Right now we can only dream about sitting by a pool in a Modernist house in the Hollywood hills wearing a Prada bodysuit and earrings. The reality is that we're wading in persistent rain and watching flash floods swallow the coast. However, imagine for a moment that we're anywhere but here, that we're sitting in something that looks like Tom Ford's 'A Single Man'. The LA sun is prickling the skin and the air smells like hot concrete and suncream. Days are spent pool side, reclining in the heat... It's a stretch we know.

In this fantasy LA-LA land we'd be accessorising Prada's '50s pin-up-worthy suit with Balenciaga's woven orange bag. The hit of colour is a welcome change to the natural beige coloured weave and after all summer should be bright. On the feet are Bally's pale blue slip-ons - the pool sandal for grown ups.

Inspired by David Hockney's paintings, we'll keep hitting the repeat button on this scene and usher summer in.

Gingham is the sugary alternative to the plaid shirt. It's the summer school dress, cartoon cow girls and the '50s housewife staring across her sink out over rows of white fences and neat children playing nicely. But at Jil Sander SS12 gingham shrugs off its past to become the fabric of choice, the coolest of the cool for a 2012 summer don't you know. Fashion's cyclical nature sees it wheeled back around by Raf Simons and steered straight into our hearts and here's hoping, our wardrobes.

The checks may rub against past connotations, but muted by a layer of organza the skirt is minty fresh, in every sense. But it's a tricky little fabric to get right. Too much of it paired with a collar and you look like you've been let out of the playground early. The pink Jason Wu knit adds a little Grandma-chic into the mix and worn braless it's a poppy, brave little jumper with attitude. With loosely tucked up hair and flat Superga sneakers instead of heels, the look is relaxed and young. It's a look that calls for wandering the city, looking for adventures in the concrete and swelling crowds.

We've seen the sheer trend come in all its hazy, delicate glory for summer but Ann Sofie Back's interpretation takes it to the monasteries in the north with austere, sheer shapes. Gone are the soft, pretty-pretty, floating dresses: in are the clean stripes of the shirt and a pure white skirt inspired by Back's curiosity over Scandinavian religion, conformity and stripping away identity. The neck is high, the hem is long and the clothes are crisp with just the shape of a frosted body beneath winking to a subtle kind of sexiness.

Alongside these holy aesthetics, the large folds and creases in the shirt were designed to look like freshly pressed tablecloths. Laying the table and God are two curious starting points that make for a look that we're twitching to pull on for summer, a fresh alternative to the cut offs and tank tops that prevail every year. And there in the the midst of Back's chiffons are the Rocha shoes. Counterbalancing the seriousness of the skirt and top, these shoes are the wild streak, the shoes to be worn to late night discos shuffling across lit up dance floors. Divine inspiration and disco - a winning combination.