NFL designer Kristin Juszczyk is a pro at knowing the best way to pack.
When it comes to strategically filling up her suitcase, Us turned to Juszczyk, 32 — who has everything a girl could want in her closet — for all the tips and tricks.
“What I loved so much about the Aruba Unpacked initiative is that it’s really simple, but it means so much,” she exclusively told Us of her partnership with Aruba Tourism Authority. “It’s all about having curated travel with you, so that you can experience more and worry less about everything. It’s so important for me to be able to know exactly what I’m doing and what I’m wearing for everything that I’m going to do.”
For her tropical getaway, Kristin, who is married to San Francisco 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk, explained that Aruba Unpacked “encourages travelers to pack with intention,” which is exactly what she did. Instead of folding everything she owns and bringing it with her — which she admitted to being her old method of packing — Kristin now only travels with enough outfits per day.
It all started with organization. First, she scans her wardrobe and pulls out pieces she wants to wear. Next, she ties them on, styles them and snaps a photo. “I put it in an album on my phone,” she said. “I just have to swipe through my phone, and I’m like, ‘OK, that’s what I’m gonna wear.’ I don’t have to like to go through my luggage and try to find a piece. It’s like the best travel hack.”
When she’s ready to put everything in her suitcase, Kristin “layers it day by day.”
“Meaning I’ll go through my itinerary and I’ll have exactly what I’m wearing that day, and it’s all on one layer, and then I continue that,” she told Us.
She’s also a big fan of rewearing pieces on vacations. “I always go through my itinerary piece by piece of what I’m wearing and how I could either take a piece and elevate it,” Kristin said. “For instance, there’s this really cool butterfly farm there, and I’m like, ‘Oh, this piece would be so great to wear there, and then I could just put heels with it and wear it out to dinner.’”
For her adventure, Kristin looked chic in a pair of sequin pants, which she wore to help attract the butterflies. “They’re really cool because they could be sheer, and you could wear them as a cover up, or you can pair it with heels,” she gushed. “I feel like how you accessorize something completely changes the look, and also just like where you’re going and changing around your hair and makeup can completely change the way the outfit looks, too. You can just change your hair and makeup, change your accessories, and you feel like a whole new woman.”
Kristin ended up getting even more use out of her favorite sequin pants than she was expecting. “I ended up wearing them like every single day,” she laughed. “They were so great for going to the beach. That was like my number one piece that I wasn’t expecting to wear every day, and it just so happened that it was like the piece that resonated with me the most.”
Normally, she’s not even a “sequin girl” but ended up taking something she already owned and giving it a new flair — just like what she does when creating custom pieces for herself, Taylor Swift, Brittany Mahomes and more stars during football seasons. “It’s important because you take things that are older and make it something new,” she said.
Other items that were her go-to’s during the trip including her Canon G7 X to snap Instagram-worthy pics, sunscreen, her red-light therapy mask and of course, bikinis. “I always bring my red light mask everywhere I go,” she noted. “That’s something that I really live by, just because I’m a very routine person and I don’t like to get myself thrown off on my routine.”
As for her time in Aruba, Kristin was able to fully “disconnect” and relax, which is “super important for [her] to do before going into football season.”
“Football season gets really hectic and really busy, so it’s just the most perfect place to go and to completely just unwind,” she told Us. “Luxury isn’t always about having more. It’s about the feeling of connecting to where you are and experiencing what you’re having, and it felt really perfect, especially heading into September when life is about to get really hectic.”
