#sealed-dragon-cloth

#sealed-dragon-cloth

Liberty's Oriental Carpet Department has long been a secret wonder, an Aladdin's cave of over 4,000 handwoven pieces, showcasing the artistry of traditional weaving techniques.

Paul Kutchinsky's ambition to create the world's largest jeweled egg was driven by a desire to showcase British craftsmanship on a global stage, competing with the legendary Faberge eggs.

Hu Yuehua's 'Weaving Nature' is a large-scale composition that intricately combines organic forms with human craft traditions, showcasing a vibrant array of indigo and ochre.

Textiles are a window into the communities that created them, with every motif and line signalling a different memory, tradition or identity. Often seen as folk art, these pieces of embroidery and weaving bring together dozens of narrative threads, from Japan to South America. But nowhere is it more fraught with meaning than in Palestine.

Making pojagi was a way of "economizing resources," and also "an act of affection," explains artist-fashion designer Christina Kim of Remodelista longtime favorite Dosa. Shown here: Dosa's cotton and silk Pojagi Scarves are "both a reminder of Christina's childhood in Korea and a beautiful expression of traditional recycling"-and would work well on a wall or in a doorway.

Suspended within the exhibition space, the piece occupies the room with a soft mass of red and white textiles. Dense embroidery traces arteries and vessels across the surface, while clusters of beads and pearls gather along the contours. Even with this ambitious new scale, it maintains the tactile intimacy of Shin's smaller works.

Fashion and dress in Mesopotamia - clothing, footwear, and accessories - were not only functional but defined one's social status and developed from a simple loincloth in the Ubaid period (circa 6500-4000 BCE) to brightly colored robes and dresses by the time of the Sassanian Empire (224-651). Styles changed, but the essential form and function remained the same. As in any civilization, the upper class and nobility wore more expensive clothes of higher quality.

The ongoing repression of dissidents in Venezuela following the US attacks reminds us that President Trump never had the interest of the nation's people at heart. The painful reality of many immigrants is one of being caught between dehumanizing forces in their native countries and in exile, and reduced to abstractions in an increasingly unnuanced "discourse" that flattens lived experience.

Embroidery is a historic mainstay of traditional clothing in Asia or the Middle East, as well as Western Haute Couture, but it is increasingly present in Paris, Milan or New York on modern men's shirts, bomber jackets or blazers. Designers at Dior, Dolce Gabbana, Kenzo or Gucci have adopted it in recent runway shows, while Louis Vuitton's celebrity rapper-designer Pharell Williams dedicated his entire June collection to India after visiting the country.