Silk touches the lives of rural Chinese in more material ways, too, in the form of the silk clothes, quilts, umbrellas, fans and flowers that punctuate everyday life.

UNESCO: Culture

It is thanks to companies like these that Italy still exports more food-processing machines, washing machines, fridges, shoes and shoe-making machines, ski boots, ceramic tiles, jewels, woollen and silk clothes, radiators and boilers, optical frames and neck-ties than any other country in the world.

ECONOMIST: A survey of Italy

And understand that even a single wearing (or probably a lot of try-ons with your new sweater) means your natural-fiber clothes (wool, silk, cotton, cashmere, fur including blends) are no longer sterile when it comes to insects.

WSJ: Ask Teri: How to Keep Moths From Eating Sweaters

Aluminum foil as wrinkle remover: To get wrinkles out of silk, wool, and rayon clothes that can't take direct heat, place a piece of foil on your ironing board, then lay the garment flat over it.

CNN: New uses for Thanksgiving items

He was wearing his yellow shirt, along with a rust-colored jacket, a striped tie of rich burgundy silk, and gray woollen slacks: his best clothes.

NEWYORKER: The Reptile Garden