Paduasoy

Evening gown made of peau de soie worn by Lady Bird Johnson.

Paduasoy or padesoy[1] (/ˈpædjuəsɔɪ/; French: peau de soie) is a luxurious strong corded or grosgrain silk textile that originated in Early Modern Europe. The term paduasoy first appeared in English in 1663.[2]

Paduasoy silk was woven in a variation of the satin weave, with bindings arranged to create fine cross-ridges across the fabric.[3]

  1. ^ Deborah Franklin used the phonetic spelling "padeysway" in 1737 (University of Delaware, The Accounts of Benjamin Franklin Through 1747).
  2. ^ OED, s.v. "Paduasoy"; the deformation of a "Padua say", a kind of serge from Padua (OED) intends an undeserved connection to "silk of Padua". This has misled the unwary: "She was attired in a robe of the rich silk of Padua known as paduasoy, of a soft lustrous texture, shot with threads of silver" (Isabella MacFarlane, A Royal Knight: A Tale of Nuremberg 1905).
  3. ^ According to Leanna Lee-Whitman, "The Silk Trade: Chinese Silks and the British East India Company", Winterthur Portfolio, 17.1 (Spring 1982:21-41), esp. pp 30f.