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Be suede by skin for summer

February 7, 2011 11:21

ByJan Shure, Jan Shure

2 min read

I concede that the idea of splurging on suede and leather for spring and summer feels distinctly counter intuitive. Both fabrics seem to fit into a winter wardrobe far more appropriately than into a summer one.

And yet since a slew of designers made skin a key element of their spring 2010 collections - notably 3.1 Philip Lim with his cropped, half-sleeve shirts, scoop-neck vests, buttersoft, wrapover dresses and sculptural mini-dresses, and Celine, with her curvy, waffle leather jacket and body-skimming coat, mini skirts, vests and dresses - suede and leather has been elevated to hottest fabric for spring/summer 2011.

With its faintly hippie-chic feel - especially when fringed, as it was at Mulberry, French Connection and Ashish - it also feeds into the 1970s vibe, which is another of the huge trends for spring.

Savvy JC readers, of course, know that "hot" in this context doesn't relate to heating properties of suede or leather. In fact, as totally natural materials with lots of breathability, leather and suede are actually unexpectedly cool and comfortable to wear in warm weather, especially when unlined, which they mostly are for spring and summer.