Tiffany (silk)

A light, thin, and transparent silk material, similar to a gauze

This article is about a silk cloth. For other uses, see Tiffany (disambiguation).

Tiffany (silk) is a thin, nearly transparent silk fabric similar to gauze, extant more commonly in the 16th and 17th centuries.

## Characteristics

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Tiffany reveals the wearer's skin.[1][2]

## Types

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Tiffany varied from plain, starched fabric woven of silk to flax-based fabric called housewife's cloth (Randle Holme, 1688).[3][4][5]

## Use

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Tiffany has been worn as mourning attire, and appeared as trimmings, veils, and dress fabrics, napkins, tablecloths, and scarves. In the 19th century, stiffened tiffany was used in artificial flower making.[6][5][7][8]

In 1589, the Earl of Worcester gave Elizabeth I a hat of tiffany set with twenty-eight gold buttons, with and additional eight gold buttons affixed to the hat band and feather.[9]

## See also

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* Taffeta

## References

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1. ^ ''For tiffany silk was the original " see - through ” fabric — when a woman wore it you could see the woman, provided that ... open mesh cotton fabric, such as cheese - cloth ”, or a " strong, fine - meshed gauze out of which sieves are made ” .'' Hogmanay and Tiffany: The Names of Feasts and Fasts - Page 76 Gillian Mary Edwards · 1970 https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/Hogmanay_and_Tiffany/-LwIAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Tiffany+silk+made+at&dq=Tiffany+silk+made+at&printsec=frontcover
2. ^ Dow, George Francis (1935). Every Day Life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, by George Francis Dow. Society for the Preservation of New England antiquities. p. 82.
3. ^ ''tiffany A thin, transparent gauze of silk or cotton muslin . Tiffany glass Stained or iridescent glass of a kind popular in the early 1900 ' s for decorative objects or lamps .'' Canadian patent reporter - Page 530
4. ^ The Book of Commerce by Sea and Land: Exhibiting Its Connection with Agriculture, the Arts, and Manufactures : to which are Added a History of Commerce, and a Chronological Table. Uriah Hunt & Son. 1862. p. 46.
5. ^ a b Montgomery, Florence M. (1984). Textiles in America 1650-1870 : a dictionary based on original documents, prints and paintings, commercial records, American merchants' papers, shopkeepers' advertisements, and pattern books with original swatches of cloth. Internet Archive. New York; London : Norton. p. 366\. ISBN 978-0-393-01703-8.
6. ^ Mansfield, Alan D. (1980). Ceremonial Costume: Court, Civil, and Civic Costume from 1660 to the Present Day. Barnes & Noble Books. pp. 302, 111, 110. ISBN 978-0-389-20124-3.
7. ^ Business Week. Bloomberg L.P. 1988. p. 145.
8. ^ ''For dresses ... A thin, light, silk of rich texture — black tiffany was used to make mourning garments Brocade'' Cavalcade of Dolls: Basic Source Book for Collectors - Page 302 books.google.co.in › books Ruth Sunderlin Freeman · 1978 https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/Cavalcade frontcover
9. ^ M. Channing Linthicum, Costume in the Drama of Shakespeare and his Contemporaries (Oxford, 1936), pp. 220-1.