What to pack for Pool Party Outfits: fewer pieces, chosen so they work together rather than separately. Pack for the thing you will do most often, not for the one memorable evening. Fabrics that recover from creasing matter more than weight when the case is small. A dress that fits the shoulders can be taken in anywhere else. One that does not, cannot. The groups below run from the decision that matters most to the ones you make afterwards.

What decides this is shoulder fit, length and how the fabric moves. Everything else is preference. Two from the first group show the range: duffieldlane.com's Anchor Tank at $25, and rollerrabbit.com's Eyelet Lattice Leah Top at $88. The first is the easy entry point; the second is where the money goes. Check where the waist seam sits on the model against your own proportions. Lining is what stops a cheap fabric reading as cheap. A higher price mostly buys materials and finishing, and occasionally it buys nothing at all.

Let the dress be the loudest thing you own that day. A belt turns a shapeless dress into a deliberate one. From the second group, altswim.com's Lisse Pearl Top - White ($56) is the one that earns its place, because it works in more than one context without being restyled. The third group is smaller and deliberately narrower, dresses, for the decisions you make after the main one. None of this needs the whole group. One piece from each is usually enough.

There are 20 pieces here from 14 brands, $25 to $820, all in stock when this was written. We would not buy all of them, and neither should you. duffieldlane.com's Anchor Tank at $25 is the low-risk way in, and nililotan.com's BETHANY PANT at $820 only makes sense if this is a category you already use constantly. Read as a set, they get you close to Pool Party Outfits without any single purchase being compulsory. Nothing here is included because it is famous, and price is not used as a proxy for quality anywhere on this page. If you take one thing away: one considered purchase beats three hedged ones.