My Happy Place

When I was 13, I visited the small island of Corfu for my cousins wedding and had the time of my life. Since then I always dreamt about going back. 6 years later and I've just got back from showing the island (predominantly the North) off to Harry!

Corfu isn't unknown. You may know it for it's party destination, Kavos, or because it was the birth place of Prince Phillip. The capital, Corfu Town or Kerkyra, is a port city with two fortresses and pretty shopping streets, whilst the old town is listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. But despite this long history and copious amount of culture, I simply love the clear waters, the sandy beaches and the laid back atmosphere. 'Paradise' often comes to mind. 

Me and Harry stayed in the resort of Sidari, which is on the Northern coast of the island, and the same place where I stayed with my family all those years ago, in the same hotel - the Cyprotel Corfu Panorama. It was such a weird experience when we first arrived. The resort and the hotel have hardly changed at all since I was last there. It felt so familiar, almost like I'd never left. 

The hotel itself was lovely. We had an amazing view of the beach and the Canal D'amour, and even the Albanian mountains! The Cyprotel Corfu Panorama is a group of buildings up on the hillside - an army of beautiful salmon pink walls, away from a lot of the other hotels so even though you were in the resort, you could still have a bit of privacy from it. It's a 5/10 minute walk down the hill to the strip and the beach, which isn't far at all. The room was a bit basic, but it was clean, airy and the view made up for everything, so we couldn't really complain. The food was amazing! We've been to all inclusives before *cheers to the free drinks!* and we weren't expecting anything special but every day the food was different and of really great quality! Top dishes included braised veal with white wine and spinach and feta parcels.

Throughout the week we went on four excursions, which we booked with Vlasseros Travel. On the second night we visited Corfu Town where we watched the sun go down, had dinner, and wondered about the little lanes of shops. We then spent the next day at Paleokastriksta on the beach and also visited a small aquarium, where we got to hold a bearded dragon and a small snake! Our third day was spent in Kassiopi, which is a small harbour town, which has a number of small shops and restaurants, and also has a couple of gorgeous beaches. It was such a shame that we had thunderstorms on this particular day because it would have been paradise in the sunshine!

We had a bit of a chill out day by the pool on the Sunday, before spending the Monday at the Aqualand water park! I'm all for a good water park and Aqualand does not let you down! There are a number of slides - the rubber ring ones were definitely my favourite - a lazy river, and the third largest wave pool in Europe! 

Corfu is my happy place and for a week I got to live my dream. I never wanted to leave and I will definitely be back! 

Georgia.xo

Tommy Hilfiger Ready to Wear Autumn 2017 Show

A couple of years ago, Tommy Hilfiger was pretty irrelevant. But add Gigi Hadid to the mix (a social media powerhouse with 35.7 million followers on Instagram and 6.4 million on Instagram), plus an online streaming see-now-buy-now strategy under the hashtag #TommyNow and you've got the current market down to the T.

On September 19th, the designer showcased his third season of the TommyXGigi collection with a rock and roll circus themed catwalk at the Roundhouse in London. To sum it up simply the collection was 90's rock and roll meets winter (in reference to the see-now-buy-now model) meets America's red, white and blue in true Tommy spirit. Not only was Gigi Hadid walking the show, but also big names including her sister, Bella, Jordan Dunn, and Georgia May and Lizzie Jagger.

The collection follows a general mix of tartan, leather, denim, stripes and metal embellishment. A lot of the looks had quite a preppy vibe, with many of the women's looks including knee high socks and shorts, and many of the men wearing bomber jackets. There was also hints of leisure wear, which millennials are really rocking right now, as well as a rebellious spirit about some of the outfits, which gave the whole show a very 90's/Rolling Stones feel, which has really been making a comeback in recent seasons. You definitely get an idea of merch from the show, in relation to the rock concert at the Roundhouse.

I am really feeling a lot of the looks from this show. I think what I like about it is that you could easily recreate a lot of the looks, whereas some catwalk shows are a bit less realistic for your everyday outfit.

The catwalk finished with a performance from The Chainsmokers.

As part of the Tommy Now set up, you can now save each of the looks from the catwalk as you watch the playback of the show on the Tommy Hilfiger website here.

Georgia.xo

Bitesize News

I recently read an article in the 12th July issue of Stylist magazine, and one of their 'Elsewhere - Bitesize World News' articles caught my attention.

The article was named 'Bad Ads' and spoke about how the Social Democrat, Green and Die Linke parties in Berlin are going to be removing offensive ads, which portray women in a negative light, for example, as weak, naive or as sexual objects.

I've been an avid supporter for obliterating negative stereotypes and portrayals of women in the media ever since I studied Media at school. It was a topic which I wrote about for my A Level Media report, focusing on how women were depicted differently in the contrasting ad campaigns from This Girl Can and American Apparel, and came as a strong topic of conversation in my university interviews.

The plan would include a committee, who would pass judgement over whether proposed advertising violates their guidelines or not before they appear in Berlin. I think this is a great idea because it means no stones are unturned in a movement which sees women no longer having to feel guilty if they're not coinciding with the labels that society has created. However this will only work if the committee are genuinely concerned about the issue. Otherwise, what's the point?

This plan is similar to the one which Sadiq Khan put in place last year to eliminate ads, which conform to unrealistic stereotypes (similar to that of Protein World's 'Beach Body Ready' campaign), from London's public transport. So I'd like to see how it works out in Berlin, and I'd also like to see something similar across more areas of the UK, or even the whole of it!

Georgia.xo

When In Rome

Last week, me and Harry took a 5 day trip to Rome. I'd visited Rome for the first time last year with my parents, but wherever you go, you can always find something new, and I've always promised Harry that we would go.

If anyone knows Harry, you'll know that he loves Rome. Probably more than he loves me. So seeing the constant smile on his face, from the minute we landed to the last day, made me feel so genuinely happy. He was in his happy place, and in those five days nothing could take him away from that. And being the person that he could experience that with was a nice feeling.

We went in to the city 4 times, and tried to focus on a different area each day. Our first stop was the Villa Borghese gardens (Metro stops Flaminio and Spagna). Our main aim was to see the Borghese Gallery and Museum, but we also found a boating lake, which I think was one of my favourite parts of our trip. I would highly recommend visiting this area, because even if you don't want to go in to any of the museums, just spending time in the park is quality time spend, and as we walked through, many groups were having picnics and parties, giving you a real glimpse of Italian life away from all of the tourism.

On the Monday we focused on the Colosseum and The Forum/Palatine Hill, but also went to the Trevi Fountain. Obviously Harry was ecstatic, but I quickly found myself struggling with the heat and the consequences of wearing sandals. Tuesday was spent at the Vatican, where we went in to the Musei Vaticani and then in to St Peters Square. Around the corner is the smallest gelateria called Gelateria Del Monte and the do the nicest ice cream you ever did taste. We also went to the Spanish Steps, Marcus Aurelius Column, the A.S Roma store and the Pantheon.

Wednesday was more of a chill around the pool kind of day, but we went in to the city in the evening to walk along the river and had a nice meal at Caffe Biano just off of Corso Vittorio Emanuele II.

If you're thinking of staying in Rome, I would 100% recommend staying out of the city. Although the point of visiting a city is to be in it, it's nice to have some space away from the hustle and bustle. We stayed at Camping Village Fabulous, which has everything you need (pool, bar, supermarket, a restaurant, and a gelato bar) and more or less direct access to the city. With the weather being as hot as it was, it was nice to just spend a few hours by the pool.

Going elsewhere always makes me feel a little bit more motivated and inspired, and Italy was no different. I came back with a suitcase weighing more than it did when we went (despite not buying anything) and a mind full of different ideas for sketchbook and blog content!

Georgia.xo

First Thoughts On Girlboss

I'm late on the bandwagon again. I know. But I've been meaning to watch Netflix's Girlboss ever since it was released, but obviously I had to finish Gilmore Girls first 😉

I've only watched the first episode so far, but I thought I'd write down a few first thoughts... 

The episode starts with Sophia (played by Britt Robertson) running out of gas and having to push her car up one of San Fransisco's infamous hills. I instantly thought "that would definitely be me". I don't think I'd even reach halfway with my little Corsa's 15 year old engine! 

Throughout the episode you see Sophia meeting her friend, getting fired from her job, arguing with her dad, and then getting evicted from her flat. I liked Sophia's character at first. I liked her personality and her dress sense but then she started to annoy me. I have no idea why. I don't know whether it's Britt Robertson's acting style because, honestly, I've never really got in to any of the films she's starred in, or just because Sophia didn't really appreciate anything and kind of brought everything that happened upon herself.

The episodes are only half an hour long, which I guess makes you more likely to concentrate on it before you start losing focus, but it also means that you'll get through the series v. quickly. I don't like knowing that a series is going to finish quickly. The fear of the unknown, that there isn't going to be anything as good to watch once it's finished.

You could pretty much summarise those 30 minutes by saying that sometimes it doesn't matter if you're not 100% tuned in to adulthood or that you're not quite sure what you want to do with your life, but there's always a light at the end of the tunnel. Even if that light does come from your computer screen!

Georgia.xo