Get the low-down from the original style-seekers' latest good-time hunting expeditions, find destination inspiration and insider tips from around the world. Welcome to the official Smith blog: we hope you enjoy your stay
Former fashionista Elizabeth Kiester gave up a crazy-glam-hectic New York lifestyle (complete with full Sex and the City trappings, requisite high heels and sashimi-platter lunch dates) to give something back to the Khmer people she’d fallen in love with on a trip to Cambodia. She sold her apartment, packed her bags and (quite literally) [...]
Saturday 7 August, Rag&Bow’s monthly women’s vintage sale at the Paradise By Way of Kensal Green is back (free entry; 12pm–5pm) says local West London blog, Park-Life.org. Visually engaging merchandising, continually on-trend stock and affordable prices have made this monthly vintage sale a welcome fixture on West London’s fashion calendar, with folks flocking from miles [...]
Ooh la la, vive la France, c’est la vie – plus any other linguistic cliché you care to cull from the French dictionary – it’s Bastille Day across the Channel! While Parisians line the Champs-Elysées to watch the traditional 14 Juillet parade, we prefer to celebrate by reminding you of some of our favourite things [...]
I guess this should have been titled ‘24 hours in Berlin‘, or ‘Postcard from the bleeding edge’ – but I digress. Berlin’s cutting-edge Mitte district was surely designed with properly Germanic Wanderlust in mind: grand boulevards march between Bauhaus-era bastions of urban architecture and proud public squares; traditional courtyard blocks have been transformed into a [...]
We love celebrating stylish destinations and we enjoy discovering local secrets. So this West London emporium caught our eye on Park-Life.org. Kensal Rise resident, Nelli Turner, the designer behind :bi la li: recently opened Lalï boutique, in the heart of Kensal. We say heart – the truth is, unless you’re paying attention when you stroll [...]
Smith’s recent love-in with ELLE Decoration travel supplement wouldn’t have been possible without our city spies updating us on where to go, what to do, and who to do it with. One such trusted trend-reporter is Philip Gaedicke, based in Berlin. Philip opened his new boutique, SOTO, just last week, and since we couldn’t be [...]
It’s no secret that a judicious sprinkling of vintage fleamarket finds is de rigueur in any self-respecting interior these days, but we’re seeing more and more mid-century modern pieces cropping up in Smith’s collection of boutique hotels (and soon in some of our bloggistas’ boudoirs, thanks to the amazing design show we went to this [...]
When trying to find the perfect tome to give someone at Christmas, how to resist the mawkish marketing-led drive on the three-for-two stand? The best advice is to follow your heart and give something you love. In case your heart’s own library of travel books is lacking, we interrogated Team Smith to bring you our [...]
If you haven’t yet seen the work of hip homewares-customiser Lou Rota… well, you should. Lou forages for cast-off crockery and furniture, reinvents it using collage, découpage and a healthy dose of imagination, and produces some of the most intriguing eco-chic artworks around today. Plastic stacking chairs are given fabulous floral makeovers and chintz-patterned china [...]
Have you ever noticed how actresses about to receive a necklace on screen are always bare-necked before their suitor rocks up with a jewellery gift? If you, too, know that naked feeling when you’re in your hotel room, getting ready for a fabulous night out – get your partner to channel Richard Gere in Pretty [...]
