the silk undershirt
5 ways to style an understated winter staple
I was going to close with these remarks, but I’ll open with them instead. These are some things I keep reminding myself that I thought would be worth sharing.
Getting dressed for your body is the work of a lifetime. Styling is a never ending evolution. Desired effects of clothing change with each era of our life. Sometimes it’s expression, sometimes it’s salvation, sometimes it’s nothing at all. But being aware that what we wear is part of how we speak to those around us, let that speech be intentional, evocative, and impressing. Keep wearing old clothes in new ways. Let yourself be inspired by all areas of life. If you like something you see, give the compliment. Wear the thing that you’ve been holding out on — you’ll get the compliment back. Let any calendar event be an opportunity to dress up. If you don’t have a calendar event, reach out to somebody and make one. Being human, talking about failure, hope, desire, sadness, fear are all ways to connect more closely and to feel a relief that is hard to come by these days. Turn off notifications, reserve dopamine for a returned smile. Take a break if it’s too hard, but don’t quit. Thousands of years of evolution have made your body the best barometer, listen to it urgently. Gratitude is a trump card. Be gentle with someone’s heart, and be gentle with your own.
xx, G
This week’s inspiration for getting dressed: silk undershirt meets simple silhouettes. 5 ideas for layering a silk thermal undershirt, giving added dimension and textural interest to winter wears.
In my last dress/code article I talked with Zach St Clair about his favorite staple wardrobe piece, the cotton longsleeved mock neck tee. He wears one of these tees under practically everything during the winter months. It’s an added layer of warmth, gives form to figure, and protects his skin from the itchiest of vintage wool sweaters.
It got me thinking about a style of shirt I just started wearing a few months ago — the silk thermal undershirt, two of which I inherited from my grandmother’s closet when we were cleaning out decades of her vintage clothing. I’ve worn them a few times as a base layer under a shirt or sweater, typically they are covered up and simply serving their purpose as long underwear. But, inspired by Zach’s approach to wearing his thermals where you can see them, I decided to style a few looks that bring the silk shirt a bit more center stage.
Silk is one of those strange natural anomalies — despite how incredibly lightweight the material is, the insulating properties create a warm yet impossibly thin base layer. My grandmother wore these shirts as wintertime warmth, and despite snags and holes in the well worn shirts, they have so much life left in them. The brand is Under Silk, which I couldn’t find much of online. There is another brand, WinterSilks, which produced similar pieces. You might have luck saving searches for these and waiting to see what comes along, but these undershirts are also readily available on the new clothing circuit, in many more color and cut options than the vintagenet has to offer. Unless you already have something like this stowed away in your wardrobe, you might be better off buying new and giving it your own patina. Here are a few second hand options I found: scalloped neckline [includes matching pants!], classic t-neck, 3/4 sleeve, ribbed, boxy t-neck. Ok, now onto the fun part — 5 ideas for layering a silk thermal undershirt!
WEARING A COAT AS A TOP
I had already styled this look when the latest Leandra Medine Cohen newsletter hit, but it’s always good to know you’re on the same wavelength as the queen. She put words to the concept: turns out all my favorite winter tops are jackets. This green trench is another divine piece from Nanny’s closet — it’s so lightweight it floats behind when wearing, and the giant front pockets are of the same sensible sort you find on a chore coat. Three buttons sit near the navel, and a waist tie is fastened onto the coat so it can’t come loose. The décolleté is exposed in this trench, so it’s a perfect piece to partner with the silk thermal. Worn with a sterling omega necklace and a shell threaded onto a silk cord, it’s an outfit that comes together in actual moments.
WEARING AN OPEN KNIT SWEATER
I found this oversized sweater last fall at a church thrift store. It’s a cotton ramie blend and even though it was about 5 sizes too big, I loved the nubbly texture of the knit, and the peter pan collar. I thought I might resell it at some point, but I ended up loving the Olsen-esque extreme oversized nature of the fit, and decided to keep it. While I can easily wear it around my house with nothing underneath, it would be, to put it mildly, far too drafty to wear this anywhere outside the home without a base layer. Enter, silk shirt. The black silk is a perfect non-distracting counterpart to the sweater. There’s a very high-low effort happening between the humble sweater and the sparkly halo garment, the great equalizer being the elegant silk layer in between.
WEARING A BUTTONDOWN DRESS
A buttondown knit dress is not something I’d seek out for my wardrobe, but when I found this black dress last summer at a vintage market, I couldn’t not get it. It’s made by Freeport Studio, a late 90s offshoot of L.L. Bean, designed for a more contemporary woman [vs the outdoorsy Bean standard]. The brand was short-lived, it was only active for a few years. I had never heard of it until last spring when my sister found a great vintage Freeport Studio dress, hers was a similar style [buttondown front] but was a camel color, and the material is more of a tencel.
Fast forward a few months, and I ran into my own variation of the dress, but mine is a wool blend, and a bit more formal with the pockets and midi hem. The dress was too good of a buy not to get it, [I think it was $12?!] and this winter it’s become a staple. I primarily wear it over pants, but it’s another one of those pieces that is slightly oversized and therefore there’s a huge benefit to wearing a layer underneath. I love the multidimensional effect the silk shirt has with this dress.
I styled the look with a simple sterling herringbone chain, which looks especially chic when it’s underneath the shirt, showing through the sheer material.
WEARING A LEATHER BLAZER
My leather jackets are worn most frequently late summer through late fall, I don’t wear them much in the winter because the leather doesn’t have the same warm and cozy quality as a sweater, and because layering them underneath winter-appropriate outwear would just be silly. But in an effort to get some more wear out of the pieces in their “off” season, I tried my leather blazer over the silk shirt. There’s something about the sheer silk pallet that’s ideal for showcasing the texture and life of the garment worn over the top.
To break up the all-black ensemble I wore the silk cord seashell necklace. The cord is extremely long, so it can be tied as small as a choker [as in Look 1] or can be tied to a longer length, in this case bringing some visual interest to my X Y axis.
WEARING A BALLOON SKIRT
This look was unplanned. I had the skirt in the studio and thought it would add pattern and shapeliness to the otherwise black ensemble — it delivered! This seems like something Carrie Brandshaw would wear — skirt over pants, sheer shirt with lace bra, print mixing — and I felt like wearing it the rest of the day, it was so fun.
With love, Geo
Your opening remarks are amazing! They gave me a feeling of peace and renewal. Love the green trench, it transforms your skin tone beautifully!