Ann Demeulemeester Fiene T-Shirt

Three fibres, three jobs, and a slim long-sleeved tee is where you can feel all of them. Viscose is most of this cloth and the reason it falls the way it does, cool against the skin and fluid rather than springy. On its own it would be a poor choice for a close sleeve, because viscose has little recovery and a slim fit asks for recovery constantly at the elbow. Polyamide answers that. Cotton is the third decision and the least obvious: it gives the surface a dry grip, so a garment cut this close sits on the body rather than clinging to it.

The long-sleeved tee is the most worn thing in most wardrobes and the least often bought carefully. This one is drafted for the fit it is sold in, which is rare in a garment nobody expects to have been thought about at all.

Ann Demeulemeester founded the label in 1985 and Stefano Gallici has designed it since 2023. The close, plain layer worn under everything else has been part of this house's line from the beginning.

Seventy percent viscose, fifteen percent polyamide, and fifteen percent cotton, made in Italy, in ivory. Cut slim, with long sleeves.

Slim is the design rather than the sizing, so it is close through the body and closer through the sleeve. A knit gives, and what matters in this one is that it gives it back: the elbow and the cuff return to shape between wearings rather than holding the shape the day left them in. Ivory is a pale colour on a close cut and will show whatever is worn underneath.

Under the Agnes Jacket, where a padded shoulder wants a close sleeve beneath it and nothing more. With the Treze Bootcut Trousers, since the trouser is carrying the outfit and the tee is the plain half of it. Ivory against black is the argument for owning it in this colour rather than another.

Viscose is at its weakest wet, so wash it cool, never wring it, and dry it flat rather than on a hanger, where the weight of the water pulls a wet knit out of shape and leaves it there. Our care guidance covers viscose and why it behaves the way it does.

For the same fibre in a longer cut, the Berly Dress. To layer over it, the Agnes Jacket, and to wear it with, the Treze Bootcut Trousers. The rest of what we carry from the house is on the Ann Demeulemeester page.