If you want me to buy something, the quickest way to my heart is to make it in a fabulous fabric. I am a complete sucker for a bit of sumptuous velvet draping seductively over my limbs, or the comforting swaddle of cashmere (sans moths, obvs) and I recently spent £50 on a decaying vintage jacket, fraying at the pockets and darned (rather beautifully) in many places because it was made from a length of bracken-coloured Harris tweed, beaten into softness from years of wear.
I think it’s an age thing. Haven’t we’ve ALL turned into the fabric-police after wearing decades of impulse-bought-super-cheap fashion? (sometimes not so cheap, too). Who hasn’t sweated with regret beneath a bit of 80s fashion-lycra or Prada ‘inspired’ nylon, or broken out in a rash caused by polyester-lace-errosion from something that cried out to be bought for a Saturday night date in 1983. Some of the fabrics I saw last week when I visited the refurbished H&M store in Oxford Circus gave me an electric shock just by looking at them.
So now I’m fussy, but when I find something good, I fall head over heels. So it was with the silk crepe used by Lucza for it’s Grace shirt last autumn. I saw it at a press day and almost had to be physically removed from stroking it to death. It had this heavy, languid, sexy drape that stopped the classic shape shirt from becoming dull. It was thick enough to spread on bread and I got terrible fabric lust.
I noticed the Summer Lucza campaign, just released, captures the feel of the silk pretty well and the crepe shirt now comes in a summer short sleeve version. I asked Lucza’s founder Karen Scofield about fabric quality, she said
“I have learned, as we all do eventually, that the quality of the fabric is key and although it costs a bit more it is worth it in the long run for the gorgeous drape and sumptuous feel of the silk. We are incredibly particular about our fabrics, It is not easy to find but we have gotten to the point now that we know which mills have the best fabrics”.
The Lucza range looks pretty good this season, the brand is two years old in April and it’s really getting its act together. The prints and colours are bolder for SS13, but the quality fabrics still stand out, Karen claims the Wave fabric is a dream to wear and I love the look of the green/gold jacquard shirt dress below. To celebrate the anniversary, Karen has given TWR readers FREE UK Shipping /Returns and £30 off purchase of £100 or more. Just use Code: TWR when ordering. So better price fabulous fabric!
See the summer Lucza range here
that green dress is GORGEOUS
Couldn’t agree more re fabric – I am a sucker for all things velvet, silk and cashmere. Getting fussier is actually one of the good things about getting older, or so I tell myself. I’d rather have 3 or 4 perfect silk shirts than an abundance of crappy polyester.
I’m glad there are other fabric fans Axx
I agree on the nice fabric thing – I went into H&M the other day too and was horrified by how much polyester was on offer – what are they thinking ? especially in our climate – you’d have thrush quicker than you can say knife in some of those clothes – yuk ! I’ll stick to cotton and linen thank you very much indeed – silk would be nice, but it does tend to show up the sweat rather !!!