White Japanese Loungewear Set 'Gofun'

White crinkle gauze, top and trousers, with a faint texture and nothing else

White gauze is the coolest cloth there is to wear, and this Japanese loungewear set is nothing but that. A wrap top tied at the side with one patch pocket, loose trousers in the same cloth, and a white crinkled cotton gauze whose puckered surface stands off the skin and lets every breath of air through. No embroidery, no trim, no contrast. The texture of the crinkle is the whole design.

It is the set for the hottest week of the year and for the mornings after, when a T-shirt feels heavy and a shirt feels like work. It also photographs like a garment from a spa, which is roughly what it is.

The name, Gofun, is the white pigment ground from oyster shells that Japanese painters used for the whitest white, on the face of a doll or the body of a crane, and the cloth is that white.

The gauze is cotton, crinkled in the finish rather than by ironing, so it never needs pressing and goes back to its texture after every wash. It is two layers, which keeps a white this light from being sheer, though in strong sun the seams will show as shadows, as they do on every white jinbei in Japan.

Wear the top crossed left over right and knot the tie at the hip; the trousers sit at the waist on a soft band. At home it is the set for a heatwave and for the bath. Out, with sandals, it is a summer outfit that reads clean and slightly ceremonial, the way white does.

Up close the crinkle shows its fine pucker and the seams show their straight, square construction. From across a garden it is a white two-piece and a person who looks cool in it.

It goes with white, with pale grey, with straw and with bare feet. Wash it often; white gauze is made for it, and it comes out of the machine looking the same every time.

The trousers are cut loose with a soft band at the waist, and in white they are the one pair of white trousers most men will own that they are not afraid of, because gauze this light was made to be washed. Wash cold, hang, wear.

Sizes run from M to XXL. It is cut to Asian sizing and runs small, so take one size up from your usual. Between two sizes, take the larger.