Plate No. 098fabric
The pebbled matte surface of the correct evening cloth.
- First documented
- 1800s
- Origin
- England, United Kingdom
- Fiber
- wool, silk
- Weave
- broken-rib pebbled weave
- Family
- twills
Plate No. 098 · fabric
Barathea
Barathea is a finely pebbled cloth with a soft, broken-rib texture and almost no sheen, woven on a small twill-derived hopsack-like structure that scatters light into a granular matte surface. In black silk it is the correct cloth for the dinner jacket's lapels and the bow tie; in fine wool it makes regimental and club neckties and quiet formal suits. Its whole job is to be richly textured and utterly without shine, the discreet formal alternative to satin.
Named for
A coined trade name of the nineteenth century, of no certain root.