DIY: Packing Like A Champion

I've been on vacation for the past two weeks, and that includes a vacation from fashion. Nothing like being "on the road" smack-dab in the middle of a super-hot summer to make clothes the last thing on your mind. (My biggest concern? Trying to figure out how to wear the littlest without being obscene.) I've got nothing to report in terms of style from my time riding on buses, zooming on planes, crashing on couches and swanning around in fancy hotel rooms, except that I think "International Hipster" has been codified into a set of standards and practices applicable to any First World geographical region -- and that I've perfected my only bona-fide superpower, the ability to pack clothes for any trip in 15 minutes, often into one teeny bag. (Okay, 25 minutes for longer trips, and the bag's a little bigger.)

Yes, it's true: whether it's a weekend away or a month-long sojourn to Southeast Asia, I can pack for the trip in a very short period of time, a skill highly useful especially when your trip is organized by a pack of crazy people too hungover to tell you when things are coming, going or just plain stuck. (Don't ask.) There are plenty of people who can tell you how to pack stuff with the utmost efficiency and fewest wrinkles possible, but the biggest challenge in the packing process is often conceptual: it's not how you pack, but what you pack. Knowing exactly what to bring on your trip helps to avoid the cardinal sin of overpacking, which is wasteful, inconvenient and will make you hate yourself when you are lugging your bag up ten flights of stairs when the elevator has broken in your hotel. Here are the strategies I've come up with that help me curate the smallest bag as quickly as possible.

1. Immediately consider any occasions on your trip. "Occasion" being loosely defined, of course, whether it's a wedding or other ceremony-type deal, or an evening when you know someone you fancy is going to be in the vicinity and you need to look especially fetching. Set aside the entire ensemble, from underwear to shoes and accessories.

2. First things first: choose your knickers. One pair for each day of your trip, preferably cute and non-ratty. I often include a silk pair or two because they are hand-washable and dry quickly. (Nothing makes you go ewww like a pair of damp knickers.) Maybe an extra pair or two if you're the Girl Scout type and like to be prepared. In terms of other lingerie items, the same rule applies, but I feel you can get away with less, not more.

3. What's the theme of your trip? Don't laugh at this Oprah-ishness of this question, but taking a moment to consider what you're doing in the middle of hectic travel prep can help make decisions at a time when just one more choice will push you over the edge. If the trip is about proprietary family occasions, then you know not to pack your "DO ME DAILY CHRISTOPHER BAILEY" t-shirt -- unless the subtheme of your trip is "causing a ruckus," of course. On the other hand, if the theme is rock 'n roll decadence, then obviously those PVC leggings from American Apparel are coming along. If you're balancing a few different things, I've found a few keywords very helpful: separates, mix-and-match and irony.

4. How much? I admit that I have a literal formula that I follow in my head when it comes to what items to pack, excluding occasion clothes: I take the amount of days I'll be gone, figure out the longest interval of days until I'll be able to do laundry on the trip, halve that number, and lo and behold, that is the amount of tops and bottoms that I pack. (Example, a 14-day trip, 10 days till I have access to laundry, divide 10 by 2 to get five, therefore packing five tops and five bottoms.) If the minimalism of the number freaks you out, just take the number of days and halve it to get the number of tops and bottoms each to bring. (Yes, you can round up.) And remember, if you truly feel deprived, you can always go shopping. (I know some of you out there like to do that, right?)

5. Color-coordination is so 70s, yet so helpful. Obviously the above formula is all about minimalism and making the most of your finely honed ability to "mix it up," as they say in fashion mag parlance. Obviously if your aesthetic is clash-tastic, then you can throw in anything from your wonderfully eccentric wardrobe and make sartorial magic happen. But picking a color palette helps in making your little capsule wardrobe go a long way. The key is to make sure most of the tops go with most of the bottoms. (Refer to any of those "7 Day a Week" magazine features if you need inspiration.) This is of course assuming that you want a mixed up capsule wardrobe, of course...you can easily pack all dresses, which I've done before, and is tremendously fun.

5. Shoes. I've always found shoes to be hardest to deal with in terms of packing because they're bulky, sometimes heavy, and don't collapse into manageable little squares of fabric. If you're really about packing lightly, all you need are a pair of good walking day shoes, a pair of dressier shoes, and perhaps another pair thrown in to stave off fashion restlessness. (On this last two-week trip, I got away with a pair of ballet flats, a pair of sandals and a pair of wedges and it worked out great.) And your grotty pair of running shoes, if you like to workout during your travels. I often wear the bulkiest pair of shoes to the airport to save on space. (Although now that we all have to take off our shoes at the security checkpoint, I once regretted wearing a pair of lace-up Frye boots.)

6. Odds and ends. The little bits and bobs are where a lot of your style will come through, and are often so personal that it's hard to advise. I personally always have a large scarf, which does double and sometimes triple duty as a coverup and a top. I'm not a huge jewelry person, but one or two pieces are always nice to have. I often bring one city bag on the plane with me that goes with everything, and a smaller bag for carrying essentials or for evening. And don't forget toiletries and sleepwear.

7. Lastly, Space Bags are your friends. My friend Cathy turned me onto these, and seriously, these things are genius. And there's something really gratifying about squeezing the air out of the bag. They really do reduce the amount of room your clothes take up in your bag, which leaves more room for things like books and magazines. (Travel entertainment: sadly, something I have not mastered in my quest to become the perfectly Zen traveller, as I still like to carry a veritable portable library around with me despite everything.)

(Just for your amusement, this 1950s chick shows you how it's done.)

Posted by Kat in D.I.Y.
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