In order not to get confused, let’s immediately define the terms: Indian, aka Turkish cucumber, for the East – buta, for Europeans – paisley. This openwork ornament, resembling either a drop in shape, or a really whimsically curved fruit, completely fails to maintain neutrality: it is either at the height of fashion, or immediately turns into a synonym for old-fashionedness.
Stylist Larisa Miroshnik Photo Roman Travin, Egor Narizhny
Persia is considered the birthplace of fancy “cucumbers”, where ornament became widespread in the Safavid era, that is, from the XNUMXth century. Despite its common origin (originally a symbol of fertility), it adorned the royal regalia and clothing of the nobility. From Persia, the “cucumber” was transferred to India, and from there, along with the embroidered Kashmir shawls, which were certainly taken as a gift from the colonies, he ended up in England. Shawls were such an insane success that at the beginning of the XNUMXth century in the Scottish city of Paisley, the production of their imitations was established (hence the European name for the ornament).
Paisley pattern
Production flourished for half a century, and then the shawls, along with the pattern itself, were forgotten for a whole century. The next explosion in popularity came in the 1960s: John Lennon even got a yellow Rolls-Royce, decorated with paisley. And again decades of oblivion, the return from which the ornament owes primarily to the Italian brand Etro. Back in the 1980s, she made the “cucumber” her trademark and since then has never ceased to amaze with the abundance of modern variations on this theme. While Etro was decorating textiles with oriental patterns, the English brand Cole & Son released several wallpaper collections with it, which immediately became classics. Then other designers followed up, including the House of Kenzo. Now “cucumbers” grow everywhere – from curtains and wallpaper to porcelain dishes: exquisite, generous and luxurious in the oriental way.