Esquire's 1936 tips for packing a man's suitcase are still worth reading today. Combine them with this list of what to take on trips of three to five business days.
- Odd jacket, slip-on shoes, shirt and trousers for travel days when there's no meeting before or after the flight
- Two suits for three days or three suits for up to five days
- One dress shirt for each day plus one white shirt for each evening event
- One necktie and pocket square for each day plus one for spare/evening
- Two pair dress shoes and belts or braces
- Underwear and socks for each day plus one spare set
- Sleep wear for each night
- One sweater or knit polo
Personally, I prefer to pack only gray suits for day wear, though I will substitute navy when there is an evening event. Gray simplifies my shirt and tie choices, and lets me stick to black shoes.
When there is black tie on the agenda, the aforementioned navy suit with a white shirt and a black bow tie makes a passable substitute without adding to the packing burden. Carrying the real thing is overkill unless a man is a speaker, honoree, or has a reasonable liklihood of a romantic evening.
The entire process should take no more than ten minutes.
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13 comments:
The last sentence is the most crucial, yet subtle, point.
wait ... the romantic evening should only take 10 minutes!?!?!
;)
Where you got the image from? I would like to have it in better quality so I can read the text.
I'm curious to read the text about packing the suit jacket by folding it in half and inside out. Can you print this text or make it more legible. Does anyone else do this?
Hugbart you can often find early issues of Esquire on eBay for about $100 a copy.
Josue, "Suit coats should be folded in half, inside out, taking care to push the shoulders through in the manner shown, and placed, folded like this, over the articles packed in the bottom of the suitcase."
Stuffing socks inside shoes minimizes space and helps to keep shape.
The problem with those socks occurs on the trip back home. How do you plan to tuck them all smelly in those small places? I figure it's best to reserve some room for a bag with all used underwear and socks, and use tee shirts to fill the small places.
Still, I must admit that traveling isn't a routine for me, so I spend maybe an hour diligently packing my things, careful not to forget anything!
wonderful advice throughout!
I pack my jackets this exact way (I think I read it in one of Flusser's books) and they always emerge unwrinkled!
I too would like to have this esquire page in a higher resolution and larger size for my collection.Please repost!
Will,
Do you ever use a garmant bag for packing hanging items (i.e. suits) or do you put everything into suitcase luggage?
Turling, my tailored clothing goes into a garment bag on hangers. The bag is folded in half and it goes into my suitcase.
Irid, for everything apart from the suits and jackets, the Flight001 series offers wonderful packing module bags, with one side for the clean and one side for the dirty laundry. Absolutely brilliant! And Will, I respectfully disagree about the Black Tie; when I go to Glyndebourne or other special affairs, I will pack Black Tie with patent shoes too - even without a romantic evening in sight! If I am tight for space, the patent shoes are replaced with well - polished toecap or wholecut black Oxfords, which are acceptable in that case.
As ever, this is well-observed, good, practical advice. However, I am not sure a navy suit is an adequate response to "Black Tie". Might one substitute one of the day-suits for a dinner suit?
I wouldn't go for the false black tie. Better a dark necktie, or perhaps a Churchill navy dot bow tie.
Also, black shoes with a navy suit remain the standard.
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