THESUMMERUNIFORM

Best by Lauren may earn a commission when you shop through certain links. Every product here was bought with my own money or tested for at least six weeks. No brand has paid to be included, and nothing is ranked higher because it pays more.

Every summer I pack a considered selection of clothes and every summer I wear the same five things. At some point it stopped being a failure and became the system.

A cap, a swimsuit that works as a top, one skirt, flat sandals and sunglasses. Everything else in the bag is optimism.

The cap

A pale trucker cap does more work than any other thing I own. It covers unwashed hair, it means I do not have to think about my face in the sun, and it has been in every photograph of me for two years.

The swimsuit as a top

The single highest-value item in a hot-weather bag. A swimsuit that reads as a bodysuit under a skirt takes you from the water to lunch without a change, and it removes an entire category of packing.

One skirt, not three

A linen or cotton skirt that dries fast and does not need ironing. I have written a whole piece about wearing one print five ways; the principle is the same with a plain one — the bottom half stays constant and the top half does the variation.

What I stopped packing

Anything that needs a bra I do not already own, anything white that is not a swimsuit, and heels. Four summers of carrying heels to islands and never once putting them on.