Skinner Silk

This is a very special fabric for me. It came from my great aunt's collection. She was a master seamstress who, in her youth in the late 1920's, worked for Novilles (sp?) and Roberts who were prominent "modistes" (dressmakers) in New Orleans. The fabric is a Skinner silk. Skinner was one of the great American silk mills in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. I love this description from an article at fabrics.net "The Skinner name in fabrics conjures up sumptuous images of slinky satins, rustling silks, fine silk prints and luxurious linings. Every bride's dream was to float down the aisle in a shimmering gown of Skinner silk. Every woman's wish was to feel the soft warmth of a Skinner lining next to her skin." I backed the Skinner print with black silk chiffon.

Cat modeled this for me at the fabulous LA hair salon Clark Nova, where she works.

Suiting and Silk

I'm really getting in to these men's suiting fabrics. This one, in brown/beige tones was my grandfather's. He bought it in Jamaica in the late 60's, and intended to have a suit made from it. But the suit never happened and the fabric was stored all these decades. I combined it with tussah silk in a pinkish beige color. Antonio was photographed at Silvertop, a John Lautner house overlooking the Silverlake reservoir in L.A..