What London gave me that a holiday couldn't
Notes on travel as input, and what's worth bringing home.
Hello from London, Modern Socialites!
If you read last week’s issue, you already got a hint and know my trip is more on the research side, viewing travel as input instead of escape.
When things get messy, we get this urge to pick up our things and go start over, or simply escape through travelling. But stepping away from something is a form of procrastination. You tell yourself you need a vacation, you go as far as you possibly can from your situation, with the hope that when you come back you will have either had an epiphany or your “problems” got magically solved in your absence. What we’re doing is postponing decisions and using travel (most often) as an escape. You’re in a different city, you can be whoever you want to be, nobody can remind you of your problems, you can completely disassociate.
But what happens when you make the decisions you have to make, or you carry your “problems” with you, and instead use travel as input? It’s simple. When you travel, you enter different worlds: cultural, political, social, energetic. This London trip to me was very intentional. I wanted to take everything in and let it speak meaning to me, and so it did. I picked up on things I’d never paid attention to before, and it inspired me in ways I can’t describe.
When you travel to escape, you move from one bubble to another. They’re sealed off because you’re going from a “fantasy” back to “reality.” But when you see travel as input, it builds you. It unlocks ideas and dreams.
What's Worth Your Attention: London Edition
Worth Sitting With
Art is such a powerful pillar of London's society, and you can see its influence in day-to-day life. My favourite part is that it allows each person's perception to tell the story. The artist creates a piece to tell a story from their lens, but you have your own perception and additions, and once you add that layer, it expands the value and impact. That's how we take part in culture. Art isn't finished by the artist. It's finished by us.
Worth Exploring
If London is on your list, there’s one very cultural thing worth experiencing, and that is hanging out outside, taking part in community activities and culture. Having lunch at the city square, drinking outside the pubs (standing), having a picnic in the park. This is how Londoners bond and share culture.
For art and culture, the Tate Modern and the V&A showcased different collections, but what stood out to me was that they touched on two aspects: how artists draw inspiration every day from life, society, and culture; and how our identity is shaped by these in turn. The Artist and Society wing at Tate Modern was the most stayed-with for me, a permanent display about how artists respond to the social and political worlds around them. At the V&A, the Design: 1900 – Now gallery traces over 250 objects from the 20th and 21st centuries, exploring how society and events influenced the need for certain objects, and how those objects evolved with the times, needs, and cultural references. Both highlight the current pulse in society and the friction points. Art and design are never made in a vacuum. They are conversations with the moment they were made in.
When it comes to culinary experiences, here are my favourite places worth exploring if you only have a few days in the city:
Hide. The best breakfast! Organic, artsy, deeply considered in its design. The kind of room that sets the tone for the whole day.
Brasserie Zédel. French-style, all art deco architecture and live music. The place for culture as much as food.
Fallow. Renowned for its chefs and inventive dishes, the food earns the praise and the atmosphere matches.
John Snow Pub. For the outside-on-the-pavement, drink-in-hand London ritual that no fancier place can replicate.
Notting Hill. Touristic but worth it, vintage shops, coffee spots, and streets that hold London’s history without being preserved in amber.
Worth Filtering
Style. So unique, with different takes on trends. The common thread was a satin skirt with a cute top, and dots, lots of polka dots everywhere. But the differentiator was that women showcased trends through their personality lenses, which made it so fun to observe.
Colour. I had a period where I was obsessed with the quiet luxury and minimalism aesthetics, and I avoided colour because I felt certain shades did not suit me. However, lately, I’m loving pops of colour, and London did not disappoint, so vibrant both in terms of fashion, art, and architecture.
Details. Architecture, art, museums, people. Because London has such a rich past, that is reflected in all these aspects and is so complex. Nowadays, from fashion to buildings, everything is mass produced, which leads to it being simplified. It loses its layers and depth; our critical thinking is watered down. Which is why observing, seeking details, and building layers (metaphorically and literally) is what contributes to culture and exercises the taste muscle.
Next Sunday, from somewhere different.
From the salon,
— Sabina