STYLE

Linen Season: Nairobi

The case for linen in a city that never really gets cold is almost too easy to make. Nairobi sits at 1,700 metres. The sun is direct. The seasons are a negotiation rather than a declaration. In this climate, linen is not a seasonal choice — it is a permanent one.

Good linen is heavier than you might expect — more structural, slower to wrinkle in the way that becomes character rather than flaw. Stonewashed, it softens immediately. Raw, it stiffens pleasingly with wear.

The linen co-ord was designed for the city's rhythms — the morning meeting, the afternoon errand, the evening gathering that runs later than planned. It does not demand to be ironed. It asks only that you wear it.

Linen is patient. It improves with age and washing. In a city that moves as fast as Nairobi, there is something to be said for clothing that slows you down just enough to notice how well you are dressed.