Sunscreen has a reapplication problem. It works for roughly two hours, less in water, and almost nobody reapplies it on schedule. A hat has no such failure mode. It shades the face for as long as it is on your head, which is why dermatologists keep recommending one and why the wide brim keeps returning as a commercial category rather than a seasonal look.

Brim width is the only specification that matters. Anything under about seven centimetres shades the forehead and leaves the nose and cheekbones exposed. The hats that actually work look slightly larger than feels natural in a mirror indoors.

The eight here run $198 to $690. Janessa Leone's Felix and Helen Kaminski's Nathalia are the two proper wide brims, at $257 and $300. Eugenia Kim's Cassidy packs flat, which is the feature that decides whether a hat gets taken at all. rag & bone's Lou is crochet at $198, By Malene Birger's Strawilla is a paper bucket at $200, and Toteme's woven paper sun hat is $240. Mains de Vapeur and Rabanne are the decorative end.

Sunglasses are the other half of the same job and the one people spend properly on, because a lens is a piece of optical equipment rather than a fabric. The useful distinction is not brand but frame size and material. Large frames shade more of the eye area. Acetate sits more comfortably than thin metal in heat, because metal conducts and slides once skin is damp.

Shape is the part that is genuinely personal, and the range here covers the four that suit most faces. Square, round, oval and cat-eye are all represented rather than one house look repeated eight times.

Prices run $191 to $390. Ray-Ban's RB2198 at $191 is the cheapest and the most replaceable, which matters for an object that gets sat on. Gucci and Tom Ford handle cat-eye at $295 and $325. LOEWE's Double L is geometric at $360, Givenchy's City is round metal at $290, and Prada's oval is $390. Fendi and Dries Van Noten take the larger square route at $380 and $345.

A cover-up is sun protection that does not need reapplying either, and the sarong is the most efficient version of it. It is a rectangle of fabric that becomes a skirt, a dress, a shoulder wrap or a towel depending on how it is tied, and it dries in minutes because there is no lining and no structure.

The practical test is the fabric. Cotton and cotton blends hold a knot. Slippery synthetics do not, and a sarong that comes undone on the walk back is worse than useless.

The range here is $105 to $650. Meridian's maxi sarong at $105 is the plain workhorse. STAUD's Inlet is embellished at $195 and Tropic of C's Karoo is cut as a dress at $250. JUILLET's wrap plaid skirt and Significant Other's Milou mini are the two shorter versions, at $158 and $220. Coniglio Palm Beach's ruffled pareo maxi skirt is $250. Misook's knit tunic at $268 is the only one that works as a top on its own, and LOEWE's cotton pareo scarf at $650 is the expensive outlier.