EVERY year, there seems to be one fabric which wins universal approval from designers worldwide. As though by telepathy, every international collection features the same yarn and within six months its presence will be ubiquitous in the market. Back in 1994, linen enjoyed just such a surge of popularity, which did wonders for Northern Ireland's trade in this material - at least until last summer, when attention shifted to satin.
This season's choice, in case its widespread appearance in shops hasn't already been noted, is shantung silk. Taking the name of a province in north east China where it was manufactured, shantung originally used only be available in an undyed state. And even now that the fabric is on offer in a huge range of colours, it still looks best in more delicate pastel shades. That's because of shantung's particular hue: a soft undressed fibre from which occasional irregularities have not been removed, it has a gentle sheen and slightly rough surface texture.
No matter what the feel, silk remains unique among fabrics, not least because it was once so valuable as to serve as an alternative currency in the Far East and Russia. Nobody knows for certain when the first silk was created, but the material is believed to date back to the reign of the Chinese emperor Huang Ti who lived about 2640 B.C., giving it a pedigree of at least 4,500 years. At first, rarity and cost meant that silk was produced exclusively for members of the imperial household except for occasional pieces which would be given as gifts to other rulers.
Gradually, manufacturing became more widespread, but still the secret of silk was closely guarded, with torture and death threatened to anyone who revealed the fabric's origins. A Chinese story tells of a princess who was marrying into a remote western province and smuggled out a number of silkworms hidden inside her elaborate hairpiece. It was only by similar means that silk manufacture first began in Europe. In the sixth century A.D., the Byzantine emperor Justinian sent two monks to China to learn as much as possible about silk. In fact, the pair even managed to bring back everything necessary production at Constantinople, concealed inside their bamboo staffs.
THERE are good reasons why the silk industry was for so long a monopoly of autocrats. The silk filament consists of a very long fibre produced by the tissue secretions of the silkworm when it spins itself into a cocoon; if this is left undisturbed, a silkmoth eventually emerges. Every silkworm secretes two parallel strands together with a gum, called sericin, which rapidly solidifies, glueing the two strands together to form a single thread Which forms the basis for silk.
But the fabric can only be created if the process of nature is disturbed before the silkmoth appears, otherwise the thread will be damaged. So, to ensure a full length of silk can be produced from each cocoon, after about ten days the chrysalis inside is killed by being plunged into boiling water. The intact reel of silk thread can then be unravelled and used for the manufacture of fibre.
It's not just the extraordinary origins of silk which mark it apart from other fabrics. One of the most important aspects of silk reeling was the influence this had on the development of weaving and the invention of the treadle loom (which allowed far longer pieces of woven fabric than had previously been possible). And thanks to its special social and economic status, silk weaving was able to draw on the talents of the finest artists, meaning that practically the entire evolution of textile design was based around just the one fibre. So if you follow this year's fashion and opt for shantung remember this. Not only will you be wearing the combined efforts of a few thousand silkworms, but you'll also be drawing on several millennia of creative inspiration.
LIKE umbrellas during the winter, everyone loses at least one pair of sunglasses every summer. That's why we loved these slim Sole Mio glasses which are now on the market. Not only is the basic model cheap enough not to cause heartbreak if mislaid or broken (prices start at just £12.99 a pair) but the glasses cleverly fold up with the arms tucking neatly above and below the lenses.
Italian designed, the glasses come in a range of finishes, black or tortoiseshell with brown or black lenses which provide full ultra violet protection to EU standards. Being very thin - only 12 mm thick - these glasses should fit comfortably into a pocket or alternatively they come with their own smart (and equally slender) case. Prices are £48 for glasses and a plastic case and £50 if the latter's in chrome; mirrored lenses add an extra £4 to the price. Sole Mio sunglasses are available from stockists around the country.