Business Travel

Professional Image When Traveling

The best travel wardrobe is built around a single color scheme, so all outfits work with the same basic accessories. This carefully edited wardrobe should fit into a carry-on bag, eliminating the risk of lost or delayed luggage.

For a man the selection is easy, even for a relatively lengthy trip. You can rotate two suits (or sportcoats) for days if you pack a supply of shirts and ties. But even for a short trip, don’t invite disaster by counting on getting your travel suit back from the hotel valet in time for an early-morning meeting.

For a woman, the coordination requires some additional planning. Select one solid-color dark suit—perhaps with matching pants—in a wrinkle-resistant fabric. The new microfibers are virtually wrinkle-proof, and firm, fine-gauge knits are a close second. Woven silk suitings and wool gabardine wrinkle when packed, but the wrinkles fall out fairly quickly when the garments are hung in your hotel room or steamed in the bathroom.

“If I had to single out the one most outstanding contribution made to the world of fashion by Mesdames Chanel and Schiaparelli, it would certainly be their exceptional services in making knitwear elegant. At the time these two creators launched knitwear as high fashion, it was entirely made by hand and was therefore very expensive. But now machines have acquired the same—or almost the same—skill as the artisans, and this has contributed immensely to the fantastic development of knitted fashions in every price range.”

— Geneviève Antoine Dariaux, former directrice of Nina Ricci in Paris and author of Elegance