How to Create 10 Outfits for Travel Using 8 Pieces

Whether you’re traveling for the week, weekend, or packing for a sabbatical, selecting clothing for a trip can easily feel overwhelming. You don’t want to drag multiple suitcases around the airport just for clothing, yet you aren’t sure how to create multiple outfits with the few pieces you’d like to bring with you!

If you’re looking to pack lightly or create a travel capsule for your next trip, the formula I teach in the below video, “How to Create 10 Outfits for Travel Using 8 Pieces” will give you an easy framework to use anytime you pack for travel. Whether you’re 20, 50, or 100 years old, you can pack lightly using this formula AND enjoy your brightest and most colorful pieces!

Simply click on the below image to watch today’s video and learn how YOU can pack a fun capsule for your next trip. And don’t forget to comment with one new outfit you plan to pack the next time you travel! Enjoy!

(00:03)
Hello friends and WELCOME to the Simplify Your Style blog series, where I teach you how to create more outfits with fewer pieces of clothing! Everything I teach you in this blog series is intended to help you create more versatility in your wardrobe. So let's go ahead and dive into today's topic, which is how to pack eight pieces of clothing for a trip and end up with 10 outfits. The idea for packing light and creating a travel capsule is to combine basic and statement pieces. I'll show you the eight pieces I often pack for a trip, and the 10 outfits I get with those eight pieces. What I have here is three tops, four bottoms, and one layer. I have four basics, three statement pieces, and one layer, which can be counted as a basic.

(01:09)
The basic items I've included are a colorful cardigan in a teal color, a sleeveless denim shirt, a grey tee, a dark-wash jean (this particular style is a high-rise jean), and a pair of white shorts. You could also substitute the white shorts for a colored jean, maybe an olive green jean or a grey jean (something colored). My three statement pieces are a floral blouse, a waist-high printed pant, and a waist-high midi skirt. Here's what I do to get 10 outfits with these eight pieces (I'll go ahead and go piece by piece so you can see all the outfits!). I'll start with my sleeveless denim shirt, a style I actually talk about in my free outfit guide on my website! If you haven't already grabbed the outfit guide you'll definitely want to. It's called, "Five Surprisingly Versatile Pieces You Can Wear Year Round," and I'll put the link in this post so you can grab it.

(02:33)
For this denim shirt, I can wear it with my two statement bottoms - the printed pant and the midi skirt. That's two outfits right there. I can also wear it with my two basic bottoms. It'll work well with my white shorts, and I can wear it with my dark-wash jeans as well. The dark-wash jean is a lot of denim head to toe, so that's when I would add my cardigan to give the outfit a little bit of color. I might also add an accessory or another color in a shoe to mix up all the denim.

(03:25)
Then I have my other basic, which is a grey tee. The grey tee goes with the jean and also works well with the white shorts and two statement bottoms. It goes well with the midi skirt and silky waist-high pant. Between those two basic tops, I have eight outfits, because each basic top goes with the four bottoms. Then I have my other statement blouse, and this can be worn with the jean (easy peasy!) or the white short. That gives me 10 outfits total. I can always add the cardigan to a few other outfits as well, but it's really intended to mix up the basic tops and basic bottoms. For example, rather than pairing just the denim shirt with the white short, the cardigan adds color in the same way it adds color to the denim shirt and blue jean. The color in the cardigan makes each outfit a little more interesting!

(04:53)
Remember, the idea is to think about how you can combine basic and statement pieces when you travel to create a travel capsule that isn't boring or includes only basic pieces. We all love basic pieces, but if we wear only basics all the time, it can feel kind of blah. You know, like a plain tee shirt and jeans. A basic black skirt can be great if you mix in some fun, colorful, printed pieces to jazz things up!

(05:26)
I hope this was helpful today! I showed you how to create ten outfits with eight pieces of clothing for travel. ENJOY your travels this summer, have FUN packing a travel capsule, and I'll see you in the next video!