We were walking all over Paris a few weeks back, knowing fully well that the subway was probably faster but choosing instead to take a slower way around so we could stop at any cafe, bar, or shop that piqued our interest. I kept my wardrobe for this trip pretty chill—I overpacked in my last trip and have this painful memory of Nick carrying around my oversized suitcase around the old cobblestone Czech Republic and Amsterdam streets where elevators are not a thing.

After a lot of time road testing some of my favorite items in my closet I have a few things to say. Here goes:

The bag

The Boyy Bag Karl 24cm is my favorite bag on earth to travel with. It is impossible to get into so you know your things like passports and loose change are safe in it. You can wear it cross body, or on your shoulder, or carry it on the top handle like a chic modern lady bag. It’s roomy enough to fit more than you think, but small enough to still be appropriate for most dressy occasions. I use it for work, I use it for travel, and it is starting to show some wear so I think I’ve decided to get a new one when this one finally wears out completely. I bought mine for $700 when the bag just launched a few years back, using a heavy promo code strategy on Farfetch. Now, they are hard to get on a promo code so they will run around $1,000, but the benefit is that now Boyy has some new colors and configurations that are exciting updates to the Karl style.

The shoes

Okay, so the Everlane glove flats just came out a few months ago, but they are worthy of a spot on my list of things to say because they live up to their comfortable claims — as long as you break them in. They are like ballet slippers; they require work, lots of delicate pre-work to get them to a place where they become the most comfortable sock-slipper thing you want to put on your feet when you’re walking a bunch. Style-wise, they' are less like ballet slippers and more like the animated shoes they drew on Cinderella back in the day. They’re truly simple, and that is all you want sometimes when the rest of the outfit does most of the talking. I got mine in nude, which for me makes me look like I’m walking around barefoot — I love that. To break them in, stretch them out by hand a few days before to avoid the leather straining the life out of the tops of your feet. You really have to look after your pedicure with these shoes because even the shortest toeneails will begin to eat at the lining on the inside of the shoe as you walk. This is probably half my fault for having an aggressive gait (I guess?), but I also lay half the blame on the shoe and it’s too-soft liining. But thinking of the alternative — tougher shoe lining — would kind of defeat the point of a buttery soft leather glove shoe, so this whole argument nets to zero. Just remember this: to avoid your big toe nail from eating through the leather I suggest you reinforce the toe beds of the shoe with some sort of strong medical tape. I got a strong gauze from the pharmacy and lined the toe tips a few times. It takes a bit of time to get it to look seamless, but it works. Boom, solved.

The shoe runs true to size, although it is on the narrow side. You'll want to break them in before they get comfortable and reinforce the toe beds.