Capucine Thevenot | Sheer Embroidered Floral Lace Button Front Balloon Sleeve Blouse

Embroidered lace does something plain fabric cannot - it holds light. Flowers and trailing leaves are stitched onto a fine mesh so the pattern sits raised against the skin, and the whole blouse shifts between solid and soft depending on how the light catches it. It looks like something found in a market in a hot country rather than ordered from a website, which is most of its appeal.

Because the buttons run the full length of the front, it does more than one job. Fastened over a camisole with high-waisted jeans, it is the shirt for a long lunch that turns into a long afternoon. Worn with a bralette underneath and the top buttons left open, it becomes an evening piece. Thrown on over a swimsuit and not buttoned at all, it is a cover-up that walks from the sand straight into a bar. Layering is the design, not a workaround for it.

The detailing is what lifts it above a plain lace shirt: balloon sleeves gathered from a dropped shoulder into wide, scallop-edged cuffs that tie with a slim drawstring bow at the wrist, and that same scalloped edge finishing the hem. It sits short and easy at the top of the hip, giving a high waistband somewhere to land. Three shades, and the palest one is the one that ends up in everybody's holiday photographs.

Details You'll Love

• Embroidered floral lace on fine mesh - the pattern sits raised against the skin and catches light instead of lying flat against it.
• Full-length button front - decide how much shirt you want on the day, from fastened high to hanging open over a swimsuit.
• Balloon sleeves with scalloped tie cuffs - gathered from a dropped shoulder into a wide flared cuff that closes with a slim drawstring bow.
• Made to layer - sheer through the mesh between the flowers, so it is designed to go over a camisole, a bralette or a swimsuit.
• Scalloped lace hem - the same edging as the cuffs, so the bottom reads as a finished detail rather than a cut line.
• Short, easy cut at the hip - sits at the top of a high waistband instead of bunching underneath it.