Several things call summer to mind: the smell of sun cream, cherries on ice, hay fever, and big colourful beach towels with their slightly salty musk scent. Sadly, too many towels spend too much of the year piled at the bottom of the cupboard, taunting us with dreams of holidays to come.
Cristy Cabana towel, £30
Out in its natural habitat – the sand, a sunlounger, your lawn – one’s choice of towel says a lot. From branded styles with flashy logos to those crafted from plush cotton or earthy hemp, they are signifiers of personal taste – and wealth too. Phoebe Philo’s statement “Hi” towel in electric green cotton, (£550) is a pricey beach flex that you’d be forgiven for framing and putting on the wall. Likewise Hermès’s woven screen-printed versions, which sell for £640 a throw. So decorative are they that photographer Tierney Gearon, a long-time collector, compiled The Collection: A Visual Diary of Towels and Travel (thesummerproject.com, $125), featuring her favourite Hermès towels from far-flung places. Now that’s devotion.
Hermès cotton terry cloth Rainbow Horses beach towel, £620. BUY
Chloé cotton Wild Flowers beach towel, £410. BUY
