Cotton, Linen, Crepe: Picking a Fabric for the Weather You Have

Fabric decides more about how a dress wears than the cut does. Here is what each of ours is good at, and what it will cost you.

Cotton poplin

Crisp, opaque, holds a shape. Poplin is what makes a tiered skirt sit out rather than hang limp, and what lets a shirt dress keep a collar. It creases and it does not care. If pressing a dress before wearing it will annoy you, this is not your fabric.

Double gauze

Two fine layers held together, so it is airy and dries in an afternoon. The lightest thing we sell and the best in genuine heat. It looks better rumpled than pressed, which is either the point or the problem depending on your temperament.

Washed linen

Breathes better than anything except gauze and gets softer every wash rather than wearing out. Creases deeply and visibly. Linen is a commitment to not minding.

Cotton lawn and voile

Very fine, very light, and the fabrics we use where a print needs to read small and clear. Lawn takes a floral without the pattern looking blown up. Voile is what keeps a white shirt from feeling like a uniform in July.

Crepe

A weighted synthetic with a slightly grainy surface. It drapes instead of clinging, hangs straight and does not crease in a car. This is the fabric to reach for when a photograph is going to be taken and you will be sitting down beforehand.

Chiffon

Sheer, weightless, always over a lining. Chiffon is the only fabric here chosen for how it moves rather than how it wears. Nothing else catches light the same way, and nothing else is as fussy to launder.

Ponte and rib knit

The two with stretch. Ponte holds a shape through a full day of sitting and standing, so it is the work fabric. Rib knit pulls on and stays put with no closures at all, so it is the cold weather one.

Corduroy, twill and velvet

The heavy end. Twill takes a knee first landing and a long day. Fine wale corduroy is autumn in fabric form. Cotton velvet is a December dress and knows it.

Every product lists its fabric as the first line of the details, before the neckline or the sleeve, because it is the line that tells you the most.