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The Big Island is very casual unless you are staying at one of the expensive fancy resorts, where you may need more than a tee shirt and shorts.
I would bring tee shirts, shorts, bathing suit, slippers (aka flip flops), sneakers if you plan to do any hiking, and a light sweater or jacket. Depending on where you are staying they may provide a beach towel, which will save you room in your suitcase. You also want to leave plenty of room for all of the Hawaiiana stuff that you are going to buy here.
Depending on where you go, you might need one long pair of pants and a fairly heavy jacket. If you go to the higher elevations, it can be too cold and nasty for a T-shirt and shorts. If you stay in a VRBO rental, you'll likely have your own washer and drier, so you won't need to bring too many sets of clothes. It's a good idea to bring the heavier clothes with you when you drive around the island, since you can easily go between radically different climate areas within a day. Don't forget umbrellas for when you go over to the rainy side of the island. It rarely rained when we were visiting the Hilo area.
Natural fibers wear better over here than synthetic fabrics, at least as far as comfort go.
Volcano you'll probably want a sweater/windbreaker and or raincoat. If you had a waterproof windbreaker that might solve the which one to pack dilemma.
Folks don't dress up much at all. For men, long shorts (aka "pants" to the mainland types) and aloha shirts pretty much cover almost any "dress up" event. Sometimes the guys will wear shoes, too, but slippers (flip flops) are standard footwear. Folks have nice slippers, though, and they are sort of formal, usually black or dark colors. Not bright flashy beach wear sort of slippers. Scott slippers are nice: https://scotthawaii.com/ For Aloha shirts, there's quite a few, although the nicer ones are expensive.
Women wear casual dresses or nicer shorts/slacks and shirts for dress up. Sandals work well. Tee shirts and shorts works for most everyone. Some of the younger crowd in Honolulu or in the heart of the resorts might dress up with heels and more bling, but that's not the usual style.
Although I did see some young women wearing sequined bikinis today. That's not all that typical, though. They'd also had tattoos on their okoles, which might be why the okole-floss bikinis.
There are clothing stores here as well as thrift shops and such, should you not pack enough, you could go buy one. What with the new baggage restrictions and also we are generally vacationing somewhere outside of our usual climate (and wardrobe) zone, we generally just go to a thrift shop in the area we are visiting and get the wardrobe we need there. After the vacation, we just drop it off there again and don't have to worry about dragging it along on airplanes or keeping it in a climate where we probably won't wear it again.
Volcano you'll probably want a sweater/windbreaker and or raincoat. If you had a waterproof windbreaker that might solve the which one to pack dilemma.
Indeed. Volcano is at nearly 4,000' altitude, and sits on a pressure ridge that concentrates the wind. In March the average daytime temperature is about 58 F, and can be below 50 at night. It's also the second rainiest month of the year. Bottom line, while it can be warm in the sun on a nice day, it can also be windy and cold and wet, so be prepared. Think layers, and think waterproof shell, and a hat. Peel them off when you get someplace warmer.
PS, my personal secret weapon is a Totes Titanium compact auto-open, auto-close umbrella. It's very small, but rugged, and it works just as well as a parasol in hot sun as it does to deal with sudden rain showers in Hilo.
No matter how long or short I vacation there I end up wearing bathing suits with t's and shorts over them. Always have to have my bathing on to take advantage of all the great beaches, don't want to pass them up. Rarely dress up, maybe for church or a fancy dinner. I always overpack and never wear half the stuff I bring. I end up shopping at night and buying fun new clothes there.
It depends on your lifestyle and how much you like to dress up.
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