Papacha hand tufted mohair dress fabric
Designed by Zika Ascher and Cristóbal Balenciaga, 1964
T.219-1988

This hand-tufted mohair and wool fabric was the result of a collaboration between Ascher and Balenciaga. The cover of the November 1964 issue of French 'Vogue' shows a model wearing a coat made from this multicoloured woolly textile. The tufts of wool were hand-knotted into the mohair ground fabric and the garment was worn with streamlined accessories, to emphasise the bulk and fluffiness of the coat.
Ascher had first launched mohair fabrics as part of the 1957 Lanvin-Castillo Autumn-Winter collection. Often dyed in lurid colours, mohair was a big hit with mods.