How to keep black at its best

[Allius]

Since the day before forever, I have been extremely hesitant to wear black in the sunlight (especially when it is hot outside). Paranoid in the sense of if I was wearing black during the day, I would try to stay indoors as much as possible and if it was necessary to walk outside then I would walk near the building walls in order to walk in the shade.

This paranoia stems from the fact that (from my experience) black ages horribly. If I were to consistently wear black during the day, my clothing would go from black....to ashy black...to people asking me 'is that brown?'.

But to make a long story short, I recently went to Rome and was amazed on how everybody wore all black in 90 degree weather. And even more amazed that their clothes were as black as if they just bought it off the shelf!

I am going to invest in a all black suit and was wondering if anybody:

1. Knows certain black fabrics that age well or fabrics I should try to avoid

2. Owns a black dress/blazer/pant/suit/etc. and thinks that their clothing item has aged well. And if so, can you please tell me the designer or the fabric it is made of.

3. Knows which designer makes the best black clothes that have (from their experience) a lot of sun resistance

4. Anything else that you would might think help.

Any of the above will help me, thank you in advance.

 

[alyseinnit]

Ooh, I was also thinking about this recently. My black jersey items go ashy particularly quickly.

I don't mean to be hijacking your thread or anything, but I was wondering perhaps there's something that one could add to a black wash cycle to help it stay nice and dark?? Any thoughts?

 

[loves]

i think not drying it in the sun helps keep the colour from fading.

handwash or gentle cleaning should help too.

if the material is non-synthetic and it lightens with age, perhaps you can give it a quickie dye to refresh the colour (not for dry clean only items of course)

i hate my blacks having differing shades but black looks different in different materials, silks vs wools vs linen vs cotton etc.

for suits, try to buy two bottoms, they wear and fade faster than the jackets

 

[Starry-Eyed]

I have put things in a black cold dye before after they have faded a tad and they have always been fine afterwards. Just make sure you rinse the dye off fully (not that that's ever been a problem for me ) Maybe its just that you notice black fading more than other colours, not that it does it more? Or if you do dry clothes in the sun, turn them inside out so they won't fade so obviously?

 

[fashionista-ta]

I live in a climate where 90 degrees is a good day ... I think the key is not to launder anything, but to instead send it all to the cleaners. IMO the washing machine is what destroys black ...

Then again, everything of mine the cleaners has ever lost has been black. There's a reason they call them black holes

Seriously, though, you just need a good cleaner, no perc--and the one I've been using for some years now has misplaced a couple things, but never actually lost anything. And they take responsibility if they create a problem ... believe it

 

[Elegance.Is.Refusal.]

as people have meantioned always wash blacks on a cool wash atleast 30' or below and use a colour protect detergent or i believe woolite came out with a formula specifically for black clothes. and thankfully dylon have came out with a product called wash and dye which restores your faded grey looking blacks back to their rich dark colour while your washing them. its a permenant dye and is the easiest way to refresh your black wardrobe easily. http://domain2056127.sites.fasthosts.com/products/dyes/wash-and-dye/velvet-black.html

 

[fashionista-ta]

As I think about it, black cotton knit is the only thing I've really had a problem with ... but I don't completely consider it a problem when black fades only slightly ... it kind of just adds to the variety of black

 

[gius]

i read somewhere on this forum it is either Yohji Yamamoto or Issey Miyake who makes the blackest of blacks... Putting other black clothes next to theirs, and it can never beat it..

 

[Allius]

Thank you everyone for your comments, it really helped