How To Talk About Clothes: Textiles, Skirts and Other Details
AKA The Language of Fashion AKA What The Hell Is An Epaulette?
If there was a little Lakyn doll and you could pull a little string to make it say a random assortment of catchphrases, “Figure out what you like!” would come right after “Buy better! Buy less!” and “Put a belt on it!” But it’s hard to figure out what you like when you don’t know what it’s called, and it’s even harder to shop better when you don’t know what “better” is.
That, as always, is where I come in. I’m gonna teach you how to talk about clothes. Here, in part one, we’re gonna talk about some common fabrics, examine and explain some skirt silhouettes, and, finally, answer the question “what the hell is an epaulette?” as well as put a name to some other garment details you may not have known. In part two, we’ll get into some less common sleeve silhouettes, formal fabrics, and shoes, and, in a future part three, we’ll talk about fashion history, style archetypes, and something else to keep in line with my rule of three. And we’ll do all of this with some gorgeous infographics I painstakingly made on Canva. Ready? Let’s get into it.
All About FAB-rics
For everyday clothing (I’ll do a formal version on a later date), these are the fabrics you’re gonna come across the most.
As a general rule of thumb, I tend to only buy tops or most dresses if they’re made of cotton, linen, or silk, because they are the most breathable and I sweat (like most humans). While viscose/rayon are natural fibers, I avoid them unless it’s a higher quality piece as cheap viscose/rayon is absolutely terrible however, if something needs a great deal of stretch, or is metallic/shiny, it’s usually gonna need to be viscose/rayon or, in most cases, a synthetic, I don’t own anything in hemp as it is a relatively expensive and fussy fabric, and I don’t need wool because I live in LA but if you’re buying a coat, 100% wool is the way to go.
Satin, chiffon and jersey all have low quality polyester versions, higher quality cotton versions, and the highest quality silk versions. And, when it comes to synthetics, I generally avoid them unless the construction or look of the garment absolutely needs it: for instance, in order for a dress to keep its shape like the polyester example, it does need to be made of a synthetic if it’s not gonna include a bunch of inner structure or reinforcement. Think Selkie. The same goes for fabric manipulations like Issey Miyake’s pleats: synthetic fabrics keep shape better than natural ones. I talk about the myths surrounding vegan leather here.
If you really wanna learn a lot about fabrics, I highly recommend Mood’s Guide to Fabric and Fashion. You can find it secondhand if it’s out of stock on the site. If you really want to see these fabrics and other garment details in motion and get better at recognizing them, going to a site like Net-A-Porter or Moda Operandi and reading the in-depth product descriptions on garments is a great (and free!) way to study up.
Whew! Was that too much information? Feel free to take a breather and go over your notes. I’ll wait.
Okay, let’s talk about skirts.