While one shawl was traditionally worn previously, it was during the rule of Emperor Akbar that the emperor decided to wear two shawls at a time to serve as a status symbol. Produced for centuries in the east, the Turkey red-dyeing process would later became synonymous with printed cottons in Scotland, and thus the original, mainstream bandana. From its ancient Persian and Indian origins with its hidden messages and mysterious symbolism, the iconic motif has had quite a journey. While today some people associate bandanas with cowboys or Cholo culture, paisley bandanas were popular during the late 1700s and their popularity in the United States coincides with the American revolution. Paisley Museum and Art Gallery", About Britain, archived from the original on 5 March 2008 , retrieved 3 February 2008 .

But perhaps the real secret to the print’s immortality is how it combines conformity with unruliness, how it blends its rich historicism with a powerful adaptability, and how it is open to endless and unexpected re-invigoration and re-interpretation. And the two-tone paisley-printed cotton cambric cloth has come a long way from the traditional resist dye techniques of Turkey and India, at times representing political campaigns and patriotism, at others, aiding in the promotion of popular culture and other twentieth century advertising. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, paisley bandanas began to appear with political and military advertisements printed on them. Mr Porter’s Jeremy Langmead agrees about the print’s subtext: “Throughout the decades, paisley has always been a popular print for men’s ties. In the 1800s, European production of paisley increased, particularly in the Scottish town from which the pattern takes its modern name.However, this movement is far different from the affiliation color code implemented by prominent gangs of the 80s, such as the Bloods and Crips, who would show their affiliation by wearing a red or blue bandana, respectively. Etro, the Italian brand, has also long-used the design in its menswear, especially in suit and jacket linings. The West Virginia Coal Miners March of 1921 was one of the largest armed uprisings in labor history and, at the march, over ten thousand United Mine Workers wore red bandanas to demand unions, an event many equate to the popularization of the derogatory term “redneck. Implemented by the gay community, the handkerchief code became an easy way to identify not only other gay men but also tell sexual preferences and/or fetishes from potential partners.

Different colors and pockets were a quick way to communicate in plain sight with a community that was still largely forced underground. From that point onwards the English term for the motif was ‘paisley’, though it is also known in the United States among quilt-makers as ‘Persian pickles’ or in the Welsh textile industry as ‘Welsh pears’. Local manufacturers in Marseille began to mass-produce the patterns via early textile printing processes in 1640.believe the buta is the convergence of a stylized floral spray and a cypress tree: a Zoroastrian symbol of life and eternity. The original Persian droplet-like motif – the boteh or buta – is thought to have been a representation of a floral spray combined with a cypress tree, a Zoroastrian symbol of life and eternity. Reilly, Valerie (1987), The Paisley Pattern: The Official Illustrated History, Glasgow: Richard Drew, ISBN 978-0-87905-317-8 . The pattern is still commonly seen in Britain and other English-speaking countries on men's ties, waistcoats, and scarfs, and remains popular in other items of clothing and textiles in Iran and South and Central Asian countries.

Through the 1970s, paisley bandanas were worn by many blue collar and labor workers to keep dust out of their mouths and noses.The bandana is one of the most versatile pieces of clothing to have entered the wardrobe of modern western civilization. It is still a hugely popular motif in Iran and South and Central Asian countries and is woven using silver and gold threads on to silks and fine wools for weddings and other celebrations. citation needed] Famous country singer Willie Nelson began wearing bandanas when he moved from Nashville back to Austin, Texas "just in time to catch the hippie wave cresting at counterculture center the Armadillo World Headquarters. citation needed] In the 1970s paisley bandanas also became popular amongst gangs in California, most notably with two well-known rival gangs, the Bloods who would wear red bandanas and the Crips who would wear blue bandanas. contest that the earliest representation of the patterns shape comes from the later Sassanid Dynasty.