Smart holiday style

There are some guiding principles that can help to up your style ante while on a break. We’ll leave it to you to think laterally and adapt to suit.

There are those who believe that the simple approach to dressing works equally well on holiday. Pack 10 T-shirts in a suitcase, throw in some swimwear and flip-flops, and that’s about it. But then, there are those who believe that you will have a better time on holiday if you feel right. Clearly, “feeling right” differs from person to person and destination to destination. That said, there are some guiding principles that can help to up your style ante while on a break. We’ll leave it to you to think laterally and adapt to suit.

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Let’s start bottoms up. An unthinking loyalty to flip-flops is a style copout. It hardly takes effort to choose a pair of sandals to take away with you, yet they style to even the most basic shorts-and-vest holiday look.

Don’t have a holiday wardrobe; have a holiday style philosophy instead. One that means you wear your usual summer clothes but in a crafty holiday-ish way. This means admitting that the summer dress you bought for a party can easily be your sightseeing dress. A blouse you normally wear with jeans will look good with shorts for an alfresco lunch. This isn’t wardrobe downgrading, this is wardrobe multitasking. And your holiday snaps will thank you for it.

Take into account your holiday pals and the kind of look they will be rocking at the check-in desk. In terms of how right you feel on holiday, it’s up there with reading an accurate weather report ahead of time.

There is no need to buy a dedicated beach bag. Use your Monday-to-Friday leather bag, provided it’s a decent size. It gives the impression that you are more nonchalant about beach style.

Jewellery in the form of fancy earrings or a big bangle will add kick to your style quota, but almost nothing to the weight of your luggage.

The Guardian