French-Inspired Style, Beauty & Living
Welcome back to The Velvet Runway and our guide to A Slow Drive Along the French Riviera: 10 of the Most Beautiful Coastal Stops. There are faster ways to see the French Riviera, of course. The train traces the coastline in flashes of blue and gold, and helicopters still shuttle guests between glamorous hotels during the summer season. …
Welcome back to The Velvet Runway and this travel post about What To Know When Traveling To Italy: A Practical Travel Guide. Editor’s Note (June 2026): This guide was reviewed and updated in June 2026 to ensure the travel information, recommendations, and resources remain accurate and relevant for visitors planning a trip to Italy. Italy …
Welcome back to The Velvet Runway, where we are delving into our Summer Beauty Tips for Glowing Skin, Hair and Body. Every year, the arrival of warmer weather brings a subtle shift in our routines — lighter clothes, longer evenings and often a slightly simpler approach to beauty. After months of central heating, dry winter …
Welcome back to The Velvet Runway and our guide to A Long Weekend in Aix-en-Provence: A Provençal Itinerary for the Slow Traveller. There are cities you visit, and cities that visit you. Aix-en-Provence belongs firmly to the second kind. From the moment you step beneath its canopy of ancient plane trees and hear the murmur of fountains drifting …
Welcome back to The Velvet Runway and The Velvet Edit June 2026: The Art of Summer Living. June always feels like the true beginning of summer. Not the height of it — that comes later, in the slower rhythm of July and August — but the quiet arrival of longer evenings, lighter routines, and the …
There are places in France that feel suspended between land and sea, reality and memory. Villa Colette in Cap Ferret is one of them. At the very tip of the oyster-farming peninsula, where pine forests meet shifting tides and the Atlantic softens into the calm waters of Arcachon Bay, life slows almost instinctively. Days revolve …
Welcome back to The Velvet Runway and our guide to A Long Weekend in Amsterdam: An Itinerary for the Slow Traveller. There is a particular kind of city that reveals itself only to those willing to slow down. Amsterdam is one of them. Beneath the surface of its famous landmarks and well-trodden tourist trails lies a city of …
For travellers seeking a more intimate and slower way to experience Amsterdam, The Dylan Amsterdam offers something elegantly, beautifully unscripted. Unscripted Summer reframes time in the city, not as a checklist to complete but as something to settle into. At The Dylan Amsterdam, the city unfolds gradually, shaped by movement, pause, and the freedom to …
There is something quietly magical about the ritual of the French apéro. It is not quite dinner, not quite drinks, and certainly not a rushed happy hour squeezed between emails and obligations. The apéro — short for apéritif — is a ritual. A pause. A gentle transition between the working day and the evening ahead. …
There is a kind of Sunday in Paris that most visitors never quite find — the effortless Sunday, where wandering takes precedence over itineraries and unexpected moments matter more than carefully planned activities. Like many people, I always thought the secret to making the most of Paris was to experience as much of it as …
Welcome back to The Velvet Runway and this feature about 10 of the Best French Pharmacy Serums for Glowing Skin. French pharmacies are renowned for their understated approach to beauty — effective skincare rooted in science, dermatological expertise, and carefully selected ingredients rather than passing trends. From cult classics to newer innovations, French pharmacy skincare …
There are certain places in Provence that seem to exist in their own gentle rhythm, where lavender drifts through the air, fountains quietly murmur beneath cypress trees, and long afternoons dissolve into candlelit evenings. Villa Gallici, tucked away just above the historic heart of Aix-en-Provence, is one of those places. Part grand Italian residence, part …