Story of the sequins
A decoration of ancient origin
26th March 1931: Eve, a contortionist appearing in the 1931 Revue show running at the London Pavilion. (Photo by Sasha/Getty Images)
Portrait of British television dance troop Pan's People wearing sequin jumpsuits and standing on top of toy vehicles from Raleigh Industries, at Brighton Toy Fair, England, January 29th 1974. (Photo by Keystone Features/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
I just want to change the world, one sequins at a time. (Lady Gaga)
The origin of the bright and trendy sequins is very old and refers to the sequins, the Venetian coins of the 1500s that were often sewn on the clothes of the people belonging to the most affluent classes so as not to lose them. Later they assumed a purely decorative character and were replaced by metal disks. Here are the first sequins. In the twenties of the twentieth century they became particularly fashionable for evening dresses and costumes for dancers. Probably their diffusion in this period is also due to the discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamen in 1922: some of the guilds of the pharaoh were decorated with metal discs very similar to the sequins. In the thirties, to make them lighter, the metal was abandoned in favor of gelatine, the same of the gummy candies. But it melted easily and was soon replaced by other materials, less brittle and brighter: plastic and vinyl. The micro colored discs then became iconic in the disco style of the seventies, spread on the catwalks and inspired even pop and rock singers. Golden, silver, colored, shiny, fantastic brightness vectors … also perfect for 2019
