Van Life Fashion - What & How To Pack
Living in a van doesn’t mean you can’t wear fun clothes or have a versatile set of options for any environment or occasion.
Step 1 - Figure where you plan to travel and what time of year it will be. Are you mostly in warm or cold climates? Because we live full time van life we knew we would be experiencing both climates however before we moved out of our LA apartment and into a van we set aside a box of winter clothes that we strategically picked up and switched out our summer clothes as the seasons changed. If you have the option to do that and leave a box of seasonal clothes to switch out at a friend or family member’s house, this is a great option so that you have more room in your very limited closet space.
Step 2 - Next step is to figure out how much closet space you’re working with. Sunny and I each have a 12in x 12in x 36in size cabinet that we call our closets and have additional storage room in our benches that make up our bed as well as a separate storage unit for just our shoes. We use the additional storage space to keep bulkier items as well as items we won’t be needing to access on the daily, like raincoats, winter jackets, beanies, halloween costumes, fun going out clothes and a pair of going out shoes.
Step 3 - Figure out how you’d like to store your clothes within your closet. If you have hanging space I recommend installing shelves as hanging space in a van can create a lot of “dead space” and isn’t the best use of storage. One you have your shelves you’re working with, do you prefer to storage your clothes in bins that you can simply pull out or in compact cubes? We went with compact cubes because we can fit more in. It can be a bit of a hassle but if you’re like me and don’t like a mess, it’s easy enough to get into the habit of putting your clothes away daily in the cubes. Now that I’m used to it, I love them and am so happy we decided to go this route.
Whether you use the cubes or bins you will be able to store more clothing if you roll your clothing as opposed to fold them. This organization technique is known from Marie Kondō’s book, The Art of Tidying Up. I highly encourage you to read this book or watch the Netflix show before you downsize from apartment or home life to van life. It will make the packing decisions much easier as you transition into a minimalist lifestyle.
*Be sure to purchase your storage compartments (bins or cubes) before moving onto Step 4.
Step 4 - Break your clothes up by category. I pulled all the clothes I ideally wanted to bring (way WAY too much) and put them in a big pile on my couch. Then I wrote out and taped up papers along our living room walls that listed each clothing category:
Seasonal Winter Clothes, Summer Specific Clothes, Underwear/Swimwear, Shirts/Tops, Workout Clothes, Shorts/Pants, Fancy, Fun, Sleepwear, Shoes & Accessories.
Step 5 - Now it’s time to narrow down your items. Start with the rule that you can only take 2-10 items per category. Once you’ve done that then put your chosen items in your storage compartments to see how everything fits. Continue to narrow down until your compartments are full but not overflowing or difficult to zip or keep organized. Go with less than you think because that gives you options to buy items on your journey and you’ll want to make sure there is additional storage for unique finds like this hat we bought Sunny in New Orleans. Although I narrowed everything down into my cubes, truthfully don’t come close to wearing all of my clothes.
The truth is, when living this lifestyle you wear your favorite workout/comfy clothes repetitively and you will not come close to wearing half of the clothes you pack!
Trust me, less is MORE!
Tips - For the “Fancy” section pack light weight material clothing. I like silk for this category because you can roll it up so small, it takes up no space and then when you have a night out on the town or a romantic date night you can throw on a silk shirt and jeans or a silk slip dress and earrings and you look like a million bucks and no one would ever guess you live in a van.
HERE’S MY ROUGH PACKING LIST BROKEN UP BY CATEGORY
Seasonal Winter Clothes
1 Very warm & bulk winter coat
1 Down jacket (these are great because they can fold up very compact)
1 Patagonia puffy jacket
1 Beanie
1 Turtle neck
1 Scarf
2 Pairs of winter gloves, cotton and faux leather
1 Snow pants
1 Raincoat
Summer Specific Clothes
1 Swimsuit cover up
1 Short Overalls
Underwear/Swimwear
15 Pairs of underwear
2 Regular bras
3 Sports bras
3 Swimsuits
Shirts/Tops
7 Shirts
1 Kimono
1 Tank top
Workout Clothes
3 Leggings
1 Workout shorts
6 Workout Tops
Shorts/Pants
2 Pair of pants
2 Stretchy shorts
1 Pair of jean shorts
Fancy
1 Burnt orange silk dress
1 White silk tank top
1 Silk skirt
Fun
1 Stretchy leopard print bell bottom pants
1 White jean tassel jacket for photos and when it’s warm out
1 Small, lightweight dress
1 Fall cardigan
Sleepwear
4 Pairs of Pj’s
1 sweatsuit
Shoes
1 Pair of water shoes
1 Pair of sandals
1 Pair of hiking shoes
1 Pair of running shoes
1 Pair of cute booties to go out in
Accessories
1 Pair of sunglasses
2 Full brimmed hats
1 Baseball style hat
A variety of headbands
+ A little box of jewelry (this can quickly elevate an outfit)
Don’t forget to have a little fun in your traveling wardrobe. Here’s a photo of the Halloween look we did while in New Orleans. All I had to store in my extra bench storage were these pants, the black romper and hand made rose headband. I wore my hiking boots. This look took up minimal room in our storage and was well worth it!
