How to Choose Dresses for Business Travel (Women Wardrobe Tips)

Packing Tips for a Business Trip (Managing Wardrobe) - as part of the Women's Style series by GeoBeats. Packing for a business trip, everybody wants to know what are the big secrets so that you are not taking the kitchen sink with you. Nobody can afford to pay all those fees for that extra luggage. So, this is what I tell my clients to do, and this is how I help them pack. First of all, you want to start with one key neutral, whatever neutral you like. A lot of people just will say black or brown, but today I am going to show you what you could even do with camel being the neutral. One of the most important things you can do is make sure, depending on what type of trip it is, that you have items that will roll up well and would not wrinkle. Nothing is worse than getting to your hotel room with a bunch of wrinkled clothes that you are going to have to steam out or iron or send out to be cleaned. For instance, this outfit, right here, we have got a long knit cardigan and a knit shell underneath and, actually, a pair of knit pants. It is a great travel outfit for more of a business casual type of meeting. You can add a scarf to it. All of this you could roll in a ball. And you want to know something else? Every single piece here is washable. This is a little trick that you can do. Make sure when you are purchasing clothes for a business trip, or even picking them out of your closet, look at those tags. If they are washable, that is going to make all the difference in the world because if push comes to shove and you have to rinse something out in the hotel sink, you are going to be able to do it and not send out to dry cleaning and have the worry of it getting ruined. So, there are all types of washable little shells you could take. So,have one neutral. Build on that. You could have the gray underneath. You can also put the camel coat over top a dress like this with the camel in it. Again, this can easily be thrown in a sink and washed, and it is going to roll up and not wrinkle. So, keep things very tight. You want to have a small mix and match wardrobe. You are traveling. Somebody is not going to say, “You are wearing the same thing you wore yesterday, or two days ago.” That is not going to happen. You are in a traveling situation. So, you want to make sure that you have lots of accessories so things will be more interesting. Different shells underneath outfits because that is easy to pack. You can just quickly roll those up. Another tip: If you stick with one core neutral, you do not have to have shoes in all different colors. You can stick with one color on your shoes in a couple different styles. If your travel is more of a formal business travel and you are required to wear a suit, look for something where you can get at least three pieces. You have a jacket, perhaps a skirt, and a pant. Often you can find suits that are broken up like this. This is a great way to pack. Now a black suit is a black suit. No one is going to notice if you are wearing again the black suit a couple of times in a row. Again, wear different shells underneath, bring different scarves and accessories. If you have to bring another jacket into the mix, then bring something that would coordinate with the black pants and the black skirt. It is just going to make it easier. You cannot always get buy with the washable items for this type of business travel, but maybe on the shells underneath, or blouses, you might be able to then have something washable, and that will be easier to maintain. And those are my tips for packing for business travel.