por ciento del impuesto sobre el ingreso local

The Silk Road, or Silk Route, is an interconnected series of ancient trade routes, through various regions of the Asian continent, that connected China with Asia Minor and then the Mediterranean. It extends over nearly 5,000 miles (8,000 km) across land and sea, and linked Antioch and the coasts of the Mediterranean to Beijing, with a journey time of about one year. In the south a second route went via Yemen, Burma, and India.

The trade that took place on these routes played a significant role in the development of the great civilizations of China, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, the Indian subcontinent, and Rome, and helped establish the foundations of the modern world. Europe

The earliest record of the cultivation of silk in Europe was made by Greek philosopher Aristotle, who described the metamorphosis of the silkworm, and suggested that the produce of the cocoons was wound onto bobbins for the purpose of being woven. The very origin of the term “sericulture” is derived from the Greek word ser, meaning “silk.” Raw silk was brought from the interior of Asia and manufactured in Cos as early as the fourth centuryBC. First the Greeks, then the Romans began to speak of the seres, or “people of silk,” a term used to describe the inhabitants of the far-off kingdom of China.

Roman poets writing at the time of Augustus allude to the desirability of these remarkably thin, elegantly textured fine textiles. China had jealously guarded the secret of sericulture so

(right) A collaboration between Paul Smith and Gainsborough Silk has produced a collection of sophisticated upholstery fabrics. Gainsborough Silk, founded in 1903, are specialists in jacquard weaving. (far right) Historically inspired silk stripe taffeta layered pannier skirt with selvages, worn with a corseted bodice. By Vivienne Westwood from the Spring/Summer 2009 “Do it Yourself” collection.

F4F_05_silk_2e_US.indd 106 F4F_05_silk_2e_US.indd 104 25 S k Fa ric for Fa

104-125 Silk Fabric for Fashion.indd

v yra an SALT I A A G_H S R N t_s DESERT S I - A E_N I G O B I Dnieper Syr Ili Kerulen ish an ges ra e n rim W ite N ile Blue N ie Huan g He Lop Nur uang r ls_{b e} Arabian Basin Sulu Sea Gulf of Tonkin Bengal East China Se Yellow Sea Bo-Hai Strait of Taiw an Sea Sea Azov Oman Arabian Sea t P ers_ia n Gul f Caspian Sea l m 5604 m

104-125 Silk Fabric for Fashion.indd 107

104-125 Silk Fabric for Fashion.indd 107 26/06/2013 22:0426/06/2013 22:04

107

The history of silk

effectively, and shrouded its provenance in such mystery, that many Romans mistakenly thought that silk was obtained, like cotton, from a tree, or as Roman philosopher Pliny the Elder wrote “they weave webs like spiders that become a luxurious clothing material for women called silk.”

Perhaps it was in ancient Rome that silk’s associations with decadence and excessive luxury began. The emperor Caligula, notorious for his love of luxury and excess, reveled in wearing it. Rich and powerful Roman men aspired to adorn themselves and their wives with silk. This increased demand provoked consternation among the more severe subsequent rulers who considered silk to be decadent and immoral, and vigorous measures were undertaken to restrict its use: men were forbidden to wear it. The Senate, in vain, issued several edicts to try to prohibit the wearing of silk on economic and moral grounds, attempting to characterize it as an excessively frivolous commodity, since this greed for silk had resulted in a huge outflow of gold, threatening the balance of trade. Demand had reached such a pitch that by the end of the third century the finest silk textiles sold for their weight in gold. To counter this demand, silk woven with a warp of an inferior value began to be much more widely worn by both men and women, with pure silk reserved for the upper echelons of society. Silk woven with gold was kept under the control of the imperial family.

The production of raw silk in Europe was first attempted in the sixth century. It is believed that two monks smuggled silkworm eggs in bamboo rods to Byzantium from Central Asia. As in China, silk weaving was restricted by a strict imperial monopoly. The Byzantine church made fabrics for the emperor

and was able to develop a large silk industry in the eastern Roman Empire. The legendary magnificence of Byzantine textile techniques was due to the meticulous attention paid to the execution and embellishment, while actual weaving techniques were derived from Egyptian technology.

The cultivation of the white mulberry, the breeding of silkworms, and the manufacture of silk textiles had been long confined to Greece, but by the twelfth century this expertise was transported to Sicily, from where it was extended to Southern Europe. In the twelfth century the Normans invaded Byzantium, Corinth, and Thebes, centers of silk production, and seized the crops and production infrastructure, as well as deporting all the workers to Palermo, thus prompting the flourishing of the Norman silk industry in Sicily. When Constantinople fell, many skilled silk weavers left for Sicily and Italy and contributed to the development of Italy’s increasingly large domestic silk industry.

The sudden boom in the silk industry in the Italian city state of Lucca, beginning in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, was due largely to Sicilian, Jewish, and Greek immigration, along with many other immigrants from neighboring cities of southern Italy.

Venetian merchants traded in silk extensively, and encouraged silk growers to settle in Italy. Italian silk was a significant source of trade by the thirteenth century, with silk produced in Como becoming the most valuable in the world. In order to satisfy the demands of the rich and powerful, the cities of Lucca, Genoa, Venice, and Florence were soon exporting silk all over Europe. By the late fifteenth century there were over 80 workshops and at least 7,000 craftsmen in Florence alone; its

The silk routes, or “Silk Road” as they are collectively known, are a series of ancient interconnecting trading routes that link China and the West. The map shows the main arterial trading route from East to West, over

4,000 miles (6,500 km) long. As well as the luxury of oriental silk, these routes carried other commodities such as tea, spices, and medicine, and were also a conduit for ideas, technical knowledge and cultural

exchange, and thus a significant factor in the development of the great civilizations of China, India, Egypt, Persia, Arabia, and Rome.

F4F_05_silk_2e_US.indd 107 F4F_05_silk_2e_US.indd 104 25 S k Fa ric for Fa

104-125 Silk Fabric for Fashion.indd

104-125 Silk Fabric for Fashion.indd 108

104-125 Silk Fabric for Fashion.indd 108 26/06/2013 22:0426/06/2013 22:04

Section 1: Animal fibers – Silk

108

great wealth was built largely on textiles made of wool and silk. Italian silk cloth was very expensive; a result of both the price of the raw material and production costs. Nevertheless, it remained highly prized for its brilliance of color and elaborate perfection.

Italy’s only rival was Spain; however, the expulsion of both the Jews and the Moors in the late 1490s, during the Catholic re-conquest, dealt a blow to the country’s silk industry. Some weaving did manage to survive, primarily in Seville, Granada, and Valencia, and would be revived again in the 1700s.

In the mid-1400s in France, Louis XI started to develop a national silk industry with the sole objective of reducing France’s trade deficit with the Italian city states. In 1535 a royal charter was granted to two merchants to develop a silk industry in Lyon. Later a monopoly on silk production was granted exclusively to the city and by the beginning of the sixteenth century Lyon had become the capital of the European silk trade. The oriental style of silk was gradually abandoned for their own Lyonnais textile identity. By the middle of the seventeenth century there were over 14,000 looms in use in Lyon, and the silk industry was so prolific that it fed one-third of the city’s population. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Provence experienced a boom in sericulture that would continue until World War I, with much of the silk shipped north to Lyon for production.

In England Henry IV investigated the possibility of developing a domestic silk industry but the lack of expertise did not make it viable. It was not until the 1560s, with the first mass immigration of thousands of French Huguenots fleeing religious persecution, who brought with them their skills in sericulture and weaving, that the silk industry was established. Queen Elizabeth I encouraged them to establish their trades in southwest England. In the north, cities such as Macclesfield saw many high-quality artisan workshops spring up; in London, Spitalfields was the center of silk expertise. However, the unpredictable British climate prevented England’s domestic silk trade from becoming a globally dominant force.

The advent of the Industrial Revolution was marked by a massive boom in the textile industry, and changed much of Europe’s silk industry. Remarkable technological innovations galvanized by the cotton industry in England informed the modernization of silk production.

Silk manufacturing benefited from simplification and standardization, as advances followed one another. Bouchon and Falcon invented the punch-card loom in 1775, which was later refined by Jacques de Vaucanson, but ultimately named after Joseph Jacquard, who invented the loom with a string of punch cards that could be processed mechanically in the correct sequence. Skilled workers feared it would rob them of their livelihoods and immediately denounced the jacquard loom, but it swiftly became vital to the industry. By the mid-eighteenth century the French and English were rivals in design innovation,

and, along with the Italians, were producers of the highest quality silks.

In the 1850s the silkworms of Italy and France were virtually wiped out by a 10-year epidemic of the parasitic disease pébrine. Italy was able to rebound from the crisis while France was unable to do so.

Urbanization in the twentieth century prompted many French and Italian agricultural workers to abandon silk growing for more lucrative factory jobs, and raw silk began to be imported from Japan to fill the void. The Asian countries that were once exporters of just the raw material began to develop their own production techniques, enabling them to export higher value finished fabrics and clothing.

Today Italy and France no longer domestically farm silk, however they remain important manufacturers of woven and knitted silk fabrics and exceptional clothing. The centers of silk manufacturing remain the regions of Como and Lyon.

This scarlet gown in silk by New York designer Zac Posen features a dramatic rear view inspired by historic corsetry and vintage dresses. The designer uses the geometric lines of layered panels to fuse traditional notions of occasion wear with a contemporary edge.

F4F_05_silk_2e_US.indd 108 F4F_05_silk_2e_US.indd 104 25 S k Fa ric for Fa

104-125 Silk Fabric for Fashion.indd

104-125 Silk Fabric for Fashion.indd 109

104-125 Silk Fabric for Fashion.indd 109 26/06/2013 22:0426/06/2013 22:04

109

The history of silk

Japan

Silk cultivation is believed to have spread to Japan around 300AD. The yamami silk moth is thought to be an indigenous species, but exactly when Chinese silk technology reached Japan is unclear.

Japan had become the eastern terminus of the silk routes during the early Han period (206BC–220AD), and took a step forward in the silk trade at the end of this period by establishing its own sericulture. In the third century, following the Japanese invasion of Korea, important expertise in silk technology was brought back into the country. Succeeding emperors encouraged sericulture, and throughout the following centuries the skills and experience of Korean and Chinese weavers were brought to Japan, ensuring progress in technology. Over time Japan increased the domestic silk rearing it had begun. As a result of this expansion Chinese silk imports became less important, although they still maintained their fine, ultra-luxurious status.

The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 meant that raw silk imported from Japan became more competitive. In the middle of the nineteenth century Japonisme joined Chinoiserie and orientalism as Western trends, and silk export began in earnest. Attention was turned to the possibilities of expanding silk production for home and exports, and in 1876 Japanese weavers were sent to France to study weaving methods and to copy French brocades. The Japanese government invested in the most modern equipment and established a model factory to instruct Japanese weavers in power-driven jacquard looms. Enormous strides in silk production were made throughout the nineteenth century, and this drive toward the modernization of sericulture in Japan rapidly made it the world’s foremost silk producer. By the 1880s Japan had supplanted China as the largest supplier of raw silk: for a period until World War II it was the major supplier of raw silk to the West.

After the war Japanese silk production was restored, with vastly improved modernized methods for reeling, inspection, and classification of raw silks in place. Japan again became the world’s foremost exporter of raw silk—a position it held until the 1970s—and remained the biggest producer of raw silk, until broader industrial expansion led to a decline in sericulture and China made a concerted effort to regain her historic position as the world’s biggest raw silk producer and exporter.

Today Japan consumes the greatest amount of silk per person in the world, due in part to its inextricable link with the most important Japanese garment, the kimono. Despite the adoption of Western clothing, traditional garments are still

culturally important, and synthetic materials have never replaced silk in status. Much of Japan’s silk is produced in the narrow width necessary for the uncut loom-width construction of the traditional kimono.

Today a combination of a hand-woven aesthetic fused with modern technology can be found in the innovative textiles produced in Japan. Sophisticated technology employs advances in computerized design and manufacture to reproduce the complex and extraordinary weaves of earlier centuries, as well as to develop new ones.

Extravagant chartreuse silk embroidered dress and coat by John Galliano for Dior from the 2007 “Samourai 1947” collection that celebrated the 60th anniversary of the House of Dior. Galliano paid homage to Christian Dior’s revolutionary “New Look” silhouettes

from the iconic 1947 collection, and fused this historical aesthetic with inspirational elements from ancient and modern Japanese culture such as ikebana floral arrangements, manga art, samurai martial arts, and the rituals of the geisha.

F4F_05_silk_2e_US.indd 109 F4F_05_silk_2e_US.indd 104 25 S k Fa ric for Fa

104-125 Silk Fabric for Fashion.indd

104-125 Silk Fabric for Fashion.indd 110

104-125 Silk Fabric for Fashion.indd 110 26/06/2013 22:0426/06/2013 22:04

Section 1: Animal fibers – Silk

110