Style rules of the staycation set
With record numbers of us holidaying in the UK, staying at home offers a whole new batch of style dilemmas. Bethan Holt discovers how to get it right
The UK has been declared a “staycation nation”. Around 57 per cent of us are taking our summer holiday in Britain, according to Travelodge, with bookings rising as the weather forecast continues to look hopeful. Consequently, the A303 is a nightmare and Cornish authorities are warning locals away from some newly Poldark-famous beaches. But my most pressing concern in this new holidaying scenario is what on earth to wear.
After trips to Italy, Croatia and France for both work and pleasure earlier in the summer, I believed
I had mastered the art of putting together, in minutes, a carry-on full of the ideal amount of clothes for five days. Until I had to pack for my trip to Cornwall last week. It took me three hours (you have that flexibility to faff when you’re travelling by car) and in the end I took a large-ish holdall, plus a tote full of shoes. I can’t imagine how I’d have coped if we’d taken the train and had to get it all in a rucksack.
From Penzance to the Scottish Highlands, King’s Lynn to Pembrokeshire, staycation dressing is a challenge. Despite the heatwave, weather can still be unpredictable and British holidays encompass so many activities that one solution won’t fit all. A plethora of options is a necessity (yes, I did need all those shoes). Bianca Fincham, director of Rainbowwave PR, who has recently moved to Newlyn, depends on a stash of oversized wool cardigans (she tips Spanish label Babaà) to throw on over the Masscob or Raquel Allegra midi dresses she lives in.
Kat Farmer, who runs the blog Does My Bum Look 40 In This? (Instagram@doesmybumlook40), has been holidaying in Aldeburgh, Suffolk for the past 15 years. Her most recent getaway to East Anglia featured basket bags picked up in the local charity shop and pretty dresses (from Asos or Me+em) worn against a backdrop of wooden fishing boats and pebbled beaches. She calls staycationing a kind of “wardrobe roulette”, but emphasises that it needn’t mean sacrificing your personal style. “When I started going, it was very ‘seaside’, with lots of Breton tops and gilets,” she says. “But now, I think anything goes.” To that end, she builds her look around a floral dress, then adds a leather biker jacket (“I always have one stashed in the car – they’re waterproof!”) and ankle boots, or simply slings on sandals. “I just take my usual wardrobe into a new context – cashmere is brilliant if you get chilly on the beach.”
I have a few observations from my own jaunt to the South West. First, Cos’s tiered baby blue shirt dress (£79) is the staycation set’s buy of the year – I spotted three people wearing it. I like to think it’s what Samantha Cameron would have worn for her 2018 Port Isaac photo call had Dave still been PM. Secondly, you absolutely need one of Perfect Moment’s wetsuits. Cosy and flattering, I wore mine for a surf lesson, paddleboarding and lazing on Porthcurno beach (I know, total staycation cliché). Thirdly, shoes. I love Birkenstocks, but they have competition. “My favourite footwear are my Merrell hiking sandals, which are perfect on the rocky beaches,” confides former Vogue editor-at-large Fiona Golfar, who stays near Fowey. Equally geek-chic Teva sandals were also in evidence on the beach at Polzeath, while I know others who swear by Saltwater sandals, which have a charmingly vintage look straight out of an Enid Blyton book but are also completely waterproof. If you’re heading to the Lake District or Scotland, you’ll need sturdy walking boots or Aigle wellies (the new Le Chameau).
If you were still in any doubt about a staycation’s style kudos, designer Olga Vilshenko and TV presenter/chef Laura Jackson both
Cashmere is brilliant if you get chilly on the beach
recently holidayed in Cornwall. For Vilshenko, it was her first time staycationing in the UK after moving from Moscow. “I had been warned of the changeable weather on the coast, so packed everything from a swimsuit to knitwear,” she says. Her most-worn item? “It was a dresseddown vibe, so I was excited to wear my embroidered long shirt [Lulu, £395, vilshenko.com]; I wore it over my swimsuit on the beach and just slipped on a pair of jeans for lunch.”
Jackson, whose Cornish adventures have run the gamut from camping to a stay at Hotel Tresanton in St Mawes, agrees that a mannish shirt is essential, as does Fiona Golfar, who cites crumpled Casely-hayford designs as her favourites. Rixo silks, vintage denim, a bucket hat and an Eres bathing suit are also among Jackson’s essentials. She’ll even wear the swimsuit on rainy days. “I always want to be ready to jump in the sea,” she explains, proving that staycation style is really a state of mind – you just need that holdall of possibilities to make it happen.