Elements of a Travel Wardrobe

Jockeying between the woman's embrace of potential and the demands of necessity

A strong part of the genius of womanhood is to see potential, as opposed to the actual. One can appreciate how this stems from biology: a female is born with all her eggs in her body, so she is literally carrying and shielding and nurturing potential all her life. And in the spirit, this means women have a gift for seeing potential in seemingly barren situations: these two people might become great friends, with a little nudging. That teen could be successful with just a bit of encouragement. These two people would be just right for each other: how can I introduce them? This overlaps heavily with the artistic gifts of seeing potential in wood and canvas, paint and fabric, an empty room, a vacant space. Women delight in filling spaces or at any rate seeing them filled.

Women also prepare themselves for the potential: suppose the baby will be cold? I’ll bring a sweater. Chances are we’re going to need six extra diapers: he’s been eating a lot recently. Those swings looks dangerous and my toddler has zero fear… We are tormented by thoughts of dangers unlooked for, emergencies that arise like bubbles out of a soap machine, and we worry and plan, and worry when we can’t plan. We see joy and sorrow intermingled and try to embrace—and plan for it—all.

The upshot of this is that most women have a very difficult time packing a suitcase efficiently.

Men, whose genius is to see the actual, are largely untroubled by potential. I am related to the proverbial men who go on a trip with just a toothbrush and a pair of extra boxers and maybe, if it’s a longer trip, extra socks. (No toothpaste??? “I’ll just pick some up at the store.” What about your suit? “I’ll wear it on the plane.” What about—? “Look honey, if I find I need it, I’ll buy it or do without.”)

You can see why packing the family for a trip has built in friction and yes, potential for conflict. Aside from the boys who are “only what I need” men in training, I do have boys who absorb my lectures on what to pack and respond by just dumping their entire dresser and closet into their suitcase. Ah, the stories…

So, leaving aside men for the moment, I want to share an outline for a travel wardrobe that I read when I was a teenager in the 1980s, in the column of a woman’s magazine, probably on a boring summer day. I was intrigued, tried it, loved it, and have used it ever since. So to be super-clear, I don’t know who came up with this, and it wasn’t me, but I am grateful to whoever it was. I’ve used this wardrobe strategy to pack for business trips to conferences and to week-long beach vacations. I’ve used it for staying in high-class hotels and for bus trips with friends to New York. I’ve used it to pack bags for myself, for my daughters from age 3-18+, and in a modified form, for my sons. I’ve also recommended it and taught it to friends and family members. Like I said, I love a tool that works so well.

The concept is simple: strive to pack one piece of clothing per day you are traveling, so for a seven-day trip, just seven pieces. (And since it’s so absolutely trim, I sometimes use it for weekend trips too, especially if I’m not sure what’s on the schedule). Each piece of clothing should be somewhat basic but also match with everything else. Look for ways to incorporate color and pattern, and to be creative with pieces if you really have to. I find this is just enough flexibility to allow for potential (Suppose we go to a fancy restaurant? Suppose I get wine on my blouse? Suppose we have to stay an extra day because of flights getting cancelled?) while still being efficient enough in the actual to travel light and lean.

A Week’s Wardrobe in Seven Pieces

Here’s the plan for a week’s wardrobe, together with photos shot from the actual wardrobe pieces from a travel wardrobe that my daughters were putting together. I mixed and matched their respective travel wardrobes to come up with this display: I hope you enjoy it!

The central piece for this essay is a fun sundress my daughter made: it’s tailored perfectly to her figure—but not to this mannequin, so I apologize if it looks a little lopsided.

1. The central flexible piece: this is usually a dress but could be a jumper or even a jumpsuit if you’re into that look. The key element is that this piece contains both a top and a bottom. For men and boys, this is probably best understood as a 2-piece suit for Sunday Mass. The sundress above is a typical piece, because it could work as either a swim coverup or be dressed up for church with a lacy sweater, heels and jewelry. For little girls, I’ve come to rely heavily on jumpers or sundresses that can be worn alone, with a blouse beneath as a dress, or topped with a shirt to function as a skirt. For women, it’s easiest to find this piece first and work outwards: for me, this piece usually sets the tone, vibe and color palette. So I used the warm golds and greens of this piece to find the rest of the pieces.

   

   Tops

2. Two tops - one casual and one dressy. Scale these to the weather, the level of relaxation you anticipate and the number of dress-up events you need to attend. As you can see, I picked these tops in the same color scheme as the dress, which isn’t completely necessary, but useful, especially if it’s important that your wardrobe present a unified message: (ie: at a trade show or conference). If you’re packing for men or boys, this could be a polo and a button-down shirt, or for a super-relaxed trip, a t-shirt and a polo.

   

   Bottoms

3. Two bottoms, one casual and one dressy. I tend to go with one skirt and one pair of pants or shorts, because I like wearing skirts, especially on vacation, but do what works for you. Same parameters as above apply here. I forgot to snap a picture of the pants alone: these are loose linen cargos which can be dressed up with a little ironing but comfortable enough for lounging. For men, these pieces could be shorts and khakis, or jeans and trousers that work with a dress shirt.

   

   Outerwear

4. Two pieces of outwear, one casual and one dressy. These could be suit jackets, shrugs, sweaters, jackets, or even just a light button down long-sleeved shirt you can put on if the winds on the beach get cold. Same parameters: now you know the drill. My daughters brought a light gold jacket that doubles as a shirt and a long openwork gray sweater. For the male wardrobe, these could be windbreaker and suit jacket, sweater and blazer, hoodie and cardigan.

   

   It all fits into one standard economy carryon, with room for Converse or cowboy boots.

   5. What else to pack: pajamas, underclothes, shoes, jewelry, accessories. Use these creatively for another layer of flexibility. Large scarves, particularly silk ones, pack small and can transform an outfit, even becoming a dressy top if need be. For example, once I wore my black silk pajama pants to a cocktail party with a dressy top. Now that most people wear t-shirts to bed, I’ve used this as an excuse to bring an extra tee in another color just in case.

So here’s a gallery of some of the combos that can be made from the above pieces:

Just a few of the looks you can easily get with these combos

When a woman masters and channels her urge to see potential when packing, the results are a flexible wardrobe, fun creativity with what you have (one of the unexpected blessings of voluntary Gospel poverty, and usually a growth in understanding between the sexes, especially when packing a family car for a long vacation.

This t-shirt was packed as a pajama shirt yet easily slips into casual daywear with a few accessories.

I remember the year we embarked on an epic family vacation with all our children, ranging from adults to toddlers: we had two cars, but I had been a virtual packing Nazi, using the above wardrobe to condense everyone’s wardrobe to a single small suitcase or backpack per person. Well, wouldn’t you know it? On the second day of driving, a car accident totaled one of the cars—no one was hurt—but we lost an entire car of luggage space. But thanks to the above wardrobe and a capacious suburban (love those cars…) we stowed all eleven bags into a borrowed roof rack, squeezed everyone into the eleven available seats, and EVERYTHING FIT. We had a wonderful and delightful family vacation.

Here’s proof: you can count the eleven bags, plus the beach & food bags, computer case, an entire hatbox of sunhats (!) and a luncheon-basket.

Hope your summer is endowed with memorable and delightful travels, and hope this handy set of parameters helps you!