What Is Seersucker Fabric?
Seersucker is a light fabric made of cotton, linen or rayon, and it is slightly puckered and striped. Think of Gregory Peck wearing Haspel seersucker in "To Kill a Mockingbird" in 1962. Seersucker remains popular today. Seersucker typifies the elegance of dapper gentlemen during the summer months. Seersucker enables men and women to dress up even when it is hotter than blazes outside, according to Luxist.com. Does this Spark an idea?
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Identification
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Seersucker fabric is geared toward spring and summer wear. It is woven in such a way that threads bunch together, resulting in a wrinkled appearance. Because of the bunched material, the fabric is held away from the body so you remain cool because heat is able to dissipate and air can circulate.
Features
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The seersucker suit was first adapted by the working class in the United States, but later on it came into favor with the upper class. In fact, seersucker became de rigueur among southern gentlemen, who liked the fabric because it was light and kept them cool during the hot humid weather.
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Origin
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The word seersucker comes from the Hindu words “shir o shakkar” which means milk and sugar. The smooth and rough stripes of this material do somewhat resemble the bumpy texture of sugar and the smooth surface of milk, according to Statemaster.com.
Fashion Gaffe
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Southern men and women still favor seersucker, particularly during the spring and summer. This fabric is generally worn at Easter and is continued to be worn until Labor Day. It is considered a fashion gaffe to wear seersucker during the fall and winter months, but those in the south often ignore this dictate because it doesn’t get cold where the live.
Uses and Color
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Seersucker is commonly used in shirts, suits, shorts and robes. The main seersucker color is a combination of blue and white, but it comes in other colors as well. The colors will be alternated in stripes and the white stripes are puckered and larger than your typical pinstripe.
Effects
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Seersucker is achieved through slack-tension weave, which means the yarns are wound in groups of 10 to 16, allowing for a narrow stripe onto the warp beams. The crinkled stripe, as noted earlier, has slightly larger yarn, which adds to the crinkle effect. The stripes are always on grain and go in the warp direction.
History
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Seersucker is easy to wash. The first summer service uniforms for female United States Marines was made out of seersucker during World War II.
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References
Resources
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