Summer holidays may only last a week or two, but for those who love fashion, planning the perfect poolside wardrobe can be almost as diverting as the getaway itself.
There’s the swimwear of course: perhaps you’ll add a new one-piece or bikini to your collection – a sort of icing-on-the-cake purchase in the spirit of pre-holiday excitement. Then there’s the cover-up, the sandals and the sunglasses. Maybe your other half needs new swimmers too, and what about the kids? Rash vests are now de rigueur, not just because they’re easier than reapplying factor 50 sunscreen; they have potential as a style statement too.
But in some upscale pockets of southern Europe, it’s no longer enough to turn up with a haul from the airport Accessorize. In a world where luxury brands like Dior and Dolce & Gabbana stage branded takeovers of high-end beach clubs, designer poolside paraphernalia has become as effective a status symbol as a trophy handbag. It tells fellow holidaymakers that you fit in at your chichi destination, that you’ve achieved a certain level of success, and most importantly, that you have great taste.
On a recent holiday to a resort on the Greek mainland, I observed more trophy swag on the sun loungers lining the pool area than I tend to see at London Fashion Week. There were the designer beach bags, the swimwear, the sandals – it even extended to kids’ pool floats.
Forget keeping up with the Joneses, this is more like keeping up with the Marbella and Mykonos sets. As long as you have a Loewe raffia tote positioned alongside the bottle of rosé chilling in an ice bucket beside you, you can hold your head high. Maybe it’s rented – but nobody needs to know that.
From Prada sunglasses to Chanel “dad sandals” and Missoni dresses, all of the above will win admiring glances. But so too will a well-chosen high-street tribute – wear it with enough confidence and this crowd will be none the wiser.
So what forms the summer 2024 It kit? Read on to find out…
The trophy beach bag
Either a Loewe basket bag, with Anagram leather patch, or the newer Fold shopper, which collapses into a neat and very easy-to-pack square. The Dior Book tote, Prada crochet bags and Chloe raffia versions will also elicit maximum swag points.
“At Hurr, the Loewe basket bag has been consistently in the top three most rented bags for summer in a range of sizes and colours – it’s one of the holiday ‘It’ bags this year,” says Victoria Prew, the founder of the peer-to-peer fashion rental platform.
“We have seen a major uplift in rentals of beach bags and accessories, with people renting for 14 days and 30 days for their holidays, not just the summer dress.”
The crinkle swimwear
On my Greek break, you couldn’t move for crinkle bikinis and swimsuits. Hunza G is the pioneer of this look: the brand has been around since the 1980s as Hunza, but it got a powerful reboot and its “G” initial when Georgiana Huddart took the helm in 2015.
There is a broad range of styles with varying degrees of coverage and support, but chocolate brown looks especially chic this summer. Bond-Eye and Youswim also offer swimwear in the same fabric.
Hermes-esque slides
Cast your eyes down at the breakfast buffet and you’ll see a lot of leather slides with an oversized “H” upper. They’re the Hermes Oran sandals; the Duchess of Sussex, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Kylie Jenner are all fans.
At £610, they’re expensive, but there’s a horde of decent dupes out there so it’s easy to get the look without parting with too much cash.
The Zimmermann (ish) dress
The Australian label does fabulous occasionwear and its dresses are a summer season staple for many of the royals. It also comes into its own on balmy holiday evenings: the combination of joy-inducing florals and guipure or broderie lace is irresistible. La DoubleJ’s Italian-inflected maximalism is also popular among this crowd.
When it comes to vibrant summer dresses, there are plenty of high-street homages to these brands’ signature styles. Head to Farm Rio, Rixo and Boden for impactful sundown looks.
Matching father-son trunks
Mother-daughter dressing has always been a thing, but this summer, there’s been an uptick in father-son dressing too – particularly with Vilebrequin swimming trunks; the French brand has really cornered that market. Sure, it’s a little cheesy, but it’s also kind of cute and the families rocking the look seemed to enjoy it.
Cool kids’ rash vests
If they weren’t twinning with their parents, I spotted lots of youngsters wearing rash vests and swimsuits by Mini Rodini, the ultra-cool Swedish childrenswear brand featuring prints designed by its illustrator founder Cassandra Rhodin. Full disclosure? My kids were wearing them as well. If it’s good enough for Anna Wintour’s grandson, it’s good enough for my two.
The chic inflatables
Skip the Paw Patrol-branded lilo and the Spiderman ring, the smart set’s pool floats are much more photogenic. The giant swans and flamingos are fun, but have become a bit of an Instagram cliche. The coolest ones came from Sunnylife, which has floats in chic pastel stripes. Kidly’s feature matte finishes and tasteful florals. One family I saw had kitted out their kids in lemon-print Konges Slojd swimsuits, which matched their lemon print armbands and rubber rings. That’s next-level coordination.
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