Lemaire Double Pocket Shirt – Misty Lilac

Cotton crepe is what makes this shirt worth the attention, and it is a weave rather than a finish, which is the distinction that matters. Crepe is produced by weaving with yarns that have been given a very high twist before they go into the loom, so that once the cloth is finished and relaxed the yarns try to untwist and pull the surface into a fine irregular crinkle. Nothing is applied and nothing is pressed in; the texture is structural and it does not wash out. Three things follow from that, and all three are the reason to own a crepe shirt. It has a dry, matte hand rather than a smooth one, so it never looks glossy. It holds itself away from the skin instead of clinging, which is why a lightweight crepe wears cooler than a lightweight poplin of the same weight. And it does not read as creased, because a surface that is already irregular has nowhere to show a crease against. The rest of the shirt is left plain on purpose: a straight front button placket and two patch pockets on the chest, symmetrical, unflapped, and applied on the surface rather than set into the cloth. Two chest pockets is a workwear arrangement, and on a shirt this quiet they are the only structural detail there is.

Why we selected it

A lightweight shirt that does not cling and does not look crumpled solves a real problem that most summer shirting does not, and cotton crepe is the answer to it. The double pocket keeps it from being anonymous.

Lemaire’s shirting is where the house is at its plainest, and the interest is nearly always in the cloth rather than in the cut.

Materials and construction

100% cotton in a plain crepe. Double patch pockets at the chest and a front button closure. Made in Tunisia, in misty lilac.

Fit notes

Cut lightly rather than closely, and crepe holds away from the body rather than following it, so this will feel roomier in wear than its measurements would suggest. We do not hold measurements, and there is no Lemaire size chart on this site.

Styling

Misty lilac is the more interesting of the two and the harder one to find, since a greyed-off pale violet is a colour very few makers put into a men’s shirt. It functions as a neutral in practice and sits with grey, navy, brown, and denim without ever matching them, which is what makes it useful rather than merely unusual. The crepe texture keeps a pale colour from looking flat.

Care

Cotton crepe should be washed cool and dried gently, and it should not be pressed flat, since ironing removes the crinkle the cloth depends on. A pale colour will also show marking more readily than the charcoal does, so treat spots promptly and gently. Our fabric care guide has a section on cotton.

Related pieces

The same shirt in charcoal. The Embroidered Collar Shirt is the one with a detail on it, and the LS Relaxed Tee is the jersey layer underneath. Everything we carry from Lemaire is listed together.