by Shai Thompson, House of Lily Koi –
Style Tip for Father’s Day: When buying your father that special gift that non-verbally expresses your deep appreciation for all he has done for you in your lifetime and all he will continue to do, absolutely do not give him a pair of socks. Or if you do buy him socks, consider an actively to go with the socks, like a hike or taking him shopping to buy a new pair of cool hip shoes to go with the socks. The best investment is creating a moment where there is time well spent. We are all far too busy keeping up with everything that the special moments are getting missed. Make your special moment with your Dad and be thankful he is still around to gift him something thoughtful.
What do I do with nail polish that is old and I cannot use? First of all, never throw it away as it will get into our water supply. There are household hazardous waste facilities that will take old polish and dispose of it properly to protect our environment.
Are ties still in for us guys? I have to say yes and no. It depends on where you are going and what you are doing. If you receive an invite to a formal wedding then yes, a tie is a must, but if the invite is for an afternoon cocktail on the golf course, no tie. The farther east we go in Canada the more formal the tie presentation becomes. For people who are working in the financial sector it’s pretty straight across the board: wear ties as it is traditional.
How can I keep my cashmere from pilling? Cashmere is my favourite fabric of all time. This is is going to take a while, so stay tuned. A hair from a goat is about 1.5 inches long. One hair is spun with another, binding them to create a strand or a thread. This thread is then spun with other threads to create a variation of ply. Imagine a fabric that is so fine and short in length being rubbed back and forth many times. With friction and movement of the fabric, something must break free. Once the thread has come undone it takes very little effort for it to pill. The most common places for this friction to occur is under the arms, where your purse lands and around your belt, including seatbelts.
This is why cashmere is considered a luxury fabric. It is costly for good cashmere because it can take up to four years to produce enough good cashmere to create one sweater! If it pills quickly it is most likely a two to four ply. Sometimes even when it is more it will pill. Get comfortable when buying cashmere, knowing that at some point it will need to be cared for to remove the pilling and make the garment look fresh again. The dry cleaners will do it, and there are great tools out there for DIY’ers. Remember to watch out for moths; cedar works!
Last but not least. In the last published “Ask A Stylist” there was an error in my delivery of words that when heard you would understand but written it was soooo different. Lessoned learned. Thank you to the loyal reader who called me to share her experience with what I wrote. To know me is to know very little makes me blush, but in this instance I turned purple I was so shocked. I cannot share here but if you would like the story firsthand, come see me at House of Lily Koi.
Xo Shai
