The August Bank Holiday Wardrobe: What to Wear for Every Kind of Long Weekend

It’s almost here, the last hurrah that is the fabled August Bank Holiday weekend. You've got three days. Maybe you've booked something. Maybe you haven't, and the plan is "just see what happens," which is a plan in itself, really. Either way, your holiday wardrobe demands chic, comfortable and crease-resistant pieces to see you through all manner of settings. Luckily, we have a few suggestions…

 

Summer in the City 

Image credit: The Shirt Company and Wikicommons

 

Half of London clears out for the long weekend, which is exactly why the rest choose to stay. Saturday starts at Broadway Market for coffee from Climpsom & Sons, a delicious sweet treat from EK Bakery. We recommend a leisurely stroll through Victoria Park to V&A East Storehouse out in Hackney Wick (about an hour's walk), which is less a museum than a very well-organised warehouse of extraordinary things. Dinner's booked for HERA for the fanciest Greek food you’ve ever seen. Perfect for a staycation. 

 

The Madelena shirt in red and white stripe is working it here. Boasting a sharp collar, a bold print and proper tailoring; tuck it into blue jeans with a chunky belt and trainers for a day of gallery-hopping, then undo a button or two once the sun's over the yardarm and see where the night takes you. 

 

Leaving on a Jet Plane 

Image credit: Wikicommons and The Shirt Company

 

Friday night flight out, Monday evening flight home, and a European city break in between: a tried and tested Bank Holiday recipe. Porto's having a moment, just under two and a half hours from Stansted or Gatwick, so you can land, drop your bag and still make a fashionably late dinner. It's small enough to walk end to end, too. Think mornings in Ribeira, where the houses stack up like a postcard, afternoons wandering Bolhão Market for the tastiest of nibbles and evenings across the river in Vila Nova de Gaia watching the sun set over the Douro river.

 

This is where the Morgane trench dress in off-white can truly shine. The off-white colour offers the perfect contrast for holiday snaps and goes perfectly with turquoise seas. The sharp lapels, tie belt and brown horn buttons are classy without a hint of try hard and offer true versatility. Wear it alone,for wandering Ribeira in the heat and stride right on up for dinner by the river once the evening cools. Pack the Colleen shirt in ocean blue too, you can slip it on underneath if Porto's evenings cool and Morgane loves layering. 

 

Countryside Capers 

Image credit: Wikicommons and The Shirt Company

 

South Devon is one of the OG retro Bank Holiday destinations, and it’s easy to see why. We recommend Dartmouth for the harbour and the history and the South Hams for the scenery. Saturday's for wandering the town itself: up past the Cherub Inn, a proper crooked pub that's been pulling pints since around 1380, out to Dartmouth Castle at the mouth of the river, then lunch at Rockfish on the embankment for whatever the Brixham boats brought in that morning. A boat trip up the Dart to Greenway, Agatha Christie's old holiday house, fills a lazy Sunday nicely, or take the ferry over to Dittisham, the sort of impossibly pretty village that's straight off a biscuit tin.

 

The Ronnie shirt dress in navy is the piece to build your weekend around with its soft chino cotton, self-tie belt, this dress takes trainers, walking sandals or kitten heels in its stride. 

 

The Spontaneous Seaside Getaway

Image credit: Wikicommons and The Shirt Company

 

Not every long weekend needs an itinerary. Whitstable and Margate are just twenty minutes apart and you can get the train straight from Victoria. These destinations will happily fill the weekend without a complicated itinerary. You can wander for oysters at Wheelers, the pink-fronted one on Whitstable High Street that's been there since 1856. A chaser of a pint at the Old Neptune with your feet a whisper away from the tea. A leisurely jaunt on the train will take you  along the coast to Margate for the Turner Contemporary and an afternoon getting pleasantly lost around the Old Town's vintage shops and tiny galleries.

 

This the natural habitat of the Cecilia sleeveless frill-front shirt, its cool enough for a hot high street with enough going on at the front that it doesn't need a load of accessories to look fancy. An honorable mention to the Le Marais midi dress in white linen for the evening.