As we discover the precious silk of La Perla, produced in the district of excellence in Como, we realize those lingerie garments represent a dream… A weave between texture and order becomes the canvas of a poetic work born to dress the female body, caressing it with the soft and comfortable material. A craft product, so precious that it is to be considered so intimate that it is just waiting to be revealed.
La Perla Through The Decades
Italy’s silk manufacturers are returning from a 40-year sabbatical. As the competition from Asian markets rose, the pressures from the Chinese markets forced the Italian manufacturers to shut down, up until luxury designers such as Valentino and Gucci announced plans to come up with 1,000 silkworm factories to revitalize the Italian silk industry in fashion.
The return of raw silk production will thrill Italy’s fashionistas who once prided in the country’s 40,000 spinning mills. Over the past year, a hundred companies have begun breeding silkworms in the northern Veneto region as the demand for home-grown silk grows.
As the demand of this material grows, many designers have reintroduced this prestigious fabric, especially amongst Haute Couture collections. This is the case with Giorgio Armani Prive’ FW 2021/2022 collection; as already seen with the Chanel FW 2021/2022 Haute Couture fashion show, the heart of the line is represented through the pastel colours of the rainbow, adapted to silky and light fabrics of silk and organza, with an eye for fluid and bright silhouettes. Delicious layers of transparent fabric that decorate the most characteristic looks, a technique that creates colored auras around the body that only Armani can master so well. The mix is complemented by floral embroidery and lively sequins, with the aim of creating effervescent and vibrant effects, for timeless garments that taste of modern elegance.
Delicate textures and large fluctuating volumes mark the Armani Privé fashion show. Silky and shimmering fabrics are the true star of the collection, all enriched with decorative pleats and volants, graphics that fade like watercolours on pastel tones which are alternated with stratified volumes and precious jewel inserts.
4 curiosities about silk:
- Sericin, the protein known to us for its emollient properties used in the cosmetic world, is naturally found in raw silk. Only when it is removed the silk becomes soft and shiny as we know it.
- Before dyeing raw silk, the fabric is literally washed with natural Marseille soap with olive oil.
- Dyeing is an alchemical process that requires several steps before finding the “recipe” that reproduces the exact tip of color requested by the customer. Among the secret ingredients, there is also Sicilian salt, the same we use in the kitchen.
- Only water from Lake Como can be used to clean the silk: once it is used, it is purified to be thrown back into the natural basin, without altering the ecosystem. Everything is certified to have an eco-sustainable recycling process.
Here are our favourite silk pieces at the moment, to wear this season:
Words By Tommaso Donati
