Lemaire Wrap Over Cardigan

The ballet wrap is a good thing to borrow from because it was designed under real constraints. A dancer needs a layer that keeps the muscles warm at the barre, comes off in one movement, does not restrict the shoulders or the back at any point in their range, and has no fastening that could catch or press against the body while turning. The answer the form arrived at is a fine knit that crosses over the front and ties, with no buttons and no zip anywhere. Rendered as a cardigan, that produces a garment with a soft diagonal front line instead of a vertical placket, which is a quieter and more flattering shape than a buttoned cardigan gives, and one that adjusts continuously rather than in fixed increments. Merino is the correct fiber for it. It is among the finest wools available, so it can be knitted at a very light gauge and still hold together, and a light gauge is what a wrapping garment needs, since anything thick bunches where it crosses. Granite black is a soft near-black rather than an absolute one, which suits a fine knit where a hard black would flatten the surface.

A wrap cardigan in a fine merino does something a buttoned one cannot, which is adjust continuously and lie flat where it crosses. The gauge is the reason it works.

Borrowing a garment from a discipline that had functional reasons for its shape is a regular Lemaire approach, and the ballet wrap came with more of those reasons than most.

100% wool in a finely knitted merino. Wrap-over front. Made in France, in granite black.

A wrap has no fixed closure, so it adjusts to the body rather than being sized to it, which makes it more forgiving across sizes than a buttoned cardigan. Fine gauge, so it layers under outerwear without bulk. We do not hold measurements, and there is no Lemaire size chart on this site.

The diagonal front line is the shape, so it is best left to lie rather than pulled tight, and it works over the Seamless Top or a fine shirt where a thick layer underneath would spoil the cross. Granite black goes with everything, and a soft near-black does it more quietly than an absolute black would.

Fine merino is delicate and pills where it rubs, so rotate it and de-pill it gently rather than aggressively. Wash cool by hand if at all, dry flat, and fold rather than hang, since a fine knit stretches badly on a hanger and a wrap has no structure to resist it. Read the moth section before storing it. Our fabric care guide has a section on wool.

In knitwear, the Relaxed Twisted Cardigan and the Deep V Neck Jumper. The Seamless Top is the layer for underneath. Everything we carry from Lemaire is listed together.