100% or it’s no good!

I know the last time I was here, I complained at not needing to use my new stash of summer dresses due to the horrendous summer weather we’d been having. Well… you all know how this works, the weather did a complete 180 to make a fool of me.

By putting it off because I didn’t believe it would happen, I ended up a hot and sweaty mess when, in the middle of a period of horribly high temps, I finally did get around to re-arranging the contents of my closet. And all because I couldn’t find that one particular dress I wanted to wear.

The reason I was looking for that one particular dress is because I’ve learned something. It turns out that in the world of summer clothing, I am very much Princess and the pea. Perhaps I should clarify…

Lots of summer dresses are 100% viscose and described as light, airy and flowy. All true, except when the temperatures are properly high. Then – for this person anyway – they are anything but. Ever since that hellish time of life which was peri-menopause, I’ve have had a malfunctioning body temperature regulator. Once I start to get hot, even if I do all the things it takes to cool down, my body keeps on going, and up and up the thermometer rises. Obviously it does eventually stop, or I’d have expired by now, but still.

So, when the temperature starts to rise, I move from viscose to cotton. Of course, I also have a whole bunch of linen items, but ironing them is a huge PITA and, even when you do a brilliant job of ironing, it takes mere minutes before they head down the road to looking like a dishrag. I know the older linen gets, the less that happens, but right now… I’m in the still waiting phase.

With all this in mind, for last year’s shopping I focused on cotton. But what I’ve discovered is that some of what I bought last year and which was described as cotton, turns out to be only mostly cotton. In fairness somewhere around 95-96% – but combined with something else, sometimes unnamed, often elastine. And that 4-5% is enough to trip my malfunctioning body temperature regulator. So, yeah… the reason I was hunting for that one particular dress that I know is 100% cotton is we were going to be spending the day outdoors. Not just us, but with a bunch of other people, so I couldn’t really use my usual cooling down method of going for a drive in my car with the air-con at full blast.

In terms of clothing, how do you manage temperatures extremes? Do you have any individual needs/preferences to navigate when clothes shopping?

© Debs Carey, 2024

27 thoughts on “100% or it’s no good!”

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  2. Today I’m also wearing a sleeveless dress. But because the temperatures have dropped a bit, it’s fine for it to be viscose (honestly, what a palaver!) But yes, I’m ready to welcome the next season and get those layers going 🙂

    I read recently about a man whose wardrobe consisted of the smallest number of items (if of the best quality), and did feel a significant amount of envy. Oh for a laundry system which would allow me to do likewise.

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  5. I think it’s time for me to do a count and, inevitably, another cull. This guy had 20-25 items including shoes which made my mind boggle. He lived in the tropics so didn’t require cold weather gear, but still.

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  8. How funny, a friend of mine has offered to help me do likewise once she gets back from holiday. I’m sure I will feel the same 🙂

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  10. Yup. The temps had just started to cool off here and I could feel a touch of autumn (fall) in the air, when then it chucked in two horridly hot and humid days and nights, meaning we got no sleep and were grumpy. Roll on yoga pant weather, I am so here for it.

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  11. PS: excellent alliteration there 🙂 Didn’t want you to think I hadn’t noticed or appreciated it.

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  12. When I lived in the Philippines, all my clothes were cotton except for my silk party dresses.

    I’m past menopause, but, in general, my temperature regulating system is sub-par. I’m also the Princess and the Pea. So I like the temperature just right and clothing that can be put on and taken off with ease.

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  15. Nicki, it’s so good to have someone who shares my Princess and the Pea-dom 🙂 And yes, when we lived overseas, it was only ever natural fabrics and generally cotton.

    I’m past menopause too, but that particular little treat stayed with me. The joys of womanhood eh?

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  16. While I couldn’t agree with you more Mark, I wouldn’t want to scare the horses! 😀

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  17. Yup, yup, yup! Janis, you’ve got it in one. That’s one of the best thing about maxi dresses… so cool down below 🙂 I’d not heard of RipSkirts before, what a fantastic idea they are!

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  18. I have a few dresses that I bought for travel that are sleeveless and loose fitting. They are my go-to in the hot weather, but I’m not so picky about the material when it comes to heat regulation. My body doesn’t seem to be as sensitive as yours when it comes to a cotton blend. I will say I have been recently sweating more in the evening. I’m not sure what triggered that all of a sudden! You’d think it would be the opposite…that I’d get hot during the day and cool off with the temps at night. But not so much.

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  19. I never wear dresses. I feel like a frump in them so avoid them. As for clothing preferences, I like 100% cotton when I can get it but after that I buy what I can find that fits and is in colors I look good in and doesn’t break the bank. I’m not a clothes horse so this works for me.

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  20. We live in a completely humid environment at least eight months of the year, so cotton and linen clothes are critical. I have a few shirts that were advertised similarly to that dress of yours, even though it’s mostly some kind of poly fabric. Some of them somehow work in the hot and humid, but mostly I’m drawn to those cottons. I agree about linen, though: good lord, those are a pain to maintain. Unless I splurge and take them to the dry cleaners, they always require ironing. Ugh. – Marty

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  21. Honestly Christie, having been brought up in the tropics, I never thought I’d suffer like this in England! That is a strange experience for sure, but our bodies are extraordinary, and not always in a good way.

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  22. I used to avoid dresses Ally, except my reason was that I felt they were for girly girls, soooo not me.

    I’ve always preferred to wear natural materials, probably ‘cos of those years overseas. I suspect part of the problem I have with finding 100% cotton is that the UK still believes it’s not a country where hot weather happens much. And yes, when I do find them, it’s for bank breaking money. I’m also not a clothes horse, so it makes me especially cross that my cost per wear on summer wardrobe items is so much higher than the rest of the year.

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  23. Marty, that’s just brought to mind that when we first moved to the UK, my mother took our stuff to a laundry service, so everything came back washed and pressed. The same when I was in boarding school. But, as you say, it’s a real splurge and not something I can justify.

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  24. We Brits never get it right with clothes. We always dress as if the weather will be like it was the day before – cotton dresses in sudden cold wind, woollies in blazing sun – and often it isn’t.

    Worse, when going on holiday, you can never depend on weather being like it says in the brochure. Last April, the Mistral unexpectedly hit us on what should have been a nice warm holiday in south of France. We’d looked at the weather forecasts beforehand, but a lot of people in our group were shivering all week in light clothes.

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  25. You’re so right there Rosemary!

    I’ve seen that often in southern Spain, when people are surprised how much cooler the weather is in the evening after a hot day on the beach. And, of course, sunburn will make the slightly cooler temps feel even more chillier than they are. It really can’t be any fun shivering on holiday.

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  27. That’s it exactly, although the temp difference is even more stark on the coast.

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