Hurrah for the BeBa!*
(*that’s the new Beach-to-Bar dress)
HOLIDAY packing time is here, which means any minute now we’re going to be surrounded by beach cover-ups, silky trousers, T-shirts, wrap-skirts and shorts, wondering which to ditch and which to take.
Or, once you’ve read this, folding up a couple of BeBa dresses — Beach-to-Bar dresses — the holiday equivalent of the day-to-night working dress. The BeBa dress is light and casual enough to wear to the beach, but special and flattering enough to take you on to the twinkly restaurant. Apart from being exactly what you need, and will feel like wearing, it’s going to solve all your overpacking issues.
So what makes a BeBa different from another summer dress? For a start it’s easy. You’re pulling this on over your damp swimming costume, so it’s not fussy or fancy or tight.
Silk is out. Linen will crumple. Viscose or cotton are your best bet. You don’t want white. (You might want white, but beaches are hazardous places full of sun cream traps and sticky things, and your white BeBa won’t stay white for long).
You probably don’t want strapless or off-the-shoulder, because the nature of a BeBa dress is that it gives you protection when you need it and most of us like plenty of skin cover in the sun these days.
If you do want an off-the-shoulder number, Hush does a cute shirred dress in midnight blue and gold (€110, hush-uk.
com). At the expensive end of the scale, Pink City Prints, which specialises in handmade, hand-blocked Indian prints, does a striking indigo ikat print midi that can be worn on or off the shoulder (€166.73, pinkcityprints.com).
I said ‘never again’ to bare shoulders a while back, but sometimes those ‘never evers’ work on holiday — and that’s half the fun.
THIS is a big year for high summer maxis and a lot of the BeBas out there are on the long side. My rule with maxis is to go long, but not floor-grazing. A dress is just much more versatile if it finishes mid-calf or an inch or two above your ankle: it gives you coverage at night (important in mosquito climates) and it’s more on the fashion money than a hemline that cuts you off at the knee.
Whatever you do, don’t be tempted by short — that’s a beach-only cover-up.
Free People is a good place to start looking: the label might be too California hippy for some, but there are dresses that fit the brief, including a
tiered maxi with tie straps in a tangerine or china blue print (€175, freepeople.com).
Warehouse does a maxi dress in an orange jungle print (€51, warehouse.co.uk) with a halter neck and a ruffle hem that’s more heiress than boho.
Also worth a look for block print midi dresses is And/Or at John Lewis, especially the Mexicana cherry red and ivory fern print (€212.50, johnlewis.
com). Folky styles you wouldn’t think of wearing at home can work really well on holiday.
If you want to hedge your bets on hem length, then Boden has a great, freshlooking handkerchief-hemmed (higher at the sides) viscose print dress with a neon pink detail (€133, boden.co.uk).
There’s plenty of BeBas at Boden, and the bikinis to go underneath. We like Sicily, €39, with a bright crochet trim. That’s another thing a BeBa has going for it; because you aren’t hiding the fact you’re wearing your costume underneath, you can get away with a low back or plunge front, slim straps or sheerish fabrics.
If you want to go for something simple, such as a cotton button-through with pretty short sleeves, Kitri’s Lenora dress in emerald green (€138.50, kitri studio.com) fits the bill. Hush has a midi Tshirt dress with embroidered short sleeves that’s a cut above your regular beach cover up (€83, hush-uk.com). Its Lantana dress (€109), another tiered maxi, would look South of France chic with a straw basket and silver sandals.
On the subject of what to wear with a BeBa, it’s silver or gold flip-flops or slides, maybe an espadrille with a small wedge, plus your raffia basket. Add more formal accesories and you’ll take the beach out of the BeBa and be left with a bar dress — and that is something completely different.