How to pack light and look chic

Enter at your own risk.

When on holiday, I do not like mental load.

I do not like lugging a heavy suitcase through cobblestone streets and…

I do not like looking bad.

I could think of nothing worse than throwing unkempt things into a bag the night before a flight, or being stuck with an overstuffed suitcase trying to decide what to wear on the morning of a sightseeing day. Or, the cardinal sin of having to open my suitcase in an airport to re-distribute weight between bags.

To avoid such peril, if I find myself travelling somewhere abroad, I turn to a packing system that I have developed over a number of years of trial and error.

Before I reveal what it is, there are a number of disclaimers which I must share:

1/ My travel style is elevated minimalist with occasional personality. I do not have a deeply unique cool girl aesthetic. The goal here is to increase the surface area of days and evenings looking good across a trip.

2/ The system does not allow for any holiday activities that require technical apparel or equipment. Eg. Skiing, hiking, cycling.

3/ I choose to allocate effort to this initiative as a childless individual with a flexible job. If you find this effort to be certifiably insane, that’s ok, I’ve heard it all before - you can take or leave parts of my approach.

Part 1 - The Packing Timeline

1 month out

This is when you want to start thinking about your packing strategy. Which suitcase are you taking? Brain dump everything you would like to take and figure out if there is anything on that list that you need to get back from your sister or a friend. This takes 5 minutes.

If there is anything that you would like to purchase ahead of the trip, do that now so you have time for contingencies if items don’t work out.

2 weeks out

This is going to be the hardest part effort wise but is where the magic happens. I’ll break it down for ease:

• Assess packing list and separate out clothing to a separate basket/pile/room - if you are travelling to the opposite season, this will be easy. To see this done at the highest level, see Lise Carlaw’s ‘Packing Diaries’ instagram story series.

• If you are travelling to a similar season, put aside as much as possible and make outfit sacrifices where possible over the next week or two to avoid washing.

• Try on outfits to check if it is something that you would actually wear and that you’re not being delusional about the type of person you will be abroad.

• Does anything need specialty cleaning? You are going to feel better about packing and how you look on your trip if your clothes are clean. Take your coat to get dry cleaned - it’s worth it. I firmly believe that dry cleaning and ironing is my secret weapon to looking smart while travelling.

1 week out

If you have achieved the above, this week is going to be easy and give you time and space to finalise your trip admin, perhaps book some restaurants and catch up with friends before you go. It’s time to put on your last load or two of washing, add some accessories to your packing that make you happy. Finally, you will feel confident and smug the night before your trip, unwinding with a glass of wine while you download the shows you want to watch on the plane.

Rolling action item

This is a game changer to experience small moments of joy on long haul trips.

Every time you ever step foot into a Mecca or other less-awesome beauty department store, you are to obtain a sample of a very luxurious moisturiser or serum. From here, you will form a small collection of lovely little products that you can take on the plane and use on your trip.

Part 2 - Sample Packing List

I have a couple of friends doing a multi-city Europe winter which is what originally inspired this piece. Below, is a packing list template of what I would take if I was going too with some explanatory notes.

A note on Bag weight/size

I have strong opinions on this. My belief is that the ideal bag weight does not exceed 20 kilos. For summer holidays, I would say under 18 kilos. On the spectrum of packers that care about looking good, I would say I am lean-medium, please see the graphic below.

Now for the sample winter packing list

Bottoms

• Blue jeans

• Black jeans

• Non jean trousers

• Mini skirt to go with tights

• Long skirt mid/maxi skirt that you can wear with tights underneath.

• An elevated wool pant that is worn around accommodation and to duck out for late night hot chocolate

Knits/tops

• 3 knits of varying chunkiness

• Knit vest if you have one

• One or two top/blouses for going out, extra points if it works with the knit vest

Jackets (no more than 3)

• Trench coat or similar

• Puffer jacket

• Oversized leather/suede/other cool girl jacket for outfit diversity

Sets

• A set can be great if you have one - preferably lightweight so you can layer underneath. I have an Assembly Label silk set that fits the brief perfectly. I always wear the bottoms on the plane.

Dresses

• Honestly for winter, probably not. I have not found a knit dress that I wear when travelling, however, if you have one that you are already comfortably styling - go for it.

Hats/ scarves

• Cap you love

• Beanie

• Scarf (only one)

Under layers

• 2 x thermal /heat tech tops - you don’t need more unless you are a huge perspirer. These can be easily washed.

• 1 x wool tight

• 1 x normal black tight (30 - 60 denier)

• 2 x plain t shirts

Shoes (no more than 3 pairs unless under extenuating circumstances)

• Doc Martin’s or equivalent (weather baring shoes)

• Sneakers (you have to be comfortable with wearing these for long distances)

• Fun boots (healed, cowboy etc)

• Runners for exercise (only if you are currently running more than twice a week). Because if you are only running twice or less a week on holiday, let’s halve that. You are only going on ~ 2 runs and it feels silly to take up that much room for shoes that you may be wearing for a total of 3 hours.

Accessories

• Your choice of a fun sock

• Very small amount of jewellery unless you are a proven ‘stacker’

• Some kind of hair/head accessory - eg. headband, ribbon

Plane

• The bottoms from your comfy set, or your wool pants. One of your white t-shirts, the lightest of your three knits, and your sneakers

• You will carry your trench if it doesn’t fit in your bag and fold it neatly and put it in the overhead locker

Makeup/Toiletries

• All I’ll say here is only take as much makeup as you would wear on a first date. Absolutely not one product more.

• Ok one more thing - do not underestimate the power of putting things in tiny bottles.

Conclusion

I hope this was helpful and did not bring on a brain aneurysm. Packing well is a tradecraft that comes down to time, effort and practice. The reward for doing it well is that you can get inspired by trendy scandì girls abroad and can fit some op shop finds into your suitcase to take home. If not, all that matters is that you have a good time. However, for me, that involves feeling and looking really really good.