Luxe up your look in summer satin

Exhausted your hot weather wardrobe? ALEXANDRA SHULMAN says

OUR summer wardrobe doesn’t quite satisfy in these sultry dog days of August — and that’s where these bright satins shimmy to the rescue.

The fabric is not too summery, but with its lustre, rich colour and chic, it makes the perfect transition into autumn. For me, satin brights conjure up the glamour of Slim Aarons’s postwar society photographs — beautiful women in Palm Beach draped in slinky shirts and trousers around the pool, or sipping cocktails on a terrace.

Forget any notion that sheen is only for the evening. Regard it like a spritz of perfume — an instant upgrade. Designers from Tom Ford to Kim Jones at Fendi and Camille Miceli with her first Pucci collection all majored this season on vampy, silky satin.

But the fabric can easily be adapted to the more everyday. The colourful summer trousers we’ve been wearing with a white T-shirt look entirely different when teamed with a jazzy,

patterned silk shirt. And denim is transformed when paired with a slither of satin.

For a versatile buy to see you through the next months, Jigsaw — a terrific source of wearable fashion — has collaborated with ellen Mae Williams on a printed satin collection that includes both a shirt and dress featured here.

Satin trousers echo the fashionable pyjamas of that Palm beach style. The key here is not to let the fabric swamp you: if the trousers are very wide, keep the top a little shorter. Palazzo pants are ideal for late summer holidays — and you can be certain that they never date, especially in an unusual print.

And while satin played its part in this season’s revival of the 1990s slip dress, as we head into autumn, something more sophisticated is called for, such as the elegant M&S bright pink, sleeveless midi style.

If a more formal evening look is what you are looking for, then Ghost has a number of excellent maxi satin dresses, and Wyse offers a more economical version of the much-loved Vampire’s Wife flouncy gown that the Duchess of Cambridge has been seen in.

One word of caution: satin is rather unforgiving on bumps and bulges and on the underwear front — but a bias cut will always help, as will a heavier weight.

The sun may soon be about to shine less, but that’s no reason for our wardrobes to follow suit.