Ciao ciao, bella, bello…..erm….I’ve just got back from Italy innit! Apart from a slight sunburnt-eyes incident (no, I didn't know it was possible, but apparently it is...and it hurts!) it was glorious week of sun, sand and San Pelligrino. For me holidays are all about sunning, reading, eating and sleeping, and this one ticked all the boxes;
Sunbathed – 10 – 1; 3 -7 daily, for 7 days
Read – Grass stains by Kirsty Robinson (fabulous, touching, thought-provoking) and Glamorama by Bret Easton Ellis (witty, funny, fucking terrifying – now living in the freezer Joey from Friends stylee)
Ate – Too much. Honey filled (or integrated as the hotel translated it) wholemeal croissants, at least one custard-filled doughnut per day, pasta with meat, pasta with veg, pasta with fish, mammoth plates of salad, incredibly moreish fried herbs in batter and ice creams the size of my head (no word of a lie)
Slept – endlessly…
See - not lying! Dark chocolate and peach sorbet - best combo in the world (and trust me, I've tried a few)!
Mummy and Daddy G - how cool do they look! I only had to get them a little tipsy to agree to pose on this Disney-esque bench outside an arcade. Fave photo of the holiday though!
Style inspiration...Italians are known for their style, which I think is somewhat debatable, as if you ask me, the average Italian has no better idea of how to dress than the average anyone else. Having said that the over 60's are glamorous, stylish and sophisticated, so I decided to look to them for a style masterclass...
Va-va-voom indeed (or whatever the Italian equivalent is)! What's not to love here? '60's fluro-floral dress, loads of beads and bangles, leopard print trolley and crazy red hair (both of which I already posses), and tiny pooch...stop me if I'm wrong, but this is a good look!
So maybe my mum and I stalked this lady on the beach for 4 days....does that make us bad people?! It's no excuse, but she looked so good we just couldn't help it. There I was, beach wreck - looking like I may have been washed up in the last storm, and there she was, (in what I really really hope was) an original 1960's quilted yellow velour cut-out detail kaftan with white piping, looking like she'd stepped of the set off Mad Men! Inspirational - must work on that whole groomed thing...
Possibly my favourite Granny however was this lady - partly because she reminded me of my Nana Golda - always my ultimate style icon. Floral midi-length (v on-trend) dress, turquoise turban, blue drop earrings and massive blue cocktail ring - forget Liz (makes me want to) Hurl-ey - this lady has beach glamour locked down.
The nearest you'll get to a Playboy style beach shot of me (unless some serious air-brushing's involved). Despite the fact I packed half-a-ton of glitzy kaftans, it was just too hot for me to contemplate anything that had to go over my head, so I ended up resuscitating this old wrap. Fave new Marc Jacobs bag or arm, and new I-couldn't-afford-the-Karen-Walker-pair-so-had-to-settle-for-Hennes sunnies on, I hit the beach and hoped I didn't bump into anyone I knew/ the most gorgeous man in the world. I didn't.
Poor old LA - always getting shtick for being the most ridiculous place on earth, when here on a little strip of Italian beach on the Adriatic coast a couple pulled out a bamboo mat and bowl filled with premium mineral water for their devil little dog....god help us all!
Yum yum yum - I sacrificed one beach morning to go to the market. How good do these pumpkin tomatoes look? I had to laugh because the first time I ever saw one was in Wholefoods a few years back, and I got all excited and brought one, and a clove of smoked garlic (which later rotted in the back of a cupboard) and paid over a fiver for the two of them! Here in Italy they're almost giving them away. Typical!
Right at the end of the market (which was filled with plastic shoes, non-sensical lycra tops, rip-off bags and kitchen ware) we found this stall selling vintage clothes for basically nothing! Needless to say Mum and I nose-dived in, and dad spent the next hour telling us how nice we looked in stale smelling 2nd hand bargains!
Speaking of which here I am airing out on of my finds. Hand-made, 1970's mini-dress - cute, no? And mummy, also in a market buy - not too shabby, eh?
Just another day in the glamorous life of a fashion blogger; today I spotted none other than fash-wan ICON Naomi Campbell (and her beefy body guard) going about her business in Knightsbridge...and then 5 minutes later a pigeon pooed on the table where I was enjoying a spot of lunch with gorgeous Stephanie from Alberta Ferretti! Talk about one extreme to another! What's more it's not even my first or most horrific encounter with a pigeon this week. On Tuesday on my way to Ronnie’s a pigeon actually fell from the sky and splatted (and when I say splatted I don’t want to go into too many details, but lets just say Pets Rescue couldn’t have helped) right next to me in the middle of Tottenham court road! Shocked was not the word. I’d only just come to terms with it (I witnessed an actual death after all) when I was targeted by its buddy today! Now, I’m not one for conspiracy theories, but one more pigeon related incident this week and I’m going to have to get some sort of Naomi style back-up!
