My Paris Packing List

What I tried, what I wore, and what I'd change

woman on the street of paris france

When I started out packing for Paris I thought I’d experiment with the Sudoku Method of packing, which is, laying out three rows of clothing strategically (top row: top, bottom, layer, middle row: bottom, layer, top, bottom row: layer, top, bottom) in hopes of creating a ton of outfits with as few pieces as possible (seen below…) Then you can expand on that by using the corners to build additional outfits with a layer top and bottom.

jeans, jackets, t shirt folded on a carpet

Now in theory I very much like the idea of minimal packing, since we all know I love to pack just a carry on when I travel and think that this “packing trend” could really be useful. But here’s what I found.

The picture above is what I actually packed but if I use the Sudoku method then, let’s say I try the denim jeans in the bottom right corner, my Reformation Barrel Jeans. I would then pair it with the cream top above it and the super cropped black denim jacket or the striped top (as a layer). But where I ran into a problem was that the denim jacket silhouette and color didn’t work with the jeans and I wouldn’t have used the cropped button up as a layer.

Then, if I tried my favorite black and green striped bottoms from Beyond Nine (middle row, left), I could pair it with my black shirt and black denim jacket but it wouldn’t go with the striped shirt and brown cardigan.

My conclusion was, there were too many prints and color directions and the silhouettes of the shirt and layers didn’t always work with the shapes of the jeans.

women in front of a building in Paris France

Experimenting with the Sudoku Packing Method

Here’s my take and here’s what I think would work for packing using the Sudoku Method.

  • It works for people who don’t want to go too much outside of the box, who want to stick to a color palette that’s really minimal. (But I didn’t want to do that this trip, so it didn’t work for me.)

  • It works better if you don’t use a lot of prints. (A third of my pieces had prints.)

  • It also is good if you have simple silhouettes. (I had oversized, cropped, barrel, and some classic pieces, I wanted to be able to play a little more with my clothes.)

I think overall, the concept is good, but I think that I need to “play” a bit more both with my style and with the Sudoku Method to see if I can blend my style with that method.

In the end, I reverted back to my way of using my Outfit Planning Method. I use this so I can take one bottom and try it with two tops and a layer, in real time, taking photos of my outfits as I go. This helps me decide what feels the most easy to style and what feels like it’s “not working”. (You can watch my process here). So it’s similar to the Sudoku Method in that you’re really trying to minimize your packing list and maximize your wears. In the end, here is my list of pieces I packed and my outfits by day.

It’s all linked here on ShopMy.

Paris Spring Packing List, my list for my carry on:

3 Bottoms

  • 3 Layers

  • 1 Sweater (for both top & layer options)

  • 4 tops (lightweight neutrals to go with all bottoms) *packed 2 more additional

  • 3 shoes

  • Accessories: a belt, my heart necklaces, 2 bags

What Worked

The bottoms, they are my workhorses and I was super happy with the combo of printed pants and jeans. They made my outfits feel cool, truly like “me”, and I wore them multiple times each. Definitely nailed the bottoms. Each option worked super well with all my neutral tops

What Would I Change

Next time, I’d swap out my denim jacket layer, red mary janes, maybe the striped button down. Here’s why:

  1. I did not wear the red mary janes nearly enough. Having not traveled with them before, they were not as comfortable as they are walking around San Diego. My Freda’s which I take ON EVERY TRIP, are so broken in and comfortable, that I depend on those and they worked so well. I would have either swapped for my animal print mary janes or my loafers next time.

  2. I love my oversized denim jacket so much and while it worked with my animal print pants, I didn’t wear this nearly enough. It was a bit too heavy and ended up finding a cool green silky blazer when I was shopping secondhand and wore that a lot instead.*

*Side note. I took an additional small carry on bag and checked it because I knew that we were going to do some secondhand shopping while we were there. So I was prepared to purchase pieces and I did. I bought a pair of barrel shaped parachute style pants from Mist (which were on my “list”) and a green silky blazer from Tibi secondhand at the secondhand shop Bobbi.

  1. Striped button down I did wear and enjoyed but found it didn’t work with my printed pants, so I only got one wear out of it. That’s okay but it was a bit limiting. It was a great base with jeans and the green blazer was awesome with it. Overall, it didn’t take up a lot of space, so I didn’t lose any sleep over it!

I’d love to hear what you think about this trending “Sudoku Packing Method” and if you’ve tried it, how it worked/didn’t for you. I do rely always on my trusty Outfit Planning Method (you can download my free guide right here) but I’ll continue to try to experiment with the idea of the Sudoku Method. xx, Conni

Conni Jespersen