Seven in the morning on Grace Bay, before the loungers are set out. The sand is the colour of milk and still cool, the reef a mile offshore draws a white line across the horizon, and the water between is a blue so pale and so bright that it seems lit from below. Women walk the length of the beach at this hour in whatever they slept near: a shirt, loose, over a swimsuit. It is the first outfit of the day in Turks and Caicos, and arguably the one the rest are built around.

The islands lie south-east of the Bahamas, low and dry, with little rain and a trade wind from the east on most days of the year. From December to April the air sits in the high twenties and the evenings are soft. What to wear in Turks and Caicos, for women, is decided by three things: a strong sun, a constant breeze, and a setting so saturated with blue that colour in a garment has to be chosen with care. Linen, light and matte, sits well against that water.

The morning shirt is the Amelia linen dress shirt. Cut to the thigh, with a collar and a full sleeve that can be rolled, it goes over swimwear for the walk and stays on for breakfast. In Oyster it is close to the tone of the sand; in Lemon or Blue it is clear and fresh; in Coral Orange it is the one strong note on an entirely blue beach. The PP linen blouse, hip length with long sleeves, in Sky Blue or Pink, does the same work with shorts. Both are part of the women's linen collection, and the differences between them are set out in the PP linen blouse and the Amelia linen dress shirt.

Days here are spent on the water as much as beside it. Boats leave Providenciales for the uninhabited cays to the north-east, for snorkelling over the reef in the Princess Alexandra National Park, and for sandbars that appear at low tide. A long sleeve matters on a boat, where the light comes off the sea as well as from the sky. The blouse, buttoned and with the collar turned up, gives the shoulders and arms real cover and does not stay damp for long when spray reaches it. Swimwear is for the water; the linen goes back on when she climbs the ladder.

Long Bay, on the southern shore, is shallow for hundreds of metres and steady with wind, which has made it a centre for kiteboarding. Watching is its own pastime. Further west, Chalk Sound is a landlocked lagoon of an almost unreal turquoise, scattered with small rocky cays and crossed by paddleboard or kayak. For both, the ladies linen set is the practical choice: a blouse and shorts in the same cloth, in Light Blue, Mint Green or Dubarry, easy to move in and correct for a late lunch afterward without changing.

Lunch is conch. It is pulled from the shallows and served as salad, cracked and fried, or in fritters, at open-sided places on the beach where the tables stand in the sand. Dress there is as relaxed as the Caribbean gets, and the ladies linen set or an Amelia linen dress shirt over swimwear is entirely in order. The island's weekly fish fry, with local cooks and a band, asks for the same ease after dark, with flat sandals for the grass.

Evenings at the resorts along Grace Bay are a degree more composed. This is the hour for colour that holds in low light: the Amelia linen dress shirt in Violet or Hibiscus, belted or left to fall, or the PP linen blouse in Orchid with the shorts of a ladies linen set. The trade wind continues after sunset, which keeps the terraces comfortable and makes a full sleeve welcome. Linen moves in that wind, and creases in it. The soft folds at the elbow and the hem are part of how the cloth looks when it has been worn through a day by the sea.

Further out, Grand Turk keeps the capital, Cockburn Town, with its salt-era houses along the front, and from January to March humpback whales pass through the deep channel off Salt Cay. Both are day trips by small aircraft, and a blouse with a long sleeve covers the cool of the cabin and the sun on arrival.

A week asks for little: two Amelia linen dress shirts, two blouses, one ladies linen set. Salt rinses out in fresh water and linen dries readily in moving air on a balcony. The Journal's wider account is what to wear in Turks and Caicos. The islands make the argument for restraint themselves. The water has the colour; the wardrobe only has to keep out of its way.

What to Wear in Turks and Caicos  ·  The Amelia Linen Dress Shirt Guide  ·  The PP Linen Blouse Guide