October 26th, 2007
Darling, the sunsets are just fabulous…
It’s that time of year again - when you can’t pick up a newspaper without seeing pictures of celebrities lying on the beach in dubious two- pieces or negotiating Heathrow in sunglasses the size of plates.
Whether they head for sandy beaches on some exotic shore, or purple gorse in the Lake District; take the wife, the ex-wife and all the kids, or go it alone on a retreat - how the famous relax reveals more about their personalities than how they behave at the Oscars ever could. And of course, where they go this year, the rest of us will surely follow next (assuming we can afford it, that is).
This year, St Tropez is riding high on the back of the vogue for Eighties trash. Anyone with anything to sell will be on the streets of this port town. Recent sightings in the glittering playground include Lady Victoria Hervey (who recently opened a smart clothes and jewellery boutique, Akademi, in London’s Belgravia), Bono (who is campaigning to “drop the debt” of the Third World) and Bernard Arnault, head of the LVMH fashion empire, who is rumoured to be sniffing out another fashion take-over.
St Tropez is the kind of place where EC trash can flaunt their labels while feeling smugly ironic. “A lot of celebrities go to St Tropez to make sure they’re seen in the right nightclub,” says Sarah Miller, editor of Conde Nast Traveller. “But they don’t stay in the town itself for long.” Indeed, they’re more likely to move on to a villa in the Cote d’Argent on the Atlantic coast , returning to St Tropez at the weekend.
Celeb holidays aren’t all about glamour, though. This year, design duo Antoni & Alison headed for a remote part of Scotland. “We stayed in a mill on the Mull of Kintyre,” says Antoni. “We had no telephone and only had electricity occasionally. A friend came with us and the three of us were in this huge, scary, remote old mill with a big cellar. At night, it was pitch black outside. It was like Scooby Doo.” Creepy it may have been, but they got loads of useful influences for their quirky fashion label. “We came home with bags of souvenirs, like gift shop tea-towels and jars of honey with weird packaging.”
Some say that Scotland is as fashionable as Ireland was five years ago, and Ullapool, in the Highlands, is the current favourite. The owners of Scottish historic castles, lodges and five-star hotels have caught on to this trend and formed a group called Connoisseurs Scotland, pushing holidays to the ultra-ABC1s. And then there’s the celeb appeal of Turnberry Hotel in Ayrshire, a five-star hotel with two golf courses that rival anything the US has to offer, as well as a state-of-the-art spa. Catherine Zeta Jones, Michael Douglas, Sean Connery and Celine Dion have all signed in.
Further afield, Kate Moss will be globe-trotting to Brazil later this year, along with Matthew Williamson, the designer, fashion guru Isabella Blow, and too-hot-to-touch fashion photographer Mario Testino. Not surprising really: it is now more hip than the Queen Mother’s pelvis. Sao Paulo, the economic hub of Brazil, is said to rival Paris and Milan as the new “fashion capital”, and has a New York edge with the best clubbing scene on the continent. “South America is very fashionable now because countries like Peru and Brazil are a lot more politically stable,” says Sarah Miller.
But other jet-setters prefer a more spiritual form of exertion. For example, designer Emma Bernhardt, supermodel Normandie Keith and Baroness Smith of Gilmorehill - widow of the late John Smith - are all joining guru-of- the-moment Dr Mosaraf Ali on a Himalayan trek. His Integrated Medical Centre in London’s New Cavendish Street practises Ayurveda, an ancient Indian medicine, on stressed-out celebs such as Tara Palmer-Tomkinson.
If you fancy a bit of five-star celeb-like luxury, then look no further than travel agencies like Western & Oriental and Abercrombie & Kent. Both deal in top-of-the-range holidays in India and the Caribbean. Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, meanwhile, provides luxury accommodation around the world - including “hot” destinations such as the Middle East, Panama, Indonesia and Mauritius - that make The Ritz look like a youth hostel.
It was only a matter of time before A-list travel hit the internet, and so Bruce Palling, ex-travel editor of Tatler and former managing director of Western & Oriental, has set up GrandTrunk.com, a website travel agency designed with the rich and famous in mind. It is due to launch in September and promises to offer some of the most exclusive luxury accommodation in the world. “GrandTrunk.com is targeting the equivalent of the platinum credit card,” explains Palling. “We’re targeting only 250 people in the world and will only carry 70 hotels to start with. These are the ultimate exclusive holidays.”
Some places will remain classic holiday spots. Mauritius is hauling in more celebrities than ever, mainly because of all the new hotels on the island. Sharon Stone and Geri Halliwell have both checked in to the recently refurbished Le Saint Geran hotel, while the Palmer-Tomkinson sisters, Tara and Santa, took a holiday there earlier this year.