How to dress: Who needs a beach bag when you've got a rucksack?

The concept of beach bags properly irks me. Every year retailers have the same idea, which goes something like this: let's sew together two bits of oblong canvas, add some stripes and chuck on an anchor print. Then let's sell it next to the tills for a tenner, shall we? The resulting beach bags are uncomfortable to carry and just don't have it in them to fashion-up your pool look, let alone outlast a holiday. But overstuffed hypermarket carrier bags, snapping under the weight of a bottle of water, aren't a good look, either. So what to carry your towel and SPF in this summer? Enter the beach rucksack. It's not a snazzy new fashion category, and I can't think of a Grazia-friendly hybrid term for them – beach-sacks? – but the point is, rucksacks are great on the beach. Roomy, practical and sleek, they're tough enough to handle a bit of sand and relaxed enough to be used as a makeshift pillow. In fashion terms, rucksacks are a class act, and somehow sidestep the whole bag caste system. Tiny clutch bags are a bit princessy and up themselves, big weekday bags worthy and self-consciously sensible, but rucksacks remove themselves from the equation by being practical, unisex and fashion-friendly all at once. It's unlikely that the concept will take off, but who cares? A rucksack is unequivocally beach-friendly – unlike these shoes, which should never be within 100 metres of hot sand. • Imogen wears rucksack £85, by Stighlorgan . Jeans £175, by Current Elliot, from Fenwick . Breton, £45, by Petit Bateau, from Urban Outfitters . Shoes £85, by Surface To Air, from Urban Outfitters . Photograph: David Newby for the Guardian. Styling: Aradia Crockett. Hair and make-up: Celia Burton at Mandy Coakley.