In light of Sally’s post about packing capsules, I thought I’d share mine. DH and I took a short road trip to a regional city. We spent time walking about, eating, drinking and relaxing.*

While we are well into Spring here, Winter weather was predicted (tops of around 13-16 and overnight lows of 6). I hate over heating, and do not trust weather forecasts, so I took layers in case the weather turned warm. (It did.)

I decided to layer outwards using a sleeveless dress and black knee high boots as my base.

The dress is a heavy ponte. It travels well (no creasing). What I like about it, apart from the very angular, architectural shape, is that I can change up the look by layering it with different long sleeve tops, change it into a skirt by wearing it with a jumper, or wear it sleeveless with a jacket (and remove my jacket indoors). When I overheat I get warm in my upper body, so being able to remove upper layers is important. The boots are not a problem. I’ll wear boots with anything.

Here are some outfits. The hotel lighting was dim but that does hide my wrinkles, which is nice.

Pic 1: sleeveless with boots. This is how I wore it on the last day when it was unexpectedly warm (about 21, which is actually more normal for this time of year).

Pic 2: layered with a patterned top for indoor daytime wear at the start of the trip.

Pic 3: layered with a turtleneck jumper and leather jacket for outdoor daytime wear on the coldest part of our stay. I’ve done some work on the ombré jacket - restoring it with Tarrago shoe cream. It’s looking very shiny and fierce again.

Pic 4: layered with a petrol blue pullover for outdoor wear on a slightly warmer day. I knew I could wear the ombré jacket in pic 3 or the green velvet coat in pic 8 over this outfit if I needed to (I didn’t).

Pic 5: layered with a mesh top and bling for dinner. I wore the green velvet coat in pic 8 to walk to the venue.

Pic 6: a new silk skirt that I could not resist taking. Worn for daytime indoor wear with the turtleneck in pic 3. I could have added the ombré jacket or velvet coat if needed. I wore fleecy leggings underneath. Apparently most people here think this look is seasonally confused, which really surprises me. I like it so I am going to assert my right to DYOT (or DMOT in this case)

Pic 7: the silk skirt worn with the mesh top in pic 5 for dinner.

Pic 8: outfit 7 with green velvet coat and black cardigan to walk to the venue.

As an aside, I also discovered I could layer the sleeveless dress OVER the gold skirt for a bit of a Vivienne Westwood/Alexander McQueen punk look. Exciting! I will try that out when I can.

So it worked out pretty well but I wish I had trusted my instincts more and brought a t-shirt to wear with the gold skirt during the day as the weather warmed against predictions (grrr). But I made do with the dress. Next time I know better.

*Note: Australia has an aggressive Covid suppression policy and our Covid numbers are exceptionally low. Things are pretty open here and travel within the State is now encouraged to help the economy. We have strict public health requirements for businesses and strong public messaging around distancing/sanitising/masking/staying home when sick. We are very careful and adhere to those directions.