I will not hear a word against cashmere. I don’t care if it has a bit of a ladies-who-lunch image problem, I think it’s wonderful. It is warm, it is soft, it doesn’t add bulk and layers easily, it looks luxurious and feels lovely. If you live in the north, cashmere is your best friend. I guess most people wouldn’t mind having a cashmere sweater around in winter, but some might be puzzled by the notion of summer cashmere. Let me make a case for it.

There is absolutely no reason why one wouldn’t wear cashmere all year round. None. I keep repeating myself, but we do need to remind ourselves that most of the summer up north does not resemble the Platonic idea of summer in any way. It is 1 June as I’m writing this and it’s 13 degrees Celsius here in Brussels – the least you can do is wear a cashmere sweater. Even if the days are warm, cashmere will rescue you from an over-eager air conditioner and the chill of the evening. If you feel like it, you can move to lighter colours – white, cream, beige, blush -, but even that isn’t necessary. Grey and black look very chic for the summer in the city and hunter green/navy are great for the country.

The key to keeping it modern (in case you want to keep it modern, feel free to do old-fashioned, if you like) is to choose simple shapes and a slightly loose fit. I think a classic crew neck looks best at the moment, but a slouchy knit with a deep v-neck is a great option, too. The simpler the shape, the more versatile the sweater: I wear mine with everything from jeans to a silver evening skirt.

The only downside of cashmere is that it’s expensive and needs maintenance. OK, that’s two, but they are related. My strategy to deal with these issues is straightforward, if not necessarily wise: I buy (relatively) cheap cashmere from Massimo Dutti, Zara and Marks & Spencer and I don’t really take care of it. This website has cashmere maintenance tips that I do entirely agree with, but have no discipline to follow most of the time. In some cases, I don’t even want to: fragrance may not be good for the fibers, but perfume smells wonderful on cashmere, especially the day after.

Eventually, no matter how careful you are (and I really am not, I have just spilled some sweet and sour chilli sauce on my sweater that I’m wearing for the first time and need to photograph later) or how expensive brands you buy, your cashmere will start looking less than perfect. At some point after that, I move my work/city cashmere to my home clothes pile, but this is an occasion to rejoice. An old, well loved cashmere sweater is the best thing to wear when drinking tea and reading on a couch, some pilling or small holes will not ruin that pleasure.

Pictured: sweater by Marks & Spencer, jeans by Zara, both my own.