Ios arrives with a reputation, and most of it belongs to one short road between the harbour and Mylopotas in the weeks of high summer. The rest of the island is quieter and older: a Chora stacked along a ridge, a chain of sandy coves at Manganari in the far south, and a northern headland at Plakotos where local tradition places the grave of Homer. The question of what to wear in Ios is really a question about that larger island, the one that begins a few steps past the noise.

The island lies between Naxos to the north and Santorini to the south, reached by ferry from Piraeus or by a short crossing from either neighbour. The season runs from late May into early October. Midsummer afternoons sit at around thirty degrees, and in July and August the meltemi comes down from the north, cooling the ridge and lifting loose hems along the harbour front. Chora has no room for cars. Its lanes are stepped, edged in whitewash and climbed many times a day, past the row of windmills and up towards the church of Panagia Gremiotissa, which looks over the rooftops to the open sea.

Those steps decide the day's clothing more than any dress code. A shirt that hangs away from the body lets air pass through it on the climb, and an open weave lets the breeze through between one terrace and the next. For a man, the Cuba Linen Shirt in Blue, worn loose over PP linen shorts in White, covers the morning walk down to the port and the bakery on the way back up. Sandals with a real grip matter more here than on flatter islands, because the stone treads are worn smooth by a century of feet.

Mylopotas is the island's long beach, a short bus ride or a long downhill walk from Chora, with water sports at one end and quieter sunbeds at the other. This is ground for the PP swim shorts: the Sapphire Blue pair in the sea and on the walk up the sand, then a linen shirt added for lunch under a taverna awning. The same logic serves the boat to Manganari, which in season leaves from the harbour and follows the west coast south. Swimmers change on board; on deck and at the beach taverna, shirts stay dry and buttoned halfway.

Manganari itself is a string of pale coves facing south, reached by road across the island's bare interior or by that boat. A woman spending the day there needs one outfit that goes from the sand to the taverna table. The linen ladies set in Mint Green does both, with a swimsuit beneath it for the sea, and its shorts sit comfortably for the long ride across the island if the road is chosen instead. For the islands Ios is usually combined with, linen for island hopping sets out how one small bag covers several ferries.

Evenings in Chora start earlier than the reputation suggests. Dinner is taken on rooftop terraces that face west, where the sun goes down behind the low outline of Sikinos, and the bars only fill much later. A man dressed for that hour might choose the Bliss Linen Shirt in Sky Blue with PP Trousers 100% Linen in White, the long sleeves welcome once the wind picks up after dark. For a woman, the Amelia linen dress shirt in Lemon, worn as a dress with flat sandals for the steps, belongs to the same terrace; the full colour range is on the women's linen collection.

Two excursions ask for something sturdier. The track to Plakotos runs across open hillside in the north, and the climb to Paleokastro, the ruins of the Venetian castle on the east side, follows a stony path with little shade. PP Casual Linen Trousers in Vanille and closed shoes protect the legs from thorn and stone, and a long-sleeved shirt is worth wearing on a breezy day, when the wind hides how strong the sun has become. Ferries link Ios with its larger neighbour to the north, and what to wear in Naxos covers an island of mountain villages and marble quarries rather than beach bars.

By the second week of October the boats thin out, many hotels close their shutters, and Chora returns to the families who live there through the winter. On the west-facing terraces where the bars stood full in August, the view of Sikinos at dusk is unchanged, and there are far fewer people to share it.

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