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Sanya V. Jain has spent the better part of her career moving between the worlds of design and spirits. A graduate of Parsons School of Design in New York and Central Saint Martins in London, she launched SVJ Bags in 2012 before co-founding Smoke Lab Vodka with her husband Varun Jain in 2019 — India's first premium vodka, distilled from locally sourced basmati rice and Himalayan spring water by NV Group, one of India's largest spirits conglomerates. Now present across 20 US states and growing internationally, Smoke Lab has since expanded into a lifestyle platform. Sanya leads its fashion arm, Smokewear, as creative director — a label built around gender neutrality, sustainability, and collaborations with Indian designers including Lovebirds Studios and PRXKHXR Streetwear.
Between brand commitments, events, and school runs — she is also a soccer mum — she is rarely not in transit. Over the years, her carry-on has been edited down with the same precision she applies to everything else. "Comfort is essential," she says, "but I also love pieces that make travel feel effortless and put-together." What follows is her list, offered with the caveat that it is intentionally specific. These are the items she never leaves home without.
Jain's airport outfit centres on the Loro Piana Traveller Jacket — first introduced in 2007 and now one of the Italian house's most recognisable travel pieces. Built from Windmate, Loro Piana's proprietary blend of microfibre and cashmere treated with Storm System for waterproof, wind-resistant protection, it is lightweight, crease-resistant, and structured enough to wear straight off a flight. Paired with frame jeans, Hermès Bouncing sneakers — the maison's rubber-soled leather lace-up — and socks, which she maintains are an absolute travel essential. For longer journeys, she reaches for a Varley tracksuit, the London-founded activewear label that has built a following for its elevated approach to comfort dressing.
Jain travels with either a Rimowa carry-on — the German luggage house founded in Cologne in 1898 and known for its grooved aluminium and polycarbonate shells — or Hermès, never without her oversized Hermès Kelly and a Goyard tote alongside. The Kelly, originally designed as a saddlebag in the 1930s and renamed after Grace Kelly in 1977, remains one of the most enduring pieces in luxury travel. The Goyard tote, hand-painted in the maison's signature Goyardine pattern at its Paris atelier, is a perennial choice for its lightness and capacity. Hydration is equally considered: Smoke Lab water cans travel with her everywhere. Face masks when flying are, she says, non-negotiable.
Flights, for Jain, are among the few windows she gets to properly switch off. The Wi-Fi stays off. Her current read is There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak, the Turkish-British novelist whose latest novel traces the journey of a water droplet across centuries and continents. She travels with both AirPods and a wired pair of headphones. "The wired pair," she notes, "is an essential backup I always end up appreciating."
The most-used section of her carry-on. The Gucci Glow Face Mist and Clé de Peau Beauté Concealer — the Japanese luxury skincare brand under Shiseido Group, long regarded for its skin-like precision — sit alongside Dolce & Gabbana Mascara and the Westman Atelier blush and highlighter stick, the clean beauty line founded by make-up artist Gucci Westman, for touch-ups before landing. The Valmont Prime Renewing Pack is what she calls her secret weapon for reviving tired skin after a long flight — the Swiss skincare brand's worldwide best-seller, first introduced in 1984 at the Valmont Clinic on the shores of Lake Geneva, now known for its ability to visibly erase signs of fatigue within minutes. A La Mer Lip Balm is a constant. Korean skincare accounts for the rest: the Medicube Booster Pro, a micro-needling device from the Seoul-based brand; Dr. Melaxin eye patches; and Augustinus Bader rich eye cream, the German biomedical scientist's Cell-TEC formula. Melatonin gummies round it out for time zone crossings.
The ISDIN sunscreen stick — from the Spanish dermocosmetics brand founded in Barcelona in 1975 and now one of Europe's most trusted names in photoprotection — is always in her bag for easy reapplication. Davines dry shampoo, from the Italian professional haircare brand based in Parma and known for its sustainability programme, is a fixture when moving between destinations or after time outdoors. A few mini Smoke Lab Vodka bottles make the cut every time. Distilled five times from basmati rice and Himalayan spring water, the Aniseed variant — inspired by the subcontinent's long tradition of aniseed in food and drink — is her personal favourite for unwinding after a long journey.
Swimwear from Eres — the Parisian house founded in 1968, now owned by Chanel, and known for its architectural cuts — and Dolce & Gabbana for warm-weather destinations. Silk kaftans from Pucci, the Florentine house synonymous with its kaleidoscopic prints, and Hermès for easy resort dressing. Gianvito Rossi leather sandals are a suitcase constant — the Milan-based shoemaker whose footwear is handcrafted in his family's factory in San Mauro Pascoli — alongside Saint Laurent wedge heels that carry her from day to evening. Her Olympia Le-Tan book clutch — the Paris-based designer known for her embroidered, book-shaped minaudières produced in limited editions — is, she says, the perfect finishing touch to any holiday look.
Oversized sunglasses, always. "I like to say, go big or go home," she says. Her preference is Jacques Marie Mage — the Los Angeles-based luxury eyewear house founded by Jerome Mage, known for its hand-crafted acetate frames produced in limited runs and inspired by cinema and counterculture. Statement earrings from Alaïa travel with her too. An easy way, she notes, to elevate a look without surrendering suitcase space.
Safanad by Parfums de Marly — the French perfume house founded in 2009 by Julien Sprecher, inspired by the stables of Versailles and the grooming rituals of the French royal court — is a constant in her luggage. Alongside it, Byredo Hair Perfume from the Stockholm-based house founded by Ben Gorham in 2006, designed specifically for hair rather than skin. "There is something about a familiar scent," she says, "that instantly makes me feel put-together, wherever I am in the world."
Plan ahead — that is the edit in full. Anything that creases goes into Muji garment bags, the Japanese brand's no-frills travel organisers. Complete outfits are packed rather than individual pieces. "It saves time, avoids overpacking," she says, "and means I can be ready in minutes on arrival."