Beach to Dinner Dress

I’ve spent a fair amount of time on the beach lately: from St Tropez, France, to Cabo, Mexico… to Kona, Hawaii and right back at home in Venice Beach, California.

So, from experience of overpacking then only wearing a few practical things (bet you’re not surprised I do this a lot) I narrowed down an edited list of what I ACTUALLY wear on beach vacations. It’s no surprise that unless I’m working on some extravagant shoot, the pieces I most often reach for are the most comfortable, versatile, and easy. It’s the beach: you want to relax, get a tan (well, for me some sun over my spray tan and SPF) and hang out.

When I look for coverups I ask myself three questions: A) Is it comfortable enough to sit and lie down in a beach chair in? B) Does it have a fun print or color but could still work with most bikinis?

And, the most important question of all, which is C) If I don’t have time to go back and change before dinner…. can I wear this straight to dinner?

Question C eliminates most crochet, see-through, skimpy/sexy pool-only coverups. Sometimes “dinner” in a beach location is on the beach anyway, and you can wear whatever in the world you want. It also depends on location: for example, in Ibiza anything goes; the smaller the better. For the purpose of finding a universally acceptable beach to dinner dress, let’s just leave out that scenario out and pretend you want to walk to a casual restaurant and be slightly covered for dinner.

Enter the beach to dinner dress, like this spaghetti strap high-low one that I love (currently on sale in white). I’ve worn it over a bikini with sandals, than swapped it out for heels and a clutch at night, as shown here. I’ve found Red Carter to have very cute, affordable cover-ups like this white off the shoulder number. This palm tree maxi would be perfect to throw over a white bikini, and this loose navy dress is casual yet flattering. For stunning dresses worth the splurge, Camilla with Love is also amazing.

My go-to easy accessories are round shades and a straw clutch like this lightweight one with navy fringe detail. I opted for nude wrap heels here (as this was shot in LA) but have paired this dress with sandals and straw wedges as well.