Cloth for This Climate: A Fabric Primer

The single biggest tailoring myth in hot climates is that wool is the enemy. Poor wool is the enemy. A high-twist, open-weave tropical wool breathes better than most cottons, drapes beautifully and recovers from a day of sitting in ways linen never will.

Linen has its place — but at work it announces every hour you have been wearing it. Blends earn their keep here: wool-linen for texture with recovery, cotton-wool for softness with structure.

Crush a corner in your fist for five seconds. Release. What you see is your three o'clock meeting. Hold it to the light: a weave you can breathe through is a weave you can wear in October in Gaborone.