The Sheerest Summer Shirting
- Aug 14
- 3 min read
Updated: 19 hours ago
By Eric Langlois
I first learned about voile from, of all things, an episode of the animated series The Venture Bros., in which a deathtrap is mistakenly filled with “a soft, sheer fabric” that was warmed up in the dryer instead of the requested hot oil.
It wasn’t until many years later, when I was working in the menswear industry and reading up on lightweight materials, that the joke clicked in my mind and I realized that it was an exceedingly niche reference to an uncommon weave of cotton cloth.
Voile (apparently it rhymes with “soil” or “The Friends of Eddie Coyle”) is a high-twist cotton material, which is so lightweight as to be translucent.
The word voile is french for “veil,” referring to its light-permeable qualities and its use for veils on women’s hats or for wedding attire.
Because of its see-through nature, it’s often used in soft furnishings, like window curtains or mosquito netting in tropical climates.
Voile’s breathability has made it a traditional material in West African men’s and women’s clothing, where it can provide some respite from humid conditions while also being layered to guard against the tropical sun.
In Europe and North America, it’s most commonly employed in dressmaking, layered to provide lightweight volume much like other materials such as chiffon. It is also occasionally used for daring, see-through women’s shirting.
Voile used to be more common in men’s shirting too, particularly for warm-weather formalwear. Because a tuxedo shirt has french cuffs and a pleated front, and because it would always be worn under a jacket, the see-through qualities of the sleeves and back would not be noticeable, while still allowing for greater airflow on hot summer nights.
Additionally, the high-twist yarns allow it to resist wrinkling, similar to fresco wools, maintaining a crisp look that is ideal for formalwear.
In eras where men would be expected to wear a jacket at all times, it was also used alongside more casual summer suiting to keep the wearer cool.
The front panel of casual voile shirts would often have a double layer of material, to make it less see-through.
Like a lot of hot-weather materials, voile fell out of favor as air conditioning became more ubiquitous in the latter part of the 20th century.
Formal and informal voile shirts can be seen on Sean Connery and Roger Moore as James Bond in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, but in later Bond films it has been used only for black tie on Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig.
But as I say whenever I talk about summer clothing, it’s only getting hotter out, and traditional warm weather materials are making a comeback in a big way.
Knit shirts have been popular for the past few years, offering a warm-weather alternative to sweaters or a more refined counterpart to polos and t-shirts. In that time, these knits have gotten more open, airy, and - yes - see-through.
Men’s fashion is also shifting towards the deep-V, with shirts unbuttoned much further down than in previous years.
As men seem to be getting more comfortable with these barely-there styles, this seems like an ideal time to be looking into open-weave shirts made of materials like voile.
Lightweight, relaxed, and wrinkle resistant, they may not be ideal for the office but they’re perfect for an outdoor dinner on a hot summer day.
Todd Snyder currently offers a version of their camp collar Capri shirt in three colors of voile, and Hartford has made a wide variety of men’s cotton voile shirts since 1979.
My own collection of summer shirts includes two that are made of voile, both vintage.
While not in every store, voile is out there on the market, both new and old, and it can be a good choice to have in your back pocket for a tropical vacation or a summer heat wave.
