A stiff, coarse fabric typically made from cotton or linen and treated with starch or glue, used as interfacing to provide structure and support in garments. It is commonly used in hat-making, waistbands, and collar construction.
From Old French 'boquerant', possibly derived from Bukhara, the Central Asian city famous for its textiles. The fabric was originally a fine linen but evolved into the stiffened material we know today by the 14th century.
Victorian corsetmakers relied heavily on buckram for creating the rigid structure that achieved those dramatic silhouettes - it was literally the backbone of 19th-century fashion! Modern milliners still swear by buckram for hat brims because unlike modern synthetic interfacings, it can be steamed and reshaped repeatedly.
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