Massimo Alba Stole

Cotton and linen is an unusual choice for a wrap and a very good one. Wool and cashmere wraps are warm, which is the obvious virtue and also the limitation: they are useless from May to September. A large piece of cotton and linen does the other job, which is coverage without heat. It shades a shoulder in the sun, it takes the edge off a room that has been over-cooled, and it goes over a dress at nine in the evening when the temperature drops the way it does here. The linen in the blend gives the cloth a dry handle and enough body that it stays where it is put rather than sliding off, and the cotton keeps it soft.

At this scale it is genuinely large, which is the difference between a wrap that works and a scarf pretending to be one. Ferro is iron, a grey that sits against every colour this house dyes.

Sizing and dimensions

A square, one hundred and thirty-eight centimetres on each side, which is large enough to cover both shoulders and still fall to the elbow, and large enough to fold in half diagonally and wear as a substantial scarf. The square is the reason it does both. A long rectangle only ever hangs; a square folds on the bias into a scarf, folds again into something that sits at the throat, and opens flat across a back. Cotton and linen at this size has real presence when it is worn open and folds down small when it is not.

We wanted a summer wrap, which is a category almost nobody makes properly, and the size is why we took this one. Most of them are too small to do the job they are sold for.

Sixty-one percent cotton, thirty-nine percent linen, made in Italy. One hundred and thirty-eight centimetres by one hundred and thirty-eight centimetres.

Over the Jenny kaftan or the Rosy cardigan in the evening. Over the Bali jacket in hemp on a windy evening. Folded on the bias at the neck for the least ceremonial version. Ferro against Bianco is the pairing.

Wash cool and dry flat, and reshape while damp, since a large piece of linen will pull out of square if it is hung wet. Press on a medium setting if you want it flat. Our general care guidance covers the rest.

The Bandana is the cashmere, wool, and silk square, and the HANKY1 handkerchief is the printed cotton one. The Jenny Kaftan is the printed cotton and linen, and the Rosy Cardigan is the silk. There is more on the house on the Massimo Alba designer page. Everything we carry from Massimo Alba is listed together.