WHAT TO PACK FOR A BEACH HOLIDAY

When you click book for your next holiday destination it can be the biggest high of the year, swiftly followed by panic (as you inevitably need a new wardrobe to take with you!), then stress (because you have spent way too much on new clothes). Fast forward a month and I'm now sitting by the infinity pool in Barcelona at the Grand Hotel Central on the same weekend as the F1 Grand Prix, well done me! Although I'm travelling with Emily Hartridge who isn't much into F1, bummer! 

Trying to save some pennies, we booked an EasyJet flight out there and therefore limited to 10kg of baggage, so packing has to be well thought out. What I tend to do is pack outfits that can be worn Day-to-Night, or if you wear something in the evening - the next day you can wear the top/shirt again with your swimming shorts. I constantly tell myself pack light and smart. My packing technique is to go through all of my drawers at home and pick out everything I would like to take with me and sprawl it all out over my bed. I then go through a process of elimination, do I really need 3 white t-shirts? 4 pairs of jeans? Probably not. Finally I try to work out outfit combinations with what I have left in the shrinking pile of clothes - if you have space left over, pack a couple of wild card pieces!

Debenhams and in particular Jasper Conran have an excellent extensive new season, on trend collection perfect for a beach or tropical getaway and you can shop entire outfits without having to bother going from shop to shop and inevitably ending back in Debenhams! Barcelona was going to range from 20-26 degrees Celsius in the daytime and drop to around 13 degrees in the evening, so I wanted light weight fabrics nothing too heavy for example linens and lightweight cottons are perfect. 

When choosing the outfit below - a classic linen short sleeved white shirt was a must. Its versatile enough to be worn as I have with a pair of blue tailored shorts or open buttoned over a t-shirt for cooler evenings. The shorts come tailored to just above the knee length, which allows enough fabric to add 1, 2 or even 3 rolls to modify the length to suit your own personal style. Flip-flops are my normal beach footwear of choice, however when you are combining beach, sight seeing, lunch, dinner and drinks into one day, slip-on shoes are a must. Finally I have accessorised a typical pastel summer outfit with a couple of bold pieces. Firstly the Jasper Conran black watch and finally my favourite piece of the entire look, some brown tortoise shell sunglasses.

So jet off in style this summer whether you are heading off for a tropical beach holiday or a city break, shop the Debenhams holiday collection and you'll have your suitcase sorted in no time.

SHOP THE LOOK

Photography by Emily Hartridge