Vacation's Secret Agent.(Bev Malik)(Interview)

Byline: editor: Sally Singer

Bev Malik doesn't believe in beach cover-ups and caftans. Sarah Mower meets the woman who's putting resort in resorts.

You've just taken off on a plane to somewhere remote and sunny for a hard-earned Christmas break, possibly with a significant other in tow. Because you were working up to the last minute, you've thrown everything still wearable from last summer into a suitcase, perhaps with the few desultory gifts you could manage to muster for the twenty-fifth. But just as you're fantasizing about the gorgeous, glamorous, no-stress time stretching in front of you, it happens: Your luggage does not arrive.

Bev Malik, possibly the sharpest-thinking holiday-fashion psychologist in luxury travel, has figured out how to avert the morale-wrecking nature of that clothing crisis so well, it could almost turn into a pleasure. Check in, sans bags, at one of the One&Only resorts where she's a boutique buyer, and you will be offered a complete solution: a One&Only Lost Luggage by Acne cabin bag, packed with enough T-shirts, chinos, tank dresses, and cardigans to last ten days. This is the prescription Malik devised in collaboration with Acne jeans. "Acne has the best basics there are. But, actually, I think a modern way of doing things would be to call ahead to have a bespoke bag waiting for you, so you travel free-handed." She grins. "It's also good for a gift. I wanted it to be easy for a man to buy for a girlfriend."

Born in Nairobi and raised in London, where she lives in Hampstead (if she's ever at home), Malik has the uncompromising knack of a hip London girl and (usefully) the eye of a former lingerie buyer when it comes to picking out the sexiest, most flattering swimwear cuts and solid colors (Eres, Tomas Maier, Bodas, Liza Bruce, and her new discovery, Bond-girl-worthy scuba bikinis from Lisa Marie Fernandez). A passionate despiser of caftans, purpose-designed beach cover-ups, and beaded swimwear, she's also on a personal mission to sweep away all expectations about what a typical resort store carries. "I thought if you can get a cooking lesson or a diving lesson at a superluxury resort, why can't you go into the store and find amazing clothes? Not awful linen pieces and horrible bright-pink embroidered bikinis you can't swim in, shapeless caftans by swimwear designers who aren't actually ready-to-wear designers, and tacky souvenirs."

When she was recruited at the start of the year by One&Only Resorts to bring fashion credibility to three of its most exclusive locations, in Mexico, Mauritius, and the Maldives, an irony hit her: The only places the increasingly elaborate and fashion-significant "resort" collections weren't available actually were resorts. "The category that sells most and is in the stores longest is resort and pre-collection," she explains. "But it's not just about buying stuff for the beach. I do trans-season-wear. I want women to be able to buy things for now and for home, too. Dresses that you can wear with black tights later. It's not about caftans or floaty dresses. It's the really tight-fitting sexy things. You've got a good body and a tan. You don't want to hide ...