Tag: silk

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cart unity

I enjoy the process of shopping, whether physically or virtually adding items to the cart (and removing items from the cart, this also key), and find it especially satisfying when there is some harmony or narrative to the cart, as when, in the grocery store, purchasing ingredients that complement one another, seem conspicuously to belong with one another,* reveal precisely what you intend to make with them.

*Conversely, also deeply satisfying when they seem conspicuously not to belong with one another, when the cart contents are markedly odd and unexpected as a unit.

Not every vendor carries a sufficiently broad range of categories to make interesting juxtapositions, though, too, I’ve been pleased with certain combinations of just shoes or just paint brushes – it needn’t be a precisely logical harmony. It’s not that the items would necessarily be used together, though perhaps that might be the case, or it might be fun to imagine it as the case (say, a skirt and a pair of sunglasses), but more that they are aesthetically compelling together according to whatever quirky beauty-logic is currently reigning in my head at the time.

Here’s a recent J. Crew cart I found pleasing, somehow more appealing to purchase these items together than it would have been to get any given element singly.

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Here we have: two neutral silk camisoles, Garance Doré stationary, notebooks, notecard, Troi Ollivierre lipstick in Parker.

See what I mean? Love this largely cream palette with gold accents and that single pop of berry pink. I like the range of textures, too, metallics and silk, paper and cream. What would also have been fitting in this cart is these great cream and gold New Balance 620’s (really like their various brand collaborations, for the record, some great color combinations). Really similar to a pair I was jonesing for last year but couldn’t find from a vendor that would ship to the U.S.

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Only of course they are sold out of my size.

Hm. I’ll try to show some other examples later (do you like seeing what people buy? I’m often interested to know this kind of mundane data, and it’s not a bad way to learn about new products). Definitely doing some spring shopping at the moment.

x

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silk charmeuse & lace

Speaking of lingerie, here’s a recent acquisition I am loving. A silk charmeuse chemise from Sapphire Bliss, a brand with a small collection of intimates, quite reasonably priced (especially when they have a sale to close out the discontinued styles, like this one) and with beautiful fabrics. Around the same time I purchased another chemise from another brand, more expensive and dramatically less nice, a cheap rayon blend that was basically a mass of static cling. Returned that, kept this.

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I love a chemise, whether worn as a night shirt, a slip, or (especially) as a luxe camisole. I look for light, expensive feeling fabrics and good quality lace. Cheap lace is not hard to spot, for one it’s not very expensive, for another it’s often bulky, thick (not delicate) and bland, maybe even familiar because you’ve seen it before in some other inexpensive application. Sometimes tacky (the color, for example, or the scale of the pattern), and sometimes poorly constructed. Good lace is not hard to spot, either. Usually it’s on good fabric, is one tip-off, and vice versa.

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Silk charmeuse is a nice variation on silk, charmeuse being a thin satin weave – threads woven such that one side of the fabric is glossy and one dull. You can also find poly charmeuse but it doesn’t breath as well as silk, just as you would suspect. It can be quite nice, though, too, and hardy. I also like the silk camisoles from J Crew, as a plain option.

A sufficiently elegant chemise can easily do double duty as a chic tank top, and pairs beautifully with a blazer. Such a versatile piece. Slightly longer and you’ve got a dress, a look that was trendy last fall (and still fair game, I think).

A visible piece of lingerie, tastefully done, can add an intimate, vulnerable touch to an outfit. These are fabrics you want to touch, that look, even at a distance, wonderfully soft and smooth. I like such elements, that draw people in, that make the clothing an extension of or bridge to the skin rather than a simple shell or covering.