In 2019, Marcella Echavarria started Noir Mud Silk as a passion project that connects her appreciation for mud silk, a heritage textile with 2500 years of history and remarkable qualities, with her vision of what the future of fashion should embrace. She believes in quality, craftsmanship, s and respect for makers and the environment.
Mud silk dates to the fifth century when Hakka fishermen observed their nets did not rot when treated with yam juice and they also turned black over prolonged contact with the iron-rich river mud. Applied to indigenous silk, the cloth became known as Xiang Yun Sha, literally ‘perfumed cloud clothing,’ so called because wearers felt as if they were floating on clouds.
Eventually these textiles, as well as garments fabricated from them, were exported along the Silk Route, particularly during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. In the 1920s as China’s silk industry blossomed, Chinese and European elites sought out mud silk for its natural characteristics and noble look. The finest mud silk fetched prices more expensive than gold. However, Mao’s Cultural Revolution brought silk production to a halt.
Global demand largely shifted to ‘made in China’ synthetic materials that beget the environmental disaster of ‘fast fashion.’ Mud silk production resurfaced again in the 21st century, particularly since the technique’s recognition in 2009 as part of China’s National Intangible Culture Heritage.
Noir Mud Silk aims to share the properties of an exceptional textile with enlightened people who appreciate the qualities of this rare cloth and value handcrafted traditions. Through its seasonless editions, no sizes, reversible garments and exquiste craftsmanship, the brand is a symbol of resilience, sustainability and poetry, a living proof that tradition is timeless.
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