Yes! I have a question!

Here's your chance! Each month, Mary Lou answers your fashion, wardrobe, and accessorizing questions. If you have something that you need to know, ask away! If your question is chosen, you'll receive a complimentary Organization By Design Survival Kit. What have you got to lose?!

For April, 1999:

Q: When can I start wearing linen clothes?

A: Linen used to be a strictly summer fabric -- worn from Memorial Day to Labor Day only.

Although it is still advisable to wear your lightest linens (i.e. whites, tans, pastels and pieces that are unlined) in the summer months only, it's perfectly okay to wear darker and heavier linens (i.e. black, chocolate brown, hunter green with or without a lining) on warmer days starting in early May.

To look most seasonably appropriate, consider wearing a lightweight, closed-toe shoe and light hose with linen prior to Memorial Day. After that, bare legs and open-toed sandals compliment linen well (unless you choose to wear linen in an office environment where hose and closed-toe shoes are mandatory).

If you love linen, but hate the wrinkles, have your dry cleaner add extra starch to the dry cleaning process. Irish Linen (available at Talbot's nationwide) is the most durable linen and therefore the least likely to wrinkle.