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SILK WHITE
Dead white, silk white, off-white, cream, ivory. There are so many shades of white but the most basic white is that chalky, natural kind of white only pure silk produces. Made from the cocoons of silkworms, around 2500 B.C. the Chinese discovered and developed the process of weaving it into fabric. China is still the largest producer and exporter of 80% of the world’s silks. Most silk weaves are luxe, opulent and suggest a certain formality ideal for the bridal gown. Tightly woven silks like duchesse satin have a luster and are ideal for structured silhouettes, whereas loosely woven silks like charmeuse and crepe lend themselves to drapery. Choosing the right silk depends on the style of your gown in addition to the time of day of day and year your wedding takes place.
How a cloth reflects or absorbs light has a lot to do with the particular weave of a fabric. So what’s a weave you ask? And how is a weave different from the fiber it is a part of? Every fabric has a certain weave, whether natural fiber, blend, or synthetic. Think of the weave as a threading process—warp threads going vertically, weft horizontally. Woven together they can be loose, tight or somewhere in between to produce a certain finish. For example, you hear the word twill all the time. Twill is a type of weave. It’s diagonal actually and can be either silk, cotton or wool. While silk twill generally produces a garment with an entirely different function than that of cotton twill, the weave is similar.
CREDITS
Photos 1-3 by Photo Chic
Photo 4: Lirette Photography
