The Editor Favorite Travel Wrap You Won't Leave Home Without
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Here at T&C, we pride ourselves on our discerning eye for quality. With Tried & True, our editors will give you an inside look at the pieces they simply cannot live without.
A debate of the tempest-in-a-tea-cup variety has long raged about scarves, shawls, and wraps. Are they accessories or necessities? Fashion flourishes or wardrobe fundamentals? In the famous 1350BC bust of Egypt's Queen Nefertiti, she sports beneath her tall, conical headdress a tightly woven piece of fabric, which is cited in some sources as the earliest recorded instance of scarf-wearing. We will never know if she considered it an additional decorative layer or a practical measure to prevent that magnificent head ornament from chafing. I love my several Hermes scarves. Would I reach for them them if, say, World War III were erupting (nothing like imagining apocalypse to focus the mind) and I had get out of town with only the bare necessities tossed into a single bag? No, I would not. But what would make the cut is my black White & Warren cashmere travel wrap. I bought my first one about 10 years ago. As T&C's travel editor, I travel a lot, and I never, ever, head to the airport—regardless of where I'm going—without it folded in my carry-on. And the wrap is not only indispensable to me for travel—I need it for life.
A hyperbolic statement, you might think. But not really. Here's why:
The wrap is huge—81" X 36." Really, it's an almost seven-foot-long blanket of seven-gauge, two-ply knit cashmere. I sleep under it on airplanes. Its softness and warmth transform even an economy class flight into a nearly pleasurable experience. I also swaddle myself in it on overly-air-conditioned buses, trains, cars (traveling or at home). I wrap it around myself in too-cold restaurants and movie theaters (or did, back when we frequented those).
Despite its size, the wrap is delightfully light. So light, in fact, that it scrunches into a smallish bundle and fits easily not just into carry-ons but into most medium-sized handbags. (So you can pretty much always have it with you.) For the same reason--its softness and lightness--it can be comfortably wound several times around your neck without feeling bulky; do that, and you're not trailing anything behind you.
The wrap can be dressed up or down. I've worn it slung over my shoulders with long evening gowns. I wear it with jeans and a T-shirt. I really like it with leather jackets. There is almost nothing it doesn't look good with, and it can pull many an outfit together.
The wrap is stunningly versatile. You'll find online White + Warren's helpful video demonstrations of the many different ways to wear it. There are at least 10, and each is both decorative and practical: the classic, the classic with a twist, the pretzel, the waterfall, the Gigi, the snood, the fling, the knot, the loop, and the hood (yes, it can also be worn over the head). If I'm traveling and packing light, the wrap can take the place of sweater, jacket, and hoodie.
What else? It doesn't, despite all that use, ever pill (a pet peeve). And because it's black, it doesn't, of course, show dirt. (And is hand-washable in cold water when needed--although I prefer the occasional dry-clean.)
The wrap also makes an excellent present. "Do you know what I bought for all my bridesmaids at my wedding?" a colleague said to me about a decade ago. "A black White + Warren cashmere travel wrap." (That's how I first found out about it.)
About the color: Black is my go-to for sheer practicality—that's why I recommend it here. But the wrap does in fact come in many colors. Some are White + Warren staples, others change with the seasons, and there seem to be fresh iterations of various delectable hues every few months--pearl white, neon daffodil, faded khaki, pink buds, washed teal heather, horizon.... That's the only downside: It is tempting—and not inexpensive—to start a collection. I've spent many an hour mentally debating a next purchase and have at times succumbed. But no need to go there.)
As for the black wrap, I'm on my second one. The first, after eight solid years of almost constant use, had not worn out. Two years ago, I lost it, and in a most improbable place: the Kharga oasis in Egypt's vast and remote Western Desert (next stop, Libya). I'd flown there from Cairo on a reporting trip and left it on a bus. It was not a happy day. What would I wear over my dress that evening back in Cairo? However would I endure my flight home? I felt like a toddler without her blankie. But over time, I grew to quite like the idea of my cashmere wrap giving whoever found it, man or woman, as much pleasure and comfort as it had given me. And perhaps, in that hard place of few luxuries, it is giving them even more.
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