Rick Owens Double SS T – Milk

The Double is the construction, and everything worth knowing about these is in it. The jersey is doubled and the hem and sleeves are left on the fold rather than hemmed, so there is no stitching and no turned edge at any opening. That does two things. The doubled cloth has enough weight to drape instead of clinging, and the folded openings hang softly where a hemmed edge would sit flat and slightly stiff. A single seam runs down the centre back, which is the mark this house puts on nearly everything it knits. Below hip length, slim through the body. It is a plain tee only in the sense that there is nothing on it; there is a great deal in it.

The colour

Milk is the house's off-white: warm rather than optical, with no blue brightening in it. On a doubled jersey it also shows the construction more clearly than black does, because the folded hem and the centre back seam catch light instead of disappearing.

We bought this garment once and took it in three colours, which is the honest way to describe it. The Double is the piece we hand to anyone who wants to know what separates this designer's jersey from everybody else's, because the answer is a construction you can feel rather than a logo you can see. Taking all three colours was a decision about the pale ones specifically: this designer works in black, and the seasons when he does not are the ones worth buying into.

The Double is one of the house's own jersey constructions and has run through the collections for years in different weights and lengths.

One hundred percent cotton, made in Italy. Double-layered jersey with the hem and sleeves on the fold, and a single seam down the centre back. Below hip length, slim fit.

Slim through the body and below the hip, which is longer than a standard tee and intended. The doubled cloth adds weight without structure, so it falls close rather than standing away. Cotton jersey relaxes across a day and returns with washing. Take your usual size.

With black trousers, which is the whole men's line in one sentence. Under an open black outershirt, where the pale body against black leather is the strongest version of this shirt. Alone.

Wash cool inside out and dry flat rather than hanging, because doubled jersey has enough weight to lengthen on a hanger. Keep it out of a hot dryer, which is what fades cotton. Our care guidance covers the general ground.

The same shirt in pale blue and in thulian pink. For the same colour in a plainer tee, the Basic SS T in milk and the T-Shirt Level T. Everything we currently hold from Rick Owens is listed together.