How to wear linen

Linen wants to hang, not to cling. Almost every question about how to wear it resolves into that one sentence. Give it room at the widest part of you and let the rest fall, and linen does the work. Fight it, belt it tight, size it down to skim the body, and it will crease in exactly the places you did not want it to.

That is the whole principle. Here is what it means for trousers, for shirts, for work, and for the white ones you are slightly afraid of.

Linen trousers, and the one thing that makes them work

The mistake is almost always the same: the trousers are right and the top is wrong.

Wide linen trousers carry a lot of volume. If you put volume on top of volume, the whole outfit reads as fabric rather than as a person wearing fabric. So the rule is simple. Wide below, closer above. A fitted knit, a slip, a shirt tucked at the front only. Something that lets the eye find your waist without the waistband having to hold it in.

The reverse works too, and is worth remembering when the day is hot: a wide, generous top over a narrower linen trouser. What does not work is both at once.

• Let the hem break, or clear the floor. Linen trousers should either sit just above the shoe or pool slightly. The in-between length, hovering at the ankle, is the one that looks accidental.
• Choose the shoe first. Wide leg with a flat sandal reads relaxed. The same trouser with a clog or a low heel reads considered. Nothing else in the outfit has to change.
• Do not press a crease into them. A sharp centre crease fights the fabric. Linen is not tailoring wool and does not want to be.

Our Pantalon wide-legged linen trousers are cut for exactly this, and the Mona Pant takes the same idea with a drop crotch and side pockets.

How to wear linen trousers to work

This is the most searched version of the question, and the honest answer is that linen goes to work fine as long as you give it one structured thing to lean on.

Structure does not mean a blazer, though a blazer works. It means one piece in the outfit that holds a shape: a jacket, a stiffer shirt, a real shoe, a bag that stands up on its own. One is enough. Linen supplies the ease. The structured piece supplies the signal that you dressed on purpose.

Two things to avoid. Very pale linen in a room with hard overhead light shows every crease, so keep the deeper colourways for the days with meetings in them. And skip the linen-on-linen matching set for the first meeting with someone new, unless the set is genuinely sharp. It reads as holiday before it reads as work.

White linen, and the fear of it

White linen is the piece most women want and most women hesitate over, and the hesitation is usually about two things: transparency and dirt.

On transparency, the answer is not to buy heavier fabric. It is to wear the right thing underneath. Nude or a colour close to your own skin disappears. White under white does not, it announces itself as a second layer. A full slip solves it entirely and adds nothing in heat, which is why we make the Everyday Linen Slip in five colourways rather than one.

On dirt, white linen is more forgiving than dark linen, not less. It takes a hot wash, it takes sun, and it comes back. The dark colourways are the ones that need care.

Linen shirts

A linen shirt is three garments depending on what you do with the front.

• Fully open, over a slip or swimwear, it is a layer. This is the one that works at the beach and, with the sleeves rolled, at dinner afterwards.
• Buttoned and loose, worn out over trousers, it is the easiest thing in the wardrobe and the hardest to get wrong.
• Half-tucked at the front only, it gives you a waist without a belt. This is the version that makes wide trousers work.

Roll the sleeves to just below the elbow rather than above it. Above the elbow reads as busy. Below it reads as unhurried, which is the whole point of the fabric.

The Suka Button Down Set is a shirt and a wide trouser cut to the same logic, which is why it is the piece we are asked about most.

Linen for men

The same principle, with one addition: men's linen fails when it is too short and too fitted. A linen shirt cut like a jersey T-shirt has nothing to drape with.

Buy it a size more generous than you think, leave it untucked, and let the hem sit somewhere around the middle of the fly. The Camisa del Novio is cut that way on purpose, and it is borrowed constantly, which we take as the compliment it is.

The wrinkles

Here is the thing nobody selling linen will say plainly: it creases, and there is no version of it that does not. A linen garment advertised as wrinkle-free has been blended with polyester or chemically treated, and both of those trade away the reason you wanted linen.

What you can do is choose where the creases land. A heavier or stonewashed linen creases softly and reads as texture. A very fine linen creases sharply and reads as crumpled. Sitting for three hours will always leave marks across the lap, and hanging the piece in a steamy bathroom overnight will always take most of them out.

Building it out

If you are starting, three pieces cover almost everything: a wide trouser, a shirt that opens, and a slip that goes under both. Add colour after you have the shapes.

Everything we make is in the linen collection, and the matching pieces are in the sets. How it is made, and why the lead time is what it is, is on our slow fashion page.

Keeping it

Wash cold, hang dry, skip the dryer. Linen softens with every wash and lasts decades when it is not tumbled. If your piece is botanically dyed, dry it in shade rather than sun, and the full method is in how to care for naturally dyed clothing.

Frequently asked questions

How do you wear linen trousers without looking shapeless?

Keep the volume on one half of the outfit. Wide linen trousers want a closer top: a fitted knit, a slip, or a shirt half-tucked at the front. Wide on wide reads as fabric rather than as an outfit. Choosing the shoe first also settles the whole look, since a flat sandal reads relaxed and a clog or low heel reads considered.

Can you wear linen to work?

Yes, if one piece in the outfit holds a shape. A jacket, a stiffer shirt, a real shoe or a structured bag is enough. Linen supplies the ease and the structured piece supplies the signal that you dressed deliberately. Deeper colourways show creases less under hard overhead light.

How do you stop white linen being see-through?

Wear something underneath in a colour close to your own skin. Nude disappears; white under white announces itself as a second layer. A full-length slip solves it completely and adds almost nothing in heat.

How do you wear a linen shirt?

Three ways, depending on the front. Fully open over a slip or swimwear it is a layer. Buttoned and worn loose over trousers it is the simplest option in the wardrobe. Half-tucked at the front only it gives you a waist without a belt, which is what makes wide trousers work. Roll the sleeves to just below the elbow.

How should men wear linen?

More generous than feels natural, and untucked. Men's linen fails when it is cut short and close, because there is nothing left for the fabric to drape with. Let the hem sit around the middle of the fly.

Does linen always wrinkle?

Yes. Anything sold as wrinkle-free linen has been blended with polyester or chemically treated. What you can choose is how the creases read: heavier or stonewashed linen creases softly and looks like texture, while very fine linen creases sharply. Hanging a piece in a steamy bathroom overnight removes most of them.

With love from Bali,
Myrah