Striped Cloth

 

The term "striped cloth" refers to any textile that has been woven, knitted, or printed in such a way that bands of different colors appear on the fabric's surface, either evenly or unevenly spaced. Striped cloth is typically warp-faced cloth (that is, cloth with the warp yarns laid out in bands of different colors), but it can also be weft-faced, knitted, or printed to mimic woven stripes. Checks, gingham, tartan, and plaid are fabric patterns in which bands of different colors appear in both the warp and the weft (or are printed in such a pattern).

Origins

Striped cloth is among the earliest extant examples of woven textiles and must have evolved naturally as a result of the color variability of yarns, particularly woolen yarns. Randomly distributed warp yarns of different colors or shades would have produced a sort of asymmetrical striped cloth; it would then have been a very small step for the weaver to stretch her warp in such a way that the varying colors of yarn were spaced out at even intervals, producing true striped cloth. The next, equally obvious step in the process of producing striped cloth must have been the use of yarns dyed in different colors. Striped cloth was a standard part of the weaver's repertoire in cultures all over the world by early historic times, though it does not appear that wearing striped cloth predominated in any of the antiquity societies.

The Devil's Cloth

Striped cloth, as French social historian Michel Pastoureau has pointed out, had strong connotations of deviance and abasement in the European Middle Ages. Servants and court jesters wore striped cloth, as did prostitutes, insane people, and criminals under official orders. Their garments' bold, broad, contrasting stripes seemed to represent neither-this-nor-that, ambivalence, ambiguity, and a realm of unclear and violated boundaries. This connotation of striped cloth persists; a jumpsuit or tunic-and-trousers combination garment made of broadly striped cloth, in either horizontal or vertical stripes, immediately conjures up images of prisoners, convicted criminals, or, in a tragic variation, concentration camp inmates. The clown's iconic outfit is a loose, lightweight pajama-like union suit of brightly striped cloth with a broad collar and cuffs, derived from his license to transgress the boundaries of orderly society.

Stripes were not always associated with social deviance, but as a fashion statement, stripes conveyed boldness and daring, as well as a willingness to push the boundaries of social tolerance. The broad striped hose worn by young men during the Italian Renaissance, which can be seen in numerous paintings and tapestries, gave them a swaggering air that must have seemed impudent and shocking to their more soberly dressed elders.

Striped cloth also played a role in heraldry, as overjackets, streamers, and banners with colored stripes could be used to display the colors of knights in combat or in the tournament's simulated combat. The heraldic use of striped cloth continues in the practice of suspending medals representing civil and military honors from striped grosgrain ribbon, with the color, width, and placement of stripes specified precisely by the decoration rules. In some cases, the honor includes the right to wear a wide sash of striped ribbon in the same colors as the medal's ribbon. Ribbon in the tricolor pattern of red, white, and blue became a potent symbol of the French Revolution, often folded into a rosette worn as a hat decoration.

Stripes in Fashion

Although striped cloth never completely lost its associations with danger and deviance, by the eighteenth century, it had entered the repertoire of ordinary European fashionable clothing. Striped clothing, in particular, acquired sporting or recreational connotations; Victorian paintings of seaside scenes frequently depict women strolling in long summer dresses of black-and-white or blue-and-white striped fabric. Stripes, as their association with the seaside suggests, evoked images of the sea. Woolen sweaters with horizontal blue and white stripes became standard sailing attire for everyone from Venetian gondoliers to private yacht crew members.

The nearly infinite number of color and width combinations in which striped cloth could be produced resulted in a continued symbolic use of striped garments in a way that vaguely recalled the old rules of heraldry. Boating clubs and cricket teams at English universities frequently wore club-colored striped blazers. Neckties with prescribed colors and widths (cut on the bias to produce diagonal stripes) were similarly used to identify members of military regiments, alumni of university colleges, clubs, and similar affinity groups.

Striped cloth's associations with leisure and sporting activities made sturdy striped canvas popular for upholstery of outdoor furniture, canopies of beach umbrellas and cabanas, and the like. Before the invention of air conditioning in the early twentieth century, buildings in Western cities were festooned in the summer with brightly striped awnings to keep sunlight and rain out of open windows.

Striped Cloth in the Twenty-First Century

Striped fabric has been popular for women's clothing since World War II, and almost every year's ready-to-wear collections include some striped dresses, skirts, and shirts. Horizontally striped sweaters are still a staple of both men's and women's sportswear. However, the main uses of striped cloth today are so subtle that they go unnoticed; striped cloth is now primarily used for men's suiting materials as well as men's dress (business) shirts and ties. Many men wear dark suits with very thin stripes (pinstripes) or slightly fuzzy stripes (chalk stripes) of white or another light color, partly in the hope of creating the illusion of a slimmer and taller body. Shirting fabrics are also frequently woven in white or light colors with dark pinstripes or in stripes of equal width (often of blue and white). Bright, multicolored stripes are popular in some years, and they are frequently made into shirts with white collars and cuffs. Plain shirts are frequently paired with "regimental" striped ties (which, in America at least, seldom have or retain their specific symbolic associations). Sober business attire is the last holdout of a fabric that once had a much broader and more exciting range of meanings.