Fabric: The Hidden History of the Material World,
by Victoria Finlay
Book Review
Cathy Koos
This fourth book by Victoria Finlay captivated and engaged me on the very first page with her conversational description of a procession she witnessed in Red Square, Moscow in 1995. It was the 75th anniversary of the 1917 October Revolution and the silent procession was filled with old, gray-haired men and women dressed in worn, tattered uniforms. Finlay quickly began to photograph this poignant parade of “frayed, patched, repaired fabric,” and was struck with this realization: “…I began to notice how fabrics can give a glimpse of something truthful, a clue to what is underneath the surface of things.”
A journalist in Hong Kong, Finlay returned to her native England, married, wrote three books, and worked in the environmental field. A chance visit with her mother to the American Museum in Bath, England, to see a show about the fabrics people use at important junctures in their lives was inspiring, but the true catalyst was the premature death of her parents. With the reminder of her mother’s urging “write the book!” Finlay took the leap and committed to write to honor her parents’ memory.
Nearly 500 pages allows the reader to follow Finlay on what would become a world tour of textiles over a number of years, beginning with the barkcloth and tapa of the Asia Pacific region to the cottons of the Americas to the origins of wool in Europe and Asia. From the humble invisibility of sackcloth to fine linens and luxurious silk, we can armchair travel the world with Victoria Finlay.
Available on Amazon or order through your local bookseller.
Pegasus Books, Simon and Schuster
ISBN 9781639363902