Mai Gidah Sleeveless Jacket with Extruding Pockets

A pocket is almost always a subtraction. It is a slit cut into a garment with a bag hung behind it, and the whole craft of setting one is making it disappear into a seam. These are additions. They are built out from the surface as volumes, so they stand proud of the body of the jacket and read as sculptural objects attached to a plane rather than as openings cut into it, and they change the silhouette from the side rather than decorating it from the front. That only works in a cloth that can hold itself. Structured merino is what makes it possible: merino has fine, heavily crimped fiber, and crimp is what gives a wool cloth loft and spring, so a merino worked to a firm hand will support a shape standing away from the body without any interfacing to prop it up. The rest of the jacket is kept deliberately quiet so the pockets have room. No sleeves. The buttons run asymmetrically rather than down the center, which is the same decision as the crossbody rope on the Bulb-Shaped Short Jacket, made a second way. One hundred percent merino wool, in the color Static Grey. Made in the Netherlands.

Sculptural clothing usually depends on a stiffener, and a stiffener is what makes it uncomfortable and short-lived. This jacket gets its shape out of the wool itself, which means it will still hold that shape after it has been worn a hundred times.

The pocket that stands out from the surface is the thing this house is most recognized for, and this is the piece it is named after.

One hundred percent merino wool, worked to a structured hand. Sleeveless, with an asymmetrical button closure and oversized sculptural pockets built out from the surface. Color: Static Grey. Made in the Netherlands.

Sleeveless outerwear needs the armhole to clear a sleeve underneath without gaping, so it is cut wider through the chest than a jacket of the same size would be, and it is meant to go over something. The pockets add width at the hip whether or not anything is in them. An asymmetrical closure means the front will look different from either side, which is intended.

Over the Shortsleeve Tunic Shirt with the collar standing, which is what a sleeveless layer wants at the neck. Over the White Shirt with Autoportrait. With the Corduroy High-Waisted Trousers or the Drawstring Knitted Trousers.

Merino at full strength, and the pockets are the part to protect: have it dry cleaned rather than washed, and store it on a hanger with the pockets empty so the volumes do not set flat. Brush it and air it between cleanings. Our care guidance covers the rest.

The Shortsleeve Tunic Shirt with Wraparound Collar is a cotton shirt cut short in the sleeve, which is what a sleeveless outer layer wants underneath it. Everything we carry from Mai-Gidah is listed together.