THE JOURNAL
The items we almost forgot to pack. Don’t make the same mistakes.
Flights checked in, to-do list done, even restaurant reservations made (thanks to MR PORTER’s Style Council recommendations), but after you’ve closed your suitcase, you’ve got that sinking feeling in the bottom of your stomach: how could you forget to buy a new panama/pair of sunnies/party shirt (delete as appropriate)?
Don’t worry, help is at hand. With our premier delivery service, depending on your location, you can choose between same-day, next-day and express services to get your essentials sent in record time. If you’re cutting it really fine, why not have them delivered to your hotel/Airbnb/yurt (delete as appropriate)?
But in the meantime, the MR PORTER team have gathered together the items they’re most likely to be panic buying, to help you make sure you are fully prepared for your trip to the Hamptons/Positano/Tulum (delete as appropriate).
Panic packing, eh? I write these words while sitting on a plane I very nearly missed, having slept through my brutally early alarm call. In the cab en route to the airport, I realised to my forehead-smacking dismay that I’d left my sunglasses at home. Oh well, it gave me a convenient excuse to get on the MR PORTER app and pull the trigger on the Moscot + Common Projects shades I had been eyeing up. And then I saw that I had these Saint Laurent leather slides and muted pink drawstring linen shorts from Oliver Spencer on my Wish List. (Looking at my recent purchase history, it appears I have wholeheartedly embraced the current trend for all things millennial pink.) With the next-day delivery service to the Caribbean, it’ll be a race to see who gets to my hotel in Jamaica first – me or the MR PORTER courier.
Some companies acknowledge that summer is about the fun times and let you knock off early on a Friday, meaning you can be by the sea in time for a sundowner. We are fortunate that the MR PORTER parish has joined the club and I can’t wait to jump on a flight to Mallorca for the weekend this June. With its mountains and coves, canyons and chiringuitos, it’s to my mind the most beautiful island in the Balearics, if not Europe. However, a few pieces of my summer kit need an upgrade. As instructed by MR PORTER, I’m growing my hair into a longer style, so I’ll need this new Stüssy baseball cap to keep the frizz under control. I like prints, but this year I prefer my shorts to do the talking and these lively Club Monaco ones will be nicely balanced with a perfect white linen shirt from Orlebar Brown.
This year’s L’Eroica – the annual ride up and over the rolling hills of Tuscany, on a vintage bicycle (with brakes to match) – isn’t until October, meaning I’ve got plenty of time to leave it till the last minute, as I always do. The rules stipulate that your bike should be built before 1987. The dress code is less exact, but a nod to the heritage of the sport wouldn’t hurt; this cycling cap by Prada is one I’d happily doff to other riders. And while the jerseys you’re expected to wear are of the old-school, thick-wool variety, I reckon I could sneak in some stealth-tech in the form of this piece by Chpt./// – in a fetching azzurro cielo blue. Not forgetting an SPF moisturiser to protect my face in the sun (and possibly cool down any other bits that hurt after a long ride on an old bike).
Langkawi is a small island off the northwest coast of Malaysia. It is not known as the Jewel of Kedeh for nothing – it is covered by verdant rainforest and has a remarkable variety of flora and fauna, which I intend to get acquainted with when I am not sipping margaritas by the pool of my hotel, The Datai Langkawi (where I will don this glass-bead bracelet from Luis Morais), or when I am not lolling on the beach reading a book in this palm-print pair of Orlebar Brown swim shorts, with my new square-frame Thom Browne sunglasses perched on my nose. Because, hey, you always need to look good, even in paradise.
Summer is the best season to visit my home country, Italy. This year, I am embarking on a road trip in my vintage Mini Clubman, starting from Turin and going via Florence to the Riviera Romagnola. I will need road-trip-ready clothes – that’s why I am going to pack this fun and crease-proof Prada camp-collar shirt. Its Mexican-themed cartoon prints will be a great ice breaker for whomever I will meet during the trip through the Italian countryside. I will wear it with a pair comfy twill trousers, such as these from Gucci, and a pair of the brand’s vintage-inspired sunnies. It doesn’t get more la dolce vita than this.
Shopping for the summer holidays is a task that always seems to creep up on me. You’d think that I’d have got the hang of it by now, with three decades of practice under my belt – which reminds me, I must buy a new belt – but no. With less than a week before I leave for Ibiza, I am as unprepared as ever. Top of my (long) list are new sunglasses and, as luck would have it, I have found the perfect pair. These frames by Cutler And Gross for Kingsman not only look great, but they’re also wide enough to fit my face, a rare quality indeed. Numbers two and three: pleated shorts from Rubinacci and espadrilles from Castañer. I won’t bore you with numbers four to 20.
After denying myself all forms of carbohydrates for months, I am looking forward to gorging on some of the world’s best pasta in Rome. This means pasta-proof clothing is essential, which is why I’ll be packing this burgundy Prada polo shirt to hide the inevitable tomato sauce and barolo stains. To protect my face and head from the sun while zipping around town on a Vespa, I’ll be wearing this Brunello Cucinelli shell flat cap and Illesteva sunglasses. Now that’s my kind of Roman holiday.
Illustrations by Mr Joe McKendry