The Cotton Shirt Does The Most Work

A cotton shirt is the most useful garment in a warm-weather case, which is a dull conclusion arrived at honestly. It works over a swimsuit, under a jumper, open as a layer and buttoned as a top. It handles a plane, a boat and a restaurant. Nothing else covers that range and nothing else recovers from being crushed in a case by simply being worn for an hour.

Weave decides how it behaves. Poplin is smooth, holds a crease and looks formal. Seersucker and crinkle finishes are designed to look rumpled, which means they never look wrong.

The shirts here cover a range of light layers and finishes. Flore Flore's Bes cotton bandeau and EB Denim's Eero V-neck tee are easy layering pieces. By Malene Birger's organic cotton tee and With Nothing Underneath's striped seersucker shirt each bring a different texture, while STAUD's Corinna, St. Agni's cotton-blend camisole, Vince's short-sleeve poplin and JBQ's Ander high-low add more ways to wear cotton.

Shorts and a shirt is the outfit this edit is really about, and it works because the proportions are opposite. A loose shirt over a fitted short, or a fitted top over a loose short. Both loose reads as pyjamas and both fitted reads as sportswear.

Length is worth being honest about. A short that sits at mid-thigh works with almost every shirt in the grid above. A very short one narrows the range to fitted tops only, which is a smaller wardrobe than it sounds when the alternative is a loose linen shirt over the top.

The shorts here cover soft knits, a football style, cotton minis and denim-adjacent shapes. Negative's waffle knit short and Les Tien's Serena cotton are the softest and closest to loungewear. Adidas x Wales Bonner's football short is the sportiest and the one that needs a smarter top. ELCE's Sol knit and LA VESTE's Carambola cotton mini bring different textures. Agolde's Lydia drawstring and EB Denim's Portman low-rise are the denim-adjacent pair, while posse's Cody short is the dressiest.

Shoes with shorts is where this outfit is decided. A sandal keeps it casual, a loafer or a ballet flat makes the same shorts read as tailoring, and the shorts themselves do not change at all.

The practical point is sock-free wear. A closed shoe in heat needs a lining that tolerates bare feet, which in practice means leather or a breathable mesh rather than a synthetic lining that turns slippery by the middle of the afternoon.

A.Emery's Clara leather sandal is the most casual, while STAUD's Fish Flop leather slipper is another relaxed option. Black Suede Studio's Finn suede loafers and Andrea Gomez's Dalia ballet flats are the two that smarten shorts most. Neous' Flege leather sandal, Odissi's Harper raffia ballet flat, Aeyde's Betty leather ballet flat and Alexandre Birman's Lia leather sandal round out the grid.

Max Mara, Dries Van Noten, Alaia and Givenchy add shirts in crisp poplin and soft cotton, plus a few brand-direct picks. A slightly oversized shirt tucked into trousers is the quickest polish.

These twelve are the button-downs I would actually pack, and every one is cotton or very close to it, checked on the composition label rather than the product name. White poplin comes three ways: The Anteros Lief in organic Italian cotton, TWP's The Night We Met, and Another Tomorrow's organic poplin. Comme Si's La Classica in Grecian Blue and Éterne's Lucien are the soft blues that go with denim, linen and a swimsuit equally well.

Stripes are where the personality is. Rùadh's Calder and Sanderlak's oversized shirt both come in a boardroom stripe, which looks sharp tucked into a skirt and relaxed worn open over a tank. Carolina Herrera's ivory and green stripe has long sleeves and a pointed collar, so it is the dressiest shirt here. YAITTE's Bouy has a wave pattern woven into cotton fil coupé, which gives texture without a print.

For something less expected, Asceno's Lincoln is a short-sleeved pistachio check with a slightly cropped fit, Citizens of Humanity's Kayla comes in a sandy Mojave tone, and The Anteros Philo is a clear azure.

My pairing tip: an oversized cotton shirt over a bikini top and drawstring shorts works for lunch, and the same shirt buttoned halfway with a belt works for dinner.

What I would skip: pressing them flat for a trip. A little rumple is the whole charm of a cotton shirt in warm weather.

For a trip, I would pack the seersucker or crinkle shirt rather than the poplin. Poplin looks sharp but needs an iron, and that is rarely what I want to manage away from home.

Shorts are worth choosing in a cotton with some body. The knit versions here are comfortable, but they can lose their shape by afternoon, which works at a pool and less well at lunch.

For shoes, a loafer or ballet flat makes shorts work away from the beach. A sandal keeps the outfit firmly casual.

I reach for the shirt meant to look crumpled, then wash it cool and let it air dry. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together Poplin Or Oxford and Barbour Jacket Dupe.