How do I pack one bag for a week in Paris?
Two colours, three shoes at most, one coat, and everything in the bag must work with everything else in the bag. If a piece has one partner, it stays home.
One-bag travel is not about compression cubes. It is about a closed colour system: choose a base (navy, charcoal, or camel) and one accent, and refuse everything outside it.
Paris in particular rewards a small, repeated wardrobe. The city is walked, not driven, and the local style vocabulary is deliberately narrow.
The edit
One tailored coat that covers dinner and daytime
A wool overcoat or a fine trench. It is the only outerwear you will bring, so it must be the good one.
Three pairs of shoes: a walking shoe, a leather loafer, an evening option
Worn, not new. Ten thousand steps a day is the Paris average and blisters end trips.
Five tops, two bottoms, one dress or one jacket
Fine merino and cotton poplin over anything that needs pressing. Everything must combine with everything.
A flat evening clutch that folds into the day bag
The one accessory worth its space — restaurants in Paris skew dressier than the equivalents at home.
A silk scarf
Genuinely the highest ratio of transformation to volume in the bag, and the local dialect.
The skip
Skip the 'just in case' outfit, skip the second coat, skip the gym clothes you will not use, and skip full-size toiletries — Monoprix is on every other corner.
Leave a third of the bag empty. You are going to Paris; something is coming home with you, and planning for it is part of the pleasure.