Backstory: Fantasy Island

Even if Panarea isn’t in your summer plans, you can still dress the part with Gypset, a new bohemian-luxe clothing line.

For Julia Chaplin, who chronicled the high-flying boho lifestyle in her 2009 book, Gypset Style, a jaunt to Panarea was just one stop on her itinerant itinerary. This summer (in addition to island hopping in Greece) she launched Gypset, an exuberant, cross-cultural line of clothing that looks just as great in Guéthary, France, as it does in Yelapa, Mexico. The debut collection, called Galactic Weekender, includes five Sixties-style minidresses (“Shorter is better for dancing,” she points out) and a handful of sarongs, all cut from bright, bold, limited-run fabrics procured on her trips to Africa. Says Chaplin by phone from Venice: “It’s all about living the good life” (gypset.com; $120 to $350).

Read “Fantasy Island” from the August 2011 issue here.

Collection photos by Carter Smith; Sarong photo by Julia Chaplin.