All dressed up and everywhere to go: how a passion for fashion fuels the style-conscious traveller

Global travel leader, Booking.com has today released a new survey revealing how fashion influences travel, confidence and style choices while on holiday. Research revealed travel and fashion are a perfect match with almost half of all global travellers agreeing that looking their best while on holiday is important (48%). Whether functional or fashionable, a vacation wardrobe is a big part of any trip, from planning and packing to the actual holiday itself.

Booking.com, the global leader in connecting travellers with the widest choice of incredible places to stay conducted research across 21,500 global travellers from 29 countries.

Look good, feel great
Holidays are a time when we leave our worries at home, to escape and immerse ourselves in a new environment – research shows that a third of Australian travellers feel more confident while on holiday than at home. The holiday wardrobe has a significant part to play in this, with one in three citing their travel style as the secret to holiday confidence.

When delving deeper, Australian travellers’ top reason for feeling confident while on holiday is being with people they’re comfortable with, like friends and family (66%). On the other hand, a badly-planned wardrobe can ruin a travellers’ confidence, with one of the top reasons for feeling less self-assured is having clothes that are functional rather than fashionable (36%).

What’s more, the data shows that the vacation style feeling lasts much longer than the trip itself with almost half of us (47%) feeling inspired to make changes to our own personal style after being away
Style stimulation
Before the actual trip beings, there is often holiday prep stress such as researching, planning and packing. However, Booking.com research also discovered travellers are concerned about looking their best while on holiday (48% globally) and want to dress their best for holiday snaps for social media (43%). Booking.com also revealed a competitive edge with 22% of Aussies admitting to wanting to dress better than their companions while on holiday.

When planning their travel apparel, Aussie travellers seek inspiration from friends (79%), family (67%), TV programs (51%) and fashion and style influencers (34%), mining them for ideas of what to take as part of the all-important holiday wardrobe. But there are also aspects of a vacation that can inspire a style revolution:

Top fashion designer and Booking.com style ambassador Christian Cowan who has dressed the likes of Cardi B and Lady Gaga shares his style secrets: “It’s no wonder that what we see around us on vacation can transform what we wear at home. We get used to the norm of dressing a certain way back home but when we travel, our minds expand and we become open to new possibilities with style, fabric and colour. Watching the locals is the best way to get inspiration. Experimenting with local style and translating it to your look back home can make you feel like a new person, whether it’s simply wearing your hair differently, trying a bolder colour or tying on a scarf in a vibrant local print.”

Travelling outside the comfort zone  
When it comes to style, travellers are not afraid to step out of their comfort zone while on holiday, trying new and different outfits that bring out hidden facets of their personality. Over a quarter of Aussies say their holiday outfits are brighter and more colourful than their everyday wardrobe and one in six (15%) even choose more daring clothing while on holiday.

Christian Cowan adds: “A vacation is the time to get experimental with your style, the environment often allows you to be bold and adventurous with prints, textures, and accessories. It’s the perfect time to try out a new look that you wouldn’t necessarily wear at home, whether that’s due to a different culture or different climate. When it comes to vacation style I have one piece of advice: go big or go home!”