Spider silk may not be a very popular material among fashionistas, but fabric experts and professionals will tell you that this material is well known for being extremely light and for its peculiar strength and elasticity.
Produced by the proteins synthesized by spiders, the silk is harvested from the spiders’ abdomen using revolving bobbins.
A spider can usually produce 180 metres of silk an hour and this material is also considered as a suistainable resource since spiders do not produce harmful emissions while consuming the materials (complex protein molecules found in insects) and synthesising them into fibres.
Though it’s extremely difficult to harvest, researches have shown that spider silk is tougher than Kevlar and it has antibiotic properties, it could therefore have special applications in the military and medical fields.
If you want to know more about this material and you happen to be in London, pop in at the Victoria & Albert Museum to see the “Golden Spider Silk” display (Room 17a; until 5th June 2012).
The display features the largest piece of spider silk cloth in the world, that is a brocaded shawl and a cape made from the silk of more than one million female golden orb-weaver spiders collected in the highlands of Madagascar.
Created by Simon Peers and Nicholas Godley who started experimenting with spider silk in 2004, and made by very talented craftspeople, weavers and embroiderers, the two pieces are covered in flowery and spider motifs.
One of the most extraordinary things about the textiles is probably the fact that their bright golden yellow shade is the actual colour of the silk secreted by the spiders, so the material didn't go through any special dyeing process.
As you can discover from the film that accompanies the display and that I’m embedding in this post, it took years to make this ensemble and this should maybe make us sit and ponder a bit about the "fast vs slow fashion" debate and the true marvels and wonders that slow fashion can produce.
The second video I’m embedding is from the Art Institute of Chicago that also displayed Peers and Godley’s textile and it features further information about how the French were the first ones to experiment with spider silk.
I wonder if we will ever see spider silk dresses during Paris Haute Couture Week, in the meantime, you can discover more about the making of Peers and Godley’s ensemble in the booklet available from the V&A shop that accompanies the display and that also features further historical information about this unique material.
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i love that yellow silk, simple but attractive i can't find words to how to describe it that makes it attractive.
Posted by: printing hervey bay | May 08, 2012 at 03:34 PM
i agree with you, fascinating design silk.
Posted by: hervey bay real estate | December 09, 2012 at 07:09 AM