What to pack for Poolside Chic: fewer pieces, chosen so they work together rather than separately. Fabrics that recover from creasing matter more than weight when the case is small. A small palette is what makes a capsule work, not a small number of items. Check where the waist seam sits on the model against your own proportions. 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: tanyataylor.com's Celine Skirt at $298, and Fleur du Mal's Terry Bubble Skirt at $225. The first is the considered buy; the second is the one to start with. A dress that fits the shoulders can be taken in anywhere else. One that does not, cannot. 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.

A belt turns a shapeless dress into a deliberate one. Let the dress be the loudest thing you own that day. From the second group, Rat & Boa's Polina Dress ($245) 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, knits, 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 16 brands, $53 to $615, all in stock when this was written. We would not buy all of them, and neither should you. pqswim.com's Blossom Roxy Underwire Top at $53 is the low-risk way in, and simkhai.com's Dennis Wool Zip Up Jacket at $615 only makes sense if this is a category you already use constantly. Read as a set, they get you close to Poolside Chic 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: if you would not buy it at full price, you do not want it on sale.