Silk in fashion: three iconic dresses
Silk is closely related to the fashion history. Through silk, famous maison and historical companies created and gave life to iconic clothing items that lasted unchanged from the past until today and always kept their preciosity and recognizability. The dresses themselves contributed to the success of the fashion brands by becoming their symbols and portraying their values.

The evergreen Hermès scarves
The scarf, as headscarf, is the cloth that is most associated to silk. Through the inspiration of the one used by Napoleon soldiers, scarf started being used at the end of the eighteen century from the working class and the middle class as distinctive symbol of their social status. Only in 1937 it became a proper luxury accessory: Émile Maurice Hermès, progenitor of the third generation and his partner/son-in-law Robert Dumas created the first carrè Hermès 90×90 “Jeu des Omnibus et Dames Blanches” for the Parisian madams. The scarves’ printings were characterized by carriage, horses, military expeditions and important historical events, which were, and still are, precious fashion and art accessories.

A turquoise silk scarf, elegantly long, and narrow;
so delicately threaded with pale gold and silver butterflies,
you might lose yourself in a dream contemplating it.

(Joyce Carol Oates)

Traditional Italian neckties
Already half way through the seventh century, Louis XIV of France started wearing lace neckties that became a fashion accessory in French nobility, establishing in 1661 the title of Tie Maker of the King who was in charge to chose and tied the neckties of the sovereign. However, the silk ties with similar shape to todays ’ones diffused as variation of the neckerchief around the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth century.
From the North to the South of Italy, a long experience and tradition in the art of neckwear is claimed: Como, also known, as the “city of silk”, and its textile district are famous all over the world for the neckties’ processing and making up; in Naples Marinella’s shop contributes to the spread of Italian tailoring since the start of XX century. Eugenio Marinella’s shop initially made up shirts and then shifted into make up almost exclusively neckties in English fine silk, as its founder perceived the potential of this accessory, which for centuries has been an undisputed symbol of elegance.

The tie, is the man; it is through it that man is revealed and shown.
To know a man, it’s enough a glance
on this part of him joining the head to the chest.

(Honoré de Balzac)

Dior white shirt
Years pass by and fashion trends change, but the white shirt remains one of the symbol par excellence of elegance, both male and female. In the twenties, Coco Chanel revolutionized the fashion trend by freeing women from corsets and laces to substitute them with white shirts and buttons. After the Second World War, Christian Dior introduced the white organdy shirt; a precious item wore by Hollywood stars.
The white shirt was and remains a timeless myth, at the extent that in 2015 in Milan an exhibition, entitled “The white shirt according to me. Gianfranco Ferrè”, celebrated through the exhibition of 27 white shirts, one of the Italian stylists that contributed to make it an style icon in the world.

And then, at a dinner arrives a woman wearing a smoking black trouser
and a white silk shirt, a classic perfect, and you notice her.
She is elegant.

(Franca Sozzani)