Simple Travel Uniform

Madewell top (similar)
Grlfrnd jeans (c/o REVOLVE)
H&M heels
Celine sunglasses
Olive + Piper earrings (similar)

My travel uniform came together almost without my noticing. I’ve talked honestly about my struggles with packing for our three-month trip. I had made a real effort to pack pieces I would want to wear regularly. But what I found is that in the two years I’ve spent wearing activewear while working from home, my tastes have changed a lot. Some of the pieces in my suitcase, at one time well-loved, just didn’t work for me anymore. And, conversely, certain pieces that I threw in at the last minute, like my white Grlfrnd jeans, became staples that I wore again and again. I imagined myself wearing a lot of dresses during our trips away from Paris. In reality, that changed as soon as went on our first one. In Athens I discovered that I’m really just not all that comfortable walking all day long unless I’m wearing pants. That meant it was back to the drawing board; I needed to rethink my travel uniform totally. In the end, reflection helped less than simply focussing on being comfortable while maintaining my style. This strategy was especially when I packed my suitcase. When I focussed on combining comfort and style, my travel uniform revealed itself quickly; skinny jeans, paired with a loose top and, most often, the black block heels I bought on a whim at H&M (which have proven to be one of my best impulsive decisions in quite a while.) On days when I knew we had a lot of hills or stairs to climb, I would swap out the heels for my Stan Smith sneakers. The variations on this travel outfit were pretty much endless; as the months go by and I continue to share photos from our travels, countless iterations of it will appear. But this version, from our trip to Prague, is my favourite. Prague was the last place that we travelled aside from a day trip to London. By the time we were getting ready to go, we had been away for nearly three months. I had been living out of one suitcase of clothes for as long. When, totally uninspired, I came up with this look, I chided myself as I packed the pieces in my travel bag: another black and white outfit, just skinny jeans with a silk blouse, not very original. (Sometimes I forget that I’m just putting on clothes, not changing the world.) But when it came time to actually wear the outfit, everything changed. I was shocked by how well the photos turned out, and how quickly. It was all because I was so comfortable in my outfit. While I don’t think I was very often aware of being uncomfortable in certain clothes, I did notice how much more comfortable I was in specific pieces during our travels. My travel uniform has now transitioned to a birthday-party-condo-viewing-family-dinner-and-just-about-everything-else uniform, because there isn’t much travel in our immediate future, but either way, I’m happy with it. If you can maintain your style while still feeling great in your clothes, you’ve got the perfect outfit – at least in my opinion.