Marcia Miller, You Go Girls!

Do you still feel a need to appear glamorous while traveling? Do you believe that good looks will elicit good treatment? Do you want to recapture a bit of the “golden age” of travel when a pillbox hat and gloves were de rigueur? I would answer a resounding yes, yes and yes!

Maneuvering through modern airports and crushing into coach seats doesn’t facilitate an arrival ala Grace Kelly. But here are some easy ways to glam it up on the road. Most of these hints work for trips by car, train or plane.

Begin with a scarf, shawl or pashmina. This simple accessory serves multiple purposes. With a scarcity of blankets on planes it becomes your blanket. Wrap it over your coat or around your neck for a touch of color. In warmer climates it becomes an evening shawl or wards off the chill in an overly air conditioned restaurant or theater. Fold it flat and store it in a large zip lock bag to keep it clean and fresh in your handbag. It hardly takes any space.

Wear minimal makeup for any long ride as it seems to migrate to all the wrong places and you arrive with raccoon eyes. Apply it at journeys end when you’ll need a good pick-me-up. The one critical product you do need to wear is a heavy moisturizer. A night cream is perfect. Dry cabin air drains even the youngest dewy skin. Treat yourself to a small bottle of Evian Brumisateur. For less than $6, nothing says glamour like a spritz of fancy French water to refresh face and soul. Your seatmate will be fascinated to know what you are doing and it sure kicks up the glamour quotient. Va va voom!

What is best to wear for a long ride? Something that expands freely around the waist, stretches at the knee, doesn’t wrinkle and will survive having a Bloody Mary spilled on it. There are many new stain and wrinkle-release fabrics available. Thankfully, stretch is now added to everything, including jeans. For overnight or redeye flights consider changing into a pair of yoga pants or leggings. The closer you get to the pajama feeling, the more glamorous you will feel when you arrive and slip back into your fresh crisp outfit looking like a super model.

Shoes! For real high-flying glam, take a pair of ballet flats to wear onboard a plane train or car. A step above slippers, they will allow you to maintain that glamorous feel. You will want something other than those horribly hideous slipper/sox they may give you. Those are not practical or pretty.

On the subject of accessories, handbags come to mind. Begin with an attractive tote. The operative work is “attractive”. Whatever your price point, there are great looking ones from Target to Saks. Once you have found one, the key is to nest bags. Your tote can hold your in-flight needs such as a book, IPod, neck pillow, etc., and your daily handbag. The daily bag can hold the evening clutch which doubles as a wallet. If it gets too heavy consider one on wheels.

Jewelry brings challenges when traveling. It is tempting to show off your nice pieces. But there is a very important caveat. “Never take anything you are not willing to lose.” Items left on the TSA conveyer belt, missing out of suitcases and left in hotel rooms are a sad reality of the road. The only safe item is something left in the safe at home. Metal items have the ability to set off the metal detector and often have to be removed. What a hassle. Avoid it. Carrying a small zip lock bag in your pocket to place your jewelry in when passing through security is a good idea. That keeps it together and enables you to put it back on after you are through the screening. Get some nice costume pieces and clear your mind of the worry.

In short, dress as though you are ready to be upgraded to first class. You want to look the glamorous part should you be asked to play it. The added bonuses are the small fantasy that you are back in that Golden Age and arriving at your destination looking just like Grace Kelly.