The only four things to buy to look cool this summer

Times

2 days ago

S ometimes it is too hot for fashion. When you rule out layers, any texture that isn't cotton or linen, all superfluous fabric and volume and anything binding, then pile your hair on top of your head, what's left is a void: minimum clothing, minimum impact. What's needed is just one thing — here are four, but you should pick just one of them. Not a subtle tweak, but something high impact, an obvious update that nods to what's happening in fashion right now, even when you're sweating in the deli aisle of M&S (the place to be seen, and cooled, since the air con is unmatched — add a few bistro tables and I'd never leave). Add one of these, and you can get away with the rest of your outfit being entirely planned around the weather.
Yes, tortoiseshell is classic, but that does also mean that any new pair of tortoiseshell sunglasses will go unnoticed (as have my new pair, as they're not far off my old pair, just less scratched) and read as timeless, rather than modern. To deliver a jolt of the latter to your wardrobe, try white frames instead. At the Jacquemus catwalk show at the Palace of Versailles last weekend, Gillian Anderson wore a pair — white frames, black lenses — from the French label's collaboration with Linda Farrow, all the bolder against her black dress (Gillian's are the Capri in metallic pearl, £210, lindafarrow.com).
On a superyacht for a Cannes Film Festival afterparty in May, Rihanna wore hers with bright blue: again, a block colour, so that they don't get lost among pattern and clashing tones. Try pairing them with your go-to navy, black or brown heatwave dress, or just a plain tee and shorts, as a friend of mine did with her white Prada pair for a picnic at the weekend. All of the big-name brands have white versions of their classic shapes — and a classic shape is key, with the colour already unique enough. Joseph's round shape are brilliantly 1960s (£165, joseph-fashion.com). If optic white feels too harsh for your colouring, try Le Specs's Outta Love ovals in ecru (£55, lespecs.co.uk) or Jimmy Fairly's oversized cream (£135, jimmyfairly.com).
Nobody's Child white linen-blend tie waist tiered skirt, £89
Hers was the boho skirt that launched a thousand high-street copycats, so it seems only right that Sienna Miller should be responsible for reviving the trend two decades later. She wore it fresh from this season's Chloé catwalk, held last September in Paris, giving the high street time to catch up for summer. Then she cemented the trend by wearing another white and ruffly number to a birthday party in April, paired with a fluffy knit, beachy hair (good news when it's too hot to blow dry), knee-high boots and a sliver of bare leg. Reformation's Aura skirt is spot on, fluid and full without bulkiness, a beautiful lace hem that elevates it, and long enough to wear with heels too (£248, thereformation.com). Nobody's Child has a linen-mix that's tiered but not stiff, with a tie waist (£89, nobodyschild.com). The high-fashion reincarnations are mostly white, which is also gloriously cool to wear, but for days when that feels too high-maintenance, Gap's tiered cotton with crochet trim comes in black too (£85, gap.co.uk).
Mango's frayed hem denim shorts, £29.99
At the other end of the style spectrum, the denim short that's, crucially, not that short. Ragged-edge bum-skimming cut-offs are fine for Glastonbury and the back garden (not the front one). For anywhere else, there's the long short, in blue or ecru denim, or even tailoring fabrics. Mango's mid-blue are just above knee length (£29.99, mango.com), and great with a tee or linen shirt tucked in. Add a blazer once you're in the office's air conditioned bubble; you can even add a narrow belt and a strappy kitten heel sandal for evening. Style them as you would your favourite blue jeans, but without the sweat dripping down your calf.
The Gen Z fashion police of social media said these were naff … then started wearing them anyway, because no other trainer will lift your outfit in the same way. A block bright trainer requires colour coordination; white isn't smart enough for an impromptu 6pm cocktail. But silver is a bit more polished, and high impact even when the rest of your outfit isn't; Kendall Jenner wore a silver and black pair with jeans and a cotton tank to Coachella. The picks are the the Onitsuka Tiger Mexico 66 (£150, onitsukatiger.com), the Wales Bonner for Adidas Sambas if you can get your hands on a pair on a resale site, and anything similarly low-profile and striped from Adidas: see the Taekwondo (£80, adidas.co.uk). And since the Gen Z fashion police are right about some things, wear them with visible socks, not those awful socklets.