“The best thing about traveling is the experience—learning about other cultures, food, languages,” says Mayowa Nicholas. The Nigerian model, who shows off some of Ralph Lauren’s chicest Spring 2018 looks in the wanderlust-y video above, knows a thing or two about travel. Since winning Elite’s Model Look competition in her home country in 2014, she’s made her way around the world and back, walking in major runway shows from Paris to Milan. “But for vacation, I really love tropical places—or maybe somewhere with a mountain view,” she says. Places like Malibu, Cap d’Antibes, and Capri, perhaps?
But jetting off for a bit of R&R between a jam-packed work schedule isn’t easy for any of us—let alone a busy model on the rise. That’s why Nicholas has mastered the art of playing the carefree wanderer, whether she’s on vacation or not. Her secret? Plenty of imagination—and a killer wardrobe, of course. “I’ve been told I should travel light,” she says with a laugh. “But it never works for me. I always make sure that I have everything with me—even things I might not need. I just like to have all my stuff with me.”
In the case of Nicholas’s “around-the-world” jaunt above (which—thanks to gorgeous, larger-than-life postcards hand-painted by Victor Ving and Lisa Beggs of the traveling mural project Greetings Tour—was accomplished without ever actually leaving Brooklyn), the ideal jet-set wardrobe consists of eye-catching Ralph Lauren Collection pieces that convey a playful, freewheeling attitude: a full-length skirt with an oversize paper bag–waist tie; a vivid red turtleneck sweater and a floaty pleated skirt; wide-leg tuxedo pants crisply accented with a blue stripe; and sleek white boots inlaid with a whimsical, primary-hued design. In short, the kind of expressive-yet-easy pieces that seem to say “sun-dappled getaway”—even when you’re just staying in your neighborhood.
