Lemaire Seamless Top

Seamless is meant literally and it is the reason this top feels the way it does. A conventional knitted top is made from flat pieces cut to shape and then joined, which means there is a seam running up each side of the body and around each armhole, and a seam is always thicker, stiffer, and less elastic than the cloth on either side of it. Knitting a garment in the round on a circular machine removes them entirely: the fabric is produced as a continuous tube, shaped by varying the stitch as it is knitted rather than by cutting, so there is no side seam, nothing to press against the skin, and no line of reduced stretch interrupting the fabric’s ability to move with the body. That is where “second skin” comes from, and it is a construction fact rather than a description. The cloth is 88% viscose and 12% silk, knitted in a soft fine rib and left semi-sheer. Viscose supplies the fluidity and the cool hand; the silk adds a faint dry lustre and a little strength to a very fine gauge. Made in France, which is worth noting because seamless knitting requires specific machinery and relatively few places still do it.

Why we selected it

Genuinely seamless construction is uncommon and it is immediately obvious in wear. The viscose and silk blend at this fineness is what makes it feel like nothing at all.

Fine knitwear made by a construction method most houses have given up is very much Lemaire’s register.

Materials and construction

88% viscose and 12% silk, knitted seamlessly in a soft fine rib, semi-sheer. Made in France, in dark brown.

Fit notes

Knitted in the round and finely ribbed, so it stretches in all directions and sits very close. Semi-sheer at this weight, which is a design decision rather than an accident and is worth planning for. We do not hold measurements, and there is no Lemaire size chart on this site.

Styling

It is a layering piece as much as a top on its own, and under the Soft SB Jacket or the Boxy Tailored Jacket the close line is the counterweight to an oversized shoulder. Dark brown is warmer than a black against the skin and reads softer through a semi-sheer knit.

Care

This wants hand washing in cool water and drying flat, and it is less forgiving than it looks. Viscose loses most of its strength when wet and a fine seamless knit has no seams to take the strain, so wringing or hanging it wet will distort the whole garment at once rather than at a seam. Support it throughout. Our fabric care guide has a section on viscose and other regenerated cellulosics, and one on silk.

Related pieces

In viscose, the Relaxed Shirt. The Rib Tank Top is the cotton jersey version of the same job, and the Light Plastron Top is the silk. Everything we carry from Lemaire is listed together.