À la Mode in Mushrooms

A ring of pale mushrooms sprang up with the morning dew, and tonight you’re going to fly and whirl in a mad fairy dance. What if you want to honor the occasion but don’t have time for a full wardrobe refresh? You could turn up in a filmy gown made from flower petals and fervent wishes, as usual, or make a statement by doubling down on fungal fashion. You can collect some fantastic accents and accessories on your way to the fling.

• The mushroom hat is a fae wardrobe staple, whether it’s a warm brown-gray or a flashier amanita red with white flecks.And you don’t have to stop at one shroom—try piling them on top of each other till one big cap is covered in dozens of tiny ones, or wear them in bands and swirls for crowns and tiaras, like the forest lovers in our “Mushroom Maidens” feature.

• For highlights to cheeks, eyes, or any feature you want to render especially fetching, rub the desired areas with a sample from your favorite bioluminescent species. We recommend Mycena pura, Britain and Ireland’s lilac bonnet, for gentle purple shades. North America’s multi-lobed bitter oyster, Panellus stipticus, is a classic for the green tones Titania favors. It’s one of the brightest of the approximately 70 to 125 species of glowing mushrooms on the planet.
• Bitter oysters and their kin also make bewitching jewels for eyebrows, fingers, and wrists. The fungi themselves are able to control the amount of light they shed using enzymes that react to oxygen.
• Your favorite skirt might already imitate a mushroom cap, with a smooth outer layer supported by a full understructure of ruffly gills. Why not experiment by adding plenty of petticoats and frilly bracket fungi (trending now: turkey tails and oysters)—some of which come in fantastic bright colors?
• Someday even the fabric a human designer uses might be made of fungus. Scientists have discovered a way to spin the chitin and chitosan in some species’ cell walls into weavable threads.
• It’s a great time to play with textures. Nothing looks more chic than a morel’s brainy whorl set as an accent at wrists and neck, and many other species make their own fungi fur. Try a shaggy ink cap (Coprinus comatus): As it matures, the “fur” on top gets longer and lusher, with smoky lowlights around the base of the white shag. You’ll need to dry it out well before use, but do save the ink to pour where you want your next colony to grow, because it carries the mushroom spores. And the Coprinus absorbs heavy metals from the soil, so it’s an extra-eco-friendly resource.
• If you misplace your hat on a bright day, pluck a wide-capped mushroom to make your own shade. We like Macrolepiota procera, appropriately known as the parasol. It starts out ethereally delicate, then matures into a big, robust fruiting body with a shaggy-barked top.
• When you’re all zhuzhed up and in the fairy ring at last, you’ll find the mushrooms around the edge also make natural seating for fairy confabs. Their cushiony flesh conforms to your flesh for a good rest after a wild dance or a long spin around the circle.
• You might even want to drape yourself and your mushroom finery over one of them for your own communion rite. Turn your face to the sky and drink in the moonlight while your friends twirl the night away. You and your finery will be gone in the morning.

Art: Mother Mushroom With Her Children (c. 1900), by Edward Okun. Image courtesy Art Renewal Center.