I just heard of this system, but Ive never tried it. Id be happy for anything to help me be organized in packing. I tend to take a few” just in casede” items. I actually struggle more with the non-clothing items.

I always take washable clothing but Id need more than three tops. Of course, you also need undies, socks and pajamas.

Of course, leave room for purchases along the way!

I always want to try this when traveling, but I can't get past the need I feel to wash my tops after one wear as I don't feel like they are clean enough to wear again after lots of walking and some sweating either due to walking or areas being hot because of no AC or too much heat.. Bottoms often ends up there too. Especially when traveling because of weather and walking in rain with dirt splashing or just spilling something on me because I'm a clutz. What I need is a wardrobe like this where I can just handwash the clothes at the end of the day and they will dry overnight while hung in random places in a hotel room and can be used again.

I guess that idea might work if you only need certain types of clothing. However, if you also need business wear and dressy wear...

Hope you have a great trip. Please update us on your opinion of the method after your trip.

@dedtired, I never shop on vacation. It just isn’t fun for me. If I buy anything, it will be packets of herbs or spices to bring back to the cookbook club girls. I brought them saffron and paprika from Spain, cardamom from Honduras, and oregano from Greece. I guess I’ll get lavender from Provence. If the packages are too big, I’ll just ship them home.

I take a silk sleep shirt that I wash in the hotel sink every few days. It dries by bedtime. Same with undies. I carry a couple pair of merino wool footies that I use to cover the insoles of my shoes instead of wearing socks. They dry pretty quickly too.

Some of my space goes to electronics. I’m going to leave my iPad at home and just use my phone. I also always take a power bank. I struggle between taking my flat iron or taking my velcro curlers. Do I deal with the weight of the flat iron or the space hog curlers? Or just get my hair cut short and only take a comb 😂

@lyfia, I don’t think I’d even contemplate this if we were going to be in a really hot climate. For clothes that just need a little freshening, I’ll have my trusty spray bottle of vodka with me.

@Fun2BHere, this packing scheme, for me at least, would be a non-starter if I needed business attire. That’s when I pull out the big suitcase!

The equal allocations make no sense as tops needs to be laundered more frequently than bottoms, and layers not at all over the span of a typical vacation.

I agree on laundry frequency, mtn, but all of that would never be one load of laundry anyway. I’ll just have to have the tops laundered more often than the bottoms. I hope I don’t have to have the cashmere sweater washed at all. I may switch it out for a cream merino wool sweater that will dry more quickly than cashmere. Or a navy blue sweater (only navy sweater I have is wool and not washable. Might need to do a little shopping)

Everything I own is black or olive with a few navy pieces thown in. Everything always goes together. I'd go crazy if I had to make a matched outfit on a daily basis.

Yes! I tried it on our most recent trip to Portugal a couple of weeks ago. It worked great! I did change it up a tiny bit and only took two layers so I could take an extra top, and it didn't include my travel clothes. We were gone for 10 days and had the opportunity to do laundry at our airbnb half way through. All my pants were black, my layers were a black fleece vest and a heather gray cashmere zip up hoodie from Quince, and my tops were white, blue and pink. (I didn't wash the cashmere while gone. Everything else was machine washable.) Plus I wore an olive green windbreaker from Eddie Bauer over my travel clothes on the plane.

I am curious, do we think this would be acceptable for business travel as well as pleasure? I have no problem re-wearing items during vacations, but I always feel like I'm expected to have a fresh outfit when traveling for business. For vacations or personal wear, I am similarly more comfortable re-wearing bottoms than tops.

@Bluebell66, do you think you could have done it for twice as long? My trip is 21 days. Days 1 & 2 and 20 & 21 are on planes. I will wear what the woman on The Vivienne Files calls my ”transit outfit” on those 4 days.

@pricklypearcactus, not to be too nosy, but when you are at the office (or whatever is not traveling for work) do you wear a fresh outfit every day? I think re-wearing garments while traveling for business is actually easier than re-wearing garments while traveling for recreation. Traveling for recreation, one is more likely to spend time outside with varying temperatures or just participating in more active activities. When I traveled for business, it was generally sitting all day in a climate controlled environment.

Here is tonight’s iteration. I’ve replaced the cream cashmere cardigan with a navy merino cardigan from LL Bean. It is machine washable.

Top row, L-R, gauze button up, light denim shirt, lightweight jeans.

Middle row: Khaki pants, pink linen shell, navy merino cardi

Bottom row: White seersucker anorak, olive green linen pants, natural linen shirt.

IDK, maybe it depends on how you define outerware, but this will never make sense to me!

I’m going to be up a creek without a paddle if I try it and it doesn’t work. I’ll be dragging around a suitcase of failure for 3 weeks!

I always pack with a very limited wardrobe, but it is usually 16 items - The Vivienne Files 4x4 scheme. It works for me, but I want to burn my clothes when I get home (not because they stink but because I’m so tired of seeing them!)

The Vivienne Files 4x4, hereinafter TVF4, uses a 2 color core with 2 or maybe 3 accent colors. My standard core is navy and khaki with red and cream. [Yawn]

How many different hotels over the 3-week trip? I don't spend a lot of effort on packing light unless it is a trip with a lot of legs and or for some reason I might need to lug something myself, or if it is business and I don't want to look like an unserious clothes horse. Otherwise, my packing style is "the more the merrier."

Have you told us all about the trip?

I thought I had given an outline of the trip, but now I think maybe I wrote it then deleted it.

The first 3-4 days we will be in Normandy. Then we will be in Paris for one night. Travel by train to Provence. A week in Provence on a culinary tour. Travel by car from Provence to the city where we will board a week-long river cruise. Fly home.

There are a total of 7 or 8 different hotels/B&Bs. Although I will not be traveling solo, I need to be able to handle my own luggage.

Not shown in the 9 garment graphic is my transit outfit and my trench coat.

ETA: but for my sister and DBIL who pack very leanly, I won’t be around the same people for more than a week at a time.

I like the idea of it, but I think the tops are too few. I prefer the TVF as she includes more tops which I change up every day. I can get a lot of wear out of a pair of jeans, but not so much with tops. I would have a problem with the white anorak as I'm likely to get that dirty. But I like the color variation you have...you won't get bored with that combo. I find when I travel, I want a scarf or two. Helps pull outfits together, easy to pack and are versatile temperature-wise. For some reason, if my neck is warm, I'm warm. If too warm, I tie it on my purse. Especially if you have one that's water-resistant, it can work with the trench for a rainy day...I've tied the scarf onto the epaulet on my trench if it's dry but cool.

Sounds like a great trip!

@Annie Deighnaugh, I didn’t add the scarves, but there will be at least 2 scarves. For sure this one will be going with me. I don’t know the fabric content, but it is like a very light challis.

I have just bought the one below from The Met. It is modal and cashmere.

The one from The Met will work well on the plane with my transit outfit - navy slim pants, navy long linen sweater, and a TBD top. I think it will also provide warmth. I love the way it looks with a trench coat!

I may end up with the TVF4 scheme. It has served me well ever since you first mentioned The Vivienne Files at least 10 years ago.

TVF4

Top row: navy merino cardigan, pink linen shell, EF lightweight jeans, navy pants

2nd row: white seersucker anorak, green gauze shirt; khakis; natural linen pants

3rd row: light denim shirt, no-iron white shirt; no-iron navy shirt; white linen shell

4th row: natural linen shirt; navy cotton tee; olive linen pants; blue linen dress

I think in theory that it is possible to pack clothing that all goes together or ”can” go together if it has to; that’s basically the way I pack. But i don’t endorse this specific array…. where is a dress? A cute skirt and top?

IME when one packs many items that ”could” go together one ends up wearing each pair of top and bottom with the companion that looks best. In other words, you may have 9 possible outfits but you will wear the same three or four over and over because they look best together and best on you.

@Kswl, I suspect you are right about repeating your favorite looks. I often do a spreadsheet with outfits just so I remember to mix it up a bit!

As to dresses or skirts, I rarely wear them. On vacation they are only packed if the temps are going to be hot and sticky. The temps for this trip, as best I can tell, are going to be mid-70s during the day; upper 50s at night.

That should be a wonderful trip! For a trip like that, I would probably pack like it was a one week trip repeated three times.

The reason I overpack is that so often I end up choosing differently once I am there. For our Caribbean trip, it was so hot that I mostly wore my Target gauze pants (in black or white) and a Target maxi dress. I had three pair of linen pants with me and they were too hot for most days. I also remember a trip to Dubrovnik where I wore one pair of shoes and only one, because of all those steps. They were the only ones that were both comfy in the heat and sturdy enough.

TVF4 looks more like the way I pack. I confess I ended up buying a cardigan on my last trip because the morning wind was frigid despite 90-degree afternoons.

@bbstx while my "outfits" are pretty unimpressive working from home, I do wear a fresh one every day. I do have a lot of multiples of the same thing in different colors, but I try to look like I put on something different each day. Not sure if that's silly.

I think most people overpack - take much more than they need.

I am not sure that I fully agree with this model, it is not the model I would use. For a typical week long (8 days, 7 nights) recreactional trip in the summer I need:

Day 1 and Day 8 = Travel outfit, includes a light weight jacket, comfortable shoes/sneakers and long pants vs shorts.

Other 6 days = 6 tops, 3 shorts, 1 pair of sandles, 1 pajama set including slippers.

The jacket and long pants needs to go with anything / everything

The outfits = I need 2 tops for every pair of shorts. If it gets cool in the evening I have the jacket and long pants that can be worn as needed.

I may add a second pair of long pants depending on the destination and weather or possibly one dressier outfit if I am planning on a more formal dinner or activity.

When I worked in an office I owned 3 pairs of work slacks (Black, Navy and dark and 6 shirts that went with each of my slacks. I did laundry every weekend and rotated the outfits. I was in San Diego at the time, so I didn't need to change things up by season. Packing for a work related trip was pretty simple - just add pjs.

Sounds like a wonderful trip, Bbstx! It sounds like the variance of the weather when you'll be traveling is doable. I think your scarves will be easy to pack and offer that something-extra when you want it.

I pack wildly different each time I travel, but I always fit everything in a carry-on. In the past several years, my trips have varied from a brief weekend to nearly a month, with several week-longs in between. I can't recall the last time I checked luggage. I like the freedom and hassle-less-ness of carry-on, and so, depending on the trip, I factor in laundering, as well as donating/buying clothes if there are drastic weather changes.

I traveled for business early in my career, and that was a different beast, obvioulsy.

I did a modified plan, finetuned for what makes sense for me when we went to Arizona a few weeks ago. The predictions were for very hot weather in one location and a lot cooler in the 2nd. It turned out the second location ( Sedona /Jerome. Cottonwood) were maybe not hot, but warmer than typical.

2 pants, ( cropped jeans, and white denim)

1 cardigan

5 tops

Bathing suit ( never worn)

sandals

Coverup tshirt/nightgown ( double duty)

Additional Travel outfit I wore black pants ( costco duplicate of athleta brooklyn), white tshirt, scarf , and jean jacket .. And sneakers.

Never Worn- 1 sweatshirt, 1bathing suit, 1 dress

It was more than adequate and it felt good to have everything so simple.

I like the scarves and the TVF4 mix. That will get you many outfits for many days. And there's a nice mix of colors.

@salonva, Jane(?) at TVF says keeping track of what you didn’t wear is important. It helps you hone your wardrobe for the next trip.

Thanks, AD!

I worry about shoes. To me that is the most difficult item to replace. You can’t just hit up a vendor at a tourist site and snag a pair of shoes, like you can a sweatshirt!

Agree. Especially if you have size 10 feet. Not to mention if you take your size 10 feet to say, Asia. But not having the right shoes can really curtail your trip if you cannot walk comfortably. Sometimes I forget and bring new shoes - highly risky.