Camping In Style
[ 24 September 2007 ]
Recently, a very sweet girl told me she was on her way to a school camp & didn’t know what to wear. She said that while her mother always tells her to take practical clothes, she often felt shown-up by the other girls, who were immaculately groomed — even after canoeing! Ahh, the joy of school. But it did prompt me to think that surely there was a way to camp in style. It can’t be all mosquito spray & burned marshmallows, can it?
I think that our dear letter writer’s mother is right in that practical clothes are key. Seriously, anything with a heel will either get ruined or ruin you (picture tripping over a log & mashing your face, for example). However! Practical does not necessarily mean styleless! & stylish does not necessarily mean impractical! This is a key point. You can still look devilishly cool in a pair of flat boots.
Suggested packing list:
A pair of relaxed-fit jeans — & hike them up, please! No one wants to see crack around the campfire, eep!
Flannel shirts. They’re comfortable & stylish & if you think you can wear them ironically, so much the better! Roll up the sleeves & leave the top few buttons undone, too.
A long black maxi-skirt or plain long dress. Obviously not for when you’re doing anything insanely physical, but it will be good for lounging around in the evening, as well as the trip there & back.
Vintage t-shirts. Cool & comfortable — hard to beat! Remember to always buy t-shirts which fit you, meaning they are long enough in the body, the sleeves hit you at the skinniest part of your upper arm & they’re not so tight that onlookers can see the shape & form of your belly-button.
Shorts. Nice ones! Not daggy ones! If it gets chilly, you can chuck a pair of leggings on underneath them.
Racerback singlets. They’re super-sporty & allow you to show a bit of skin without looking like that was your intention. (Sneaky!) Remember to buy a bra with convertible straps to wear with these.
A thick cardigan or faux-fur coat for night time (& cold mornings). When the temperature drops, you don’t want to be the girl who can’t eat dessert because her teeth are chattering.
Big flat boots. I would wear my New Rocks because they’re rugged & easy, but anything with a bit of weight to it will be fab.
Sandals. They’re much classier than jandals/flip-flops/thongs & the best ones have a delicious, French Riviera kind of feel.
A hat of some description. What you wear will depend on your style. I have, for example, a black baseball cap which says ‘Compton’ on the front (loooove it!) as well as a huge sunhat, & both would be good to take on holiday. Use your discretion!
Headscarves. These get a big tick in my book, I am a fairly unabashed fan. After a few days in the wilderness, lovely though it may be, your hair will begin to get a bit stanky. A scarf around your noggin is, in my opinion, the only sane response to a world gone mad.
Put together properly, these items will have you looking magnificent. Really, what you want to do is look effortlessly stylish. A log cabin, or tent, or whatever, is not really the place to bust out your couture, as nice as that would be. A few simple pieces & a necklace or some bracelets will go further than you might first think.
I suspect that the girls who look immaculate after canoeing aren’t paddling with a lot of vigour. That’s okay, though, I used to sit out physical education class every week & I turned out alright. I think, though, that the reason they look good is because they’re looking after their skin & hair. This is not hard to do, you just need a portable routine which you can take camping easily. Even when I was at Burning Man, I would moisturise every morning, apply makeup, & take it off again at night! It doesn’t take long & it makes you feel (& look) about a bazillion times better. (I don’t really go for that au naturel thing…)
What you take for your skin routine will depend on how much time you want to put into it. The girl who wrote to me said she was only going camping for two days, so I would suggest making it as fuss-free as possible. Take some baby wipes (the sort with aloe vera & vitamin e) & moisturiser, as well as foundation, concealer & waterproof mascara. Primer too, if you have it. Use the baby wipes in place of your normal cleanser & toner step, then moisturise, prime & apply foundation. Foundation, concealer & mascara is so easy to do — shouldn’t take more than about 3 minutes — & will make you look fantastic & low fuss. Showing up for a hike with a full red lip & smokey eye is probably a bit much.
Pull your hair back off your face, either into a ponytail or with a scarf. You will look clean & chic, even if you feel like a total grub-monkey. (That’s the official term, in case you were wondering.) You can add a couple of sparkly barrettes if you feel the need, but leave your curling tongs, GHDs, what-have-you, at home! You’re not at the Moulin Rouge, darling!
In closing, have a fabulous time. Take lots of photos, tell ghost stories & roast marshmallows like your life depends on it!
Extra For Experts:
Living It Up At Burning Man (well, it’s camping, innit?!)
The Perfect Roadtrip (you have to get there somehow…)
Super-love & cupcakes,
Gala
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What an awesome list! I love camping, especially school camps. I always take tons of hairties to plait or bun my hair with when it gets a bit beyond ‘unwashed’, and SUNBLOCK!! (I use tinted block, saves on foundation.) Also, get your eyelashes tinted and brows waxed before you go, and you’ll look groomed and won’t need mascara (maybe just eyelash curlers if you really must). Also quick-drying shoes (I would go for Chuck Taylors), and about 3 times more socks than you think you’ll wear.
I agree with all of Nadine’s time, space and sanity saving tips! Sometimes, it’s nice to have a big thick pair of wool socks to sleep in, since your toesies will get nippy.
Also, I find that camping is often the best time to wear grungy things you wouldn’t ever, and feel great in them. For a camping trip with my school, it’ll be colder, so I’m planning on wearing a ’90s style flannel shirt, I wouldn’t be caught dead in public wearing!
Also, rain boots. That way, when you splash around in puddles, you don’t have to worry.
Nadine — You clever thing! Thank you for your additions. I am not a big camper. Burning Man was quite terrifying since I have never thought of myself as an “outdoors” person. Other than that, I went to a school camp when I was, umm, 12… That’s the extent of my experience! (I went to Kiwi Ranch! Have you ever been there?!)
Retro.Bunny — Awesome, you should also listen to Nirvana on a walkman, haha! For optimal effect, you understand… ;D
I love camping, and have been known to fish while wearing a dress. A tip for us long-haired ladies: for multi-day camping trips with no access to a shower, I like to put my hair into braids (lots of tight tiny ones, or just two french braids) before I leave, and then take them out part way through the trip. Having it braided keeps it clean & tidy, something about less surface space. Its what I’ll be doing when I go to the Salton Sea in a few weeks.
I bring my hair-straightener camping. Does that make me a bad person? ;P
nicole — Ooh, good tip on the braiding! How come you’re going to the Salton Sea? Is there good camping or something? I just read up on it & all it basically said was that it is a huge environmental disaster!
Nadia — You DO?! No, it doesn’t make you a bad person… just a weirdo ;D
Hahaha. Gala / RetroBunny – thanks for the flash backs to year 11 biology camp and trying to sing Soundgarden & PearlJam round a camp fire. Hahahaha. (Yes I am that old!)
The last time I went camping was at Falls Festival, NYE. Essential – Sunscreen, Chuck Taylors, gum boots, chunky knit scarves, layerable clothing… and a spare tooth brush… Cos you know one is gonna go missing! :)
Kx
oh flannel shirts. they’ve come back round here, all the tall thin hardcore boys are wearing them with their wrongmen t shirts underneath.
they look like old men, and it is entirely hilarious.
Gala- we’re going to explore some ghost towns out in the desert around the Salton sea. There’s actually a lot of different campgrounds there, and it’s very very weird.
Clear mascara! It doesn’t matter if you smudge it during some physical activity, and it still looks good, although your lashes won’t look as long as with coloured mascara.
When I was at school I wore it every day from probably around Year 10 (maybe 9) onwards. I was a devotee. During my lazy phase of not washing my face before going to bed (yuck, shudder, I know) I particularly loved the stuff, for obvious reasons.
Don’t forget candy and cookies! You will be queen of camp if you have treats to share with the other girls. Also bring cute PJs, trust me!
that list helps a lot.. for the last 3 years I’ve gone camping with my school and I always feel ungroomed around most of the girls… but at least I wasn’t freezing like them… I think trying to look good is ok, but they wear tons of makeup and since the climate is very harsh thair skin looks horrible when we come back..
My additions to that list would be: manymany socks, comfy pjs, sunblock (doesn’t matter where you’re going, always bring it whit you), lots of food, music (guitar, ipod and base,etc), camera and great friends :)
Yeh. Cute PJs are totally a must. Girls can get a bit odd about PJ’s on masse, so cute ones will take you far!
Funky Wellies are always good (I like bright red ones)
If its cold lots of thin layers is always good. Like a singlet under a thin long sleeved tee or hoodie under a great t-shirt under whatever jumper you’re wearing under a rain coat (clear rain coats look GREAT coz you can still dress to impress and stay dry!)
These mass amount of layers may be a little extreme, but thats what you get from growing up in the north of england and going to a school that took us camping in FEBRUARY! Insanity, I know. I still have a habit of over packing the warm clothing and now I live in S.Aus. where it gets nowhere near that cold!
Delete layers as required depending on weather.
I go casual most of the time, camping or not! Wow, girls are getting more self conscious as generations pass – I cannot for the life of me remember being so self conscious about clothing to take on school camp let alone what the other little brats thought of me and what I was wearing.
The most important thing anyone can do is to be yourself, know yourself thoroughly and trust your instincts. And yes – dressing appropriately for the circumstances!
P
x
I’m definitely a low maintenance camper. Last weekend I went out to a friend’s cabin for a combination beach/hiking weekend and took: cute bikini, flip flops, one pair of jeans, a few t-shirts, a sweater, chuck taylors, and of course the essentials like clean socks & undies, shampoo, face wash, toothbrush/paste. I brought hair product but didn’t end up using it, mainly because I didn’t have anyone to impress out there (I can imagine it would be different being a teenager at camp with a bunch of catty girls).
As for the whole “some girls are so pretty, but I feel grungy!” thing, I think it’s probably more your perception than anything else. Those girls you think look so put together probably feel like they’re grungy and you look adorable. Not to mention, who cares? You really can’t let catty high school girls get to you about not having the right brand of hiking boots or whatever. The important thing is that you’re having a great time, not that you fit in with the popular crowd of girls who have all the right things and keep their hair just so even after canoeing.
The only time I rough it lately is when I go on tour with my husband’s band… but somehow, a van full of hungover guys on a strict timetable is even more of a harsh environment for style. The baby wipes are a must-have, but I don’t know if I’d personally use them on my face. They’ve got all kinds of portable facial cleansing cloths and makeup removing cloths these days. Last time I went out, I brought some of each. It wasn’t often that I got to use a washroom that wasn’t attached to a gas station.
I’d say the best way to impress while camping is to be prepared (I think this and how to tie a bowline are the only things I remember from Girl Guide camp). People usually know to come to me if they’ve forgotten something, because I’ve got an emergency stash in the bottom of my bag full of safety pins, sewing kit, toothpicks, Q-Tips, nail clippers, energy bars, pen and paper, army knife, matches, bandaids… My list is tons longer. Most of those are things that you probably won’t need, but they’re also very small, and if it turns out that you do need them and you don’t have them…
Other than that, make sure that ALL of your clothes go with ALL of your other clothes, because that way you can get by with about half the luggage. Bring extra socks and undies, too. Who knows why, but they usually end up being necessary! And as long as you’ve got a pair of boots you can walk for miles in over any kind of terrain, you’ll be ready for anything that might happen.
(Oh, and… “Always know where your towel is!”)
Girliest.blog.ever. I’m probably the only guy commenting here. Very nice though. Great clothing advice. Just strolling through.
I’ll second the braids advice! I’m a summer camp kind of person, and two french braids have been my camping hair-do of choice since I learned to do them on myself. Lasted a five day canoe trip, and still looked good.
Consider the braid advice thirded! It keeps your hair cleaner, neater, and much prettier. You can undo them on the last day or so and then you have nice wavy hair as well :)
I am a big fan of being hugely prepared for things you (and others) will need—bug spray, sunscreen, anti-itch cream for the inevitable bug bites, neosporin-type antibiotic, painkillers, energy bars, water bottles…the list goes on. Those other girls will be very appreciative when they forget their bug spray and depend on you to not be eaten alive.
But if aforementioned sweet girl is primarily concerned about looking good, I would recommend slightly dangly earrings. They add instant gorgeousity (...shh, it’s a word), especially when they sparkle in the light of a campfire. Couple that with some chapstick or lip gloss to make your lips nice and shiny in that same campfire light and you will be golden!
I personally love camping, beyond belief. And full out, no electricity, stuck in a tent on the ground out in the bush camping. (I.e. no ipod, no tv, no showers.. a cell phone is allowed, but that’s the most). Anything else doesn’t quite cut it for me.
One thing to do is make sure you bring really warm pajamas – sleeping that close to the ground keeps you cold.
Also don’t forget to bring a tarp to tie up over the tent on those rainy nights! A lot of tents have the tendency to let rain run down the sides, and you wake up with a soaking wet pillow.
Bring a camp stove, lots of non-perishable wood, make sure you have marshmallows and a close source of free wood for those bonfires :)
Bring two pairs of runners (in case one gets soaked through), and some ratty jeans that you don’t mind getting wrecked. Because oh, they will be. What else can I say – make sure your shoes are good for walking in, in the case that you want to go for a hike. (Hikes are so amayyyzing.) Bring huge sweaters and hoodies to cuddle up in, and plenty of elastics/bobby pins to tie your hair back.
Have a book of crossword puzzles for those rainy days when you just want to hide inside the tent. A deck of cards is also great for keeping a whole bunch of people entertained! Throw in a feel-good light read of a book and you’re set.
If you’re doing makeup, keep it basic, only what you really want to wear. Whoever you’re camping with, if they really want to be with you, should accept however you want to wear or not wear makeup! I normally bring some light foundation, mascara, and lip gloss.
One other thing – songbooks are brilliant for around the campfire. Growing up my mother always brought one and we would sing songs from wartime (2nd), even general ballads.
Sorry this is a bit long – I was raised in the camping tradition, and always forget when others aren’t (maybe I should write my own article on it…?)
Much love,
Emily
Forgot to say: Earplugs! Truly essential.
I’ve been on school camp at Kiwi Ranch in Rotorua, but there’s one closer to Wellington which is probably where you went . . . ?
I used to go camping all the time in high school – I was in the school Cadet Corps before I took up laziness.
All the advice posted here is great. Here are a few other things:
Make sure you have an ample supply of female-specific products, even if you aren’t due any time near your camp. Trust me, something about being in large groups of girls and out in the wilderness can really mess around with your cycle. Even if it doesn’t happen to you, chances are a friend will get their period unexpectedly and you can be their saviour.
Make sure you book yourself in for some kind of heavenly beauty treatment once you get back. This step is not optional. After a week of roughing it you need pampering. I always made sure I had a facial booked for the day I got home from cadet camps – painting your face with camoflague paint does nothing good for your complexion, facials were the only way I could get rid of the faintly green tinge of camo paint. Chances are you won’t have the best facilities out there, or even any running water, so you’ll need a little beauty tlc on your return.
THANKYOU GALA!
Now I won’t look completely daggy.
Sweet :)
Love,
ElizaMolly x
GALA daaaaaarling and everyone else… great advice… too late for me though as i am just finishing school…
however, i’d like to recount my own experiences with fashion and the likes at camp…
On departure: all the guys just have backpacks while the girls lug around huge suitcases, overnight bags and oversized totes. Everyone is wearing huge designer sunnies (to cover dark circles) and skinny jeans.
On arrival: we discover that the heat there is unbearable so half the girls have to change into something cooler. Mostly short-shorts, mini-skirts, baby-doll tops/dresses and other un-practical ensembles.
At dinnertime: The girls in my cabin spend at least half an hour preparing for dinner; applying and re-applying makeup, straightening/curling hair etc… Yet another outfit change takes place.
After dinner: each girl takes a long shower despite water restrictions. Then begins what i like to call the ‘Pyjama Parade’ where the girl with the skimpiest and most expensive PJs wins respect and jealous stares for the rest of the night.
The next morning: there is no chance of anyone wearing something they wore the day before.. it’s an unspoken rule. Most girls prepare for a day of exertion with a face full of makeup. i find out how long it really takes some of these girls to get ready in the morning.
This process of make-ing up and changing outfits repeats throughout the day. And dont even get me started on the camp disco…
xox
My one tip for camp/outdoors? Sunblock. Seriously, it’s better to look as if you tried to apply white face paint and then thought better of it than to look (and feel) burnt. Having a bad skin reaction to the sun is miserable.
The only other suggestion I can make as a non-camper is to plan for the possibility of getting wet. Have dry outfits spare, light/thin items if possible so as not to take up too much space. This will depend on where you are going, but I won’t forget the outdoor education trip where pretty much all my clothes were wet to some degree, with the exception of my pyjamas. Not fun.
I wish you’d posted this earlier, I went on a retreat about a week ago and felt like a horrible dirty thing all weekend, because all the other women there brought their entire bathrooms with them, and I packed economically. My smug feeling of being a more reasonable packer than they wore off after the first day and a half. :(
My daughter’s cheerleading squad just got back from their weekend camping retreat and they all ordered these matching trendy sandals called Flippie Slippies in their team colors. You have to check them out they are super cute.
Get your eyeashes AND eyebrows tinted (and eyebrows waxed) before you go. Then you literally only need concealer and lip balm in the morning — and you’ll look great after swimming, while everyone else’s makeup slides and melts off until they’re left with Courtney Love-style black smears around their eyes.
And then, as Gala says, a few headscarfs! And maybe a coloured eyeliner if you want to cute-up at night.
so awesome that you’ve written this, gala, as i’m going camping this weekend (hooray long weekends!). i’ve only been camping once before as an adult, and so i’m a bit more prepared this time around, but all these tips will certainly come in handy.
cheers love!
this is good…i’m going to a youth camp this friday!!! this really helps!
thanks!!!!!!!!