What to wear in the Cayman Islands as a couple comes down to one cloth and two rhythms: linen for both of you, worn open over swimwear by day and buttoned for dinner at night. Grand Cayman is relaxed but never careless, and a pair who dress with the same quiet intent, in colourways that answer each other rather than match, will feel at ease from the sandbar at Stingray City to the waterfront at Camana Bay.

The season shapes the suitcase. From December to April the islands are at their driest, with warm days in the high twenties and a steady breeze off the sea; this is the high season and the busiest stretch of the year on the beaches. From May the air grows heavier and short tropical downpours become part of the afternoon, and the Atlantic hurricane season runs officially from the beginning of June to the end of November. In every month the sun is strong and the water warm, so the wardrobe for two is built from light, loose garments, with one long sleeve each for the boat and the evening.

Before the colours, the cloth. A couple packing for the Caribbean is packing two wardrobes that will be worn hard, rinsed of salt at the end of each day and worn again, and the garments deserve to be judged with that in mind. Look first at the fibre: much of the PP collection is certified Belgian linen, and its certificate follows the flax from the field to the cloth; what that certificate covers is worth knowing before any label is trusted. Look next at the making. PP garments are handmade in the Dubai atelier and in Belgium, and on most of the shirts the buttons are cut from seashell, while the Monte-Carlo Male and the Oyster Amelia close with walnut. Then look at the cut. A loose line lets the trade wind through; a close one holds the heat.

Seven Mile Beach, on the western shore of Grand Cayman, is in truth closer to five and a half miles of pale sand, public along its whole length and lined with hotels, villas and beach bars. The water is calm and clear for most of the year. For him, PP swim shorts in Sapphire Blue, made in Belgian linen and made to be swum in. Out of the water he puts on the Laos Short Sleeve Linen Shirt in White, in certified Belgian linen, open at the collar; she wears the Linen Ladies Set in Sky Blue over her swimsuit. Blue beside white is the simplest way for two people to look composed together on a beach where everyone is in the sun.

The boats to Stingray City leave from the marinas of the North Sound, the wide, shallow lagoon on the island’s northern side. At the sandbar the water is about waist-deep and southern stingrays glide in to meet the boats. This is a day for swimwear first and linen second. He stays in his swim shorts in the water; on deck the Cuba Linen Shirt in Lemon Yellow goes over them, light enough to dry in minutes in the wind. She wears the HER Cuba Linen Shirt in Lemon Yellow loose over her swimsuit, the one deliberate match of the trip and an easy one to carry off. Many boats stop afterwards at Starfish Point or Rum Point, where lunch is taken barefoot in the shade, and the same two shirts carry on through the afternoon.

George Town asks a little more. Visitors are expected to cover swimwear away from the beach and the pool, in shops, restaurants and the streets of the capital, so swim shorts stay on the boat. Here he wears PP linen shorts in Beige with the Laos Short Sleeve Linen Shirt in Vanille; she wears the Amelia linen dress shirt in Lemon, a dress in itself, with flat sandals. The Cayman Islands National Museum stands on the harbour front, and a short drive east, Pedro St. James, the restored great house at Savannah, recalls the meeting of 1831 remembered as the birthplace of democracy in the islands. In November, Pirates Week, the national festival first held in 1977, fills George Town with parades, music and fireworks; linen and comfortable shoes are the answer to a long day on the street.

Evenings bring the couple back to the same table. Camana Bay, the waterfront town between Seven Mile Beach and the North Sound, has restaurants along its harbour and promenade, and many of the island’s finer dining rooms ask men for long trousers at dinner. For him, the Monte-Carlo Male in Oyster, with its walnut buttons, and PP Trousers 100% Linen in White from the men’s linen collection. For her, the Amelia linen dress shirt in Oyster, in certified Belgian linen and also fastened with walnut buttons. Two garments of the same tone with the same natural buttons: this is matching done quietly. For a second dinner he changes to the Laos Long Sleeve Linen Shirt in Dark Blue, and she to the Amelia in Coral Orange from the women’s linen collection, the warmest colour at the table as the sun goes into the sea.

Some couples cross to the sister islands for a few quieter days. Little Cayman, with Bloody Bay Wall falling away beyond its reef, and Cayman Brac, with its limestone bluff, are smaller and slower still; the same wardrobe serves, with even fewer evenings that ask for trousers. The wider island guide, what to wear in the Cayman Islands, covers the diving and the islands in more detail, and in the Caribbean the PP collection can be seen in person at the boutique of Four Seasons Resort and Residences, Río Grande, Puerto Rico.

Pack less than seems wise. A handful of linen garments each is enough for a week on Grand Cayman, and by the third evening neither of you will be thinking about clothes at all, only about which table on the water to choose.

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