Architectural Digest

In Louis XIV’s France, Indian calicos and chintz were so widely coveted that the government was forced to ban their import and sale. Yet French aesthetes continued to wear them indoors, privately flouting the law. Fashion history is replete with similar anecdotes of Europeans’ fascination with Indian fabrics and design. In Inspired by India, fashion researcher and journalist Phyllida Jay charts a compelling narrative of India’s role in global design from the 1600s to the present. She raises concerns about colonial exploitation and cultural appropriation that, in the early days, led to much of Indian design’s proliferation. For instance, she notes that, in the late 18th century, the Scottish town of Paisley became so successful in cheaply reproducing Kashmiri shawls that the Kashmiri buta motif has been better known as “paisley” ever since.