Cortana Irina Dress

Rosa Esteva paints, and Cortana’s prints come out of her watercolors rather than out of a print library, which is an unusual way for a house to arrive at a pattern and it shows in the result. Espurna is geometric and it is bold, and it is the kind of print that decides what a garment is before the pattern cutter has done anything. The response is the right one: do less. This is a simple A-line in silk with no detailing to argue with the print, which means every design decision in the dress is a decision not to make one. That restraint is harder than it sounds. A loud print on a complicated cut produces two things fighting; a loud print on a plain cut produces one thing, and the silk is what makes the plain cut work, because silk falls in long uninterrupted planes and gives the pattern a continuous surface to live on. A stiffer cloth would break the print at every fold.

Why we selected it

We do not buy many statement prints, because most of them are somebody’s idea of what a print should look like. This one is a painting, and the dress underneath it has the good sense to get out of the way.

The prints are where Cortana is least restrained and the cutting is where it is most, and this dress is both of those at once.

Materials and construction

Silk. Simple A-line cut, minimal detailing, in the Espurna print. We do not hold a percentage figure for the silk, only that the dress is described as pure silk, and we do not hold a country of origin for this piece.

Fit notes

An A-line in silk sits at the shoulder and falls away, so it does not need to be fitted anywhere else and it is forgiving through the waist and hip. Silk of this kind hangs heavier than it looks on a rail. Choose for the shoulder.

Styling

It wants nothing over it and nothing under it, which is the honest answer for a print dress. If something has to go with it, the Sack M Bag in navy is quiet enough not to argue. Flat or heeled both work, because the A-line is not doing anything to the leg line either way.

Care

Silk with a print on it is a dry-clean garment unless the label says otherwise, and antiperspirant does more damage to silk than wearing does. Iron on the reverse, while slightly damp, never directly on the print. Our care guidance covers the rest.

Related pieces

The Mayu Dress carries the Astra print on silk, and the Tunez Pants are silk cut as a trouser. Everything we carry from Cortana is listed together.