Word: shahtooshes
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Dates: during 1999-1999
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...York City's highest society ladies convened to do good. Nan Kempner, one of the most esteemed members of that coterie, sent out invitations to a charity sale that offered more than the evanescent pleasure of a $10,000 lunch. It gave guests the opportunity to buy a shahtoosh, a shawl that justifies its name, "King of Wool," by reputedly being both light enough to pass through a wedding ring and warm enough to hatch a pigeon's egg. "Shahtooshes are so utterly tightly woven of this wonderful, thin wool," enthuses Kempner. "We started wearing them when people were harassed...
...wool is smuggled to and woven in Kashmir, an Indian state that does not abide by the U.N. treaty. Shahtooshes have been the raiment of the elite there for centuries, presented to brides-to-be in wealthy Indian families. And in France, Napoleon is said to have given one to Josephine, who was so enthralled that she bought 400 more. The West didn't fully embrace shahtooshes until the 1980s, when fur went out and designers began dying the shawls in appealing colors. Before long, Park Avenue hostesses were selling them and Donna Karan was confiding to British Vogue that...
...woman who wears a shahtoosh should be deeply embarrassed," says George Schaller, a renowned biologist who has called attention to the plight of the chirus. "It's not a shawl; it's a shroud." Shame might not stop the trade, but this will: at the current rate of poaching, the species is likely to be extinct within 20 years...
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