Silk in the Summer, Cashmere in Winter

By Yahya - Founder & Lead Authenticator, Sold Attire · Updated October 2026

Silk in the summer, cashmere in winter.

Nan Kempner arrived at La Côte Basque in a Saint Laurent tuxedo and faced refusal at the door. She took off the trousers and entered wearing the jacket as a short dress. The Met recounts the episode in its history of Saint Laurent, and I like it for the composure as much as the audacity. Kempner kept the jacket she had chosen and changed how she wore it.

I like winter clothes with that sort of character. The pleasure is in choosing the detail that belongs to you: a printed carré inside a dark collar, or the patina on a pair of brown riding boots. Some of my favourite fashion stories began with somebody refusing to dress as expected.

Why did a dinner jacket cause such a scandal?

Yves Saint Laurent introduced Le Smoking in autumn/winter 1966. He adapted the codes of men's evening tailoring to the female body: the lapel, the trouser, the formality of a suit after dark. The Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris records only one couture sale at first, followed by success for the rive gauche version among younger clients. The younger women took to a form of evening dress that his couture clientele had resisted. The dinner jacket offered them another way to enter a room, with their shoulders covered and their legs in trousers.

That initial resistance is part of its appeal. Wear a dinner jacket now and you can take the choice for granted; in 1966, the same choice could become an argument about who belonged in the room. The Kempner anecdote and the museum's first Le Smoking make rather good companions.

For evening, I favour that economy: a jacket with a clear shoulder, a small amount of silk at the throat and a trouser hem that meets the shoe as it should. Save the drama for one decision.

Can cashmere have a sense of humour?

Franco Moschino put teddy bears around the collar of a black coat in 1988. The Röhsska Museum preserves the design, with the bears sitting where you might expect fur. At the FIDM Museum, the account of his work includes models wearing giant shopping bags and tailored suits with pockets shaped like miniature purses. He introduced Cheap and Chic that same year. Moschino understood the pleasure of a familiar garment interrupted by something unexpected; the coat still had a collar, but you had to look again.

The museum's teddy-bear coat is a useful reminder that good tailoring can accommodate a joke. The FIDM account of Cheap and Chic gives the wider story.

Our Moschino Cheap and Chic cashmere toggle coat has a quieter temperament. Black cashmere, a generous collar, fabric toggles and gold-tone fittings give the eye somewhere to pause. Wear this 1990s piece over a fine black knit, with the collar left clear. Its fastening is the detail I want to see when the coat closes.

Cashmere has enough presence without a wardrobe built around announcing it. The appeal here is the softness beside the structured collar and those small gold-tone fittings. For dinner, keep the layer beneath close to the body and let the coat hang open as you arrive.

What belongs beneath a winter collar?

Hermès tells a story about gentlemen in Cannes who could not enter the casino without ties. They turned to the neighbouring Hermès shop, and the demand led the house to begin making the accessory in 1949. Twelve years earlier, Hermès had introduced its first silk carré, Jeu des omnibus et dames blanches. I like the two beginnings together: silk as a surface for a drawing, and silk as the small piece of clothing that lets you through a door. Neither story requires a large gesture.

The house recounts both episodes in its history of six generations. For winter, fold a printed square inside a coat collar, leaving a narrow line of colour beside the face.

The Hermès Kosmima carré in navy and khaki has Julia Abadie's jewellery motifs across the silk. Open it out and you can spend time with the ornament; fold it and you choose which part of the composition to show. Navy and khaki suit brown leather, cream wool and a dark coat. Small earrings leave the printed jewellery to occupy the neckline.

This example has some thread wear at the edges, which we show before purchase. I would look at those edges as closely as the drawing. Our Hermès scarf archive continues the conversation on collecting and care.

Why do riding clothes look so right in town?

Loro Piana made its Horsey jacket for the Italian equestrian team at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. The house describes a fabric chosen to avoid rustling and a notched zip flap that lets the jacket fold while the rider sits. I like that degree of consideration: a garment designed around the relationship between a person and a horse, down to the noise of the cloth. The family established its formal jumping team in 1985, years before the Olympic jacket.

You can read the details in Loro Piana's equestrian history. Cloth made quiet for a horse is a good reason to look past a label and consider how a garment behaves when you move.

With our Loro Piana brown leather riding boots, I am drawn to the long, straight shaft and low stacked heel. The leather has developed a warm patina, with creasing and light surface rubs recorded in the listing. Wear them with a fluid cream skirt and a long coat, leaving the leather visible as the skirt moves. The pair is EU 39; the height and opening of the shaft deserve as much attention as the shoe size when you try them.

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Silk in the summer, cashmere in winter.