When I first started wearing silk, I gravitated towards silk charmeuse like everyone else. It’s shiny, super smooth, and just in general looks fantastic. I got silk blouses, silk dresses, silk everything.
But soon I had some complaints. Silk charmeuse is great; it’s probably the most “silk” type of silk. It’s beautiful and luxurious and wearing it makes you feel like Grace Kelly in a 50s movie. However, it’s also very delicate, prone to scratches, wrinkles easily, and it must be carefully washed and steamed. Basically, it’s a lot of work, plus some days I just don’t feel like Grace Kelly.
Then I found silk crepe (a low-maintenance silk which we’ll talk about in a later blog) and then I found sueded silk - and it changed the game.
The sand-wash process roughens the surface of silk, breaking down the filaments to mimic the texture of suede. This process can be applied to different types of silk, the most common being sueded silk charmeuse, though I’ve also seen sueded silk crepe, silk georgette and more.
After this process, silk loses its shine, but gains a unique character. The surface appears as if it’s been covered by frost. The look is almost poetic. Depending on the process and the type of silk, some sueded silk has more "frost" than others. It also becomes softer, less prone to scratches (note that I said “less” not “not at all” because silk is still silk), and more friendly to machine-washing.
When we get down to it, a sueded silk blouse is something you can wear with ragged jeans and sneakers and you still look fabulous. It’s a low-key luxury piece. Most people wouldn’t even know you’re wearing silk. Only those who really love fabric would recognize it and give you an admiring look. My kind of people.
Sueded silk charmeuse and sueded silk crepe are thus great for blouses, casual dresses and shorts. We have a few pieces in our shop, but as always feel free to reach out to us if you’re interested in more colours.
p.s. Here’s some useless knowledge for you: I’ve always wondered why I couldn’t find thinner sueded silk charmeuse in the market. They are usually at least 19 momme and mostly 25 momme and above, while I can easily find 12, 14 and 16 momme in other types of silk.
Then, one day I met a silk fabric factory owner who spent his whole life with silk. He said it’s because thinner silk usually cannot sustain the sand-wash process. After all, that beautiful white frost is created by breaking some fibres on the surface. Beauty comes with a price.
