When it comes to fashion and style, you see it all at airports around the world. Everything from dressy suits, business casual separates, maxi dresses, saris, sweats, tracksuits, crop tops, sweaters, jumpsuits, rompers, pyjamas, puffers, flip-flops, hiking boots, sneakers, sandals, flats, and jeans, to leggings, utility pants, tank tops, athleisure, beachy looks, and short shorts. It’s an interesting fashion show.
We recently travelled to South Africa from Seattle. This means two long flights, one short flight, and layovers in between. It’s usually between 38 to 40 hours of travel. I have my outfit for this type of travel completely sorted, and wear it again on the way back. Sometimes I have it laundered on our trip, and sometimes I air it out. It is casually dressy and practical, and ready for action in a range of temperatures.
Here are the exact items I wore on the flights of our recent trip.
1. Dressy Soft Wide Pants
I wear soft pants that are substantial, wide, soft, crease-resistant, and on the dressy side to ensure neatness, comfort and polish. I keep the colour dark or patterned to camouflage any grubbiness that is collected along the way. My navy crepe cargo pants were absolutely perfect.
2. Dressy Soft Tops
I wear soft and cosy layers up top so that I can peel off if it’s hot, and bundle up when it’s cold. My ancient twinset fits the bill. It’s short and fitted, which worked well with the wide pants. It’s also soft, breathable, luxe, and very comfortable. I kept both layers on to keep out the chill.
3. Jacket
I add a jacket for arctic airports and airplane air conditioning, or when I’m outside during a layover. I keep the jackets short, crease-resistant, and lightweight so that they are easy to pack in hand luggage when I’m not wearing them. The jackets are quite casual but fairly structured. On the way there I wore my dark blue denim jacket, which has ample stretch for comfort. On the way back it was colder, so I wore a burgundy, faux leather ‘70s jacket.
4. Sneakers
We might need to walk for miles at an airport, or even run with luggage in tow when we’re trying to catch a connecting flight. Nothing works better for my feet than super comfortable fashion sneakers, and it’s supportive ECCOs all the way. I wear them with nude-for-me knee-highs, and chose white to work with my pearls and watch.
5. Dressy Crossbody Bag
I travel with a Furla satchel that converts to a crossbody so that I’m hands-free to carry other things. My Furlas are extremely robust and handle this type of travel better than any other bag. They are roomy enough for all my stuff, not too big, and I love their dressy integrity. I chose burgundy to go with the outfit. Coincidentally, the bag and jacket are exactly the same colour.
6. Eyewear, Pearls, Watch, Mask
I need specs so that I can see, and sunnies for when we’re outside during layovers. I wear my usual pearl jewellery and watch so that I don’t need to pack it, and a white KN95 face mask because that’s how we travel these days.
We flew from Seattle to London, where we had a twelve hour layover. We saw my London family and had a fabulous day walking London flat. That night we flew on to Johannesburg, where we had another layover. After several hours we flew on to Durban, our final destination. I refreshed a little between flights, but stayed in the same outfit. I was very comfortable, and felt polished and pulled together because my items were dressier and did not crease.
We were exhausted by the time we got to our lodge in KwaZulu-Natal, by which time I was desperate for a shower and new outfit.
