But in the 1990s, textile makers' losses to low-wage countries turned cotton into one of America's most export-dependent crops, with nearly 80% now consumed abroad.

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Low in the sky there's the classic cotton wool Cumulus, the Stratus, a layer of "rather dull" cloud, and higher up Cirrus - "a translucent delicate streak as if a watercolour brush has been stroked across the blue".

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Your casual dresses should include bias-cut floor-length sundresses and skirts with cotton gauze tops, worn with flat or low-wedge strappy sandals or espadrilles.

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It's filled with a mix of well-designed but low-key objects, like artist Doug Johnston's cotton cord baskets and sleek ceramics from Mud Australia.

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In June, it won a WTO case claiming that US cotton subsidies had undermined Brazilian farmers by driving prices artificially low.

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The rich, in other words, are the guys who can get money at ultra-low interest rates from the Fed (directly or indirectly) and use it to speculate on say, cotton (up almost 100% this year) or Chinese stocks.

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