To understand this post, I'd suggest to read the ones before this one. Or not. See it yourself.

Now that I've got a good image of what I want to wear, it's just a matter of putting it all together. And of course putting all the excess that isn't clothing together into a big bag *sigh*.

I never really leave the country for more than several hours, so I'm not a well trained packer. However, I've read so many "How to pack" blogposts that I've started to believe that I'm qualified for the job. Thus, to make this blogserie (serie being an overstatement) a real adventurous one, I've compiled my own "How to pack" blogpost, namely this one. Yay.

The main important thing is that you don't want to forget what's important, but you also don't want to bring stuff along that isn't going to be used. As stated in the previous post (sort of), you should first get a good picture of who, what, where, when, (why), how and temperature. These are indeed the keypoints one should account with. Hereby not only talking about clothes, but also about all the other stuff (like sunglasses or umbrella or high heels or flats or whatever).

I've noticed that I'm quite an over-packer (someone who packs more than needed) so to avoid a bad back, you can list everything you use on a daily basis. This list is going to be inducted into an elimination. This elimination has 3 points you have to account with. Are the things on your list 1) able to go with you in the first place 2) needed -is it luxury/luxury or needed/luxury- 3) something you really gotta have -like medicines, toothbrush etc-. Keep in mind, you're going to live on a minimum of your own stuff and on a maximum of someonelses stuff. However, don't compromise too much on the things that you really can't do without.

PRO-TIP: Go for the smaller version of everything. It's not only cute to look at, it also saves space in your suitcase. 



Before you put everything in your suitcase, compile the stuff that you want to have together. Think for instance of the clothes you're going to wear. Check before putting everything away that you've got the maximum for a minimum (clothes you can combine with eachother). I'm the kind of girl who wears every day something different. However when on the road it's impossible to bring your whole closet with you. So you should or could make outfits that are easy to combine with everything. The look I'm going for -Alexa Chung meets Morticia Addams meets Je ne sais quoi- is based upon the basics. This makes it easier to combine everything together to one big moshpit (without looking like someone who's inducted herself into a moshpit).

I'm bringing two bags with me: a suitcase and a day-to-day bag. First you could of course devide the stuff you want to bring with you into two piles (namely the suitcase pile and the day-to-day bag pile). You naturally can swift during your stay, but I'm going with a bus and there's no way I can change during the ride. So keep this in mind when you're packing.

PRO-TIP: Don't take anything with you that's breakable or fragile. Think of an alternative (for instance my foundation comes in a glass bottle, so I've chosen to take a bb-cream with me instead -which comes in a plastic tube-.

Try to keep everything organized and do things in a specific order so you won't loose your head running around like a crazy person (first clothes than school stuff than make-up or something like that). If needed you can make a list of everything that you've got to do and stripe it off one by one. You can even bring this list with you so you can check when you're leaving if you've forgotten anything.

Now, I guess, it's just a matter of actually heading your way to Paris (or any other location you're heading to. But this is called the French Files, so it ought to be somewhere in France... preferably Paris).

Love,
Dominique