For years it was the Friday brunch. When the Emirates moved their weekend to Saturday and Sunday at the start of 2022, the institution moved with it, and the long table is now a Saturday affair. The form has not changed. A brunch in Dubai is a set lunch of three or four hours, usually beginning around half past twelve or one, held in a hotel restaurant, on a terrace or at a beach club, and treated by residents as the social fixed point of the week. What to wear to brunch in Dubai depends mostly on which of those three rooms you will be sitting in.

The hotel dining room is the classic setting and the most particular. Dress codes are generally given as smart casual, which in practice excludes sportswear, beachwear and flip-flops, and at a number of venues excludes shorts for men. The air conditioning is set for a room full of people and can feel cold to someone seated for four hours. Long trousers and a long-sleeve shirt are therefore the comfortable choice as well as the correct one. PP Trousers 100% Linen in White or Sapphire Blue with a Laos Long Sleeve Linen Shirt in Oyster or Dark Blue is exactly right, and the sleeves can be turned back once the room warms up.

The terrace is the reward of the cooler months. From about late October to April, Dubai's afternoons are warm and dry and its outdoor tables are full; this is the season the city waits for. On a terrace the considerations reverse. There is sun on one shoulder for part of the meal, a breeze off the creek or the sea, and no need for sleeves beyond preference. The Laos Short Sleeve Linen Shirt in Vanille, Light Blue or Mint Green, or the Vibes Linen Shirt in Orchid, oversized and shorter in the body, sits well here with PP Casual Linen Trousers in Oatmeal. Pale colourways are kinder in direct sun.

The beach club is the most relaxed of the three and still not a beach. Tables are set on decking or sand, there is often a pool beside them, and the code is usually described as resort chic. Tailored shorts are accepted for men at most daytime beach-club brunches; swimwear at the table is not. PP linen shorts in White or Navy Blue with a linen shirt meet the standard, as does the PP Natural Set, a shirt and shorts cut from the same certified Belgian linen. PP natural swim shorts are for the pool or the sea afterwards and are changed into, not arrived in. The natural sets are shown together.

For women the three rooms ask for less adjustment. The Amelia linen dress shirt is appropriate in all of them: with flat sandals at a beach club, with a heel in a hotel restaurant. Its colourways cover the range of moods, from Oyster and Dubarry to Hibiscus, Violet and Coral Orange. The PP linen blouse in Orchid or Sky Blue with tailored trousers of her own is the alternative for a colder dining room. The ladies linen set, with its shorts, belongs to the beach club and the terrace. In a hotel lobby and on the way through a mall to the restaurant, covered shoulders remain the considerate choice. The women's linen collection shows each piece.

Linen has a particular advantage at a meal of this length. It is comfortable seated, it allows air to move in a warm room and it does not hold the chill of air conditioning against the skin the way a heavier cloth can. It will also crease across the lap and at the elbow over four hours, and it is better to accept that at the outset. A linen shirt that begins the afternoon pressed and ends it softened is behaving as linen does. Those who prefer a crisper start can iron the shirt while it is still slightly damp.

Footwear is where guests are most often caught out. Many hotel restaurants ask men for closed shoes, and almost none accept flip-flops; leather loafers or clean leather sandals, depending on the venue, are the safe range. It takes one minute to read the dress code on the reservation confirmation and saves an awkward conversation at the door. Evening brunches, which have grown popular and begin around seven or eight, are a degree smarter again: long trousers as a rule, and the Monte-Carlo Male, with its walnut buttons, in place of a daytime shirt.

Dubai is also where PP's atelier is. The garments are handmade there and in Belgium, for the most part in certified Belgian linen, and the collection is presented in the city at Park Hyatt Dubai and its Lagoon Beach Club, at Surf Club Dubai and at Sofitel The Palm Beach Resort. For the wider wardrobe of the season, the Journal's piece on what to wear in Dubai in winter is the companion to this one.

The brunch ends, by custom, some time after it was meant to. Dress for the room, allow for the air conditioning, and choose cloth that will still feel right when the last plates are cleared.

What to Wear in Dubai for Men  ·  What to Wear in Dubai for Women  ·  The Linen Shirt for the Beach Club