Styling · The Kaftan
Resort Energy, City Hours
The kaftan left the beach. If it only works on a lounger, it is not this edit.
The kaftan left the beach. If it only works on a lounger, it is not this edit.
This post contains affiliate links. ESVRA may earn a small commission on purchases made through these links — at no additional cost to you. We only feature pieces we genuinely love.
The kaftan spent thirty years being the thing you pulled on over a wet swimsuit. Somewhere between the hotel room and the beach club, it was never quite clothing.
That changed when the houses started cutting it properly. Loro Piana gave it a shoulder. Eres made it in cotton dense enough to hold a line. Johanna Ortiz and Emporio Sirenuse kept the print but lost the shapelessness. What arrived was a dress that happens to have the ease of a cover-up — not a cover-up pretending to be a dress.
Which is where most people still get it wrong. The kaftan fails the moment it is styled as a holiday: the matching hat, the woven tote, the shell at the throat, the flat that only works on sand. Four correct pieces that together read as a costume. It is the same mistake as head-to-toe linen — nothing is wrong, and the whole thing is.
The rule is one easy piece and one serious shoe. A leather flip-flop rather than a rubber one. A bag with a structure. Gold at the throat, or nothing. The test is simple: if it only works on a lounger, it is not in this edit.
Loro Piana and Eres lead on the plain ones. La DoubleJ, Mary Katrantzou and The Attico take the print further than most will want. Lisa Marie Fernandez sits between the two, and Juliet Dunn and Miguelina are where the embroidery lives.
This is not an edit for the woman who wants to look like she is on holiday. It is for the one who wears the same dress to lunch in town — the white, the neutral, the pastel, the black and the printed.
Mine is the Loro Piana Tilde. I wear it like a dress, not like a cover-up.— K.W., Editor-in-Chief
Kaftan, leather flip-flop, one cord at the neck.
Darker kaftan, same shoe or a sandal with a shape.
Head-to-toe holiday on a city street.
Every piece in the edit — tap to shop.
The purest, most versatile of them all — white is the kaftan at its most effortless, elegant without trying too hard. Lisa Marie Fernandez's hooded gauze and Eres's crisp cotton carry from morning swim to evening terrace with nothing more than a change of sandal.
Hooded linen gauze. A kaftan that can leave the beach. No matching raffia hat.
Sloan voile, shell detail. One shell on the cloth — none on the neck.
The Voilier. Eres cotton. This is the investment kaftan.
This is the season's quiet-luxury direction — butter, ivory, sand and warm brown replacing the loud brights of summers past. Loro Piana's cotton and Johanna Ortiz's voile are the pieces you pack when you intend to look expensive and say nothing at all.
The Bibi linen. Softer than the Voilier. Day.
The Tilde. Loro Piana — city hours in a kaftan, which is the whole point of this edit.
The Collins print. One print. Plain sandal.
Loro stripe on linen-silk. One stripe. Stop.
Brown gauze. Darker, so it can do dinner.
Aqua Cruiser voile. Ortiz print. Leather sandal, not a theme.
Tap any piece below to shop the whole edit.
Soft colour with a gentle pop — blush, sky blue, citrus yellow and a whisper of green. Camilla's crystal-embellished silk and Emporio Sirenuse's Jenna bring the daytime-event energy: refreshing, feminine, and made for golden hour.
Yellow embroidery. Colour is enough. Quiet jewellery.
June lamé knit. Evening kaftan. Black sandal.
Crystal on printed silk. The kaftan is the jewellery.
Juliet Dunn embellished floral. Holiday house, town rules if the shoe is right.
Scalloped floral cotton. Softer Dunn. Day.
Valentina lace, blue. Pretty. Severe sandal.
Cefalonia chiffon. Movement. No extra floaty layer.
The Jenna, green voile. Positano bones. Town at night if you drop the hat.
The after-dark kaftan — the one that trades breezy for striking. The Attico's zebra-print and Ola by Ohaila Khan's fringed sequins prove that black, belted and embellished, is the fastest way to take the silhouette from the beach straight into the evening.
Zebra on black cotton. Animal is the only idea.
Fringe and sequin. Evening only. Walkable shoe.
The hero piece — big romantic blooms, bold stripes and artisanal prints in full colour. Missoni's metallic crochet, La DoubleJ's silk twill and Johanna Ortiz's painterly cotton are the statement kaftans that command a room the moment you walk in.
La DoubleJ silk twill. Print house. Plain bag.
Holi, belted silk. Eres print with a waist.
Stripe and sequin. Two ideas — keep the foot quiet.
Floral maxi. The simpler Ayad.
Sheer embroidered cotton. Underwear as architecture. Jacket until it isn't.
The Cove, sheer tulle. Same rule as the Dunn sheer.
Ortiz printed cotton. Day print.
Embroidered cotton, opaque. The Dunn you can wear to lunch.
Bold stripe. One stripe on the body.
Missoni metallic crochet, orange. House knit. No second stripe.
Fil coupé organza, multi. Evening print. Black sandal.
A kaftan is only as good as what you wear it with. The styling is simple: let the footwear set the hour, carry raffia by day, and add gold at the throat when the sun goes down.
Footwear sets the hour. A flat leather flip-flop or chain sandal keeps the kaftan easy by day; the fishnet or embellished pair takes it into the evening. Let the shoe decide the register.
The Row City, black leather. A flip-flop that is still a shoe. This is how the kaftan leaves the beach.
The Kinto. Less famous, same job as the City.
Dot Lagoon chain flat. Bottega. The kaftan stays quiet.
Alaïa fishnet and suede. The foot is the jewellery.
Miu Miu rubber thong. Joke shoe. Severe kaftan.
Miu Miu leather. The grown pair.
Nothing says resort like woven straw. A raffia shoulder bag or basket is the piece that finishes the daytime kaftan — carried to lunch, to the market, to the beach club and back.
Summer Banana. One raffia bag. The kaftan should not also be raffia.
The Alma raffia. The Row. Town hours.
Goldentime small. Handle. Evening-adjacent raffia.
Re-Edition mini, raffia-effect. Famous shape, summer cloth.
Spiaggia small. Contained Jacquemus.
Le City raffia basket. City in the name — keep it that way.
The finishing move. A cord-and-gold pendant, a pearl strand or a sculptural leather-and-gold piece is what turns the kaftan from beach cover-up into evening dress. One necklace, and the whole look shifts.
Melody cord. Almost nothing. The piece you leave on.
Perla beads. If the kaftan is printed, skip this.
The dagger. A point. Severe neckline.
Spear, silver, onyx. Quiet metal.
Lotus leather and gold. Unexpected at the throat.
Tap any piece below to shop the accessories.
Every piece in this edit, by the houses behind it. Explore them all.
Pack better, not more — and let one flowing piece carry you from the resort to the city, from noon to midnight.— ESVRA