Fashion Insiders’ $1 Solution to Packing Your Clothes Without Wrinkles
Leave it to the world’s leading fashionistas to hold the savvy—and super cheap—secret for packing up clothes neatly. Per one resource from Harper’s Bazaar, — How to Spring Clean Your Wardrobe — the solution is simple: just use tissue paper.
Yes, tissue paper. Turns out the soft papery stuff you use to wrap gifts and other delicate items is more than just pretty to look at—it can help your clothes stay wrinkle-free when employed properly. Whether you’re searching for a clever way to keep your wardrobe crisp in a suitcase during travel, or just hoping to pack up your winter wardrobe nicely for the warm weather season, tissue paper may be the affordable answer to all of your clothing storage problems.
According to Deena Aljuhani Abdulaziz, director and a cofounder of D’NA boutique in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, tissue paper is key to keeping her wardrobe looking snappy despite being shoved in a suitcase. “Tissue paper has become a part of my packing ritual,” Abdulaziz told Harper’s Bazaar. “I will typically pack all of my shoes together, each one stuffed with tissue paper to maintain its form and encased in a cloth bag,” she says. “I group heavier garments and tailored pieces, and I place the lightest things on top so that they don’t get crushed.”
And the perks of packing with tissue paper don’t end there. Abdulaziz (who also happens to be the former editor-in-chief of Vogue Arabia and a princess) swears that tissue paper will save your fragile stuff — think: embroidered handbags, dainty dresses, and other delicate accessories — from damage during travel. For this, she recommends placing a sheet or two between the folds of the garment so that the surfaces don’t rub against each other. She also uses tissue paper to stuff the bodices and sleeves of her heavily constructed pieces, so they maintain their form while packed. Genius.
Still not sold on tissue paper for packing? Stylist Linda Rodin, creator of Rodin Olio Lusso, cosigns the inexpensive practice in the same article. “I put my blouses in tissue paper so they don’t wrinkle.” She says, “and dry-cleaner plastic to wrap my shoes.”
Well there you have it folks: foolproof (and fashion-forward) suitcase packing for less than a cup of coffee at the airport (and you can channel your inner Grandma-at-Christmas and fold and reuse those sheets for as long as they’ll hold together). Feel free to flair out with different colors of tissue paper if you’re looking to liven things up a little.