How Fashion Editor and Stylist Mui-Hai Chu Packs for Fashion Month

Fashion month is a taxing endeavor even just for those who are watching on from their laptops. But for those editors, writers, and other attendees who travel for the international shows, it’s an ultra-marathon of catching flights, racing to shows (often in high-heels), and jockeying for seats. 

Nobody knows this better than Mui-Hai Chu. The veteran Flaunt Magazine editor regularly completes the full four-week circuit. For her ninth season (or, at least, she thinks it’s her ninth), Chu attended New York and Paris Fashion Weeks, enjoying the likes of Dior, Saint Laurent, Miu Miu, Loewe, Rick Owens, and Coach with her own two eyes. Chu is also a stylist, primarily for men. During New York Fashion Week, she dressed VMA-winning Nigerian rapper Rema for the MTV-hosted awards, and during Paris Fashion Week she styled YG for the Balenciaga and Casa Blanca shows.

Between packing pieces from her eccentric wardrobe (which regularly earns her a spot on Phil Oh’s fashion month roundup), and looks for her growing roster of clients, Chu has her work cut out for her in the packing department. Still, she tries to put sustainability and re-wearability at the forefront of her wardrobe: “I typically only bring one or two handbags at most. I wear the same few pair of shoes for a year because if I’m really into something, I base looks off of it,” she says. “I repeat items of clothing season after season, and a lot of the pieces I wear are vintage. I think it’s important to promote wearing the same thing but styled differently and to only buy and wear things you truly believe in and could commit to for a decade, or even—ideally—a lifetime.”

Below, she shares her packing list, traveling tips, and photos from her whirlwind fashion month. 

What is your hero product when you travel for fashion month?

A little bit outside of the fashion box, but my portable speaker! Gotta keep vibes high, and it’s Sexyy Red, Ice Spice, Asake, 070 Shake, Rema, YG, and Frank Ocean on repeat. But for a fashion product, I would say my earrings. I feel like I am known for my big, icy earrings. Except this time, I literally forgot my bag that had all of them and I didn’t have time to shop for new ones, somehow. So, it was interesting to get dressed without something that I’ve always considered clutch. But, perhaps a nice reminder that confidence and a good fit do not revolve around anything except one thing: yourself. Clothes and accessories don’t make you the one. It’s been you all along. More people need to remember that.