Review a packing list for a female business woman on a one-week trip somewhere snowy?

[joy_of_cooking]

Anyone want to review a packing list for a female character on a five-day business trip? This will be unpublished background material to help me figure out what clothes I can have her wear over a few days. It doesn't have to be totally realistic, but I don't want half my readers rolling their eyes.

She works in a fairly conservative environment (hose required from Labor Day to Memorial Day) and she's going some place snowy but not that cold (say, above 25F / -4C including wind chill).

During the day she needs to be at the top of business casual verging on business formal. At night she'll have dinner with colleagues, check out the night life, or meet up with a fuck buddy. In the mornings she does a quick workout in the hotel gym. She'll have a car from the hotel to the office, but she still wants to bundle up for the walk from the parking lot.

She's on the road two to three weeks a month and has become a seasoned one-bagger. All of this needs to fit into a carry-on. Everything that can't be re-worn needs to be available in a material that can be hand-washed in the sink and hang-dried overnight. Cost is mostly not an issue.

Cold weather gear
- wool scarf
- wool hat
- fleece leggings
- down jacket
- leather gloves
- knee-high wool socks
- bean boots

I was imagining that all this would be layered over indoors clothing. E.g., come in wearing all of the above over her skirt and blouse and cardigan and hose, then take it all off and put on a pair of heels for the day.

She'd be wearing the bulkiest stuff onto the plane to save room in her carry-on.

Workout gear
- sports bra
- wool ankle socks
- canvas sneakers (think Keds or Plimsolls)
- wicking tank top
- running shorts

Depending on what's available, she'll do free weights, stationary bike, or Pilates. The tank top and shorts double as pajamas.

(It's a minor plot point that she doesn't have anything not-revealing that she can wear to bed when she finds herself unexpectedly sharing a room with her boss.)

Underwear
- panties 3x
- beige stockings 2x
- garter belt
- bra 2x

Two pairs of stockings and a garter belt?! She wears hose for work, and she was prepared to bring someone back to the hotel room. And maybe she gets a bit of a thrill wearing stockings under her conservative work clothes.

Apparently women re-wear their bras a few times? Could she get by with a single bra for the week?

Shoes
- round-toe pumps, low block heel, black
- pointy-toe pumps, high spike heel, black patent

Outerwear
- shell top, high neck
- wool cardigan, black
- blouse, long sleeve, buttons all the way up (or not)
- little black dress, below the knee
- A-line skirt, below the knee
- wool pants, hemmed for low heels

The character is East Asian, so light skin and black hair. The internet says jewel tones work for that? So let's say the shell and blouse are those. The bottoms are all black. Not sure about the cardigan. Something neutral so it can go over either top. More black? Grey? Cream?

Ideally this should be a capsule wardrobe sufficient for a week's worth of day-to-night outfits. (Imagine she has accessories. I'm not even going to try to figure those out.)

Does this seem plausible? I am so far out of my depth...

 

[oneagainst]

Purse? Tote bag? Choice of half bricks? Kitchen sink?

 

[onehitwanda]

The tank top and shorts double as pajamas.

Honestly, unless you're writing for someone with an outfit fetish, I wouldn't go into this level of detail. It feels like you're setting yourself up to describe every milestone between London and Cardiff.

Edited to add: unless a garment has a specific role in the story, I'd omit it.

 

[RoperTrace]

Wow, it sounds like I need to step-up my women's garments knowledge. Actually I struggle with how to dress my female characters. I know a well-dressed woman when I see one, but struggle with type of clothes, colors, materials to use for my stories.

 

[Jackie.Hikaru]

Hope she doesn't forget her toy(s).

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Honestly, unless you're writing for someone with an outfit fetish, I wouldn't go into this level of detail. It feels like you're setting yourself up to describe every milestone between London and Cardiff.

Edited to add: unless a garment has a specific role in the story, I'd omit it.

This.

OP, the list isn’t bad, but I’m unsure why you’d want to include it. Classic example of the ‘Chekhov’s Rifle’ rule. The story sounds like it has beaucoup potential, though. Good luck with it.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Honestly, unless you're writing for someone with an outfit fetish, I wouldn't go into this level of detail. It feels like you're setting yourself up to describe every milestone between London and Cardiff.

Edited to add: unless a garment has a specific role in the story, I'd omit it.

Yep, this. Mention clothes as they catch your eye and when you take them off, I reckon.

 

[joy_of_cooking]

This will be unpublished background material to help me figure out what clothes I can have her wear over a few days.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I have no idea what bean boots are, nor a shell top (unless it's the top half of a shell suit, the most unsexy clothing known to man...)

I suspect most women would throw one extra top in there, but you could always have a stain or a button fall off, or other malfunction to limit the options further. And she'd have enough underpants for one a day, and probably a third pair of stockings if she's wearing a dress or skirt for part of each day.

More likely to not bother with the high heels, if space is scarce. But she might prioritise them and then wish she'd brought a warmer top than her one cardi.

 

[joy_of_cooking]

Thanks!

Bean boots are a style of boot popularized by the US manufacturer LL Bean. They're a rubber loafer mated to leather uppers, reaching usually up to the ankles. Iconic in New England, but apparently less well known in England proper.

A shell top is a sleeveless blouse.

 

[Trionyx]

Hope she doesn't forget her toy(s).

How does she get them though airport security without being embarrassed or stolen from her checked baggage?

 

[onehitwanda]

How does she get them though airport security without being embarrassed or stolen from her checked baggage?

She's a modern woman who is not ashamed of her wants and needs.

 

[Trionyx]

She's a modern woman who is not ashamed of her wants and needs.

But when it gets jostled and starts vibrating spontaneously, the security detail will have to destroy her bag.

 

[onehitwanda]

But when it gets jostled and starts vibrating spontaneously, the security detail will have to destroy her bag.

She has her login details and credit card number saved on her iPhone - she's a seasoned one-bagger, it's not the first time a border guard has taken the life of one of her toys. She'll get another, better than the other, dropped off by Fed-Ex. The Concierge will hand it to her with a poker face when she checks in - after all, she is a regular guest with them and unlike other regular guests she never leaves a mess behind her.

 

[joy_of_cooking]

I guess with the new ones you can't take the batteries out but I think you can get them with locks so they don't turn on unintentionally.

What a strange derail.

 

[onehitwanda]

She has her login details and credit card number saved on her iPhone - she's a seasoned one-bagger, it's not the first time a border guard has taken the life of one of her toys. She'll get another, better than the other, dropped off by Fed-Ex. The Concierge will hand it to her with a poker face when she checks in - after all, she is a regular guest with them and unlike other regular guests she never leaves a mess behind her.

Her name's Beatrix, but she hates the name and asks everyone to call her by her second name which is Shannon, thanks to her dad's intervention. In addition to her toy she's got a battered paperback copy of "Far from the Madding Crowd" on the off chance she falls into a reading mood. But it's more likely she'll use a bit of downtime to play on her Switch. She enjoys traveling - even the inconveniences that come with it, because it's better than sitting at home on the off chance one of her circle of friends will feel like doing something - and there's only so many hours of the day you can spend catching up on emails or at the gym.

 

[BrightShinyGirl]

Anyone want to review a packing list for a female character on a five-day business trip? This will be unpublished background material to help me figure out what clothes I can have her wear over a few days. It doesn't have to be totally realistic, but I don't want half my readers rolling their eyes.

She works in a fairly conservative environment (hose required from Labor Day to Memorial Day) and she's going some place snowy but not that cold (say, above 25F / -4C including wind chill).

During the day she needs to be at the top of business casual verging on business formal. At night she'll have dinner with colleagues, check out the night life, or meet up with a fuck buddy. In the mornings she does a quick workout in the hotel gym. She'll have a car from the hotel to the office, but she still wants to bundle up for the walk from the parking lot.

She's on the road two to three weeks a month and has become a seasoned one-bagger. All of this needs to fit into a carry-on. Everything that can't be re-worn needs to be available in a material that can be hand-washed in the sink and hang-dried overnight. Cost is mostly not an issue.

Cold weather gear
- wool scarf
- wool hat
- fleece leggings
- down jacket
- leather gloves
- knee-high wool socks
- bean boots

I was imagining that all this would be layered over indoors clothing. E.g., come in wearing all of the above over her skirt and blouse and cardigan and hose, then take it all off and put on a pair of heels for the day.

She'd be wearing the bulkiest stuff onto the plane to save room in her carry-on.

Workout gear
- sports bra
- wool ankle socks
- canvas sneakers (think Keds or Plimsolls)
- wicking tank top
- running shorts

Depending on what's available, she'll do free weights, stationary bike, or Pilates. The tank top and shorts double as pajamas.

(It's a minor plot point that she doesn't have anything not-revealing that she can wear to bed when she finds herself unexpectedly sharing a room with her boss.)

Underwear
- panties 3x
- beige stockings 2x
- garter belt
- bra 2x

Two pairs of stockings and a garter belt?! She wears hose for work, and she was prepared to bring someone back to the hotel room. And maybe she gets a bit of a thrill wearing stockings under her conservative work clothes.

Apparently women re-wear their bras a few times? Could she get by with a single bra for the week?

Shoes
- round-toe pumps, low block heel, black
- pointy-toe pumps, high spike heel, black patent

Outerwear
- shell top, high neck
- wool cardigan, black
- blouse, long sleeve, buttons all the way up (or not)
- little black dress, below the knee
- A-line skirt, below the knee
- wool pants, hemmed for low heels

The character is East Asian, so light skin and black hair. The internet says jewel tones work for that? So let's say the shell and blouse are those. The bottoms are all black. Not sure about the cardigan. Something neutral so it can go over either top. More black? Grey? Cream?

Ideally this should be a capsule wardrobe sufficient for a week's worth of day-to-night outfits. (Imagine she has accessories. I'm not even going to try to figure those out.)

Does this seem plausible? I am so far out of my depth...

5 days? 6 pairs of panties, 3 bras. I’d probably pack at least 5 five different tops so I never wore the same one twice.

 

[Voboy]

The kind of woman you’re describing (successful, motivated go-getter with lots of one-bag travel experience) does not strike me as the kind of woman who feels compelled to bundle up to get from the car to the door across the parking lot. That would ring false to me.

She grits her teeth and gets on with walking across the parking lot. Damn the weather. So. Pointing out that she ignored a scarf in favor of another set of workout clothes gives you a chance at character development along those lines. Because the woman I’d expect to read about in a story like this would do exactly that.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

She's a modern woman who is not ashamed of her wants and needs.

It's 2023. I strongly suspect that operator training for the airport machines specifically includes what vibrators look like on the screen.

 

[onehitwanda]

It's 2023. I strongly suspect that operator training for the airport machines specifically includes what vibrators look like on the screen.

Never underestimate the temptation and ability of small-minded people in a position of power to fuck with those they have power over.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

She has her login details and credit card number saved on her iPhone - she's a seasoned one-bagger, it's not the first time a border guard has taken the life of one of her toys. She'll get another, better than the other, dropped off by Fed-Ex. The Concierge will hand it to her with a poker face when she checks in - after all, she is a regular guest with them and unlike other regular guests she never leaves a mess behind her.

Somebody is speaking from experience...

 

[MillieDynamite]

I try to avoid going to any place cold. I hate to be cold too many winters on the streets. Okay, there were only two winters I spent that way, but it was enough for life.

 

[onehitwanda]

Somebody is speaking from experience...

I'm in my fourties, honey - even old dogs can learn new tricks

 

[AwkwardlySet]

I'm in my fourties, honey

I am too and there is nothing "old" about them. A touch of youthful vigor combined with the experience that comes with age

 

[djrip]

I try to avoid going to any place cold. I hate to be cold too many winters on the streets. Okay, there were only two winters I spent that way, but it was enough for life.

I try to keep to 100 degree weather. Then the darn AC freezes me every time I go inside someplace. Can't win I tell ya.