Gold Lame'

[Scot Eddy]

Greetings Friends,

I couldn't let it die peacefully, I'm sorry. From what I have been 
able to glean from my research gold lame' and cloth of gold look 
strikingly similar. 

Now before we go any farther let's define a few words. there are 2 
types of gold lame' that I am familiar with. I could be wrong. On is 
called liquid gold. It is a metalic gold substance on an elastic 
backing. I agree that this should bediscouraged. The second type is 
the tissue lame' made of rayon or metallic fibers. This is stiffer and 
more translucent that the liquid gold.

There are also different types of cloth of gold. Some used threads of 
gold woven into a fabric (e.g. red cloth with threads of gold), but 
source speak of Emperors and Empresses wearing what apeared to be 
robes of solid gold, (i.e. a warp of silk and a weft of gold). Fromthe 
pictures of Greek Orthodox clergy that I have seen (National 
Geographic May 1964, and the National Geographic 100 Years book) both 
show patriarchs dressed in vestments that haven't changed much since 
the Empire was at it's height. These pictures show good examples of 
cloth of gold stripes on the robes.

So, all of you Byzantines go hog wild. Buy out the store, get enough 
gold tissue lame' to drown in. The rest of you barbarians ;) as the 
border guard said to Bishop Liuprand as he was sneaking out of the 
Empire with valuable cloth. "You barbarians are notworthy to be seen 
in such finery, only we Romans can have such beautiful cloth."

If anyone would like to see my research on Byzantine clothing I would 
love to share it with you!

Grace and Peace,

Jovian Skleros