Technology 1, Humans 0: Here’s What Happened When an App Did My Vacation Packing

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Published Jan 29, 2019

I don’t like to think of myself as a forgetful person. It’s more that my days are so jam-packed with things to do that sometimes one or two of those things slip through the cracks. How an entire vacation to Arizona (for a wedding, I might add) slipped through, I have no idea. I guess some of those cracks are more like chasms.

This recent calendar mishap left me with just two days to pack and little to no spare time in which to actually put things into a suitcase, let alone put together something nice for the rehearsal dinner, wedding and morning-after breakfast. I started to make a packing list with the Notes app on my phone, but writing things like “cute outfit for wedding” wasn’t exactly going to save me time once I got home to rifle through my closet. This is where Finery came in to save the day.

Finery is a comprehensive digital guide to your very own closet. You can think of it as a modern-day Clueless closet you can fit in your pocket (at least, as a Cher Horowitz wannabe, that’s my favorite way to describe it). The app keeps track of everything you’ve purchased over the past ten years, including shoes, jewelry and even that vintage dress you bought off Poshmark, making it incredibly easy to see stuff you own all at once. It also means that I didn’t even have to leave my desk at work in order to start packing for my five-day adventure.

Finery

To get the big ones of out of the way first (outfits for the rehearsal dinner and wedding), I filtered my dresses to just those appropriate for a formal affair. I played around with a few different options in the app’s Style Me feature, even letting Finery suggest some of the styling for me. It recommended a blue floral dress paired with black heels and a black jumpsuit with metallic sandal. I settled on a blue Yigal Azrouel dress for the rehearsal (the very one Finery had suggested for me) and a dark red floor-length number for the main event—which conveniently looked great with the same bag and shoes I'd be wearing the night before. Two outfits down and one fewer pair of heels I needed to carry cross-country. So far, so good.

Finery

Now it was time to plan what I wanted to wear for the next three days we’d set aside for exploring the area. I knew I wanted to pack just a few items that could be mixed and matched any number of ways and worn to everything from a visit to the zoo to a romantic dinner with my boyfriend. So back to Finery’s styling feature I went.

Mixing and matching as many tops, jeans, jackets and dresses as I could with just one pair of shoes and one bag, I soon settled on a totally reasonable (and pretty darn stylish, if I might add) eight items. And with all my outfits saved in one easy spot, I was able to waltz in the door after work, pack everything into my suitcase in roughly 20 minutes and head back out to make a last-minute dinner with friends.

Safe to say, I have a new favorite way to pack for vacation. (Oh, and my rehearsal dinner ensemble garnered a ton of compliments, in case you were wondering.)

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Abby Hepworth

Editor

Abby Hepworth is an RRCA-certified running coach who has worked in fashion for over 10 years. Want to know what shoes are in this season? She's got you. Need recommendations on...

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