Japan! and I’ve had the last few days to thaw out and wash
everything: the washing machine has been going strong 3-4 times a day and now the small mountain on the laundry floor has just about disappeared.
Yay! Now… something I like to do is to look back at my
travelling wardrobe and do a little retrospective “did it or didn’t
it all work out OK?” analysis, so here goes…
days
temperature range was from rather cold to Really Cold.
Snow. Blizzards, for real!
different sets of clothing, a City part and a Skiing part. First, a week
of city-based walkabout and shopping, some rural sightseeing and including one
day of bicycling; for all of which I wanted to look reasonably smart and put
together amongst the fashion savvy people of Japan. Followed by a week
of skiing and generally hanging out in a snow-laden village;
requiring heavy-duty ski/snow gear.
easily mix n’ matchable collection of wintery neutrals; greys,
black, chocolate and creamy ivories, with just a few warm and cheerful
colours thrown in there just to lift it all a bit
highlighted garment is made by me and linked to its original construction post,
unhighlighted clothes are RTW)
2 “thin” ivory thermal tops
red, ivory turtleneck
black leather boots (for the city), red thongs
(to wear to and from the hot tub), sandshoes (for the country and cycling)
bathers (for the hot tub)
jacket
the clothing selection worked out extremely well! I think I packed quite
light but I still felt like I had a little
variety, I liked my outfits and was warm and comfortable always. All my daily outfits can be seen on my ootd
blog (15/1/14-30/1/14).
hired ski pants on site so was spared the bulk of those in my bag. So that was a
bit of a “cheat” since I wore those ski pants continuously during the
second week! I also never had to pack my grey coat, since I wore it
travelling. Two pairs of jeans was an indulgence, but it was nice to have
a choice.
brilliant!! for layering; I always wore two or three layers so I could peel
one off if I got too warm, which happened, um… maybe only once or twice?! Also an
outer or middle layer could be worn as an inner layer on another day,
minimising the dirty laundry pile. 5 people and laundry facilities only
available in the second week; makes keeping washing to a minimum a Very Good
Thing.
are always the bulkiest things; those snow boots! I stored my 2mm
bamboo knitting needles in them while travelling, to keep them safe from
snapping. That is, to keep the bamboo needles safe, of course… I didn’t even wear those thongs once, oh well, they didn’t take up
very much room.
there was a little space for souvenirs, including some fabric!
I bought four pieces of fabric, and a Christian Dior plaid cashmere scarf
from a little secondhand shop in Kyoto. That’s the first RTW I’ve bought
in years and years! AAAAUGH! but it is secondhand so I’m still within my
wardrobe refashion pledge.
















































































