I used to be the kind of person that traveled with a portable steamer (I like to plan my looks for a weekend away, okay?) But thanks to luggage fees, my personal item no longer has space for both a steamer and a weekend’s worth of clothes. So, I either keep my fingers crossed that wherever I’m staying has a steamer (or an iron) stowed under the sink, or lash my dress in the bathroom and keep the shower running, hoping that a hotbox of steam will ease those wrinkles out. Obviously my iPhone spies on me, because it started to show adverts with a convenient solution to my dilemma. You’ve probably seen those ads, too: a garment bag that doubles as a duffel — large enough to pack a weekend’s worth of clothes, and crucially, keep your garments freshly pressed. I’ve been writing about luggage for several years, and usually I avoid anything that looks so clearly like a teleshopping product — but with each sighting, I became more curious. Until I eventually gave in.
I decided I would test the bag’s non-wrinkling claims with the fiddliest garments of clothes that I own: a satin dress, a chiffon pleated shirt, and a silk blazer. This is how it works: The garment bag lies flat, with two circular flaps sewn to the bottom end that form the oblong ends of the duffel once it’s zipped up. (Laid out flat, the only way to describe the bag is unfortunately phallic looking.) Inside the garment bag, there’s a Velcro hanger loop, so you can loop your hangers inside, and then just hang up the whole bag when you arrive.
Garments safely stored, I carefully rolled the bag, zipping up the circular flaps until it formed a duffel. As well as my satin dress, shirt, and blazer, I placed about three days’ worth of clothes: some pajamas, a pair of jeans, a few tops, a denim skirt, and a pair of trainers. All packed, it was the size of a personal item (which airlines allow you to travel with for free). I have to say, the duffel itself sits at the basic end of convenient. There is a shoe pocket, and a small external pocket for flat essentials like a credit card or a passport. It also has a sleeve that can be stowed over a suitcase handle, if you’re traveling with a carry-on as well. But the duffel elements weren’t the allure of this bag, it was the promise of keeping my clothes wrinkle free. So I took my fully packed bag for an overnight stay at a friend’s house on the other side of London. During my tube journey, it got a real thrashing (both on purpose, so I could test if it would fall apart, and against my will, because commuting in London is hell).
As you might have guessed, to get to your garments, you have to fully unpack everything else that’s in the bag. I then hung it up to get to my items, and was pleased to see that my satin dress and chiffon skirt remained delightfully crease free. My silk blazer, on the other hand, had a massive crease through the front: This was entirely my fault, I must have neglected to entirely flatten it before packing, and any crease that’s there when you pack the bag will be very unforgiving. After traveling home the next day, I unpacked and found my garments with the same flat and unwrinkled appearance — besides the blazer. I made a mental note to be a little more thorough with laying each item flat before packing, now knowing (thanks to the shirt and dress) that it would be rewarded. I unzipped the bag, slipped it behind my headboard, and began to mentally plan my next unapologetically satin-y girls’-night-out look.
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