The 7 Things the Wax + Cruz Designer Absolutely Can’t Travel Without

In other words: How to pack like a G.D. pro.

After nearly a decade of styling shoots all over the world (we’re talking glorious destinations like Peru, Morocco, and Iceland), Lauren A. Wood of the killer hat line Wax + Cruz has gotten the art of packing down to a science. Check out the items she will never, ever, ever leave behind right here. —monica derevjanik

Make Up For Ever lipstick in Moulin Rouge: “I can wear anything and put on red lipstick, and I instantly feel more feminine and ready for a night out. I paint this matte color on with a brush so it lasts extra long—and so I can stay in the lines.”

Audio-Technica headphones: “Music always adds some magic to long plane rides, cramped buses and vans, or nights alone in the hotel room. These are comfy for long periods of time, and they sound amazing. And they’re great for blocking out sound, too.”

Alexander Wang blazer: “I always bring a thin, light, wool black blazer wherever I go. This one is perfect because doesn’t wrinkle after being crunched up in bag.”

Spectrum Essentials coconut oil: “This is my favorite beauty product. It’s good for scrapes and scars, for dry hands and feet, as a hair mask, or mixed with makeup. It smells nice, too. You can have that beachy feeling in the dead of winter.”

Leatherman Juice XE6: “My dad’s a die-hard outdoorsman and had two daughters, but that didn’t stop him from giving us Swiss Army knives and sleeping bags for our birthdays. I really like this Leatherman because it has a corkscrew, a bottle opener, a file, a saw, scissors, everything. Thanks, Dad!”

Perfect white T-shirt: “It’s my everyday go-to, and it makes you look tan no matter what time of year it is. I like the ATM tees at Barneys, the Isabel Marant linen ones, and James Perse’s.”

Bright, lightweight scarf: “I can’t live without a scarf. I wear it around my neck, on my head, as a sarong—and use it to change under at the beach. I like the dupattas and sarongs from Matta NY, and Nomadic Thread Society has some really beautiful pieces as well.”

Snag one more travel essential: Lauren’s Of a Kind edition! This ikat hat = the cutest.

Annie Williams’s Enviously Well-Packed Travel Bag

This will make you feel like a putz for checking luggage for a weekend trip.

In addition to making beauuutiful bags, running marathons, and skiing pretty much anything she can—you know, no big thang—Annie Williams is an avid traveler who’s headed off to India for the month of February. Embrace her essentials-only mindset to finally break free from that luggage carousel. —carlye wisel

“Eucalyptus, the earth’s natural antiseptic. Solid shampoo and solid toothpaste tabs from LUSH (no spills no mess!!!). Cinnamon, tea-tree toothpicks—perfect for when you can’t brush your teeth—and an Adventure towel, which holds three times its weight in water!”

“There’s no need to bring a lot of clothes! Women travelling to India will find the most respect and acceptance by wearing a traditional Indian kurti. And, it’s not common to wear shorts in India, but i can’t leave home without my favorite Wrangler cut-off shorts—in case of emergency.”

“Moleskine journal, zipper clutch, passport, Indian rupees, and a disposable camera. Without a phone on my person at all times, it’s nice to have a candid way to document the trip.”

“Though I’m trying to pack light, Dr. Bronner’s All-In-One Soap is essential! I use this for anything from washing my clothes to brushing my teeth.”

“Lastly, I’m bringing my best friend Nicole. She is responsible for building my website, shooting my lookbook, developing product, and making music videos for me. I couldn’t do most of what I do without her, including this trip.”

Come back tomorrow for Annie’s travel-ready edition! It’s ready to go wherever you do.

Photos by Nicole Irene.

Gifted Program: Keep Calm and Carry-On

What do we think you should gift this season? Something Of a Kind—I mean, OBVIOUSLY. If you’re looking to double-down on the special, we’ve conjured up some stellar present pairings—our “Gifted Program,” if you will—that we’ll be serving up over the next couple weeks. (And ok, fine, if this doesn’t satiate you, we have a slew of ideas up in our Pinterest, too.) —erica 

The pairing: Ernest Alexander’s ridiculously perfect, canvas-and-leather overnight bag ($395) + dude grooming essentials (in TSA-friendly sizes), curated by the fly girls over at 3floz ($74.50). Throw in an airline ticket to somewhere with sand, and you’re officially the best gift-giver ever.

Gia Bahm’s 4 Rules of the Road (Trip)

Good music is obviously required.

When Unearthen’s Gia Bahm wants a brief escape from her recently adopted Los Angeles home, she takes to the open road. “I love driving, particularly when I don’t know what I’m going to find. The whole process feels incredibly inspiring and even kind of soothing to me,” says the designer, who messes with precious metals and perfectly imperfect crystals to create her jewelry. Here, her four tried-and-true, get-outta-town tips so you can follow in her tire tracks. —mattie kahn

“This is a snapshot from the seven-hour drive from L.A. to Arizona, where I was headed for the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show. You can find literally anything there, from the largest piece of rose quartz in the world to the most flawless diamond.”

Trust your instincts: “The fewer rules you make for yourself, the better. Leave yourself time to follow that cool-looking sign or take the next exit just because you feel like it. I’ve never regretted a detour to a teeny thrift shop or antique store. That’s where I’ve found the real gems.”

“This photo was taken in New Jersey at an old-school strip mall. There’s this really special antiques place that I go to out there. It’s one of my favorite spots, but it’s so top-secret that I can’t tell you where exactly it is.”

Do research: “I have a rule that I refuse to eat McDonald’s while I’m on the road. Because of technology, it’s so easy to just look up the nearest grocery store or find a really special, unexpected restaurant. And since a huge part of these trips for me is about being in nature, I always check out swimmingholes.org before I go. The site keeps track of all the hot springs and rivers and watering holes in the country, which are really great places to explore.” 

“This is a picture of Mammoth, California, and the whole area is actually this breathtaking. About a half-hour away from where this photo was taken, there is a string of campgrounds. Each one has its own huge, cedar tub that pipes water in from neighboring hot springs.”

Make a great playlist: “Music is essential! I’m always hesitant to recommend songs, but lately I’ve had these on repeat.”

+ “Fletcher Honorama” by Sparks

+ “Good Life” by Neu!

+ “Radio Waves” by OMD

+ “Bend Beyond” by Woods

+ “I Got Your Number” by Cock Sparrer

+ “Never Let Me Down Again” by Depeche Mode

+ “Strangers” by Kinks

“I captured this moment in Mammoth. It still makes me smile.”

Bring friends: “Tackling long stretches of highway or passing through ghost towns can be really spooky if you’re on your own, so I say bring friends. Always bring friends.” 

Come back tomorrow—and get on our email list—to score Gia’s so-inspired edition.

Lo & Sons

Mom and business partner are one in the same for Derek (bottom) and Jan Lo (middle)—or at least they have been since Helen Lo, a hardcore traveler, realized that there were no stylish, lightweight carryalls out there for women. She appealed to her two sons for help, and, a year and a half of prodding later in 2010, she got them on board: Derek ditched his ad job, Jan left his product-design position, and the trio launched a collection of plane-ready bags that look good and work hard. “We didn’t set out to create a fashion brand,” Derek says. “We realized the need and created a product that was able to fulfill it. It’s purely functional at the center.”

Helen is at the helm, with Jan running design, production, and strategy, and Derek utilizing his marketing expertise to get the word out. But that’s just semantics. What makes Lo & Sons unique is their focus on human-centered design—a hip term for creating cool bags that really do make life easier. “Instead of producing a bag based only on what we think is great as designers, we do multiple rounds of prototype testing to see how the actual experience of using our bags can be more intuitive and useful,” Derek explains of their process—basically, the new version of kid-tested, mother-approved. —olivia seely

loandsons.com

Peek Inside the Lo & Sons Family Travel Album

Central Illinois, Taipei, and everything in between.

The line Lo & Sons is all about travel—and the bags you need to do it right. Derek and Jan Lo, who started the company with their mom Helen (yes, sweetest thing ever) in 2010 have done a lot of it, moving around plenty as kids and skipping across the globe as adults. Here, the stories behind some of their favorite, family-bonding excursions. —olivia seely 

Derek: “This was a cute one of us when we were little. We were moving from L.A. to Champaign, Illinois, and we drove the whole way in a Volvo station wagon.”

Jan: “We fought the entire way.”

Derek: “I guess we look pretty happy here because we were close to our final destination.”

Jan: “And we’re pretty stylish. We have the whole hipster thing covered from an early age. The suspenders, the plaid, the cuffed pants…”

Derek: “Because our dad is an astronomer, we traveled to a lot of different telescope locations. This is a picture of a very large telescope center in New Mexico that we went to during a Christmas vacation. At first I was skeptical. But when we got there, it was pretty incredible.”

Jan: “Our dad’s claim to fame is that he discovered the black hole in the center of our universe. He spent ten years as the director of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Charlottesville, Virginia. His profession is a big reason why we’ve lived in so many places growing up.”

Derek: “When our mom retired, she started traveling a lot with my dad. She was looking for a lightweight travel bag that was stylish and practical, and that’s how the idea for Lo & Sons was born!”

Derek: “Here Jan and I are at the Great Wall. After I graduated high school, I took a trip to Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai. It was my first time in Mainland China. Actually, it was Jan’s first time, too—which is interesting because he ended up moving there and living there for four years.”

Derek: “When we were growing up, my grandmother would live part of the year in Honolulu. We were fortunate enough to travel there and visit her on vacations. Jan and I just recently went there in October.”

Derek: “In this picture my mom, dad, and I are riding elephants in Thailand. This was years ago, during Y2K in 2000. We were really nervous that we were taking this trip during that time because everyone thought the world was going to end.”

Derek: “Here we are with our mom at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial in Nanjing. I went to high school in Taiwan, and my parents lived there for six or seven years. It was a life changing experience because I went from living in a small town in central Illinois to a big city in Asia. I went to an American school, and I was in a soccer league where we would drive hours to play other teams in other countries.”

Jan: “I didn’t get to go to Bangkok and play soccer tournaments.”

Get your hands on the travel-ready Lo & Sons edition! This camera bag is the epitome of practical-meets-chic.

Lyndsey Butler’s 10 Travel Essentials

She really has the whole packing thing down.

“I try to go out of town whenever I can,” says Lyndsey Butler, the woman behind the suitcase-ready, leather-fueled line, Veda. And while most of her travel used to be business-centric, she’s been able to squeeze in more genuine vacations lately—and is starting to get into surfing. “I’ve been a few times—in Costa Rica and Bali—and understand the concept, but I’m not that good. I can stand up, but I can’t say that I can do much more than that,” she explains. “But it’s fun. Any little progress you make, you feel like you just conquered something—like, ‘I stood up for half a second. I’m awesome.’ I kind of feel like I did when I first started Veda.” Here’s what Lyndsey puts in her carry-on for any excursions that involve sun and sand. —erica


1) A Breezy Black Dress
“I like to pack a lot of black because it just makes things easier—you can dress it up, dress it down. This is part of my spring collection, and I just love it. It has a leather front and a silk back. It’s light enough for walking on the beach but covered-up enough for going out to dinner.”

2) The Latest Issue of The Paris Review
“I try to pick them up every season. I get really into the author interviews. I collect them, but not really intentionally. They sort of feel like books, so I can’t throw them away.”


3) A Teeny Bikini
“I usually like the tiniest bikinis I can find—which becomes a problem when you’re going on vacation with anyone but your closest friends. I just want to get as much sun as possible. I think this one is Brazilian. I got it on the beach in Miami.”

4) A Moleskine
“I usually have some sort of a notebook. I don’t necessarily collect things, but I keep a lot of things in it—mail, pictures of friends, old receipts I don’t want to lose.”


5) A Beachy Lotion
“This Mountain Ocean Skin Trip lotion is always with me, and now my boyfriend won’t stop using it. It’s really nice and coconut-y.”

6) An Oversize Denim Shirt
“On the plane I wear shirts like one I got at the RRL in Malibu with boots and black Citizens leggings/jeans—jeggings, if you will. Then, when I get to wherever I’m going, they pack up nicely.”


7) An Easy Leather Jacket
“Sometimes wearing black in the spring can be a little bit harsh. We’ve been doing this Max jacket since the first collection—I have it in every color we’ve ever made—and for this season, we treated one to look like washed denim.”

8) Too Many Books
“I always bring more books than I need—like five books for the three days that I’m going away. Last night I stayed up until two in the morning finishing Freedom. I’m going to try to finish Flaubert in Egypt next.”


9) A Small, No-Fuss Bag
“On the plane, I’ll have a big bag, but once I get somewhere, it’s nice to be able to just tote around my ID, cash, lipstick, and camera. This Alexander Wang one is great because you can only fit the essentials.”

10) A Bright, Vacation-Ready Cover-Up
“I just got this when I was in Argentina. I have a lot of things like this that sit in a little suitcase, ready to be sifted through when it’s time to go to the beach. You get most of these kinds of things when you’re in an exotic place, so they have a story.”

Come back tomorrow for Lyndsey’s latest edition! So. Freaking. Good.

Morgan Carper Gets Outta Town

Take a trip through each of her destination-focused collections.

During an eight-month journey to basically every nook and cranny of Asia, Morgan Carper discovered an incredible number of unheard of local design techniques. “That trip was one of the most satisfying experiences of my life—to meet with different artisans and see how their craft had been preserved, and not preserved in some cases,” Morgan explains. “That’s when I knew I wanted to integrate travel into fashion.” So she set out on a mission to combine her textile expertise with unique beadwork and embroidery culled from the places she visits to create each of her stunning, romantic-bohemian collections. Here’s how she’s done it. —monica derevjanik

Now’s your chance the land the perfect-for-fall wool cape Morgan made for us! It most definitely shows off her affection for textiles.

Turkey - Fall 2011
“This was my first collection, so it was overwhelmingly amazing to translate an experience like this into something more tangible that others eventually got to be a part of. I didn’t get to meet with many artisans while we were there, but two of the fabrics I bought were made in Turkey. We ended up doing a lot of really full dresses with pleats, metalwork, beadwork, and more traditional Eastern references in the collection. The ancient mosques we saw were instrumental in the conception of the collection as well.”

Arizona high deserts - Spring 2012
“Spring 2012 was inspired by the high plains of Arizona. There’s a book called Half Broke Horses, and the author talks about her grandmother, Lily Casey, who was this rough, tough, woman on a ranch in Arizona. She was fiercely independent but had this style that was unique for that time, especially for being a rural countrywoman. I ended up going to the area where Lily Casey spent most of her life and based the collection off of her style. Creating this collection was especially fun for me because there’s something about the American West that’s fascinating. I don’t know what it is, but I’m just naturally drawn to the desert landscape and vast open spaces. In fact, each of my collections has an underlying Southwestern theme.”

Vietnam and Laos - Fall 2012
“I was lucky enough to spend time with skilled artisans that practice indigo dyeing, tapestry work, ikat weaving, and batik printing. The custom prints from this particular collection were inspired by the traditional batik and tapestry weavings from different Hmong tribes in the region. It’s always about the textiles for me, and Southeast Asia has such a rich history of textiles.”

Rajasthan, India - Spring 2013
“I am powerlessly allured by the desert, and I decided to visit Rajasthan. I carefully planned this trip around meetings with artisans that specialize in block printing and embroidery, which eventually led to creating some of the fabrics in this collection. One of the highlights of the trip was taking motorcycles to a small Muslim village about 30 miles from the Pakistan border where they specialize in intricate metallic hand-embroidery. They showed us their craft while we sat on the floor in their brightly colored homes with all the village children hovering above us. They were giggling over my short blond hair, not understanding why I looked like a boy.” 

Around the World with Wanderluster

Tag along to Iceland and San Francisco, on staycations and weekend trips.

When Rammy Lee Park started her jewelry line in June 2011, the name Wanderluster came almost instantly. A hardcore traveler, Rammy wanted her architectural, attitudinal pieces to embody the same sense of adventure that the word wanderlust (and she!) does. And these days, like most everybody, she logs her journeys via Instagram (handle: @xwanderluster). These are some of her most recent worth-a-pic moments. —jiayi ying

Rammy made us a necklace (that transforms into a bracelet!) inspired by these travels—check it out, pronto. 

TRAVEL CHARMS
“I never go anywhere without this antique porcelain elephant and blue heart—both were given to me by my boyfriend.”

PACKING
“I try to pack in a way that helps me get through security as quickly as possible. These are my go-to bags for trips under five days long. The larger one is Stella McCartney for LeSportsac from years ago, and I’ve taken it to Ireland, Istanbul, Iceland, and so on.”

REYKJAVIK
“Iceland! I went to celebrate my birthday, and it was one of my most memorable trips. I spent most of my time there with my eyes agog at the natural yet surreal beauty of the land and the elegance and simplicity of the architecture. As a result, my fall/winter 2013 collection is going to be all about Iceland.”

COLORADO SUN
“This was taken on Father’s Day, when my parents and I went boating on a lake in the Rocky Mountains. I’m from Denver, but I never appreciated the mountains until after I moved to New York twelve years ago. Now, I try to explore them every time I’m home.”

SAN FRANCISCO
“I’ve been spending a lot of time in SF lately, and it’s quickly becoming one of my favorite American cities. I never actually visited as an adult until last year, and since then, I’ve gone four or five times. I’ve been ceaselessly charmed by the riotous colors, the Victorian homes, and the way the streets slope.”

NEW YORK CITY
“I love moments in the city when I feel transported to another place. Here’s this magical little oasis in midtown. #wanderlocally”

WILLIAMSBURG BRIDGE
“This is going to make it into a bangle soon. I’m not sure when my NYC-inspired collection will come out, but it can’t be avoided—it’s my home.”