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What to Wear in Humid Climates for Women?

by 陈菁 18 Jun 2025 0 Comments

Except for areas with Mediterranean climate, the rainy season in most countries and regions overlaps with the summer to a large extent. Therefore, now for most countries and regions in the northern hemisphere, the weather is both hot and humid. Such weather always makes you feel very uncomfortable, very stuffy and even difficult to breathe.

So, in such weather, we need to maximize our comfort and stay fashionable at the same time by choosing the right clothes. When choosing clothing for the hot and humid climates, you need to consider much about the lengths and thicknesses of the garments and their fabrics also matter. So, what clothing is suitable for wearing in humid climates? What are the pitfalls of choosing clothing in such weather? If you are interested in this topic, keep reading!

a lady in a brown tencel blend maxi dress
a lady in a white ruffle blouse and a pair of dark blue jeans

What Fabrics Are Suitable for Humid Climates?

In humid climates, you need to choose fabrics that are hygroscopic, breathable, and quick-drying to avoid stickiness or skin problems caused by heat and humidity. For example, the following fabrics are very skin-friendly:

💧Cotton. Cotton is a natural fabric with perfect moisture absorption property. It can even absorb water of 20% of its own weight. And it feels very soft. In addition to pure cotton clothing, you can also choose clothing with some polyester fibers added to it, because they will dry faster. Of course, combed cotton is also a good choice. The fibers of combed cotton are more compact so it also have stronger moisture absorption and quick drying properties.

💧Linen. Linen absorbs even more moisture than cotton. Linen absorbs moisture twice as fast as cotton, and its fiber gaps are larger, which makes it very breathable and can quickly expel sweat. Even when it is wet, linen does not stick to the body easily, so it is very skin-friendly and very suitable for wearing in hot and humid environments. However, along with these advantages, linen also has the disadvantages of being easy to wrinkle and rough to the touch. Therefore, when choosing, you can give priority to linen garments blended with polyester fibers and linen clothing with soft linings.

💧Polyester. Polyester has excellent quick-drying properties and is very cost-effective. For sports scenes that require more sweat to be eliminated, polyester is one of the most suitable fabrics.

💧Silk. Silk also has good hygroscopicity. Silk fibers can absorb water of 30% of their own weight, and the water can quickly diffuse to the fiber surface, keeping the skin dry in the short term. And because of its good thermal conductivity, it has a natural cool feeling when it is touched by the skin, so silk clothing can bring you a very comfortable wearing experience in a hot and humid environment. However, it should be noted that silk clothing takes a long time to completely dry. Therefore, after being in a humid environment for a long time, silk clothing may become moldy. In addition, when it is completely wet, silk clothing will stick to the skin, which will cause discomfort. Therefore, silk clothing is a good choice in short-term humid weather, but it needs to be avoided in a long-term humid environment.

a lady in a white halter dress
a lady in a black vest dress made of xiangyun silk

Recommended Fashion Items for Humid Climates

In humid climates, moisture prevention and a good wearing experience are the most important. However, under this premise, we can also try to choose some more fashionable and atmospheric items to make our look more decent and eye-catching. Here are some fashionable clothes and accessories for your reference:

💧A pair of linen wide leg pants. If you are not particularly satisfied with your leg lines so do not want to show your legs, but are afraid of hot and humid weather, then a pair of linen wide leg pants is definitely a must-have item for you. First of all, the linen fabric can keep your legs dry to the greatest extent. Secondly, the wide leg design also improves ventilation and does not require you to expose your legs.

💧A pair of acetate shorts. Acetate feels and shines like silk, but is easier to care for and won't stick to your skin even when wet. And, if you're confident to show off your legs, a pair of shorts is definitely cooler than a pair of long pants made of the same fabric.

💧A pair of clogs. In humid weather, the amount of precipitation will undoubtedly increase dramatically. Therefore, it is difficult to avoid getting your shoes wet when wearing shoes in other styles or made of other materials. Especially for a pair of leather shoes, water will bring fatal destruction to them. Therefore, on informal occasions, we highly recommend a pair of clogs. There is no doubt that the holes on the clogs will be more conducive to draining rainwater. Even from a fashion perspective, clogs have been very popular among young people in recent years because they can show a sense of relaxation.

💧Colorful acrylic earrings. In humid climates, the sky is often gray, so a pair of bright acrylic earrings can add a touch of highlight to your look and make it impressive. In addition, no matter how humid the weather is, acrylic will not rust or mold, which is another important reason why this material is particularly suitable for high humidity weather.

Dressing Pitfalls to Avoid in Climate Weather

There are so many clothes and fabrics suitable for wearing in the hot and humid environment in summer that it is impossible to count them all. Therefore, in this section, we mainly clarify some dressing minefields. As long as you avoid these dressing minefields in high humidity environments, your outfit will be difficult to go wrong.

First of all, fabrics used primarily for warmth need to be avoided. If you wear a wool knit top in hot and humid climates, your wearing experience will undoubtedly be further deteriorated. Similar to this are tweed, down, etc.. Of course, even if you choose a garment made in fabric like denim, cotton, or linen that are suitable to be worn in high temperature and high humidity, don’t choose clothing that is too thick. No matter how breathable a cotton dress is, if it’s very thick, you’ll still sweat a lot, completely unnecessarily.

Although your clothes will be easily wetted by rain in the high humidity environment of the rainy season, do not easily choose clothes with waterproof coating. Because this kind of fabric sacrifices breathability for waterproofing, it can prevent external moisture from entering the inside, but if you sweat, it will not be able to be discharged.

Turtlenecks and tight-fitting clothing should also be avoided. They restrict air circulation and prevent sweat from escaping. So after you sweat, turtlenecks or tight clothing will cause your sweat to accumulate in the clothes, causing prickly heat or even eczema.

Another well-known truth is that dark colored clothing absorbs more heat than light colored ones. So when high temperature and high humidity exist together, we recommend that you wear light-colored clothing. This will also give you a cooler and more comfortable wearing experience to a great extent.

a lady in a rose printed slip dress
a lady in a linen slip dress

Outfit Ideas in Humid Climates for Different Occasions

For business occasion:

On business or other more formal occasions, you have to consider more factors. Because you not only need hygroscopic and breathable clothes suitable for wearing in humid climates, but also need to consider whether the clothes are decent. For this kind of environment, we recommend acetate suit pants and blazers, paired with chiffon or silk shirts inside.

For dating:

For a date look, a sweet or tender style is the most suitable. A light pink cotton dress is not only gentle in color, but also provides you with a soft touch and fresh wearing experience. Although Mary Jane shoes and Oxford shoes look more feminine with dresses, they will undoubtedly suffer serious damage in humid environments. However, pairing them with clogs may look too sloppy and fail to fully demonstrate your feminine charm. Therefore, we recommend that you pair the dress with a pair of strappy sandals. The colors can be white or beige.

For vacation:

If you want to create a holiday style look, then a T-shirt and beach shorts are both essential items. Here we recommend you choose a printed T-shirt and beach shorts made of linen. You can wear flip flops or clogs on the beach without any worries. They go well with the relaxed and cozy atmosphere. To complete this outfit and protect your face against the sunshine, you can also wear a straw hat.

For daily casual wear:

On casual occasions where there are no dress codes or restrictions, you can try to wear more revealing clothing to fight against high temperatures and humidity. Therefore, the first choice for top is a crop tank top. For the shorts, you can wear a pair of polyester shorts. This outfit is also very suitable for doing exercises.

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