Since Saudi Arabia opened to tourism in 2019, women visiting the kingdom have not been required to wear the abaya or to cover their hair, but the guidance is clear: dress modestly in public, with shoulders and knees covered and clothes that do not cling. Within that frame there is a wide freedom of colour and cloth.

Riyadh sits on the Najd plateau in the centre of the peninsula, and its climate is dry desert. From October to March the capital is at its most comfortable: warm, clear days and evenings that grow genuinely cool, especially in December and January. This is also when the city is busiest, with the Riyadh Season festival filling its calendar and the restaurants of Diriyah and the newer districts full late into the night.

Daytime in the city calls for a long sleeve and a long line. The PP linen blouse, with its long sleeves and its curved hem, worn over wide trousers or a long, loose skirt from her own wardrobe, answers both the guidance and the sun. Sky Blue and Orchid read beautifully against the sand-coloured stone of the old quarters; Lemon is bright and right for the strong winter light. The HER Laos Linen Shirt in Grey or Blue, cut loose, is the more relaxed alternative for a day of museums and markets, worn where a short sleeve is acceptable.

Diriyah deserves its own morning. The At-Turaif district, the mud-brick seat of the first Saudi state and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, lies on the edge of the Wadi Hanifah, and the restored lanes and the Bujairi Terrace restaurants opposite it have become one of the capital's most beautiful places to walk and dine. The ground is uneven and the paths are long; flat shoes and a loose blouse make the visit a pleasure. Our Diriyah guide describes the site and its seasons in more detail.

Evenings are the city's great pleasure in the cool months. Dinners in Riyadh are long and late, in courtyards, on rooftops and in the restaurant districts that have grown up across the city. The temperature can fall sharply after dark, so a layer is wise. For women, the HER Monte Carlo Gillet over the PP linen blouse in Orchid, with a long skirt in a deeper tone, is a quietly polished answer; for the desert camps outside the city, where the night is colder still, a light knit carried for later is worth the space it takes.

Linen is well suited to the capital for two reasons. Its breathability keeps the long-sleeved, full-length dress comfortable in the warm middle of the day, and its natural fibre does not cling, which matters both for comfort and for the modest line the city prefers. In the very dry air, linen also feels cool against the skin in a way heavier cloths do not. The PP linen blouse guide sets out the cut and colourways of the blouse in full.

The capital is often combined with AlUla or the Red Sea coast, which ask for different wardrobes; the city's general rhythms, for men and women alike, are covered on the Riyadh page.

On a January evening at Bujairi, the floodlit walls of At-Turaif glow amber across the wadi, and the air carries the smell of cardamom coffee and the first real chill of the desert night.

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