The Assemblist Letter 27 - Hillary's In-Flight Essentials
Hillary's Travel Go-To's: When I’m in-flight I like to listen to more relaxing music, I have a Spotify playlist that I call "Introspective" which has stuff like Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes and that kind of music. My snack of choice would have to be Welch’s Fruit Snacks, and my travel uniform is usually jeans, a comfortable shirt with a light-weight jacket and a scarf. Any reading materials include the most recent issues of Inc., US Weekly, and Women’s Health.
I DEFINITELY LIKE TO TRAVEL. I’M VERY MUCH INTO MY HABITS!
We go to LA four times a year and I also like to go upstate and roam around up there. I think consistency and finding new things in those habits inspires me and my approach to travel and style. Even when we go to LA I always try to go and find a new boutique or a new restaurant downtown. I’m actually going to London and a bit of the English Countryside in April for a vacation (which I’m super excited about!) but I guess everything in terms of travel is about comfort and "homey" elements…I think this also extends to my wardrobe choices!
What’s really funny is that I had this vintage hand-painted DVF rolling suitcase from when I worked there. But I’ve worn it down so much over the years and it was actually when I was in LA (maybe a year and a half ago) I remember rolling it down Abbot Kinney before going to the airport and it just disintegrated! The wheels fell off, the handle fell off - so I had to buy a duffle bag. Since, I've been searching far and wide for some sort of vintage tapestry roller-bag! In the meantime I've got this sort of paisley printed bag, but I’m still on the hunt! That would definitely be one of my travel essentials… though I haven’t found it yet.
Generally when it comes to travel, I always get excited when we go to LA - it’s taking what we do and bringing it to another city, which is just nice sometimes to get out of the office because you can get so insular here in making sure that you’re focusing on the day to day. When you pick yourself up and go somewhere else, it’s still work-oriented but you can be inspired by different things. In LA we meet so many different people as well, and I guess in regards to traveling back to LA the thing that excites me the most is really going back to the root of where Brand Assembly happened. LA is where I took my type-A personality while I was working at Rachel Zoe and shared a space with some friends who were working at Tibi and Jay Godfrey. I took it upon myself to arrange the furniture, organize some group dinners and that was sort of the impetus of starting Brand Assembly. So in traveling back to this particular city where it all originated, it is amazing for me to see how far it’s come since (our show is now literally 20x the size of the space it initially started in). I can't wait to see what the rest of the year's travels bring next!
- HILLARY FRANCE, CO-FOUNDER AND CEO OF BRAND ASSEMBLY
WHAT ARE YOUR TRAVEL ESSENTIALS? SHARE WITH US IN THE COMMENTS BELOW OR ON SOCIAL MEDIA AT @BRANDASSEMBLY