Lemaire Relaxed Twisted Cardigan

Moving the buttons is the whole garment, and it is a much bigger change than it sounds. A cardigan is defined by a center-front opening: that is what makes it a cardigan rather than a pullover, and every other decision follows from it. Put the buttons on the side seam instead and the front becomes an unbroken panel while the opening moves to a place where the body naturally folds, which means the garment no longer has to be worn hanging from the shoulders at all. It can be fastened around the waist and worn as a wrap, or fastened conventionally and worn as a relaxed cardigan, and neither is the compromise version. Very few garments genuinely have two configurations rather than one plus a variation, and the asymmetry of the button placement is what makes both of them look intentional. The yarn is 50% acrylic and 50% wool in exact halves, which is doing specific work here: the wool gives the warmth, the loft, and the shape memory the wrap position needs, and the acrylic adds resilience and keeps the weight down, both of which matter on a garment that is going to be tied around a waist and pulled about rather than only hung from the shoulders.

It is genuinely two garments and the second one is not an afterthought. Side-seam buttoning is a real piece of design thinking and almost nobody does it.

Part of Lemaire's Twisted collection, and the clearest case in it of a construction change producing a second way to wear the garment.

50% acrylic and 50% wool. Asymmetrical buttons set on the side seam, allowing it to be worn wrapped around the waist or as a relaxed cardigan. Made in Portugal, in anthracite.

Cut relaxed, and the fit works differently in each configuration: worn as a cardigan it hangs from the shoulder, and wrapped it is sized at the waist. We do not hold measurements, and there is no Lemaire size chart on this site.

Worn wrapped it reads as a deliberate layer rather than as a sweater someone took off, which is the distinction the side buttons are there to make. Anthracite is a dark neutral grey and works both ways without either configuration looking like the accident.

An exact fifty-fifty blend takes its instructions from whichever component is less tolerant, and here that is the acrylic where heat is concerned and the wool where washing is concerned, so cool water and no heat covers both. Fold it rather than hanging it, since a relaxed knit stretches at the shoulder on a hanger, and that matters more than usual on a garment that also gets tied around a waist. Our fabric care guide has a section on garments that are more than one material, and one on elastane and acrylic in blends.

In knitwear, the Deep V Neck Jumper and the Wrap Over Cardigan. The Raglan Jacket Liner is the layer built to go under a coat. Everything we carry from Lemaire is listed together.