Sequinned party dresses from Anna Sui
I have loved shiny things all my life. Maybe it’s because I’m a woman – I imagine it might be an evolutionary advantage to be attracted to bright shiny berries for food.
Sequins are glorious things, making me go Ooh and Aaah and put on a silly star-struck expression.
A dolphin painted in sequins...
Here I am sharing pictures of some sequinned things and looking at the history of the word sequin.
Holographic sequins
The English word sequin comes from the French sequin, from the Italian zecchino, from zecca, meaning “a mint”, from the Arabic sikkah, meaning “a minting die”. So it’s not surprising that the original sequins were coins used all over the Mediterranean area, particularly in the Persian Gulf.
The Venetian gold zecchin first appeared in 1284, although it was originally called a ducato and zecchin was its nickname. In 1478, Turkey introduced a gold monetary unit called the sequin, as did Malta in 1535.
Murad III Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, 1576 gold sequin
Stitching coins to women’s clothing, particularly headdresses, veils, and over the bosom and hips, became a way to show off (and store) the family’s wealth. I am seeing “woman as chattel” and “woman as pack mule” here…
Berber woman wearing Moroccan coin headdress
As a child I had a small collection of coins from a family friend who had been abroad in the Army and this included several fascinating coins with holes in the middle, very easy to thread and wear. I recall some were from the land that had been known as Palestine…
Coins from the British Mandate of Palestine, 1927
Clearly it’s also possible to drill holes in any coin – this man has quite a collection on his head…
The coin-ornamented headgear of a member of the folkloric group Los Historiantes dances during the Palms and Flowers festival in Panchimalco, south of San Salvador. Picture: AFP/GETTY
It was the ancient tradition of wearing coins that led to the use of decorative but less valuable “sequin” trimmings. After a long history of being made of thin metals, they are now usually made of plastic.
My personal history with sequins goes way back. As a child I did ballet and tap dancing (as did we all) and for shows we had costumes made with satin, sequins and multi-coloured net. We used to go around to a wonderful needlewoman in my village (Caerwent) called Betty Protheroe.
That's me in the middle, probably aged about six. The costumes were royal blue and white with silver sequins...
As I grew a bit older (in the 1960s) we used to watch a TV show called Come Dancing – long before Strictly. The ballroom dresses were always covered in thousands of sequins, all lovingly sewn on by hand. My favourite dancers of that era were Bill and Bobbie Irvine. You can see them dancing on this video.
Bill and Bobbie Irvine pictured in 1972 - I recall them earlier than this, on TV in black and white...
Of course on Strictly Come Dancing the stars now twinkle more than ever…
How costumes change - Kara Tointon and Artem Chigvintsev, winners of Strictly Come Dancing 2010...
Then there was Diana Ross and the Supremes… so shiny!
Diana Ross and the Supremes in sequins...
Sequins may be stitched flat to the fabric, so that they do not move or get caught, or they may be stitched at only one point, so that they dangle and move easily, to catch more light. Some sequins are made with facets, to reflect more.
I have a jar full of beads and sequins...
Anyway, here are some of the sequins from my wardrobe past and present…
An old sequinned jacket of mine...
Indian fabric from another sequinned jacket I had made...
A sequinned vest
Corner of a holdall I bought for summer 2010 from Primark - transparent sequins over a crocodile-skin pattern had the desired effect in sunshine...
A sequin-trimmed T-shirt from Bon Marche - I bought this in several colours and it was great value over summer 2010...
Then there’s this, which I love but would look absolutely ridiculous in…
Footnote: Silver sequinned shoe from MiuMiu - phew!
I guess I could wear such shoes in a virtual world. And I stumbled across this…
An interesting texture pack available for Second Life. Virtual sequins!
One thing I didn’t know was that the word schmaltz relates to billboards and signs made with big sequins fastened only at the top (according to Wikipedia). These were used before neon lights took over.
Here's a modern equivalent of a sequin sign, from Reflecto...
Not quite paying attention, I clicked – I thought – on an email from a guy and saw “I have loved shiny things all my life. Maybe it’s because I’m a woman . . .”. A deeply surreal moment.
Just a thought, but your entire post appears in the email, thus removing any need to click through for those who don’t want to comment. Not good for your stats, nor is having the complete posts on your home page – people can read everything there and it just counts as 1 click in your stats.
If you’re interested, Pat, there’s an easy fix.
I’m not really in it for the stats.
I also run my company’s staff intranet and in that I do indeed go for ways of making people click all over the place, through teasers etc.
I must admit in Tweets I get a bit annoyed having to click through a nothing link to the real meat of it.
Each to his/her own, I guess.
Wouldn’t mind your “easy fix” to consider, though. Unless it’s just having a teaser on the home page and clicking through to a “page”. I already do that for my picture galleries etc.
Do tell…
And have a good Christmas if I don’t speak to you again before tomorrow…
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