“Don’t look yet,” said the stylist, holding something near the model’s blouse. “I’m doing the ice cube trick.” I sat in the corner of the photo studio, pretending to blend into the background with my notebook out, jotting down details for my promised “shoot exclusive.” In reality, I kept stealing anxious glances at the spectacle happening in front of me. I had specific instructions not to interrupt, so thank god this girl was taking her sweet time getting ready. I watched silently as the stylist grabbed a styrofoam cup from somewhere off-camera, filled it with ice from the ice bucket prop table, and scooped one cube out with his fingers.
What on earth is he doing with an ice cube? The model; tall, blonde, eerily familiar in that uniquely-unidentifiable-so-many-upcoming-models-look-that-way way, stood patiently while the stylist studied her silk blouse. She looked simultaneously like an angel and like my neighbour from college, depending on the angle you looked at her.
She had that quality. As he dipped his fingers in the water, he ran the ice cube swiftly down the seams underneath each arm, along the button placket down the front of the blouse, and along the collar. “What are you doing?” I blurted out suddenly, completely abandoning my journalistic professionalism in favour of low-hanging fashion intrigue. The stylist looked up at me, not annoyed that I had broken up this mysterious bond he clearly shared with the model, but rather pleased to enlighten me with his vast knowledge. “Oh honey,” he said patronizingly. “That’s the ice cube trick.
Shrinks the fibres just enough so everything looks perfect for the next thirty minutes or so.” He gestured around him flippantly at the photographer and creative director giving me dubious looks. “All the professionals use it. Quick hack when you’re in a rush.” The model looked up at me impassively, as if this was old hat and she had much better ways to spend her time than engaging with entitled low-level fashion journalists. The camera crew shrugged and focused back on their work.
I was shocked. Thirty minutes? Since when?
I knew fashion tricks and shortcuts, hell I wrote about them weekly. But this? Shoving an ice cube across my favourite blouse to make it LOOK GOOD?
Everyone else in fashion knew this trick and I hadn’t heard it until now? I felt pretty damn dumb. “Well,” the stylist continued like he read my mind. “We use it on anything silk or natural fibre. Cotton.
Linen. Certain wools. Never on synthetics, that stuff reacts weird.” He resumed pulling clothes out of bags and adjusting pieces on the model.
I furiously scribbled notes in my Moleskine so I would remember to include this newly acquired magical information in my article. Tips and tricks were nice and all, but coming across a legit industry secret felt like finding fashion gold. It was THE fashion equivalent of state secrets I was privy to for a few days.
I saw him use the ice cube trick on two more garments that day. First, a wrinkling cotton button-up shirt that hadn’t spent enough time in the closet being worn prior to the shoot. Second, a linen jacket with a collar that just wouldn’t quite lay flat.
Each time he pulled the ice cube across those garments I watched, half expecting to be somehow magically transported back to middle school science class and told I was wrong. But they did look better. Slightly, but it was enough to notice.
My seam was less puckered. My collar sat flatter. My shirt wasn’t as rumpled. “How long has everyone been doing this?” I asked curiously.
He shrugged. “Forever. My mentor showed it to me fifteen years ago. Probably taught her by someone in the 80s.
Classic trick.” That night I texted my most fashion adventurous friend: Emma. “Have you ever heard of putting an ice cube on clothes to make them look better? ?” “Like… to get water stains out?” Her text read back immediately. “No to make them look perfect for photos! Like everyoneTHINKS they know your clothes are good until they take pictures but STYLISTS REALY KNOW you guys hide yoursht.” “How do you not know this?! First I’ve heard of it!
Try it! !” *I need DETAILS.” The next morning, ice cube in hand, I stood skeptically in front of my bedroom mirror staring down my go-to interview top. A silk top; basically begging to be put in the freezer according to my new theory. I debated what I was doing for a solid minute.
Cognitive dissonance had fully taken over because wasn’t that what every crazy urban legend started with? First you freeze your trousers and then you’re told you can spot wear your clothes by shining a black light at them. I wasn’t actually going to run ice across my favourite blouse was I?
After watching Paint Chic Run The Cold River through my internal grudge match I begrudgingly ran the ice cube up and down my seam, down the button placket of my blouse, and across both sides of my collar. Same as the stylist had demonstrated. Light dabbing.
No soaking. I even left half of my collar untreated so I had a control in case this experiment failed and I ended up with a ruined shirt (Hi, journalistic integrity). I examined my handiwork like a proud scientist.
Sure enough, the side of my blouse where I ran the ice looked flatter against my skin. Crisper. The untreated side of my collar definitely looked, if only marginally, softer than the “Ice Cube Collar.” Was it a game changer?
Of course not. But it wasn’t closing eyelet camp sandals either. It was a small difference with a simple solution that made me look a little more put together.
And isn’t that sort of the essence of great style? Curious about how far this so-called ice chest would take me, I began experimenting whenever I had a spare ice cube and something semi-sort-of silk or lightweight to test it on. Zachary, my roommate, dubbed my adventure “the stupidest culinary science experiment you’ve ever recreated in our shitty kitchenette.” Welcome to Marriage.
White Linen Shirt : Clear improvement around collar. Not quite as strong of an effect on cuffs. How long did it last? ~30 minutes until my body heat reverted everything back to normal.
Black Silk Blouse : Most dramatic result. Immediately noticed a smoothing effect on the fabric. Collar looked great too.
Lasted about half an hour out and about. Linen Dress: Big difference on the seams, which were pretty bad prior. Less impressive on wrinkles that weren’t in seams. linen isn’t magical, it just looks that way.
Results lasted about 45 minutes. Polyester blouse:….didn’t work? I guess the stylist was right about synthetics.
Either way, I’ll take what I can get. *I also did this on a cashmere jumper, but will metals touch (?!!) I didn’t want to risk ruining my beloved $200 Canadian jumper with areas of ice I might be too aggressive with. There’s only so much science you can put your clothes through. CONCLUSION: It works.
On certain fabrics. For about half an hour. awesome. Fast forward two weeks.
I had a busy day of big meetings with a potential brand I was partnering with for work. You know the type of day where you stress about making sure your outfit is on-point enough to sway the bosses? Yeah.
That day. I wore silk button-ups, wool trousers, and a lightweight blazer. All prime ice cube fodder.
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Frozen andRead MoreBynnica about fifteen minutes before I needed to leave, I ran ice across my collar, down my shirt front placket, along my trouser waistband, and down my blazer’s lapels. It was kind of like a strange outfit pre-bed ritual at that point. I looked in the mirror and saw marginal but clear improvements across my whole outfit.
Nothing revolutionary that a stranger would notice from across the street. But hey, if my collar looked just barely crisper than it had been thirty minutes ago when I left my flat, why not? And do you know what?
The meeting went great. Now, I can’t in good faith tell you that my marginally smoother blazer collar was the sole reason we got logo placement on the trainers…but I did feel crispier. More put together.
And isn’t that what great style is supposed to make you feel? Plus now I had this magical secret that I could use to ensure literally never having a wrinkled blouse again. It was fabulous.
BUT Was this really a professional secret that no one told me? Or did every stylist know about this but every fashion editor (obviously including myself)? I put the question out to as many people as I could without being that girl who asks her FRIENDS about how to make her clothes look better.
Everyone. Yup. every stylist I’ve asked knows about this trick. Most photographers too.
Designers? Meh. Some knew, some didn’t.
Journalists? Didn’t know till now. But let me tell you, we inspect every garment we’re sent religiously.
We photograph these things and spend hours analysing how they move, fit, feel. It’s mind-boggling this wasn’t conference room table discussion. “It’s literally the ice thing,” said Tyler, my friend who styles celebrities. “Fashion 101, dude.” “I been doing that forever,” said Simone, who has been styling professionally for over 35 years. “Back in the day when we didn’t have ice we’d use the condensation from a canned soda to brush along clothes. Whatever is cold and slightly damp will work if you’re in a pinch.” “It’s called ‘the freeze,’” said Marcus who styles campaigns for high-end brands. “It’s super helpful when shooting lookbooks and you have to shoot 50-60 outfits in one day.
There’s literally no time to have everything steamed between each look.” And yet, within my very own industry, no one else seemed to know this trick. I mentioned it to other editors at work, BuzzFeed editors, industry events, etcetera etc. Blank looks.
Hundreds of years of stylists and editors working in these clothes together, and we hadn’t exchanged this invaluable information? What did we think we were doing? Turns out there’s an actual scientific reason ice works so well on clothes.
At least certain types of clothes. Certain fabrics, namely natural fabrics like cotton, silk, and wool react to sudden cold by contracting slightly. Adding the water from the ice cube helps, but isn’t strictly necessary.
When the fibres contract, they pull everything from wrinkles to seams lying flat. But as your body heat warms the clothes back up, everything returns to normal. It’s a temporary fix but good enough to last you through a photo shoot or, in my case, enough time to get from Manhattan to Brooklyn without your blouse looking like it’s been slept in. “The same reason people recommend washing and drying your denim in cold water,” said Dr.
Elaine Chen, textile scientist and all around savvy scientist woman. “The cold temperatures manipulate the fibres temporarily.” Clothes, unlike hair, will return to normal after some time.” Which is why it works best on natural fabrics. Ones whose fibres are more easily manipulated by water and temperature changes. Which is also why it doesn’t work on most synthetics.
Those bad boys were engineered specifically to not react to outside influences like snow, humidity, and cluster flambe rockets. Full disclosure, I use that ice cube tray trick now on almost all of my clothing rotation before big days. Hell, even some not-so-big days too look good?
Cool. I’ll take all the magic I can get. And apparently can now share with all of you too.
Previously I have taught this trick to: My roommate, Zach. He’s taken it about as far as it can go. Uses it religiously but still hasn’t moved beyond cotton, linen, and silks.
My mum. She’s embarrassed it took her THIS long to figure out “that store probably isn’t steaming your blouse before they fold it and put it in the wrinkling pile.” Emma. She now keeps a dedicated “fashion ice cube” in a small Tupperware in her freezer. “It changes my life for exactly 30 minutes at a time,” she tells me. “which is usually how long you need it anyway.” This got me thinking though.
If the ice cube trick was hiding in plain sight for years and no one but stylists knew about it, what else was out there? I started asking everyone I knew. What are your tips and tricks of the trade that no one knows about?
You know, aside from running ice cubes over your clothes before important meetings and events. The response was overwhelming. I hope to share more of these with you guys in the future because holy crap do professionals know what they’re doing.
You might think you do too but trust me, you don’t. Tip from a costume designer who asked to remain nameless: “If you run a dryer sheet along the edges of tights it prevents them from clinging to your dress.” Tip from a red carpet stylist: “Use a men’s facial hair trimmer to shave pilled jumpers. It works way better than those sparkly scrubby pads they sell at target.” Tip from a wedding/dress show dresser: “Pinch the inside of your trousers behind your knees when you sit down.
Prevents bagging when you stand up.” Tip from a photoshoot producer who learned it from someone who learned it in theatre: “Spray your clothes down with vodka and water after each wear. Kills odors without penetrating the fabric. We do it on Broadway all the time when costumes can’t be sent to the dry cleaner between shows.” Tip from a menswear guru: “Hang your suit jackets in the bathroom while you take a hot shower.
The steam essentially replaces steaming your jacket and gets out most wrinkles.” Seriously, how did we not know about these?!?! ? Part of what makes these tips and tricks so great is they’re easy. They don’t take a million tools or pricey products.
And yet they produce real results that you can actually see. Which begs the question: where does all this knowledge go? “I think,” said Dr. Mira Williams, fashion historian and all around smarty trousers, “that there’s always been a gatekeeping element to that hands-on knowledge.
Someone who designs or styles has learned a lot of these tricks over years of working with their mediums. They don’t try and keep it a secret from you, it just doesn’t occur to them that you should know how to do what they can do with your clothes.” Fair enough. We spend HOURS breaking down pieces for articles and Instagram posts.
Oftentimes those hands on experts don’t have time to divulge everything they know. Or perhaps it just doesn’t occur to them that the rest of us don’t already know everything. And that’s sort of the problem with fashion nowadays.
What most people see is the aspirational. Magazines aren’t going to publish “Best insider hack to make that white t-shirt you just bought look like you spent $300 on it.” But guys, NO ONE cares about that white t-shirt you bought unless you hacked the shit out of it to make it look ten times better. And yet all of these hacks exist.
Meaningful, helpful hacks that anyone can do. I tested the ice cube trick out last Fashion Week. The ultimate test of IF your outfit looks banging or not.
I wore a silk blouse ( wrinkles galore) and linen blend blazer ( which will mercilessly crease within three minutes of walking out of your apt) on a day of photographer-heavy shows. I ran my ice along those bad boys before heading out like it was my job. (hello, it kinda was) Low and behold BOTH pieces looked noticeably better than they had any other day I wore them that week. Sure enough, someone stopped to shoot me on the street, a rare treat for someone whose entire fashion job is 100 yards away from the runway action.
I gave a sloppy grin to the photographer gratefully accepting my moment of street style fame and mentally tipped my hat to that lucky stylist who decided to show a dumb journalist a shortcut two months ago. *I actually learned this trick when stylist Mara Ly was getting ready for an event with me and thought it was the funniest goddamn thing she’d ever told me. “Heyyyyy! How do YOU always have shirts that look so crisp?! ?” Asked a fashion assistant later that day, eyeing my miraculously unfolded collar suspiciously. “Hmm,” I said in my best, I-know-something-you-don’t-know voice. Let me tell you about ice cubes.
