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Originally crafted from silk, brocade is a lustrous, high-quality woven fabric featuring intricate designs. Frequently used for upholstery and drapery, the luxurious textile is now made from a wide variety of fabrics, including silk, linen, wool, cotton, taffeta, rayon, and other synthetic fibers. Once a popular choice for men’s formal suiting as well as women’s formal gowns, the unique woven textile boasts ancient origins as well as an ever-evolving following today.
The English word brocade (a term for both the weaving process and resulting fabric) comes from the Italian broccato, meaning “embossed cloth,” from the word brocco (“small nail”) —which evolved from the Latin broccus, meaning “projecting” or “pointed.” The brocade tradition itself, however, comes from an even older process that may have originated in China as early as 475 BC.
What is brocade?
Brocades are decorative, shuttle-woven textiles made by strategically adding extra weft (horizontal) threads into the regular warp/weft weaving setup. The additional weft threads, which are often metallic or shiny, are incorporated in specific areas according to a predetermined design. These metallic brocades feature striking ornamental designs that seem to float on the surface of the fabric, as if embossed or embroidered on top of the original fabric—though brocade’s surface is actually more sleek to the touch than it is textured.
Defining elements and characteristics of brocade
Brocades are usually identified by their elaborate designs, which are typically laced with a unique sheen and sometimes feature beading or appliqué accents. They look expensive—smooth, but with a depth implied by the luster of the extra weft threads. Often confused with other decorative, patterned textiles like damask and jacquard fabric, brocade is traditionally made from silk fabric, though modern brocade fabrics may be made from silk, wool, linen, cotton, rayon, organza, or synthetic fibers.
“Brocade is more of a visual experience versus a tactile, textural one,” says Laura Levinson, chief creative officer of Valdese Weavers, a producer of decorative textiles. “It’s not a fabric that makes you want to reach out and touch it, like velvet, but the construction allows for very clear color to be woven, since it is floating on top of the surface of the design without the interruption of other yarns.”
Most designers can easily recognize brocade construction by the combination of solid background and figural depictions that seem to hover above the background. “There’s often a contrast in the yarns used, which gives the figures a subtle sheen,” says Levinson. “When a brocade is turned over, you can actually see floats that make up the color lightly stitched on the back.” She says people tend to equate brocades with luxury Italian and French textiles, likely because there are so few weavers still creating real brocade fabric, and most of them are in Europe. But a surprisingly large portion of the world’s brocade is produced in Barnako, the capital of Mali, these days, where a growing manufacturing industry powered by women artisans has been thriving over the past several decades.
Types of brocade
Brocade fabrics today can be divided into two general categories: continuous brocade, where the extra weft threads are left floating on the back of the textile to be cut away later, and discontinuous brocade, where the extra threads are woven back into the fabric to create a new pattern. Some designers choose to make use of those extra weft threads left on the backside of discontinuous brocade, attaching sequins or beading to further enhance the ornate design.
Brocade woven with gold or silver threads is sometimes called Imperial Brocade.
Brocade vs. Jacquard: What’s the difference?
Brocades are sometimes confused with damasks, jacquards, ikats, twills, or other intricate, decorative textiles. Most often mistaken for damask, which features a reversible pattern that appears on both sides of the fabric, brocades are not reversible. Because they feature a special design woven via an extra weft thread, the patterns on the backside of the fabric will not match those on the front. (Some designers, however, enjoy playing with the more distressed, less-expected designs on the reverse side of a brocade pattern.) Brocade and damask are both considered types of jacquard and can be produced on a jacquard loom.
A brief history of brocade fabric
The first silk brocades were made by hand and loom via a complex process developed in ancient China. The traditional Chinese brocade process starts with a hand-drawn design; the artist then chooses specific colors and maps them onto a gridded pattern. The earliest examples of brocade were discovered among ancient garment remnants found in tombs from the Warring States period in China, which ranged from 475–221 BC. At the time, China’s silk production method was a closely guarded secret, so even as the elaborate Chinese silk brocades were slowly making their way around the world, it wasn’t until the sixth century AD that the Byzantines smuggled silkworm eggs from China and developed their own brocade styles, using silks as well as other fabrics like linen and wool.
The weaving techniques involved in brocade-making most likely originated in India between 1750 and 500 BC, according to scholars, due to the mention of gold cloths in the Rig Veda (an ancient Indian collection of hymns that forms one of the four canonical Hindu texts). In India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, a uniquely glamorous type of brocade was developed for use in formal ceremonies and celebrations that featured an extra gold or silver metallic thread called a zari. Zari brocades, used for saris as well as a range of other garments, were typically made from natural silk, with real gold or silver threads adding genuine “bling” to the ensemble. (Many imitations are made today using tinsel and synthetic textiles.)
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During the European Renaissance—especially in Italy—brocade designs grew more and more elaborate. As the silk industry grew throughout the 15th century, Italian silk brocade, often featuring motifs inspired by the textile’s Asian origins, became popular fashion choices among European nobles. (Evidence of these opulent Italian brocades can be tracked across many Renaissance paintings from the period.)
In the early 1800s, the invention of the Jacquard loom and the automation of textile production led to a boom in luxury textiles that forever changed how we dress ourselves and decorate our world. The jacquard loom also made it easier for weavers to create brocade; consequently, the Victorian era was filled with brocade gowns, which grew more varied and ornate as the burgeoning fashion press in Paris began covering innovations in garment-making on a more regular basis. (Famed dressmaker Rose Bertin, Marie-Antoinette’s Minister of Fashion, acted as a sort of stylist and go-between for the court of Versailles and the marchande de modes, a guild of French fashion merchants. Growing interest in brocade in France was attributed in part to her influence on the clothing worn by members of the court and other wealthy Parisians.)
What makes brocade so special?
Accenting, and even headlining, fashion runways in 2023, brocade can be spotted nearly anywhere these days. From the over-the-top intricacy of Rose Bertin’s ball gowns to the more recent bubblegum-goth brocade designs from British fashion label the Vampire’s Wife, it’s safe to say that—even in blush, babydoll dress form—brocade still brings the drama. As one Elle writer reported on Singapore’s 2023 fashion week: “Here, the lavish brocade fabric is the star….”
A similar rekindling of interest in brocade is happening among decor fabric trends as well, according to Levinson. “We’re slowly seeing residential interiors with traditional or historic textile references pick up in popularity, wallpapers showcasing floral patterns again, that kind of thing,” she says. “Florals are starting to return in popularity, especially in fashion—which is typically several seasons ahead of interiors. It won't be long until we see them in woven upholstery again.” She appreciates how, lately, cult-favorite textile brands like Lee Jofa are offering more traditional textiles in fresh color palettes or with modern twists. (See the brand’s metallic snakeskin silk brocade, for example).
Brocade made with shantung—a crisp, lightweight, sought-after type of natural silk that originated in the Chinese province of Shandong—remains a popular choice for high-end wedding gowns. The fabric, dotted with unique raised “slubs” that add dimension and play with light, is also valued for its draping abilities, often displayed in formal gowns and drapes.
Lately, even non-fabric design elements, like wallpapers, carpets, and hanging art, incorporate features inspired by brocade, mimicking the fabric’s subtle texture or the way designs appear raised above a backdrop. If you’re not ready to dip into brocade upholstery, perhaps try incorporating some brocade-like features and see how they feel. (Try the ginko-esque, geometric emerald leaves of Top Fabric’s Battery-Chelsea Floral Chenille Fabric, for example, or sample the rococo-rustic vibes of Coordonné’s illustrated, adhesive tapestry panels.)
How to use brocade in home design
So how are today’s designers using brocade in ways that feel as fresh as the textile’s fashion revival? One method is to invent your own take on the tradition: Try infusing traditional brocade with idiosyncratic tweaks like unexpected color palettes (see the rainbow-bright, hand-dyed cotton brocade fabrics currently enjoying a heyday on West African fashion runways, for example).
“Most brocade fabrics have a traditional design that works best in traditional interiors,” says Levinson. “But we’re starting to see more designers mix different traditional fabric types together, to create eclectic mixes that lean more modern.” Levinson adds that modern-day brocades are also being constructed in a way that’s hardier, and better able to stand up to the way we live now. Brocade textiles are being emulated with newer constructions that make them more durable with respect to the fibers used, minimizing the floats on the back,” she says.
Miami-based visual artist Jen Clay, known for her bizarre and engaging textile-based installations and performances, says she began working with brocade during a graduate costume design class in the University of Florida theater department. “It reflects light in super-interesting ways,” she says. “I wrote it off for the textile costumes I was making for a long time, because my goal with those was to create an unsettling sense of ambiguity.“ For her early works, brocade’s crispness and subtle reflectivity—which tends to show every stitch—were reasons to steer clear for nearly a decade. “It’s not a forgiving fabric if you make mistakes. It puckers easily. And for costume design, it’s a bit itchy. It’s also expensive, which wasn’t really feasible for my artist’s budget back in the day. But now that I’m experimenting more with quilted fabrics and video projections, I’ve been reconsidering it.” Now drawn to the way brocade plays with light, Clay’s recent works weave together unusual tactile, linguistic, and digital elements into unsettling, eerily reflective worlds.
More than anything, brocade makes you want to take another peek at whatever it’s hiding, and the designers using it best are those who understand this quality and how to use it. Brocade can enrich a space with a sense of depth without actually needing to add texture or depth—a subtle, elegant optical illusion that we can harness to uplift our space with little winks of light.
