The houndstooth chiffon blouse (39.50) and a sleeveless black fitted linen dress (45) are worth trying on too.

I can pull out this linen dress/top every summer.

I will wear a gauzy linen dress and a straw hat, if it doesn't rain or snow or hail.

So she suggested more simple and cheaper, yet just as chic, substitutes such as a few metres of patterned linen dressed up with a plush swathe of ribbon.

I spent the first two days running piping hot baths and wafting linen dresses around in the bathroom in the hope the deep wrinkles would steam out.