When the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer hit, there’s often a mad dash for cooling clothes. One way of making the season less crazy – and your style focus less hazy – is to put aside winterish things – your tweeds, your woollens, your corduroys – and embrace the lightweight, breathable fabrics that will keep you chilled, but still sartorially fulfilled when, as the songwriter Mr Cole Porter put it, “the thermometer goes way up and the weather is sizzling hot”.

The fabrics you wear make a difference, so we’ve put together a primer to help you breeze through the torrid months. We’ve also given you a few pointers as to how to wear them well, courtesy of some street-style exemplars. Follow our advice, and their lead, and you won’t be sweating the small stuff (or the big stuff, or even the inbetween stuff) as the temperatures rise. Even if you don’t make it to the beach this summer, you’ll still be riding the crest of these particular weaves.