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A boa is a fashion accessory that is usually worn wrapped around the neck like a scarf. Feather boas are most common, although modern boas are most often made with synthetic feathers.
A boa can be made of fur, but it is usually made instead from various types of feathers. Ostrich, marabou stork, and turkey are the most common feathers used, although non-feather boas are also available. The feathers go through bleaching or dyeing processes and are glued and stitched into lengths called "ply". Sometimes more natural boas are produced. A lightweight chandelle boa might only weigh 65 grams (2.3 oz), whereas a 24 ply ostrich boa can weigh as much as 200 grams (7.1 oz). The more ply, the fluffier and thicker the boa. Boas are generally measured by weight (grams), length (centimetres), and ply. Boas are available through novelty, costume, or lingerie shops, as well as online.
With the development of "fun fur" or "eyelash" yarns in the late 20th century, an adept craftsperson can knit a boa of one solid color or a mix of various colors. Yarn boas do not "shed" like feather boas and are favored for their soft texture against the neck. The rounded boa shape is achieved by knitting one row and purling the next row, then repeating this pattern until reaching the desired length.
Feather boas have been documented for use as an adornment since at least 1820, but they might have been worn as early as the 17th century. Feather boas have fallen in and out of fashion many times over the years. Feather boas have had the reputation of being elegant as well as being considered campy or vulgar apparel. [ citation needed ]
Some historic eras where feather boas were in style or trendy include: the late Victorian era and Edwardian era (between 1890 and 1915), the 1920s, the 1970s during the glam rock and disco music eras, and in the rave scene of the 1990s. [1]
Entertainers have long used feather boas as part of their act. A few feather boa wearers include: dancer Isadora Duncan; singer Shirley Bassey; actor/comedian Mae West; wrestlers Jesse Ventura, Superstar Billy Graham, and Hulk Hogan; singers Scott Weiland, Celia Cruz, Cher, Marc Bolan, Gerard Way, and Elton John; and numerous other opera and cabaret singers.
Social clubs such as the Red Hat Society, or those who are involved with historic re-enactment societies, wear boas at meetings while they are often worn as a costume accessory for parties around holiday seasons such as Halloween or Mardi Gras in New Orleans.
Feather boas are worn around campus by new members of the Mask & Wig Club at the University of Pennsylvania.
Feather boas are worn for erotic seduction purposes and are at times considered fetish wear. Nude performers may use boas to cover themselves while teasing their audience.
Feather boas are sometimes used as trims for skirts or tutus.
The kimono is a traditional Japanese garment and the national dress of Japan. The kimono is a wrapped-front garment with square sleeves and a rectangular body, and is worn left side wrapped over right, unless the wearer is deceased. The kimono is traditionally worn with a broad sash, called an obi, and is commonly worn with accessories such as zōri sandals and tabi socks.
Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, used in sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery, ropemaking, and the production of textiles. Thread is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine. Modern manufactured sewing threads may be finished with wax or other lubricants to withstand the stresses involved in sewing. Embroidery threads are yarns specifically designed for needlework. Yarn can be made of a number of natural or synthetic materials, and comes in a variety of colors and thicknesses. Although yarn may be dyed different colours, most yarns are solid coloured with a uniform hue.
Denim is a sturdy cotton warp-faced textile in which the weft passes under two or more warp threads. This twill weave produces a diagonal ribbing that distinguishes it from cotton duck. While a denim predecessor known as dungaree has been produced in India for hundreds of years, denim as it is recognized today was first produced in Nîmes, France.
A necklace is an article of jewellery that is worn around the neck. Necklaces may have been one of the earliest types of adornment worn by humans. They often serve ceremonial, religious, magical, or funerary purposes and are also used as symbols of wealth and status, given that they are commonly made of precious metals and stones.
A suit, lounge suit, or business suit is a set of clothes comprising a suit jacket and trousers of identical textiles worn with a collared dress shirt, necktie, and dress shoes. A skirt suit is similar, but with a matching skirt instead of trousers. It is considered informal wear in Western dress codes. The lounge suit originated in 19th-century Britain as a more casual alternative for sportswear and British country clothing, with roots in early modern Western Europe. After replacing the black frock coat in the early 20th century as regular daywear, a sober one-colored suit became known as a lounge suit.
The down of birds is a layer of fine feathers found under the tougher exterior feathers. Very young birds are clad only in down. Powder down is a specialized type of down found only in a few groups of birds. Down is a fine thermal insulator and padding, used in goods such as jackets, bedding, pillows and sleeping bags. The discovery of feathers trapped in ancient amber suggests that some species of non-avian dinosaur likely possessed down-like feathers.
Textile manufacturing is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful goods such as clothing, household items, upholstery and various industrial products.
An obi is a belt of varying size and shape worn with both traditional Japanese clothing and uniforms for Japanese martial arts styles. Originating as a simple thin belt in Heian period Japan, the obi developed over time into a belt with a number of different varieties, with a number of different sizes and proportions, lengths, and methods of tying. The obi, which once did not differ significantly in appearance between men and women, also developed into a greater variety of styles for women than for men.
Paithani is a variety of sari, named after the Paithan town in Aurangabad district from state of Maharashtra in India where the sari was first made by hand. Present day Yeola town in Nashik, Maharashtra is the largest manufacturer of Paithani.
The jūnihitoe, more formally known as the itsutsuginu-karaginu-mo (五衣唐衣裳), is a style of formal court dress first worn in the Heian period by noble women and ladies-in-waiting at the Japanese Imperial Court. The jūnihitoe was composed of a number of kimono-like robes, layered on top of each other, with the outer robes cut both larger and thinner to reveal the layered garments underneath. These robes were referred to as hitoe, with the innermost robe – worn as underwear against the skin – known as the kosode. Hakama were also worn as underwear with the kosode; over time, the two would gradually become outerwear, with the kosode eventually developing into the modern-day kimono.
Fashion in the period 1550–1600 in European clothing was characterized by increased opulence. Contrasting fabrics, slashes, embroidery, applied trims, and other forms of surface ornamentation remained prominent. The wide silhouette, conical for women with breadth at the hips and broadly square for men with width at the shoulders had reached its peak in the 1530s, and by mid-century a tall, narrow line with a V-lined waist was back in fashion. Sleeves and women's skirts then began to widen again, with emphasis at the shoulder that would continue into the next century. The characteristic garment of the period was the ruff, which began as a modest ruffle attached to the neckband of a shirt or smock and grew into a separate garment of fine linen, trimmed with lace, cutwork or embroidery, and shaped into crisp, precise folds with starch and heated irons.
A fascinator is a formal headpiece, a style of millinery. Since the 1990s, the term has referred to a type of formal headwear worn as an alternative to the hat; it is usually a large decorative design attached to a band or clip. In contrast to a hat, its function is purely ornamental: it covers very little of the head and offers little or no protection from the weather. An intermediate form, incorporating a more substantial base to resemble a hat, is sometimes called a hatinator.
Textile fibers, threads, yarns and fabrics are measured in a multiplicity of units.
Khmer traditional clothing refers to the traditional styles of dress worn by the Khmer people from ancient times to the present.
Textile manufacturing is one of the oldest human activities. The oldest known textiles date back to about 5000 B.C. In order to make textiles, the first requirement is a source of fibre from which a yarn can be made, primarily by spinning. The yarn is processed by knitting or weaving to create cloth. The machine used for weaving is the loom. Cloth is finished by what are described as wet process to become fabric. The fabric may be dyed, printed or decorated by embroidering with coloured yarns.
A thread is a long strand of material, often composed of several filaments or fibres, used for joining, creating or decorating textiles. In early humanity Egyptians were known for creating thread using plant fibers, wool and hair. Today, thread can also be made of many different materials including but not limited to cotton, wool, linen, nylon, silk, polyester etc. There are also metal threads, which can be made of fine wire.
The Wulfing cache, or Malden plates, are eight Mississippian copper plates crafted by peoples of the Mississippian culture. They were discovered in Dunklin County, Missouri in 1906 by Ray Grooms, a farmer, while plowing a field south of Malden. The repousséd copper plates were instrumental to archaeologists' developing the concept known as the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex.
Marabou describes a certain type of down feather trimming. Although it takes its name from the marabou stork whose undertail down once provided the feathers, white turkey feathers have been used as a substitute. The advantage of marabou is that it takes dye well, making it a very versatile trimming for dress, and makes an effective substitute for fur. While marabou has been widely used as a fashion trimming since the late 19th century, it is also often used in fly tying for making up the lures ('flies') used for fly fishing.
Tsumugi (紬) is a traditional slub-woven silk fabric from Japan. It is a tabby weave material woven from yarn produced using silk noil, short-staple silk fibre. The short silk fibres are degummed and, traditionally, the yarns are hand-joined to form a continuous length before weaving, a technique also used for cheaper bast fibres. Yarns are joined by twisting the ends to be joined in the same direction, then twisting both ends, bundled together, in the other direction, to make a two-ply yarn at the overlap. It might alternately be loosely handspun, with few twists per unit length. Because of this structure, tsumugi is rough-surfaced, soft and drapey, softening further with age.
