Vexelle™ | Elegant Long-Sleeve Blouse

A print with birds in it has to know which way is up — this one does.

Directional prints are the ones that go wrong quietly. Peacocks, long-tailed birds and butterflies all have a right way up, so the artwork has to be placed on the panel rather than tiled across it. Tile it anyway, which is what happens when a design gets stretched onto a bigger garment, and you end up with a bird cut in half at the side seam and another lying on its side under your arm. The neckline has its own problem: a V drafted on a shallower chest opens deeper and wider on a fuller bust than it did on the model, and a V finished with nothing more than a narrow binding has no stiffness of its own — it rolls outward and falls forward the moment you lean over a table.

Vexelle handles both. The artwork is placed as a composition across the whole shirt: the peacocks stand upright on the body, the poppies and jasmine fill the ground between them, and the butterflies sit where there is room, carrying over the shoulders and down the sleeves rather than repeating. The V is trimmed with a gathered, doubled ruffle running the full length of the neckline and placket, and a doubled edge has real body, so the neckline holds the shape it was cut in.

Why it works

• Placed directional artwork: the birds stand upright on the body and carry over the shoulders, rather than being tiled and cut off at the seams.
• Ruffled self-trim down the neckline and placket: the doubled edge holds the V's shape instead of rolling or falling forward.
• Buttons from mid-torso down: the front stays closed below the V without a fastening on the fullest part of the chest.
• Dropped shoulder seams: nothing has to land on your shoulder point, so sizing for the bust doesn't throw the sleeve out of place.
• Curved high-low hem: longer at the centre front and back, shorter at the sides, so sitting down doesn't pull it short.
• Roomy sleeves: wide enough at the upper arm to turn back and leave turned back.

Fit note

Boxy and generous — take your usual size. The sage ground is a fine weave and lets light through, most visibly at the hem; a cami underneath if you'd rather it weren't see-through. The sleeves are made to be worn turned back rather than down at the wrist. Sizes M to 4XL.