Our trip to Italy took most of September, with ten days of hiking in the Dolomites (stunning scenery and strenuous hikes), plus relaxing time at Lago di Garda, and plus “city time” in Milan, Bologna, and London. Also an opera in the Bologna arena. Weather was mostly warm, but there were a few really rainy days, and mornings and evenings in the Dolomites were cool to downright cold.
My lightweight fabric selections allowed me to take 12 (yes, 12) shirts, packed into two small packing cubes that fit side by side in my 21” carry-on bag. They included long-and short-sleeved Merino tees for hiking, a button-down sun shirt (also for hiking), thin cotton tees in long and short sleeves for casual wear, two nice shirts for “dress up” (one was the Carve Designs Dylan gauze shirt I mentioned above), a long cardigan and a nice long-sleeve Merino V-neck sweater for cooler evenings. I sink-washed the hiking shirts after each wearing and they dried by the next morning.
For warmth and wet I had a black stretchy Prana zip-up jacket and a Patagonia Torrentshell rain jacket. Both got a lot of use!
Pants—2 pair of Prana Halle pants did double duty for hiking and casual wear. The stretch Zion fabric is slightly textured, like Oxford cloth, and not slinky or “swishy” (to answer Bogisan’s question above). Prana makes a mens’ pant in the same fabric and that is all my husband wears these days. Both the mens’ and womens’ are straight cut and minimalist—-no cargo pockets to make them look like Safari clothing. The mens’ have a flat zippered pocket on the thigh; the womens’ have a flat pocket with an invisible zipper in the side seam.
Mountain Hardwear “Dynama” capris were my usual hiking wear. These are pull-on style and pack very small (having no zipper helps with that).
I also had a pair of Athlete “Brooklyn” ankle pants in Black, very thin fabric but styled for dressier occasions. And I confess to taking one pair of cotton-Tencel-spandex jeans (also black) for wearing on planes and trains. Mine are Uniqlo and nice thin denim, but it appears they do not make that style/fabric any longer.
One long slim rayon maxi skirt that folded nearly flat.
I am really proud of the fact that I was able to reduce my shoe inventory from my usual 5 pairs down to 3: my sturdy hiking shoes, a pair of city sneakers, and a pair of wedge sandals for dressing up.
If you are looking for cute lightweight fabric cotton tees for your own “light packing” I just found a very nice thin one in the World Wildlife Fund gift catalogue. The tees come in mens and womens style, and the cotton/bamboo fabric is very smooth and comfortable. The designs all feature wildlife or nature—-I like the hummingbird/flower one. They are spendy, but the $60 cost is deemed a charitable donation, and the organization is a respected one in the area of conservation and fighting climate change. So you can feel good and look good at the same time.
https://gifts.worldwildlife.org/gift-center/gifts.aspx?attrName=trending&sortorder=popularity