Linen clothing in a professional setting

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Angie is co-founder of YLF and its resident fashion stylist.

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Linen clothing in a professional setting

— by Angie

on May 13, 2010

Linen is a natural fabrication that creases heavily. Linens blended with synthetic fibers like nylon, acetate and polyester crease less, but they still crease. So when you purchase any linen garment, you have to commit to the creases as part of the look. And the wrinkling starts the minute you move in the clothing so by the end of the day you’re pretty creased.

Linen clothing rears it’s cool and breezy head every Summer for both men and women and is particularly popular in Europe. It’s found in all sorts of garments from dresses, scarves, trousers, shorts and skirts, to shirts, blouses, tunics and jackets. You can also get linen bags and shoes.

Linen clothing tends to denote a casual vibe, but in the right structured garments it can be interpreted in a more dressy sense too. Business casual slacks, jackets, shirts and suits are available every year and I especially see a resurgence of linen dresses. This could be another 90’s influence but I’m not sure.

It’s a given that you’re going to look creased at some point during the day no matter what. So the question is whether structured, but wrinkled linen can look professional in business settings. There are several things to consider:

Your specific line of work
The actual blend of the linen fabrication (some crease more than others)
The type of garment you choose
The rest of your ensemble

I wear structured linen button down shirts and have a few linen jackets. I wear them both in a business casual sense and smart casually with jeans. I believe that structured and tailored linen pieces (like the ones below) can work for business casual in warm weather when dressier elements like shoes and accessories accompany the ensemble. But unstructured linen garments are best left for casual wear.

What do you think? Do you wear linen and get your head around wearing the natural fiber in business casual settings? Or is linen strictly for casual wear?

These linen items are dressy and worn in a dressy way. For me, they will work in a business casual environment that leans toward casual.

Career Wear · Fabrications

42 comments · Add a comment

Shari

I have always loved linen and I wear it for both business and casual. I wouldn’t wear it for business when I have to travel (by car or plane) prior to the meeting, but I would otherwise. I just embrace the wrinkles. Magic sizing helps a ton….

May 13, 2010 at 7:28 am

Moira

It’s not for me…I find I feel/look like a crumpled mess in no time.

Actually, I am a woman with a few extra pounds. I feel that women of my size have to try a bit harder to look polished…everything tends to look more casual/less smart on me that it does on someone thinner. So..nothing that can have a rumpled vibe for me.

May 13, 2010 at 7:29 am

RoseandJoan

Veteran

I like the linen pencil skirt but I do hate creases. It is a bug bare of mine that I work behind a desk and then have to rise and be presentable to clients. The less wrinkles the better IMO!

May 13, 2010 at 7:35 am

Rosie

Veteran

I really love the pieces you’ve posted, and they’d certainly be appropriate for my job. I kind of feel how Moira does, though, so I am pretty careful about linen. I have actually just been thinking about a blazer like the one you posted, though, for the warmer months. I really love the skirt and the dress, too. I much prefer this structure to the straight linen button-downs and breezy, tie-waist pants that just get wrinkled in bad places!

May 13, 2010 at 7:42 am

SusanH

This post made me realize that I’m actually not sure what linen is! I have a cardigan that the tag says is linen, but it’s knitted, so it doesn’t wrinkle. When I wear it I have the feeling of wearing linen: it helps guard against the A/C indoors in summer, but I can go out in the heat in it without feeling all gross. I definitely prefer it over the woven, creasing linen items I’ve tried.

May 13, 2010 at 7:46 am

rae

(website)

Veteran

Um… anything and everything I wear to work gets creased — even my cashmere sweaters. I do have a pair of very tailored linen blend pants, and they don’t seem to wrinkle any more than my other pants. I WISH I could prevent the wrinkles in at least some of my bottoms, but I haven’t figured it out.

May 13, 2010 at 7:47 am

marianne

Active Member

I really like linen, I think it’s great fabric for hot summers. My work dress code is casual, but I still wore it a lot in my business casual days – shirts, pants, pencil skirts. Creasing doesn’t bother me, and I also found that some weightier linen fabrics don’t crease as much and drape better. I need to check out those linen dresses you mentioned!

May 13, 2010 at 8:02 am

Michelle

(website)

Veteran

My loathing of ironing has a heavy influence on my opinion of linen. I shy away from that particular fabric in nearly every context. I’m willing to wear sleevess linen tops or even dresses provided it’s in one of the blends that doesn’t crease as much, but even then I’m far more likely to reserve those pieces for weekend wear. If I’m going for a smarter vibe, linen has no place on my body because I know I’ll be far too conscious of my rumpled appearance by day’s end. I currently have no linen in my wardrobe and I don’t have plans to change that situation.

May 13, 2010 at 8:13 am

marianna

Veteran

I don’t wear linen — the creases make me feel messy. I agree with Moira’s point that larger women have to try a bit harder to look polished, and crinkled linen is not a good look for us. Looking neat is really important to me.

May 13, 2010 at 8:25 am

Joy

Veteran

I’ve been purging my closet of linen because I just don’t feel polished in it and it’s limiting because the garments seem too summery for other seasons. If I can find it, I prefer raw silk to linen and wish this fabric would come back into popularity. It has a casual elegance and interesting texture with the comfort of natural fiber.
My SIL absolutely loves linen for summer. She wears larger women’s sizes but manages to look great in her structured linen trousers and big shirts over a tee for everyday casual wear. She adds silver, shell, wood or natural stone jewelry in large statement pieces that fit her proportions and looks fab.

May 13, 2010 at 8:30 am

Antje

Veteran

I really like the look of linen (though it’s too high maintenance for me personally) and find it perfectly appropriate in business casual settings. All of the looks in your images would get my thumbs up, except that the dress feels a little “bare” but that’s more about how it’s cut than the material (the combination of sleeveless and short makes it less suitable for a business environment, though it really depends on the type of industry and company and I’m sure it would be fine in many settings.)

May 13, 2010 at 8:38 am

Alecia

Veteran

My job requires walking blocks between my office and the Capitol. During the summer, temperatures can be upwards of 100 degrees. I’m willing to deal with the creases for the temperature control linen provides.

May 13, 2010 at 8:51 am

Dusty

(website)

Active Member

I don’t think I own anything linen for myself, but I bought a linen dress shirt for my son to wear for Easter. I think linen has always seemed dressy to me for some reason. Maybe it’s the fact that it has to be ironed and starched to look nice, maybe it’s the image of the southern gentleman in a white linen suit that does it, I’m not sure. So, yes, I’d wear it for business casual, but I’d have a harder time wearing it in a very casual setting.

May 13, 2010 at 8:56 am

rute

Veteran

I avoid linen because of the wrinkles, but it all depends of the fabric and of the mix, my black pencil skirt has linen, it doesn’t wrinkle and its cool perfect for our hot weather.

The H&M jacket I recently bought from the garden collecttion has also linen, it wrinkles a bit more but I work in a casual environment, so there is no problem.

May 13, 2010 at 8:58 am

Alexandra R. Bush-Kaufer

(website)

Active Member

I adore linen for the warmer months – it’s a better fiber for the heat than cotton, which tends to get swampy (ugh!). I think part of my fondness for it, though, is that I don’t expect linen to look polished and crisp. Yes, you can get it that way with an iron, and it stays that way for five seconds flat.

For me, the trick is slightly less-structured pieces and lots of washing. Yes, machine washing (it’s safe in the dryer, too). When linen goes through the washing machine, it gets super-soft and drapey. If it’s been washed enough times, it doesn’t take the big, nasty creases for which it is so infamous – it has a gentle hammered texture and feels lovely.

For hundreds of years, before the introduction of cotton from India, everyone in Europe wore soft, often-washed linen as undergarments. It’s a wonderful fabric, as long as you don’t expect it to act like a warm-weather equivalent of wool suiting or cotton broadcloth.

May 13, 2010 at 9:06 am

san

I have two items with linen, one is the dress I wore in my Dansko review which is 70% linen, and I have a tunic which is 100% linen. I haven’t worn the tunic yet.
Alexandra, I’m very interested in how my linen tunic may soften after many washings. Does it shrink, and should I wash it in cold water? Do I put it in the dryer for a full drying cycle? Thankyou.

May 13, 2010 at 9:43 am

Srujana

Veteran

I don’t think i own anything linen at the moment. But I love how they styled that rust colored top on the Nordstrom’s website, with the wide popped collar and white pants. That just seems like the picture of polished summer..

May 13, 2010 at 9:45 am

chewyspaghetti

Veteran

I’ve always loved the texture and heavy drape of linen. Fortunately, I have a casual lifestyle and don’t have to decide if it’s appropriate or not. Ironically, most linen pieces that I find are too heavy for my desert summer. I’d love to find a lightweight, floaty top or dress that would work for me.

May 13, 2010 at 9:52 am

Fathenry

Nope, I do not like it. The creases drive me nuts and look sloppy to my eye.

May 13, 2010 at 10:26 am

mamark

I think all of those items look fine in the photos, but of course they never photograph them after they’ve been worn all day.

In terms of wearing linen in a professional environment: I wore a dark grey linen skirt to work yesterday. Of course it was just a mess of horizontal creases by the end of the day, but yesterday was a day where I was mostly working at my computer all day, interrupted only by a business lunch with a colleague I know well. I knew that when I was getting dressed.

Today I’m giving a presentation at a board meeting and I’m wearing gabardine. I would never have worn the linen skirt today.

So I guess I’d say it depends.

May 13, 2010 at 10:34 am

swirl

Active Member

I am a fellow Washingtonian who loves linen for the way it gets you thru the tropical weather without being drenched in sweat!

I purchased a linen skirt for my very first professional interview. When I complained to the salesperson about the wrinkles, she said in that wonderful Virginia accent: “Honey, when it wrinkles everyone knows you’re wearing genuine linen!” It is a luxury fabric that proclaims itself.

May 13, 2010 at 10:38 am

Vani

Veteran

LOVE that BR linen dress!

For Southwest Florida temps, I love the practicality, breeziness and “breathability” of linen. I find structured linen garments withstand wrinkling a little better. Especially when they are lined with a material that can breathe or are a cotton blend. I have a lined, structured linen jacket (my military style cropped grey jacket) that works wonderfully even in summer.

May 13, 2010 at 10:38 am

Louise

Veteran

I like the breezyness of linen clothing but due to the creasing i prefer to wear it casually x

May 13, 2010 at 10:51 am

Inge

(website)

Moderator

I love the breezy and light feel of linen clothing for Summer, but loathe the wrinkling. You’re absolutely right about it being very big in Europe, Angie, I’m often not very fond of the styles in the shops (a bit old-fashioned), but once in a while some gorgeous linen blend garments in unexpected colours can be found. (I bought a fantastic striped cascading cardigan at Benetton last year e.g., so comfy, light and fab!)

I completely agree that linen can work for a business environment as long as the item is structured enough. Then again, I love structured items in general, so feel free to ignore me;-)

May 13, 2010 at 10:59 am

Lisa

I don’t prefer it. I like the look in a shoe or a scarf, but avoid more general pieces such as tops and pants. Too crumpled for me.

May 13, 2010 at 11:19 am

taylor

Veteran

Ironic you mention this. I just purchased a pair of beautiful black linen blend trousers. I usually like my clothes pressed within an inch of their life, but these had such a fab fit. lower on the waist, SLIM through the leg and full at the bottom, like super bell bottoms really, about 1/4 inch off the ground, almost grazing…I thought of you Angie…thinking you would approve of these!!

May 13, 2010 at 12:49 pm

LisaP

(website)

Active Member

I love linen pants and blazers for casual wear. I saw a photo of myself years ago at a wedding in a linen dress and I even had wrinkles in the behind area from sitting. That was truly not attractive!

So I only have linen for fun times, going out with the girls, running errands, etc.

May 13, 2010 at 12:57 pm

Katja

(website)

Active Member

Alexandra, I’m very interested in how my linen tunic may soften after many washings. Does it shrink, and should I wash it in cold water? Do I put it in the dryer for a full drying cycle?

I’m not Alexandra, but I machine wash linen warm, and usually line dry it. What I really usually do is hang the garment on a hanger to dry, smoothing it out while it’s still damp. Frequently you won’t even need to iron it once it dries.

You can machine dry it, but should not let it get bone dry – the fiber gets brittle and is very difficult to iron. One of the reasons linen is so comfortable at extreme temperatures is because it absorbs and loses water very rapidly.

May 13, 2010 at 1:14 pm

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Moira and Marianna, that’s an interesting perspective.

SusanH, knitwear can have a linen content. That means that linen fibres were knitted into the yarn on the items. Makes sense!

Michelle, I loathe ironing. My linen items go straight to the cleaners.

San, a fine linen does indeed become softer as you wash and wear it.

Mamark, you hit the nail on the head. Context is important for linen to be office appropriate.

Taylor, I’m sure we’ll love your linen pants.

I’ve found that linen shirts and pants crease the most. But linen skirts and jackets less so because they’re usually lined which prevents excessive wrinkling somehow. Also, linen blends are always a better idea.

May 13, 2010 at 2:31 pm

Beth

Veteran

Ahhh, linen is one of those ultimate summer fabrics. In fact, I don’t wear linen any other time of year. Maybe it’s a southern thing, but linen is all over the place in the summer here. Wrinkles are just part of the charm:)

May 13, 2010 at 2:52 pm

Jamie

(website)

Thank you for the post on linen. Please, Please, will you address HOT, HUMID, climate dressing.
I live near Houston, TX and am in a state of sweat from mid-April to November, and don’t look good in unstructured clothing. Must wear a jacket of some type…I’m an hourglass/apple. Thanks.

May 13, 2010 at 3:19 pm

April

Veteran

I had just about sworn off linen, Angie, due to the wrinkle factor — and then I saw the tie-front tunic that you just added to the store… Gorgeous!

May 13, 2010 at 4:10 pm

Meredith

I work in a casual environment, and I think linen looks perfect in this setting.

One of my pregnant co-workers came into my officube today wearing a linen skirt. It was a little wrinkled, but her outfit still looked cool and breezy and fabulous. The temperature in our office fluctuates wildly between freezing and burning hot in the summer, so I have had my eye on a few linen pieces for the summer.

I am surprised that the textile wizards of the world have not come up with a fabric that looks and feels like linen but doesn’t wrinkle.

May 13, 2010 at 4:21 pm

emt

I agree with Moira et al, & I share Michelle’s loathing of ironing. I am uncomfortable with the rumpled linen look on me, especially at work (though that jacket might work ok). Interestingly, giving it some thought, I always like the way most other women look in linen even with the creases. If I decide to give it a shot I think I’d go with top pieces rather than slacks or skirts/dresses.

May 13, 2010 at 6:12 pm

Maya

Veteran

I like the feel of linen but hate the wrinkling. I’m not especially crisp and polished, but the amount of wrinkling that happens with linen just makes me feel disheveled.

Since dry cleaning is so expensive and terrible for the environment, I just avoid it and avoid ironing too. But that doesn’t work with linen.

May 13, 2010 at 6:49 pm

Joelle

I don’t own anything in linen because the thought of all that ironing makes me hesitate to buy. I would consider wearing a linen top, but because of sitting-down creases I think I’d avoid linen bottoms or dresses.

May 13, 2010 at 9:03 pm

Phoebe

Veteran

Linen has this boho touch that I avoid. though, I have a black linen blend suit I wear on very hot days. The wrinkling makes me crazy, so I wear it and put it away again for a long time…

May 14, 2010 at 3:03 am

carrie

I love the look of linen on other people. Personally, I spend a lot of time ironing and trying to achieve a perfectly pressed look. I can’t seem to get comfortable in linen because I always feel rumpled.

May 17, 2010 at 10:51 am

Tanya

Veteran

I like linen, and own a couple of linen clothing items. Most of them are for casual wear, but I have a beautiful tailored linen-blend jacket that does not wrinkle and is totally office worthy.

May 17, 2010 at 6:58 pm

Silver Fox

Linen is the majority fabric in my closet. I love the rumpled, Celtic and slightly wild look of it, but apparently many people are put off by linen. I live in North Florida where most people dress very casually and I work in publishing, so there’s really no dress code. I have long skirts, many long, flowing dresses, tunics, and jackets in linen and it’s true that it is a fantastic fabric for hot, steamy days as well as overly-air-conditioned offices. To me, it’s the perfect fabric for those who are not trying to look too perfect!

September 14, 2010 at 8:47 am

Mamavalveeta03

Veteran

I love your choices! Let’s face it, the British have been wearing linen in India forever! And it makes a lot of sense in the summer and humid months; With linen comes wrinkles, and that doesn’t really bother me as much as it does some people. I expect it. It’s natural. Is it really a BIG problem worth getting worked up over? I don’t think so.

June 7, 2012 at 4:26 pm

W.Todd Clark

I like white linen pants for both men and women.

August 7, 2016 at 4:17 pm

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