10 tips to consider for your Travel Fashion

If you like a bit of fashion, your travel wardrobe will definitely mean something to you. Thanks to my very fashionable mama, I have always loved dressing up a little fancier. I enjoy the process of styling my clothes and absolutely love when it all comes together. However, when I started writing the 10 tips to consider for your travel fashion, I had a lot of LOL moments.

Let me tell you why.

It made me realise that I have somehow become my mummy. When we were younger, my mum packed our luggage for all trips. We had the “normal” clothes, “in case” clothes and “just because” clothes. Normal clothes were the everyday ones. In case clothes were the ones you could swap with normal clothes. Just because were fancy clothes for church or birthday parties. Or perhaps, just in case the King invited us to tea all of a sudden.

Disclaimer: This one is for people who love fashion and travel.

Travel, Fashion & Me

I have a lot of friends who love to travel and will probably just go with the basics. I’m talking two pairs of jeans, 5 tops, 1 pair of trainers, 1 pair of flip flops and they’re ready.

Not me.

I love a bit of extra fancy-ness on my trips. Working in a financial corporate environment means that I’m used to wearing dark, conservative outfits day in day out. Therefore, a holiday is the time to express myself a bit more than I would normally do. I will also admit that since I had my baby in 2022, my style has changed a lot. Although I am still a classic girl through and through, I favour simpler, more everyday styles. So my go to would be a classic white midi dress as it is easy to wear without much thought. My general rule is to pack clothes you can mix and match. For example: A shirt that doubles as a top when worn with jeans and can substitute as a beach cover up.

A few white dresses I wear a lot...

Anyway, let’s get in to it.

10 tips to consider for your travel fashion

1. Shop within your wardrobe

Have you ever looked deeper into your wardrobe and seen clothes you forgot about? Those clothes you bought in the December sale and told yourself you’d save for the summer? Yes, those ones. I am a big advocate for shopping your wardrobe. Although I no longer feel the need to shop before any trip. To be honest, I don’t know where this mentality came from. For someone like me who travels a lot, shopping each time makes absolutely no sense. If you follow me on instagram, you will note I wear my clothes over and over. My advice is to look into your wardrobe and you’d be surprised what is in there.

2. Weather

One of the 10 tips to consider for your travel fashion is the weather. Do your googles and add the destination to your phone weather app. This helps you to plan much smarter knowing what you are going to experience there.

London and Paris are usually wet cities which means that even in summer, there is a chance of rain. This means that you have to take this into consideration when packing for the trip. Pack breathable and cosy clothes that are easy to dry off incase you get a little wet. Keep your lambskin Chanel ballet flats at home or know that they could get ruined.

If you are travelling in winter, you need your coats and scarfs. The weather at your destination should be one thing to consider before you pack. Otherwise, you might spend the first day of your trip shopping for weather-appropriate clothes (i.e wasting your money)

3. Activities

I will be the first to admit that I am not a hiking or adventurous babe at all. So it is easy for me to pack knowing I won’t be needing outdoorsy clothes. Things to consider: Are you going to walk a lot? Will you spend most of your time on the beach? In your resort? This will help determine what you need to buy and help narrow it down. If I’m visiting monumental structures, religious sites or a market, I tend to be a bit more toned down.

After all, one has to be more respectful to the culture of the location you are visiting. If I will be walking a lot which is more than likely on city trips, comfortable shoes are key.

This is a great time to mention breast feeding. I travelled with my baby while I was breast feeding so I made sure my outfits were feeding friendly. One question I get a lot is how I manage to wear white a lot since I have a toddler. My answer is that I don’t really care if my clothes get messy; I’m a mum first and a fashion lover after. As much as I love clothes, I will not miss out on a muddy cuddle or running around with my toddler. So tbh, I don’t feel the need to look perfect all the time. Clothes are just clothes. If they are dirty, they go in the wash afterwards. That’s why the washing machine was invented.

With a toddler, I don’t feel the need to look perfect all the time. Clothes are just clothes.

4. Choosing Colours: Neutrals vs Pastels vs Bold

When you see all the colour I wear these days, it would be hard to convince you that I used to wear 90% neutrals. This is what happens when you have been a corporate girlie for more than half of your life. However, I will admit that since becoming a travel blogger, I’ve been more experimental with colours. I have since realised that I do in fact like colours.

White and Black will always be my safe choices but I have bright colours in my travel wardrobe now. These bright colours compliment my Black skin so well and now, I’m not afraid to wear them. Especially when I’m visiting tropical locations where colour works so well with the vibrant backdrops. This is one thing I consider when packing my clothes for travel. What colour scheme do I want to vibe with on this trip? Do I want to go with my comfort zone – neutrals or experiment more – colours?

5. Luggage Allowance

One of the 10 tips to consider for your travel fashion is the luggage allowance. It should have been the 1st point lol because these airlines are moving mad these days. You know those annoying airlines that charge for your handbag and everything else, yes I’m talking about those ones.

We fly British Airways quite often because I know I can always have my cabin suitcase and my handbag. For my cabin suitcase, there is still no limit to weight and my handbag is usually a tote. Keeping my fingers crossed that BA does not change this one day. I’ll always rate them highly because when you are travelling with a toddler, all the space is welcome.

So you should always check allowances; especially if you are doing multi-destinations where you are going to be hopping on flights between countries. A 23kg allowance from London to Istanbul is cute; but when you are flying from Istanbul to Budapest, it could very likely change to 10kg.

6. City vs Beach

This one will actually determine how much clothes to take with you and the type of clothes. I find that with city holidays, I tend to pack more clothes because there is so much more to do and see. However, with beach (and resort) holidays, travel fashion narrows down to swimwear, sarongs, slippers, cute beach bags, etc. Again, city holidays are more fashion for me. If I was going to Paris, New York, Milan for example, I tend to pack fancier outfits. Who does not want to look “faux Parisian” in Paris? This is just my choice tbh as travel fashion is very fun for me. Paris means the cliché black and white stripe jumper and tailored trousers are coming out. With beach holidays, my travel fashion is usually more casual – lots of shorts, maxi dresses etc.

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7. Conservative vs Hot Girl Summer vibes

When in Rome, they say, you act like the Romans. Now, the destination you are going to determines your outfit. In the same vein of dressing for the activities you are travelling for, this goes for locations as well. In the last few years, we have visited some predominantly Muslim countries. This has made us understand more about conservative travel fashion.

Travelling to places like Doha in Qatar and Dubai meant that our clothes had to be conservative to respect the culture. I visited the popular Mosque in Abu Dhabi and got a new outfit for it (an abaya). I did not have to but I wanted to feel like I was a part of the culture too. Even the trip to Maldives was interesting. We spent a night in Malé which is the main town and dressing there is conservative. A stark difference to the resort islands where dressing is relaxed. It is important that as much as it is exciting to whip out the bum shorts on holiday, it is more important to consider the location so you don’t disrespect their culture.

8. Shopping for the trip: Value for Money

I tend to go for quality over quantity in all aspects of my life and this goes for fashion too. Quality is one of the 10 tips to consider for your travel fashion. Thankfully, my fashion is more classic than trendy which helps a lot; it means that I don’t have to buy the trendy pieces each year. If I cannot see that it’ll work long-term in my wardrobe, I’m not buying it.

On the other hand, I have discovered more fast fashion brands in the last few years. To be honest, I have indulged in a handful of trendy pieces here and there. The truth is that not everyone can afford designer or independent fashion. I know there is a space for vintage and 2nd hand fashion but it is still not accessible to everyone. The accessibility factor also comes to play with high end brands who don’t cater for plus sized bodies. So high street and fast fashion won’t be going anywhere for a very long time.

Side note – The fact that you can afford designer/independent fashion is fantastic. However, if you’re only wearing them once and discarding, you’re now turning it to fast fashion. If you must shop and would like my recommendation? Shop where you can afford and shop pieces that you can rewear a lot, year in year out.

9. Accessories

As someone who wears a lot of white dresses, I will tell you for free that accessories are your game changer. Scarves, hats, belts, sunglasses, bold earrings, bags etc will elevate the outfit. They are perfect for moving your travel fashion from day to night; casual to dressy. Shoes also play a huge role – a plain white dress with trainers vs a plain white dress with heels; same dress but 2 different vibes. That one pair of heels is all you need to travel with unless you are going to a fashion event. It could be a pair of neutral heels that can go with any outfit or a snazzy pair to stand out for club nights. Basically, accessories are important.

10. Fashion for Group Travel

This is geared towards those who travel in groups or with a partner. I love those group shots where everyone is matching. They always look so cute and effortless; so this might be something to consider for a bit of fun and the perfect photos.

I’m in my matchy-matchy phase with my daughter. So for every trip, my travel fashion currently consists of at least an outfit that matches hers. I have been told that there will come a time when she will find it cringe; but until then, it’s matching all the way. I have even managed to convince Mr E to match with us for some family photos; so far, so good. Long may it last.

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10 tips to consider for your travel fashion: Major takeaways.

If you like an outfit, wear it and enjoy wearing it. It does not matter how many times you wear it or on how many trips, just wear your clothes.
Accessories will elevate your outfit and even take them from casual to dressy. A scarf, belt, glasses, earrings etc will make the same outfit look different each time.
Shopping before every trip is outdated. Of course, fashion is forever evolving but stay true to yourself and don’t fixate on trends. If you can afford designer trends, then by all means, splurge and spend your coins. However, if you are trying not to get dragged into shopping all the time, stay with the classic things that will remain timeless throughout the years.

To conclude...

I enjoyed writing this post a lot. However, it is important to remember that this is light hearted, not to be taken too seriously. Travel is fun and dressing up is fun too so why not combine both and take cute pictures while you are it? I often get asked on my instagram where my clothes are from. I do a mix of high street, independent sellers and I have a handful of fast fashion pieces. My accessories are usually designer as I tend to splurge more on accessories over clothing. However, 95% of my travel fashion falls into the timeless category. You will find pieces from 5 years ago still going strong in my wardrobe today and I love that for me.

Bisous, ’Bugo x