There are almost no cars in Lamu. The island moves by donkey, by boat and on foot, and a visitor's first minutes set the tone: the aircraft lands on Manda, across the channel, and the last stretch is made in an open boat with the luggage stacked in the bow. Anyone asking what to wear in Lamu should start there, with a garment that can take a little spray and a seat on a wooden thwart, and then with the more important fact that this is a Muslim town with seven centuries of its own manners.

Lamu Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage site and among the longest continuously inhabited Swahili settlements on the East African coast. Its houses are built of coral stone and mangrove timber, with carved doors and stone benches at the entrance where neighbours sit in the evening. The lanes are narrow enough to touch both walls. Here, covered shoulders and knees are expected of men and women alike, and swimwear has no place beyond the beach. Local men wear the kikoi, a woven cotton wrap, or the long white kanzu; visitors are not expected to imitate either, only to be covered.

For a man, that means PP Casual Linen Trousers in Vanille or Oatmeal with a Laos Short Sleeve Linen Shirt in White or Mint Green, worn loose. For a woman, the PP linen blouse in Lemon or Sky Blue with long, light trousers or a long skirt from her own wardrobe is correct in the market, on the seafront, in the museum and at the old fort. The Amelia linen dress shirt ends above the knee and is better kept for Shela. A fuller account for her is in what to wear in Lamu for women. The men's garments named here are in the men's linen collection.

Shela is the other village, about three kilometres along the shore: a walk at low tide, or a few minutes by boat. It is quieter, whiter and more accustomed to guests, with restored houses behind high walls, a famous hotel verandah where the whole village seems to pass at sunset, and beyond the last house a beach backed by dunes that runs for some twelve kilometres. Dress relaxes here without being abandoned. On the sand and at a private pool, PP natural swim shorts and the ladies linen set in Coral Orange or Light Blue are at home. In the lanes of the village itself, a shirt and something to the knee remain the considerate choice.

Humidity is the condition that decides fabric. The air on this coast is warm and wet for most of the year, and cloth that lies flat against the skin becomes uncomfortable quickly. An open linen weave lets air pass and does not seal damp against the skin, and a cut with room in it does the rest; the subject has its own article in linen in humid weather. Colour matters as well. Pale shades reflect the light off white walls and sand, and they sit more quietly in a town where dress is traditionally modest in tone as well as in cut.

The year divides by wind, as it has for the sailors who built the town. The kaskazi, the north-east monsoon, blows roughly from December to March and brings the hottest, driest weather and the calmest, bluest sea. The kusi, from the south-east, arrives around May and lasts into September, with cooler air, more wind and a rougher channel; the long rains usually fall between the two, in April and May. In the kaskazi months short sleeves and the lightest colours are enough. In the kusi a long sleeve after dark is welcome, and the Laos Long Sleeve Linen Shirt in Beige Cream or the Bliss Linen Shirt in Sky Blue earns its space.

Then there is the dhow. The lateen-rigged boats that once carried mangrove poles to Arabia now take guests into the channel at sunset and out to the reefs by day, and the island still races them at festivals whose dates move from year to year and are worth checking. A day on the water is spent between swimming and shade: swim shorts for the sea, and a dry linen shirt kept in a bag under the deck boards for the sail home, when the wind off the water is cooler than expected. Certified Belgian linen dries readily in moving air, but a shirt that stays dry until it is needed is more comfortable still.

Evenings are simple. Dinner is usually at a house or on a rooftop, barefoot or close to it, lit by lanterns, and the food is of the coast: fish, coconut, lime, tamarind. A Cuba Linen Shirt in Blue or, at a private table in Shela, the Amelia linen dress shirt in Lemon is all the occasion asks. Nothing in Lamu rewards a large suitcase. What matters is settled before the boat leaves Manda: knowing which of the two villages the day is dressed for.

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