QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
Once upon a time, Marie Antoinette, weary of her heavy and thick brocades, lovingly and happily embraced her new found freedom in the airiness of toile. At last. . . she could breathe again.
Sad to say but history knows how long that lasted!!
However, until her beheading, she enjoyed the comfort and freedom that the fabric of Toile du Jouy gave her and her fashion sense greatly influenced the popularity of toile in the 18th century.
Shall we take a step back. . . before your head spins too far off its axis?
In a world of brocade, be a toile!
We think of toile as the pastoral life, mythology, exotic travel, flora and fauna prints on the fabric but, actually, way back in the 18th century, toile was the light and airy linen fabric itself. While it was first made in Ireland, yes Ireland, the town of Jouy-en-Josas in France came to be its permanent manufacturer. In French, toile du Jouy means fabric from the French town Juoy.
Toile du Jouy is a mouthful so it got shortened to “Twahl” for short.
The original German designer of prints on toile fabric was influenced by Chinese nature drawings and drew those pastoral designs that we come to associate as “Toile.” They were single color prints on a white background. Today those prints appear on a multitude of colored fabrics as well.
Toile is delicate, romantic and artistically beautiful and pops up in fabrics, wallpaper, china, bedding, masks, cell phone cases, etc. You get the idea!
While toile design is classic and not going anywhere, like most fashion styles, it comes and goes in popularity. The past two years have seen a surge in its popularity in everything from tops to bottoms to accessories. It rides the wave from romantic dresses to sneakers and sandals.
Toile on sneakers? I gotta go find me a pair of those, as the thought of having a flowy, romantic toile top and some sneakers to go with, uplifts the imagination. Well my imagination is uplifted at the thought.
And, of course, toile is on the racks of Sound Styles, as shown in Jenny’s weekly video dated. . . January 13th, 2022.
Want to partake of this French remedy for stuffiness? “TWAHL” anyone?
© Sound Styles in Edmonds, 2012-2019. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Sound Styles in Edmonds with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Please.
Sound Styles Soundings 