Egyptian American, Egypt United States of America

An Egyptian textile artist made this shimmering fabric by wrapping metal strips around cotton net, then pounding them flat to form geometric designs. The textile was brought to England in the mid-1920s and made into a dress style then in vogue.

Known as Assuit after Asyut, the Egyptian town in which they were made, these textiles were fabricated from leftover mosquito nets and marketed to tourists starting in the late 1800s. After interest in Egypt was renewed following the 1922 excavation of Tutankhamun’s tomb, Assuit fabric appeared everywhere, from Hollywood films such as Cleopatra (1934) to shawls draped over pianos in fashionable homes.