Safari stories

The perfect accessory would probably be a jeep – a battered khaki crate on wheels or possibly a sleek and shiny silver Porsche 4x4. This season, it’s all about looking ready for anything, and ready to go anywhere.

The safari look has become a summer staple in recent years, taking over when the nautical trend ends in spring, but without any of the twee or ultra-conservative nuances that often tend to go with blue and white combinations, stripes or no.

The basis, of course, is what we know as the nude and neutral spectrum – that is, those essential, easy to wear shades ranging from taupe to warm ivory, with sand, biscuit, pale khaki and even pale pink (as in shell) and very pale peach, all within the nude family of wonderfully wearable foundation shades.

As a starting point, a nude safari dress is perfect and this season these range from silk, floaty-style shirt dresses (often in khaki) to fairly body-conscious straight cotton shirt dresses with stretch (these can be surprisingly flattering so do try one – Marks & Spencer has a selection, for starters).

The important part this season is to mix in tropical prints and brights, such as lime, chartreuse, fuchsia, piercing sky bue and splashes of red. Not all at once, unless you want to, but look for luscious deep and rich green palm leaf prints set off with gorgeously exotic tropical lime and fuchsia blooms, snap dragons and orchids and lilies, succulent and bright, but easy to wear, thanks to the flattering depth of colour in the leaves. These prints are everywhere so look out for them on scarves, shoes and bags, on belts too, as well as on key pieces such as tops, skirts and blazers.

But then, it would also be useful to invest in a simple dress in a beautiful tropical print, a short and loose one, perhaps with a drawstring waist, something very easy to wear, with sandals, heels or ankle boots, bare legs or with tights, if you simply can’t bear to bare.

And a top, or rather two tops – and here we are talking tropical prints again, but also animal print, because all manner of leopard print, zebra print and snakeskin are to be found, and the combination of animal print and exotic floral print is a key look for the season – so key, in fact, that many prints have been designed and created in this combination from the start.

As a look, it’s all very versatile and wide-ranging– for example, you can go matchy-matchy head-to-toe nude, perhaps shell trousers and a matching vest top, jacket and platforms. Or you can go tropical print all over, or you can mix up the two – whatever you want and ideal for creating a capsule summer wardrobe.

In terms of accessories, as mentioned, this is a handy way to mix in print, but brown leather can’t really be beaten and it adds just the right touch of utility chic, where needed.

Twitter: @yorkshirefashQ