Crochet dresses and lightweight knitted separates create summer's texture-filled holiday wardrobe

Wanderlust style

Marie Claire International Textured Fabrics Listing
(Image credit: Nikos Papadopoulos / Marie Claire Greece)

The perfect holiday capsule wardrobe is as elusive as the British summer, but the key to achieving it may be far simpler than you'd think. Taking our cue from the designer resort collections, we are shunning the bold and bright trend-led pieces in favour of natural textures and fabrics.

For Summer 2024, houses like Chanel, Dior and Gucci find creative ways for us to wear tweed, crochet and light knits. Your vacation wardrobe awaits...

Dress and jewellery, Chanel

(Image credit: Nikos Papadopoulos / Marie Claire International)

For those breezy summer evenings where you want to feel effortlessly put together, opt for a longline tweed jacket in monochrome and pastel hues. You can wear it as a dress on holiday, paired with chunky jewellery, and with a satin skirt for summer in the city.

L: Dress, Dior Choker, Minas

R: Playsuit and necklace, Gucci

(Image credit: Nikos Papadopoulos / Marie Claire Greece)

Lean into the sheer trend with crochet pieces. For the day, a white see-through gown is the perfect cover-up, thrown over your favourite bikini. For the evening, try a black or navy knitted playsuit, made all the more playful with a statement necklace.

L: Swimsuit, Haals Skirt, Merbeau Sandals, Repetto Gold necklace with diamonds, Kessaris

R: Sunglasses, Gucci Top, Acne Studios

(Image credit: Nikos Papadopoulos / Marie Claire Greece)

Open weave separates make for the perfect throw-on pieces. A black knitted skirt is a great alternative to a sarong, and a white oversized jumper is perfect to layer over a slip dress during cool evenings out.

L: Dress By Marlene Birger Ballet flats, Ancient Greek Sandals Golden earrings, ring and necklace, Zolotas

R: Dress and earring, Dsquared2

(Image credit: Nikos Papadopoulos / Marie Claire Greece)

Building a capsule holiday wardrobe doesn't mean you can't lean into the maximalist trend. For example, a simple black knitted dress is elevated by a beige fring hem, while a minimalist white mini dress is made deliciously audacious by the strategic addition of discs.

L: Sweater, Tod's Ballet flats, Le Monde Beryl Golden necklace, Zolotas

R: Cardigan and skirts, Missoni Gold necklace with diamonds, Κessaris

(Image credit: Nikos Papadopoulos / Marie Claire Greece)

Earthy hues are the colour palette of choice when embracing summer dressing this season. Take your cue from Tod's and Missoni and their knits in shades of Cyclades blue, terracota and brown, best layered with neutral shades of cream and nude.

Fashion director Elina Sygareos

This story was originally produced for Marie Claire Greece @marieclairegreece

Penny Goldstone

Penny Goldstone is the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire, covering everything from catwalk trends to royal fashion and the latest high street and Instagram must-haves.

Penny grew up in France and studied languages and law at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris before moving to the UK for her MA in multimedia journalism at Bournemouth University. She moved to the UK permanently and has never looked back (though she does go back regularly to stock up on cheese and wine).

Although she's always loved fashion - she used to create scrapbooks of her favourite trends and looks, including Sienna Miller and Kate Moss' boho phase - her first job was at MoneySavingExpert.com, sourcing the best deals for everything from restaurants to designer sales.

However she quit after two years to follow her true passion, fashion journalism, and after many years of internships and freelance stints at magazines including Red, Cosmopolitan, Stylist and Good Housekeeping, landed her dream job as the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire UK.

Her favourite part of the job is discovering new brands and meeting designers, and travelling the world to attend events and fashion shows. Seeing her first Chanel runway IRL at Paris Fashion Week was a true pinch-me moment.