Packing for the 3 day trip

This one’s a 3-day long haul flight with a wide range of activities from hotel breakfasts, work meetings, styling sessions, a talk and a dinner. The luggage could have been huge, but that would be rude. I want to avoid that, it feels so defeatist to go for three days looking like you’re headed to a month long cruise.

The considerations:

Length of Stay, the temperature, the activities, the terrain for walking, the vibe.

The packing strategy:

1. Pack a color vibe not just colors. Dressing in ring 2 as the base - this time it’s the khakish brown and the grey - and adding in a few ring 4’s strategically to give life. It’s summer after all, but I have a lot of shit to do. Optimistic but grounded is the mood.

2. Pack separates that have variations in texture. I wanted to bring a suit because when you a break a suit down in to it’s key elements, it’s really just a jacket and a pair of pants at the end of the day. That means it can get sliced and diced to fill many needs. Make sure your textures don’t overlap: In this one small bag we have: twill, suiting, sporty nylon, mesh, denim, heavy teeshirting, cashmere light, cashmere dense, lightweight tanks for layering. I have not doubled up on texture - at all.

3. Accessories - not big, not bulky but they change up the entire look, not creating simply “new outfits” but rather variations on looks that take you through wildly different parts of your day. I’ve included in my bag a couple of belt (actually one is a men’s tie) options for belting which breaks up the grey and also adds the good curious, and colored socks. Wearing an uber sporty watch my Breitling one here gives good friction to the refined fabric of the pant and the sophistication that head to toe grey conveys. It’s that rubbery ick texture that is still super luxe that feels super right.

4. Layering - materials that layer easily and are 12moers in weight coupled with generous armholes that don’t overly sausage you are of paramount consideration. San Francisco covers a wide range of temperatures depending on the day and the zipcode. Even if it didn’t, layering is key as airconditioning and general movement dictate that the concept of being able to remove and add your clothing is super functional, regardless.

5. Shape Range for the bottoms (or the tops - depending if you are a bottom or top). I made a joke here, if you get it. Anyways, people often make the mistake of repeating the shapes in the bag thinking it will keep things streamlined and that a different color will be enough to create variation. The pants are : low and tapered, super wide, jogger style, traditional Levi (I’m in San Fran afterall), pencil skirt.

When I’m packing, I try on different outfits to see how I can take simple items and change up the mood with a belt, tie, earring, etc. Here I’m wearing the teeshirt and depending if I’ve rolled the sleeves, paired it with a mens tie and flat sandal or something a little more feminine and rolled up the pant leg to show ankle, each little twist, tie and roll creates a different feeling. A lot of varied look out of the exact same shirt and pant.

I’ve packed lots of shades of grey so having the baby blue shirt, the strong white watch and the red sock give me the energy color implies but I still feel together and in control. I love being able to suck out the benefits of color without having to fully commit - especially with a small carry on. This was the look for the outbound flight. Honestly, barely had to iron the next day.

Another easy pant that can be manipulated myriad ways is the super wide leg here. When packing pants in this color range, beware preppy yellow undertones khaki colors. This one has a slight greyish red undertone - it keeps it feeling very modern. When you mistakenly buy the brooks brothers version thinking this will give you what you’re looking for, you’re usually left feeling a bit average. Too country club. Keep it more urban like below.

The color infusion is good with the greys and browns here, so snails give some good strange to the more classic vibe.

See below? Lots of look, one small bag.