Silk or Linen for Summer and How to Choose Between Them

A client once came to me in late May with two lengths of fabric over her arm. One was a cream linen, slightly rough, the kind that creases when you look at it. The other was a pale grey silk crepe de chine that poured through her fingers like water. She wanted one summer dress, and she had been going back and forth between the two for a week. Her question was simple: which one is better for summer?

I gave her the answer I always give, which is that it depends on what her summer actually looks like. That sounds evasive, so here is what I mean. Silk and linen are both excellent summer fabrics, but they are good at very different summers.

How the two fabrics behave in heat

Linen comes from flax. Its fibres are long and hollow, and the cloth is usually woven fairly openly, so air moves through it easily. It absorbs moisture well and dries quickly. It also stands slightly away from the body, because the fabric has some stiffness. That gap between cloth and skin is a large part of why linen feels cool.

Silk comes from the cocoon of the silkworm. It is a very fine protein fibre, and it is surprisingly good at regulating temperature. It feels cool against the skin at first touch, it is light, and it can absorb a fair amount of moisture. But silk lies close to the body. Woven silk drapes, it does not stand away. On a still, humid day, that closeness can feel clinging.

So in dry heat with a breeze, both feel wonderful. In heavy, humid heat, linen usually wins. In an air conditioned office in July, silk is often more comfortable, because it does not feel stiff or cold when you come in from outside.

What each one asks of you

This is the part people forget when they choose fabric in a shop. A dress is not just how it feels on day one. It is how much effort it takes on day forty.

If you want detail on the linen side, Hana tested washing and storage routines for years and wrote them up in how to care for a linen dress.

Weight matters more than the fibre name

People argue about silk versus linen as if each were one thing. They are not. A lightweight handkerchief linen, around 120 to 150 grams per square metre, is a completely different summer fabric from a heavy 250 gram linen that belongs in a jacket. Silk is often described in momme, a traditional unit of weight. A light habotai of around 8 momme is almost transparent. A crepe de chine around 16 to 18 momme is a good weight for a dress that does not cling or show everything underneath.

When a client tells me linen was too hot or silk was too clingy, the problem is usually the weight or the weave, not the fibre. A summer dress in a medium weight crepe de chine behaves nothing like a slippery satin slip. A summer dress in light linen behaves nothing like a heavy linen shirt dress. Ask for the weight before you decide.

The advice I disagree with: silk is the luxury upgrade

There is an old idea that linen is the casual choice and silk the elegant one, so if you can afford it, you should choose silk. I spent years in ateliers where that assumption was rarely questioned. I do not agree with it anymore.

For most real summers, linen is the more practical fabric and often the more elegant one, because it looks the same at five in the evening as it did at nine in the morning, just softer. A silk dress that has been sat in on a hot train for an hour can look tired in a way linen does not. And silk's elegance depends heavily on care. A silk dress with sweat marks under the arms is not luxurious, however much it cost.

Silk has its place, and I love sewing it. But calling it an upgrade misunderstands what a summer dress is for. The better question is which fabric fits the life the dress will actually lead.

Choose the fabric for the day you will actually have, not the day you picture in the fitting room.

Three summers, three answers

When I help someone choose, I ask them to describe a normal day in the dress. These are three answers I heard last year, and what I recommended.

• A teacher in Seville, walking between buildings in dry heat, often above 35 degrees, little air conditioning. Linen, light to medium weight, cut loose with short sleeves. Silk would have shown every bit of sweat by noon.
• A lawyer in London, commuting on the Tube, then sitting in cool offices all day. Silk crepe de chine, medium weight, a simple shift with a jacket for the office. Linen would have looked crumpled by her first meeting.
• A woman packing for two weeks of island travel, beaches in the day, small restaurants in the evening. Mostly linen, with one silk slip dress for evenings, because silk weighs almost nothing in a suitcase. Our travel wardrobe notes cover this kind of packing.

As for my client in May, she described long weekends in the countryside, picnics and a lot of sitting on grass. She chose the linen. She came back the following spring for a silk dress to wear to a wedding, which I think was exactly right.

A simple test before you buy

If you are standing in a shop torn between the two, try this. Hold the fabric against the inside of your wrist for ten seconds, then crush a corner in your fist for five seconds and let go. Linen will feel slightly textured and will keep the crease. Good silk will feel cool, smooth and will recover more. Now ask yourself honestly whether you mind the crease, and whether you will hand wash the silk. Your answers to those two questions usually decide it faster than any fabric guide. For more plain explanations of summer cloth, see our Fabrics section.