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What I Packed for Nine Days in France
From Paris to Bordeaux, here’s what I packed for my summer travels.
A few weeks ago, I took a trip to my birth country, France, where my best friend was getting married. Since my parents were attending the wedding as well, we decided to take a trip down memory lane and visit some of the places in France that we love.
The itinerary was nine days: three nights in Paris, where we lived, three nights in Aix-en-Provence, where I studied, and three nights in Bordeaux, where the wedding was taking place.
This felt like packing for three completely different occasions: Paris is Paris, and I had every intention of dressing like the Parisian I once was; Aix-en-Provence is, by contrast, much more relaxed; and lastly, Bordeaux required a whole wedding-weekend outfit—from the wine tasting in a wine cave the night before to the actual wedding, where I would be giving a toast.
Alas, here is what I ended up wearing. I’m including some of our favorite spots that I hope you earmark for your next trip to this wonderful country!
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A beautiful hamachi and peach dish at Autumne.
For dinner out in Paris, I paired the Katrina top with the Lani pant (this was a sample and is therefore 2” longer than the actual pant). Dinner was at Autumne, a Michelin-starred Japanese-inspired French restaurant run by our friends-of-friends chef Nobuyuki Akishige and Arnaud Donckele. Merveilleux!
For a day walking around the streets of Paris, I paired the Jett tank with the Bia pant. This is my go-to look even when I’m in New York, and it travels beautifully. And believe it or not, I ran into an M.M. customer while I was there! She came up to me while we were both enjoying cocktails at Les Éditeurs, one of my favorite cafés (which is apparently fashion influencer Meghan Donovan’s as well), and voilá, a friendship was born.
I consider myself a pastry fiend and have literally created a map of Paris earmarked with bakeries. This was a pain au chocolat at a lovely old bistro in Montmartre. For my outfit, I wore the Annika tee in my favorite new print with my trusty Daria jeans.
Racine, a Sardinian-inspired restaurant in Paris.
We had dinner at a Sardinian-inspired restaurant by the name of Racine, located inside Passage des Panoramas, the oldest covered street in Paris. The food is delicious, but it is worth being there just for the atmosphere. It will make you feel like you’re dining in the 1800s!
Me in my favorite dress of the summer, Fina. We stayed at Villa Saint Ange in Aix-en-Provence, which is five minutes from the town center and one of my most favorite hotels in the world. A lot of people like to stay in one of the smaller Provencal towns when they travel there (à la Peter Mayle in A Year in Provence), but I prefer the college-town vibe of Aix and traveling to all the beautiful villages around it.
The streets of Aix-en-Provence. It’s the most walkable village, with food markets galore and fabulous shopping.
The beautiful town of Gordes, which is only an hour away!
Shrimp by the sea.
The coastal city of Marseille is also only 25 min from Aix. After lunch at Le Petit Nice right on the water, my husband and I jumped into the Mediterranean for a post-lunch swim. Here I am in THE swimsuit of the summer: the M.M.LaFleur x Andie Amalfi one-piece.
The lavender in Provence is magical.
For a dinner out in Provence, I went with the Estela dress. I still cannot get over the gorgeousness of this hummingbird print, which Miyako discovered in “The Archives,” the print library at the Met Museum in New York.
Finalement, Bordeaux! Here I am sipping wine with my little sister at Chateau Lagorce the night before my best friend’s wedding. I paired the Roo vest with the Lani pant (also worn in Paris).
Night of the wedding. Here I am making my speech in the Martina, a dress I have worn to literally every fundraiser and wedding this summer.
With my fam. It was a wonderful night to remember—the five of us hadn’t been together in one place since pre-Covid!
