With the holidays being the busiest time of year for the travel industry, there's even more incentive to strategize your vacation wear as you jet-set from one destination to the next. As a fashion stylist and reformed over-packer, when it comes to travel, both planning and packing can be two of the most stressful aspects of every trip. Whether preparing for a week-long excursion across the country or galavanting abroad, it’s best to lighten your load by bringing vacation-worthy looks that are not only essential but versatile enough for multiple combinations to wear throughout your trip.
Winter travel brings challenges of its own when visiting colder parts of the world. Unlike summer vacation, cold weather means bulky coats, oversized knits, and chunky boots that take up a lot more space in your suitcase. For my recent trip to London, to alleviate the stress of packing and overweight baggage fees, I prepared in advance with a try-on haul of what I planned to wear each day of my trip. From shoes to accessories and bags, I captured a photo to reference each look while on vacation. Staying comfy, cozy, and chic was my main priority and I wanted to achieve that goal with the least amount of clothes possible.
Making a mental note of necessary items ranging from sneakers, boots, and coats to matching sets, I narrowed my options to one of each style that would complement the few statement pieces I purchased for my trip. In the end, I opted for five neutral-toned staples I could rotate from day to night throughout the week.
Keep scrolling to see the five minimal items that maximized my winter London looks.
1.New Balance Sneakers
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Sneakers are a must-have when walking the cobblestoned streets of European cities. When planning outfits for this trip, I wanted a pair of sneakers that were just as functional as they were stylish. New Balance sneakers were at the top of my list because of their comfort, sleek and minimal design. When packing, I intended to create multiple casual outfits that were easily paired with one sneaker. In addition to their lightweight feel, the mix of silver, gray, and light neutral tones was the perfect combination for effortless cold-weather outfits.
2.Mini Telfar Shopper
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It’s hard not wanting a bag from every Telfar release. With each drop, there's a colorway I envision sitting pretty in my closet. My cream mini Telfar shopper was the perfect accessory while out and about, matching every stylish moment. Small yet large enough to carry essentials such as my phone and wallet, I wore it with ease as a crossbody keeping my valuables close at all times. When traveling it's best to be more mindful when walking in large crowds and taking public transportation around the city.
3.A Matching Set
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Wearing a matching set was top of mind when shopping for my trip. I came across this sheer nylon set with graphics and knew it would be a casual chic choice for my London aesthetic. To extend my range of options throughout the week, I separated each piece of the set into individual outfits. I wore the asymmetrical long-sleeve top with a maxi denim skirt for a transitional day-to-night look then styled the matching skirt with a layered corset for another night out to the theater. A set is a convenient and practical chic choice for a variety of options.
4.Classic Khaki Trench
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A khaki trench coat is a classic staple that continues to stand the test of time. Typically cold and rainy this time of year in the United Kingdom, this coat was perfect for layering and protecting me from the day-to-day elements. Traveling with one large suitcase, I was able to minimize bulk by avoiding oversized coats that would take up more space than necessary. The perfect winter look, this outerwear trend is forever a stylish moment when worn with just about anything.
5.Comfy Chic Boots
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With so much to do in the city, I brought my faux leather square-toe Jeffrey Campbell boots for cute and casual moments. From shopping trips to date nights, the trendy sleek design was the perfect complement to dress up both my daytime and nighttime looks. With a chunky platform and bulky heels, these boots were comfortable enough for all-day wear.
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Those rumors were more than laid to rest when Jodie and Joshua went to the 2023 Oscars together earlier this year, and even more recently, when they celebrated her birthday together last month during the September unveiling of the Lotus Emeya.
Jodie Turner-Smith celebrates her birthday with husband Joshua Jackson at the unveiling of the new fully-electric Lotus Emeya on September 07, 2023 in New York City.
Brian Ach/Getty Images for Lotus
Despite seeming particularly happy and in love, perhaps the writing was already written on the wall even then. In the past, Jodie has been very celebratory publicly about her love for her estranged husband, even boldly recounting their love story for the books in a 2021 interview with Seth Meyers.
When Jodie and Joshua met, it was while at his birthday party in 2018. Their relationship was hot and heavy from the start, with Jodie openly noting that they began as a "one-night stand." During her 2021 interview with Seth Meyers, she jokingly referred to their love story as a "three-year one-night stand." She shared:
"First of all, I saw him before he saw me and when I saw him, I was like, 'I want that.' And then when he saw me, I just pretended like I didn't see him. He had to yell across the room to me, and I was wearing this T-shirt from a movie called Sorry to Bother You and [actress] Tessa Thompson plays a character called Detroit, and she has this T-shirt that says, 'The Future Is Female Ejaculation.'
"And so, he shouts across the room, 'Detroit!' He comes over and… does this really cute, charming thing that he does and just all night -- he just basically followed me around the party."
The couple were together from that moment forth, and even made things "Instagram official" less than two weeks later while on a dinner date. Joshua would later clarify to Insider that the night they met in 2018 was not a 'one-night stand' or a 'three-year one-night stand' like his then-wife joked but instead, it was "technically a three-night stand."
"It was sealed with a kiss that night and then we didn't leave each other's sides for, well, three years now," Joshua continued at the time.
In a July 2021 interview with Jimmy Fallon, Joshua dropped more details about the why behind getting married. He revealed that he didn't know he wanted to get married to Jodie until "the moment she asked me."
"She asked me on New Year's Eve. We were in Nicaragua. It was very beautiful, incredibly romantic, we were walking down the beach and she asked me to marry her."
He added, "I did not know [she would propose], but she was quite adamant and she was right. This is the best choice I ever made."
Joshua Jackson Reveals Jodie Turner-Smith Proposed To Him
Jodie received quite a bit of flack for proposing to Joshua because it goes against tradition and what society sees as acceptable for a woman to do to a man, and proposing isn't one of them. No matter how much time has passed, the viewpoints around who should do the proposing and who should be proposed to are still very traditional.
After being on the receiving end of such backlash, Joshua would later clarify to the media in a separate interview that it wasn't just Jodie's proposal to him that sealed the deal of them getting married, he proposed to her too. She might have initiated it, but Joshua followed through.
"I accidentally threw my wife under the bus because that story was told quickly and it didn't give the full context and holy Jesus, the internet is racist and misogynist," he explained to Refinery29 that same year. "We were in Nicaragua on a beautiful moonlit night, it could not possibly have been more romantic."
David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images
He continued, "And yes, my wife did propose to me and yes, I did say yes, but what I didn't say in that interview was there was a caveat, which is that I'm still old school enough that I said, 'This is a yes, but you have to give me the opportunity [to do it too].'"
"She has a biological father and a stepdad, who's the man who raised her. [I said], 'You have to give me the opportunity to ask both of those men for your hand in marriage.' And then, 'I would like the opportunity to re-propose to you and do it the old-fashioned way down on bended knee.' So, that's actually how the story ended up."
Joshua and Jodie would eventually marry in December 2019. Shortly thereafter, Jodie gave birth to the couple's first child, Janie, in 2020.
In a recent interview with Elle UK, Jodie shared the ways becoming a mother to Juno helped to heal her of her wounds from colorism she experienced in the past. "It's interesting because I had a lot of resistance to becoming a mother and, throughout my life, I always said if I were to have children, I wanted to have Black, Black babies so that I could affirm them as children with the love that I felt I needed to have been affirmed with by the outside world," Jodie shared with the outlet.
She continued, "Then I fell in love with my husband and we talked about having kids. I did have this mini pause, where I was like, 'She's going to be walking through the world not only having an experience that I did not have, but looking like people that, in a way, I'd always felt a little bit tormented by.' Now that I've got this little, tiny, light-skinned boss, I feel like it’s the universe teaching me lessons. I've been given a daughter who looks this way to heal my own conversations around colorism."
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