In Saudi Arabia, the linen worth owning is the linen that keeps you cool in long sleeves and long trousers, because modest dress is what the Kingdom's cities expect: certified Belgian linen, loosely cut and made by hand, does exactly that. Pieter Petros makes its collection for Gulf heat, in its Dubai atelier and in Belgium, and delivers it to the Kingdom.

Saudi Arabia opened to leisure travellers in September 2019, when the tourist visa arrived, and in a few years Riyadh, Jeddah, AlUla and the Red Sea coast have become destinations in their own right. Visiting women are not required to wear an abaya, but modesty remains the rule in public: in the cities men keep to long trousers, and women cover their shoulders and knees, choosing garments that skim rather than cling. What to wear in Saudi Arabia, place by place, follows from that one principle.

That principle is also the clearest test of a linen brand. A covered wardrobe in desert heat leaves nowhere for a poor cloth to hide, so judge it closely. Is the flax long and even in the fibre, giving a smooth yarn that drapes away from the body instead of sticking to it? Can the origin be shown? Belgian Linen® is a private certification mark whose certificate follows the flax from the field to the cloth, and what 100% Belgian linen really means is set out in our guide. Is the weave open enough to move air, yet substantial enough for a formal majlis or a long meeting in an air-conditioned tower? And who made it? Pieter Petros garments are handmade; the shirts close with seashell buttons, while the Monte-Carlo Male shirt and the linen trousers carry walnut buttons. All of it natural, all of it biodegradable by design.

The seasons decide how much the cloth must do. Riyadh, on the high plateau of the interior, is dry: summer afternoons reach the mid-forties, while from December to February the days are mild, around 20°C, and the nights turn cool. Jeddah, on the Red Sea, is warm the whole year and humid, so the lightest weaves earn their place there. AlUla in winter has warm, brilliant days and cold desert nights. For most visitors the season runs from October to March.

Begin outside Riyadh, in Diriyah. The At-Turaif district, the mudbrick seat of the first Saudi state, was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2010, and its restored lanes are now the heart of the city's cultural life; Founding Day, on 22 February, is celebrated here with particular feeling. For him, the Monte-Carlo Male in Oatmeal, with its walnut buttons, and the PP Trousers 100% Linen in White, from the men’s linen collection. For her, the PP linen blouse in Orchid, in Belgian linen, with a long skirt or long loose trousers of her own. Linen for Riyadh itself, from the business districts to the evening restaurants, has its own chapter.

Jeddah's old town, Al-Balad, has been a World Heritage site since 2014. Its tall coral-stone houses, with carved wooden rawasheen screening the windows, were built to catch the sea breeze in the narrow lanes, and the district is at its loveliest after sunset. Here the humidity asks for the lightest garments: the Laos Long Sleeve Linen Shirt in Beige Cream, in certified Belgian linen, with PP Casual Linen Trousers in Vanille; for her, the PP linen blouse in Sky Blue, in natural linen, with long loose trousers of her own. Later, a walk along the Corniche needs nothing more. For the city as a whole, see linen for Jeddah.

AlUla is another world. Hegra, with its Nabataean tombs cut into sandstone outcrops, became the Kingdom's first UNESCO World Heritage site in 2008, and the valley's winter calendar of concerts, dinners and desert walks draws travellers from across the Gulf. Days in the canyons suit the Laos Long Sleeve Linen Shirt in Oyster, in certified Belgian linen, with PP Casual Linen Trousers in Oatmeal, a palette that sits naturally against the rock; as the cold of the night comes down, a layer of your own over linen is wise. The AlUla chapter goes further.

On the Red Sea coast, the new island resorts follow resort custom within their own shores. In the water, PP swim shorts in Sapphire Blue, in Belgian linen and made for swimming; afterwards, a Laos Short Sleeve Linen Shirt in Dubarry, in Belgian linen, over dry swim shorts for lunch. At dinner within the resort, the Amelia linen dress shirt in Violet, in Belgian linen, is a dress in itself. What to wear on the Saudi Red Sea is covered in detail.

Across all of it, from a palace courtyard in Diriyah to a jetty on the Red Sea, the Kingdom rewards the same quiet choice: a covered silhouette in a cloth honest enough to make covering comfortable.

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