Styles
Slip and camisole
The most useful garment nobody buys any more. A slip solves cling, transparency, static and friction at once, and it does it by being slippery.
A slip is a light garment worn between the body and an outer layer. A camisole is the same idea from the waist up. Neither provides support, shaping or warmth in any meaningful sense, and neither is trying to. The function is interfacial: a smooth, low friction surface that lets the outer garment hang on the body instead of gripping it.
The four problems it solves
- Cling
- A skirt that rides up between the legs when walking is a friction problem. A slip presents a slippery surface to the inside of the skirt, and the skirt hangs.
- Static
- Synthetic fabric rubbing against dry skin or another synthetic builds charge. A slip in a fibre that absorbs a little moisture, meaning silk, cotton or modal, dissipates it rather than accumulating it.
- Transparency
- A light layer defeats a thin or pale fabric in a way that a bra alone cannot, and it does it without adding a visible edge.
- Seam visibility
- A slip puts a smooth layer between the seams and edges of underwear and a close fitting outer garment.
Static is worth expanding on, because it is the one most often misdiagnosed as a laundry failure. It is a humidity and fibre problem: dry air, a synthetic outer layer and dry skin. Fabric softener suppresses it by coating fibres, at the cost of absorbency. A cellulose or silk slip solves it structurally and permanently.
Choosing fabric
| Fabric | Slipperiness | Static control | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Silk | Very high | Excellent | The reference standard. Needs careful washing. |
| Modal or lyocell jersey | Moderate | Very good | Soft, easy to wash, less slippery. |
| Polyester satin | Very high | Poor | Slippery and prone to static, but hard wearing. |
| Cotton lawn | Low | Good | Breathable, not slippery enough for a clingy skirt. |
| Cupro | High | Good | A regenerated cellulose with silk like drape. |
For the specific mechanics of silk against a synthetic satin, see silk and satin. The short version is that a polyester slip is slippery but generates the static a slip is supposed to remove, which makes it a partial solution at best.
Cut and length
A slip should be shorter than the garment it sits under, by enough that it cannot appear at the hem when sitting or walking on a slope. A useful working rule is at least five centimetres shorter than the intended outer garment, more for anything with a slit or a moving hem.
- Bias cut slips hang closer to the body and move with it, because the diagonal grain of the weave provides give that the fibre does not.
- Straight cut slips hang away from the body and suit stiffer outer fabrics.
- Adjustable straps matter more here than on a bra, because a slip has no band to set the vertical position.
- A split or vent at the hem prevents a slip from restricting a stride in a longer skirt.
- Camisoles with a shelf or built in cup exist and are usually a compromise on both counts.
If a skirt clings, the answer is not a tighter skirt or a different pair of tights. It is a slippery layer between them.
The camisole as an outer layer
A camisole in a heavier silk or a fine knit crosses the line into outerwear and gets worn under a jacket or over a bra with nothing else. That is a legitimate use and changes what to look for: a wider strap that covers a bra strap, a slightly higher neckline, and an opaque fabric with enough weight to hang rather than cling.
Where the camisole is genuinely underwear, the opposite applies: as light and thin as possible, so it does not add bulk under a fitted garment. Trying to buy one garment for both jobs generally produces something that does neither well.
Care
Silk needs the routine in hand washing: cool water, a pH neutral detergent with no enzymes, no wringing, dry flat away from sunlight. Modal and cupro tolerate a cool machine wash in a bag. Everything in this category should be hung or laid flat rather than folded under weight, because a pressed crease in a fine fabric takes a long time to fall out.