I wear cows, you wear goats
The word for today is pashmina:
A pashmina is a type of goat endemic to Kashmir (India). Its fleece has been used for thousands of years to make high-quality shawls that also bear the same name....A fashion craze for pashminas in the mid-1990's resulted in a large number of fakes being created....
Yahoo answered a question about pashmina in 1999:
The pashmina we see on the Web and in local stores is usually a 80/20, 70/30 or even a 50/50 blend of cashmere and silk respectively. This is said to produce a strong yet supple, lightweight, luxurious wrap for evening or day-time wear. Most vendors claim that the wool in their pashmina is produced by very special Himalayan goats. Cashmere refers to the fine wool from the undercoat of these Kashmir goats -- we get the idea that pashmina is the crème de la crème of cashmere.
When Marva Murphy went to Kathmandu in 2002, she got to see the clothes firsthand:
The faces of the people are a mixture of many influences as the blend of the Chinese and Indian bordering countries can be seen. Traditional dress for women is the Indian Saris or the long tops over pants with a “pagmina” or long, wide scarf around the shoulders. The manufacturing and selling of the traditional pagmina is big business in the area, and this article of clothing is found in fine cashmere as well as raw and finished silk.
And the pagmina can be used as a form of abstract psychological warfare (or, what goes on in alt.non.sequitur every day). Emphasis mine:
I think we all know about psychological warfare in its basic forms, such as printed propaganda bombed on the enemy, and sound and music blared over loudspeakers.
Abstract Psychological Warfare takes this a step further by not just delivering messages to the enemy, but making them confusing and disorienting ones....
Possible messages would include:
"Would you like something to drink with that?" "Don't go there." "I'm over the hill!" "Who made a poopie? You did!" "Has anyone seen my keys? I could swear I left them on the table." "Void where prohibited" "You wanna see French Toast? I'll show you French Toast." "I think Jill is going to pick us up around seven." "Please pass the biscuits." "I'm a lover, not a fighter." "Is it better like this, or like this? Like this... or like this?" "That's a stunning pagmina." "Who did your hair?"..."Is Pakistan walking distance from here, or should we call a Town Car?" And Richard Simmons exercise tapes.
Fast forward to 2006, and pashmina is a gossip column staple:
WE never thought we'd see the day. Liz Hurley all boho'd out like a total hippy....
"She did look a little mis-matched in her hippy skirt and sandals with her suede jacket, pashmina and Chanel bag," says our tittle-tattler.
And if you don't want to play six degrees of separation with Divine Brown, you can look at The Facts of Life:
Gael Fashingbauer Cooper has a great post on her Test Pattern blog about The Facts of Life, which came out on DVD this week. The post links to a video clip of Jo, Blair and Natalie being interviewed by Al Roker. Where's Tootie?! Anyway, Jo looks smokin', Natalie looks good except for the orange pashmina, and Blair...appears to have a mullet-ish thing not unlike the big '80s hair Al and the cast keep making fun of.
Comments