Wear this and shine
The fit-enhancing powers of SILK
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— Erin & Jonah
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‘Corde Nation: I don’t know how to square this. On the one hand, I (Erin) do not see myself as a flashy dresser — quite the contrary. To the degree that I do dabble in the “eye-popping arts” now and then, my preferred vectors for giving an outfit a jolt tend to be color and pattern. And yet I’ve been on a big ~shiny~ kick these days… At times I go so far as to fantasize about sinking up to my chin in a pool of sumptuous moonbeamy fabric like as if I was a lady in an oil portrait at the d*mn Frick…?
That’s probably not in the cards, but the basic point stands: I’m feeling silky nylons, silky satins and — you guessed it — silky silk itself. This isn’t coming entirely out of nowhere. Last summer I saluted crisp, shimmery trench coats so lightweight the merest whisper of wind could hold them aloft. Last fall I explored the pleasures of wearing glossy “nighttime-coded” jawns during the day. And just last month I wrote about the new silk button-up from a young Spanish unisex shirt-wizard that I love wearing more than any other shirt these days.
And here’s the thing — I’m not alone. Silk is EVERYWHERE I turn! You see it on the far horizon in a bunch of fall collections, and you see it right here right now in the spring collections from Auralee, Prada, Proenza Schouler, Martine Rose, Man-tle, Our Legacy, Lemaire, Cawley, The Row and on and on: Not just big houses but small designers we love at BBSP, too, who specialize in the kinds of jawns people actually wear.
Why is silk having a moment? I think a big part of the answer is that silk feels fun & novel after several seasons of muted clothes cut from fabrics that absorb light rather than BOUNCE it outwards. Silk is giving “Live a Little!” And it doesn’t hurt that it’s a centuries-spanning wonder material, either. It’s a natural fiber that can keep you warm or cool; that drapes languidly or stands up PERTLY with structure; that expresses color exquisitely; that you can dress up or down with surprising ease. This sh*t has range.
For a while, fussy “deb ball”-type negative associations prevented me from appreciating that range, and with it, silk’s general dopeness. In today’s ‘Corde I’m making up for lost time with a flotilla of beautiful and — I can’t stress this enough — WEARABLE new silky jawns that hit a variety of notes.
We’re talking:
Beaucoup sporty separates
Sick suits and button-ups in relatively subdued finishes for the Spyfellas & BBSP Hot Lady Army alike
Garments that make sense in all manner of non-fancy situations (including a few slappers that read as silky with 0 actual silk involved).
Not to mention:
Extremely smart styling tips from an expert guest on how to “wear shine” and not have “shine wear you”
And more silk recon, including into the question of what is silk actually??
Let’s get to it —
“Full Frick Mode” Fantasies notwithstanding, the silky pieces I’m eyeing pull from two rich tributaries — ‘80s glam-maximalism and ‘90s techno-sport…
