Rick Owens Abito In Maglia – Column Dress

Abito in maglia is simply Italian for a dress in knit, and the plainness of the name is a fair warning that the difficulty is all in the making. A knitted dress cut this close has nowhere to hide. There is no lining to smooth anything, no darts doing structural work, no seam allowance to let out. The shape comes from the yarn, the gauge, and the pattern, and if any of the three is wrong the garment reads as a tube.

The composition is what makes it behave. Viscose carries the drape and the fluid surface, polyester and nylon give the knit its recovery so it returns to shape rather than growing through a long evening, and a small percentage of elastane provides the stretch that lets a close dress be comfortable at all. That is an engineered blend rather than a romantic one, and it is the correct answer for this garment.

Two details do the rest. The cutout at the low back is placed where it reads as a considered opening rather than as an absence, and it is the reason the dress is dramatic from behind and quiet from the front. The vent at the hem is the unglamorous piece of thinking that makes a column dress wearable, because a column with no vent is a garment you can stand in and not one you can move in.

Cardinal red is a serious choice in a house better known for shadow, and it is the reason to buy this one.

Why we selected it

We buy very little red. We bought this because it is the rare dress that is severe and warm at once, which is a combination almost nobody manages, and because the customer who wants one dress for the year is better served by something with this much conviction than by another black one. It is also the piece we would put a first-time Owens customer in. The knit is forgiving to wear and unforgiving in silhouette, which is the right way round.

Owens’s knitwear is the quietest part of his line and the part that most often ends up in permanent rotation, and the Column is where a knit is asked to do the work of a formal dress.

Materials and construction

Sixty-three percent viscose, twenty-seven percent polyester, seven percent nylon, and three percent elastane. Made in Italy, in Cardinal Red. Round neck, topstitched detail, low back cutout, vent at the bottom hem.

Fit notes

This is a close-fitting dress and it will read closer on the body than the same shape in a woven. Knits of this composition stretch through the day and recover with rest, so a dress that feels exact in the morning and relaxed by evening is behaving as designed. The back cutout means a conventional bra will show; that is worth knowing before rather than after. If you are between sizes, the smaller is usually the correct one in this blend, because the recovery is genuinely good.

Styling

On its own with a heavy shoe is the whole idea, and a substantial boot under a close red column is a better combination than a delicate heel. Under a black leather jacket it becomes something harder. In warm weather it needs nothing. We would resist adding jewellery to the neckline; the cutout is the ornament.

Care

Knits of this composition prefer cool hand washing and flat drying, and they should never be hung wet or left on a hanger for long periods, because a fine knit stretches under its own weight. Reshape while damp. Our care guidance covers the general principles.

Related pieces

We would point to the Pillar Skirt, which is made in the identical knit, the Athena Dress, and the Abito – Taco Gown. Everything we currently hold from Rick Owens is listed together.