A woman who sets out to buy a luxury linen shirt usually knows what she does not want. She does not want a shirt that is thin by its second summer, that pulls across the shoulder, or that carries a logo where a button should be. What she wants is harder to put into a search: a garment of real cloth, made with care, that she will still reach for in ten years. This is a short account of how to recognise such a shirt, and of the garments in the PP collection that were made to be one.

Begin with the fibre. Linen is not one thing. The length of the flax fibre, the evenness of the spinning and the density of the weave decide whether a shirt softens with age or simply wears out. The most reliable sign available to a buyer is a statement of origin that can be checked. Belgian Linen is a certification mark for linen woven in Belgium from European flax; a garment that carries it comes with a certificate, not an adjective. PP uses certified Belgian linen for the core of its women's collection, and natural linen for the remainder, and says which is which.

Then the making. Look at the buttons, which tell more than their size suggests. On PP garments they are natural: seashell for the most part, walnut on the Oyster colourway of the Amelia linen dress shirt. Look at where the garment was made and by whom; PP garments are made by hand in the Dubai atelier and in Belgium. Look, finally, at what is absent. A shirt that relies on nothing but cloth, cut and button has nowhere to conceal a shortcut. Every component is a natural material, and the garment is biodegradable by design.

The first of the three is the Amelia linen dress shirt. It is a shirt in every detail, with a collar, a placket and a full sleeve, cut long, to the thigh. It is worn buttoned and belted, open over swimwear, or loose with the sleeves rolled. In certified Belgian linen it is offered in Coral Orange, Violet, Hibiscus, Oyster and Dubarry; in natural linen, in Lemon, Pink and Blue. It is a natural garment to begin with, and the Journal gives it a full account in the Amelia linen dress shirt guide.

The second is the PP linen blouse. It is the shorter and neater of the two: hip length, long in the sleeve, closed with seashell buttons. It is the piece for trousers and for shorts, for travel, for a lunch that becomes an afternoon. It is offered in Orchid, the colourway it shares with the men's Vibes linen shirt, and in Lemon, Pink and Sky Blue. Where the Amelia linen dress shirt makes an outfit on its own, the blouse completes one. The distinction is drawn in the PP linen blouse and the Amelia linen dress shirt. Both are in the women's linen collection.

The third is not a shirt alone. The ladies linen set pairs a blouse with shorts in the same cloth and colourway: Dubarry, Sky Blue, Light Blue, Mint Green, Lemon and Coral Orange. The two pieces are sized separately, which matters more than it sounds, and each is worn as readily apart as together. For a woman assembling a warm-weather wardrobe from nothing, it is the most direct beginning. Beside these, the HER Laos linen shirt, in Blue, Grey, Orange and Pink, and the HER Male linen shirt, in White and Pink, bring the names of the house's men's shirts into the women's collection.

On colour, a principle. Choose first the shade that will be worn most, and only then the one that is most admired. Oyster and Dubarry are the quiet colourways, at ease in a city and by the sea. Lemon, Pink, Blue and Sky Blue are clear and light, made for mornings. Violet, Hibiscus, Coral Orange and Orchid carry an evening. A first shirt in a quiet colourway and a second in a strong one is a sound order in which to proceed.

On size, linen does not stretch and should not be bought close. The Amelia linen dress shirt runs from XXS to 3XL and the PP linen blouse from XS to L. A shirt with room in it is cooler and hangs properly, since the cloth is not held against the body. If between two sizes, the larger is almost always the right one in linen.

Where to find them. The collection is presented at a small number of resort boutiques: One&Only Aesthesis near Athens and One&Only Kéa Island in Greece; Park Hyatt Dubai and its Lagoon Beach Club, Surf Club Dubai and Sofitel The Palm Beach Resort in Dubai; Four Seasons Resort and Residences, Río Grande, Puerto Rico; and Tiziano Brunetto in Santa Margherita Ligure, by Portofino. Elsewhere, garments are ordered directly from the house, where the whole of the women's linen collection can be seen together.

A luxury linen shirt is not an elaborate thing. It is a small number of decisions made properly: the fibre, the weave, the button, the hand. Made well, it asks only to be washed, worn and kept.

The Amelia Linen Dress Shirt Guide  ·  The PP Linen Blouse Guide  ·  Buying a Linen Shirt for Women