The packing for Noonu begins at the scales. The atoll lies in the north of the Maldives, under an hour by seaplane from the international airport at Malé, and seaplanes keep strict weight allowances for each guest. What to wear in Noonu Atoll is chosen on the scales first: garments that weigh little, take little space and do several jobs a day. Linen answers that well, and an entire week's wardrobe in it fits comfortably within the limit.

Noonu is known for a small number of very private resorts. Soneva Jani, with its overwater villas over a wide lagoon, Cheval Blanc Randheli and Velaa Private Island are all here, and each is close to barefoot from arrival to departure. Shoes are often taken off at the jetty and seldom seen again; some restaurants have sand floors. The seaplane pilots of the Maldives are well known for flying barefoot themselves. A wardrobe here is mostly what you wear between the villa, the water and the table, and it should feel easy against bare skin all day.

October is a month of change in the atolls. The southwest monsoon is easing and the drier northeast season usually settles in from December, so the weeks between can bring heavy, short showers and long, bright spells on the same afternoon. Warm air and warm rain are not a problem for linen: a shirt caught in a shower on the walk to lunch is soon comfortable again in the warm air. The Baa Atoll to the south follows a similar pattern, if a second atoll is on the itinerary.

For him, the day settles into two garments. PP natural swim shorts in Roosewood Pink or Sapphire Blue are worn in the lagoon and on the house reef; out of the water, a PP Natural Set in Vanille from the natural sets covers lunch on the deck and the afternoon on a lounger. Evenings are hardly more formal. A Vibes Linen Shirt in Orchid, oversized and shorter in the body, with the PP Trousers 100% Linen in White, suits dinner over the water; the Laos Short Sleeve Linen Shirt in White or Oyster is the quieter alternative.

For her, the Amelia linen dress shirt in Violet or Oyster, worn as a dress over swimwear or on its own, moves from the villa to the restaurant without a change. The PP linen blouse in Lemon is the second piece, pulled on over a swimsuit for the walk to the spa or worn open at dinner with white trousers. The Linen Ladies Set in Light Blue completes it: a blouse and shorts in one colour for the long afternoons. Folded, the three pieces from the women's collection take less room in the bag than a pair of shoes.

Two moments ask for a little thought. The sandbank dinner, which several Noonu resorts arrange on a strip of sand in the lagoon, is reached by boat and eaten with the tide close by. For the boat out, he wears PP natural swim shorts with a linen shirt, and the Amelia linen dress shirt handles sand and spray without fuss; the natural set, with its linen shorts, is kept for dinners on dry land. A visit to a local island, such as Manadhoo, the atoll's capital, is different. The Maldives is a Muslim country, and away from the resorts swimwear is kept to designated beaches; shoulders and knees are covered in the village. That means long linen trousers for him and, for her, the blouse over an ankle-length skirt, while the Amelia linen dress shirt waits for the evening back on the resort.

The seaplane home leaves in daylight, as they all do; the aircraft fly by sight and do not operate after dark. From a few hundred metres the atoll is a scatter of pale rings in deep blue water, and the villa you left an hour earlier is already too small to find.

Read more: What to Wear in the Maldives  ·  What to Wear on a Maldives Honeymoon