How to Pack for Vacation (for the fashion conscious lazy person)

Hey guys! I know it’s been awhile since my last post but hopefully I’ll be posting more often now.

I’m just going to go ahead and assume that most of us are on holiday already and if not, are going to be on holiday soon-ish… Anyway, I’ll be off to Melbourne in a week’s time and I have yet to pack my bags because I am, well, lazy––but I am also particular about what I wear there so I am against last-minute packing.

God knows I love organising information so I just thought that this post would be a nice way of sharing with you guys how I go about packing and planning outfits for a vacation (just to make things easier for me while I’m there). And also, how to pack to make the most out of a limited amount of clothes and accessories and look stylish with minimum effort!

Just some tips to start:
– take into consideration the nature of your holiday (e.g. mostly relaxing on the beach, a lot of walking through the city, long car rides)

– remember items outside of your regular outfits that you may need depending on your holiday activities (e.g. yoga pants, swimsuit, hiking boots)

– research on the weather and climate of where you are going beforehand so you’re well prepared

Now, we’re ready to pack!

1. Set a Frame

So if you usually don’t even know where to start, this is a really good way to begin choosing items to bring along. I like setting a “frame” or two for my outfits (more, if your vacation is longer). What this means is that I choose a couple pairs of shoes that are appropriate for wherever I’m going and whatever I’ll be doing, and match them to one bag––and there we have it, a frame to work within.

If you have, maybe, a watch or a certain necklace that you always wear without fail, include that into your frame. After the frame is set, choose clothes that complement and go well with the frame.

This helps a lot in preventing situations where you realise your dress doesn’t match with the shoes or your bag doesn’t match with your jewellery.

So for example, if you’re headed to a tropical island getaway, your frame could be as such:

And then you can start filling it in with clothes that fit the frame:

While if let’s say, you’re going to a bustling city during winter, your frame would probably include a warm coat. And since people  usually only take one coat along with them, they’ll be wearing that almost every day so the frame could be something like this:

And filling it up could look like:

Or maybe if you were going on a farm stay in the country side, and you could be going for the softer, more feminine and comfy kind of look:

And if you filled that up:

As you can see, you are able to create a variety of looks that are still cohesive using the same “frame”. Remember that things like shoes, bags and outerwear are bulky items and take up a lot of space in your luggage and you won’t want to bring too many of those. Therefore, you’ll want to make sure that most of the clothes you pack will match with the one coat, or the couple pairs of shoes that you take with you.

2. Pick a Colour Scheme

When packing for a holiday, it will always make getting ready a lot easier and quicker if you have a designated colour scheme that you are working with. This helps prevent clashing colours or patterns and increases the number of outfit combinations that you can choose from.

As you can tell in the three “frames” above, I’ve worked with a different colour scheme each.

For the beach holiday outfits, I worked with lighter shades of blues and greens, and incorporated a lot of whites and light greys. For the winter city outfits, I used darker shades of reds and greys, and used a whole lot of black. And lastly for the countryside outfits, I used beige that complemented navy blue really well, and set a reddish-brown for the base of every outfit.

The colours all depend on personal preference (what you like and what likes you) and sometimes, the context in which you’ll be wearing them.

Personally, I like packing majority neutrals (e.g. white, black, grey, beige) and then throwing in some statement pieces within my designated colour scheme (e.g. red tartan, blue velvet, denim).

Sample colour schemes:

Usually, for those holidays that are about a few days long, I stick to one colour scheme while the lengthier holidays give me room to work with one or two more.

Explore the infinite range of colours and decide from there how wide or narrow you’d like your scheme to be. Remember that many shades of blue can blend into green and many shades of red overlap with purple etc. You can even form a colour scheme based on pastels, or neons etc. instead of just individual colours.

Be aware of what colours look good together to you and which colours definitely do not match. For example, to me, neon colours (like in sports/athletic wear) look best with solids like black, white and grey, and look absolutely hideous with earth tones like brown or red (shown below).

vs.

Gold & Silver

I’m also extremely particular about matching all the metallics in my outfit from my rings and necklaces all the way to the buckles on my bag. (Basically, if my bag has gold studs on it, I wouldn’t wear a silver necklace.) I rarely (never) mix metals on a regular basis so I like to maintain that while on holiday as well.

The neutrals like white, black and grey work with both silver and gold (and everything in between) while pastels typically look better with silver-toned jewellery. Take note of what looks best on you and incorporate that throughout your outfits.

Here’s how to figure out what looks best on you according to your skin’s undertone!

3. 3 Ways

I’ve always liked the golden rule of three… So after deciding on the first outfit that will be going into the luggage, try using one component from that outfit to create three more outfits. And from there, pick another item from those outfits to create a different three.

Choosing versatile pieces gives you flexibility and opens up the possibilities to choose from. It’s also handy in those day-to-night situations where you need to get changed quickly from a day event to a nighttime event without completely starting from scratch.

Here’s an example of how a neutral, black basic halter top can be used to create different looks:

And then using the same grey skirt from the last outfit:

And using the same crop top from the last outfit:

Or the same white trousers in the middle:

And here we have it, 12 different outfits using 5 bottoms and 5 tops.

If you noticed, I also stuck to the colour scheme of monochrome and pastels across all twelve outfits.

While on holiday, you may have limited luggage space and have to make the most of what you bring so choosing clothes that can mix and match help make your life a lot easier. Of course, you might not end up rewearing each item so many times, but it’s just to provide you with more options when deciding how to wear them.

* Keep in mind that you’ll possibly (or if you’re like me, then definitely) end up buying more stuff during your trip (so make space, or be prepared to buy another luggage)!

So that’s basically how I go about planning what to pack for my all my vacations!

On a side note, I’m soooo excited for this trip. Will be staying at Uncle Stan’s B&B again near town so I’ll have a lot of shopping opportunities. Also ordered two sets of Triangl bikinis which delivered to his place awhile back so I can’t wait to finally try those on too. I’ll probably still take forever to (over)pack for my trip since Melbourne’s weather is sort of bipolar so I’ll have to pack for almost all seasons…

I hope this helped you guys pack for your own getaways, or at least, was enjoyable to read.

A x