Finding Your Vacation Wardrobe…

…Sorry if you’ve made your way here to get the low down on figuring what to take on your next vacation.  I recently did the exact same thing, I searched the internet for capsule wardrobes, vacation/resort wear suggestions, and the one thing that stuck out was that none of the wardrobes were for me, surprise, surprise!    Everyone is different so of course someone else’s advice will only take you so far.   There is some great advice out there and you do get inspired by seeing what other people have in their suitcase. But the main thing that all the research told me was:

1. dress for my itinerary-look at what I will be doing, i.e. if I am going to be walking on the 3rd day, pack walking shoes and comfortable walking clothes, not all sandals and high heels.
2. I will probably need less clothing than I think – capsule wardrobes are based around a limited colour pallette that can be mixed and matched with accessories changing up your outfit.
3. Decide on a budget.   Do I want a whole new wardrobe, exciting but expensive!  Or can I use clothing I already have in my wardrobe and only purchase the extra pieces.
4. Obviously, where I am going and what the weather will be like plays a big part and I will need to dress suitably.

We have a few holidays to plan for all at different times of the year and in different settings, so what I really needed was to decide what my goals were for each holiday.  My list of needs were:

1. As a former girl guide my motto is: Be Prepared, I didn’t want to run out of complete, semi coordinated outfits.
2. For some holidays, there will be a lot of different activities, for others I have to be just everyday casual/work clothes that can get dirty (back to NZ)
3. I wanted to see all my clothes and the possible outfits for each day, so I used the very popular Polyvore (my Polyvore here) to arrange everything into a collection.
4. If there were any holes in my wardrobe I really needed to fill them prior to the holiday, of course I can always shop where I’m going, but I enjoy the pre trip planning just as much as the trip itself!
5. Each piece needed to work with the other pieces in my wardrobe, just so I have alot of options.

For our first holiday we went back to New Zealand for a sports tournament, now not an actual lazy holiday, so the wardrobe had to functional rather than a beautiful or relaxing wardrobe however the problem was the same, ‘what do I wear?’  I tried to just have a carry on instead of a packed back, however, I was not prepared, to go to NZ in the middle of a possibly wet winter for a week with only a handful of clothes.

1. I don’t need everything to be ultra fashionable, I mean there are only so many options when you’re running the ice for a rugby league team, or helping to strap the netball girls.  So there was definitely a need for sensible shoes and trackies on some days.

So this is what I came up with. Okay this is very casual wardrobe, but really this is how I need to dress, and that is the key, all of this stuff worked for me.

This is how some of it was worn: Now I am part Maori, and we have alot of cultural etiquette when we have get togethers.  So we went back in this holiday for a sporting tournament which was part of the Coronation of the Maori king celebrations, one of the things that we do is have what is called a powhiri, which is a welcoming onto the marae (where the local people of the area meet basically, and then welcome outside visitors onto their marae (powhiri)) This is what I wore, usually the women wear longish skirts and usually black. And being winter, I was happy to be fully covered and as warm as possible, as this powhiri was done outside! So this is football day minus the huge necklace.  This worked for me, I was comfortable, I also took a jacket along, but being unusually warm while over there I didn’t need one.

 

And Netball day, I didn’t get the jacket on time for this option before we left so I just used my black one.

You get the idea?!  I loved using Polyvore, it helped keep track of things, and it definitely helped to organise myself.  No I didn’t always wear exactly the ‘right’ outfit on the ‘right’ day, but it doesn’t really matter, as the pieces are all designed to work with each other in different combinations.  So if you are looking for vacation advice, take it and make it your own, swap out stuff that doesn’t work for you, keep the things that do and have fun with the rest.  And definitely try Polyvore or something similar like Pinterest to organise your clothes, it’s alot of fun!