Wools: Double-faced delights
Double-faced wool: hard to find, luscious, durable— and if ever a fabric earned the accolade timeless, this is it. Double-faced is a weaving technique that creates two layers on the same fabric; it is not a lining.
The faces may be different colours or not; the textile is almost indescribably lush and warm, but not super-heavy if the layers are light. (The same technique also creates unctuous double-faced silk.) Because of its weight, it is now more often found in menswear, and usually results in higher-priced garments because of both the quantity of material required and the more complex weaving technique.
If the retail prices are scary, snoop for it in vintage shops; they really don't make much of this anymore.
Two-colour scarf of double-faced cashmere, from Eric Bompard. Shown, galaxy Purple/Plum Pink, €117. Sold as a man's accessory, but fabulous on a woman, like a man's watch. I snatched one from Le Duc: burgundy reversing to flame orange.
An elegant coat, well-priced for the fabric. Laundry double-faced wool wrap coat, $250 at Nordstrom (international shipping).
J. Crew are onto double faced as part of their retro-luxe Collection line. This piece is strato-priced but I predict will go deeply on sale, as a grand ($995) for a cashmere tee seems crazy. Watch for it drop and think, maybe. Very chic with a shirt under, rolled to the elbow, but you can do that with any knit tee.
Mulberry have designed an absolutely impeccable black double-faced duffle jacket, one of my all-time dream garments, with genuine horn buttons; if you keep the moths away, it would outlive you. Price, $1, 650 at Mulberry.
At a much lower price point: Talbots. Someone there still channels the days when they carried fabrics from Italian mills.
This long wool jacket could work; the fabric is promising (wool with a touch of nylon) and unlike most double-faces, it's offered in colours like teal, iris and the marigold shown (as well as the neutrals). A classic dresser could pick this up with accessories; very Beene-ish. Price, $269.
They also make a shorter jacket in ten colours and, though crazed by their wildly uneven quality and sizing, I applaud that they offer the jackets in misses, petite, woman's and woman's petite sizes.
Seek these fabrics for their satisfying substance, but pick something you love, as their durability is remarkable. And if you already have a double-faced piece, take your treasure for yet another ramble, as the leaves turn.
The faces may be different colours or not; the textile is almost indescribably lush and warm, but not super-heavy if the layers are light. (The same technique also creates unctuous double-faced silk.) Because of its weight, it is now more often found in menswear, and usually results in higher-priced garments because of both the quantity of material required and the more complex weaving technique.
If the retail prices are scary, snoop for it in vintage shops; they really don't make much of this anymore.
Two-colour scarf of double-faced cashmere, from Eric Bompard. Shown, galaxy Purple/Plum Pink, €117. Sold as a man's accessory, but fabulous on a woman, like a man's watch. I snatched one from Le Duc: burgundy reversing to flame orange.
An elegant coat, well-priced for the fabric. Laundry double-faced wool wrap coat, $250 at Nordstrom (international shipping).
J. Crew are onto double faced as part of their retro-luxe Collection line. This piece is strato-priced but I predict will go deeply on sale, as a grand ($995) for a cashmere tee seems crazy. Watch for it drop and think, maybe. Very chic with a shirt under, rolled to the elbow, but you can do that with any knit tee.
Mulberry have designed an absolutely impeccable black double-faced duffle jacket, one of my all-time dream garments, with genuine horn buttons; if you keep the moths away, it would outlive you. Price, $1, 650 at Mulberry.
At a much lower price point: Talbots. Someone there still channels the days when they carried fabrics from Italian mills.
This long wool jacket could work; the fabric is promising (wool with a touch of nylon) and unlike most double-faces, it's offered in colours like teal, iris and the marigold shown (as well as the neutrals). A classic dresser could pick this up with accessories; very Beene-ish. Price, $269.
They also make a shorter jacket in ten colours and, though crazed by their wildly uneven quality and sizing, I applaud that they offer the jackets in misses, petite, woman's and woman's petite sizes.
Seek these fabrics for their satisfying substance, but pick something you love, as their durability is remarkable. And if you already have a double-faced piece, take your treasure for yet another ramble, as the leaves turn.
Comments
I have a few other double faced wool items as well--all jackets or coats. One is over ten year old now. It has some sewn on metal trim that I am going to remove this year as an update measure. Then, it will be good as new.
Finally! And congrats.
Love Bompard's double face scarfs.
Hmm, probably Mood Fabrics and Elliot Berman do as well.
Talbots sells nice double faced wool skirts and such. The one thing to keep in mind is that it's difficult to alter clothes made with this fabric. My seamstress gave me a lesson in that little known fact when I took in a skirt that was too big. She ended up adding seaming detailing to it.
This article explains how the fiber is handled: http://www.simplycashmere.co.uk/cashmeretruths
French cashmere (generally milled in China but to their specs) is somewhere between the two. We have bought many pieces from Eric Bompard, for example, over the years, and the pill factor really varies.
I am writing this wearing a J. Crew cable v-neck cashmere that must be 10 years old. I just wash it and that takes care of 85% of the pills; the rest I gently pull off.
Susan: Sounds beautiful. Perhaps you will get rid of one of the other coats?
Barbara: I KNOW!!! Isn't that the best?
Sewing Librarian: Will be fun to hear what you do decide to make!
frugal: Any fine wool needs to be stored conscientiously. I am free of moths in this condo but battled them for decades in my old house.
MJ: Perfect example of its endurance. Lucky you!
Jean S.: Thanks for the sources; it is hard to find but worth the hunt.
Alerting double-faced wool is not for the faint of heart; the layers must be separated, and conventional seaming techiques can result in ugly bubbled seams. In better garments, seams are frequently finished by hand.
I will say that I have no such qualms with Brora. I must be a hardier Scot at heart. I look to cashmere for its warmth rather than its softness and Brora delivers. I also love their plaid wool skirts. I might have found my way to Brora via the Passage, now I think of it ...
(Just had another look at their website - have pointed a couple of their things on sale to my husband for Christmas. He's saying 'these are enormous investments, but you can have them if you want them')
The post-Christmas sales and occasional promotions reduce the price but not all styles and colours end up on sale.