Window shopping #54
A campaign for bad travel photography, a perfume making me want to go to Monaco, and an Italian hotel that's never changed hands
This is Window Shopping, a weekly briefing from Window Seat. Every issue covers essential news in luxury travel, spotlights one exceptional hotel, and shares personal updates or recent product discoveries.
Icelandair Is hiring a really bad photographer (yes, really). They’ll spend ten days shooting in Iceland and get paid $50,000 for it. The idea, which is both a stunt and a very real job offer, is that the landscapes are so visually impressive that they’re essentially foolproof. The campaign was partly inspired by focus groups who said images of Iceland look “too good to be true,” which is such a good insight. This is what smart airline marketing looks like: a clear point of view, a cultural conversation built in, and a hook that writes itself. Applications to apply are open until 4/30!
Louis Vuitton was a travel brand before a fashion house, and reminded everyone at Milan Fashion Week. Louis Vuitton transformed Palazzo Serbelloni into a layered exhibition of immersive interiors, presenting the latest Objets Nomades collection alongside historic trunks with scenography in one room evoking a 1920s train carriage, placing the whole thing explicitly in the context of travel. It’s a brand reminding you that it’s always been in the business of how you move through the world.
Earlier this week I was lucky enough to sit down with the lovely GM of Hôtel Métropole Monte-Carlo, and he left me with bottle of Cuir Béluga (Guerlain’s leather-and-vanilla EDP from their L’Art & La Matière collection) and I’ve been wearing it every day since. It’s been around since 2005 but I’m newly obsessed with its soft, powdery vibe.
Guerlain, it turns out, is also the house behind the hotel's spa, the only Guerlain spa in Monaco, which only opened last July. I haven't been yet, but the bottle is doing a very effective job of making me want to go.
Grand Hotel Excelsior Vittoria — Sorrento, Italy
The Grand Hotel Excelsior Vittoria has been perched on a cliff above the Bay of Naples since 1834. It’s been family-owned for nearly 200 years with countless offers to sell and not one accepted. The mythology of the hotel might only be outdone by the visual spectacle it offers: frescoed ceilings, a Michelin-starred restaurant, a private elevator carved into the cliff that takes you straight down to the marina for day trips to Capri, and five acres of citrus groves.
I’ll be there next week, for my first time in Italy, no less, and if I had to guess, it’s going to be the nicest hotel I’ve ever stayed in. Full review coming soon!
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Window Seat covers the intersection of luxury hospitality, aviation innovation, and the culture of modern travel, written by Tori Simokov, a writer and designer based in New York. For partnership opportunities: tori@v1projects.com. You can also connect with her on Instagram, TikTok, or ShopMy.
Have the best trip my friend!