It is summertime and the holiday season looms, but there is always the dilemma of what to pack and what to leave behind. With the restrictions on luggage, this has become even more important. There are a couple of options available to you: buy your wardrobe at your destination; take a change of clothes and wash the spare set every day; or invest in a crinkle finish cotton dress.

Crinkle finish cotton dresses are the perfect way to travel light and to have something smart and presentable to wear when you reach your destination. All you have to do is roll them up and stuff them in your suitcase or your carry-on baggage. Because of the crinkly finish, they will be as good as the day you bought them when you get your destination.

They also minimise the need to take a travel iron on your journey. Quite often, you want to take a pretty cotton dress to wear on your holidays, but are limited by the fact that you have nowhere to hang it once you get there and really don't want to spend hours ironing when you are on holiday. A crinkle cotton dress never needs ironing as the unique fabric keeps its shape and is good to wear straight from your travel bag.

Crinkle cotton dresses provide a great range of styles to choose from too. There is always a worry with crinkle finish clothes that you might end up looking like you walked out of Woodstock â€" well, things have moved on since the mid sixties and the styles are now designed to work as well in an office setting or at an evening meal as they would on the beach or at a garden party. These cotton dresses are cool and stylish in attractive, tasteful colours as well as some brighter, more vibrant styles. They are in plain colours for those of us who like to put more thought on accessories or in patterns and ethnic colours. With African prints one of the fashion trends for the summer there really isn't any better time to buy into this look.

What's more, they cross the generations and look great on anyone regardless of age.

A cotton dress is a great addition to your wardrobe; it offers comfort, style and practicality. It also doesn't have the problems of washing that can be the case with other materials. Most cotton can be washed in a washing machine on a regular cycle, just always be careful if it brightly coloured as you don't want everything to end up the same colour as your dress!