Fashion Friday in a suitcase! A symphony in turquoise.

Good morning, all!  Kicked ass (or was it had my ass kicked) by Slimmons last night, after which I was crazy-hungry.  I realized that I forgot to log my calories after lunch - if I had, I would have seen that I was seriously low for what I usually eat.   So I was famished on the way home and ended up eating almost all of my remaining calories for dinner.  And... this is not a good idea.  My body doesn't like that kind of bulk eating anymore.  (I could've eaten something small but terribly calorie-dense, but most of those things aren't nutritious. Instead I ate a lot of nutritive food - but too much food is too much food, regardless.)  Ah, well.  We live and learn.

It's Friday, and I don't actually have an outfit for you today.  Well, not one I wore this week.  While sorting through our honeymoon photos for Adventure Wednesday, I was reminded that packing for Italy was a real challenge.

• I could only take one luggage - a smallish, light carry-on that I was going to roll around through airports, train stations, subways, cities... because we weren't renting a car, we were only taking mass transit.
• Due to the wide variety of activities we'd planned, I had to be prepared for vastly different clothing needs.  Dusty ruins-trekking, swanky museum-going, romantic boat rides, gelato-eating... a lot of gelato-eating.
• We were going to several churches, cathedrals, chapels... all places that require knees and shoulders to be covered.
• It was going to be freakin' hot.  I mean, heat-wave-kills-the-elderly hot. And I mean that literally.
• It was Europe.  Land of the chic and well-dressed.  And I wanted to not look like a typical tourist, I wanted to blend in as best as I could.  (I don't know how well I accomplished it in Italy, but it worked when we went to Paris; the people we met assumed we were British, Australian or Canadian.)
• It was my honeymoon.  And I wanted to look cute.

And at this point, I hadn't yet discovered the wonders of online plus-size vendors. Or perhaps they weren't around as much four years ago.  So, clad in solely Lane Bryant and Torrid togs, I managed to pack a small amount of clothing and get several outfits out of it.

So I thought I'd put together a packing guide for our imaginary trip abroad next week.  Let's run away together!

Heidi's packing basics for European travel:

• Select two or three neutral colors, and one or two accent colors.  Then everything can mix-and-match.  For my honeymoon, the color palate was black, white, gold/tan, and red.
• Three "under" shirts - light tops or blouses that would work under another top or cardigan
• Two "over" shirts - cardigan, light longer-sleeve blouse, or jacket
• Two pants - capris and short gauchos work well for comfort and movement.
• One skirt - preferably with bike shorts for underneath
• One dress - for occasions
• One scarf or wrap - the only accessory needed (and good for churches, etc - for covering shoulders.) Other plusses - European in style, and can also be used as a belt.
• A hat. I lied. One other accessory, for sun protection. 

So for our imaginary departure tomorrow, I've put together a series of choices in each category (currently available for purchase), and then made my personal selection, and paired up 12 different outfits from three tops, three bottoms and a dress.  On with the fashion parade!

Oh, and one more thing... I'd like to dedicate this to my ladies Kenlie and Rochelle, whose mutual love of turquoise inspired my travel color palate of black/white/gray/turquoise/yellow.

DRESSES.  Left to right, top to bottom:
Flowered peasant by Blue Plate
Aqua sundress by Mlle. Gabrielle
Yellow flower sundress by Alight
Black tank dress by Sealed With A Kiss
Mutlicolor sundress by Mlle. Gabrielle
Polka-dot sundress by Mlle. Gabrielle
Turquoise sundress by Lane Bryant

OVER-TOPS.
White cardigan by Fashion Bug
Teal cardigan by Lane Bryant
Gray cowl-neck by Derek Hart
Crinkle tunic by Fashion Bug
Mottled cardigan by Torrid
Short-sleeve peasant top by Catherines
Long-sleeve peasant top by Lane Bryant
Gray bandanna henley by Sealed With A Kiss

UNDER-TOPS
Aqua cowl tank by Fashion Bug
Aqua peasant top by Unique
White surplice top by Unique
Teal ruffle tank by Lane Bryant
Turquoise stripe tee by Avenue
Polka-dot blouse by Unique
Flower tunic tank by Lane Bryant

PANTS.
Black capris by Fashion Bug
Bike shorts by Junonia
Black gauchos by Essentials By Maggie
Gray bermudas by Avenue
Khaki capris by Jessica London
Navy capris by Woman Within

SKIRTS.
Full gray skirt by Avenue
Black jersey skirt by Fashion Bug
White eyelet skirt by Sealed With A Kiss
Black essential skirt by Sealed With A Kiss
Black flared skirt by Fashion Bug
Black crinkle maxi by Lane Bryant

SCARVES. Worth the investment.
Dip dye cashmere turquoise scarf by Nordstrom
Yellow and blue scarf by Diane Von Furstenberg
Cream and teal scarf by Juicy Couture
Yellow and white scarf by Mark Jacobs
Geometric teal scarf by Hallogen
Yellow polka-dot scarf by Hallogen
Teal silk scarf by Lulla Collection
Yellow fringe scarf by Juicy Couture
Pale aqua stripe scarf by Make + Model

  
Here is the final wardrobe I selected...

Everything mix-and-matchable.

  
And... now for the outfits!

Technically, I'd probably add a light jacket to this batch, too, and maybe a yellow camisole tank.  That would allow for a couple extra outfit variations (and would prevent freezing on our unplanned late-night water taxi.)

So... where are we going?  And what are you packing!?