I must admit that I am a closet Seinfeld nerd. Whenever someone sneezes I have the urge to say "you're soooo good lookin' " instead of "bless you". I can barely eat pretzels without reciting "these pretzels are making me thirsty, these pretzels are making me thirsty, these pretzels are making me thirsty". I often have to restrain myself from from yelling "get out!" and shoving people in the chest a-la Elaine. Well, do you remember the episode where George Costanza says he wants to drape himself in velvet (if it were socially acceptable)? That's sort of how I've been feeling about silk lately.
I'm not quite sure what brought this on. I started out looking for vintage silk blouses but quickly realized that the search was futile because most silk pieces have long since disintegrated (I'm still searching though!). Then over the weekend while we were in Philadelphia we stopped into Anthropologie and I noticed everything I was drawn to was made of silk. It just seemed so floaty and airy and perfect for spring. I guess the only drawback is I'm not really sure how easy it is to take care of silk. Believe me, I never make it to the dry cleaners. I'm especially smitten with that third skirt (the grey one). I'm imagining it would be the perfect skirt to pair with little eyelet blouses and sandals all summer long.
photo credits: silk dresses from Toast (top), silk dresses and skirt from Anthropologie (bottom)
22 comments:
I've been obsessed with silk lately too. I have a silk nightgown that feels like heaven to sleep in and wear under a dress all day. It feels sinfully good. The problem with ready made silk garments is that they haven't been pre-shrunk. If you are a sewer, you can preshrink silk by washing it and ironing it dry while it is still wet (it shrinks by about 10-15%), and then silk is easy to take care of. Everytime after that you can just wash it and iron it dry, and it doesn't water stain because you've pretty much permanently water stained the whole thing! Off the rack silk is never pre-shrunk though, and I don't really know what the best washing solution is. I hate drycleaners and never go to them though!I learned a lot about silk and sewing with it from the book Sensational Silk: a handbook for sewing silk and silk-like fabrics by Gail Brown. Fantastic book, really ratty looking but full of great information.
Silk is beautiful but a toughie! It's so fragile and stains so easy. I love that pola dot dress from anthro.
Seinfeld lovers unite. Serenity now!
LOVE those skirts! Spring truly is the greatest season of all.
I have been really into silk lately too! I haven't found much though, even on etsy and ebay nothing has really jumped out at me. I hope you get some good silk cleaning tips, I'll have to check back to see. I don't think I have ever gone to the drycleaner, haha.
I love that Anthropoligie polka dot dress! I only wish I could afford to fork out £112 for it!
I recently discovered Ungaro, well actually his S/S 09 collection. I've been obsessed with it ever since. The dresses look so floaty, so summary, so pretty… one of my favourites is this fuchsia gown: http://media.onsugar.com/files/upl1/12/129120/40_2008/83101536_10.jpg
And here’s the link for the entire collection:
http://content.coutorture.com/214176
sometimes silk gives me that creepy crawly feeling, but these dresses and skirts are loooovely!
also i adore seinfeld! i watched it when i was younger with my parents and most everything flew right over my head, but the reruns are fantastic!
Is that really where all the vintage silk has gone? disintegrated! :(
I have had an obsession with it since I was little (my grandmother had these amazing vintage silk bedspreads and scarves). I found Golyester Antique(LA)which has the most amazing vintage silk but it's seriously $$$ - anyway good luck on your search!
PS:I loved the Seinfeld tie-in haha
I love Anthropologie! My best friend once told me that if I exploded it would look like an Anthropologie store. Haha, that made me smile. Anyways, I love silk. I have many silk peasant blouses, dresses & a new pair of silk cropped pants. I handwash all my silk clothing with The Laundress Delicate Wash.
http://store.thelaundress.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=TL&Category_Code=125delWash
I know handwashing can be time consuming, but I find it therapuetic as I like to take great care in my clothes! There website even has a video on "how to handwash your clothes". I once wore a silk top out to eat and dripped chocolate sauce on it, but this stuff is great and washed it right out. Hope this info helps.
P.S. That grey skirt would look great on you!
Every time I work and I see the blue polka dotted dress I think about how much I want it but it just won't work with my wardrobe but it would look amazing with yours!
I think silk is timeless material :D
Love ur gray skirt :D
that printed dress, the second one in, is really pretty. There's nothing like real silk. It's lovely and so classy.
I love the tunic dress in the second picture. It is gorgeous!
Anthropologie is my favorite dangerous place to visit. Love your seinfeld take. Couldn't agree more about the 3rd skirt xo
I have been really fascinated by silk lately too. actually since you did that 4 way post with the black silky dress I have been considering forking out for some silk and making myself one similar in ecru. I think it's also since I am obsessed with natural fabrics- so much more efficient, breathable and warm! But I'm also interested in buying ethical/sustainable fabrics, and as far as I know silk can be a bit of an issue for vegetarians or if you jsut like silk worms for whatever reason since almost all manufacturers kill them in order to make the silk. I can't decide if that bothers me enough to stop me buying it!
Silk's nice but Seinfeld's better!! I LOVE Elaine...
http://www.mrsgorman.com/wordpress/2008/11/04/an-unlikely-fashion-icon/
T
I love that polka dot dress! God, just yesterday I told myself I wasn't going to buy any new clothes until I move and already I want to rescind that statement. :)
I totally forgot about "You're sooo good lookin'!" I think I might start saying that when people sneeze.
That dress in the second picture is amazing! I just scored a 20's silk tunic blouse on Etsy and it looks very similar to this dress. Although, its very delicate and I don't know if I'll ever risk wearing it. I would love to have a 20's style silk piece that isn't actually from the twenties! Also, my mother uses a Dryel home dry cleaning kit and she often treats my vintage with it. It seems to work very well for her and she's a hardcore enviornmentalist so I'm guessing its more earth-friendly than standard drycleaning methods.
Silk is absolutely perfect for Spring... and what's even more perfect is that little dotted ruffle dress! It looks like a black one I sold awhile back, but unfortunately it wasn't silk.. or I may have kept it! :)
Haha. I do the exact same thing with Pretzels & Sneezing! It drives my husband insane!!!
You can connect ANYTHING in life back to Seinfeld. Seriously, hardly a day goes by without me referencing Seinfeld in some way. So good.
Also, I love silk too, and actually generally just wash it, in the machine even. I had a few silk scarves that needed to be cleaned and I decided what the hell, I'll try it. It worked fine. No damage at all. Now, I'm not sure this is actually a good idea, but these were 100% silk and some of theme were pretty old. Also, I think silk blends might be easier to care for. I just got a silk/cotton top which I haven't tried to wash yet, but I bet it'll be fine. And the blend is actually really nice. Less slippery than all silk, but lovely and soft.
One method that I use for cleaning silk is to fill a basin with cool water, add a dab of shampoo (a non-stinky, natural type) gently swish it with your hand, add the silk garment and gently swirl it around and lightly plunge it. Don't let it soak too long, especially if it's brightly colored- the dye will begin to release into the water. Assuming the item isn't stained, just a quick wash will remove surface dirt and odors. DO NOT SCRUB THE SILK. Give it a quick rinse and get your iron ready and press the silk right away. This method usually works for me, I was able to save a late 70's Anne Klein blouse this way just last week and it was pretty heavily stained. The shampoo has ingredients that will help to cut through oils, just don't use some cheesy perfumed/dyed kind, it needs to be all natural. OMG, I just wrote a novel, but I hope that helps someone. I try to avoid dry cleaning whenever possible and look for hand washing solutions instead.
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