On the Gili Islands there are no cars and no motorbikes. People cycle along sandy lanes, walk, or take a cidomo, the small horse-drawn cart that serves as the islands' taxi, and that one rule changes how a woman dresses here more than the heat does. Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno and Gili Air lie off the northwest coast of Lombok, a fast-boat ride from Bali, and every day on them involves a bicycle, a beach and a village street. What to wear in the Gili Islands has to suit all three without a change in between.

The islands differ in character. Trawangan is the largest and the liveliest, with a long strip of beach bars and restaurants on its east coast and quieter villas on the west. Meno, in the middle, is the smallest and the most peaceful, known for its turtles and its salt lake. Air, closest to Lombok, sits between the two, with a village at its centre and cafés around its shore. Our guide to what to wear in the Gili Islands covers all three; this piece is written for her.

The bicycle decides the first garment. A loose dress is beautiful on a terrace and less so on a saddle, on a sandy track, with a basket of snorkelling gear in front. The Linen Ladies Set, a blouse with matching shorts, is the easier choice: in Sky Blue or Mint Green it handles a morning of cycling to a snorkelling spot, and the shorts close with corozo buttons, made from the nut of a palm tree. Over a swimsuit at the beach, the blouse half of the set or a HER Laos Linen Shirt in Pink, worn open, gives the shoulders cover from the midday sun between swims.

The village asks for more. Lombok and the Gilis are home mainly to the Sasak people, and the islands carry a quiet, unhurried rhythm that rewards a slower pace. Walking back through the village, to a warung for lunch or to the harbour for a boat, the custom is to cover shoulders and knees. The PP linen blouse in Orchid or Lemon covers both with ankle-length trousers or a long skirt. The same outfit suits a day trip across to Lombok, whose villages and waterfalls belong to what to wear in Lombok for women.

Evenings dress up a little, particularly at the better restaurants and the small villa hotels on the west of Trawangan and on Meno. The Amelia linen dress shirt in Pink, Lemon or Blue, on its own as a dress, suits dinner on the sand; because it is cut to the thigh, it belongs to the beachfront and the resort rather than to the village lanes. A cidomo ride back is easier in it than a bicycle.

October is usually the end of the dry season, with the rains arriving towards November. Days are hot and bright, the sea is clear, and the first showers, when they come, are short. Light colours in linen suit that weather, and the lanes, being sand, drain almost as soon as a shower has passed.

The sunset is the islands' daily ritual. From the west coast of Trawangan, the sun drops behind Mount Agung on Bali, across the strait; from the east coasts, at dawn, it rises over Rinjani on Lombok. Off Meno, the turtles the island is known for feed over the seagrass close to shore, often within sight of the beach bars.

Read more: What to Wear in Bali for Women  ·  The HER Laos Linen Shirt Guide