In the early 20th century, costume designers chose assiut cloth operatic productions set in the Middle East. Plays such as “Salome,” “Anthony and Cleopatra,” and “Lakmé” featured exotic costumes and sets that evoked an imagined exotic opulence of these far-away places set in the distant past. Above: Constance Collier as Cleopatra, 1906 Assiut shawls started […]