[Detail shows contrasting lining of ikat robe with bias-cut striped facing, 19th century, The Textile Museum Murad Megalli Collection. ]
Last year when I did a
post on
The Textile Museum's exhibition catalogue,
Colors of the Oasis: Central Asian Ikats, I opted to show the flipside of some of the 19th-century robes highlighted in the book. I thought the linings, made of lively patterned-cotton printed in Russia, might be less familiar than the sumptuous silk ikats shown on the outside. Apparently the humbler linings have been largely ignored in past surveys, but the
TM's catalogue includes a detailed essay on these Russian export cloths written by
Susan Meller.
[Robe, Central Asia, Uzbekistan, Bukhara, 1860s-1870s. The Textile Museum 2005.36.2.
The Megalli Collection. Photo by Renée Comet.]
While many of the Russian prints clearly were inspired by fashionable French florals, others are a hybrid of Western and Eastern motifs, writes
Meller. Seeing the floral prints juxtaposed with the bold ikats from Uzbekistan, "Eurasian flair" comes to mind. And that makes me think of the young, very much buzzed about fabric house,
Tissus Tartares.
[Photo by Paul Costello courtesy the WSJ.]
The
WSJ. Magazine has a great
new story on the nascent fabric company founded by Olya Thompson and business partner Nathalie Farman-Farma, and you can see Farman-Farma's Chelsea house in the February issue of
World of Interiors.
[Tissus Tartares' carpet inspired print, “Lermontov,” named for the 19th-century novelist and poet.]
Colors of the Oasis remains on view in D.C. through March 13, 2011.