When the mercury climbs past 35 degrees, elegance stops being a question of style and becomes a question of survival. Enter the kaftan - a cover-up that, this summer of 2026, has left the beach and hit the city streets, light, airy and pretty enough to pass anywhere.

The kaftan's secret is that it asks for no effort. You throw it over your shoulders and it instantly looks intentional, no belt, no complicated combinations, no struggle in front of the mirror. It's inspired by Asian kimonos and the glamour of the seventies, and today it works in three registers - boho-chic at the beach, casual-elegant for a day in the city, and sophisticated enough for an evening event.

The choices range from the utterly simple to almost-jewelry. There are kaftans with vertical stripes in earthy and blue tones that go with gold accessories and espadrille sandals. There are colorful boho tunics with an asymmetric hem and cape-like sleeves, for those who want their summer holiday to read off their clothes. At the other end are the luxury pyramids - pleated tunics with exotic prints and models with shimmering details in the style of the rich seventies era, which call for not a single accessory more.

There's something familiar in all this to the Balkan eye. Light, wide cover-ups for hot weather weren't invented by the fashion industry - our grandmothers wore similar ones for working the fields, when comfort was a need, not a trend. Today the same idea is sold with a label and a "must-have" trigger, even though the essence stays the same: fabric that lets you breathe when it's burning outside.