Merritt™ | Elegant Summer Blouse

Colour blocks that don't have to land in any particular place.

Colour-blocked garments are usually cut, not printed: a pink yoke, a grey side panel, a yellow hem, each one a separate piece sewn at a seam. Grade that up from a smaller block and every block widens at a different rate, so the proportions that looked balanced on the sample go lopsided, and the seams land somewhere nobody planned. The other fault is the one every button-front shirt has: the buttons sit at intervals set by a smaller chest, so the widest point of your bust falls between two of them and the front pulls open into a gap the moment you reach or lean.

Merritt gets the look without the risk, because the blocks are printed rather than pieced — the pink shoulder, the sage sleeve, the yellow panel and the grey side are all one piece of cloth, with a drawn cat and a bunch of flowers laid over the top. Nothing has to meet at a seam, so nothing can miss. And the body is cut boxy and loose, so the placket is never carrying tension across the chest, which is what opens a button gap in the first place.

Why it works

• Colour blocks printed, not pieced: no seams that have to land in the right place, so the proportions hold at every size.
• Boxy cut through chest and waist: the front hangs loose instead of being held across you, which is the actual cause of a gaping placket.
• Drawing laid over the blocks: the cat and flowers run across the colour changes, so the eye follows the artwork rather than the joins.
• Dropped shoulder seams: meant to sit out on the arm, so a size chosen for your chest still hangs straight.
• Curved high-low hem: longer at the centre front and back, shorter at the sides.
• Roomy sleeves with a turn-back cuff: wide enough at the upper arm to roll and stay rolled.

Fit note

Boxy and oversized by design — take your usual size. The weave is fine and lets some light through at the hem, so a cami underneath if you'd rather it weren't see-through. The sleeves are meant to be turned back. One colourway. Sizes M to 4XL.