How to Travel Like a Supermodel
The holiday season is upon us, and that means family time, heaps of Thanksgiving food, and one necessary evil: travel.
While traveling (and packing specifically) can be a headache for many, just because you’re jet-setting doesn’t mean you have to leave fashion by the wayside. Just ask Joan Smalls. The supermodel is such a pro at looking polished and poised right off a plane that W Hotels partnered with her to create an “Off Duty” closet collection inspired by her.
Seven emerging designers created pieces using Joan Smalls’s style as inspiration, and the results are impressive. They include Smalls’s hand-picked looks for an on-the-go woman, but that’s not even the best part. All the brands involved are fronted by women, and on top of it, Smalls is donating her portion of the proceeds to Puerto Rican disaster relief—and W hotels is matching it. Talk about a win-win.
“Joan and I came up with words that would describe her style: urban, feminine, and tomboy. She’s really very consistent in a picture from 2007 to 2017 because she always looks like herself when she’s off the runway,” said “Off Duty” Creative Director Sarah Easley. “She always has a cool leather moto jacket or distressed denim, and broken down it’s pretty simple pieces, but they fit her perfectly and then she does really feminine makeup and hair, so it’s a balanced look.”
You can shop the "Off Duty" pieces here, but before you do, check out our interview with Smalls below to hear her tips on how to travel like a supermodel, how to pack for specific abroad locations, and why she’s donating her portion of the project's proceeds to Puerto Rican hurricane relief.
