Mighty Summit: Packing Light

Style, Travel

This is everything I packed for the Mighty Summit in the Russian River wine country. As you might have surmised, it takes some time to decide what to wear in front of 30 bloggers’ digital SLRs. This is the third post in the L.L.Bean Signature series, so you’ll find a few of those products below.

Is this me wearing another shirt as a dress? Maybe. Maybe it is, Internet. I have seen photo evidence that this might be shorter than I expected, but whatever. I was amongst the team.

I wore this with jeans and sneakers while we were unpacking boxes from the car. Then I changed into the tights and boots for the welcome party, which involved cocktails, and sliders, and smart ladies by the pool. This shirt/dress is Urban Outfitters, the tights are Target and they’re grey, though you can’t really tell from the photo.

The equestrian boots you are from L.L.Bean. Let’s go ride horses, you guys! No? Do you want a tiny little hamburger? Yeah, these boots are perfect for sliders.

The next morning we had a pajama breakfast, and I wore my vintage red velvet Christmas Robe with a T-shirt and boxers underneath.

Many a time have I considered cropping this robe and wearing it as trench coat, but this is only my third year owning The Christmas Robe. I cannot resist its Donna Reed qualities, even though I can’t fully raise my arms while I’m wearing it. Passing out presents is so dainty when you can’t bend at the elbow. Or shoulder. Fashion!

This is what I wore for wine tasting in the ‘70s. The preppy ruffle sweater is L.L.Bean, the cha-cha skirt is vintage (you may remember it from Puerto Rico), and the bronze cowboy boots are from Buenos Aires, which means I particularly enjoy it when people ask me where I got them. (Ask me about my boots!)

Actually, boots story. Margaret and her family came to Argentina with us, and her main goal for the trip was to find a pair of cowboy boots. These were the only pair she loved, but they were slightly too small. She said I should try them on, and they fit me perfectly. She selflessly passed them to me, and I promised I would wear them into the ground. We high-fived over the boots at the Summit, where Margaret also presented me with an amazing vintage dress she picked up for me in Dublin. In conclusion, Margaret is a wardrobe sister.

This outfit is my favorite thing ever, you guys. I took our fiesta palette inspiration from this Kate Spade ad, so the colors were red, lemon yellow, robin’s egg blue, and plum/fuchsia. I wasn’t sure what I’d wear to the party, until I realized that I actually owned a piece in every one of these colors. Here’s a better view of the tights:

Liz is rocking that striped dress. I covet her wardrobe, so look for her in a Mighty Closet soon.

My dress is H&M, tights and shoes are Target Online, and the cardigan is vintage. The sweater is such an old favorite that there’s a huge hole in the elbow of one arm, so I wore the sleeves pushed up.

FYI, this entire outfit, including shoes, cost $40. POW! Sock!

This is what I’d look like if you showed up at my apartment unannounced at around 8 a.m., and I happened to be sabering open a bottle of champagne.

As you know, I try to pack jammies that I can wear as outfits. I was so tired the third day, I didn’t entirely change out of my PJs until evening. The heather grey v-neck tee is Old Navy, the leggings are H&M. (To hike through the redwoods I pulled on boyfriend jeans from Limited.) The versatile wrap sweater is from Ambience in SF. It’s my version of a sweatshirt. Speaking of which:

This is me trying to convince Andrea to get an American Apparel sheer circle scarf. I use it as a wrap, a scarf, a hood, a top, a dress, a sarong, an airplane blanket. Someday I plan to do a trip with only this scarf, a toothbrush, and a couple pairs of underwear and an Esquire Magazine.

This is what I wore to our farewell dinner at Barndiva. Turban, FTW! Natalie got this hat for me as a present, because she is rad, and because she keeps trying to steal my yellow turban, which she cannot have. The tuxedo jacket is L.L.Bean; which I’ll have tailored to fit more closely when baggy goes out of fashion, and then will wear for the rest of time. The weirdly comfy high heels are from Nordstrom Rack.

My dress is vintage, purchased to hide post-baby chub at a time when people were still asking me when I was due, ie: twelve months after I’d given birth. Those people can suck it.

Many thanks to L.L.Bean for sponsoring this post. All of their products featured here are part of the current L.L.Bean Signature Collection, so they’re available now on the site, along with many other cute things that you might want, eh?

http://thirdparty.fmpub.net/placement/348017?fleur_de_sel=%5Btimestamp%5D

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35 thoughts on “Mighty Summit: Packing Light”

  3. I love your fiesta outfit! So bright and colourful and something I could never pull off.

    I have to say, I’m mystified as to how you can wear the circle scarf as all of those things you mentioned. Perhaps a circle scarf tutorial? One item of clothing that can serve as 7 is a win in my book.

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  4. I heart you, your blog and your jwa di vee …is simply delicious! Thank you for always bringing a smile to my face as I read your posts, and for inspiring me to be a better me! YOU ARE APPRECIATED!!!! xxxx

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  7. Describe for me the internal coaching that precedes wearing a turban non-ironically to dinner. It looks great, but you really must have to commit to it; if someone sniffed a hint of doubt, it’d be all over. Right?

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  8. Courtney “pulling something off” just means putting it on. You should go for it. On about the third “weird” outfit, friends just shrug and say, “that’s Courtney.” Holding your head up through outfits one and two is formative, but it’s all downhill from there.

    Megan, turbans are like that too. I spent too much time in junior high crying over mean girls saying, “Niiiice outfit” whenever I took a risk. If you let those people in your head your entire wardrobe goes beige. I try to hang out with happy, fun people who go, “AAAAAAHHHH! TURBAN!” and that makes it easy to ignore the strangers rolling their eyes. Those people? They are not my people.

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  9. Is it weird that I didn’t even have to click on the link to know which Kate Spade ad you were referring to (I did anyway, for confirmation). It’s on of my favorite ads and you translated it beautifully.

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  10. God, I love you, Maggie Mason. Your posts are so infused with joy for life. You are such an inspiration! I am constantly mentally editing my own Life List but one thing always stays the same: Meet Maggie Mason.

    Thanks for being so totally and completely awesome.

    Megan

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  11. Sooooo dang cute, Maggie Mason! I just love it allllllll!
    On a non-related, food note, how was your dinner at Barndiva? I looooooved the food and drinks there, soo good. (Hope you had the goat cheese croquettes!) But the service sucked sooo bad, we almost left! I know I’m not the only one, since friends have had the same experience. I hope they treated the Mighty bunch, much better!

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  12. Lisa, the food and the place are great, but you’re right about the service. I’ve had some pretty bad experiences there, and the Mighty night was no exception. We probably won’t do an event there again. Spoon Bar it is!

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  13. OK, I’ll confess: One of my favorite parts of the weekend was your impromptu circle scarf tutorial. I think you have one on this site somewhere? Anyways, watching it live made me very happy, for some reason 🙂

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  14. Maggie! Just popping in (while I have a few minutes and for the first time) to say you ROCK fashion like no-one I know ;o)
    Keep ROCKIN’
    Cheers Toni xo

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  16. Lisa-
    Haaaaaaaaaaaaa! Maggie is being really nice about someone somewhere and some point maybe scalding me with hot water. I couldn’t possibly be more specific than that.

    Megan-
    Don’t let her fool you, she pulled it off with no doubts. I remember thinking, “Turban?” (looked at Maggie’s face) “Turban!” She was with really fun people, but she was also rocking her sh*t out, which contributed more than she’s letting on. And that should totally stay on your list. Worth it!

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  18. I second Courtney: I have a circle scarf and I love it, I’d love to see a tutorial on the ways to wear it! Also, the outfit w/ cowboy boots and the skirt if´s perfect, too bad we don’t have JCrew in Europe!

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  21. random comment here – I was showing my husband an earlier post and he said “wow she can go from nerdy secretary to redhead bombshell in 0 to 60” yeah I know, I love him too!

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  24. And here I thought I was the only person who calculated the cost of an outfit and then proudly kept that number in mind. I have a six dollar crepe wool skirt I love and not just because it’s absolutely perfect for the don’t f&*k with me look I sometimes need to get through the day. That it cost just $6 off the clearance rack makes it priceless.

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  28. For pete’s sake, Maggie. You’re so right.

    You’d think one would naturally grow into that higher, self evolved kind of knowledge. But no. It seems sometimes that those mean girl messages were quite packable, and before we know it, they’re what’s informing us (me) in daily adult life.

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  29. can you do a post on packing light for kids? as in, what did you pack for hank for ireland? we travel alot with our bebes and would love to see how you pack for them!

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  30. Mm … in that last photo, no one would guess you were ever pregnant. We’re on opposite ends of the style scale (you’d think me zzzzzzz) but regarding that dress … we’re in agreement. Oh, yes.

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