Cortana Mayu Dress

A print that changes with the light is not the same thing as a print that is busy, and Astra is the first kind. It is complex enough that the eye keeps finding new arrangements in it, and because it is carried on silk, the surface it sits on is never flat for long. Silk reflects light directionally, which means a fold reads as a different tone from the plane beside it, and a pattern laid across that is effectively being re-lit every time the wearer moves. That is the mechanism, and it is why a printed silk dress does something a printed cotton one cannot. The cut is unfussy on purpose: unstructured, body-skimming, falling from the shoulder with the silk doing the shaping. There is no attempt to build a silhouette, because a silhouette would create hard edges and hard edges are where a print like this stops working. The dress is a surface for a painting, and Cortana’s prints begin as paintings, so that is not a metaphor.

Why we selected it

Print dresses are usually bought for the print and regretted for the cut. This one has almost no cut to regret, which is the reason it will still be worn in five years.

Rosa Esteva’s watercolors are the origin of Cortana’s prints, and Astra is the one that shows most clearly what happens when a painted image is carried on silk rather than on a stable cloth.

Materials and construction

Silk, in the Astra print. Unstructured, body-skimming cut. We do not hold a percentage figure for the silk, only that the dress is described as silk throughout, and we do not hold a country of origin for this piece.

Fit notes

Body-skimming rather than fitted, so it sits away from the body at every point except the shoulder. Silk has weight and will find the body as the day goes on. There is no structure in it to fight a shape, which makes it one of the more forgiving things to wear in the collection and one of the harder ones to alter.

Styling

It carries itself. The Sack M Bag is quiet enough to go with it. If it needs a layer, the Nora Cardigan in deep navy is the least distracting option, worn open.

Care

A printed silk is a dry-clean garment unless the label says otherwise, and it should be kept away from antiperspirant, which damages silk faster than wearing it does. If it is pressed, press on the reverse while slightly damp, never on the print. Our care guidance covers the rest.

Related pieces

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