Kabaja van wit linnen batist rondom afgezet met een brede, geschulpte strook machinale kant c. 1900 - 1920

Curator: Look at this beautiful object—a kabaja, a kind of jacket, crafted from white linen batiste. The edges are finished with a wide, scalloped strip of machine-made lace. We believe it dates from somewhere between 1900 and 1920. Editor: Oh, it’s delicate. Almost ghostly. The white on white gives it an ethereal quality. And seeing the sleeves outstretched like that...it makes me think of someone just slipping out of it, leaving behind a whisper of themselves. Curator: That whisper, I suspect, holds a fascinating story about textile production. Note that it's linen, which indicates a particular context for its creation, labor and source. This wasn’t mass-produced synthetic fabric. Linen represented work! The trim also juxtaposes handmade and machine-made techniques and materials... it brings the high and the low into the same orbit. Editor: Exactly. While someone may have envisioned the design as high-end, it acknowledges and utilizes machine labor in the creation of the lace trim...almost suggesting how this type of craftsmanship was on its way out. Curator: And the machine lace, while certainly faster to produce than handmade lace, still implies a level of care and detail, doesn’t it? I can see it hinting to someone cherishing this specific garment beyond the sum of its materials. Editor: Absolutely. Someone was thinking about appearance, occasion, class, when crafting and/or acquiring this garment. The design is meant to give status—a way of marking one's location and time... all within the folds of everyday textile use. I mean, there’s a whole industry of cloth production packed into this small textile, from flax cultivation to the factories producing machine-made lace, even fashion magazines spreading pattern and stylistic ideas... Curator: I like that you zoom in so precisely...it pushes me to notice how time settles in every layer of linen. A world is here, pressed softly like flowers between pages, something so mundane it's breathtaking. Thank you! Editor: And thank you. It's a simple thing, this little kabaja, but the threads really connect to a large and diverse community who had hands and machines involved in its conception! It’s a beautiful reminder that nothing exists in isolation.