exotic appeal
b y B A R B A R A E . C O H E N
SMOOTH
SILK
as
F
rom the Silk Road to the racetrack, an air of mystery clings to this regal fiber, said to have been discovered by a Chinese empress when she accidentally dropped some silk cocoons into her tea. In China, silk was as valuable as gold, and bolts of silk were exchanged as gifts and used to pay taxes. As an exotic import, Chinese silk was so expensive in the West that it was reserved for royalty and people of substantial means. Any fabric that has the power to transform someone into either a ruler or a slacker deserves our respect. WHAT IS SILK? It takes about 1,000 silkworms eating 48 pounds of mulberry leaves to produce enough silk fiber for one silk shirt. Since the silkworm, which isn’t a worm at all but a caterpillar of the Bombyx mori moth, lives only about a month, it can be said to give its life for
silk. Each worm eats as many mulberry leaves as it can in its short life, bulking up to 10,000 times its hatched weight before it sets to work spinning its cocoon, from which it intends to emerge as a moth. Instead, its cocoon gets harvested and unwound, yielding a fiber as strong as steel, as supple as a hair, ready to accept bright dye, and more comfortable to wear than any other. Most silk comes from domesticated silkworms that have been selected for their extraordinary ability to produce long, strong threads. The price of silk reflects the fact that it takes approximately 5,500 silkworms to produce a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of raw silk. Because most silk is produced from domesticated moths, fabrics from silk derived from wild silkworms are usually clearly identified on a garment’s label. The price of garments from the cocoons of wild silkworms is usually high, reflecting the rarity of silk processed from wild species.
EDDIE ARCARO, THE FIRST AMERICAN JOCKEY TO RIDE FIVE KENTUCKY DERBY WINNERS AND TWO U.S. TRIPLE CROWN CHAMPIONS AND WHO PRESUMABLY KNEW A THING OR TWO ABOUT THE GLORY OF WEARING SILK TO WORK, QUIPPED THAT “ONCE A GUY STARTS WEARING SILK PAJAMAS, IT’S HARD TO GET UP EARLY.”
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