One Piece of Silk, Two Ways
Last year, I was hanging out with my artist friend, Annie, when she told me she’d recently been creating dresses out of raw silk with a few simple stitches. She showed me photos from a wedding she had attended in one of her creations, and I was astounded by how beautifully the fabric draped, and how easily she was able to design something that looked so sophisticated and alluring with just a couple yards. I was months away from my wedding, and still on the hunt for the perfect After Party dress. My criteria was: tiny, silky, white, so I asked her if she would make me something bespoke.
A few days later, she showed up at my house with $20 worth of silk fabric and her sewing kit, and we got to work over a bottle of wine. She set about draping the lovely fabric over me, strategically tying in certain places while we marked the spots she would stitch. Mere hours later, I was wearing the most luscious silk mini halter dress (pictured in one of the only photos I have of it below). We had tied it around my neck halter style and then wrapped the remainder around my waist, added just a few tiny stitches to hold it in place. The fabric had just enough stretch to be able to untie and then come off over my head. I was amazed—I now had a dream After Party dress no one else would ever have.
She ended up leaving about 1.5 yards of extra silk with me (also pictured below), and ever since, I’ve contemplated what to do with it. I’ve been wrapping it, tying it, tucking it into things, and just generally messing with it, so I want to share two different ways I’ve found I like to style it—without having to make a single stitch. The first way is a wrap skirt, tied over a pale pink slip dress at the waist. I love this idea in general, and have a few scarves I also like to tie around my waist over slip dresses as a layering effect that creates interesting diversity in length. I topped it off with a sparkly top because duh. The second look features the silk as a halter top. Simply tie two corners around your neck and the other two around your back, tuck and fold any excess fabric to your taste, and voila. Since this fabric has such a luxe effect, I paired it with acid-washed denim shorts to offset its delicate nature. I happen to love the raw edges, and like to let the strings hang, but you can always trim (or hem!) these if they bug you.
Outfit 1 details: ASTR slip from under an actual dress (this is actually 9 million years old so couldn’t find, but similar and similar); Hot & Delicious top via Current Clothing (here’s one on Poshmark); Steve Madden shoes (also v. old, Poshmark); Ray Ban shades.
Outfit 2 details: Hidden shorts via Sundance; Sam Edelman shoes (almost the same); Ray Ban shades.
