I picked four shirts that are great to throw on lightly during the change of seasons when daytime and nighttime air feel different. There's AMOMENTO's Sheer cotton shirt, Grey with its subtle, skin-revealing sheer look, MARGESHERWOOD's softly draping SILKY SHIRT_ivory and SILKY SHIRT_black, and the CUPRA SILKY SHIRT_black. Shirts these days have a generous fit, so if you leave them unbuttoned, they easily double as a light outer layer.
The cupra on our list is made from cotton linter, the fine fuzz around cotton seeds left after long fibers are extracted. In the 1890s, the German company Bemberg established a method to dissolve this discarded fuzz in a cuprammonium solution and spin it back into smooth yarn. Round and fine in cross-section, it has a silk-like sheen and quickly wicks away sweat and moisture, quickly earning its place as a luxury lining and blouse fabric.
If you like a crisp texture, AMOMENTO will suit you, and if you're looking for a smooth, fluid feel that drapes without clinging to the body, MARGESHERWOOD will be comfortable. Would you like to choose within the KRW 100,000s range, or narrow it down first to cotton materials or a roomy oversized fit?
↳ To shirts in the KRW 100,000s
Here are AMOMENTO's Sheer cotton shirt, Grey, MARGESHERWOOD's SILKY SHIRT_ivory and SILKY SHIRT_black, the CUPRA SILKY SHIRT_black, and Moia's sheer stripe shirt (ivory). This list leans toward textures that don't constrict the body, feeling lightly sheer or softly fluid.
In 19th-century Troy, New York, USA, when it was hard to wash an entire shirt every day, a clever trend caught on: cutting off only the grime-prone collar with scissors and washing it separately. People detached just collars and cuffs, starched them heavily, ironed them stiff as cardboard, and fastened them on with buttons; thanks to this booming shirt industry, Troy came to be called the "Collar City." Those crisp, interchangeable white collars later became the origin of the term "white-collar," meaning office workers.
Unlike the days of heavily starching fabric, today's shirts fall lightly and flexibly, skimming gently over the skin. Shall we check the crisp feel of cotton first, or narrow it down by fluid, silky fabrics or color palettes?
↳ To cotton materials
I picked five shirts woven from cotton. There's AMOMENTO's sheer cotton shirt, Moia's sheer stripe shirt and sheer check shirt, INSILENCE's 오버핏 내츄럴 셔츠 IVORY, and MARGESHERWOOD's WINDOWPANE CHECK SHIRT_grey. Looking at today's cotton shirt lineup, the weight leans quite a bit toward sheer textures that are loosely woven so they don't stick to your body and offer a clear see-through look.
It brings to mind voile fabric, named after the French word for veil. It's a plain-woven fabric made by loosely and evenly weaving fine, hard-twisted cotton yarns; it became wildly popular for summer dresses and curtains when mass-produced in 19th-century European spinning mills. Thanks to its uniquely cool touch and soft, sheer transparency, it remains loved to this day as an iconic romantic fabric.
Sheer cotton has that charm where air passes through its loose weave and the inner layer peeks subtly through. Among these five, shall we look at thin, transparent sheer materials first, or narrow it down to oversized fits or solid patterns with less see-through?
↳ To sheer cotton
I picked three cotton shirts with sheer textures. Moia's sheer stripe shirt (ivory) with its subtly visible weave, the sheer check shirt (navy) featuring a grid over a calm navy base, and MARGESHERWOOD's COTTON DOBBY SHIRT_white with its crisp, textured surface. All three are thin cotton, so draping them over bare skin feels light and unconfined.
Dobby fabric got its name in the 1840s when a mechanical device replaced the "drawboy"—a boy who manually lifted warp threads in traditional weaving workshops for complex patterns. It was a mechanism designed to weave simple, loose geometric textures instead of grand jacquard pictorials. Its hallmark is creating subtle diamond or dotted three-dimensional textures purely through yarn weaves, without needing separate embroidery.
Each sheer look gives a different impression, and the weave textures on the surface vary, so your choice may depend on the occasion. Shall we look at solid ivory first, or narrow it down to a clean non-check look or something less see-through?
↳ To solid ivory
For solid ivory shirts, I picked two: AMOMENTO's Pintuck Slim Shirt, Ivory and Sheer Cotton Classic Shirt, Ivory. Ivory holds a gentle, sunlit tone rather than a bleached white, so even worn alone it never feels cold. The pintuck slim shirt features fine pleating across the front chest for dimensional texture, while the classic shirt is made from a sheer, thin cotton fabric that drapes lightly.
In the late-19th-century Edwardian era, Gibson Girls created shape by working tiny pintucks—around 1/16 inch—densely into thin, airy cotton voile. Before cutting the garment pieces, they went through the painstaking process of stitching pleats and lace row by row across wide fabric before cutting out the chest panel. That technique of casting subtle shadows across thin cloth to lend an elegant three-dimensionality remains alive in today's shirts as well.
You can choose the silhouette you like between a slim fit with pleat detailing and a standard fit that flows with ease. Shall we look at a cropped length, a classic fit, or narrow it down to one that's easy to layer over other clothes?
Final Selected Products
