I trip in flats. Always. At least once while wearing. Little known, dumb tidbits about your friend Heather. Anyway, I'm finally back from a long trip abroad for business and wanted to share some thoughts and pictures with you.
First, I have to be honest, though I truly wanted to be grateful and excited about this trip, I wasn't really. I knew there was a lot of work to be done, and in the end we had to divide and conquer, agree on broad messages, and communicate those messages to the sourcing office and vendors we were to see in China. Sounds easier than it was, primarily because we had yet to sort out areas of responsibilities.
Without going into the details of the work, we started out in Paris, which as it turned out was nicely directional for us: we found some strong ideas, and set some of the most important looks for each brand. The weather was amazing, in the 70's, and we travelled in large-ish groups from store to store in various areas. Dinner was lovely - with the whole group the first night in a little place near Collette on rue Saint-Honore. And the following night I brought our VP of Trend, Arlene Goldstein, to La Fermette Marbeuf, which is known for it's art nouveau style decor and interior. C'est Si Bon!
From there, we went to Barcelona, which was humid and warm, but produced some of the most inspiration of the trip. Hip girls on the streets were wearing an urban, updated version of the reviled 80's hammer pant, and I was surprised to become romanced by it's renaissance. I even picked up a black knit version from Zara for myself, which turned out to be the perfect traveling pant paired with my black silk petal sleeve tunic. The silhouette was intrigueing and easy to wear. Actually, they remind me more of Paul Poiret's harem pants from early 20th century, than the formally referenced rap artist.
Next stop was London, where we explored most of the typical shopping haunts, and included the Portobella Market whilst there. The picture included to the right doesn't even attempt to capture the buzzing activity the market creates for locals and tourists alike. We also found an amazing antique jewelry boutique which, of course, was insanely overpriced, so nothing was bought there... just admired.
And our last European city was Amsterdam. Now, while I've technically been there before, it was at the time, brief and limited. This time, though, I was able to create a relationship with the city.
I'll explain.
Whenever I find myself in a new area (city, neighborhood, or otherwise), I take moments to allow a connection to it in some way. This, I think, is the beginning of my relationship to a place. And my connection with Amsterdam was immediate and penetrating. The canals, the locals on bikes, the beautiful buildings - it's a multi-faceted city. A perfect nest for "creatives".
I didn't want to leave Amsterdam. And no, I didn't partake in any of the unscrupulous activites the town is known for.
With all our inspiration samples and ideas, we took off to Hong Kong. Not sure what your conceptions of China's top city are, but I didn't expect it to resemble an American city nearly as much as it did to me. I would describe the landscape (in my VERY limited exposure) to five or six New York Cities with some Las Vegas thrown in. I regret that I wasn't able to explore much than a mile beyond the hotel we stayed at, which was right on the Kowloon waterfront, on the harbor.
One of my favorite experiences during the whole trip was a dinner with Caroline (the men's designer) at the InterContinental. We sipped French Martini's (hiiiighly recommend) and listened to an awesome band/singer for hours. The dessert... bigger than my head, and soooo decadent. A flaming chocolate cone filled with Bailey's soaked cake, chocolate chunks and vanilla bean ice-cream. Loved it.
A colleague of mine, booked a hair cut for me while she was booking her own appointments with Tracy at the Shangri-La's spa. She ended up taking off much more than I wanted her to, but it is a fabulous cut, and watching her work was fascinating in itself. She reminded me of Edward Scissorhands with her intense attention to every piece of hair on my head, and her architectural execution of the cutting and layering.
The hotel we stayed at had incredible service, and is pictured to the left as well.
Despite all of this, leaving Hong Kong was easy. I knew I'd be back, and at this point in the trip, I was very ready to return home. My first flight was around 11 hours from HK to San Francisco.
When I returned home, so eager to see my babies, Hogan was limping off of his right back leg and Cagney had two blisters on either side of her mouth. I'm obviously concerned about both so I'm lucky to have the day off (working from home) tomorrow so I'll take them in to the vet once again.
Grateful to be home and looking forward to a looong nap this afternoon, but wanted to get this out asap as I haven't touched base with anyone yet. Love and hugs to you all.
1 comment:
Dude, I love your Hong Kong hair. Looking forward to hearing more about your trip!
~F
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