How to Wear the Ramie Origami Gown Set: 5 Ways to Style Uluwatu Sunset

The Ramie Origami Gown Set in Uluwatu Sunset is a two piece look: the full length Ramie Botanical Origami Gown worn open as a layer, over the Kundalini Playsuit underneath. Both pieces are 100% ramie, dyed by hand in Bali over five to seven days, in a pink, blue and white colourway named after the sky above the Uluwatu cliffs at the moment the sun meets the sea. You can wear it five different ways: gown open over the playsuit, gown closed as a floor length dress, playsuit alone, gown belted, or the two pieces split across separate outfits entirely. It is one size, made to order, and every single one comes out a slightly different shade. This is the piece people stop you about in the street.

In this letter

• What is the Ramie Origami Gown Set in Uluwatu Sunset?
• What is ramie, and how is it different from linen?
• How do you style the Origami Gown and Kundalini Playsuit together?
• Why does wearing your best piece change how the day goes?
• What makes the Uluwatu Sunset colourway different every time?
• How do you care for botanically dyed ramie?
• Frequently asked questions

What is the Ramie Origami Gown Set in Uluwatu Sunset?

The set is two garments that were designed to live together and can be separated without either one losing anything.

The first is the Ramie Botanical Origami Gown. Full length, 100% ramie, with the Origami sleeve: wide, dramatic, folded at the arm the way Japanese origami folds paper, which is to say not as decoration but as structural intention. The fold is what makes the silhouette hold its shape when you move.

The second is the Kundalini Playsuit, our original silhouette, now with five to seven days of botanical colour soaked into every thread. It works alone. It works underneath. It is the reason the gown can be worn open all day without you having to think about it.

Both are one size. Both are made to order, which means allowing three to five weeks from the day you order to the day it ships. That wait is not a delay in the system. It is the system.

What is ramie, and how is it different from linen?

Ramie comes from the nettle plant. It is one of the oldest fibre crops we know of, and it behaves differently from the linen most people are used to.

The short version: ramie is roughly twice as strong as linen, holds more structure, and drapes with a weight linen never quite reaches. It arrives more architectural than you expect and then softens dramatically over the first few washes. If you want an immediately fluid drape, wash it before you wear it.

	Ramie	Linen
Source	Nettle plant	Flax plant
Strength	About twice as strong	Strong, the usual benchmark
Structure	Holds a fold and a shape	Softer, falls closer to the body
Drape	Heavier, more gravity in the movement	Lighter, more air
Over time	Softens noticeably in the first few washes	Softens gradually across years
Best for	A piece meant to be seen and remembered	Everyday wear and layering

This is why we made the Origami silhouette in ramie rather than linen. The sleeve is the whole point of the garment, and it needs a fibre with enough backbone to hold the fold while you are walking, reaching, gesturing, living.

How do you style the Origami Gown and Kundalini Playsuit together?

Five ways, in the order I actually reach for them.

1. Gown open, playsuit underneath

The default, and the one in most of these photographs. The gown hangs open like a coat, the playsuit carries the body, and the Origami sleeve does all the talking. This is the version that gets stopped in the street. Bare feet at home, flat sandals out, nothing on the neck. The sleeve is already the jewellery.

2. Gown closed, as a floor length dress

Fasten it and the set becomes a single ceremonial line from shoulder to floor. This is what I wear to teach, to host, to sit in circle. Add a wide belt at the natural waist if you want the shape defined, or leave it and let the ramie find its own gravity.

3. Playsuit alone

The Kundalini silhouette on its own is the everyday half of this purchase. Market, school run, the long slow morning. It is the piece that makes the set worth the money, because you will wear it far more often than you wear the whole look.

4. Gown belted, over your own trousers

Take the gown out of the set entirely. Wear it open over wide linen trousers or a plain slip, belt it low, and you have a completely different garment. Ramie holds this shape better than a softer fibre would.

5. Split across the week

The two pieces never have to appear together again after the first wear. The playsuit goes into rotation. The gown comes out for the day that matters. Same dye lot, two separate lives.

Why does wearing your best piece change how the day goes?

Because it is not superstition. There is research on this.

In 2012, psychologists Hajo Adam and Adam Galinsky published a study in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology that gave the effect a name: enclothed cognition. Participants who physically wore a white lab coat performed better on attention tasks than participants who did not wear one. Seeing the coat was not enough. Wearing it was what mattered. Their conclusion was that clothing works on two levels at once: the symbolic meaning we attach to the garment, and the physical experience of having it on the body.

Which is a formal way of saying what every woman already knows in her own life. You put on the good thing and something in you straightens. The work gets easier. The ideas come. The needle moves without you forcing it.

Most of us keep our best pieces for a day that never quite arrives. The dinner, the trip, the occasion. Meanwhile the ordinary Tuesday, which is where the actual work of a life gets done, gets the thing we grabbed. I would gently suggest that we have this backwards. If what you wear changes how you think, then the day that most deserves your best piece is the day you have something difficult to do.

I wrote more about this rhythm of reaching versus resting in The Slow Season Nobody Warns You About, if that is where you are right now.

What makes the Uluwatu Sunset colourway different every time?

Uluwatu at sunset is not a metaphor. It is a specific place at a specific hour, when the cliffs hold the last of the afternoon and the sea below goes from blue to something closer to rose. The colourway carries pink, blue and white, and it was matched to that light.

The dye is botanical and hand applied in small batches here in Bali. It takes five to seven days to build. Not five to seven minutes in a chemical bath: five to seven days of soaking, drying, resoaking, waiting. That is why the price sits where it does, and it is why no two pieces come out identical.

Your gown will carry its own variation of the colourway. If you order the set, both pieces come from the same dye lot, so they match each other even though neither matches anyone else's. Over the years the colour will deepen and shift. That is not fading. That is the dye continuing to live. It will be more beautiful in a year than it is on the day it arrives.

The same dye process runs across Golden Sunset, which sits in yellows, greens and whites, and Dark Moon Black. If you are choosing between them, Uluwatu Sunset is the one that reads as a statement from across a room. Golden Sunset is warmer and easier to wear daily. Dark Moon is the one you will never once feel overdressed in.

How do you care for botanically dyed ramie?

1. Hand wash cold. Cold water only. Heat is what pulls botanical colour out of a fibre.
2. Hang dry, out of direct sun. A tumble dryer will shorten the life of both the dye and the fibre.
3. Wash before the first wear if you want softness immediately. Ramie arrives structured. The first few washes are what relax it.
4. Wash it less than you think. Air it overnight instead. Most pieces need washing far less often than habit suggests.
5. Let the colour move. It will deepen and shift over the years. This is the dye behaving correctly, not failing.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Ramie Origami Gown Set one size?

Yes. Both the gown and the playsuit are one size, cut generously so the silhouette works across a wide range of bodies. The gown is designed to be worn open or closed, which gives it more room to adapt than a fitted garment would.

How long does the set take to arrive?

Allow three to five weeks from order to shipment. Every piece is made to order and botanically dyed by hand in Bali over five to seven days, so nothing is sitting on a shelf waiting.

Can I return it if it is not right?

Because these are made to order botanical dye pieces, we offer exchanges rather than returns. If the fit or the colourway is not right for you, write to us and we will sort it out.

Is ramie better than linen?

Not better, different. Ramie is around twice as strong as linen and holds more structure, which is what allows the Origami sleeve to keep its fold. Linen is lighter and softer against the skin from the start. If you want a piece with presence and architecture, choose ramie. If you want easy daily softness, linen is likely the better call.

Will the colour fade?

It will change, which is not the same thing. Botanical dye deepens and shifts over time rather than washing out to grey. Cold water, no direct sun, and hang drying will keep it living for years.

Can I buy the gown and the playsuit separately?

Yes. The gown is $333 on its own and the playsuit is $264. The set is $588, which saves you a little and, more importantly, guarantees both pieces come from the same dye lot so they match each other exactly.

If you are choosing what to wear for a season rather than a single day, the Odyssey and Eclipse Season ritual style guide is the companion piece to this one.

With love from Bali,
Myrah