Hot weather dressing
How to stay cool in an overheated conference venue.
Those of you reading this in the Northern Hemisphere right now may think I’m trolling you with an article about hot weather dressing – but this is one of those ones you should bookmark for later as ‘false Spring’ has already happened and the real deal is just around the corner…
I live in Australia, which has been hotter, and more humid, than a Turkish Hammam this Summer. However, our buildings are generally air conditioned so, aside from that moment when you step out to the car and it feels like you’ve walked into a fan-assisted oven, you can easily forget it’s 42C.
It may surprise you to know that the places where I’ve most noticed the summer heat are London and Paris. Buildings in these cities are designed to hold the heat in winter, and a heatwave builds up in the bricks, making things deeply unpleasant for days afterwards. The Tube (the metro system in London, which is usually the quickest way to get about town when it’s working) has no air conditioning and can average 30C degrees between June and October (that’s 86F if you’re reading in the US). That’s an average, which means it can get a lot hotter than that…
However hard you plan to stay within sight of an air conditioning duct, you can guarantee that eventually you’re going to find yourself in an overheated venue. Whether it’s after work drinks at a rooftop bar in Singapore, or a conference in Oxford in some kind of double-brick panopticon, it’s a female executive’s worst nightmare.
Breathe, I’ve got your back. Below are some of the best ways to keep cool (besides staying put in the air conditioning) while remaining office-suitable.
WithPockets x
How to cheat the heat
1. Go for looser fitting styles.
This may seem obvious, but slim fit is not your friend because clothes that are figure-hugging trap the heat and leave you feeling like a sausage on the grill. This includes pencil skirts. Go for wide-leg or palazzo trousers or flowing skirts. You’ll see a lot of this style of clothing in the Australian and Emirati (Dubai) designers in the WithPockets Directory.
2. Size up.
This is something that we all forget to do – but it’s particularly important in summer. Without getting too explicit, it’s not just about the style of the trouser legs, it’s about having breathing space in the crotch area because you generate a lot of heat from there. If your trousers make ‘tiger stripes’ at the hips, they are too small (Fashion Critical calls these creases ‘crotch whiskers’, which I love). The exception to this is 100% linen clothing, which creases the second you so much as look at it, regardless of how it fits…
The next thing to consider is the fabric of your clothes because sometimes what feels like a ‘lightweight’ fabric can perform badly in the heat.
3. Preference natural fabric.
You’ve heard this one a million times but synthetic fabrics (nylon, rayon etc) generally do not perform well in the heat (although there are exceptions - read on…).. And when I say ‘not well’ I mean most will leave you sweating like Parmesan in a plastic bag. They also trap odour – and not in a good way.
A looser woven, fine cotton is fantastic (see below). Surprisingly, so is wool-silk (which is made with very fine merino wool). It can be difficult to find this fabric but it’s worth the search. You often come across wool-silk tops, at lingerie brands like HANRO.
I often wear HANRO tank tops and t-shirts in the office and no-one is any the wiser that they come from a lingerie brand (OK they are now…).
Another option is wool-voile. The one downside of this fabric is that, because it is so fine, it can catch easily. But it is beautiful as this top by Joseph shows.
Enjoying WithPockets but not ready to go paid? You can always buy me a coffee…
4. Trade linen for linen-viscose to lessen the creasing.
This is an exception to the ‘natural fabrics only’ rule above (I told you there were some). 100% linen, while great for the heat, is an utter pain in the butt as a fabric. If you are spending any time at all moving, sitting, or breathing, 100% linen will leave you arriving for your meeting looking crumpled like an Old Etonian diplomat. However, mixing linen with viscose keeps the breathability of linen with less stiffness and wrinkling.
The other option would be something like this Oroton shirt below, which is 100% linen but has a ‘bib’ incorporated into the design, which will minimise the creasing (pictures of this shirt weren’t available on Instagram so I’m praying Oroton will be kind and not sue me for sharing this…)
Oroton – Stitch Detail Shirt
5. It’s not just the fabric, it’s the weave.
Here’s something you may not know: satin is a type of weave. It can be made from many different types of thread, but it always looks shiny on one side and dull on the other. These days satin is most often made with polyester or rayon, which are not summer-friendly (or peri-menopausal women friendly…).
Meanwhile, cotton (a fabric, not a weave) can be great in summer, or it can be far too thick and heavy. You want a loose, breathable cotton weave, such as:
Seersucker – the crinkles in Seersucker serve to hold the fabric away from the skin, creating small air pockets that promote circulation.
Gauze or muslin – very light, loosely woven cotton that lets a lot of air in (I definitely do not recommend this fabric for conference speaking as it also lets a lot of light in …)
Voile – same rules as above apply.
6. Try a fine, loose weave Viscose LENZING™ ECOVERO™ fabric.
Here’s your second exception to the natural fabrics rule. A lot of brands are starting to use ECOVERO™ fabric (particularly in Europe and the US) to minimise their supply-chain impact. I bought a Sasha Relaxed Shirt made of this fabric from Whistles (UK) a few years ago (see below. And if you look closely you can see my photographer, AKA my teenage son, reflected in my glasses #TotalProfessionalism). It looks like linen, but it doesn’t crease and is machine washable. It goes surprisingly well with a lightweight navy suit (which, as you can see, has pockets!)
How do you beat the heat? Or do you dress however you damn well please and carry a portable fan and an ice pack? I’m particularly keen to hear from my Singaporean friends on this one!