Why is this important?

If the humidity gets too high, it can encourage chemical and biological deterioration.   In other words, dyes can breakdown and mildew can grow.  If the humidity gets too low, the individual fibers can dry out and become brittle.
So although temperature itself is not so important (provided you don't allow it to get high enough to actually damage the fabric), controlling it also controls the humidity.  Storing a garment in normal household temperatures throughout the year, away from extremes of hot and cold - like attics, basements and outside walls - is fine provided the garment can breathe.

What happens if it can't breathe?

If you seal a fabric inside say, a plastic bag, and the temperature drops, the moisture in the air inside (relative humidity) actually increases.  This is because the air itself cannot hold as much invisible moisture at colder temperatures.  Moisture can then condense out of the air onto the gown as it has nowhere else to go.
If the storage medium allows the gown to breathe, the excess humidity will simply dissipate into the outside air, allowing the humidity level around the gown itself to remain relatively constant.

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