Now I know why my colleague Tim digs Ex Officio travel clothing so much. This brand understands that ideal clothes for the road (or plane or cruise) need to be lightweight, versatile, functional, comfortable and stylish. My Savvy Skirt and roll-up pants from Ex Officio fit those criteria and more.
The Savvy Skirt is made of “lightweight scrunch cloth,” which means you can literally ball it up and throw it in the bottom of a piece of luggage and it won’t matter a hoot — it’s thoroughly wrinkle resistant, since it’s already “wrinkled.” At 33 inches long, it’s the perfect length for my 5-foot, 9-inch frame (petite women may find it too long), and the wide stretchy waist makes it ultra comfortable. Plus, the skirt is cute — the flirty bottom (almost mermaid style, the way it hugs my hips) flares out a bit and swishes when I walk.
But I think the feature I like best about the Savvy Skirt is that it can be worn as a skirt or a halter dress with a tie at the neck (a necessity, since I’m not, er, chesty, and it would slip down without the tie). I’ve used the skirt/dress most often as a bathing suit cover-up, but it would make a fine item of clothing for a travel day, sightseeing or dining out on vacation.
The Nio Amphi Roll-up Pants are designed to be worn in and around the lake or river, with fabric that is engineered to “dry quickly and resist wrinkles, water and stains.” But there’s more, the nylon fabric is also treated with “sun guard,” so it protects your legs from harmful UV rays.
I like that the pants fit me beautifully in the waist. They are “mid rise,” so they don’t hang as low as many pants do these days (do I sound like a Granny here?). If they were a bit big in the waist, however, I could use the hidden drawstring to tie them a bit tighter. Length-wise, they’re a bit short on my tall frame, so I don’t foresee unrolling them to full-length; but that’s okay, I love the capri, roll-up style anyway. Two other nifty features I appreciate: an “undestructible” button (don’t you hate it when your sewed-on buttons fall off?) and two hidden-zipper “security” pockets.
Truly, the roll-up pants are versatile — I wore them hiking and out to dinner on a recent weekend getaway to Keystone, Colorado, and they’ll come along with me on my camping/houseboating trip to Utah’s Lake Powell next month.
Visit the company website to purchase the ExOfficio Savvy Skirt ($60) or the Ex Officio Nio Amphi Roll-up Pants ($65).
#1 by Men’s clothing - August 12th, 2009 at 01:40
A good post! The skirt and pant are really lovely. I just love the skirt. I will surely purchase one like that.
#2 by Deb - February 20th, 2011 at 19:25
Having clothing like that which you can just throw in the case is really the only way to travel, the problem I would have with packing that skirt is that it looks so relaxed I would probably want to fly in it. I have a “slying outfit” which I have worn for years, forget looking like you below in 1st class and trying to get a free upgrade – what you need to do is enjoy the flight by wearing clothing you feel great in.
Ive posted a few of my flying tips on my blog to try and have a nice flight and wearing something like you have pictured above is one of them!
#3 by Traci - March 24th, 2011 at 15:06
What cool options these two items are. I would wear them both but the pants I could see having more use. I like the idea that you can get the pants wet and they dry fast.