Ahilya Cashmere Scarves are Among the Finest, in More Ways than One

by Jonathon Ramsey (RSS feed)
Dec 8th 2009 at 2:01PM

Manuela Moollan's ahilya scarves take their name from an 18th century Indian queen, Ahilya Bai Holkar, who was graced with the title of goddess and called "The Philosopher Queen" for her benevolent rule and municipal gifts. Moollan's scarves, however, are products of Kasmir -- which is to say, they're cashmere.

But not just any scarves and not just any cashmere. To paraphrase the deliciously delivered education Vesper gave to Bond: "There are scarves, and there are scarves. ahilya is the latter." The throats and underbellies of Kashmiri goats are combed for threads that are twelve to fourteen micrometers thick, the standard of the most exemplary woven wools and cashmere. It would take seven of those fibers to equal the thickness of a human hair. The fibers are then hand spun, hand woven, and hand dyed. There are no mechanical processes in their creation -- you know, kind of like the way the finest things have been made since before the days of Sanskrit.

ahilya offers five collections, from the for-kids Tumble line of blankets and smaller scarves (kids love goats, you know), to the diamond weave Touch, to the diaphanous Ethereal. For the ornate, look no further than Lace, which pairs a Chantilly or Calais trim to the woven body of the scarf. And for the ultimate, there's the obviously-named Ultimate collection if you think leafed gold or silver thread will help keep you warmer, or at least better looking. When you're ready to wear a scarf, you can find ahilya online starting at about €215 ($318 U.S.).

Tags: ahilya, cashmere, lace, scarf