Hey to all you lovely readers again, and welcome to the ninth Corporate Curves Report. The time has flown so quickly, and I still have plenty of blog ideas in store. This week I’ll be business traveling in style, inspired by my superb Graceship laptop bag that I received in the mail today. I needed to order all the way from across the big pond because I could not find any stylish purse-looking laptop bags anywhere on the European side of it! Here it is, inside: laptop, charger, portable speakerphone, headset, presentation remote, important papers, notebook, business cards, passport, mobile, camera, wallet, basic makeup bag and a water bottle – amazing!!!

GRACESHIP New York laptop purse.

GRACESHIP (click link to go to their website) is a Louisville-based company launched by Emily Gimmel in March 2012. The idea for the company formed while she was working as a television journalists and traveling between the coasts. She noticed the same thing I’ve been struggling with, carrying a purse and a laptop bag. On top of that – all the laptop bags are really made for men. Thank you Emily for this great idea, am totally giddy over having this bag and never having to use the ugly laptop bags again. Agree that just because a laptop bag is pink doesn’t make it feminine or purse replacement if it still looks like the same old laptop bag like the others. Here’s their stylish collection:

But on to traveling topic. Now that I can travel in style with my New York bag it eliminates the need for two bags but what to wear when flying? I’ll show you one of my favorite comfy flying outfits. First rule when I travel, no heels when flying. Second is no tailored clothes unless the flight is only a few hours long. On red-eye or cross-continental flights, I need to be able to sleep so I wear  stretchy and versatile clothes. Shoes need to be easy to kick off, and I always have wool socks in my bag for flying comfort. My coat must be long enough so that any bending or tiptoeing with the luggage wont show any parts of skin that isn’t supposed to be on show.  That type of coat also acts as a great blanket on the plane. And for the same reason I don’t like wearing skirts or dresses when I travel because it’s too much hassle to make sure the hem stays down when dealing with luggage! This is one of my favorite travel outfits:

Top Pepperberry slub jersey top from their sale 14R/SC, shorts H&M EUR size 42, ballerinas by Vagabond, tights by Norlyn, laptop purse by GRACESHIP.

The coat I wear with this ensemble is an old H&M thick jersey type trench with lining. Surprisingly, it fits me well despite being a button up coat. The laptop purse comes with a shoulder strap as well which is handy when traveling, easy to carry and frees my hands. It’s also easy to get things out of the bag while carrying it, which comes in handy at airports. The cross shoulder strap does often dig into the bust making it stick out a bit when you happen to have a bigger bust – I usually solve that by placing a scarf over the strap.

And if anyone was wondering what are the gadgets I listed that I carry in my purse, here are some of them:

Speakerphone, wireless headset and presentation remote.

Travel and security are a nuisance, but when signing up for a job that requires traveling, all you can do is make the best of it. Comfy and easy-to-pack capsule clothing + versatile luggage make travel just that much easier. So next time I take a business trip I know exactly which bags I’ll be taking with me–speaking of that, next time is in a few weeks so maybe we’ll be seeing a post on packing for business trips after that. 😉