Fabric pearls through the ages

This is my fact for the day.  Not something you often think about ... fabric imitations of pearls. It's an interesting little fashion meme through history.

These are Japanese cotton pearls, from this NOS Etsy seller, whose prices are remarkably okay:


Photo copyright J.A. Hershberger.

Cotton pearls were made in the 1920s and are literally made of very tightly wound cotton thread with a nacre coating.

During the Victorian age, the finest evening toilettes might be accented with chenille balls, embroidered onto the fabric or strung in imitation of ropes of pearls:


Image from an 1870's Harper's Bazar, reproduced in Stella Blum's awesome book of plates.

All the round beading you see is chenille.  The effect was often quite luxurious and medieval-looking.

This does mean that soft fuzzy balls are perfectly acceptable for steampunk designs, historically speaking.  Hm.

So that would be today's unusual historical fashion thingy, for no better reason than that I've been thinking about imitation pearls what with the Swarovski I'm working with of late ... I like how they feel!  The weight of pearls is really hard to mimic, but those are heavy and weighty and rich running through your hands.  This is why I always let people pick up my jewelry at shows all they like:  I like my jewelry heavy, with the sole exception of earrings.  It makes me perceive it as more valuable.  Is this uncommon?