How to Pack the Perfect Suitcase

If you plan carefully before you pack, mixing and matching outfits and working your wardrobe around a single neutral color, your suitcase will be lighter and more manageable and you’ll have a great deal of mobility and less travel-stress. Also, if you have packed your luggage well, you’ll be less likely to find your favorite outfit creased and crumpled at the bottom of your suitcase.

Prioritizing your packing is an art form, in the words of Camilla Morton, in her book How to Walk in High Heels, “the more you squash, the more creases you have to deal with at the other end!”

Once you have decided what to take, the next step is to follow a few simple guidelines on how to pack a suitcase properly; to maximize space and minimize wrinkles.

How to Pack a Suitcase

Once you’ve decide what to take, now the next challenge is to fit it in to your suitcase. Here’s some advice from the In Style magazine team, in their book Secrets of Style and author Camilla Morton, from her best-selling "how to" guide.

1. To minimize creasing, turn dresses, skirts, jackets and shirts inside out, as inverted creases are more difficult to see.
2. Line garments with plastic (e.g. dry cleaning bags), and layer between outfits, to protect against creasing. If you want to really pack like a pro, then use tissue paper. "It stops wrinkles and just feels glamorous," says fashion guru and author of Green is the New Black, Tasmin Blanchard.
3. Roll any small crease-resistant items like underwear, socks and T-shirts, and use them to fill out the corners of suitcases or in shoes.
4. Pack shoes in bags to prevent dirt from rubbing off onto your clothes.
5. Pack heavy items at the bottom of your luggage, but keep the things you’ll first need when you arrive, at the top. In an interview from How to Walk in High Heels, accessories designer Anya Hindmarch advises that you line the base of your suitcase with heavy jeans or sweaters, with the next layer being dresses and coats, or any other long trailing items. After that layer lighter and lighter.
6. Whilst overstuffing your suitcase can damage your clothing, lots of empty space can also cause creasing. If you are deliberately saving some space for your holiday purchases on your return, then fill up empty spaces with a towel or other items which you can leave behind.
7. Keep valuables with you in a separate carry on-case or bag, such as expensive jewelry, camera, important personal or business documents, address book, essential medicines and prescriptions.
8. Before packing, button up all buttons and zip up all zippers
9. To save any potential red faces at the airport, you can always pack your underwear together in a small drawstring bag. Says Hindmarch, “never let your case embarrass you; pack as if you are going to be spot-checked by customs."
10. To prevent any danger of toiletries popping open, such as shampoo and toothpaste, wrap them in plastic bags. The last thing you want is the top of a toothpaste tube flipping off under air pressure, and ruining your new satin shoes.

With your carefully chosen holiday outfits and wrinkle-free clothes you'll be able to enjoy your vacation.

The More You Squash the More Wrinkles You'll Have

Pile of Clothes Waiting to Be Packed

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