If style is important to you, you most likely don’t want to let it slide while you travel. I mean, who wants to look dumpy in all of your travel photos, or while window shopping in Paris??? But no matter your gender, travel offers some unique challenges for your clothing choices that make looking chic a challenge. Here are some challenges you’ll face…
-You want to pack light. You can’t throw your entire wardrobe into one carry-on.
-You want to be comfortable. Not just on the flight, but during long days of sightseeing.
-You want versatility. Everything needs to mix and match because you can’t do laundry every day. Plus you need some outfits to take you from sightseeing to dinner.
-You want breathability. Since you’ll be outdoors a lot, and your weather will most likely be varied, you’ll need fabrics that breathe so you don’t turn into a sweat monster.
-You want wrinkle-free. Living out of a bag makes wrinkles a real challenge if you don’t have the right fabric, and no one looks chic in a wrinkled shirt.
-You’ll want easy-to-wash and dry. Dry clean only or line-dry only narrow your options for getting your laundry done if you’re traveling for longer than a week. Hopefully all of your clothes could be thrown in a washing machine and either into a drier or hung out to dry.
-You want comfortable shoes. You’ll be on your feet all day every day.
Finding clothes that meet these requirements AND look stylish is really difficult! These tips can help you.
Stick mostly to basics, but nice looking basics.
T-shirts can be great, but avoid logos and text that can be too casual for a nice restaurant. If you’re like my husband, who wears t-shirts every day, go for solid or simple patterned shirts only. And have at least one pair of pants that aren’t jeans in case you need to dress up. For women, solid black is the easiest color to make look nice, but any color that looks nice on you is good. Just make sure that you keep your color scheme so that everything you pack matches each other. If you decide to stick to basic blacks for simplicity, what you want to pay a lot of attention to is the fabric and the shape. The fabric should match all of the requirements that I listed above (breathable and wrinkle-free), but should also look, feel, and lay nicely on your body. I like fabrics that have a bit of stretch to them. Depending on your body shape, you know what kind of shapes look best on you. With my smaller upper body frame, I tend to prefer lower necklines and looser fits that hang nicely. As a tall person I prefer my tops to be slightly longer and narrower, but as a pear shape I am picky about where they land on my hips. You know what shape and fit works for your body.
Neutral colors like black will always look good.
If you stick to neutrals, it's easier to layer everything together if the weather gets cooler. Here I have on leggings, a dress, a sweater, and a jacket (and later a poncho when it started raining...).
Have an idea of, or make a list of what you’ll need.
This is dependant on the weather and the activities you’ll be doing in your destination. Plan for one week’s worth of outfits (even if you’re traveling for longer, you’ll just need to do laundry. You probably don’t want to rewear most tops, but decide which bottoms you can wear more than once in the week. Layers are smart for varied weather, and easier to pack than bulky items (plus more versatile). If you have no idea where to start on your list, just google the phrase, “What to pack summer Iceland”, changing the season and destination to match your trip. These lists can give you some good ideas. Have at least one nice outfit that you could wear to a fancy restaurant or special event. For women, a little black dress is easy. For men, some sleek pants and a button up shirt - maybe even a simple blazer that isn’t too bulky and doesn’t wrinkle too badly. Here’s a video I made of what I packed for a two-week trip to France and Spain in the summer.
Start by looking in your own closet first.
You may already own all or some of what could make a perfect travel wardrobe. But don’t just pack things without specifically trying them on, using different combinations, and paying attention to comfort, versatility, and fabrics. Also, think about how well these items will pack into your bag. If you can avoid bulky items like thick sweaters, stick to layers instead.
Write down what other basics you still need.
It’s helpful to have a plan before going shopping because it’s really easy to buy things you don’t need and skip on things you do need. When you go shopping, wear some of the clothes you had at home that you plan on packing. For example, if you need to buy a pair of pants and a skirt, wear a top and shoes that you plan to bring (if you already own them). That way you can make sure they all work together. If you are going for a non-neutral color scheme, have pictures on your phone of what you own at home so that you can check for color and print matches while you are shopping. When you are trying on clothes, see how they feel when you squat and sit - not just when you stand perfectly still. Don’t you hate it when pants look great standing, but you sit down and your butt hangs out? Ugh!
Tip: If you don't have the budget to buy stuff, see if your friends have anything you can borrow.
The battle of shoes.
Plan to bring 2-3 pairs of shoes. These all need to be comfortable. Also, hopefully you can wear any pair of shoes with any outfit. Make sure they all work decently well. Test them out by wearing them all day on your feet for two or three days in a row to make sure that they don’t bother you in any way. If you are traveling to a hot climate, plan for your feet to swell a bit, which can cause some extra rubbing. Bring one pair of stylish sneakers that you can wear during the day. Your feet will thank you, and you can change into a dressier shoe before dinner.
Sneakers will save your feet while you're out sightseeing all day. Plus, then you have the right shoes for any active things that may come up.
Don’t forget about a day bag.
Whether you plan to carry a purse, a small backpack, or an over-the-shoulder bag, pick one with some style. Make sure it has plenty of room for anything you’ll want to carry with you during the day. For example, you will probably want to carry a water bottle, a guide book, a light sweater, and some snacks.
After you have your basics down, find a few things that pop.
If the bulk of your travel wardrobe is basic neutrals, pack a few items that bring some interest. This might be a colorful scarf, a sparkly top, a patterned pant, some jewelry, or a fun bag. Whatever you do, make sure that those items all match.
I'm a fan of a patterned pant in the summer. If you pack these, make sure your tops all work well with the color and print.
These are my most comfortable pants. The pattern is primarily black, so it was easy to match a variety of tops.
A scarf is an easy piece to match with everything, and is a great way to cover up if the temp drops a bit.
Lay everything out and try everything on.
To make sure that all of the colors and patterns look good together, spread everything out of your bed and make sure it looks cohesive. To make sure that the fits of everything work together, try on a variety of combinations. Maybe even snap some selfies in in the mirror of the different outfits. If there is anything that is not working, remove it. Don’t forget to think about specific activities you are planning on doing, and what you might wear for those activities (like a hike or an opera).
Fold everything up to make sure it fits.
I like to use packing cubes in my bag to keep things from sliding around. You want to make sure that you don’t pack too much for your bag. If you have a little bit of extra room in your bag, DO NOT add a few more things to fill it. (I know it's tempting.) Instead, leave some space to work with during your trip. You may want to buy a few things. And even if you don't buy anything, for some reason bags always seem to have less space on the return home. It's a mysterious law of travel.
A few laundry-care products can help.
Sometimes it’s impossible to pack all wrinkle-free clothing. Cotton t-shirts and button-up dress shirts will inevitably get a few wrinkles in your bag no matter how you fold them. You could pack a little wrinkle-release spray. When you arrive at your hotel, hang up any clothing items you are concerned about wrinkling, spray, and pull gently on the fabric. You can also hang these in the bathroom while you shower with the door closed to increase the steam. Then pull and stretch out the wrinkles as best as you can. Most tradition hotels will have an iron and ironing board. I don’t like spending my vacation time ironing, but if you need to look nice for a special event and quick fixes aren’t working, pressing your clothing could be an option (or paying the hotel to do it!). Another problem with living out of a bag is that stale smell. To keep your clothing smelling fresh, keep a dryer sheet or two in your bag, keep dirty clothes in a laundry bag in a separate section of your bag, hang up your clothes on arrival (or at least open your bag to air out, and/or pack a little bottle of Febreze. Perfume or cologne does not work for this situation. Those just layer on top of the smells. You just want your clothes to smell fresh and clean after they’ve been crammed in a bag. A stain stick is also a helpful product to bring along, especially if you are prone to spilling on yourself. Because you will be limited on when you can wash your clothes, it’s helpful to get out stains quickly on the go. In an emergency, you can always wash an article of clothing in the sink/shower using shampoo, soap, or packable laundry detergent sheets.
If you travel a lot, these tips will become second-nature to you, and you will probably find that you don’t need to even buy anything new for most of your trips. However, if you don’t travel much, you may have not thought much about these challenges to overcome with your clothing before, and so you might not own a ton of clothes that already work for traveling. You don’t necessarily need to spend a lot of money to get what you need. Clothes that work for travel don’t have to be travel-brands. With patience, you can find things that work at just about any store and for just about any budget.
If you have the money to spend, you may even consider hiring a fashion consultant to help you. If not, you can just have a friend help. I hired a fashion consultant for our first month-long trip through Europe and I found her to be really helpful. We went shopping together for a few hours, and I had everything picked out in that one day. She helped me make sure that the fabrics worked, made sure things we picked looked good on me, and we shopped at stores that helped me stick within my predetermined budget. If you go this route, try to pick someone who has spent time traveling and knows about the unique challenges when it comes to staying fashionable while living out of a backpack.
For more tips on packing, check out this blog post called How to Pack Like a Pro.