Where did the paisley pattern come from?
A lot of sources say Scotland. Some say India. Some say the Scots were immitating the Indians, and some say the Indians were immitating the Scots. Other say the pattern came from the Middle East!
This is a pressing question that needs to be understood in order to fully grasp modern foreign affairs! Hopefully you all can shed some light on the subject.
Here is an article that describes how we came to use the term Paisley.
Basically shawls from Kashmir(at the foot of the Himalayas) became fashionable in the early 1800’s. Patterns on these shawls included the design we call Paisley. Because the kashmir shawls were so popular, European manufacturers started producing cut-rate versions of the shawl with similar designs, especially the town of Paisley, Scotland.
Middle Eastern and Indian design are very similar, trading design motifs back and forth. However, I would say that the paisley is much more Indian than middle eastern in origin.
[fixed link --Chronos]
[Edited by Chronos on 03-29-2001 at 03:50 PM]
An added note about the European “cut rate” versions:
The popularity in Europe came about with the invention of the Jacquard loom which made cheap commercial production of complex patterns possible. The pattern, among other things, was a good way of showing off the capabilities of the looms.
“Paisley”, as mentioned, is in Scotland, and is where a large industry using the new looms sprang up, and came to be associated with these patterns. The actual pattern came to Europe by way of Kashmir, also as mentioned.
The Straight Dope has tackled the paisley origin question several times but the proverbial nail has never been hit on the head. Paisley is a fundamentalist moslem pattern. Pedestrian crossing signs in Saudi Arabia have no head on the pedestrian figure and fooseball tables in Iran cut the heads off the little plastic men because fundamentalist interpetation of the Koran dictates that man should not attempt to duplicate the works of God. This is also part of the reason why the Taliban justify the destruction of statues. Paisley is a plant pattern on cloth designed by moslems so as not to resemble any living plant, thereby avoiding the wrath of the clerics. Kashmir has a large moslem population.