Bella Freud’s Californian road trip
The British fashion designer on how exploring American’s Pacific coastline informs her rock’n’roll style
“I’d always wanted to go to Big Sur, ever since reading Jack Kerouac as a teenager,” says Bella Freud. “I was taken by the style and the aesthetics of On the Road and The Dharma Bums. It was all about breaking rules and barriers and this is something that chimes with my ideas about fashion.”
For family fun
“My ideal family vacation has to be a road trip along the Big Sur stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway; the spectacular high cliffs above the breaking ocean and echoing redwood forests, driving a Vixen 21 – the DeLorean of RVs – with a customized Missoni carpet interior and an inlaid wooden dashboard.”
For a chic stop-off
“I like the high-low mix of a road trip; alternatingcamping with the luxury of a hotel such as the Ventana Big Sur, its lovely cabins separated by winding paths bordered with Mexican sage, jasmine, rosemary and spreading laurel. There is yoga in the library where a fire crackles and the restaurant is an invigorating 10-minute walk through the redwoods.”
For a stylish bite
“There is something about traveling that makes me feel like every meal will be my last, and my appetite increases with every new stop on a road trip. My California highlight was a huge burger in the beautiful bar of the Scarlet Huntington Hotel in San Francisco, with its 1920s-railroad baroque style in bright green leather and dark wood. If you stay here, you can see Alcatraz on one side.”
For a piece of paradise
“A place I could imagine dropping out in is Mendocino, a beautiful, evocative place famously commemorated in Kate and Anna McGarrigle’s song, Talk to Me of Mendocino. This unspoiled town has the sea and those cliffs again, plus the cafes are organic and wheat-free, which suits me.”
For an inspiring read
“My favorite travel mementos are books; Allen Ginsberg’s Howl and Other Poems is my bible. I love spending hours in the City Lights bookstore in San Francisco, which was founded by Beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti in 1953. As Bruce Anderson, the radical editor of the famous Anderson Valley Advertiser, who we hook up with when we’re in town, tells us: ‘In America, if you do anything a teeny-weeny bit different, you’ll get lots of attention.’”
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