Cortana UFO Top

Ramie is the fiber almost nobody uses. It is a nettle, spun from the stalk the way linen and hemp are, and it is stronger than either, holds a white better than either, and creases harder than both. Woven in ivory, it gives you the thing that is difficult to get in a plain top: a surface with something happening on it. The slub is inherent to the yarn rather than added to the weave, so it sits under the surface instead of on it, and it is what stops an unadorned ivory top reading as underwear. The cut is deliberately simple, shaped through the torso with minimal seaming, which is the only sensible response to a cloth that is already doing something.

We bought this for the fiber. Ramie almost never turns up in a plain top, and it is the reason this one has a texture that a cotton version of the same garment would not.

Ramie sits slightly outside what Cortana is best known for working in, and this is the piece in the collection that is most about the cloth and least about the cut.

Ramie, woven. Shaped fit through the torso, minimal seaming. Color: ivory. We do not hold a percentage figure or a country of origin for this piece.

Shaped through the torso rather than fitted, so it follows the body without holding it. Ramie has almost no elasticity, which means it will not stretch to accommodate and it will not bag out either. It creases readily. That is the fiber, it is the reason the cloth has texture at all, and a hot iron on the reverse while damp puts it back in a minute.

With the Costa Pants for ivory against linen, which is the most direct version. With the Mel Pants. Under the Nora Cardigan.

Ramie is a bast fiber and takes the same handling as linen: gentle wash, cool, air dry or dry flat, and press while damp. It is strong when wet, so it tolerates washing better than most of this collection does. Our care guidance covers the rest.

The Theresa Shirt is four fibers woven as a stripe, and the Anele Top is silk and cotton knitted close. Everything we carry from Cortana is listed together.