Travel wardrobe: notes from the field

Traveling a lot this fall, around the Himalayas in various parts of western China and Nepal (!!FUN!!). And I have been so happy with my travel wardrobe! Here are my notes on what’s working, so I can remember for the future:

— low value contrast. Mostly medium shades of fairly neutral, dusty colors: gray, denim, burgundy, olive, brown.

—high color contrast. I used to travel in all-black but it was booooooring and also picked up dust and lint. Including various colors in each outfit goes better with my natural coloring (thx to InsideOut style blog for this concept)

—simple shoe options: 1 tall brown boot for rain or rough terrain, 1 black slip-on Vince sneakers for dressier, 1 plastic pool slides for pool/shower, 1 despised and stupid looking bright color hiking sneaker (in pic 3) needs to be replaced.

—olive cotton scarf (sorta visible in pic 1) goes with khaki bag and covers blonde hair for incognito as needed. Colorful silk scarf (in 4) for slightly dressier.

Still haven’t figured out a good travel-friendly dressy outfit for occasions with friends. I’ve been using pleather leggings and black tunic, but black is soooo boooooring to me these days.

What do you all wear for dinners while traveling?

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7 years ago

Jessikams

(website)

Veteran

On a side note, I am really excited to go home tomorrow and do laundry and not wear any of this for a while. AND will get to do a closet edit cuz the seasons have changed while I’ve been on the road. Yay!

kkards

OMG...totally jealous...your travels sound like so much fun!
love love love your sunglasses!
i have to admit that when i travel, i tend to lean on black pants for dressy occasions, it just seems easy....but mostly i just wear casual for dinners when traveling...

jussie

What an amazing trip. Interesting to hear how your going with the low value but high colour contrast.....

KKards super cheapie glasses- Zara or H&M, something like that— maybe a little too big for my face (?) but I like the tortoise color
Jussie it took me so long to wrap head around these “contrast” ideas- still working on it- how to use many colors without looking like a mess—-

Kathie

Amazing trip- you absolutely nailed a group of dusty neutrals that look amazing with your skin and hair tones.

Bijou

You look great and such a good idea to travel in these colours. When travelling I usually take one nice top that packs into something very small, my metallic knitted top works well with jeans for a night out.

nemosmom

Your photos are great! Thank you for sharing your notes. Curious to know which colors did you use for your high contrast ones?

Angie

Fashion Stylist

How FABULOUS to be traveling so much, exploring the world, and in style with happy feet. Good for you.

I wear all sorts of outfits when I go out for dinner while traveling. It depends where I am and where I'm going. Sometimes I stay in my urban day outfit, and sometimes I change and pull out the dressier stuff.

JAileen

You look very nice AND practical! I’m envious. I’ll probably never get there.

On a trip years ago, I didn’t pack enough warm clothes, and ended up wearing a particular wool sweater every day. When I got back I never wore it again, I was so sick of it.

Greyscale

I never know what to wear for nicer situations while traveling. But I just realized my waxed denim (black) shirt dress would be the perfect travel piece in cool weather. Looks dressy as a dress with ankle boots or pointed flats, can go over jeans as a more casual tunic. And it can go for a few wears before washing because it’s heavy denim.

Active Member

The advantage of a low-contrast wardrobe is that everything can be washed in one load.

Suz

You look STUNNING in those earthy tones and your sunglasses are fantastic! What an amazing trip, too!

Like Angie, I wear different kinds of outfits for different trips/ occasions. I like to have a jersey dress I can throw on (doesn't wrinkle) and if you want to wear pants, a top with some shine is a really great option to have for travel -- even if it's just a tee, it looks and feels a bit elevated.

Nemosmom, for the longest time I used to wear black and white, or navy and white, when traveling- I believed monochrome was more elegant. But eventually I realized that combo was way too high-contrast for me in terms of light and dark.

Suz and Bijou, a sparkly shirt sounds promising- I know dresses don’t work for me when traveling (shaving? Hosiery? No way) but it’s nice to have something a bit special. On this trip we celebrated a friend’s birthday, for example.

karen13

What a trip! I’m going to follow with interest as I’m currently planning for a lot of upcoming travel covering a range of gear and dressy occasions. I’m even thinking of sewing some pieces if I can figure out what I need.

Anonymous

What a fantastic trip and travel wardrobe. I use scarves to dress up a neutral (usually grey or black) column. Sometimes I can pack a black lace top that can be worn over a black or grey tank to look dressy. I can turn a big square scarf into a kimono style silk jacket with a couple of knotted corners.

Oh! I misunderstood your notes! I thought you had added high contrast colors to your already amazing palette of olive, burgundy, brown and denim.

PS—your trip sounds amazing! I’ve always dreamed of going Nepal!

Stagiaire Fash

Is this how the color/contrast thing goes: nothing lighter or darker than the rest, but varying colors?

Something Joy mentioned on a different thread recently is how versatile the right kimono could be, from pool cover-up to dressy topper for dinner, and they are thin enough not to take up too much room in luggage. I've had my eye out for kimonos for me for a while, and that just makes me want one more.

But now of course I want to know how Joy knots the corners of a scarf to make a kimono on the fly!

cindysmith

I usually take my black AG jeans & a nice top for any potential outings. I generally wear my tactical boots to travel & bring one other footwear option that's comfortable yet nice (like a fashion sneaker, or nice flat, or even a dressier boot option)

I think you look great in your travel outfits!

Cardiff girl

Wow ,what a fabulous trip!love your sunnies.

Fashintern, I tried a few kimonos this summer- they were a fun way to add color or pattern BUT I have really narrow, sloping shoulders so I was constantly pulling at them to stay on. Not fab for “real” wear but fine for hotel lounge wear, I felt.

I am still working on understanding color contrast vs value contrast. For now, it seems to work best for me to do as you say: basically medium colors, with maybe one or two accents that are much brighter or much darker.

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