This dress, spotlit and impressive in the window like an old sailing-ship figurehead, is called Ruffle Bib. The material is linen hessian – a non-luxury material which might make many think of wallpaper scrim, but here it is fine weave and supple to the touch. It also carries the faint, honest smell of linen prior to treatment which normally obliterates any odour. The linen’s modelling into large ruffles suits the spirit of the fabric perfectly. And, bordering these ruffles like exacting lines of ink, are ribbons of rich black cotton.
Karen Walker is at 126 Wakefield Street, Wellington.
