When I travelled to Thailand last month, I had a slightly different packing challenge to usual: in London it was eight degrees (celsius) with cold drizzle; in Bangkok it was 30 degrees and balmy. 

Now I wouldn’t be outside in the UK that long on the way to the airport, but it would be long enough. And I didn’t want to be that guy walking to the airport wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a panama in winter. 

Another wrinkle was that I had less room in my suitcase than usual, because I was carrying stock to give to the guys at Decorum. I had to be even more efficient with my packing. 

In terms of occasions, I needed clothes to host an event for readers, something else smart for visits and dinners, and perhaps more relaxed clothes for a day off and travel. 

My first thought was to find some way to combine clothes for colder and warmer weather, but in similar colour palettes so everything was interchangeable. This would allow me to swap things during the journey, and create other combinations when the need arose. 

So I went with a white/black/olive colour combination, and the smart version of that (pictured above) was:

• PS olive linen overshirt
• Thom Sweeney cream knitted-cotton T-shirt
• Black linen trousers from Whitcomb & Shaftesbury 
• Black Piccadilly loafers from Edward Green

This was nice in the Thai heat (though it was, apparently, cool for the time of year) and did well for walking around shops and galleries, as well as for a couple of relatively casual dinners with the team. 

I would normally have worn Sagan shoes from Baudoin & Lange with this kind of outfit, but the Piccadilly loafers were able to bridge this outfit and my evening suit. 

Then there was a more casual and warmer option, in basically the same colours. This (pictured above) comprised:

The advantage of everything being interchangeable was seen at various points when I swapped the field jacket for the linen overshirt, for example, but kept everything else the same. And swapped the boat shoes for black loafers in the evening, so it was a little smarter. 

For travel from the UK, I wore this outfit but with a grey PS Cashmere Rugby underneath the field jacket. This was warm enough, and the Rugby was nice on the long flight. 

I also wore a PS watch cap (black) and an Arran scarf (charcoal), both of which could easily be removed once I was in the airport. Things that can be easily removed like this are the best for transitioning between temperatures. 

The Rugby, in the same way, was removed and hung around the shoulders once I arrived in Thailand. The field jacket was of course perfect for travel, with all its multifarious and poppered pockets. 

You can see these various pieces in the picture above – the standard one readers will now be used to of everything laid out on my bed. It’s useful for these articles, but it’s also how my brain works through the various combinations. 

The only change I made (there’s always one, always last minute) was taking the field jacket instead of the Anderson & Sheppard chore coat you can see here. This was the right choice I think – the A&S one was wool and would have been too hot, even if it would have been nice to have another colour to play with.

Oh, and the grey cashmere crewneck was swapped for the Rugby. The grey work shirt you can see at the top and the olive Dartmoor on the right were alternatives to wear with the brown suit.

The black alligator loafers (vintage Polo) were what I ended up wearing with that suit, but could also have been worn the other pairs of trousers. This is always a nice thing to have – if you’re tired and on your feet all day, it’s nice to be able to swap shoes in the evening, or avoid wearing the same shoes two days in a row.

The suit is a new one from Cifonelli in a superfine wool. I’ve never really had anything in a superfine, and indeed recommend against it for readers that are just starting out. But I decided to try this as an experiment.

I’ll cover it at a later date, when I’ve put it through its paces.

The other things pictured or shown on the bed are:

• Brown linen shirt from D’Avino
• Vintage gold-rolled Caravan sunglasses
• Clan Milano sunglasses, via Connolly
• Vintage silver navajo cuff
• White handkerchief from Trunk

In terms of bags I used my normal Rimowa check-in case and carried a Connolly 48-hour bag for the journey, which fits very pleasingly over the suitcase’s handle. 

Having deposited the linen overshirts with Decorum, I wore a super-soft old Big Mac denim shirt on the way home, having bought it at the vintage shop Wooden Submarine during our shopping trip on the Sunday. 

Nice to have the change, and nice to have the half-empty suitcase.

Thank you to the Decorum team for everything – the event we held, and my reflections on my short time in Thailand in general, have been covered here. 

The PS Linen Overshirts were with Decorum in Bangkok and are now in the Singapore store, to allow customers to pre-order them ahead of our delivery in March. Anyone local, do pop in and have a look.