It's always "don't wear pyjamas to the airport." It's never "dress for the flight you're on."
Written by - Lu Johnson, Founder and Curator at Mending Miles Co.
I once put together a packing booklet for ecotourism clients heading into the rainforest. The brief was simple: know your environment before you choose how to meet it. The terrain, the humidity, the wildlife and their sensitivities.
Well, flying is its own kind of terrain, isn't it?
Thousands of people on thousands of different journeys, not one of them heading to the same place or carrying the same story down the aisle to their seat.
The woman next to you in the security line might be heading home for the first time in too many years. The man ahead of her might be flying his father home for burial. The teenager in the oversized hoodie might be taking her solo flight to the town she will spend the next four years in. The airport can be an event of its own, but is it the main event?
"Don't people make comments, when you travel in these ripped jeans?" - My aunt, seeing me off for a trip.
I grew up listening to parents, aunts, and uncles describe uncomfortable flights, stiff collars, swollen feet squeezed into dress shoes.
Oof, my top 3 Horror Films!
But most of them endured all of this for the sake of not embarrassing themselves, looking presentable, respectable, acceptable.
I understand the impulse. I also know what it costs your body over a long-haul flight.
This is why I wish to approach the #AirportFit conversation differently, the same way I approached the "pack for the wildlife, not your Instagram feed" conversation.
Know your aircraft.
My first flight to Toronto on a Dash 8-Q400 was the one experience I needed to make lavatory size a big factor in choosing the perfect uniform.
Fashion is so advanced, we can easily achieve fun and practical.
Emphasis on the practical.
A standard narrow-body like a 737 or A320 gives you a functional bathroom, a bit tight but workable, which means you get more flexibility in dressing for your 8 to 13-hour flights.
I stop caring when I fly a 777 or A350. I could rehearse an entire Broadway number as far as aircraft bathroom sizes are concerned. It is the perfect mirror selfie environment.
Know your seat.
The larger the seat, the more welcome the layers and the fluff.
I have flown the middle seat in economy before, and a detail as small as a baseball cap versus a hooded sweater became amplified when it rolled off my face and onto someone else's lap, twice.
The more clothing you have on in a confined space, the less comfortable you will be.
Know your shoes.
I grew up, and now live 6,570 miles from where I was born, so long layovers and large international airports are my love language, but also the marathon I never trained for.
Feet swell at altitude almost every time, but in compression socks I trust. It also helps to have easy slip-on shoes or ones with a little extra room, especially when the layover was actually short and, due to unforeseen weather on the way to your destination, your first flight was delayed and you are now running and zigzagging through passengers to make that sweet sweet flight home. Which we know, if you miss, could mean a couple of days.
Know your tricks.
My winter travel favorite is a laundry bag inside my backpack.
My coat goes straight in the moment I board my flight. This way it is out of the way, but does not get completely destroyed by mucky baggage wheels in the process.
I am a believer in looking your best and feeling your best being so exclusive, they have a couples name. In my traveler's opinion, the airport is a transit zone, a waiting room, a departure point for a thousand different lives moving in a thousand different directions.
If it is at all my place to say anything, When you dress for the airport, I say dress for the journey you are actually on, not the one you think you are supposed to perform for.
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