Originally crafted from silk, brocade is a lustrous, high-quality woven fabric featuring intricate designs. Frequently used for upholstery and drapery, the luxurious textile is now made from a wide variety of fabrics, including silk, linen, wool, cotton, taffeta, rayon, and other synthetic fibers. Once a popular choice for men’s formal suiting as well as women’s formal gowns, the unique woven textile boasts ancient origins as well as an ever-evolving following today.
The English word brocade (a term for both the weaving process and resulting fabric) comes from the Italian broccato, meaning “embossed cloth,” from the word brocco (“small nail”) —which evolved from the Latin broccus, meaning “projecting” or “pointed.” The brocade tradition itself, however, comes from an even older process that may have originated in China as early as 475 BC.
What is brocade?
Brocades are decorative, shuttle-woven textiles made by strategically adding extra weft (horizontal) threads into the regular warp/weft weaving setup. The additional weft threads, which are often metallic or shiny, are incorporated in specific areas according to a predetermined design. These metallic brocades feature striking ornamental designs that seem to float on the surface of the fabric, as if embossed or embroidered on top of the original fabric—though brocade’s surface is actually more sleek to the touch than it is textured.
Defining elements and characteristics of brocade
Brocades are usually identified by their elaborate designs, which are typically laced with a unique sheen and sometimes feature beading or appliqué accents. They look expensive—smooth, but with a depth implied by the luster of the extra weft threads. Often confused with other decorative, patterned textiles like damask and jacquard fabric, brocade is traditionally made from silk fabric, though modern brocade fabrics may be made from silk, wool, linen, cotton, rayon, organza, or synthetic fibers.
“Brocade is more of a visual experience versus a tactile, textural one,” says Laura Levinson, chief creative officer of Valdese Weavers, a producer of decorative textiles. “It’s not a fabric that makes you want to reach out and touch it, like velvet, but the construction allows for very clear color to be woven, since it is floating on top of the surface of the design without the interruption of other yarns.”
Most designers can easily recognize brocade construction by the combination of solid background and figural depictions that seem to hover above the background. “There’s often a contrast in the yarns used, which gives the figures a subtle sheen,” says Levinson. “When a brocade is turned over, you can actually see floats that make up the color lightly stitched on the back.” She says people tend to equate brocades with luxury Italian and French textiles, likely because there are so few weavers still creating real brocade fabric, and most of them are in Europe. But a surprisingly large portion of the world’s brocade is produced in Barnako, the capital of Mali, these days, where a growing manufacturing industry powered by women artisans has been thriving over the past several decades.
Types of brocade
Brocade fabrics today can be divided into two general categories: continuous brocade, where the extra weft threads are left floating on the back of the textile to be cut away later, and discontinuous brocade, where the extra threads are woven back into the fabric to create a new pattern. Some designers choose to make use of those extra weft threads left on the backside of discontinuous brocade, attaching sequins or beading to further enhance the ornate design.