A Multi-Tasking Travel Dress for Summer

There's a 95 percent chance Senior Editor Christine Sarkis is thinking about travel right now. Follow her on Instagram @postcartography and Twitter @ChristineSarkis.

Christine Sarkis is an SATW-award-winning journalist and executive editor at SmarterTravel. Her stories have also appeared on USA Today, Conde Nast Traveler, Huffington Post, and Business Insider. Her advice has been featured in dozens of print and online publications including The New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, and People magazine. She has also shared travel tips on television and radio shows including Good Morning America, Marketplace, and Here & Now. Her work has been published in the anthologies Spain from a Backpack and The Best Women's Travel Writing 2008. She is currently working on a travel memoir.

The Handy Item I Always Pack: The Trtl Pillow. It's easy to pack and comfortable, and makes it so I can actually sleep on flights.

Ultimate Bucket List Experience: Seeing the Aurora Borealis from the comfort of somewhere warm, like a glass igloo or hot spring.

Travel Motto: Curiosity is an amazing compass.

Aisle, Window, or Middle Seat: Aisle all the way.

Email Christine Sarkis at editor@smartertravel.com.

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A great travel dress has a big job to do: it has to be comfortable, easy to wash, adaptable for a variety of travel situations—and of course, it should be flattering. So to say that my expectations were merely high when I packed Toad&Co’s Zeta Dress for a recent beach vacation is an understatement.

Happily, the Zeta Dress delivered. At the beach it offered just the right amount of sun-conscious coverage while still being short enough to stay clear while I was wading with kids. It was comfortable enough to hike in, and stylish enough to accompany me out to dinner.

Price and Where to Buy It: $60 (on sale) or $82 (regular price) on Toad&Co’s website.

How it Rates:

Usefulness: 10/10. It’s comfortable, flattering, and easy to wash. It can also pull off a day-to-night switcheroo with the addition of some more formal shoes and jewelry.
Value: 9/10. This well-made dress is a classic; its ability to work well across a variety of warm climate scenarios (city, beach, and even hiking) makes it a multi-tasking powerhouse.
Portability: 7/10. The cotton fabric is somewhat prone to wrinkles if you don’t pack it carefully and hang it upon arrival.
Cool Factor: 10/10. In the city and at the beach, this dress is a head-turner, garnering compliments from women, men, and even a fashion-forward child.

Final Verdict: This is a dress made for vacationing. For warm-weather travel, it’s a true multi-tasker, equally ready for the great outdoors and city adventures. Its combination of comfort and style makes it a rare find, and a gift to light-packing fashionistas everywhere.

Editor’s Note: Reviews are based on usefulness, portability, durability, value, and “cool factor.” Some review products are sent to us free of charge and with no incentive to offer a favorable review. We offer our unbiased opinions, positive and negative, and will never accept compensation to review a product. If you have any questions or comments concerning our reviews, or would like to suggest a product for review, please email us at editor@smartertravel.com.

We hand-pick everything we recommend and select items through testing and reviews. Some products are sent to us free of charge with no incentive to offer a favorable review. We offer our unbiased opinions and do not accept compensation to review products. All items are in stock and prices are accurate at the time of publication. If you buy something through our links, we may earn a commission.