Travellers who know Bali tend to pack for Lombok as though it were the same island a little further east. The beaches invite the comparison, and the flight is under an hour. The difference is cultural. Bali is predominantly Hindu; Lombok's Sasak majority is Muslim, and the island is sometimes called the island of a thousand mosques. Away from the resorts and surf beaches, daily dress is modest, and visitors are judged kindly but noticed. For a woman deciding what to wear in Lombok, the wardrobe therefore divides in two: what is worn at the water, and what is worn everywhere else.

At the water, very little changes. The south coast around Kuta, with the wide bays of Tanjung Aan and Selong Belanak, is surf and resort country, and swimwear is ordinary on the sand. The ladies linen set is the natural garment between beach, café and pool, in Sky Blue, Mint Green, Lemon or Coral Orange. The PP linen blouse, in Pink, Orchid, Lemon or Sky Blue, goes over a swimsuit for lunch. Both are in the women's linen collection. What is expected, here as elsewhere on the island, is that swimwear stays on the beach and is covered on the road.

Everywhere else, the guide is simple: shoulders and knees covered. That applies in Mataram and Praya, in the markets, and above all in the Sasak villages that many visitors come to see. In Sukarara women weave songket cloth on backstrap looms in front of their houses; in Sade the thatched houses and rice barns are still lived in. These are homes as much as sights. A long skirt from her own wardrobe with a PP linen blouse buttoned to a comfortable height is correct and cool. PP does not make skirts or women's trousers, so the lower half comes from elsewhere.

The Amelia linen dress shirt needs a word of its own. It is thigh length, which is ideal at a resort and at a beach club at sunset, and not sufficient by itself in a village or a town. Worn open or buttoned over a long skirt it becomes a different garment, closer to a tunic, and entirely appropriate. In that role the deeper colourways, Dubarry and Violet, look especially well beside the island's handwoven textiles, while Oyster, with its walnut buttons, is the quiet choice. Mosques that admit visitors will ask for the hair to be covered too, and a light scarf carried in the bag settles the matter.

Humidity is the constant. Lombok lies about eight degrees south of the equator, and even in the dry season, from about May to October, the air is heavy by late morning. From November to March the rains come, usually as intense afternoon downpours. Linen is at ease in both. The cloth is open, it does not cling when damp, and it tolerates being washed and dried repeatedly, which a week in the tropics demands. What it should not be is stored wet. The Journal's piece on linen in humid weather sets out how to look after it.

The Gili Islands, off the north-west coast, have their own rhythm. There are no cars or motorbikes on Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno or Gili Air; people move by bicycle, on foot or by horse cart along sandy tracks. The beaches are informal in the extreme, but the islands have resident communities and signs ask visitors to cover swimwear once they leave the sand. The ladies linen set does that in a single gesture. Sandals that can be rinsed are more use than anything delicate, and pale linen will collect a little dust from the tracks that washes out without difficulty.

The north of the island belongs to Mount Rinjani, the volcano that dominates every clear horizon. Few visitors make the full ascent, which is a serious multi-day trek with cold nights near the crater rim and a packing list of its own. Many more spend a day in the foothills: the waterfalls of Sendang Gile and Tiu Kelep near Senaru, or the rice terraces and village paths around Tetebatu. The air is fresher there, and the walking is damp and uneven underfoot. A PP linen blouse with long trousers of her own is comfortable on the paths, and a second, dry top in the bag is welcome after the spray of the falls.

Evenings are easy. The beach restaurants of the south coast and the hilltop bars above Kuta, where people gather to watch the sun set over the bays, ask for nothing more than the Amelia linen dress shirt and flat sandals. Not every PP colourway is certified Belgian linen: several colourways of the Amelia linen dress shirt and the PP linen blouse, among them Lemon and Pink, are natural linen. All the garments are handmade in the Dubai atelier and in Belgium. The Journal's general guide to what to wear in Lombok covers the island for both men and women.

Lombok is gentle with its guests. A few linen pieces and a long skirt, worn with a little thought, are all the island requires of a visitor's suitcase.

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