I Just Spent a Month Living in Paris—8 Things in My NYC Wardrobe I'm Donating

Living in Paris for a month was a life (and style)-changing experience. Paris is known for its fashion, and everywhere I went, I saw stylish individuals who inspired me. At least once a day, I passed someone on the street and wished I could ask them to stop so I could take a picture. Basically, I was living in a real-life Pinterest board. So, you'd think I'd come home with the desire to purchase more and more clothes, but living in Paris had quite the opposite effect on me.

I've returned back home to my New York City apartment, and every crevice and corner of my small space is stuffed with clothes, shoes, bikinis, and coats. I'm grateful for my amazing wardrobe, but if I'm being honest, many of the trendy pieces no longer speak to me after spending time in Paris. When I began to unpack, I immediately realized that over the past few years, I had accumulated a lot of clothes that I simply do not need.

I am planning on hosting a lot this summer and want to have a clean apartment to do it in. With a lot of tough love and emotional support from my friends who sat with me as I sifted through things, I decided to clear out my wardrobe. The donation bins are filling up, and I'm the proud owner of my first-ever storage unit. Below, find the 8 things I immediately dropped frommy wardrobe after living in Paris for a month.

donate: impulse logomania purchases

keep: elevated staples that I'll wear until the end of time

I'll admit it. I bought into the designer logo tank top trend, and high-key, I regret it. Simply because I'm already over it, and it's been less than a year. I like my designer purchases to live in my wardrobe for at least a decade, so watching myself lose interest in something so quickly made me decide not to fall for that impulse purchase again. It pained me, but I donated a few designer items with flashy logos to make room for more luxury wardrobe staples that I can wear forever.

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donate: shoulder pad t-shirts

keep: '90s inspired minimalist tanks

T-shirt trends are always so easy to buy into since they aren't too expensive. I'm quick to shop them. I remember how excited I was about the shoulder pad t-shirt trend, and I also bought into some asymmetrical options over the years. At this point, I've collected one too many of these trendy buys, so I decided to say goodbye to a few of them. In Paris, no matter how cold it was, people loved layering up a '90s-inspired tank top. I'm doubling down on that part of my closet and avoiding trends.

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donate: tiny sunglasses

keep: oversized styles

I went hard for the tiny sunglasses trend. My sunglasses rack is an area of my closet that I often overlook during a cleanout, but taking a closer look at it this time around, I realized that I was a fool to never shift through it. It was getting cluttered with styles that were either broken or that I simply never wear. One of the trends that I'm saying goodbye to, especially after witnessing the way people accessorize in Paris, is oversized sunglasses.

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donate: duplicate items

keep: the one item that is higher quality than the rest

Do I really need five seemingly identical white button-downs? When asking myself this question, I had to remind myself that they aren't actually identical. Some of them are higher quality than the others. In order to make room in my closet for exploring fun pieces that I'm excited about wearing, I decided to donate one or two repetitive items. This will actually be really good for my personal style because it's an opportunity to wear my high-quality items more often.

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donate: flashy prints

keep: pinstripes

Print trends come and go. This closet cleanout led me to believe that many of the prints I’ve bought into in the past have already lost my interest. While I donated outdated graphic prints, tie-dye t-shirts, and overpowering florals, pinstripes seemed to stick with me. If you enjoy statement dressing and wearing prints, try shopping for pinstripes. I guarantee that you'll hold onto them much longer.

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donate: chunky jewelry

keep: minimalist layering pieces

New Yorkers love their trendy costume jewelry. We layer and layer up on gold chains, chunky rings, and statement earrings. I was on a jewelry high before I left for Paris, but upon returning, I started to strip down to my roots. Growing up, I always wore the same necklace every day, simple studs, and maybe one or two rings. I still have a love for jewelry, but now I'm more interested in shopping for high-quality pieces.

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donate: cropped pants and jeans

keep: wide-leg styles

I feel like cropped pants and jeans make me look shorter, and I didn't see anyone wearing them in Paris. I took it upon myself to get rid of this item in favor of the wide-leg jeans that everyone was wearing. French people also loved straight-leg jeans, but right now I can't stop thinking about wide-leg styles.

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donate: skin-baring dresses

keep: modest cuts that are insanely flattering

A lot of revealing dresses fill my closet. There was a time when I enjoyed going to the club every weekend, and I kept some of these dresses for sentimental reasons. However, memories can be better preserved through photographs, so I decided it was time to say goodbye to these dresses. Sometimes, more modest styles can be even more alluring. The dresses below demonstrate my point.

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