Massimo Alba Bali Jacket – Hemp

Hemp is worth understanding before you buy it, because it is the reason this jacket exists. Like linen it is a bast fibre, taken from the stalk of the plant rather than a seed pod or an animal, and it shares linen's coolness, its strength, and its refusal to hold a press. Where it differs is in the arc. Hemp arrives crisper than linen, with more body and more resistance in the hand, and it softens further and for longer than linen does. A hemp jacket in its first month is a slightly formal object. In its third summer it is the softest tailored thing in the wardrobe, and it will have got there entirely through being worn.

The cut is doing the second half of the work. Stand-up collar rather than a lapel, five buttons rather than three, patch pockets applied to the outside of the cloth rather than cut into it. Every one of those choices removes a piece of formal grammar, so what remains is a plain buttoned shape in a strong, breathable summer cloth, in a blue with real depth to it. It is a jacket for heat that does not look like a jacket bought for heat.

Summer tailoring for women is almost always linen, and linen goes limp before the season is over. We wanted the same idea in a fibre with more spine, and hemp is that fibre. It also gets better on a timescale that suits how we like to sell clothes.

The Bali in hemp is the womenswear counterpart to Massimo Alba's men's jacket shapes, and it shows the house's soft-tailoring argument about as plainly as anything he cuts for women.

One hundred percent hemp, made in Italy. Single-breasted with a five-button closure, stand-up collar, and patch pockets. Colour: Blu.

Hemp has structure, so this holds its shape away from the body rather than falling against it, and it will read more architectural on than a linen jacket of the same pattern. Expect creasing at the elbow and across the back, which is the fibre and not the make. The stand collar sits close to the neck, so what goes underneath should have a low or open neckline. It will soften and relax noticeably over the first season and keep going after that.

Over the Arubaw polo or the Nizza shirt with the Lois trousers, all in whites and blues. Over the Jenny kaftan for evening, which is the version we would push. Sleeves pushed rather than rolled.

Hemp is durable and takes washing well, but this is a tailored piece, so treat it as tailoring: air it, hang it on a shaped hanger, and use a cleaner rather than a machine. Press with steam if you press at all, and accept that the creases come back, because that is the point of the cloth. Our general care guidance covers the rest.

The Lois Trousers and the Selma Shirt are the linen pieces cut for women, the Jenny Kaftan is the printed cotton and linen, the Arubaw Polo Shirt is the linen jersey, and the Rosy Cardigan is the silk. Everything we carry from Massimo Alba is listed together.