Summer dressing begins with fabric. Get that right and the rest tends to follow. Get it wrong and no amount of silhouette or styling will save you. Linen, thankfully, rarely puts a foot wrong. It breathes, it softens, it crumples in all the right ways. ISTO knows this. The Lisbon-based brand has made a name for itself by getting the basics right – proper materials, considered cuts, made in Portugal, without the usual retail theatre.
This season, it turns its focus to linen. The result is a compact, precise edit of summer pieces that strike a balance between relaxed and refined. There’s a short sleeve shirt that feels quietly essential – clean, no fuss – and a camp collar version that adds just enough personality without veering into Magnum P.I. territory. The long-sleeve option is sharper, for when a bit more structure is required (dinner, travel, surprise meetings).
On the lower half: drawstring shorts for casual days that still demand some intent, and pleated trousers that feel more grown-up than the average holiday kit. And then there’s the linen work jacket – the standout. Tailored but easy, sturdy but breathable, the sort of thing that makes the rest of the outfit irrelevant.
Everything is made from Normandy-grown flax and produced in Portugal, a detail that reads as both practical and poetic. It’s linen that behaves – holds its shape, keeps its colour, and gets better the more you wear it.
ISTO’s linen drop isn’t showy. It’s not trying to reinvent anything. It’s simply a well-made answer to the question of what to wear when it’s warm. Good clothes, thoughtfully made, for long weekends, sticky commutes, spontaneous dinners and everything in between.
No branding. No seasonal gimmicks. Just things that work.
