Sharkskin, or grisaille (from French ''gris'', meaning grey) describes a specific woven or warp-knitted fabric with a distinctive sheen. Sharkskin is a twill weave fabric created using

acetate An acetate is a salt formed by the combination of acetic acid with a base (e.g. alkaline, earthy, metallic, nonmetallic, or radical base). "Acetate" also describes the conjugate base or ion (specifically, the negatively charged ion called ...

rayon Rayon, also called viscose and commercialised in some countries as sabra silk or cactus silk, is a semi-synthetic fiber made from natural sources of regenerated cellulose fiber, cellulose, such as wood and related agricultural products. It has t ...

worsted Worsted ( or ) is a high-quality type of wool yarn, the fabric made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from Worstead (from Old English ''Wurðestede'', "enclosure place"), a village in the English county of Norfolk. T ...

wool Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have some properties similar to animal w ...

lycra Spandex, Lycra, or elastane is a synthetic fiber known for its exceptional elasticity (physics), elasticity. It is a polyether-polyurea copolymer that was invented in 1958 by chemist Joseph Shivers at DuPont. Name The name ''spandex'', which ...

, and other plastic fibers. The arrangement of darker and brighter threads in a twill weave creates a subtle pattern of lines that run across the fabric diagonally and a two tone, lustrous appearance. Primarily a suiting material, the fabric is sometimes seen in light jackets and non-fashion items such as curtains, tablecloths, and as a liner in

diving suit A diving suit is a garment or device designed to protect a diver from the underwater environment. A diving suit may also incorporate a breathing gas supply (such as for a standard diving dress or atmospheric diving suit), but in most cases th ...

s and wetsuits.

Composition

Sharkskin has historically been made with different types of natural fibers, including

mohair Mohair (pronounced ) originated from the Arabic word �هيرand it is a fabric or yarn made from the hair of the Angora goat (not Angora wool from the fur of the Angora rabbit). Both durable and resilient, mohair is lustrous with high shee ...

and

silk Silk is a natural fiber, natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be weaving, woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is most commonly produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoon (silk), c ...

. More expensive variations exist and are often demarcated by fabric content labels bearing "Golden Fleece" or "Royal" titles. These indicate an older style of sharkskin fabric that was extremely rare and were costly to produce. These fabrics produced in small quantities, were manufactured in South America by transplanted German and Italian weavers during the 1950s and 1960s. The South American produced sharkskin included local materials such as vicuna, guanaco, or alpaca in such blends. Natural sharkskin fabric was made primarily using silk fibers woven to create a signature two-tone patter.

Artificial variations

Artificial sharkskin variants used for suiting first appeared in the 1950s. These variants made more significant use of

and synthetic fibers in their construction. The addition of synthetics can create a heightened metallic-like sheen, and/or added flexibility. Artificial sharkskin, in part for its comparably low price point, gained traction as a clothing material in the early

1960s File:1960s montage.png, Clockwise from top left: U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War; the Beatles led the British Invasion of the U.S. music market; a half-a-million people participate in the Woodstock, 1969 Woodstock Festival; Neil Armstrong ...

and the disco era of the late 1970s. Its popularity waned, but enjoyed brief fashion resurgences in the mid-1980s, mid-1990s and late 2000s.

Middle East

British diplomat Sir Terence Clark in the 1950s served in Bahrain. He reminisced that the requisite winter evening wear for a diplomat was a white sharkskin dinner jacket. Lucette Lagnado in her prize-winning memoir about her childhood, ''The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: My Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World'' uses the imagery of the white sharkskin suit to evoke the glamorous evening life in Egypt in the 1950s. Early in '' Justine'',

Lawrence Durrell Lawrence George Durrell (; 27 February 1912 – 7 November 1990) was an expatriate British novelist, poet, dramatist, and travel writer. He was the eldest brother of naturalist and writer Gerald Durrell. Born in India to British colonial pa ...

mentions the heroine sitting in front of a multi-panel mirror trying out a sharkskin dress; the book is set in the high society of diplomats and businessmen in

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

in the 1930s, a city where Durrell spent much time during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, a few years later.

References

{{fabric Woven fabrics

Composition

Artificial variations

Middle East

See also

References