Women's Clothes Guide M

Welcome to the M section of the Women's Clothes Guide: eighty-one guides beginning with the letter M, organized into five groups below. M is one of the largest letters in the directory — it holds the longest swimwear page in the alphabet, half a dozen boot categories, both mothers of the wedding party, a motorcycle garage, an Arctic winter, and four whole subdirectories (madras, maternity, medical and microfleece) that are each a directory in their own right.

The main grid below runs alphabetically from maillot swimwear to muumuu dresses: twenty-five flat topics plus the microfiber hipster underwear page, which lives in its own microfiber folder. Beneath it, the madras trio are grouped as one fabric family; the maternity, medical and microfleece groups link the three subdirectory collections built in parallel with this page. If you know other women's apparel categories beginning with M that belong here, we would be glad to hear the suggestion.

Swimwear, Dresses and the Underwear Pair

M's water section is strong. Maillot swimwear covers the classic one-piece tank suit and its 1920s history; mesh swimwear is the modern counterpoint, built with mesh panels and linings, and carrying the sun-through-the-holes caution every shopper needs. The underwear pair below them — mesh boyshorts and mesh boyshorts with lace trim — divide the boxer-brief cut into its plain-mesh and trimmed versions, while the microfiber hipster explains the finest synthetic knit and the low-rise cut it suits best.

The dress section runs the gamut of length: the maxi dress (ankle length, fitted top, flowing bottom), the maxi skirt (the same sweep as a separate), the mermaid dress (fitted to the knee, flaring like a tail), the mini skirt (hemline well above the knees, with its micro-mini cousin), and the muumuu — Hawaii's loose, unwaisted answer to them all. And the mother of the bride and mother of the groom dresses pages take the wedding's second-most-scrutinized outfit, including the famous what-if-they-match question.

Boots, Shoes and the Winter Corner

M is a footwear letter: the medium round toe western boot (the classic cowgirl boot with the wiggle-toes fit rule), the mid-calf boot (the most forgiving shaft height), the moccasin (soft leather, gathered seam, North American Indian origin), the mule (the backless shoe, no heel constraint), the mary jane (flat, round toe, single strap, flappers to punk), and the mukluk (the Arctic's breathable winter boot) form a shoe wardrobe on their own — rounded out by motorcycle boots, which are protective equipment with a low heel for the controls.

The motorcycle jackets page rides alongside the boots, and the MMA apparel and MMA clothing pages divide the fight world into its equipment kit and its garments. The remaining guides fill the odd corners: missy fashion explains the size category (even sizes, the junior-to-women's middle ground), mittens makes the case for the warmest hand covering ever designed, the moc turtleneck defines the short mock collar, and makeup bags — pouches, train cases and hanging organizers — holds everything the face needs.

Madras: One Fabric, Three Garments

The three grouped pages below are one subject in three garments: madras, the lightweight cotton woven in India in a check pattern of modified stripes, historically guaranteed to bleed its vegetable dyes into a softer plaid with every wash. Madras pants, madras shirts and madras skirts each start from that cloth — its Chennai history, its handloom character, its patchwork variant — and take it into trousers, button-downs and A-lines. If you buy one thing in M for summer, buy it in madras.

Every M guide follows the same pattern as the rest of this directory: what the item is, how it is made, how to choose and fit it, and how to care for it — with the shopping links collected in the box above when you are ready to buy. The subdirectories below — maternity's twenty-three guides, medical's ten, microfleece's nineteen — extend the letter's reach far beyond this page.