Nothing says summer like a good pair of shades. And nothing says summer in the city like these two pairs, which literally take their inspiration from the streets of New York and Los Angeles:
And from the left coast, there’s the brand new Freeway Eyewear, with five styles named and designed after iconic L.A. highways, from Route 1 to Interstate 405 ($100 each, available at select Barneys New York stores).
Christine Ajudua is an assistant editor at Travel + Leisure.
T+L favorite Tumi recently announced that it would be releasing a limited-edition luggage collection in collaboration with cutting-edge fashion/concept shop Opening Ceremony. The occasion? The launch of OC's new, travel-themed store in New York City’s super-hip Ace Hotel.
The goods: Two rollaboards ($595 each), a satchel ($295), and a laptop case ($175) in exclusive color-blocked shades of the label’s signature ballistic nylon. Each piece is cool enough to make a stylish traveler swoon—and bright enough that it won't get lost in baggage claim. The good news: The bags hit stores next Friday, May 14. The bad news: Tumi only made 100 of each. More good news: you can pre-order them at the Ace location or by clicking here.
Steven Alan, the man responsible for the proliferation of plaid shirts throughout New York and, increasingly, around the country, recently took a break from his day job. He went to Australia, in fact, to soak up Sydney and the Great Barrier Reef. It was the Perfect Vacation—one that you can take, too—with an itinerary crafted by Tourism Australia in collaboration with Virgin Airlines. And from it, he designed the Perfect Bag—a leather and waxed cotton carryon with rope detailing (and, yes, some signature plaid cotton lining the exterior pockets) inspired by his experience Down Under.
Seems we at T+L aren’t the only ones on a constant search for the perfect carry-on bag. Enter New York mixologist Jim Meehan, the brains behind PDT—a hidden lounge attached to a hot dog joint in Manhattan’s East Village, serving classically and seasonally inspired drinks (recently named the World’s Best Cocktail Bar by Tales of the Cocktail Spirit Award '09, with Meehan as American Bartender of the Year).
Where did author Jack Kerouac go to escape the legend that came with his life "on the road?" Big Sur. He holed up in a cabin along this vast stretch of California coast for over a month in 1960, desperate to find some inner peace while struggling with fame and alcohol addiction. He chronicled the experience in his novel Big Sur, one of his lesser known autobiographical works that now—40 years after Kerouac passed away on October 21, 1969—is coming to life in a new documentary film.
How’s this for a cool job (or, as he would say, “the greatest job in the world”): Anthropologie buyer-at-large Keith Johnson travels around the globe in search of unusual pieces—furniture, textiles, artwork—to sell at the store. It’s also the premise of my new favorite travel show, Man Shops Globe, debuting tonight at 10 p.m. ET on the Sundance Channel.
The first documentary from King of New York director Abel Ferrara takes the Chelsea Hotel, that Manhattan landmark (and not in a T+L 500 way), as a subject. Since 1905, the place has been a haven for artists (Andy Warhol, R. Crumb), writers (Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams), and musicians (Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan), not to mention a fair share of drug addicts and prostitutes.
But as Bob would say, the times, they are a-changin’—two years ago, new management ousted owner Stanley Bard and several long-term residents in effort to clean up and bring in a different type of clientele, or, as Ferrara puts it in the movie, to turn the hotel “into a more expensive version of itself.”
You are invited to the premiere of a movie called Rage.
Who: Director Sally Potter, starring Steve Buscemi, Dame Judi Dench, Jude Law, John Leguizamo, and Diane West, among others. What: An unconventional murder-mystery—a series of individual interviews that look like they were shot on a schoolboy’s cell phone camera—set during New York Fashion Week. The first film ever to premiere on mobile phones. When: Now. Or whenever you’d like. Since Monday, Babelgum has been debuting an episode a day (there are seven total, one for each day of the week)—that is, before the film’s theatrical release in London later today, which will be broadcast live across Europe via satellite and followed by a virtual Q&A at 5pm EDT with Potter, Law, and other stars Skype-ing in from around the world; you can send questions via text or Skype video. Where: Everywhere. Anywhere. How: Just download Babelgum’s free iPhone application and watch.
Fascinated? Me too. I spoke with Potter about her mobile approach and how it might revolutionize movie-going—and travel.
A Moulin Rouge dancer starts to see the city around him in a new light while awaiting a heart transplant that might take his life. It’s a rather glum premise, but hey, it’s Paris—that is, the hit French film from L’Auberge Espagnoldirector Cédric Klapisch, now playing in New York and L.A. with a national rollout starting this Friday—and those sweeping streetscape shots are as melancholy as they are alluring. I asked Klapisch, a born-and-raised Parisian, for his tips on experiencing the City of Lights.
I’d love to tell you that I’m off traveling the world (or shopping) most days of the week. Truth is, I spend the majority of my time at the office—and fulfilling those bouts of wanderlust with street-style blogs. Just click and you’re people-watching in Paris, a regular post-modern-day flaneur. Or maybe it’s Copenhagen, or Tel Aviv, or Tokyo ’s Harajuku neighborhood. Oh, there are so many beautiful sites, but the seminal one? The Sartorialist, from New York-based photographer Scott Schuman. It's become a veritable online destination (and a well-dressed one at that), and now, it’s manifesting itself offline, too.
