Trail veterans live by one rule, “pack less, and wear more.” To accomplish this task, it is critical that you coordinate outfits in the same color palette. And sticking with a single color palette will also allow you to pack fewer pairs of shoes, which will save valuable space.
Essentially, you are rooting your wardrobe into a shoe color. So, there are two basic color palettes available to you: Black and Brown. Campaign outfits are then built using colors are mediums to which you add more colorful pieces.
This year I am going with a black wardrobe because I own more black pieces than brown ones, and my shoes selection is heavy in the black family. Here is a sampling of the base pieces that I will be taking along:
Black slacks, black pencil skirt, black tights, black boots, black flats, black corduroy pants, dark wash denim jeans, a black turtleneck and black button up.
To some this might seem like too much black. And if these 10 pieces were all that I was bringing, you would be correct. But to these basics I can add white, grey, brown, jewel tones, and printed pieces.
If I were going to take a brown based wardrobe, I would pack stone colored khakis, chocolate brown corduroy pants, dark wash denim jeans, brown tweed skirt, brown stripe dress pants, and brown tall boots. To these basics, I would add navy, white, orange, green, purple and red pieces.
Some of you are probably thinking, “But Belle, just bringing one color is boring,” or “Belle, I don’t have enough of one color to pull this off.”
First of all, the goal is to pack less. Thus, fewer pieces is not necessarily a bad thing. Secondly, unless you have the world’s smallest wardrobe, you have enough pieces. You may not know how to make them into outfits, but I guarantee you have them. And lastly, this will only be boring if you forget to add other colors and fun accessories to your base pieces.
Tomorrow, tune in to see how to build enough outfits for 10 days using just five basic pieces, 10 supplemental pieces, three pairs of shoes and a handful of accessories.
