Doily (pronounced doi-lee)
(1) A small ornamental mat, historically in embroidery or
of lace (the style later emulated in plastic or paper), placed under plates,
vases etc. In addition to any decorative
value, their function is to protect surfaces (such as timber) from spills and
scratches.
(2) A small napkin, intended to be used for the dessert course
(archaic).
(3) A visually similar circular piece of lace, worn as a
head-covering by some Jewish & Christian women.
(4) A wool fabric (obsolete).
Circa 1714: The
small, decorative mats were named after the linen drapery on London’s Strand, run
by the Doily family in the late seventeenth century. They were doubtless one of many products offered
in the shop (and probably a minor line) but for whatever reason they were the
one which picked up the name and remain admired by some while dismissed by
others as kitsch. Doily is a noun (and
historically an adjective); the noun plural is doilies.
Traditionally, most doilies were circular in shape and white
or beige but many which were bleached white became beige or grey after repeated
launderings. Hotels and cafés often use the paper versions atop plates on which sandwiches, slices of cake and such are served, This isn't always ideal because paper chaff (from stamping the holes) sometimes remains partially attached (al la the "hanging chads" made infamous in the Florida vote-count during the 2000 US presidential election), only to become detached and end up in the food.
The alternative spellings were (and in some cases still
are) doiley, doilie, doyly, or doyley, sometimes used deliberately as
trade-names. Various sources claim the family
name of those running the eponymous London linen drapery was Doily or Doyly but
there’s evidence to suggest it really was Doily, one example from Eustace
Budgell (1686–1737), an English politician & writer who was a cousin of Joseph
Addison (1672–1719), poet, playwright, essayist and fellow parliamentarian,
remembered as the co-founder of The
Spectator (1711-1712) magazine. Budgell
wrote dozens of pieces for the magazine (unrelated to the current The Spectator
published since 1828 which borrowed the name) and in 1712 one (capitalized as
originally printed) recorded:
“The famous Doily
is still in everyone’s Memory, who raised a Fortune by finding out Materials
for such Stuffs as might at once be cheap and genteel”.
That was a reference to the summer-weight woolen clothing
which was much favored at the time because it was comfortable, inexpensive and
stylish, a combination of virtues which sometimes still eludes manufacturers of
many products. Doily was attached as an
adjective to the distinctive garments in the 1780s as “doily suit” & “doily
stuffs” and it was only in 1711 the term was picked-up for the small ornamental
napkins used at formal dinners when dessert was served. The “doily-napkins” were literally sold as
such (there were many others but the term became generic) and were available in
a variety of forms, some quite elaborate and because these resembled the small
mats the shop also sold, they came to lend their name to the style, regardless
of whether or not purchased from Mr Doily’s shop. The doilies in their familiar modern form
seem first to have been so described in 1714 although it may be they’d been on
sale for many years.
Doilyed-up: Lindsay Lohan in doily-themed top over pink bikini, Mykonos, Greece, August 2014.
Addison is remembered for many reasons, one of which was
his once widely performed play Cato (1712)
which, based on the final days of Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis (known
variously in history as “Cato the Younger” & “Cato of Utica”), a conservative
Roman senator in the late Republic who died by his own hand, explored issues
such as the conflict between individual liberty and the powers of the
state. The work suited the zeitgeist of
pre-revolution America and many of its lines became phrases the revolutionaries
would make famous in the War of Independence (1775-1783). Cato
enjoyed a macabre coda when Budgell, beset with problems, took his own life by
throwing himself into the Thames, his suicide note reading: “What Cato did, and Addison approved, cannot
be wrong.”
Because plates come in different shapes, so do doilies
and there’s no inherent limitation in design although at some point, a
construction ceases to be a doily and becomes a tablecloth.
Visually, doilies are strikingly similar to the head-coverings
used in a number of Jewish traditions which some Christian women wear in
accordance with scriptural dictate:
1 Corinthians 11:1-13: King James Version (KJV 1611)
1 Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.
2 Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all
things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.
3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man
is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.
4 Every man praying or prophesying, having his head
covered, dishonoureth his head.
5 But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her
head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were
shaven.
6 For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn:
but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered.
7 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch
as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.
8 For the man is not of the woman: but the woman of the
man.
9 Neither was the man created for the woman; but the
woman for the man.
10 For this cause ought the woman to have power on her
head because of the angels.
11 Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman,
neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.
12 For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man
also by the woman; but all things of God.
13 Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray
unto God uncovered?
It’s not one of biblical passages much approved by
feminists and nor do they like 1
Corinthians 14:34–35: As in all the churches of
the saints, women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but
should be subordinate, as the law also says. If there is anything they desire to know, let
them ask their husbands at home. For it
is shameful for a woman to speak in church.
Designer colors are also available and because doilies
are a popular thing with hobbyists, the available spectrum is close to limitless and some are
variegated.
The origin of the surname Doily was Anglo-Norman, from d'Œuilly (Ouilly), the name
of several places in Calvados in the Normandy region, from Old French oeil (eye) and Doiley, Doilie, Doyly
& Doyley were all Englishized forms of d'Ouilly and its French variants. In England, apart from the noted draper, the
best known was Richard D'Oyly Carte (1844–1901),
the theatrical impresario who for years produced the collaborative works of WS Gilbert (1836-1911) & composer Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900)
which came to be known as “Savoy operas”, the name derived from Carte’s Savoy
Theatre in which many were first performed.
The D’Oyly part of his name was a forename (he was christened Richard D’Oyly
Carte) which he used because his father, Richard Carte (1808-1891), was already
well-known in the theatrical business and “Dick Carte” presumably wasn’t
thought appropriate but “D’Oyly Carte” anyway became cockney rhyming slang for “fart”
and in informal use it was later joined by “doily dyke” a synonym of “lipstick
lesbian”, the alliterative terms used to contrast a feminine lesbian with those
not (described variously as "bull dykes", "butch lesbians", "heavy-duty lesbians" etc). Except within certain sub-sets of
the LGBTQQIAAOP community, both are now proscribed as microaggressions. The rhyming slang may still be used.
"Japanese car doilies" (more correctly antimacassars & side-curtains)
in Toyota Century V12s.
Apparently as culturally obligatory in Tokyo taxis as
white gloves used to be for the drivers (though many still follow the tradition),
the inevitably white partial seat covers are often referred to as “Japanese
seat doilies” but technically, when used to protect the surfaces of chairs,
they are antimacassars, the construct being anti- (from the Ancient Greek ἀντι- (anti-) (against, hostile to, contrasting with the norm, opposite
of, reverse (also "like, reminiscent of")) + macassar (an oil from the
ylang ylang tree and once used to style the hair, the original sources of which were the jungles of the Dutch East
Indies (modern-day Indonesia), the product shipped from the port of Macassar.
Fifty years of “continuity with change”: 1967 Toyota
Century V8 (left) and 2017 Toyota Century V12 (right).
Produced over three generations (1967-1996; 1997-2017
& since 2018), the Toyota Century is the company’s flagship in the Japanese
domestic market (JDM). Although the
Lexus marque was invented to rectify the perception of a “prestige deficit” in
the RoW (rest of the world), models from the range were introduced in the home
market only in 2005 and the Century has maintained its position at the top of
the Toyota tree. The first generation used a
number of Toyota V8 engines which grew in capacity to reach an untypically
large (for the JDM) 4.0 litres (245 cubic inch) but the most admired were the
1997-2017 cars (a few hundred of 9500-odd built exported) which used a 5.0
litre (305 cubic inch) V12 unique to the Century. For political reasons, the factory
under-rated the power output of the V12 but it was anyway designed and tuned
for smoothness and silence, achieving both to an extent few have matched. Like the memorable “suicide door” Lincolns of
the 1960s, the Century’s external appearance changed little and although there
were updates, it needed a trained eye to tell one from another and the 2023
cars still maintain a distinct resemblance to the 1967 original although for
various reasons, since 2018 there’s been a reversion to eight-cylinder engines,
a 5.0 litre version of the Lexus V8 fitted, augmented with electric motors. Offered with a choice of leather or cloth
interior trim, “Japanese seat doilies” are regularly seen in the Century.
2006 Toyota Century Royal (left) and the 2019 Toyota Century four-door cabriolet built for the Japanese Imperial Household (right).
The Japanese Imperial Household in 2006 requested Toyota
provide a fleet of cars for the royal family and four limousines and one hearse
were constructed. Based on the second
generation Century (G50), the range was known as the Century Royal and received
the special designation G51. Following
traditional English coach-building practice, the rear compartment was trimmed in a wool cloth while the front used leather and an unusual touch was the fitting of
internal granite steps. The factory
released a number of details about the construction but were predictably vague about the “security measures” noting only they were an "integral" part of the design and it’s believed these included Kevlar
& metal internal skins (as protection from gunfire or explosive devices) plus a multi-laminate, bullet-proof glass.
Another Century was added to the royal mews in 2019, this time a one-off
four-door cabriolet parade car (both Toyota and the palace preferred "convertible"). Although
of late heads of state have tended to avoid open-top motoring, while there’s a
long Japanese tradition of assassinating politicians, during the last few hundred
years emperors have been safe (the rumors about the death in 1912 dismissed by most
historians) so the palace presumably thought this a calculated risk. All the same, it’s doubtful a prime-minister will
be invited to sit alongside while percolating through city streets, their faith
in Japanese marksmanship unlikely to be as high as their belief His Majesty won't be the target. It’s believed
the ceremonial fleet of the royal mews is now made exclusively by Toyota,
ending the use of foreign manufactured cars such as the Mercedes-Benz 770Ks
(W07, 1930-1938) and a Rolls-Royce Corniche (1990), the latter the previous
open-top parade vehicle. When in use,
the royal cars do not display number plates but are instead adorned with a
gold-plated, stylized chrysanthemum, the symbol an allusion to the Chrysanthemum
Throne (皇位, kōi (imperial seat)), the throne
of the Emperor of Japan. As far as is known, the cars in the royal mews are not fitted with “Japanese seat doilies”.
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