shawl, square, oblong, or triangular protective or ornamental article of dress worn, generally by women, over the shoulders, neck, or head. It has been a common article of clothing in most parts of the world since antiquity. The period from roughly 1800 up to the 1870s, when the fashion silhouette changed, was known as the “shawl period” because women in Europe and America wore shawls with almost all their clothing. At the beginning of that century, shawls were a necessity in a fashionable woman’s wardrobe because dresses were thin and décolleté; it was a sign of gentility to wear a shawl gracefully.
Asian shawls first appeared in Europe after Napoleon’s return from the Egyptian campaign in 1798. The most popular import was the cashmere shawl produced in the valley of Kashmir in India and made from the fine fleece of the Tibetan goat. In order to meet the 19th-century woman’s demand for shawls, the Paisley shawl—machine-made in Scotland—was produced; it was an adaptation, rather than an imitation, of the Indian shawl.