SUMMER PACKING, EASY?
It’s vacation season.
A vacation hopefully means we can switch off from all of life’s everyday routines.
If the beach or countryside beckons, we will imagine the soft sand between our toes, the salty sea breeze in our hair or the dozy afternoons around the pool with a book and intermittent siestas.
Dreaming of getting to the chosen destination is all that’s on the mind.
Yet before we can set our emails to ‘out of office‘, there’s a suitcase that requires packing.
The packing starts with good intentions, limited to only the vacation essentials.
By the end, I am sitting on my suitcase ramming everything in and worrying if it will comply with airline weight restrictions.
What we need is a streamlined checklist, to help make the packing for our vacations seamless.
VA’s Vacation Checklist
Every summer vacay needs appropriate swimwear to hit the water, outfits for daytime and a change for the evening, the relevant amount of underwear and lingerie. And accessories of course.
Clothes
Swimwear – pack 3-4 swimsuits that you feel entirely confident and comfortable in. There’s nothing worse than feeling self-conscious in swimwear.
Caftans – because summer and caftans go hand in hand.
Dresses – a versatile lace that can be worn on the beach and to dinner, an LBD always, a white midi that looks gorgeous with a tan and a linen shirtdress to be worn with sneakers or mules.
Silk Skirt/ Cropped Pants – an ideal alternative to drape yourself in when you fancy a change.
Lightweight Blouse – for if evenings grow cooler, you are prepared.
Basic Tee’s – the easiest item to wear when the weather is warm. Minimum 3 in black, white and grey.
Accessories
Condensing is the key. Mix and match is the rule.
Sunglasses – always a difficult one to whittle down. Why bother? They take up little space and can make the simplest of looks more engaging.
Beach Bag – one that fits in the sunnies, the holiday must-reads, a beach sarong and the toiletries you plan on keeping with you.
Evening Clutch – something small that holds your can’t-live-without at dinners.
Jewels – Keep it simple. Pack your favourite earrings and bracelets for the evenings. Leave the grown-up jingle jangles at home; it is so much simpler.
Shoes
Sticking to the 3 Shoe Rule still applies for holiday packing.
Sneaker – for travelling days any long sight-seeing treks.
Sandal/mules/espadrilles – for minimal effort on the beach or by the pool.
Heel – for evenings when you fancy putting in a little more effort.
Let the vacation packing commence.
Packing in 5: VA’s Vacation Checklist
swimmers || caftan || little white dress || little black dress || cropped pants || skirt || blouse || tee
mules || espadrilles || heels || beach bag || le specs || earrings || bracelets || clutch
image, chanel, karl lagerfeld, spring 1990
