A holiday necessity—to entice your gigolo, or simply preserve decency on the terrace for lunchtime drinks — is a cover-up. We’ve looked around, found the nicest ones in town and had them sketched here by Caroline Smith. Some you tie Polynesian style (remember Blue Lagoon?) round you; others you lie on, or in; others are like the simplest dress slipped over your head to demurely cover you up (don’t shock the curé) for church-seeing.

1 Du-Du at 95 Parkway, NW1 are in for a sell-out this summer with their ‘Kangas’. Kangas, for the uninformed, are long pieces of cotton in a huge variety of colours and patterns. They come from Africa and act like a sarong ; they cost about £3 and pack to the site of a handkerchief. 2 Foale & Tuffin‘s new swimsuit will take you right back to Nanny and the sand-pit. White and orange spotted seersucker with a shirred bodice and bloomers ; £7.50, from Countdown, 137 Kings Rd, SW3; Lucienne Phillips, 09 Knightsbridge, SW1. Proving that the cottage industry is thriving, Christopher Morris and his wife Lera, with a friend, Hazel McKenzie, recently opened Habari at 39 Sussex Place, W2. Christopher designs all the clothes, while Lera and Hazel dye the fabric and screen-print it into luscious patterns. They also sell things like the small basket shown below. It’s in brown and cream string and really pretty; £4.25. The dress has a hessian bodice and a low back (or front —depending on how you wear it) with a short voile skirt: £18-50. Peeping out from under the dress on the extreme right of this page you can see their leather sandal, shaped like a trapezium ; £4. 4 Le Bistingo Boutique at 93 Kings Rd, SW3, have gone to town on the Piz Buin collection of swimwear. Its made of polyester fabric —see-through and also tan-through. The designs are rather Tahitian with bright colours and bold flower prints. There are sarong skirts to match the bikinis and make you more respectable. If these still aren’t enough, the bikinis do also come in a less revealing material. The bikini is £7.80, the skirt £10.90. Le Bistingo have also latched on to another idea … if you find that by some strange quirk of fate you need a different sized bikini top and bottom, ‘Huit’ ) now make them separately up to 38″ bust ; £5.50 the set at Le Bistino. 5 Equinox in Antiquarius (135 Kings Rd, SW3) is owned by David Scott and James Goldsack who have got together a fantastic conglomeration of stock from all over the world. It’s a haven for all Indian enthusiasts, as there’s a jolly collection of Navajo Indian carpets and jewellery. You can also buy Spanish crockery which is very, very ‘earthy’ looking, or if you prefer to sit on a prayer mat and sip your tea out of a little Chinese bowl, then Equinox can cater for both these needs as well. So as not to stray too far away from the point of this month’s Shopping B, they also do a very nice line in beach cover-ups ; this one is Mexican and hand-embroidered on cotton, £20. 6 Guaranteed to keep off sunstroke : pretty red straw hat with tanan ribbon ; by Buckle Under about f6.50; from Harrods, Knightsbridge and Darlings, Bath. 7 Essential beach bag to hoard biros and postcards — in canvas, comes in various colours (this one is green). £4.95, Escalade, 187 Brompton Rd, SW3. 8 If you like long skirts and dresses beautifully embroidered, and soft cheesecloth skirts with appliqués, then the place to go is Forbidden Fruit at 352 Kings Rd, SW3. We chose a long cheesecloth skirt with dark brown embroidery around the hem and a matching shirt with shirring round the waist and neckline. Very soft and feminine; sold together, £15.

Illustrated by Caroline Smith.

Scanned from Harpers and Queen, July 1972.