Vicuna - The Fabric of the Gods

Vicuna, the world's most expensive fabric is softer, lighter and warmer than any other wool on earth. Measuring just 12 microns in diameter, compared to merino wool at 16-18 microns, vicuna wool is also the finest fibre capable of being spun and about eight times finer than human hair. It looks like very fine wool but feels like a luxurious blend of mohair and silk.

The vicuna is a relative of the llama and a member of the camelid family. It lives on the grasslands and plains of the high Andes in Peru, Chile, Bolivia and Argentina at an altitude of 4,000 to 5,500 meters with each animal producing only about a pound of wool a year.

Vicuna wool has been prized since the time of the Incas who named it "the fabric of the gods". As such, law reserved it exclusively for members of the royal family. It was harvested by rounding up wild vicunas every three to five years into stone corrals where they were sheared and then released.

With the coming of the Spanish conquistadors who took over the Inca territory and referred to the fibre as "the silk of the New World, the vicuna was hunted for both its wool and its meat. As a result its numbers dropped over the centuries from more than a million at the time of the Incas, to an estimated 5,000 by the mid 1960s when controls on the trade in vicuna wool were first introduced.

In 1976, CITES, the United Nations agency which monitors trade in endangered animals and plants, categorised the vicuna as a species in which any kind of trade was forbidden.

Since that time the remarkable conservation efforts of the four South American nations has seen vicuna numbers stabilise and then grow substantially, with Peru alone now having a population of over 160,000.

Today vicuna wool is harvested very much in the manner of the Incas with the wild vicuna being driven into paddocks where they are sheared and then released back into the wild.

The international trade in vicuna fabric sourced from living animals is again allowed, but the vicuna's relatively low numbers, their unsuitability for farming, their low yield of wool each year and the remarkable material's unique combination of softness, lightness, and warmth ensures that vicuna remains the world's most expensive fabric.

To produce one overcoat in vicuna the fleece of 25 to 30 animals is needed, and for this particular overcoat John Cutler purchased the cloth direct from one of London's premier woollen houses. He describes vicuna as, " a fabulous fabric that's like nothing else you've ever seen."

The Trimmings

John Cutler lavished the same amount of care and attention to detail in his choice of trimmings as he had on selecting the vicuna fabric itself. Whilst some elements would never be seen, each had an important role to play in ensuring the garment was of the absolutely highest quality.

All were sourced from trimming houses in Milan and London, including a medium weight woollen body canvas, a very springy horsehair chest piece, a fine soft cotton selicia, wadding made from pure cotton, and the very best pure silk satin lining, the quality of which is rarely seen in any tailored garment.

Pure silk threads of various gauges were selected, all of which would be run through beeswax prior to use, to give added strength and help prevent knotting.

Finally the correct sizes of buffalo horn buttons were selected from a range offered by a premier London supplier, to complement the dark blue of the vicuna fabric.

The Gold Plaque

Both were made especially for the vicuna overcoat in 18carat yellow gold. Working to a brief from John Cutler they were designed by Master Hand Engraver John Thompson, who also hand engraved the detail using traditional tools, which he made when he was an apprentice in England in the 1960s.