The elegant inspiration of a flowing Stole as a formal wrap of expensive fabric wrapped around the shoulders over a long dress or ballgown, created from silk or natural fabric, and of a length long enough to be draped across either shoulders, or around arms or neck has survived in all cultures throughout the ages. 

A Stole Wrap is typically narrower than a Shawl, and of simpler construction than a Stole Cape, and is typically worn loosely around the shoulders. Lighter materials such as silk and chiffon are simply finished or cropped, hemmed and bound.  Heavier materials such as fur and brocade are typically lined.  A Silk Stole is essentially a small version of a ladies’ Stole, made of silk. Though these garments or accessories aren’t always made of silk, they are typically manufactured with similar quality fabrics.

A Stole can also mean a fur or set of furs.  For formal wear, a finished length of fur using pelts from more than one animal is worn over a suit, dress or gown.  In this case, the word Stole stands alone or is used in combination: Fur Stole, Mink Stole.  A Stole is typically narrower than a Cape or Wrap.  The Fur Stole is kept fastened and held together at the front of the collar. Unlike a Silk Stole or Shawl, which is wrapped loosely around a lady’s shoulders and occasionally the neck, a Fur Stole is manufactured to fit the body more snugly

Similar to a Shawl, the Stole Cape typically uses more material length and covers more of the upper body. Also occasionally referred to as a Stole Wrap, the Stole Cape is likely to be found in a wide array of materials and colors, but the most common type of Stole Cape is typically made of fur.  Some popular dressy styles of Stole Capes might include ostrich feathers, marabou, or other material. The feathers can come in various colors, although black, brown and white are generally the most commonly seen.

In addition to making an elegant fashion statement, all types of Stoles have been used to show respect while in a church or in a formal setting, such as for a Wedding, where it might be inappropriate to display bare shoulders or a low-cut gown.

Historically, Stoles were considered ceremonial dress worn for special occasions or at formal events such as weddings, coronations, graduations, parades, religious rites and galas.  Besides the Wedding Dress, throughout history the formal dress code of ceremonial dress has included the Ermine-lined Cloak, Crown and Septer of a King or Queen, Tribal Dress, Suit of Armor, Military Dress, Liturgical Robe, Graduation Gown, and Robe and Wig worn by British judges.  The Stole as an ecclesiastical vestment consisted of a narrow strip of silk or other material worn over the shoulders or, by deacons, over the left shoulder only, and arranged to hang down in front to the knee or below.  The Stole as a long robe was worn by the matrons of Ancient Rome. 

The lithograph plate posted here showing a variety of ways of wearing shawls in early 19th-century France (ca. 1802-1814), is redrawn from various early 19th-century sources by Durin for Albert Charles Auguste Racinet's Le Costume Historique (1888), and shows the myriad, exquisite ways the Silk Stole Wrap has been worn over the ages.

View White Stole's entire collection of Stoles, Silk Stole Wraps, Vintage Stoles, Stole Capes and Shawls for purchase, or rental, on our website.

The date was 1954.  Valentino Garavani, then a young Italian who apprenticed for Jean Desses, designed a slim, elegant ensemble with a leopard-skin belt and Stole.  A moment that marked the beginning of his signature elaborate aesthetic that would catapult him to be known only by his first name - Valentino. 

After five years with Desses, and a brief time with Guy Laroche, in which his couture sketches became the foundation of his eponymous look, Valentino returned to Rome, Italy to set up his own label, bringing with him the grandeur that established for him the reputation of what Italians call “Dolce Vita” – Sweet Life.

When Valentino showed his first collection at the Pitti Palace in Florence for the first time in 1962, the acclaim instantly annointed him the go-to Couturier for the glitterati.  In 1967, he was awarded the prestigious Neiman Marcus Award for his infamous “No-color Collection” in which he rebuked the trend for decadent color palettes, opting instead for hues of beige, white and ivory.  This collection launched his signature “V” trademark.  In the same year, he designed the dress that Jackie Kennedy wore to marry Aristotle Onassis - both events that crystalized the fame that turned his business into an international fashion powerhouse, dressing Hollywood superstars from Gwyneth Paltrow to Cate Blanchett, Julia Roberts and Elizabeth Taylor to Anne Hathaway.

When interviewed by the Telegraph, Valentino said this about his early inspirations:  "I was always inspired by seeing glamorous American movie stars in clothes by the costume designer Edith Head…and when I was working with Jean Desses and Guy Laroche in Paris I was influenced by French couture and the luxurious lives of French women."

"A dress that reveals a woman's ankles while she is walking is the most disgusting thing I have ever seen," Valentino once told The Daily Mail.   In an interview in November of 2012 with Vogue UK, Valentino noted that times have changed since he first started his career.  "Few people love and make beautiful clothes, clothes that are soft, smooth and elegant," he said. "And very few designers today design - it's very important to be able to do your own sketch on paper and then explain [your vision] to the fabric cutters. Instead, lots of designers drape - it's the new way."

UK blogger David Downton described Valentino:  "My first couture experience was drawing Valentino fittings at The Ritz in Paris - it was like entering Narnia. He is the last of the old-school couturiers. Lightness of touch, rigorous discipline and an unfailing glamour aesthetic are his hallmarks.” And, on the subject of Valentino’s use of his signature color - red: "There is cardinal red and rose red. Come-to-bed red and go-to-hell red. But when it comes to a red dress, there is really only Valentino. As someone once said, Valentino invented red."

Despite having retired from designing for the Valentino label, Valentino still works on special commissions, recently designing the bridal gown worn by Princess Madeleine of Sweden for her royal nuptials in June 2013, a fact that has kept him in the hearts and minds of devotees of Bridal fashion.  Valentino has embraced Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli, the current co-designers of his famed label for the past five years, on their runway shows. The pair continue to successfully steer the Valentino ship season after season, carrying-on the magnificent, spirit-lifting collections which have come to symbolize couture in its truest sense while walking the line between feminine, light and intricate designs that remain modern and compelling for today’s women.

Each and every dress on the runway offers different fabrics and techniques, yet the concept of gowns constructed through piping details and lace, with silhouettes that we have come to know and love from Valentino – "demure, nipped-in waists and splaying skirts, necklines either cut straight across or high in Tudor proportion, Stoles, Capes and Shawls fluttering across dresses of distinct shape….with bold lines of red and black and cream that bring the body’s figure to life – remain.  Gowns in white look like they had been adorned in wedding icing - both elegant and pristine. Gowns breath-takingly made up of 450 metres of tulle, with swaying skirts that fold back on one another to create undulating fairy-tale hems.  Lines that are neither strict nor severe, always lending the sense of romantic femininity that is neither too sweet nor too austere"…remaining quintessential Valentino.

View White Stole’s entire collection for size color ranges of Stoles, Stole Wraps, Vintage Stoles, Stole Capes and Shawls for purchase, or rental, on our website.

Folk-art, irony, youth culture and Rock and Roll all affected fur wrap fashion in the second half of the 60’s, bringing about an almost infinite amount of unpredictability in outerwear design.  Fur trimmings were an important factor in fashion for ladies in the Sixties, as the Createurs added refined details and fringe to collars, cuffs, borders, skirt hems, hats and scarves on every luxurious design presented.  Side-by-side with these details came an explosion of artistic follies that turned into a powerful trend.

Pellegrini presented a “gaucho” outfit in Persian lamb inset with zebra, Nina Ricci presented leopard "trousers," while Yves Saint Laurent added fringes of tails at cuffs and borders to an ermine "cape" of black and white squares.  This change in style brought to the streets “ponchos” that came in every fur type with great fringes in chamois or contrasting fur worn over mink "trouser-skirts", zebra "coats" made of a whole skin and decorated with lapels, collar and cuffs of silver fox, as well as mink “mini top-coats” in mink or champagne-colored Persian lamb that came down to the edge of a long stretch of boots with cuffs, collars and hems in opossum. 

Simultaneously, a search for the “Folk-art” look exploded onto the scene with a leopard and zebra "bikini" and "beach-wrap" by Sergio Soldano, the young, unrestrained furrier from Genova, Italy, whose profusion of colors captured the adoration of everyone from Gina Lollobrigida to Raquel Welch.  Revolutionary and eclectic, from the end of the Sixties onward, Soldano’s production of spectacular designs included the inspiration of the “squaw coat" and “savage” furs, to nostalgia for the 20’s in Al Capone-style "sports coats" in monkey fur and mink "mini-skirts," along with great "ponchos" of goatskin or long, "floor-length coats".  His spectacular creations spurred continual research into new methods of working with fur alongside creation of the vivid color palettes he favored – from different shades or green and twill, wheat, red lacquer and white, ruby red, ochre and lime green, pale blues, pinkish terracotta, parchment, China blue and more.

This was a time when the imagination in fur design knew no bounds.

View White Stole’s entire collection for size color ranges of Stoles, Stole Wraps, Vintage Stoles, Stole Capes and Shawls for purchase, or rental, on our website.

It is also said that our idea of what is stylish, and of what looks good on us, directly or indirectly, comes from her.  My own mother had a love of the Classics – both American and European – and designs that would never feel passe.  I remember her clearly as I watched her with awe through the eyes of a child.  My mother loved her two-toned pumps with contrasting heel and toe, preferably in beige and black to go with everything, be it bridge or a dinner party.  Her shoes were paired with a fine wool knit, neither too wide, nor too narrow - or with one of her innumerable versions of a chic dress - either a simple shirtwaist brightened up with pearls, or a sheath.  She looked to Chanel, Jackie Kennedy and Princess Grace for cultivation of her timeless understatement.  Simultaneously serene and reserved, she believed there was no room for error, so her color choices ranged between camel, tobacco, bronze, charcoal gray, pearl, or the ever-neutral purple.

It went without saying that if the occasion were casual, a sweater coat or jacket in wool, leather or suede would do.  But if the occasion were dressy, elegant or formal, and the weather had chill in the air, only her Fur Stole or ¾ length Fur Swing Coat would suffice.  I still remember the excitement of being enveloped in the scent and rush of soft fur as my mother swept me into her arms for a bear hug before heading out the door for a special event.  Those are some of the best memories of my life.

Each of us who love fashion at any level – whether street or couture – can trace our love of it to someone, some event or encounter that created an exquisite feeling that only well-placed color, design, material and workmanship can generate deep in our hearts and minds.  Those qualities that we can see with our eyes on close encounter with a garment, and experience as we touch and slip our bodies into.  This tactile, sensual emotion we experience resides somewhere deep within ourselves.  The experience of something that fits like the perfect second skin against our bodies…something simply “made for us” that is neither too this, nor too that…something that causes us to feel just a little more ready to greet the day or the occasion with as much exuberance as we know we hold inside.  We know that the style of the fashion we come to adopt as our own does for us what nothing else will.

My own style, unlike my mother’s unwavering commitment to hers, has crested and crossed-over from one thing to another over the years.  My earliest memories as a young girl are shopping trips into Chicago with my mother, or the excitement of ordering an Italian hand-crocheted sunhat or Spanish espadrilles via mail order catalogue.  In my younger years, I found myself the Romantic, going into ecstasy gazing at a sunset, crying at movies when the princess found her prince, and being irresistibly drawn to lace and frills, black or pink silk, mohair, and diaphanous blouses that alternated between hippie and babydoll. My early adult years were spent as the Sporty, dedicated to a Saturday walk or yoga workout, hike or cycling trip followed by jeans, leggings, sweats, flashy leotards and shapeless T-shirts from Puma to Fila to Prana. 

At this point in my life, what I have come to realize is more me than any other of the styles that I have tried-on and found part of me within over the years, is the Sophisticate.  As a Sophisticate, I adore fashion, furniture, and gorgeous textiles from the 40’s and 50’s.  I have a nose for refined detail and a knack for arriving at a couture style from a mix of vintage finds and skillful designer outlet shopping that I arrived at without necessarily spending a fortune – having the good sense to hold onto my mother’s exquisite goods all these years has been a big part of the look I pull together.  Sometimes now, like my mother, nothing but the perennially perfect pencil skirt and vintage pearl necklace will do.  I love Celine, Burberry, Etro, Prada, Dior, Valentino and Leonard, Paris on the catwalk and in my closet, while I also find inspiration at Zara or Top Shop; thrive on estate sales, artshows and museum exhibits of fine art and design; adore entertaining, and dining by candlelight. 

The classic pencil skirt fits with what I have always known about the shape that suits me – straight or cigarette.  I work-over my wardrobe from season to season, year to year, changing out buttons, altering lines, removing outsized shoulders or oversized logos I embraced out of weakness.  I love the way a fabric falls, and relish the chic touch of silk, satin, velvet, cashmere, wool crepe and jersey.  I own not one, but possibly a dozen black dresses, long and short, with shoes to match that I mix with vintage fur, vintage fur, floral or graphic print stole or shawl, or vintage gloves and jewelry.  I’ve come to accept my taste for avoiding minor Brands that are too-often just copies of the Brands I truly love.

Even though I am no star, no famous person, nor celebrity, in my own sense of who I am I know full well that accessories can be enough to glamorize my style – whether my shoes, my bag, my hat, gloves, belt, earrings…or the Stole, Scarf or Shawl I wrap my always-chilly shoulders in.

In the end, I know in my heart of hearts, that my sense of who I know myself to be - and the resolutely feminine style that I know is me - is in large part thanks to...the influence of my mother. 

XO Roberta, White Stole Stylist

Editor's Note* White Stole is dedicated to the memory of my mother, Cecilia.  This vintage 1940’s photo is of her in her 20’s..

In the process of demystifying
fur fashion in the 60’s, it was almost natural to turn to sport.  The formula from the middle of the decade onwards was for more and more tailor-mades, coats, jackets, tunics, skirts and trousers of fur typically in sporting garments. 

Yves Saint Laurent took the drama out of leopard-skin by presenting a pullover with sleeves and collar of ribbed knitting.  Fur combined with leather, as well as leather coats lined and belted in white fur were seen on the streets.  Most notably, the coupling of knitwear and fur that had precedents in the Fifties proved itself by the Sixties to be a trend that would last for atleast twenty years.

The Frankfurt Fair in 1968 celebrated the creations of Jole Veneziani, the godmother of the show, alongside creations by the most renowned names in Italian fur fashion:  Melloni, Parodi, Pellegrini, Rossini & Porro, and Viscardi. Fur Fashion Luminaries now created the first tennis outfit with a short skirt of white mink, Pucci designed a bush-jacket in black Persian lamb with white knitted borders, others created trousers, tunics and boots, ski-suits, anoraks and gaiters for winter sports, hooded jackets or cardigans and pullovers bordered or braided with multi-colored knitting worked in furrier’s point, giving it the elegant effect that created it’s rage. 

View White Stole’s entire collection for size color ranges of Stoles, Stole Wraps, Vintage Stoles, Stole Capes and Shawls for purchase, or rental, on our website.