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The Cashmere Shawl is of a very soft fabric nature created from the wool received from Cashmere goat. The highest quality shawl is the one made using wool from the pashmina goat found in Kashmir in India . The fleece has had been in use for dozens of centuries for making the best quality shawls known as pashminas. The shawl has come to so much significance that a woman’s taste for dress is determined by her choice of Cashmere Shawls and the manner in which she wears them.
In Kashmir and regions surrounding it, Cashmere Shawls are worn as a warm garment during the winters. During the rule of the Mughals, these shawls came to be produced in abundance across the North Western Frontier. The Mughals were quite charmed by the shawl and tested different ways of wearing this highly priced garment. They experimented wearing it over the shoulder, and the weavers were encouraged to create new patterns that helped in turning it into a highly successful industry with huge demand from Europe .
Cashmere Shawls are considered to have been first worn in Europe by a Greek lady and a beauty, Madame Emile Gaudin in Paris . At this time, the shawls became the rage in France – the false display of equality in the country moved away and women from ordinary background were not expected to dress like a general officer’s lady. And, they had enough wealth to pay for the enormous that was demanded for these shawls. Cashmere Shawls worn by mogul soldiers and priests, whether in soiled state were bought for as much as three hundred pounds. And these shawls were often used by a number of generations.
It was after this experimentation with Cashmere Shawls that shawls came to be worn over the shoulder by both the rich and the poor as a protection against the cold weather. Each and every one of these shawls is an art made from combining colors. The craftsmanship used on these shawls has been in use for more than 500 years. The uniqueness of Cashmere Shawls is simply unmatchable, as it is impossible to replicate the different features of a single shawl. A single shawl passes through the hands of three artisans – a designer who creates the design on the shawl, a copier who creates the pattern in workshop and the weaver. The designs and colors are an integral part of the Cashmere Shawl’s features and they are made using different combinations of colors.
Cashmere Shawls are woven on primitive looms with stick supported warp and hand-made woof. The process of weaving is quite laborious, but it gives the fabric the neatness and precision that can never be achieved by using machinery. The borders of these Cashmere Shawls are made using a number of pieces – most often they range between ten and twenty. These pieces are sewn collectively to create a pattern. One can always tell an Indian shawl from a European one from the border. Each and every stitch on the Indian shawl’s border is distinct and it can be pulled out, even though not quite easily.
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