Your Brooklyn boyfriend in Big Apple reds

Easy casual streetwear for a cute traveling queer

Hello, my everyday wanderer. How are you? Today I’d like to talk to you about some tips for simple styling, the struggles of picking clothes to pack, and how to navigate the dilemma of wanting an optimized minimalist travel wardrobe, while wanting to look and feel cool on your journeys.

I just got back from a little trip to New York, first for my partner’s work conference in Manhattan, then to stay with our dear friend in Brooklyn. We were there for about a week, full of quite a bit of walking and subwaying around. The weather decided on mostly slight gloom and chill, a little rain, a couple brighter, warmer days.

Since our first days involved my partner's all-day conferences, they needed some business casual, including their nice dress boots, but also comfortable, casual walking-around wear. And we packed everything between the two of us into one standard carry-on (lime green - we love a bold color). While it wasn't the longest, most rigorous or demanding trip, it did get my ol' brain churning on some relevant style thoughts.

Profiling my packing past

Not too many years ago, I used to be a terrible packer (a terrible traveler overall really). Past Jessica brought one of each type of garment for each day of a trip, plus extras.

So a 7 day trip would probably see my suitcase stuffed with:

• 10 pairs of underwear

• 10 pairs of socks

• 8 tees

• 3 long sleeved button-ups to layer with

• 4 pairs of pants

• 2 pairs of shorts

• 2 sets of pajamas

• etc.

That probably varied depending on the trip and might be an exaggeration, but compared to my current method, that’s an accurate gist.

At that time, I didn’t even think I enjoyed travel and figured I wasn’t destined for much of it. I can’t claim to be the most worldly jet-setter now, but in recent years, I’ve discovered an excitement and hunger for travel - here in the US or abroad, for a few days or a couple weeks, as much of it as I can get. Which isn’t that often but, hey, maybe that’s typical for a lot of fellow millennials doing our best to adult sustainably. I hope deeply that I’m able to travel increasingly more over time. Something to keep working towards.

In any case, I tend to be more thoughtful now in my packing. As I seek more travel, I try harder to cut down on how much I'm bringing and get smarter about packing methods.

I'm still far from a hyper-optimized, perfectly dialed-in extremist. Many other sites can offer you solid advice on how to adopt that approach to packing - convertible pants/shorts combos, living on three pairs of underwear you flip inside out to maximize wears, all-weather jackets - light as a kitten’s whisper and perfectly engineered to maintain your ideal temperature, pack down smaller than a fun-size candy bar, and learn how you like your afternoon tea prepared (tag yourself, I’m black tea with milk + local honey).

Props to that efficiency, but I feel many average people don't necessarily need that level of optimization, or might not have the money or motivation to aim for that. I don’t mean to rag on this school of travel preparedness and highly specialized apparel. I’ve certainly picked up useful tips browsing these guides and have deeply coveted some of this multi-talented sciencey garb. I may have Kickstarted some overkill functional travel jackets and pants to take those for a spin. In my defense, I'm a really big sucker for beautifully filmed and edited Kickstarter videos.

What I'm getting at is, I aim to be averagely, accessibly efficient. A Goldilocks situation - not curating my suitcase like a special-ops mission, but not bringing the showiest picks of my full home-wardrobe in tow, either. I want to give the task some thought and have an efficient, helpful selection to wear, but somewhere middling is where I personally live on that spectrum.

Unpacking my packing

So what do I think about when prepping for travel? Well, for starts:

• How little can I get away with packing while still being comfortable and prepared?

• Plan to re-wear stuff more than once on a trip

• Versatility is the name of the game

• Some clothes are travelers, some are homebodies

Let's start with minimizing. You don’t have to capsule your wardrobe at only three all-purpose pieces, but it 100% makes your life easier if you pare down your overall clothes stash. Don't think of it just in terms of amount of pieces, either, but in their actual size, weight, bulk. Can those shirts fold or roll well? How much of your precious luggage real estate does each piece require? What kind of luggage are you sporting anyway? There’s a world of difference between one backpack to live out of in a hostel and one large checked suitcase you'll unpack in your hotel room.

Again, I'm moderate (as a packer, to be clear, not politically). Currently I don't really do the "flip your underwear to double your wears" technique, but it does help to be realistic about strictly how much you need. Be honest with yourself. As mentioned, I used to bring more underwear than days in a trip, but as I traveled more, I realized I don’t really need that much. If your accommodations allow for it, do some machine-washed laundry or hand wash it yourself in a sink with warm, soapy water (you can grab travel detergent and even laundry kits to bring). Just be sure your clothes don't require special washing.

As far as planning to re-wear pieces, adjusting my perspective on this turned out pretty easy and very helpful. Underwear is more in need of freshness than other clothing that doesn’t come into contact with bits of your bod that can easily lead to troublesome fungal infections. With shirts, you’ve got much more leeway to wear the same tee a few times on one trip. This may vary based on how rough-and-tumble your activities are and how much you personally sweat, but usually you don't need to strictly adhere to one shirt per each day you're away.

You get even more mileage with pants. Go with some sturdy but comfortable pants and you'll probably need one or two pairs. Avoid letting yourself get carried away with outerwear, less because it’s a health risk, more because it can be a bulkier item and you should be able to bring one to two pieces that have you covered on this front.

Also avoid anything that isn't versatile enough. I'm only human so I break this rule occasionally, but it's best if you don't bring anything that's specifically meant for one outfit. You want pieces that combine well together to form different outfits, multiplying your options.

It may be more of a headache than you think it's worth to bring that dope statement jacket you need for that one cute outfit you thought of, when there's actually just one day on your rainy trip when you can even wear it without ruining the material. Leave pieces that are more delicate or difficult to pack safe at home. You can wear them on your own turf. Bring along pieces that you can depend on in multiple situations and with multiple outfits.

There are so many considerations you could ponder when it comes to packing travel clothes, and so many ways to approach the task. With research, you'll find a wealth of great tips and reviews. I may do a future post that deep dives more thoroughly into figuring out how you want to pack for travel, but for now I just thought I’d touch on a few aspects I always think about. Let me know if you’d like to see a post on that, and what things you struggle with or are curious about!

Back to basics

Beyond the functionality of what you pack, it’s good to have some little hacks up your sleeves to help you style your adventure wardrobe into solid outfits. Since the goal is to pack as lightly as you’re comfortable with, you're working with more limitations than usual. But limits aren't bad. In this case, being well-prepped to dress within limits simplifies your energy spent coordinating outfits while you've got lots else going on.

I like to have easy, versatile basics that make decent combos with each other. T-shirts are a great basic. Not fancy, but super serviceable, plenty range in design and material, and easy to build outfits with. I planned for layering on this New York excursion. Layering is a good friend on regular days and your best friend on travel days. I stuck with two solid and two graphic tees as my base, paired with a jacket, hoodie, or both as needed. Two pairs of pants (washed black jeans and goldish camel khakis) came with me that both worked with any of those shirts, plus the jacket and hoodie (an ultra soft light hoodie in black, piece of cake to match with anything).

Zeroing in on the jacket, remember when I said to stick with one or two outerwear pieces? I'm committed now to abiding by that. Usually I bring one jacket for the trip. And that jacket better be both versatile and stylish, as much as I can manage. I actually had three candidates for this trip’s jacket and landed on this faux fur-lined burgundy denim.

I needed a jacket with enough interior room to accommodate the hoodie (not pictured in this day's outfit) underneath without restricting my movement. That ruled one jacket out. Another jacket I loved the detailed design of, but was less sure about bringing as my only jacket for a week - it wasn’t the most functionally versatile and featured distressing, which would undercut its warming capacity.

So furry red denim it was. I love its color - less common than blue or black denim - and it's sturdy, roomy enough, and lined with that fuzzy softness. No frills involved, so it was easy to trust as my one jacket for both protection and outfit-matching.

Tuck, roll, and away we go

All these basics were a breeze to coordinate and punch up a bit. I try for a healthy dose of “hey, you're traveling and there are a million other people around, most of them not paying you attention; you don't need to look your peak" in my travel fashion mindset. But I do also want to feel mentally and emotionally comfortable with what I'm wearing, how I'm presenting. It's reassuring to feel I look good, especially if I'm meeting someone new or going somewhere special.

So I go casual, but I give myself cohesive pieces to work with and use some tricks to improve the outfit on the fly, all while keeping comfort and ease a priority. A great thing to do for any limited wardrobe and especially for travel is to define a palette. Doesn't need to be complicated or innovative. Basic palettes are great! Blues, greys, olives, tans - these are excellent.

For this trip, I actually based my palette around pretty much this outfit pictured. I loved the red jacket, and wanted everything to work well with it. Two dark blue tees and one black made the cut, plus this rich red tee I love and used for this tonal look.

These golden camel khakis were my primary pants for the week, with the washed black jeans as an alternate/backup. Between the reds and golds, it made for a warm palette with easily coordinated black and blue supplements. Red might seem a more challenging palette to base your limited travel wardrobe around, but as long as you keep it in mind from the start, you can have yourself a nice bold, colorful selection.

As far as the garment types themselves, like I said, no fancy or frills here - just the basics. Tees, khakis, and one denim jacket aren't the most exciting tools to work with, perhaps. But again, limits aren't bad, basics are your bros.

All I did to make myself a little more put together in these pieces was:

• Tuck the shirt in - for fit and proportion control

• Roll the sleeves twice - to eliminate excess flappy fabric and define that upper arm

• Double cuff the pants hems - to shorten the length (and if I'd wanted, I could have pegged for tapering)

• Just throw a jacket on top - a good jacket is so powerful; gives a structured silhouette, adds textural interest, shows personality

• Add a favorite necklace - simple accessorizing, and easy when the chain is long enough to just loop it around your head without unclasping

Pros and minor cons

Travel outfits do double or triple duty by needing to cover your bod, look good, and rise to the occasion of trekking, transit, and temperature. So how'd this look do?

Well, it looks good in my opinion, so I'm satisfied with that. One of my favored everyday styles is definitely “friendly queer nonbinary boyfriend” and this look says that clearly to me. It's giving me "I’m in comfy clothes I threw on in two minutes but I still look good for you," it's giving "hey I'm up for today's adventure together let's see what happens," it's "don't worry I'll give you my jacket if you're cold, it's even softly furry inside." At least that's what I hear it saying. It strikes a balance of being on vacation and not caring so much, while also secretly still caring a little.

Its utility served me well, all in all. It wasn’t uncomfortable to walk around in, it was flexible (easy to remove or add layers from), and it stood up to the forecast of periodic chill and rain. Didn’t have to exert a lot of thinking to coordinate this outfit, or my similar other NY trip outfits. It was easy to get myself into and throw on quickly after a shower just before heading out, and they're not very fussy garments that need constant checking and adjusting throughout the day.

A few things could've been better. I sometimes have a tendency to overheat easily and, boy, did I on this trip. Something about all the walking amongst the bustle and the underground zooming maybe. A third to half of the time, I shed my outer layer for comfort. A denim jacket can be bulky when you don't want to wear it. With a backpack, maybe you could squish it up as best you could and shove it into the void, but for daytime outings I elected to bring only my small cross-body bag.

So I opted for tying the jacket around my waist (which escalated my waist bulk, since I usually had my hoodie tied there already), folding it through the strap of my bag (but keeping a hand on it cause I was paranoid about dropping or forgetting it), or just straight up holding it in my arms (unwieldy, big). Tucking my shirt also means I can't get airflow to cool my back, but the shirts themselves were fairly breathable. Not dealbreakers; I’m pretty okay with this level of compromise in travel outfits.

Wrapping up

Thanks for following me along on this ramble of travel and styling thoughts! As you might be learning, even with simple outfits, I tend to have a lot of branching ponders. Outfits are all just a handful of clothes worn simultaneously. But how do we make outfits? What do we get out of it? How do we become happier and more confident in doing it? Maybe you're a cute little queer scrambling to pack half a suitcase - wanting to be prepared but not too utilitarian, stylish but not overindulgent, thoughtful but not trapped debating your choices for hours.

Take a breath, relax. Check the forecast and review your planned activities. Think of a suitable color palette, select trustworthy basics in that palette that play well together. Decide on a jacket or coat you'll be comfortable and cute in. Wear some sturdy shoes that are up for walking. Give your packing a lookover and reduce where you can while being realistic and honest, but don't kill yourself critiquing your choices. Fold and roll, arrange, zip up your luggage. What kind of packer are you? What challenges have you faced in packing, and if you've overcome them, what tips helped you out? Be safe, have fun, don't stress. See you out there, my wanderer.

Elements of this outfit

• Crimson heather tee - few bucks at local thrift store; cheap, light, comfy, soft; Men's small, baggy on me

• Golden camel khakis - Old Navy’s, Men’s, on sale; decent big name brand for affordable menswear basics if you can swing the sizing

• Sudify lichen necklace - by local horticulturist + maker Susan Storck; a fav, wear it all the time; a reference to travel and place, the materials suspended in the resin are beautiful flora gathered from different regions (in this case, Minnesota)

• Burgundy sherpa denim - sweet deal at Ragstock, thrift-esque store with lots of vintage inspiration

• Grey and yellow Nike's - bought 'em secondhand off an ol' schoolmate, come with me on a lot of walking