International Journal of Design, Technology and Education

ISSN: 1754-3266 (Print) 1754-3274 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tfdt20

Exotic fauna and flora: fashion trends in the nineteenth century

Damayanthie Eluwawalage

To cite this article: Damayanthie Eluwawalage (2015) Exotic fauna and flora: fashion trends in the nineteenth century, International Journal of , Technology and Education, 8:3, 243-250, DOI: 10.1080/17543266.2015.1078848 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17543266.2015.1078848

Published online: 14 Sep 2015.

Submit your article to this journal

Article views: 171

View related articles

View Crossmark data

Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=tfdt20

Download by: [The UC Davis Libraries] Date: 07 March 2017, At: 16:30 International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education, 2015 Vol. 8, No. 3, 243–250, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17543266.2015.1078848

Exotic fauna and flora: fashion trends in the nineteenth century

Damayanthie Eluwawalage∗ Department of Apparel and Communication Technologies, University of Wisconsin-Stout, 712 Broadway St S, Menomonie, WI 54751, USA (Received 3 May 2015; accepted 29 July 2015)

The aim of this paper is to explore the extreme, unique and unusual fashion trends in the nineteenth century. The natural world in general, flora and fauna in particular, has always been a primary source of inspiration for the and fashion. Victorian obsession for expertly worked curiosities from foreign lands using unusual flora and fauna, such as iridescent feathers, hummingbirds and wings created an extensive European export market. Indian beetle wings created an extensive European export market for India in the nineteenth century as a fashion embellishment. Fashionable Victorian ladies swept through ballrooms with , and fans embellished with glittering touches of beetle wing exotica. In the 1851 Great Exhibition, held in the Crystal Palace in London, the main fur exhibitor, the Hudson’s Bay Company, displayed the range of furs such as racoon, beaver, chinchilla, bear, fisher, fox, lynx, martin, mink, musquash, otter, fur seal and wolf. Keywords: fashion; trends; exotic fauna

The aim of this article is to explore the extreme and unusual protective wing-cases for the hindwings underneath, which fashion trends in the nineteenth-century Europe and the are used for flying. To fly, a beetle typically opens the British colonies including Australian colonies. The natu- elytra and then extends the hindwings, flying while still ral world has always been a major source of inspiration for holding the elytra open, though some in the fam- the clothing and fashion. For example, Victorian obsession ilies Scarabaeidae and can fly with the elytra for expertly worked curiosities from foreign lands using closed), embellishment has an historical narrative. Differ- unusual flora and fauna, such as iridescent feathers, hum- ent species of metallic wood-boring beetle wings were used mingbirds and beetle wings, created an extensive European depending on the region, but traditionally the most valued export market in the nineteenth century. Fashionable Vic- were those from beetles belonging to genus Sternocera. torian ladies swept through ballrooms with dresses, shawls Their wings were valued for their beautiful and hardy and fans embellished with glittering touches of beetle wing metallic emerald iridescence. The shiny appearance of bee- exotica (Breward, 1995). In the 1851 Great Exhibition, tle wings is long lasting. They are surprisingly durable if held in the Crystal Palace in London, was displayed a subject to normal non-abusive use (Figure 2). embellished with beetle wings in leaf and flower motifs1 Throughout the centuries, many people worshipped the (Figure 1). sun, synonymous with light, fire and fertility. According to these primeval beliefs, the sun was, and still is, inextri- Embellishment with glittering substances is a worldwide and ancient practice. (Rivers, 1999) cably linked with shimmering, light-reflecting substances, associated with protection, with the ability to repel evil Beetle wing, or the hard outer wing called elytra mostly and preserve fertility. The message inherent in embellished come from members of the family Buprestidae, also known cloth serves many purposes beyond simple ornamentation, as Jewel Beetles (An elytron [from Greek: ; plural: or an expression of the obvious preciousness of the mate- elytra] is a modified, hardened forewing of certain rials. Iridescent elytra, from wood-boring beetles, reflect orders, notably beetles [Coleoptera] and a few of the true brilliant metallic greens and blue-violets, which resemble bugs [Heteroptera]; in most true bugs, the forewings are the glint and colour of emeralds. instead called hemelytra, as only the basal half is thickened Adorn with shinning and glittering decorations, adorn- while the is membranous. Each beetle has two hard ments and substances, such as gold, silver, precious and elytra that protect the delicate, membranous hind-wings semi-precious stones, is a universal phenomenon practised which are folded away beneath the elytra when they are by the rulers and the upper classes from the initial human not being used for flying. The elytra primarily serve as

*Email: [email protected]

© The Institute and Informa UK Ltd 2015 244 D. Eluwawalage

materials. Shinning materials have always been highly val- ued because of their beauty, allure and rarity (Rivers, 1999, pp. 6–9). The ideology of the significance of clothing and fashion to enhance social status was developed with the emergence of Western modernity and industrialisation. Among the royal courts of Europe and India, for exam- ple, competition amongst the hierarchical groups pushed designers and artisans to new artistic heights that led to the use of innovative and unusual materials, such as beetle wings and feathers. The utilisation of gleaming, glittering and lustrous bee- tles in personal , whether alive or deceased, has appeared throughout the world, from Amazonia to North- ern Thailand, Australia, the Highlanders of New Guinea, among Mexicans and Central Americans, the West Indies and in ancient Egypt. The prehistoric documented exam- ple of the utilisation of beetle elytra is the Tamamushi (Japanese name for green beetle) Shrine in Japan, which dates from AD 650. A later tradition, dating from 1690 to 1730, is seen in Indian miniature paintings from the Basohli School. India has been a rich source of beetle wing Figure 1. A Dress Embellished with Beetle wings: The Great Exhibition 1851. embellished and ornaments for many centuries; pri- Source: The Art Journal, Special Issue 1851, on the Chrystal marily by Indian indigenous people. In the Mughal era Palace Exhibition. (sixteenth to eighteenth centuries), royals and nobles in India wore beetle wing decorated and garments and some of the finest and most elegant examples of beetle wing work were created during this epoch (Bernier, 1891,

1968, 1972). Frank Cowman in his 1865 book called Curi- ous History of tells of a brilliant metallic green beetle which was also held in high repute by the Egyptians, one having been found embalmed in a tomb at Thebes (Figure 3). Colonial Indiaas part of the British Empire received unique attention in nineteenth-century Britain. It was a colony which was important to the British as it had vast wealth and resources. In relation to appearance, British Figure 2. Buprestidae, also known as Jewel Beetles. Source: http://www.butterflyutopia.com/ civilisations. Traces of textiles and other artifacts embroi- dered and embellished with gold were depicted in Assyrian bas-reliefs, frozen in the tombs of the Scythian nomadic horsemen, unearthed with the treasures of the Pharaohs, and preserved in the burials of Andean cultures’ high priests and nobles. Cloth may glitter or shine because of its own lustrous qualities, as is the case with , or with the help of special treatments and dyes. Materials such as metals, sequins, beads, or mirrors may be used to embellish fabrics as decoration or to attract or deflect spirits in unseen worlds. Gifts from nature can also be cleverly manipulated into shapes and pieces to simulate more precious materials: for example, the iridescent elytra of beetles reflect brilliant metallic greens and violets as if they were gems. Civil- Figure 3. Dress piece, muslin, Madras (Chennai), India, about isations all around the world assign great value to cloth 1880. and items of personal adornment which use light-reflecting Source: V&A Museum, United Kingdom. International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education 245 nationals in India in the nineteenth century maintained codes of conduct which distanced them physically, socially and culturally from their Indian subjects. At home, in the office and hunting in the field, the British dressed in their own (Cohn, 1928, pp. 111 and 112). As Cunnington (1948, p. 10) notes, English fashions in the early nineteenth century were affected by a shortage of French textiles, that is, French , because of the French political Revolution and subsequent British-French wars. Under these circumstances, it became more patriotic to use Indian (cotton) fabrics, especially the many kinds of muslins which were even used for evening dresses. Indian clothing, that is, shawls and textiles, especially silks, also became fashionable in Victorian society in Britain. Trade between other British colonies and India during the nineteenth century, included clothing textiles, spices, etc. (Boyce, 1999; Seely, 1909). Indian clothing, and were commonly available, that is, ‘Indian worked muslin dresses,2 India made shoes,’3 were advertised in The Inquirer. Nainsook (Indian muslin), Indian surah silk, Indian linen, cashmere and cotton cashmere were also imported to the colonies during the nineteenth century. Newspaper advertisements and the letters and diaries of early settlers constantly discussed the departure and arrival of ships and vessels to and from India. For example, in October 1834, May 1835 and February 1838 George Figure 4. Beetle wing embellished dress, c1850. Material: White mull; mull on silk satin for ; floral motif embroi- Fletcher Moore wrote about vessels which arrived from dered with jewel beetle elytra and gold thread; matching. ©The India (Moore, 1884, pp. 236, 266, 336). Also in Novem- Kyoto Institute, photo by Takashi Hatakeyama. ber 1838, he bought Indian tea from a ship (Moore, 1884, p. 365), and mentioned a ship from India with silks and tea on board in August 1839 (Moore, 1884, p. 391). Rev. Wol- It is arguable whether the real metallic green Indian laston wrote of the Indian goods available in the colony in beetle wing decorated, fine Indian muslin dress, made in March 1843, ‘I procured Indian shoes, , and some India in 1868 and worn in Western Australia in later years, straw hats for the boys. India [sic] mats for the church’ was influenced by the French fashion designer Charles (Burton, 1975, p. 156) (Figure 4). Frederick Worth’s design. Indian beetle wings created an extensive European The popular trend in whole, taxidermied , export market for India in the nineteenth century as a fash- insects and birds as fashionable and trendy decoration ion embellishment. The earliest form of or insect- seems to have initiated with animal-embellished hats and adorned Western dress procured its imagination from bee- bonnets in Paris in the 1860s, and the trend remained in tle wing-embroidered fabrics and clothing such as style throughout the 1870s and 1880s. According to Octo- from India imported to England in the mid-nineteenth cen- ber 1863 Godey’s Ladies’ Book, ‘The ornithological and tury. It was common in some of the cultures of Asia to entomological fevers, which broke out last spring, will use/attach beetle wing pieces as an adornment to paint- continue with increased violence throughout the winter.’ ings, textiles and . In Thailand, beetle wings of Historically, throughout the centuries, the sumptuary wood-boring beetles were preferred to decorate clothing laws, which regulated dress, wedding celebrations and (shawls and Sabai cloth) and jewellery. From the beginning other types of extravagant display, were regularly legis- of the humanity, humans have always been mesmerised by lated and practised. The British class and social structure, unusual and unique forms of mineral, animal and vegetal in relation to attire, was distinctly demonstrated by the life, for decorative or symbolic purposes. application and practise of sumptuary laws. In the thir- The famous French fashion designer Charles Frederick teenth century, British sumptuary legislation specified the Worth designed a peacock masquerade in the 1860s, hierarchical entitlements in relation to finery as, with embroidered peacock feather patterns all over, with no grandee, knight, or any other man may have more than the eye of the feather being formed by sewing a hard Indian four of clothing each year; no one except the beetle’s wing-case at the centre (De Marly, 1980, p. 44) may wear scarlet rain ; no one may wear sendal (rich (Figure 5). silk) or silk except the King or noble knight; no one may 246 D. Eluwawalage

Figure 5. Beetle wing embellished dress, c1860. Source: Royal Western Australian Historical Society Collection.

wear marten furs except the King or noble; no one may Silk to be worn by no man, unless his income was wear silver, crystal buttons, long chains, ermine, or otter more than 20 pounds a year. According to Binder, during on their . (Hunt, 1996, p. 120) Mary, Queen of Scots’ epoch (1542–1587), to attire in silk As Alan Hunt explains, the hierarchical access to sump- required financial viability rather than social position and tuous and prestigious wear was exemplified in an early class (Binder, 1958, p. 336). Although by the nineteenth Elizabethan proclamation of Proclamation against excess century, there were no sumptuary legislations administered in apparel, which intended to enforce the extant sumptuary in Britain, silk and fur remained as a visible demonstration legislation in the sixteenth century: of social class and hierarchy of the wearer. According to Hunt and Ewing, in Europe during the nineteenth and early None Shall Wear in his Apparel Any: twentieth centuries, the utilisation of fur evolved into vicar- ious displays of wealth and power (Hunt, 1996, p. 126). Cloth of gold, silver or tinsel; satin, silk or cloth mixed with gold or silver, nor any sables; except earls and all of As Mrs Oscar Wilde wrote in 1889, ‘Sable is for the rich superior degrees, and viscounts and barons; only, judging from the I was lately shown costing 900 pounds’ (Walkley, & Foster, 1978, p. 115). Woollen cloth made out of the realm; velvet, crimson, Fur, as a fashion phenomenon flourished in Europe scarlet or blue; furs, black genets, lucerns; except dukes, marquises, earls or their children, barons and knights of between tenth and nineteenth centuries. Fashionable cloth- the order; ing would often be decorated with furs. Wool, velvet, silk and damask were the most prevalent fabrics selected in the Velvet in , or outer most garments; furs of design of fur-lined, fur-trimmed and fur-edged garments. leopards; , pricking or printing with gold, sil- ver or silk; except baron’s sons, knights, or men that may According to Boucher, the practise of lining clothing dispend 200 pounds by year; with the pelts of animals may have originated from parts of Asia. In the eleventh century, the Imperial costume worn Taffeta, satin, damask or silk camlet in his outermost gar- ments; velvet otherwise than in , doublets, etc; fur in Eastern Europe was a long lined with beaver fur whereof the kind groweth not within the Queen’s domin- and belted at the . In the twelfth century in 1161, ions, except grey genets, budge; except a man may dispend the Sultan Saladin presented Bohemond, Prince of Anti- 100 pounds by year. och (Antioch is an ancient city situated near present day Proclamation, Elizabeth 1, 21/10/1559 Antakyn, Turkey), with ceremonial mantles lined with the pelts of animals. When the Crusaders arrived in Palestine Dyson 1618: No. 14 (Hunt, 1996, p. 119) in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, they noted that International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education 247

Figure 6. Hats adorned with whole stuffed birds. Source: Victoriana Magazine. http://www.victoriana.com/victorian-feather-hats/. fur-lined , short jackets, and these pelisses were In the 1880s, the general taste for furs and feathers took lined with ermine, gros vair and petit vair (the skin of the a particularly gruesome turn, and it became the fashion Northern squirrel, its back being greyish in colour and its to wear clothes trimmed with whole animals or birds belly white), dark marten or zibeline, and with red and (Figure 6). white fox from the Caspian (Boucher, n.d., pp. 150–174). In relation to one of the most extravagant fashion trends In Europe during the Middle Ages, furs such as marten, in the nineteenth century, actual-sized imitated animals – ermine and vair were reserved for lining and decorating

birds, cats, ouistitis (small monkey) – embellished clothes, princely garments and . Vair continued to be hats, bonnets and boas were in vogue, especially in in high demand by the nobility. In a period of 18 months, and England (Walkley & Foster, 1978, pp. 118–119). This Charles VI (1368–1422) of France used 20,000 bellies of was one of the most extravagant and extreme fashion vair for the lining of his garments, and the Queen Consort trends in the nineteenth century. It was an extreme evolve- of France, Isabeau of Bavaria (1385–1422), utilised 15,000 ment from the utilisation of feathers. Throughout civilised such bellies for lining her clothing (Boucher, n.d., pp. 214– humanity, an adornment of colourful feathers symbolised 216). Also, the ermine, sable, marten, beaver, bear and lynx status, in accordance with the phenomenon of conspicu- were among the most sought after furs throughout the cen- ous consumption and fashion-dictated social dominance turies (Heer, 1961, pp. 92–93). The least expensive skins and authority. The tail feathers from rare and brilliantly of lamb, sheep, and wolf were generally set aside for coloured birds, such as peacock, quetzal and the bird of the common people (Boucher, n.d., p. 214). paradise, were reserved for the ornamentation of the ruling At the Great Exhibition of 1851, the main fur exhibitor, classes of society. Most ancient civilisations used feath- the Hudson’s Bay Company, displayed the range of furs ers for body decoration. The elegant peacock tail feathers such as racoon, beaver, chinchilla, bear, fisher, fox-red, were generally reserved for royalty and nobility. The Egyp- cross, silver, white and grey, lynx, martin, mink, musquash, tians, Minoans, Assyrians and Persians wore plumes on otter, fur seal and wolf. Foxes were primarily purchased their head-dresses. The Chinese also used plumes as an for the Russian and Chinese market for cloak lining and indication of rank. During the Manchu dynasty, a peacock dress trimmings; blue fox was utilised for , col- feather was the plume used for nobility, while the pheas- lars and trimmings in Britain, Russia, and Greece; ant feather was used for lower classes. In Europe, feathers beaver for hats; lynx for linings; mink for ladies’ were utilised as a unisex coiffure and adornment, while coats; black bear or the army bear principally for military rare and imported feathers were reserved for nobility. , pistol holsters and rugs; sealskins for mantles, chil- During the nineteenth century, feathers such as ostrich, dren’s dresses, bonnets, coats and (Ewing, 1981, bird of paradise, peacock, pheasant, egret, heron, African pp. 102–104). During 1851, England was being supplied stork and marabou were worn in ladies’ hats and bonnets; chinchilla from South America, mink and musquash from in dresses as trimmings; in accessories such as boas and North America, squirrel from Russia, ermine from Norway fans. Feathers were also regarded as a sign of women’s and Siberia, ostrich feathers from Egypt, Syria and South status (MacDowell, 1992, pp. 101–102). Plumassiers in Africa (Walkley & Foster, 1978, p. 114). Paris, London and New York demanded huge quantities 248 D. Eluwawalage

Figure 7. adorned with floral motifs, c1830. Western Australia. Source: King Cottage Museum Collection, Western Australia. of feathers as prominent London feather dealer requested wallabies and kangaroos, were primarily utilised as floor- a single consignment of 6000 bird of paradise feathers, mats in eastern colonies of Australia, as she wrote in 40,000 humming bird feathers, and 360,000 feathers from 1903: ‘I was given the most lovely platypus rug of 20 various birds of the East Indies in 1892. It was estimated guineas ... ’ (Hasluck, 1978, p. 312). This practise of in the late 1880s, at least five million American birds were utilising native animal skins as floor coverings was pre- killed annually in order to provide trimmings (MacDowell, cisely exercised in colonial Western Australia, ‘Forrest 1992, pp. 101–102; Yarwood, 1978, pp. 177–179). boys learned how to tan possum and kangaroo skins to Noticeably, in the colony of Australia, colonists were serve as rugs’ (Crowley, 1971, p. 10). The surviving fur obviously influenced by this particular fashion in the nine- and animal-trimmed boas and bonnets in the Australian teenth century, as attested by The Western Australian in museum and historical society collections were imported 1891 which reported that, ‘Hats were elaborately trimmed from Europe, especially from Britain, therefore obviously with birds’ and by surviving stuffed/imitated animal- they were European animals. The rejection or absence of trimmed boas and bonnets in museums and collections Australian animals suggested the unintentional dichotomy and newspaper advertisements of the time. The surviving of the un-trendiness or unfashionableness of native Aus- fur and animal-trimmed items in the Western Australian tralian animals, deficiency of knowledge and resources in museum and historical society collections were imported relation to preservation techniques in Australia at the time from Europe, especially from Britain and France were (Figure 7). obviously European animals. The absence of Australian Throughout the centuries, floral motifs adorned shawls animals suggests that either these animals were not seen were well received and demanded by both men and as possible fashion items or that there was a lack of knowl- women. In antiquity, King Ashurnasirpal the Second of edge of or resources for taxidermy in Australia at the time. , 883, 859 BC wore the shawl (Mackrell, 1986, Native animal skins, however, were used for other pur- pp. 8–9). Nevertheless, as Levi-Strauss argued, the Euro- poses. The furs and skins of native animals, that is, platy- pean passion and enthusiasm over the shawls was initiated pus, opossums, wallabies and kangaroos were primarily with the Indian Cashmere shawl, which was produced used as floor-mats in the colonies of Australia in the Indian province of (Levi-Strauss, 1986, Significantly, there was scarcely any evidence to pp. 14–17). These remarkably fine, delicate and light- suggest the utilisation of colonial native animals such weight textiles were discovered and presented to the world as Australian native animals in this particular fashion by Francois Bernier, the first European visitor to Kash- trend. Colonial Australian pioneer woman Lady Audrey mir. During December 1664–February 1665, he recorded Tennyson’s account for instance, suggested that the furs his amazement at the natural beauty of Kashmir and its and skins of native animals, such as platypus, opossums, extraordinary textiles: International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education 249

The Kachemire [sic] shawls are about an ell (measure of shawl, Scotch wool shawl, satin shawl, plaid shawl, Shep- length – 45 in.) and a half long and an ell broad, orna- her’s plaid shawl, California shawl, berege shawl, printed mented at both ends with a sort of embroidery made in berege shawl, crepe shawl, gossamer shawl, China shawl, a loom, a foot in width. The Mogols [sic] and Indians, printed shawl, lama shawl, half shawl, Spanish shawl, women as well as men wear them in winter around their heads, passing them over the left shoulder as a . Spanish shawl and silk shawl. Noticeably, according There are two sorts manufactured: one kind with the wool to the colonial Australian newspaper advertisements, the of the country, finer and more delicate than that of ‘’; shawl importations declined dramatically during the 1870s, the other kind with the wool or rather hair (called ‘tous’, a in corresponding to the deficiency of interest and favour shawl goat) found on the breast of a species of wild goat, of their European counterparts, distinctively suggesting which inhabits in ‘Great ’. the impact of European, especially British, influence over Great pains have been taken to manufacture similar shawls the colonial Australian inhabitants in relation to fashion- in ‘Putna’, ‘Agra’ and ‘Lahor’, but notwithstanding every able finery. The indication of similarities of fashion trends possible care, they never have the delicate texture and between Europe and colonial Australia illustrated another softness of the Kashemire shawls. facet of evidence to verify the fashionable behaviour of the The superior colours; black, white and red (brown), but Australian colonists in the nineteenth century. chiefly black and sometimes the colour is a pure white. Simmel’s fashion simulation theory advocates a (Bernier, 1891, 1968, 1972, pp. 402–404) ‘trickle-down’ process of fashion whereby styles that are first exhibited by the upper class and are later imitated by Until the end of the eighteenth century, these long the lower classes. This is followed by fashion change in shawls had a decorative border at both ends, the orna- the upper classes which enables those classes to maintain mentation consisting of a row of flowering plants or small their distinction. However, from the late nineteenth cen- pines on a natural unbleached or coloured background. tury, every class had greater access to fashionable clothing The Kashmiris also wove striped shawls and square ones because of commercialisation. Also, many of the exotic decorated with medallions for the Turkish and Persian fashions and oriental textile were introduced by the priv- markets. A large part of the population was engaged in ileged classes, they were rapidly adopted by women in the the industry whose products were imported to the middle- expanding middle class. and near East. The British was the prime European nation Victorian women, especially aristocratic women, were to develop an interest in Kashmiri textiles, through the encouraged to take an interest in the natural world, sci- East India Company shipping line. During the last quar- ence and world exploration through visits to museums ter of the eighteenth century, fashionable ladies in Britain and exhibitions. The technical development of commercial passionately accepted cashmere shawls. During the early wood engraving allowed the production of high-quality nineteenth century, French women also adopted the shawl illustrations for books, newspapers and magazines. Fur- trend. From the early days of the First Empire, a cashmere ther knowledge was therefore gained through illustrated shawl was possessed and associated only with the French periodicals and women’s magazines also published fine aristocracy. Napoleon’s wedding gift to his second wife illustrations of the latest fashions, trends and textiles. was 17 cashmere shawls, which cost 8000–12,000 francs each (Levi-Strauss, 1986, pp. 16–19). The massive cost and enormous demand as the out- Conclusion ward sign of social standing and class, caused the imitation The first purpose of clothes was not warmth or decency, of cashmere shawls by the British and French in the but ornament. The first spiritual want of barbarous man is nineteenth century. European shawls with cashmere orna- decoration. Carlyle (1984,p.37) mentation, such as French and (from the centres of As explained in Veblen’s theory, the aspirations of the and Edinburgh), were mass-produced and fash- upper class were further strengthened by adopting foreign ionably consumed by Europeans until the 1860s, prior to styles and ideas (Veblen, 1899, p. 52). Social theorists and the new trend of the and the .4 psychologists generally consent that clothes serve three The acceptance and popularity of shawls (especially predominant objectives: decoration, modesty and protec- cashmere shawls in the nineteenth century) was signif- tion; although the immediate factor remains contrary and icant in many Australian colonies. Colonial Australian ambiguous. Flugel and Carlyle argued that the primary clothing importer and retailer Thomas Brown requested intention for consumer clothing is decoration; whilst in woollen and cotton shawls in January 1846 (Cowan, 1991, contrast Roach and Eicher as well as Perrot claimed protec- pp. 67–68). According to the importations from the exist- tion as clothing’s prime and universal purpose. According ing newspaper advertisements, and surviving articles in to Perrot’s argument, it is first through dress that groups the historical public and private collections, there were and individuals give themselves meaning; as accepted by numerous varieties of shawls imported to Victorian Aus- Maurice Leenhard, ‘neither cold nor nudity led man to tralia, such as cashmere shawl (1840–1880), Paisley shawl, clothe himself, but the desire for what would help him Norwich shawl, lace shawl, pusher-lace shawl, woollen toward self-affirmation’. Arguably, the utilitarian purposes 250 D. Eluwawalage of clothes attract controversy and disputation. It has been Carlyle, T. (1984). Sartor Resartus. London: Dent. noted that the primitive and primeval people certainly Cohn, B. S. (1928). Colonialism and its forms of knowledge: The dressed for decoration, not primarily for protection. As British in India. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Cowan, P. (Ed.). (1991). A faithful picture. Fremantle: Fremantle Laver explains, the natives of Tierra del Fuego never Arts Centre Press. invented clothes in the accepted sense, notwithstanding Crowley, F. K. (1971). Forrest 1847–1918. St. Lucia: University their inharmonious and stern living conditions. of Queensland Press. Cunninton, C. W. (1948). The perfect lady. London: Max Parrish. De Marly, D. (1980). The history of 1850–1950. Disclosure statement London: The Anchor Press. No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author. Ewing, E. (1981). Fur in dress. London: B.T. Batsford. Hasluck, A. (1978). Audrey Tennyson’s Vice-Regal Days.Can- berra: National Library of Australia. Notes Heer, F. (1961). The Medieval world. Europe 1100–1350 1. Auerbach (1999), Dickinson’s comprehensive pictures of the (J. Sondheimer, Trans.). New York: The American Library. great exhibition of 1851 (Nash, Haghe, & Roberts, 1854), Hunt, A. (1996). Governance of the consuming passions: A Dickinson Brothers, London, and Rivers (1999, pp. 6–15). history of . New York, NY: St Martins Press. 2. The Inquirer, 1 February 1854, pp. 1. Levi-Strauss, M. (1986). The cashmere shawl. New York, NY: 3. The Inquirer, 5 June 1844, pp. 1. Harry N Abrams. 4. Mackrell (1986,p.48),Levi-Strauss(1986, p. 52), and MacDowell, C. (1992). Hats, status, style and glamour. London: Rivers, V. Beetles in textiles, http://www.insects.org/ced2/ Thames & Hudson. beetles_tex.html#why Mackrell, A. (1986). Shawls, stoles and scarves. London: B T Batsford. Moore, G. F. (1884). Diary of ten years: Eventful life of an early References settler in Western Australia. London: M Walbrook. Nash, J., Haghe, L., & Roberts, D. (1854). Dickinson’s compre- Auerbach, J. A. (1999). The great exhibition of 1851: A nation on hensive pictures of the great exhibition of 1851. London: display. New Heaven: Yale University Press. Dickinson Brothers. Bernier, F. (1891, 1968, 1972). Travels in the Mogul Empire A.D. Rivers, V. Z. (1999). The shinning cloth: Dress and adornment 1656–1668. New Delhi: S Chand. that glitters. London: Thames & Hudson. Binder, P. (1958). The peacock tail. London: George E Harrap. Seely, J. R. (1909). The expansion of England. London: Boucher, F. (n.d.). 20,000 years of fashion. The history of costume Macmillan. and personal adornment. New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams.

Veblen, T. (1899). The theory of the leisure class. London: Unwin Boyce, D. G. (1999). Decolonisation and the British Empire, Books. 1775–1997. London: Macmillan. Walkley, C., & Foster, V. (1978). and crimping irons, Breward, C. (1995). The culture of fashion: A new history of fash- Victorian clothes; how they were cleaned and cared for. ionable dress. Manchester: Manchester University Press. London: Peter Owen. Burton, C. A. (1975). Wollaston’s Picton journal (1841–1844). Yarwood, D. (1978). The encyclopedia of world costume. New Perth: University of Western Australia Press. York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons.