Air travel can stress even the most seasoned traveller. Long-haul flights can be quite uncomfortable even if you’re on first class – the air is dry, you’re stuck in a small enclosed space for hours and the temperature can start out hot and end up arctic cold.

One of the best ways to deal with air travel is to dress comfortably. Wearing comfortable clothes can help you relax not just during the actual air travel but even during the cumbersome check-in process. But comfortable shouldn’t necessarily mean being dowdy. Here’s how you can comfortably dress for travel and still look fashionable and stylish.

Layering

The best tip you can follow when dressing up for travel is to layer clothes. Layering is quite stylish but it also has a very practical purpose. The whole process of travelling exposes you to different kinds of microclimates. For example, the tarmac and the airport terminal can get quite warm especially when there are a lot of people waiting for their flights. Planes can also get quite hot for the first 15 to 30 minutes into the flight as the airconditioning is still cooling down the cabin, but the temperature drops significantly during midflight. By layering your clothes you can take off or add on to your ensemble to compensate for the changes in temperature. For women, wearing shawls, pashminas, cardigans, vests and light jackets are great layering ideas. Men can wear scarves, light jackets, cardigans or a shirt over their T-shirt.

You can even use the same layering technique when you’re already on your vacation. If you’re travelling in countries with unpredictable weather like England, then layering is the best way to address the changes in the weather.

Extra Tip: Do you know that airplane personnel actually look at what passengers are wearing when choosing people to upgrade? To help balance the passengers in flights, passengers in Economy Class are sometimes upgraded to First Class or Business Class. One of the ways passengers for upgrades are chosen are by the type of clothes they wear. The most presentable looking passengers usually have more chances of getting upgraded. It may be a shallow criteria but it’s what most airline personnel use.

Comfortable fabrics

Make sure that you wear breathable fabrics when you travel. These are fabrics that allow air and moisture to permeate. Non-breathable fabrics will trap sweat and heat, which will make you very uncomfortable at some point during the flight. You should also wear clothes made with fabric that does not easily get wrinkled so you’ll look fresher after the end of your flight. Wearing fabrics that get wrinkled easily will make you look unkempt or dowdy – which is very unfashionable and not aesthetically pleasing.

Comfortable shoes

Don’t wear extremely high heels, heavy boots or precarious wedges when traveling – it’s like voluntary torture. Wear comfortable shoes because you’re going to be walking and standing a lot. Wear loafers or slip-ons, which are more forgiving on your feet. Slip-ons are actually a great idea since there are airports where the security will ask you to remove your shoes and place it on a tray. You can just slip them off and put them on quickly.

In case any of your clothes get soiled during a flight, rest assured that you can easily have them cleaned if you stay in one of our holiday serviced apartments. All of Boutique London Lets’ apartments come with a washer and dryer so you can take care of your clothes in a jiffy.