Speaking of Wrinkles -- what about linen?
 

Now, I know linen is notorious for wrinkling but it's also fashionable and many clothing items are now a mixture of linen and cotton or silk, or cotton and silk.

Clothing salesladies tell my linen is fashionable in Italy -- so will my travel-wrinkled linen stuff be OK?

Fortunately, we are staying in apartments and an agriturismo so I probably can get access to an iron but would rather not do much of that -- it's not what I am going to Italy for!

Linen is always fashionable, regardless where. And, today's linen isn't your mother's linen. With few exceptions, most linen garments are a blend and wear well will little wrinkling.

Unless the clothing obviously looks like they were slept in... you'll be just fine. Doubt anyone will even notice.

I love linen but hate looking like an unmade bed. I find that dark colored linen looks less rumpled than lighter shades. Also, a linen/ viscose fiber combination travels well.

I have also seen linen that's made to look rumpled. And of course patterns help.

Follow the old adage re linen:

Smooth skin, wrinkled clothes. :)

Thanks for your comments. I guess my rust-colored linen cropped pants will be OK. I just ordered a pair of flax-colored pants -- maybe they will look too rumpled. I will have to try them before we go.

Only 3 more weeks!! Yeay!!

(I wish the Euro would stop edging up.)

I love linen for travel. & I never iron it. It's supposed to look rumpled up like that. If you aren't willing to be fashionably wrinkled, skip the linen.

Another lover of linen. It is cool to wear in hot weather and imo so much more beautiful than fabrics with polyester etc.

Silk is lovely also. As is a mix of linen and cotton etc. Natural fabrics are lovely.

Have a wonderful time in Italy charnees.

wrinkles ARE the fashion!

Linen is about the LAST material I'd ever take with me on a trip. Those wrinkles look terrible.

Always buy simple shapes. I wash and wring, then shake the and hang to drip, dry finger ironing the seams and collar of the garment so most of the wrinkles are gone.
Don't laugh but if i want to wear my cropped pants but
they have wrinkles, I sit on them and the wrinkles disappear

<i>"Linen is about the LAST material I'd ever take with me on a trip. Those wrinkles look terrible."</i>

Cheap linen tends to wrinkle a lot. I have some fabulous pieces from Zoran, Nina Ricci, and Milly in my linen collection that hold up beautifully and always go with me if I travel in summer. Linen keeps my body temperature quite cool. I love a great linen outfit, especially with a great summer hat.

I don't mind the Ralph Lauren wrinkled-linen look but you have to have the right body to pull it off. Some bodies look awful in linen. It helps if you're tall and slender.

I pack a travel steamer. Works perfectly for me. I can't recall the last time I saw an iron at a fashion shoot. Most professional clothing stylists prefer steam. Linen steams beautifully.

Linen blends don;t really wrinkle and I always use in the summer in europe - along with cotton knits and light weight silks. All can be rolled and easily packed and wrinkles steam out in the bathroom.

I do find it's a lot easier if I iron my linen clothes, using a spray starch, before packing them - then they just need at most a very quick going over when away. I don't bother ironing anything else until I'm there.

You can make your own wrinkle reducer using fabric softener. We pack a 3 ounce bottle of fabric softener and a small spray bottle. Put about a teaspoon or so in the spray bottle, fill with water and spray whatever clothes you have that are wrinkled. Not only does this freshen your clothes, the wrinkles fall right out.

I love linen and travel often with it. If you don't want to bother with ironing or bringing wrinkle potions (I don't), just hang the stuff in the bathroom, turn on the shower hot for a few minutes, and poof! wrinkles disappear. Most good linen these days doesn't wrinkle much anyway.

If you haven't come across it here's a bit I wrote about linen......

http://www.fodors.com/community/trav...-for-linen.cfm

BTW - if you check out any fashion mag - you'll see that wrinkles are part of the linen appeal.
I can't think of anything more philistine or suburban than someone in a "stay-press" pair of slacks. They probably wear black socks with sandals too!!!!

Good tip about de-wrinkling though.
I find that lightweight linen dries really quick here in Thailand and for casual stuff I occasionally just drip dry.
In Thailand of course getting ironing done is incredibly cheap too.

<i>"if you check out any fashion mag - you'll see that wrinkles are part of the linen appeal"</i>

Fashion magazines don't show plus-size women wearing linen, who have been sweating and sitting for an hour on a packed Eurostar. The common problem with linen: depending on how you use it/wear it, the wrinkling process is not that easy to control (unless you're slender). And if your hips are wide and your derriere robust, the more fabric, the bigger the mess.

<i>"I can't think of anything more philistine or suburban than someone in a "stay-press" pair of slacks."</i>

I would say starched jeans are a no-no. Frankly, anything starched. Any clothing designer will tell you, starch and fabric softener are your enemy. But, generally speaking, I prefer my good fabrics to be as wrinkle free as possible. I can forgive linen but, it the wrinkles interfere with the shape and design, I will get out the steamer.

I don't think there's anything "philistine or suburban" about respecting the beauty of fabric and loving the shape and design of quality clothing.

Some people dress for convenience while other people dress for the love of fashion. To each her own.

foodsnob - I think that you've missed a few points in my post there. I think you should take a look at the bit on linen I wrote a while back - follow the link above.

In the years since I started this thread (2008) I have learned to "hand press" or smooth out linen from the washer and hang it to dry on a rack. Works just fine. And it's so much cooler in hot climates than many other fabrics.