shawls

A shawl is an extremely simple item of clothing, loosely worn over the shoulders, upper body and arms, sometimes also over the head. It is usually a rectangular or square piece of cloth, often folded to make a triangle, but can also be triangular in shape to begin with. Other shapes include oblong shawls. The first shawls, or "shals" were part of traditional male costume in Kashmir. They were woven in extremely fine woolen twill, some were even said to be so fine as to fit through a ring. They could be in one color only, woven in different colors (called tilikar), ornately woven or embroidered (called ameli). Shawls are used in order to keep warm, to complement a costume, and for symbolic reasons. One famous type of shawl is the tallit, worn by Jewish men during prayers and ceremonies. Silk shawls with fringes, made in China, were available by the first decade of the nineteenth century. Ones with embroidery and fringes were available in Europe and the Americas by 1820. These were called China crepe shawls, China shawls, and in Spain "mantons de Manila" because they were shipped to Spain from China via the port of Manila. China is the leading producer of shawls in the world.