Dulac: Dulac's Rubaiyaat...) and transform them into a modern graphic novel. It's pretty good (on which see this fan's write-up: http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/?p=3976. But you can see the mixture of traditional miniature-y figures, domed skylines plus modern elements, and jazzed up? That's what I mean. It's a blend, and it has only bits of Persian borrowings, but they are there in patches, to create the overall mood.

This is an amazing story, I recommend it.

 

[mercyonthesubway]

40s Prints...

And in the 1940s, the Arabian Nights loom large as an influence on many of this kind of print. So, more fantasy than authenticity. Here are details of one of the 'Thief of Bagdad' films (1940) Powell and Korda Thief of Bagdad; you may have come across the associated jewellery.

And here's a 40s 'Magic Carpet' print. I like to think that the roses are a bit of a Persian touch - reminiscent of some poetry.

 

[The Vintage Merchant]

Jluthye, i'd be willing to bet that is fabric from the v e r y late 60's, to early-early 70's. my mom made a shift dress for me in very similar exotic print in that patch-quilt (dark on light, light on dark) style of fabric, i LOVED it, and i think i still have some of the original fabric that i was one day going to turn into SOMEthing (but never did...)


anyway, point being, if it is indeed a 70's print, alot of fabrics/designs had a naturalistic/nature theme including past time periods with a similar slant. The elephants would reflect India, south east Asia or African inspiration; the lady (ies) in your print actually remind me of Crete.

 

[mercyonthesubway]

Academic online image databases like the British Library Images Online facility are a really good place to check your first impressions against some examples.

Here are some of the images you get by searching 'Mughal' there:

these were all made in India.

 

[Jluthye]

wow mughal is much better than the persian or indian I think... because none of the people have turbans not even the men... thats why I htought nore babaylonian so should I list it as mid-east print lol or...

yeah i thought this dress to be late 60's... pobbibly early 70's but leaning more towards 60s....

Its more likely homemeade. but has metal back zip.. cant find any tags,, but what made me lean earlier rather than later was the beading on the neck and wrists... i did not put it in that photo... but I can if interested?

 

[mercyonthesubway]

I would say you need 'novelty' and 'hippie' in there to get hits as search terms, but your most accurate description of the subject matter is Mughal. Not that that will be searched much for itself (hardly anyone will list with that description - although occasionally people do).

It's a delicate balance between getting it 'right' and using words that buyers will recognize too. For example, I acquired a dress that someone semi-accurately described as 'Persian print', but she'd have been far better including 'Novelty' too. Moreover, it was the type of print that was much more 'Arabian Nights' fantasy than something more directly borrowed/lifted, like yours.

As Mary points out, a lot of the charm of your print is the way the images have been turned into a vivid design - something like a 'patch graphic' or similar. So that might be of a more direct appeal to those looking too.

To be fair, I search:
'exotic', 'ethnic', 'oriental' + 'asian' pretty much in that order of precedence, searching within descriptions, to find the novelty prints I like. I might add, that in almost all cases, I believe that the dresses I've got that way have not really been described to their full advantage. That said, the ones I *don't* get, and forever remember as ones that got away, tend to have their print a little more accurately described (I'm mistily remembering a certain Goldworm design here).

Good luck with it!
L

 

[denisebrain]

That garment of mine is a 60s blouse:

Your magic carpet print is delightful, as are all of these Lin--Thank you for posting them!