Smart, but comfortable, shoes
The gal would like to give some tips to those already sensibly contemplating ILTM Americas 2017, the dates for which are September 25-28, 2017 (and since numbers will be capped at this year’s 300 exhibitors, anyone with a truly luxury hotel, resort, ship, adventure travel or safari operation, and so on, should contact www.iltm.com quick). It is a good idea to book flights as soon as you can, to get the best price. British Airways, for instance, only flies three times a week, out of London Gatwick, so fit in your schedule accordingly. I always find I need, with these shows, twice as many business cards as I would have imagined.
A slipping skirt hem looks high fashion on an Italian
Packing for temperatures of upper-20s (80F plus) with humidity in the 80s means that any artificial fibre is going to give you a tough time. Go for 100% cotton or linen, and pack plenty of shirts. I wear trainers throughout but wedge heels seem fine (they are certainly better than Louboutin-Manolo sky-highs). This is not the current haute couture fashion scene, but there is a dress code and if you are an exhibitor, the fashion-conscious Latin American agents will not regard tattiness as luxury. The ILTM staff checking barcodes on entry badges look as if they were only hired for their white jeans. Of course many look like Tom Ford or Gisele Bundchen Brady, but then according to the latter’s personal chef, Allen Campbell, guacamole is not on the menu in the Brady household (80% of what he prepares is vegetable, and he bans mushrooms and eggplant, no caffeine, no dairy – what a pain! The Bradys enticed him away from cooking at the Gansevoort Hotel in Miami).
Rosewood’s outdoor bar, at night
Yes, some people here do dress with style. It was an Italian, who else, who made a presentation, to 35 difficult-to-please media, with a skirt hem that keeps on falling down, and turning it into a high fashion statement (well, uneven skirts are one of the current roster of fashion shows’ keynotes). Frankly, most of the current shows are featuring ghastly tat – but I do love Ralph Lauren, see the video below. Bring sports gear. You might have arranged to arrive early, to play Mayakoba’s Greg Norman course before the whole ILTM starts. Throughout it, too, you have Fairmont Mayakoba’s gym open at 5.30 a.m., and pathways are lit enough so that you can cycle, even in the dark. Talking of dark, it may be a little chilly and or windy at night, and it is certainly chilly in air-conditioned restaurants. AND NOW, FOR A TREAT, WATCH RALPH LAUREN, BELOW
