Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Fashion: Summertime and the dressing is easy: Forget the fashion police, you're on holiday. And that means cheesecloth and muslin, says Alison Veness

Alison Veness
Wednesday 27 July 1994 23:02 BST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

You are dreaming. You are swinging down the street in killer five-inch heels, your mouth a mess of red lipstick, your hair teased to spun sugar, your body a snaky S-bend. Perhaps it's not a dream . . . it's a nightmare.

For those who cannot yet face the high glamour that fashion is forcefully promoting, for those who steer clear of Wonderbras, girdles and other fiercesome underpinning, here are some simple, uncomplicated clothes in which to slop around in defiance of fashion dictat. Here are holiday clothes whose only aim is effortlessness.

The materials - cloudy cheesecloths and textured muslins - trade on their natural qualities rather than any man-made artifice (all that is to come, for 'synthetic' is autumn's buzz word). But in the dog days of summer, all you want is fine fabrics and easy clothes; a teeny A-line tunic, an ankle-skimming Empire-line dress, gathered and smocked; a boyish skinny shirt in the cool bleached undertones of pale china clay.

Designers may have decreed that pneumatic breasts, tiny waists and curvy hips are the Next Big Thing, but for the time being, the last Next Big Thing, the waif look, is revealing its positive side in the luxury of studied dressing down.

For now, grace and freedom can still be found in clothes that are gentle and minimal. Although they are sheer (and for a summer holiday, why not?), they are far from aggressive or volatile.

(Photograph omitted)

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in