Adam Vanunu did not come to denim as an outsider. He grew up in his family's premium denim manufacturing business in Los Angeles and launched Cotton Citizen in 2012, known for premium cotton, wash treatments and color. Pieces are made in small batches at the Los Angeles headquarters, and each one is hand dyed, distressed and detailed through 8 to 10 processes, which explains why a plain tee can look lived in from day one. The denim line followed in 2017, with washes named after the Beverly Hills streets where the brothers grew up. That logic runs through the bottoms. The Brooke, Lara, Cindy, Amelia and Carla Capri jeans carry the denim story, while the Madrid trouser, Santorini trouser and Standard pant suit days that want a straighter line. The Roma sweatpants, Roma short, Roma hot short and Lima flared sweatpant are the brand's home turf, since it is famous for its joggers. A good fit test for any of the sweatpants is to sit down and check that the waistband stays where it started. For the jeans, this hem-first guide to what shoes to wear with jeans does the math, and wide-leg trousers and easy tops is useful for the trousers.

This is the group the brand is built on. The Marbella, Verona, Palermo and Seoul tees come in crew, V neck and U neck shapes, and the Marseille and Classic V neck tees keep things simple. The Distressed crewneck tee shows off the hand finishing, and the Seoul muscle tee and Tokyo crop tee are the looser, shorter options. For tanks there are the Verona slim racerback, the Verona U neck tank top, a cotton tank top and the Standard tank, and the white tank top is a layer that everything else gets judged against. The Roma hoodie and the Roma and Lima sweatshirts bring back the Aspen tracksuit era, when the hoodie was a bestseller. What I would skip is the Tokyo crop tee under a cropped jacket, since the short hem is easy to lose. For more sweatshirt ideas, Ralph Lauren fleece shows how the classics are done.

The dresses take the same garment-dyed cotton approach and turn it into one-piece outfits. The Marbella dress family is the largest, with a mini, a maxi, a tee maxi and a long sleeve maxi, and the Verona styles come as a spaghetti strap maxi, a racerback mini and a turtleneck maxi. The Tokyo short sleeve mini is the shortest of the group. A simple test for a maxi is to try it with the flat shoes you actually plan to wear, so the hem sits where you want it, and to walk up a flight of stairs before deciding. The Marbella dresses suit a pared-back approach with one good belt or none at all, and the Verona turtleneck maxi adds a turtleneck neckline. A pair of simple flat sandals or sneakers keeps the line of a long dress clean. If you are weighing longer shapes, maxi dress season offers more ideas about fabrics that move.

Four pieces round out the edit. The Marbella long sleeve and the Verona crop long sleeve are the layering pieces for cooler days, and the Verona crop long sleeve is the shorter of the two, a cropped length that pairs with a Roma sweatpant or a Brooke jean. The Standard buttondown is the odd one out, a shirt in a brand known for tees. The Standard buttondown is worth trying over a Verona tank with the sleeves pushed up. Cotton Citizen opened its flagship on Melrose Place in 2016, and these long sleeves are the sort of thing that fits that neighborhood, easy to throw over a tank or a pair of Roma sweatpants for a walk.

I would build around three pieces: a Marbella tee, the Brooke jean and a Roma sweatshirt tied at the shoulders. Picture her on a Sunday in Los Angeles in a Verona maxi dress and flat shoes, nothing fussy, and a Standard buttondown over it if the afternoon cools. The idea behind Cotton Citizen has always been that color and wash do the work, so the shapes can stay simple.

For more in the same spirit, take a look at Wiederhoeft Jeans and Dresses and Marni Dresses and Skirts.