And while I can say that creating these  outfits out of one jacket is really easy, photographing them was a totally different story.  I kept dropping my camera, once while struggling to remove it from its tripod, and then again because it wasn’t on the tripod.

But it is true. You can make lots of outfits from one piece of clothing. I made ten outfits from matching up my one reversible jacket with six other articles of clothing. This goes to show when you travel, you can save space by planning ahead with a single jacket.

Here’s the recipe.

MONDAY TRAVEL DAY:  (Begin with one reversible jacket on yellow side.  Add white blouse and black shorts.)

MONDAY NIGHT DINNER:  (Take same jacket on same side.  Switch blouse and shorts to LBD.  Add pearls)

TUESDAY MEETING:  (Take same jacket on yellow side.  Add white blouse and black skirt.)

TUESDAY NIGHT DINNER:  (Switch  same jacket to black side.  Add heals)

WEDNESDAY TOUR DAY:  (Take same jacket on yellow side.  Add white blouse and white pants.)

WEDNESDAY NIGHT DINNER:  (Take same jacket and switch to black side.   Switch blouse and shorts to one LBD)

THURSDAY MEETING:  (Take same jacket on black side. Add black blouse and black shorts.)

THURSDAY NIGHT DINNER:  (Take same jacket on black side.  Switch black shorts to black skirt.)

FRIDAY TRAVEL DAY:  (Take same jacket on yellow side.  Add black blouse and black shorts.)

FRIDAY NIGHT DINNER:  (Take same jacket on yellow side. Switch black shorts to black skirt.  Add heals.)

I used seven items of clothing to make ten outfits, which certainly keeps baggage fees down.  (One jacket, two pairs of shorts, two blouses, one skirt and one black dress.)

I think it works for most business trips. Let me know your travel ideas.

Bon voyage!

Let me explain. I was setting up for a show and there were high school girls all over the place and they all looked so tasteful and nice. I mentioned this to one of the mothers and she said that they were wearing dress code and uniforms. And then I saw it! They definitely were wearing dress code. Khaki pants or skirts and white shirts. But it was the accessories I was seeing! I mean, the cutest pumps and moccasins and loafers. Fishnet or lace or striped stockings. Beautiful bags. Stylish, yet conservative jewelry.

And I realized something I had been thinking all along but never saw so glaringly. Accessories are the paint on the pallet. The main outfit can be inexpensive and plain. But you dress it up with stockings or shoes and you have a smashing outfit! You can even carry the same beautiful handbag every day. Accessories don’t have to be excessive. You don’t have to wear a different pair of shoes every day. But if they’re beautiful and fashionable, they make the outfit. And now jackets and sweaters and scarves have become major fashion accessories. They can also be worn more than once a week and if it’s a reversible jacket, well nobody has to even know!

But despite this, we do judge each other by what we wear.  Here are some things our minds say to us when we see another person:

1)This woman’s here to meet a man. 
2)This woman’s respected in her profession.
3)This woman’s angry. (probably at her husband or parents or boyfriend or men in general or the economy, etc)
4)This woman’s scary.
5)This woman doesn’t want to be noticed.
6)This woman is like me.
7)This woman’s wealthy.
8)This woman has a stud in her nose.  I don’t know anything about her.  Can’t stop thinking about the stud.  So maybe it’ll have to be just seven things clothes tell us about others.

And maybe all these things aren’t even true anyway!  Maybe these clothes are just facades, hiding the true person inside.  All we can tell is what other people want us to believe about them.  But that says something, I guess.  That gives us a clue as to what the person values.  Still confusing.

But I know one thing that is definitely true because Mark Twain said so.  He said, “Naked people have little or no influence on society.”  Perish the thought that we’d have no influence on society!

So we put on our clothes, choosing what message we want to give and hoping that message is the one others get.  And after feeling really good about ourselves all day,  we come home and notice that spot of lipstick on our tooth that nobody told us was there.  What was the message they got?  This person’s sloppy or careless?   No, the message they got was this person is human.  And I guess that’s not such a bad message after all, right?  And there’s the eighth thing clothes say about us.

I have seen this in action when I work with women trying on our jackets. I watch as they put on these huge jackets so they can cover their butts or their stomachs or whatever “horrible” parts of their body they perceive to be wrong. They just assume their bodies have to be hidden to look good. Most of the time, what they see as bad, “just ain’t so.”

A smaller jacket with definition does show off those parts that a bigger jacket hides. But instead of a jacket hiding your body, it can be used to accent those parts perceived as bad. Women have curves, so let’s show them off. Let’s try on that shapely little jacket. Maybe we’ll see it ain’t so bad!

I’m not trendy and I work with a few young women who are.  The minute little pumps or short dresses or cute anything comes out, there they are sporting it and looking terrific.  I dress the same no matter what style is in and this is why jackets will always come to my rescue.

A jacket is like an accessory.  Especially the way it’s used today.  Now a jacket is like an impulse item that stands on its own.  And it allows you to get trendy even if you’re not.

Dot Jacket

POLKA DOTS: Polka dots have become really popular. Marc Jacobs and Diane von Furstanberg have used them in their lines this season but us conservative types don’t have to buy an expensive dress or blouse to make this fashion statement.  A jacket can ease us into this trend because we can leave the house feeling a bit more updated and secure in the fact that the jacket can always be taken off leaving us with our more comfortable khaki and black top look.

Shimmer Jacket

SHIMMER:  I love this trend because it’s been around for so long that it’s almost become classic.  A jacket with metallic tones can be worn for evening dress or surprise, surprise, with jeans, day or night.  Some lines carry metallic jackets that can be worn reversed so that the shiny goes away, giving us even more of a safety net in case our conservative self takes over.

Colorblocking Jacket

COLORBLOCKING: I guess this is a resurgence from the 80’s but I was in a fog raising three little kids at the time and never noticed.  Colorblocking can be done in several ways.  We can take all our solid pieces, in my case it would be beige, black and white, and wear them all together, no printed scarves or blouses allowed.  Or we can take our trusty jacket that has already been colorblocked by a designer, and put it over our classic outfit to get that updated look.

Fall is here, so now we can experiment with our new updated, trendy look.  Our jackets can ease us into it so that by the time spring comes, maybe we’ll feel confident enough to buy that beautiful polka dot DVF. We’ll be able to leave our houses committed to the look and comfortable with the fact that we can’t change our minds in the middle of lunch and take it off.

OK, I’m the first to admit I’ve had some pretty bad ideas in my time. That jacket I designed that could be worn upside down, as well as right side up, did not fly.  The customers got confused when they tried putting it on.  A jacket that needs directions just to get on, well it’s  just not right.  We moved on.

So when the team approached me with the idea of having home jacket parties, something like Tupperware does, my knee jerk reaction was, “why?”   Why would anybody want to lug all those jackets into somebody’s home, spend a night watching people try them on and then have to return them all back to their correct places in the warehouse?  And we know that nobody’s going to want to make a profit on grandma so they’d probably end up selling them for cost.

But twenty to thirty seconds later I realized this might be a good idea.  The team would be able to get ideas from our end customers.  We (and notice I changed it to “we”) could find any flaws in our designs and get inspirations for new ones.  The team could design invitations which would give them experience in promoting a product.  They could create a buzz in the community. They would learn business concepts like how much their time was worth.  The positives kept popping up in my mind.

But the biggest realization I had, was how lucky I was to be surrounded by such energy and creativity.  There are a lot of good things about owning a small business, but one of the best rewards is seeing growth, not only in monetary profits, but in knowledge.

So now I say, bring it on.  I can take it because I know that any dumb idea you have, I can have dumber.  And who knows?  The next great, dumb idea might be a jacket that can be worn inside out with removable buttons.  Wait.  I think that was done already.

In the HARRISON HOT SPRINGS RESORT in British Columbia, the gift shop occupies both sides of the hallway.  One side has the souvenirs and gifts and the other side holds the clothing and accessories.

THE BROADMOOR HOTEL in Colorado Springs has an American craft gallery called Luma. A customer can find something to wear to a dress occasion that night or a piece of fine, handmade jewelry to take home for a special occasion.

When you walk into the beautiful MARRIOTT ORLANDO WORLD CENTER, your vision is assaulted by a burst of color from the gift shop.  You can get the aspirin, the toothbrush, the shampoo, all those little details you forgot at home.  But you can also go shopping.  Stationery, purses, handmade art for your desk, are all displayed so that you almost forget that you have to check in at the desk in the lobby.  What lobby?  What hotel?

You can take your boring, conservative top and plain pencil skirt, put a pretty jacket over it and, voila, you have an outfit.  Now add a belt for a different look.  Swap that skirt for jeans and you’re set for a Saturday afternoon coffee with a friend.  Let’s switch those jeans for a white pair, add a blouse, top it off with this same jacket and a Saturday night movie outfit is assembled.

You’re going out to dinner instead? Okay, put on your LBD and this same jacket and a pair of heels and you’re set to go!  Five outfits, one jacket.  If it’s a reversible jacket, well now you have ten outfits.  And all possible from one wonderful little jacket.

Let me know if you have another combo.  Maybe we can up it to 12!