I've put this in the declutter forum because I'm trying to declutter my suitcase.
Here's a picture of what I'm proposing I'll take on my 35 day trip. This doesn't include the formal outfits but does include the semi-formal ones. Missing from the picture is a red turtleneck.
I laid everything out because I couldn't decide whether to take my stone or khaki green capris so I wanted to get a sense of what colours I'll be wearing. I decided on stone because the green were dull coloured and I didn't see a lot of brightness in my outfits.
So, it will be mainly black, red and stone.
There is a predominately blue dress and I might bring a blue bolero jacket to go over my black dress for a formal outfit, but that will be the only blue my the wardrobe for a month except for a blue cloth belt for my travel skirt and pants. It is reversible so is black on the other side. I'll have a reversible black/brown leather belt and a cloth/brown stone belt. Plus a couple of dress belts for my travel dress - if I cinch a belt tight enough, I can pull it up, let the excess drape over the belt and thus shorten it to just under my knee, making a different look (it is full length normally.)
I could swap the red turtleneck for blue or purple but then it won't go with the red skirt. Not sure I need it to, so I'll consider that.
I've added in purple using scarves and shawls and there is a green blouse. But my base colours will be black or stone. That means two pairs of walking sandals (stone and black), two dressy sandals (cream to go with the blue dress and the red/tan skirt, and black) and one pair of pumps (gold metalic for formal wear.) Plus my stone coloured running shoes which are going to look a bit out of place with my black jeans but so be it, I'm not packing any more shoes!
According to my outfit calculator, I can make 51 daytime outfits out of this. Obviously more than enough. Logically, I could leave my jeans behind but they are comfortable to travel in (stretch!) and I'm afraid I'll be cold and end up wearing my only pair of pants all the time as a result. That happened last summer (it was 100 the day we arrived and then only got over 75 once) and I got bored with my outfits.
If I leave a t-shirt behind, that will also cut the number of outfits but I can't decide which one to leave. I have two wool ones that I need to take because they are great travel companions, warm in a/c, cool outside. So really, I'm only taking two others, one solid black, one solid white. I might leave one of the flowered tops behind but they are part of night-time wear as well and I'm a bit short on those.
Writing this out, I can see I really have to get over caring about what I wear to the dining room. That is my biggest stumbling block.
I added in the green shirt because I was looking for something else with long sleeves for warmth. It is a travel shirt so the sleeves roll up and button in place. I can wear one of the wool tees underneath for a warmer outfit if I need to. And, after last summer, I know how important it is to have fleece so there's a fleece jacket and fleece vest, along with a regular black cardigan (for extra warmth in a/c) and my travel blazer (which has enough pick-proof pockets that I won't have to carry a purse while on tour, especially important in Morocco and Barcelona because of the petty crime.)
If you care:
Starting at the back left, coming forward:
- sheer flowered top with a sleeveless, shell underneath (the shell has crystal in it.)
- flowered jersey top
- synthetic red/tan blouse
- white safari shirt
- green safari shirt
Next column:
- black dressy t-shirt (good enough to wear in the evening)
- red wool t-shirt
- white cotton t-shirt
- black patterned wool t-shirt
Next column
- travel blazer (hanging - it has 16 pockets)
- black cardigan (with zippered passport pocket)
- red fleece jacket (with unzippered passport pocket)
- reversible (khaki/black) vest with slash pockets on both sides.
Next column
- black travel dress (can be worn on a beach as a sun dress or with a sparkly jacket for formal nights depending on how I dress it up.)
- blue dress for semi-formal nights (my only single use item but I love this dress.)
- black crepe culottes for the main dining room (depending on the top they are either semi-formal or dressy.)
Across the bottom:
- Stone pants
- black jeans
- stone capris
- stone travel skirt (required because there will squat toilets so I'll have to tour in a skirt in order to use them, plus it has pick-proof pockets.)
- red/tan skirt (matches the blouse but looks great with a black or plain red top)
- coloured skirt - goes with every plain top I've packed
Across the window blind:
- sheer black wrap with blue beading
- multi-coloured wrap (won't be coming, I've already talked myself out of it!)
- purple/gold wrap, it shimmers
- my pashmina from Hong Kong - green and purple on cream
- purple/black large scarf
- black and white thin scarf
- black and gold large scarf
- red and cream large scarf
(the large scarves can be worn as a shawl, or even made into a purse.)
Looking at all this, I figure that is a full wardrobe, not simply a travel wardrobe. I'll be paring it down. If I get too bored with my outfits, I can boost the economy in the ports we visit.