My travel capsule wardrobe

Packing for a nine day trip recently allowed me to practise putting together a capsule wardrobe. I love setting myself the challenge! I've done this more times than I'd care to remember actually, during my long corporate career. I used to travel a lot for work: interviewing, recruiting, meeting and facilitating. Sometimes it was thankless work, and creating these capsule wardrobes for work was not fun. They rarely included any of my favourite clothes.

But the concept remains the same; packing minimal clothes to create maximum outfits while allowing for all kinds of unexpected events and accidents. For example, I remember one time setting up a room (including moving furniture) early in the morning before our workshop attendees arrived, only to rip a large horizontal hole in my silk pants right across the bum! Thankfully I was in central Sydney, upstairs from several clothes shops, and so was able to find a long line blazer to cover the rip. That was one I hadn’t prepared for!

These days l can pack what I like and as l am no longer representing a public sector or corporate organisation, it's a lot more fun. So here is what took on my recent trip:

• Two pairs of casual pants

• One pair of jeans

• Two dresses

• Two long sleeve t-shirts

• Two short sleeve t-shirts

• One casual shacket (shirt / jacket)

• One smart casual linen jacket

• One leather jacket

• One wool wrap

• One windcheater

• One pair of leggings and a top for exercise

Plus a hat and footwear of course.

And this is what the ensemble looked like. I have everything pictured here except the jeans and blue t-shirt, the black stretch parts, my red tartan on black t-shirt from the Alexander McQueen exhibition, and the pink windcheater I bought at ACMI’s Goddess exhibition (I’m pictured here holding it in the ACMI shop).

Everything mixed and matched really well, because of my basic colour scheme; soft and warm greens, some deep blue and black with accents of pink and red.

I got all of this into a small carry on sized suitcase and a personal sized backpack and I'm thrilled to say l felt like I had plenty of options. There are two keys to doing this well; knowing what shapes and silhouettes can be layered together depending on weather variations, and understanding what colours co-ordinate easily together (and which ones suit you best).

This can be challenging but I have created some digital downloads to assist you. My readymade colour schemes can be mixed and matched to create the exact travel capsule you need. For example, if you are travelling for both work and leisure, you could combine both the Professional and the Subdued Casual colour schemes or the Professional with the Party Fun Creative colour schemes. If you're travelling to meet new people, the Approachable and the Subdued Casual colour schemes would be a good combination. in my example, I have combined the Subdued Casual with the Party Fun Creative.

If you need any advice on choosing which combination is right for you, drop me a line!