Athens operates at a different register from the Greek islands. The city has a serious side — the cultural institutions, the rooftop bars above the Acropolis, the evening dinner scene in Kolonaki and Monastiraki — and a more relaxed one, particularly in summer when the heat encourages a simpler, more natural approach to dressing. Both reward natural fabric. The heat makes it necessary.

Summer temperatures in Athens frequently exceed 30°C and can approach 40°C during peak heat periods. The city is largely outdoors in the evenings — the terraces, the rooftop restaurants, the long walks through the Plaka and up toward the Acropolis. A garment that cannot manage this heat while remaining visually composed is a garment that will fail Athens in its most active hours.

Belgian linen handles the Athens summer well. The structure of the flax fibre promotes airflow in conditions that test any fabric, and the natural drape of the cloth reads correctly in a city where the visual standard is informed by centuries of aesthetic consideration. A PP linen shirt in white or oyster, worn open at the collar with linen trousers or linen shorts depending on the occasion, carries from the Acropolis Museum to dinner at a Kolonaki terrace without adjustment.

The evening in Athens is worth dressing for. The rooftop bar above the Plaka with the Acropolis lit behind it is one of the finest settings in Europe, and the standard of dress among Athenians in the evening is higher than casual tourists typically expect. A PP linen shirt in navy with linen trousers and a leather loafer is the correct response to this setting — not overdressed, not underdressed, simply considered.

For the islands — Mykonos, Santorini, Spetses — the wardrobe that works in Athens works there too, with more ease and more colour.

What to Wear in Mykonos  ·  What to Wear in Santorini  ·  Men's Linen Collection