It's June in February

"Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer," said Shakespeare, digging the sleepy greensward of England's Kent. These days, of course, England's Kent is not the only goal for those who need a holiday from hoarfrost. Toward Cannes or Coronado, Nice or Nagpur, Sorrento or Santa Barbara, Barbados or Biarritz, St. Croix or St. Tropez, frostbitten flocks flee southward to the sandy, sun-soaked sanctuaries of every continent on earth, anxious to shed "winter's weeds outworn" for the great-looking, comfortable duds of carnival. And this year, the trappings of sweet idleness take on the colors of an early-blooming tropical flower, with a burst of uninhibited plumage in men's resort wear that promises to get the mating season off to a flying start. Whether you're the type who likes to greet dawn the rosy-fingered with a splash in the salubrious surf, or prefers to loll in the hammock till the sun's zenith, the hip habiliments of 1961's resort wear will have you swinging just right.

Whether he digs the golf-and-tennis gambit, or simply wants to take the chill out of early mornings and late evenings as an idle spectator, the winter wayfarer can harvest a crop of new resort sweaters that is bright and breezy, woven of porous fibers that both warm and ventilate. The textures are soft, the colors rich to look upon. Desert tones of rust and camel are very right, with highlights of orange and yellow accenting the earthy hues. Olives and golds will be making their presence felt, too.

Once the exclusive property of bold dandies, patterned slacks have become a classic part of the male resort wardrobe. This year they will be bigger than ever, but not their patterns. Brash, blatant plaids and checks are out. The tasteful dresser will wear patterned slacks that are subtle and subdued, to harmonize with one of his handsome solid-color sports coats. And he will be wise enough to use them, however muted in tone, not as a replacement for his solid and simple-striped slacks, but as a knowing complement to them.

Twills should be given attention, too – poplin, tropical, worsted, gabardine, mohair, and the ubiquitous wash-and-wear fibers which pack well and travel light. Seersucker – cool, crisp and comfortable – will be back on the scene with prodigious varieties of new color treatments and pattern printings. Let's not forget, however, amidst this profusion of colors and designs, that plain white remains the basic resort slack – whether teamed up with the impeccable navy blazer, the batik jacket or the informal knitted or cotton shirt for beach or golf course.

If you're aware of the importance of stripes you're dressed in perfect taste. In walk shorts and sweaters, shirts and slacks, blazers and sports coats, stripes are taking over – wide stripes, narrow stripes, boater stripes, candy stripes, multi-colored Continental stripes. You name the fabric – wool, cotton, silk, denim, seersucker – and you can find it done up niftily in stripes.

Batiks are taking the place of madras in the affections of jacket, walk short, sport shirt and swim trunk designers. In odd jackets and blazers, especially, batiks of every persuasion will provide the favorite new motif of the season – from circular patterns and diamond-shaped all-overs to abstract designs in vertical and horizontal stripes. Though they come in both light and dark grounds, the dark-ground batik for sports coats is the one we give the nod to. (You can expect to see the same motif crop up soon in neckwear and cummerbunds.) Even this year's resort hat – the impudent but practical palmetto straw and the newer raffia crushable straw – will be accented by bands of batik.

No matter if your taste runs to terry-cloth or watered silk, you can really cover the waterfront through judicious combinations of tops and bottoms that mix and match. One pair of solid walk shorts, for instance, will combine equally well with a batik print or madras plaid blazer, a bold-striped shirt jacket, or a contrasting monochrome cardigan. A second pair of shorts – this one a British-look glen plaid or district check – can be used interchangeably with a pinstriped cotton shirt, a simple-patterned separate jacket, or a classic knit pullover. The same applies to sweaters and swim suits, shirts and shorts, hats and jackets. All you have to remember is to combine plain and fancy, dark and light, sleek and nubby – and not to embarrass any ensemble with too many riches of pattern or color.

But before you close your Val-pack, remember to leave room for one more indispensable item. Whatever else you leave behind, you must pack a suit of formal dinner clothes. However free-form the afternoon's protocol at an increasing number of resorts, nightfall demands an equal degree of obeisance to tradition. The conservative can tote standard natural-shoulder, trim-lapel evening jacket, the rebel his Continental cutaway with piped edges in tropical worsted or elegant silk mohair. But black is the color whichever way you turn. On the islands and the cruise ships, white still makes an occasional appearance, but it's a losing battle. The colored dinner jacket – from maroon to mustard – has been given the deep six along with the filigreed dinner shirt.

In the briny deep department, you can go to any lengths you desire in your choice of wet wear: from knits with zippered calfs that begin at the ankle to scooped-out (and far-out) bikinis that start and stop just this side of the law. Our taste runs firmly between these two extremes, and we recommend you be a more conservative aquanaut with swim trunks that come to the top of the thing, in classic gingham checks, hound's tooth, paisleys, geometric prints, solid shades, or a Fourth of July of bright and wide stripings. Knitwear is in for a big push this resort season, cut in mid-thigh Jamaican lengths, knee-topping Bermuda lengths, and a multitude of in-betweens that should serve your (concluded on page 121)it's june in february (continued from page 87) every wish. At pool- or beach-side, the Warmer deserves your attention: with a bright new selection of terrycloth cardigans, solid and striped denim shirt jackets, the imaginative sun-worshiper will be able to create a variety of coordinates to supplement his wardrobe of lightweight sweaters and sweat shirts.