One continuous thread.
Up to 900 metres
of luminous filament.
Silk is the only natural fibre produced as a single continuous filament. Every other natural textile is spun from short fibres twisted together. Silk arrives whole, uninterrupted, already finished. The Bombyx mori silkworm spent its entire larval life building what we wear. That fact changes how you should think about it.
Browse silk pieces →for four thousand
years.
The earliest confirmed evidence of silk production dates to approximately 3500–4000 BCE, found at sites of the Yangshao culture in Shanxi province, China. A silkworm cocoon cut in half by a sharp blade, carbon dated between 4000 and 3000 BCE, was unearthed at the same site. Most recently, biomolecular evidence from Jiahu tombs has pushed the earliest trace of silk fibroin back to more than 8,500 years ago.
The legend attributes the discovery to Empress Leizu, consort of the Yellow Emperor Huangdi, around 2700 BCE. Whether or not the story is literal, it accurately describes the mechanism of silk reeling: hot water loosens the sericin that binds the cocoon, releasing the fibroin filament, which is then wound continuously onto a bobbin. Leizu is credited with the silk reel, the loom, and the systematisation of sericulture.
China's monopoly was absolute and enforced. The penalty for exporting live eggs, cocoons, or silkworms was death. Silk left China along the Silk Road from the 2nd century BCE; sericulture did not. The Byzantine emperor Justinian is credited with ending the monopoly around 552 CE, when monks reportedly smuggled silkworm eggs concealed in hollow bamboo walking canes. Sericulture reached Constantinople, and from there spread into the Italian city-states by the 12th century.
The Bombyx mori today is the most thoroughly domesticated animal in existence. It cannot fly, it has no instinct to wander, it feeds on nothing but mulberry leaves, and it has been selectively bred for thousands of years to produce the longest, most uniform, and most lustrous filament possible. The cocoon it spins — a single continuous thread of up to 900 metres — is its entire biological reason for being.
Biomolecular evidence of silk fibroin found at Jiahu tombs, China — the earliest confirmed trace of silk anywhere.
Cut silkworm cocoon found at Yangshao culture sites. Bombyx mori identified as the species. Primitive looms found at Hemudu culture sites.
Traditional date of Empress Leizu's discovery. Sericulture systematised within the imperial household. Silk reserved for the emperor and his immediate family.
The Silk Road formally opens under Emperor Wu of Han. Silk cloth becomes a primary trade currency — literally used as money in some eras.
Sericulture reaches the Byzantine Empire. The Chinese monopoly effectively ends. Italy develops silk weaving by the 12th century; Lyon becomes Europe's silk capital from the 15th century.
Synthetic dyes transform silk's colour range. The industrial loom changes production at scale. The silk scarf becomes a luxury accessory rather than a utility item.
grade: what the
numbers actually mean.
Silk is measured in momme — pronounced 'momee,' abbreviated mm, and originating in the Japanese silk trade during the Meiji era. One momme equals 4.34 grams per square metre of fabric. It is, in practice, a density measurement: the more momme, the more silk is woven into each square metre, and the denser, heavier, and more durable the result. Most scarf-weight silk runs at 8–14mm; garment-weight silk at 12–19mm; luxury garment weight at 19–25mm; and bespoke or couture weight above 25mm. The momme figure is the most reliable single quality indicator available on a label, and it is frequently absent from cheaper products precisely because the number would be inconvenient.
The grade of the underlying mulberry silk is a separate and equally important question. The International Silk Grading System rates mulberry silk from Grade A through 6A, with 6A representing the longest, most uniform filaments and the highest natural lustre. Most commercially available silk is Grade A or 5A. Grade 6A — with filaments measuring 19–25mm charmeuse weight and above — is the standard of the finest luxury houses.
Silk is not always shiny. This is the most common misapprehension about the material. Real silk in charmeuse has a luminous face and a matte back. Real silk in crêpe de Chine has a subtly pebbled surface and is essentially matte. Real silk in chiffon is sheer and airy. What all these have in common is a specific quality of light: a multi-directional, depth-suggesting luminosity produced by the triangular cross-section of each silk filament. This quality cannot be replicated by any synthetic material.
| Momme weight | Best for | Opacity | Durability | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8–12mm | Scarves, linings, delicate accessories | Semi-sheer to sheer | Delicate — hand wash only | Habotai scarves, lightweight chiffon, organza |
| 12–16mm | Blouses, light dresses, lingerie, pajamas | Translucent to opaque | Moderate — gentle hand wash | Charmeuse blouses, crêpe de Chine shirts |
| 16–19mm | Dresses, everyday garments, structured blouses | Largely opaque | Good — standard luxury care | Quality charmeuse, silk satin garments, most vintage pieces |
| 19–22mm | Investment dresses, luxury garments, formal wear | Fully opaque | Very good — long-lasting with care | High-end charmeuse dresses, silk crepe suits |
| 22–25mm | Couture weight, limited-edition pieces, bespoke garments | Dense, fully opaque | Excellent — decades of wear | Hermès silk twill, couture gowns, luxury bedding |
| 25mm+ | Heavy duchess satin, brocade, crêpe marocain | Maximum | Maximum — heirloom-grade | Heavy evening wear, structured couture, ceremonial dress |
Six entirely different
experiences of cloth.
Charmeuse is not a type of silk — it is a weave construction applied to silk. The satin weave passes four warp threads over one weft thread before going under, creating a face that is densely lustrous and a back that is visibly matte. This is the silk most commonly associated with luxury fashion: the draped dresses of Madeleine Vionnet, the bias-cut gowns of Halston, the blouses of The Row. Charmeuse cut on the bias stretches along the diagonal, allowing it to cling to the body's natural contours without tailoring.
The name means 'crape of China.' Crêpe de Chine is produced by weaving highly twisted yarns in alternating clockwise and counter-clockwise directions, which creates a slight pebbled texture and a subtle, non-directional matte finish. Unlike charmeuse, it looks the same from both sides. It drapes beautifully, is more forgiving of wrinkles than charmeuse, and absorbs colour more evenly — making it the preferred base for the most saturated and complex silk dyes. Most of the great printed silk shirts and dresses of the 20th century — Vionnet, Dior, Balenciaga — were crêpe de Chine.
Silk chiffon is the most sheer and most delicate of the silk weaves. The highly twisted yarns are woven loosely, creating an open, gossamer structure that is essentially translucent at lighter weights. Chiffon does not drape so much as it floats. It is the fabric of overlays, sleeves, and garments meant to move with air rather than with the body. Chiffon is notoriously difficult to cut and sew — it shifts on every cutting surface and the lightest needle causes visible damage — which is why well-made chiffon garments command a premium that has nothing to do with the fabric cost.
Silk twill has a characteristic diagonal rib pattern on its surface — visible as subtle lines running at 45 degrees to the warp. It is the weave of choice for silk scarves, ties, and accessories that must hold printed colour with maximum precision and depth. The diagonal structure gives the fabric directional strength, reduces fraying, and allows complex designs to be printed without the pattern shifting. Hermès has used silk twill for its carré since 1937; the 90×90cm format and the hand-rolled edge are design decisions as much as craft ones.
Dupioni is made from the silk of a double cocoon — where two silkworms have shared one cocoon, creating filaments that are entangled and uneven. The resulting yarn has characteristic slubs: irregular thick-and-thin variations that create a textured, slightly rough surface. Dupioni is crisp where charmeuse is fluid, structured where chiffon is floating. It holds its shape, which makes it the preferred silk for structured jackets and tailored dresses. The iridescence of dupioni — where the warp and weft are woven in different colours — is a signature effect that no other weave produces.
Tussah comes from wild silkworms — primarily Antheraea species — that are not domesticated and feed on oak and juniper leaves rather than mulberry. Because the moth hatches naturally from these cocoons rather than being killed to preserve the filament, tussah filaments are shorter and less uniform than Bombyx mori silk. The resulting fabric is coarser, with a warm creamy-to-golden tan colour that is very difficult to dye. It is lightweight, breathable, and has a character — a certain vegetable warmth and irregularity — that no other silk provides.
On identifying silk type in a vintage garment. The most reliable identifier is handling rather than labelling. Charmeuse has a luminous face and visible matte reverse. Crêpe de Chine feels slightly textured and looks identical on both sides. Chiffon is almost weightless and semi-transparent. Twill shows subtle diagonal lines in direct light. Dupioni has visible slubs and is rigid rather than fluid. If the label is absent, the behaviour of the fabric in a fold tells you what it is: charmeuse and crêpe de Chine fold without crease resistance; dupioni holds a crease; chiffon barely registers one at all.
who changed
what silk could do.
The Silkworm Mother. Credited with discovering the reeling process, inventing the silk loom, and establishing sericulture as a systematic practice. Her legend is as old as the material itself, and the mechanism of her discovery — a cocoon unravelling in hot water — is precisely how silk is still reeled today. The technology she is credited with did not need to change.
Called "perhaps the greatest geometrician among all French couturiers" by British Vogue in 1925. Vionnet understood that silk charmeuse and crêpe de Chine, cut on the bias — at 45 degrees to the weave grain — stretch in the diagonal direction and cling to the body's curves without tailoring. Her gowns worn by Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, and Katharine Hepburn were not constructed: they were draped. She is the single most important figure in understanding what silk can do when treated as a structural rather than merely decorative material.
In 1937, Robert Dumas — son-in-law of Hermès director Émile-Maurice Hermès — designed the first Hermès silk scarf with artist Hugo Grygkar: the 90×90cm carré, 'Jeu des Omnibus et Dames Blanches.' Woven in Lyon silk twill, hand-rolled at the edge, and printed with up to 40 individual colours per design — each requiring a separate silk-screen pass, with 750 hours to engrave the screens alone. The carré has never changed in format since 1937.
Roy Halston Frowick translated Vionnet's bias-cut intelligence into American ready-to-wear at the precise moment when Studio 54 and the post-counterculture body required a new vocabulary of ease and sensuality. His silk charmeuse and silk jersey dresses moved with the wearer rather than containing her. He dressed Liza Minnelli, Bianca Jagger, and Jackie Kennedy. His work demonstrated that the luxury of silk was experiential — it was about what the fabric did when the wearer moved, not how it looked on a hanger.
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have built The Row's entire vocabulary around the idea that the best garment is the one that cannot be improved by removal or addition. Within that framework, silk is unavoidable. The Row's silk shirts, charmeuse dresses, and bias-cut slips are chosen because the alternative — synthetic satin, polyester crepe, viscose — cannot do what the same weight of silk does. The argument The Row makes about silk is the same argument Vionnet made a century earlier, stated in a quieter register.
Introduced silk jersey to women's fashion at a time when jersey was considered exclusively a men's undergarment. The gesture was revolutionary and the fabric has never left.
Worked in heavy silk duchess satin and crêpe de Chine for his couture. Known for cutting silk with architectural precision — the garment as an object that also happens to be worn.
Brought silk blouses, printed charmeuse, and silk tuxedos into the mainstream of ready-to-wear. His silk safari jackets and women's Le Smoking are among the most influential silk garments of the 20th century.
On seeing Vionnet's work, Miyake described the impression as similar to the wonder felt at a woman emerging from bathing, draped only in a single piece of beautiful cloth. He spent his career pursuing that standard.
Among the contemporary designers who understand that silk in a high-momme weight crêpe or charmeuse requires no other justification than the material itself. Colour, drape, and cut — the fabric does the rest.
have treated silk
seriously.
The most sustained and specific relationship any luxury house has with silk. The Hermès carré has been produced in the same 90×90cm silk twill format, hand-rolled, since 1937. The weaving is done in Lyon; the printing is achieved with up to 45 separate silk-screen passes, one per colour. The depth of colour in a Hermès print is not digital — it is the accumulated weight of physical ink applied through physical screens. Each design requires approximately 18 months from commission to production.
The Como region of Northern Italy has produced luxury silk for centuries. Como mills weave the raw fabric used by Valentino, Versace, Gucci, and Armani. Italian silk from Como is distinguished by the precision of its weave, the depth of its dyeing, and the quality of its finishing. The designation 'Made in Italy' on a silk garment, when accurate, almost always traces back to Como at some point in the supply chain.
Lyon has been Europe's silk capital since the 15th century. The Jacquard loom — invented by Joseph Marie Jacquard in Lyon in 1804 — revolutionised patterned silk weaving and was the direct technological ancestor of the computer punch-card. Lyon's silk industry supplied the courts of Versailles and currently weaves the fabric for Hermès carrés and much of Chanel couture. The technical knowledge embedded in Lyon's workshops is classified as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.
The Nishijin district of Kyoto has produced patterned silk textiles continuously for over 1,200 years. Japanese-made Habotai, the finest iteration of the plain-weave China silk, is distinguished by its exceptional uniformity of thread, its precise weight consistency, and its characteristic quiet lustre. It is the reference standard against which all other Habotai is measured.
from determines
what it is.
China produces approximately 75–80% of the world's raw silk. The quality ceiling of Chinese mulberry silk — specifically from Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces, where centuries of breeding have produced the finest Bombyx mori genetics — is as high as anything produced anywhere else in the world.
The country of origin on a silk label describes where the filament was reeled, the fabric woven, and the garment finished. These three steps may occur in three different countries. Understanding which step happened where is the complete picture.
The twin provinces that produce the majority of Grade 6A mulberry silk. Centuries of selective breeding for the Bombyx mori silkworm specific to these regions has produced filaments of exceptional length and uniformity. The raw silk exported from here becomes the finest Italian, French, and Japanese finished fabrics.
Not a silk-growing region — a silk-weaving region. Lyon transforms raw silk into the finished fabric used by Hermès, Chanel, and other luxury houses. The technical heritage here is in the weave, the print, and the finish, not the filament itself.
Como takes raw silk from East Asian sources and transforms it into the woven fabric sold to Italian and global fashion houses. Como's particular expertise is in the precision dyeing and finishing of fine silk charmeuse and twill.
India produces mulberry silk in Karnataka state and wild silks — tussar, eri, and the golden muga — from Bihar and Assam. Muga silk, produced by the Antheraea assamensis silkworm, produces a naturally golden-to-copper filament that strengthens rather than weakens with age and washing. It is among the rarest silks commercially available.
you before you
look at any label.
A piece of true mulberry silk charmeuse in the 16mm+ weight range will pass through a finger ring. This is a practical demonstration of the extreme fineness of the filament. Heavier silks — dupioni, twill — will not pass through, but this is not a quality failure: it reflects the weave construction, not the filament grade. If the fabric you're testing is appropriate for this test and does not pass through, it warrants closer inspection.
Hold the silk against the inside of your wrist or forearm. Genuine mulberry silk feels cool on first contact — distinctly lower in temperature than the surrounding air — and then warms to body temperature almost immediately, within a few seconds. This thermoregulatory quality is unique to natural silk and is caused by the fibroin protein structure absorbing and releasing moisture. Synthetic satin does not do this: it stays at ambient temperature, or warms slowly, and then holds warmth rather than releasing it.
A small thread of genuine silk, when held in a flame, burns slowly, curls away from the flame, and self-extinguishes when removed. The ash is a crushable grey-black ball with no smell of burning plastic. Synthetic silk burns steadily, smells of melting plastic, and leaves a hard bead of ash. This test is destructive — it confirms authenticity absolutely, but at the cost of one thread from an inconspicuous seam allowance.
Hold the garment up to a point light source and rotate it slowly. Genuine silk changes character as the angle changes: what appears luminous from one angle becomes more matte from another. This effect is caused by the triangular cross-section of the silk filament refracting light at different angles as the viewing angle shifts. Synthetic satin has a fixed, single-directional sheen: it looks the same from every angle.
until it is not.
Understand the difference.
Silk is weakened by heat and destroyed by alkaline detergents. Use cool to lukewarm water (30°C maximum — cold is safer). Use a detergent formulated for silk or wool with a pH as close to neutral (7) as possible. Avoid anything that foams aggressively or contains bleach, brighteners, or enzymes — all of which attack the fibroin protein. Do not wring, twist, or agitate. Press water out gently between your palms and a clean towel. Dry flat, in shade, away from direct heat. Never tumble dry.
Silk yellows in direct sunlight — this is caused by UV degradation of the fibroin protein and is irreversible. Store silk garments in a breathable cloth bag in a cool, dark space. Never in plastic: sealed plastic prevents the natural moisture exchange that keeps silk supple and creates the damp conditions that support mould. Hang on broad, padded hangers to prevent distortion at the shoulder. Silk has a memory for creasing at fold lines: if storing folded, refold on different lines every season.
Iron silk while it is still slightly damp from washing, or mist lightly with water before ironing. Use the silk setting on your iron. Iron inside-out, or use a pressing cloth between the iron and the fabric face, to prevent flattening the weave and creating an artificial sheen. Never use steam directly on a silk surface — it can cause water spotting or distortion, particularly on charmeuse and chiffon. Hold a steamer 5–10 cm from the surface if using steam.
- Hand wash in cool water with a pH-neutral detergent formulated for protein fibres — or have the piece dry-cleaned by a specialist.
- Dry flat, away from sunlight and direct heat. Lay on a clean dry towel and gently roll to remove excess water before laying flat.
- Store in a breathable cloth bag in a cool, dark location. Allow space around the garment for air circulation.
- Iron inside-out when slightly damp on the silk setting, using a pressing cloth to protect the face.
- Test any new detergent on a seam allowance first. Colour bleeding is common in the first wash of vivid or dark silk dyes.
- Do not wash in hot water or machine wash without a silk-specific cool gentle cycle and a mesh laundry bag.
- Do not use standard laundry detergent, fabric softener, or any product containing bleach, enzymes, or optical brighteners.
- Do not wring, twist, or pull the fabric while wet — silk loses approximately 20% of its tensile strength when saturated.
- Do not dry in direct sunlight or near a heat source: UV light yellows silk irreversibly and heat distorts the weave.
- Do not iron the face directly: the iron will glaze the surface and flatten the weave structure, dulling the natural lustre permanently.
On perspiration and silk. Body perspiration is mildly acidic and can degrade silk at the underarm, collar, and waistband over time. High-momme silks (19mm+) are significantly more resistant to this effect than lighter weights. Rinse perspiration-exposed areas in cool water after each wearing rather than waiting until a full wash. For heavily worn pieces, a specialist dry cleaner with experience in vintage textiles is the most reliable option. Never use antiperspirant directly against silk without a barrier garment.
"When a woman smiles, her dress must smile with her."— Madeleine Vionnet
or it does not. We look
before we list.
Every silk piece in our collection has been assessed against the signals in this note: fibre authenticity, surface integrity, weave condition, colour stability, and lining condition where applicable. We describe what we find, including faults. A vintage silk garment that has been properly cared for and correctly stored is among the most extraordinary objects in dress.
Browse silk pieces →Silk, available now.
Keep reading — The Good Old
Before you buy vintage silk.
- How do you care for vintage garments so they last?
- Can you wash vintage clothes in a regular machine?
- How can you tell what era a piece is really from?