the etymology behind the word ‘seersucker’ is so interesting... it comes from persian shir-o-shakar, meaning milk and sugar, because of the alternating textures in the fabric

fabric history in general is such an interesting window on history and a way of scrutinizing its events. take chintz, for instance. the fabric originates in india specifically in mughal era art and designs. when british and french colonizers arrived, they coveted the fabric

and it was highly sought after among the elite back in western europe, but rare since they couldnt yet mass reproduce it and had to rely solely on imports of the fabric from india. so it “developed” a reputation for being cheap and vulgar, and was outlawed from wear and use until

the french and british managed to poach the methods for creating it and send this back home in letters, setting up companies to mass produce it while lining their own pockets and claiming it as their own

now, the word “chintzy” implies gaudiness or lack of taste. here’s a bit of beautiful irony: this meaning initially developed as a result of the cheap british-attempted chintz dupes, which lacked the depth of the original when it came to design, color, and fabric quality

been holding onto this thread for like an hour wondering if i should bother rambling about fabric history on here. then i realized i should do whatever i want and it will sit in my drafts unpublished anyway so might as well