subject: What You Never Knew About Tassels [print this page] Although tassels are traditionally known to be used for graduation ceremonies, there are many other uses for them they are used around the world for many different reasons, actually. A tassel is an adornment or finishing feature in fabric decorations, and they are seen in tons of different varieties and versions in many cultures around the world. Actually, the word comes from the Latin Tassau, which simply refers to a clasp, like for a neck of a garment.
In the western world, these little decorations were originally a series of windings of string or thread around a string that was suspended until the desired curvature was attained. Much later, wooden moulds that were turned were simple or elaborate in design, and they ranged from simple wrappings to elaborate coverings that were called satinings. These elaborate ones were made of intricate binding of bands of filament silk vertically around the mould by using an internal lacing of the bore of it.
These types of constructions varied quite a bit and were augmented with extensive ornamentations that were each assigned a specific term by their French makers/designers. In France, they were called Passementiers. It was required that people worked as apprentices for seven years to become a master in the particular subdivision of the guild. The French widely exported their very artistic work, and they did it at such low prices that no other nation was able to develop such an elaborate, mature trimmings industry.
Tassels have of course changed style throughout the years, from the casual, simple small ones of the Renaissance through to the medium sizes of the Empire period. The Victorian period stakes its claim to the most elaborate and largest tassels. In fact, some of the designs that are still coming out of Europe today can charge thousands of dollars for a single, hand made tassel and they are very much in demand, too.
Tassels are also called tufts, and they were originally worn for traditional academic reasons by Oxford and Cambridge University graduates on their caps. Furthermore, those who wore gold tassels were titled as sons of the peers, and they had a right of vote in the House of Lords as well. Another term for them is liripipes, and these also are found on mortarboards during graduation ceremonies. Did you know they can also be worn on the shoes of graduates for their ceremonies? Today, at the conclusion of the modern graduation ceremonies the tassels that hang from the graduates mortarboard are moved from the right to the left.
