(left) Silk + Steel owner Pam Walter models a black silk three-quarter sleeve tunic alongside Mary Clare Bauman (center) in a pink dupioni silk cap sleeve dress and Sylvia Martinez (right) in a blue dupioni silk cowl-neck dress with cut-in shoulders. Photo by Rodney Margison
by LINDA MARGISON
With no experience in the fashion design industry, Pamela Walters and longtime friend Jean Robinson retired from Indiana University in 2018 and 2017, respectively, and decided to delve into their own clothing line, Silk + Steel. “We had a shared interest and passion for a certain kind of fashion,” Walters says, describing their proclivity for simple, high-quality sustainable fabrics with natural fibers. “We hit on a couple of styles that work really well across different body types.