I can’t lie, there’s a particular type of freedom (and dare I say smugness) in shopping for beachwear when nobody else is. The panic of packing for a July getaway has passed, the high-street rails are being cleared for knitwear, and everyone is looking towards the new season. Which is, I’d argue, exactly the moment to buy the swimsuit you’ll still be reaching for in 2035.

I have long fallen out of love with the throwaway approach to summer dressing; the £15 bikini bought in a hurry, worn twice, and gone grey by September. It’s a false economy, and a wasteful one. What I want now is the opposite: a single, beautifully made piece that holds its shape, its colour and its dignity season after season. Swimwear that becomes a signature that you reach for time and time again.

That’s what luxury swimwear does so well, when it’s done properly. The best of it is constructed to survive salt, chlorine and sun without surrendering, and designed in a way that never dates. Pay once, wear for a decade, and the cost-per-wear starts to look like the bargain the fast-fashion haul never was. So while everyone else is putting summer away, I’m actually investing in mine. Here are the pieces I love, and the ones I’ll be wearing long after the summer ends.