Full open zipper

By "fully opening" do you mean "separating" like a jacket zipper?

might take a look there, they have a huge selection of jacket zippers, although I think they might be way too heavy for silk. I did use a separating zipper for the bodices of heavy satin bridesmaid gowns a couple of years ago.

site also has rhinestone separating zippers from 4" to 22": they only come in black or white. HTH,

> That site also has rhinestone separating zippers from 4" to 22": >> but they only come in black or white.>

Most of the decorative zippers I have seen have been rather too heavy for lightweight silk. But you could take a look at zipperstop.com.

Have you considered maybe hand-stitching the zipper(s) in with tiny stitches, evenly spaced, each one with a tiny bead on top of the silk? If it's a lapped zipper, you could do a single line of silk embroidery on top of the lap or over the machine stitching line, or if centered, on each side.

Ask the experts! :)

Yes, I made a small self-fabric tab at the inside waist with a hook-and-eye to keep strain off the waist area as the zipper was being zipped, as well as a hook-and-eye at the inside top of the zipper. You can see some of the construction details here:

Have you ever seen a zipper applied "reverse with trim"? Although this is used in fleece a lot, it might work for you if you've got appropriate trims on your garments. Nancy Cornwell's fleece books detail the technique.

PS