A Travel Blog from the Editors of T+L
Posts by
Mimi Lombardo
These sporty pieces will have you ready for a weekend getaway.
A Dapper Look: Cotton polo shirt, $80, by Lacoste. Lightweight corduroy blazer, $695, Gant by Michael Bastian. Linen shirt, $195, and cotton pants, $125, Façonnable. Seersucker belt, $80, Ernest Alexander. Leather-and-suede saddle shoes with Nike Air technology, $198, Cole Haan. Gingham bow tie, $60, Ernest Alexander. Canvas tote with calfskin details, $450, Ralph Lauren.
Viva Zapata is a sturdy collection of funky bags made by Argentinian expat Tania Carole Lugones. Each weekend for 7 years she would set up a table in New York City's Soho neighborhood outside of the Camper boutique selling her designs hand sewn out of vinyl remnants from bus seats in Buenos Aires. To date Tania has sold more than 8,000 of them. That’s a lot of seat covers! Up until last year she had to work as a nanny to support herself. This is the first year she can focus solely on design.
For more than 40 years, the Usai family has been making gear for the Italian armed forces. Now they’re bringing their sartorial tradition and top-notch workmanship to civilians. Our favorite piece for spring? This durable, refined nylon jacket ($865). With its sharp, cadet-style cut and and exposed seaming, it’s sure to stand the test of time for fashion lovers and travel warriors alike. usaicollection.com.
Mimi Lombardo is the fashion director at Travel + Leisure.
Forget Santa and his workshop, for the holidays Bergdorf Goodman’s windows will take you on a fantastical journey. To where I don’t exactly know, but it is sometime in the past before body scanners and weighing your carry-on became mandatory.
Forget the “IT” bag. The new black is clothing that stands the test of time. And what's more indestructible than clothing made by a military uniform company? The Italian family USAI has made uniforms for the armed forces for more than 40 years; now they're bringing their top-notch workmanship and sartorial tradition to civilians in Italy and America. This wool jacket has a timeless appeal and exposed seaming that will please urban soldiers and travel warriors alike.
At $960, it is a bit pricey—but be assured it will be with you for years of
traveling the globe. Available at Julianne in Port Washington, New York
(516-883-0678, no website) or via USAI's website.
Mimi Lombardo is Travel + Leisure's Fashion Director.
Fashion weeks are as ubiquitous as its attendees who wear their ever-escalating strappy platforms, trying to out-do the other in the insanity of their height. For the New York shows this September, the fashion herd took a ride uptown on the number 1 train to the elegant Lincoln Center, where the shows will now reside.
The residents of the area gawked at celebrities and the hoop-la that comes with Fashion Week. Photographers have taken to snapping photos of each other (or the little dogs that are dressed up). The local moms pushed baby strollers, indignant that their routines were interrupted, looking at Rachael Zoe and her husband walking arm-and-arm (and probably going to the Karl Lagerfeld luncheon).
Styling and producing a fashion shoot in Paris takes hard work, resourcefulness, and a lot of praying that the rain will stop. Here are snippets of my 3 days spent shooting in Paris for T+L's September Style And Culture issue.
Lip balm is not the most exciting thing in the world, but it's still a must for long plane rides—all the waiting and dry air makes me impatiently lick my lips a lot!
Now that I have found these cute little spheres of EOS ("Evolution of Smooth") lip balm—all 95 percent organic and 100 percent natural made with jojoba oil, shea butter and vitamin E, I may retire my Kiehl’s tube for good. They are so cute! Each ball twists to open to reveal the balm (with SPF 15, of course) and comes in four distinctive tasty flavors: honeysuckle, summer fruit, lemon, and sweet mint.
I have a crush on Hermes. Anything enclosed in that orange box with brown ribbon will be a part of my life a long time. I know that is a lot of pressure for the French brand started as a saddle enterprise in 1837, but the allure of Hermes and their timeless, chic products are the very definition of posh understatement.
I discovered their classic fragrance, Eau d’Orange Vert, while staying at the Hotel Bristol years ago, before staying at expensive hotels while attending the fashion shows became de mode. Bottles were given out as in-room amenities, and I still have some of those little soaps perfuming my linens. Scents were not something I was drawn to but this one was, and still is, delicious. And so I became addicted. And I'm happy to report Hermes has introduced a new fragrance that evokes Travel. The scent, for both men and women, is appropriately named Voyage d’ Hermes.
Lands' End—a company that began life as a purveyor of boating and sailing gear in 1963—has revved up its clothing with a new collection called Canvas.
The Canvas website describes the collection as “clothes for how you live today.” Well, we live today as some-time nomads who visit family in Seattle, celebrate the holidays on a Caribbean beach, and travel to China for business. Lands' End Canvas's classic American heritage clothing is ideal for that lifestyle—versatile and functional for travel.
The LE favorites are all there but with slimmer cuts, brighter colors. I guess you could say it's less mom-and-pop frump and more Tweet generation, which really is a state of mind.
