The Linen Shirt: Simple Care That Keeps It New

Linen is the best fabric for a Gulf summer: air passes through it, it dries fast, and it stays cool when everything else clings. The one complaint is creasing, which is the nature of the fibre rather than a fault. You can reduce it a great deal: take the shirt out of the machine straight away, shake it out once, firmly, and hang it damp on a wide hanger. Most of the creasing falls out as it dries. If you do iron it, iron while the cloth is still slightly damp, on a medium heat, from the inside - and never use starch, which makes linen fibres brittle over time. Wash at 30°C with like colours and avoid bleach entirely, even on a white shirt. For storage, fold rather than hang for long periods: a hanger leaves a shoulder mark in linen more than in any other fabric.