PICTURE ME IN PAISLEY

Exquisitely intricate and inherently elegant, no print has more personality than the paisley.

It has its own unique identifiability, its own essence, and thanks in large part to The Beatles, it’s even been ascribed its own era – the ‘60s and ‘70s – which is perhaps why it carries a vibe of vintage and retro, despite the paisley’s origins being more than 2,000 years old and it being reinvigorated on the regular.

Curved, colorful, and abstract, paisleys are the snowflake of the prints palette, in that they’re inherently unique; in a million designs drawn by a million different hands, you’d be hard pressed to find two exactly the same. While it’s the color combinations and embellishments that set each paisley apart, they all have a core characteristic, a curved conical shape, commonly called a comma or a teardrop, that is in fact, a ‘boteh’, the Persian word for flower.

It makes for a powerful pant print, a demure shift dress, or a cheeky pocket square. Paisleys are transcendent across ages, eras, and identities, from the smocked sundresses of a little girl to the ostentatious ascot of a lord of the manor. It’s sleek and chic in silk, luxe and lovely in velvet, and nothing short of awe-inspiring in embroidery.