I am a chronic overpacker. I know this about myself. I have stood in front of a suitcase the night before a holiday, looked at the seven dresses I'd selected for a ten-day trip, and added an eighth "just in case." The just-in-case dress has never been worn. The suitcase has always been too heavy.
This year I decided to do things differently. Two weeks in the Algarve, one carry-on suitcase, and a deliberate decision to pack fewer, better pieces rather than more, mediocre ones. The dress I chose as my anchor piece — the one I was building the rest of the packing around — was the Yumi Brown Abstract Animal Print Midi Shirt Dress.
What I Was Looking For
A holiday dress has a specific brief. It needs to work in the heat without being uncomfortable. It needs to be lightweight enough to pack without taking up half the suitcase. It needs to look good for dinner but not be so formal that it's wrong for a beach walk or a market. And it needs to survive being washed in a hotel sink or a travel washing bag and come out looking presentable.
The abstract animal print in brown was the first thing that caught my eye. Not a literal animal print — not leopard spots or zebra stripes — but an abstract interpretation that has the warmth and movement of animal print without the obviousness. It's the kind of pattern that reads as considered rather than bold, which means it works across more contexts than a statement print would.
Why I Chose This Dress
The Yumi Brown Abstract Animal Print Relaxed Midi Shirt Dress had everything I needed. The 95% polyester, 5% elastane fabric is lightweight and packable — it folds small, doesn't crease badly, and dries quickly after washing. The relaxed fit means it's comfortable in heat without clinging. The midi length at 124.5cm is long enough to feel elegant but not so long that it's impractical for walking on uneven surfaces.
The button-up design gives you options: fully buttoned for a more formal look, open at the top for casual wear, or open at the bottom to show more leg when you're walking. The matching belt is the detail that elevates it — belted, it has a fitted waist and a proper silhouette; unbelted, it's a relaxed shift that works for the beach or a lazy afternoon. Two looks from one dress.
Machine washable. That sealed it. A holiday dress that requires hand washing or dry cleaning is a holiday dress that creates problems. Machine washable means I could use the hotel laundry service without anxiety.
Two Weeks in Portugal
I wore the dress seven times in fourteen days. That's every other day, which for a single piece of clothing on a holiday is a significant rotation. I wore it belted for three dinners, unbelted over a swimsuit for two beach mornings, and with trainers for two days of exploring towns and markets. It was the right choice every time.
The fabric handles heat well. Portugal in September is warm — consistently 28-30 degrees — and I was comfortable in the dress throughout the day without the clinging or overheating that synthetic fabrics can cause. The relaxed fit allows air to circulate in a way that a fitted dress doesn't.
I washed it twice during the trip using the hotel laundry service. Both times it came back looking exactly as it had before. No shrinkage, no distortion of the print, no loss of shape. The elastane content keeps the fabric from going limp after washing, which is the thing that makes cheap holiday dresses unwearable by the second week.
The Belt Question
I want to talk about the belt specifically because it's the detail that makes this dress genuinely versatile rather than just comfortable. A lot of belted dresses come with a belt that's an afterthought — thin, flimsy, the wrong colour, something you remove and never use. The Yumi belt is a proper matching piece that ties the whole look together. Literally and figuratively.
Belted, the dress has a waist. It has structure. It looks like an outfit rather than a cover-up. For dinner, with sandals and earrings, it's completely appropriate for a nice restaurant. That versatility — the ability to dress the same piece up or down depending on how you wear the belt — is what makes it worth packing as an anchor piece rather than a backup.
Back Home
I've worn the dress four times since getting back from Portugal. Once to a friend's birthday lunch. Once to a work event that was smart casual. Once on a warm Saturday with no particular destination. Once layered over a turtleneck as the weather turned, which worked better than I'd expected.
The week I got home I ordered it in a second colourway. That's the clearest possible verdict on a piece of clothing: you buy it again before the first one has had time to wear out.
My Verdict
If you're building a holiday capsule wardrobe and you need one dress that can do everything — beach, dinner, sightseeing, casual days, warm evenings — the Yumi Brown Abstract Animal Print Relaxed Midi Shirt Dress is the one I'd pack. Lightweight, packable, versatile, machine washable, and genuinely flattering with or without the belt. I wore it seven times in two weeks and would have worn it more.
Browse more dresses and holiday wear here:
Celia Marchetti is a marketing director and reformed overpacker based in London. She travelled to Portugal with one carry-on suitcase, wore the same dress seven times, and considers this a personal triumph.
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