Fashion Glossary

Along with plaids and argyle, madras is popping up everywhere this season—it's a lightweight cotton fabric with patterned texture and a typically plaid design, used primarily for summer clothing including pants, shorts, dresses and jackets. The fabric takes its name from the former English name of the city of Chennai, India.

If you're a gal who loves plaid, you're practically required to like madras—that, and you probably did not attend Catholic school. If you don't much care for plaids, you should still give colorful madras a try—it turns fall plaids upside down. Think of it as the wild child in a J.Crew catalog.

Here are some budget-friendly ways to work some madras magic:


Proenza Schouler Seersucker Jacket - Ocean Madras, $17.49. Target.com

Plaid Linen Short (I know, we're totally opposed to shorts but they aren't going away anytime soon) $22.80. Forever21.com

Xhilaration® Sable Ballerina Flats - Madras, $14.99. Target.com

Madras plaid dress, $19.99. Newport-news.com

Jessica Simpson Jada Espadrille slingback wedge in yellow madras fabric, $82. Piperlime.com

Patchwork madras stowaway tote, $49.50. JCrew.com

Juniors' Xhilaration® Plaid Halter/Tube Top - Red/ Orange, $14.99. Target.com

If you don't know your chiffon from your charmeuse, now's the time to get schooled on terms that anyone interested in fashion should know. Familiarity with fashion terms will not only impress your friends—it will help you know what you're getting when you're shopping online.

Today's word: Summery seersucker is a fabulous fabric for warm, humid weather...read on!

Seersucker: is a thin, all-cotton fabric, commonly striped, used to make clothing for spring and summer wear. Seersucker is woven in such a way that some threads bunch together, giving the fabric a wrinkled appearance in places. This feature causes the fabric to be mostly held away from the skin when worn, facilitating improved heat dissipation and air circulation. The wrinkled look also ensures that seersucker clothing will look good even when worn by people working in hot weather. It also means that ironing is not necessary. Seersucker was first used in the United States by the working class but was later adopted by the upper classes. The material became perceived as a staple of attire for the Southern gentleman who wore it in deference to the high heat and humidity of the American South.

Definition of "seersucker" from wikipedia.org.
Photo: Detail of a cotton seersucker pant by Nina Ricci, eluxury.com