Women's Travel Clothes - The Little Black Dress
To Pack Light - Anchor a Look with a Dress, or a Skirt and Top
Aug 10, 2009
Women's travel clothes often include a little black dress or something similar. It is always difficult to pack light, but one easy way is to anchor all the looks with a dress, or with a skirt and top which mimic a dress.
Women's Travel Clothes
One of the best ways to succeed with light weight packing is to take one piece to use as an anchor, and to tweak it with wraps, scarves, gauze tops, sweaters, travel jewelry, or anything else a gal can find. Is it a cliché or is the little black dress an icon of sensible travel wear? Either way, a black dress almost always works.
Little Black Dress
A black dress, of any length, is easy to work with, though other colors should be considered, like navy, gray, blue, brown, taupe, teal, or any color that makes a woman feel great. If a gal’s best color is magenta and it makes her face light up like she’s had a facelift, then a magenta dress can be her "little black dress". Magenta or red, and many other colors, work well with black layering pieces.
Travel Clothing
Solid colors are the easiest, but a subtle print is ok, as long as the dress passes these travel-wear tests:
- No zippers
- No hardware (buckles, buttons, bows, and other things that will show under another layering piece)
- The garment pulls on like a tee shirt or tank top
- Fabric that is lightweight enough for comfort and ease of packing, but is still heavy enough so that it doesn’t cling to every bulge. Matte jersey is usually best, but different women like different fabric weights.
- Unlined (Unless the lining and thread have stretch, travelers should forget lining.)
- Made from matte fabric (Shiny fabrics can work in a pinch.)
Women should look for plain styles which can be dressed up with pearls or can be thrown on quickly when the alarm doesn’t go off and the tour bus is leaving in 15 minutes.
The LBD
Finding the right dress is not easy and online shopping has it's pros and cons. It is extremely convenient to have an outfit delivered to one's doorstep. However, it may take several orders, returns, and exchanges to get the right cut in the right size.
So, once a woman has found a great dress, she should buy another one exactly like it, or someday she will be disappointed when the perfect dress wears it out and is no longer available.
Some gals have a perfect dress in their closets, but those who don't should consider trying something like these:
- Eileen Fisher Rayon Stretch-Crepe, Twist-Front Dress at MyShape.com
- Kenneth Cole Jersey Dress with Criss-Cross Tie
- Three Dots British Tank Dress (Usually Three Dots has enough stretch to become great travel clothing.)
- Three Dots Long Cami Dress
- Spiegel Surplice Knit Dress (Sometimes Spiegel clothes are quite heavy, though not all items. Some curvy gals do better with heavier fabric, though the only way to know is by trying something on.)
- Rachel Palley White Label Caftan Dress (Rachel Palley’s fabrics are fabulous, though a bit heavy. The author went up a size to a 1X plus to get a long blue Rachel Palley dress, and the garment is almost one-size-fits-all.)
- Eileen Fisher Scoop Neck Ponte Knit Dress (Plus and Misses)
- Exclusively Misook Knit Long Dress, if it’s not too heavy.
- Luna Luz (Check out these cute dresses and skirts which have ties to change the look of the skirt.)
- Sierra Trading Post has a Lilla P Pima Stretch Long Tank Dress on sale. Don’t dally.
Travel Clothes Separates:
An easy-going black dress is the best travel piece in the world, but sometimes a woman can’t find the right dress and should “make” her own from a lightweight skirt and top.
Finding a Tee or Tank:
A great place to look for tees is VictoriasSecret.com. They usually have boat neck, vee neck, deep vees, tanks, and everything a gal needs, but they often run small and lighter colors show unsightly bulges.
MyShape.com has Karen Kane tops that work well with skirts, pants, and jeans.
Travel Skirt:
Here are some ideas for skirts, but the internet is always changing, so many women will want to google a combination of these keywords to see what's available: black pull-on skirt jersey.
- Coldwater Creek has a smocked detail knit skirt which can easily be dressed up, though it is good for day, as well.
- Plus sizes can look for the Gillian Grey Jersey Knit Pull-On Skirt.
- Nic + Zoe has a lightweight pull-on skirt. (Nic + Zoe is made for travel.)
- Eileen Fisher Ponte Knit Pencil Skirt (plus and misses)
- Tilley.com has a Travel Jersey Destination Skirt which looks great.
- Another good place to find pull-on skirts is Spiegel.com.
A black skirt is indispensible but an Orvis.com reversible skirt is lightweight and works with any black top. The beautiful Peony print is almost gone, but they still have a reversible black and white skirt. This is a bargain for those who act quickly.
Read more about Boomer's Travel Clothing.
Read more articles about necessities for travel.
Online styles are always changing, so use these dresses, skirts, and tops as a reference point. Dresses should go on over the head. Skirts should be easy pull-on styles. Tees and tops should be simple. And, while black is an easy place to start, any great color can be the anchor piece for layering cute outfits and for packing light.
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