15kg of luggage - capsule wardrobe help!!

[spekky]

I’m travelling to the south of France and Italy in the summer. I’ve only got a 15kg luggage allowance on the way out, so need some help with how I can build a capsule wardrobe for the trip.

I like nice summery dresses, or shorts and t-shirts. For the evenings I have two sets of shoes & bags - one pair of gold slider style sandals and a gold bag, one pair of red heels and a red bag (pics attached).

I plan on doing a lot of exploring so day to day I imagine I’ll be wearing trainers a lot - I have a burgundy and cream pair of Adidas Spezials and will probably purchase a new pair of new balance 720s in preparation for the trip. Likely in white or brown.

I will have the ability to do laundry halfway through the trip.

Where do I even start?!

Give things a quick hand wash.... it wouldn't take long and would dry easily in the heat :)

This is such a good point. A “travel edit” for skincare/make up/etc can be a good idea if you’re the sort of person who has quite a few products.

I dry my hair straight at home but am always curly on hols. 1 hairdryer = 1 pair of shoes in terms of packing weight/space!

@Squirrelchops1 pretty much every shop does some sort of t shirt / slip dress at this time of year. This isn’t how I dress at home, but for practicality when travelling with minimal luggage I find this works best for me.

Three fairly random sources for the type of thing I mean:

https://www.uniqlo.com/uk/en/products/E484089-000/00?colorDisplayCode=09&sizeDisplayCode=003

https://www.stories.com/en-gb/product/fitted-cotton-jersey-midi-dress-black-1323962001/

https://skims.com/en-gb/collections/slip-dresses?direction=next&cursor=eyJsYXN0X3ZhbHVlIjoiMjMiLCJsYXN0X2lkIjoxMDI0NzAxNjcxMDQ5Nywib2Zmc2V0IjoyM30%3D (Whichever feel most like your own style.)

Etc!

Very easy if you’ve travelled in a casual jacket / trousers / shirt / jumper / walking footwear that can all be added to the dresses day by day as required.

Last time I was in the south of France I took far too much stuff - and all the separates needed endless ironing. So I learned from that …

You could do this on 6kg or less

limit yourself to:
1 light jumper (for plane/ ac)
1 or 2 pairs trousers
3-4 tops (that can dress up or dress down trousers)
3 or 4 silk dresses that are light and look glam as hell in the evenings (think Dea Kudibal)
1 bikini
1 pair nice sandal like shoes
1 pair trainers
4-5 socks
6/7 knickers

small toiletries and this could be carry on

plane wear = chunkiest items together

This was my list for Sicily and another year Tuscany, both times moving around. It’s much easier to manage bags too

I consider myself a minimalist packer. I don't want to pay for luggage so it's suprising how much you can fit to the small personal item.
First thing is to get roll up vacuum bags. That saves tons of space.

I can do a week with just an underseat rucksack for a beach holiday.

2 sets of underwear
2 shirts
2 shorts
2 bikinis
Hamman towel
2/3 dresses
Sandals
Hat

Wear linen trousers, vest and shirt and a big scarf/paschmina and sock liners and trainers to travel
Bumbag with passports money sunglasses etc
Empty water bottle to fill at airport
Small.toiletries bag

Buy suncream insect repellent etc there.
Hand-wash stuff daily.

I love travelling light and my holidays tend to be chilled so no formal.dressing required.

Fair enough, and space isn’t a problem.

As I said m, I let my shoe selection determine my colour scheme. But you have particular clothes you have your heart set on, so I’d build out around those colours. You just need somewhere to start.

Red as a focus - add white/black/ maybe navy. Maybe eliminate beiges and browns? You want things to be fairly interchangeable and clothes that can be put together in at least two ways.

But, if you don’t want to do laundry, you need to factor whether you can actually wear something twice. If you can’t, there isn’t any benefit to a capsule. Just pick outfits you like.

Capsules work really well if you have to pack minimally, or if you aren’t very flamboyant. But don’t feel you have to create a capsule. The nice thing about your destinations is the weather will be fairly predictable and the clothes you need are light, and skimpy rather than heavy jeans and woollies.

You can save some space and weight by buying toiletries when you get there.

Thanks
For some reason I had a brain fart and what you've posted isn't what I had in my head lol
I love and have these type of dresses too🤣

Firstly you don’t need two bags and two going out pairs of shoes. Cull that to one bag and one pair of shoes for going out. Take a decent walking pair too. I usually just take3 dresses for going out as who cares if I wear the dame thing more than once. 2 pairs of shorts will do either one daytime sundress and a few different t shirts.

Oh! Now I’m curious. What were you imagining?

You have asked for advice about a capsule wardrobe but don’t seem to like the advice given.
In my mind, a capsule wardrobe doesn’t include as many shoes and bags as you are taking.
You are also packing assuming that it will be hot and sunny. Which was not my experience in the south of France last year so you potentially need a waterproof and jumper.
Do you really need 3 pairs of pjs for 9 days? I’d probably only take 1 pair.

With 15kg you don’t really need a capsule wardrobe for 9 days but having one will definitely give you more flexibility and options than if you pack specific outfits.

I recently did two weeks with a bag that weighted less than that in weather ranging from -1 to 27 degrees. I kept to one complementary colour palette where most things would go together and packed lightweight items that could be layered.

The Uniqlo sleeveless airism dress is a travel essential for me. I have two and take them on every trip. They get layered and mixed with other items. They are very quick drying which means they are easy to wash and rewear. They are comfy and can look very casual or quite dressy depending on what you wear them with.

I wear my heaviest shoes on the plane and pack one or two other pairs.

Are you overdressing in the heat?

If you are sweating /smelling a lot are you choosing good breathable loose fabrics as this will help.
Tbh as a regular traveller to this part of the world in summer I would not pack pyjamas as I would sleep naked or just in pants and a cami vest as it is so so hot you are going to overheat in pyjamas.
Same for what you wear in the day - plan to tie /clip your hair up so it's not on your neck, and choose loose stuff, loose thin cotton shirts, loose drawstring trousers etc.
I personally don't like the red polka dot fabric you posted, I'd stick to cream/black/navy palette for cote d'azur. But each to their own

And opt for very little make up/no foundation. It'll just melt and slide off in the heat and humidity.

I’m doing a long trip with limited luggage and my colour palette is black, cream and caramel colours with metallic accessories. Everything works together. Nothing is high maintenance or will crease or stain immediately.

key items - black v next t shirt tie waist dress, can be dressed up or down
100 stars kimono top - dresses up everything or acts as cover up
hush black Kendall playsuit - the comfiest thing in existence
linen and cotton mix black tank tops
a couple of cream tops for evening only (sun cream trashes them)
linen shorts in cream, tan and black
swimwear and beach cover up
metallic bag for evening and cross body for day
silver Madrid Birkenstocks
adidas speziales
Havaianas rose gold sandals

I am trying to see it as a challenge as I always take a load of stuff I don’t wear!

No I mean pyjamas. I did a trip with one pair of pyjamas to Denmark for a week and they smelt vile after four days

I only take dresses and wear each one twice. You could chuck in shorts/skirt and couple of tops. Then bikinis and underwear.

I usually wear a cargo skirt or trousers for travelling, and wear my trainers and cardi or hoodie. Spare cardi. A pair of nice sandals and some flip flops. Job done.

9kg is no problem.

For nine days your plans are overpacking. Start with shoes. One pair of trainers is plenty - wear them on the plane. Take flip flops or sliders for hotel floors, and other sandals for hot weather or evenings (two pairs max). For clothes, choose two neutral colours that you wear most - black, navy, tan etc and choose tops that go with the trousers, shorts in both those colours. For warm places, white, cream and light colour tops work best. Dresses are versatile if they suit you, for day and evening. Take three scarves - they can really change up outfits in several ways.
Advice is often to wear lots of clothes on to the plane, but I think its bad advice because 1. Some airlines don't let you stash coats, jackets etc in the overhead bins, and 2. Peeling off loads of heavy layers while in your seat is difficult and disruptive for others. 3. Coming off the plane with lots of bits looks really uncool.
Another poor bit of advice I have seen is to wear wide leg trousers to travel - loose is fine, but wide legs will drape on the floor of the plane's loo.

I only ever do a small cabin bag.

I have a Saint and Sofia cotton bomber jacket instead of a coat ( for UK bit) It's really really unlikely to be cold or wet in the summer.
At least 2 bikinis. Ones always drying as I swim loads.
Black, Khaki and denim are my go to travel colours. A couple of dresses but one set of separates in case the dresses get spoilt.
Small cowhide cross body bag. Safer against pickpockets, can wear it with anything smart of casual.
Prefer walking sandals as you don't need socks and leather flip flops/slide on shoes for evening/,pool.

Who are you travelling with? Do you have your own room?

I'd do 2x nighties and rinse one while away if necessary.

Then I would take probably 5 dresses (or skirt/top combos) all of which I could wear for one or two evenings and then for one or two days. A pair of shorts and a top. One cardi that went with all the dresses. One pair of leggings the same. Wear one pair of trainers. Pack one pair of sandals and a second pair of trainers if I was desperate for them. A big silk scarf in case I either want to cover up or am cold.

This would usually easily fit into hand luggage, along with one swimming costume, goggles, microfibre beach towel, a book or two.

Toiletries I can do 2 weeks on 1*40ml shampoo, 1x 40ml conditioner, a miniature bar of soap. Then I take a 30ml facial suncream with me and either buy out there or take a 200ml normal suncream. 1 each x 5ml hand cream, foot cream and face cream. Don't take anything else.

Wear a coat to the airport, plus a sunhat.

I have done 17 days on hand luggage only including a hen do at the end of it.

Yes, but do you need both?

We travel loads and 15kg of summer stuff is tons! We're usually around the 12 kg mark and dont get to wear all of it. Don't worry about cutting down, just put everything in the case, weigh it, and go!

This is what I’d take. Once when I was in Barcelona for 2 weeks with family and realised I’d need evening dresses (for restaurants) I just bought a couple of dresses in H&M whilst there and used those but they were daytime too. I also wore skirts and tops, found them easier than dresses. Don’t forget you’ll be hot whilst there so linen, cotton might be a good idea. I wore shorts a lot too.

I would do what you suggested OP and work round whites, blacks, biege, cream and red.

I have to say I always pay extra for luggage, theres no way I would manage on 15kg. I like to have plenty of choice of what to wear, I dont like wearing the same thing twice and I dont want to do any washing.