Brown’s Hotel is my favourite hotel in London, with an incredible history. The service is impeccable. I find it private and discreet and somewhere to get away from the hustle and bustle of Central London. Where else in the world can you sit, sipping an Old Fashioned or Gin & Tonic, by the same fireplace that Winston Churchill sat by during WWII?
Love tradition? Love Fashion.
I adore the traditions of Mayfair, Savile Row, St James’ and Jermyn Street. I’m not sure if it’s a ritual but I always have my shoes shined in Burlington Arcade every time I’m in Mayfair.
London is the most diverse and exciting fashion capital in the world. It has the heritage brands on Savile Row, but mixes this with fashionforward, exciting young designers, on top of huge international brands such as Burberry. No other fashion capital can really offer this.
An accessory to the look?
My ties and handkerchiefs are usually from Thom Sweeney or Drakes. I also have a watch collection, many of which come from Watch Club in the Royal Arcade in Mayfair.
So if you're looking good, where's good to look?
Wander along Embankment at sunset and past the Houses of Parliament. I truly think it is one of the best and most iconic views in the world.
Other fashionable favourites?
The Riding House Cafe for lunch. 34 Berkeley Square for dinner. The National Portrait Gallery for culture.
The soul of a destination – that special something all travellers yearn to glimpse – is really the soul of its people. It is timeless humanity refracted by a place’s unique qualities, by its bounty and scarcity, its landscape and climate.
Florence becomes the most compelling creative retreat when you fall in step with the city’s pace. In Milan you might ‘get your hustle on’ and Rome leans into a meandering walk or Vespa ride, this city, the birthplace of the Renaissance, draws us more towards strolling.
The Grand Tour has had its day, in the most fortunate way. What was once a rite of years is now within reach of anyone with the curiosity to make it. The prescribed list of sights has loosened too, leaving the traveller free to follow Goethe's original instinct, to stand where the present is being made as well as where the past is preserved. Today, our journey through Milan, Florence and Rome begins, as it always did, in the north…
