The Beirut Summer Wardrobe

Beirut in summer is a specific challenge. The heat is not dry — it is thick and salt-tinged, arriving from the sea by mid-morning and staying long into the evening. Dressing for it requires fabric that breathes, colours that do not absorb, and a silhouette that allows air to move.

Our answer has always been linen and cotton. The long sleeve chemise, worn with one button open, handles the morning commute and the evening dinner in equal measure. The linen trousers — wide at the leg, easy at the waist — keep pace with the city without keeping heat.

Colour matters too. Off-white, light beige, and the cooler naturals reflect rather than absorb. Navy and black work in the evening, when the light changes and the temperature finally breaks. This is the wardrobe we keep returning to, summer after summer, on the particular streets of this particular city.