The Silk Dress Is Doing Quiet Work In A Loud Season

The Silk Dress Is Doing Quiet Work In A Loud Season

A silk dress still signals occasion without any design help, from Reformation and Shona Joy slips to Zimmermann prints. I start with short silk, then go longer.

Why Silk Still Means Something

Silk is a protein fibre with a triangular cross-section, which is the actual reason it reflects light the way it does, and no synthetic has fully replicated that at any scale. That physical property is why the fabric has signalled occasion for two thousand years and why a plain one reads as dressed in a way a plain polyester equivalent does not. The market has spent the last decade making excellent synthetic alternatives that solve every practical problem and still lose on that one point. Knowing the difference is worth more than any styling advice.

Silk dress collage: EAVES, HOBBS LONDON, Lovers and Friends, Reformation, STAUD, Shona Joy, Tularosa, Zadig & Voltaire

Short silk, then longer

The first group is the silk you can wear on a weekday. Reformation's Aribella and Zadig & Voltaire's Ridar are the most casual, STAUD's Phare is the only one with stretch, and Hobbs London's Iford is the most classically cut. Shona Joy's Lottie one shoulder mini, Tularosa's Lio, EAVES' Roux and Lovers and Friends' Cala are the short slips, and I would wear any of them with a big knit and flat shoes.

 

The second group runs longer. Nicky Zimmermann designed dresses in her parents' garage and sold them at Paddington Markets in Sydney before she and her sister Simone founded the label in 1991, and the Momentum ruffled printed maxi is still the most maximal piece here. Dôen's Coraline is the most romantic, Eileen Fisher's crushed silk V neck is the only one meant to be worn creased, and Saloni's Olympia is the most polished. Helmut Lang launched his label in 1986, the year his work showed at the Centre Pompidou, and The Neck dress keeps that minimal line. FRAME's Silk Soirée, By Malene Birger's Pascale and SRG's Ellis midi round it out.

 

How I test a silk dress: scrunch a corner in your hand for ten seconds. Good silk springs back with soft creases, and a thin one holds sharp lines.

Silk dresses for any occasion

SIR, Camilla, Zimmermann and Roberto Cavalli bring the prints, and Rodarte, The Row and Carolina Herrera the solids. Kim Shui's silk chiffon dress, Yellow The Label's Odette, Donde Esteban's La Sierra mini and Helsa's Celeste are the four I would add for weddings and dinners, and they show how far the same fibre stretches, from Kim Shui's print to Helsa's pale bias cut.

 

Let the fabric drape and keep the accessories small. A silk dress with a heavy necklace starts to look like two outfits.

Satin and silk in other lengths

This last group is the widest, from mini slips to floor length gowns. EAVES has the most here, with the Yarden, Nico and Lydia maxis and the Frida, and SRG adds the Arden, Miriam, Imogen, Marlowe and Karina. MISHA's Capezza maxi and Volta mini, Courtney Zheng's scarf panelled gown, St. Agni's sheer circle hem dress, Ulla Johnson's Coco and Helsa's Silk Faye, Serafina and Rosalind are the ones for evening, and Frankies Bikinis' Chloe and Colette minis and Only Hearts' charmeuse slip are the easiest to wear on a hot day.

 

A slim belt can change the shape without any fuss. A long silk dress wants a hem that clears your shoes, because silk frays where it drags.

Living with silk

Silk marks from water, including your own perspiration, and the mark is a ring that only comes out with proper cleaning, so wear a base layer under anything you will have on for hours. Silk satin shows every pin and alteration hole permanently, so get the size right rather than planning to take it in.

 

Crushed and washed silks are far more forgiving and can often be hand washed, while satin cannot. Keep silk out of direct sunlight when it is hanging, because it fades faster than almost any other fibre. A washed silk is the one you live in, and a satin is the one you plan around. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together The Fall Dress Is Doing More Work and The Scarf Is Doing More Work Than Your Jacket This Year.