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How to do Palm Springs like Shiona Turini and Melina Matsoukas

The fashion-filled friend trip you’re going to wish you were on.

Travel
How to do Palm Springs like Shiona Turini and Melina Matsoukas

Right before the start of NYFW, Shiona Turini and our imaginary special pal, Melina Matsoukas, who happens to be Turini’s *actual* special pal took a last-minute trip to Palm Springs to rest and recharge for the month ahead, and seemingly play grown-up dress-up in Stella McCartney, Balenciaga, Brother Vellies… the dream. Because we weren’t actually invited, we made Shiona swear she’d send us all the pictures. If there’s anyone we can count on for a great outfit shot, it’s our pal Shiona.

 


Melina and I both had summers that were overwhelmingly work focused. She devoted most of her time working on HBO’s new show Insecure (which premieres on Oct 8th but is on On Demand now!) and I had endless back-to-back projects.

Desperate for a vacation in time for my birthday, we researched a fun trip for a group of friends: Greece (too far for her), Hawaii (too far for me), or Bermuda (always a good idea—BUT we wanted something new). Of course, I waited until the very last minute. We had kind of thrown in the towel and then became obsessed with the idea of Big Sur.

Melina focuses a lot on accommodations—she is very specific about hotels and will research them obsessively. She’s introduced me to the Wallpaper app and Tablet for hotels, and LOVES a hotel plan. For me, it’s more about adventure and exploring (Dora!) and activities. I’d rather just go and see what hotel is free (hello, Hotel Tonight is my fave travel app ever). But she doesn’t play those games. The hotel Melina was dying to stay at in Big Sur was full, so instead of overthinking it and going down a rabbit hole, I just booked a ticket for LA leaving the next morning and thought, “We’ll figure it out.” (Thank God for miles!)

Melina found a few hotels in Palm Springs she loved: The Korakia and The Parker Palm Springs, and they both had availability for a few nights. My only requirement was a pool.

Korakia was a dream come true. I don’t think I’ve ever loved a hotel more. There were no TV’s in the room, just a record player. And the pool was gorgeous. The hotel is pretty far from the action in Palm Springs, and it transports you to Greece immediately—everything was white, and in the desert landscape it was *almost* as good as the real thing. The Parker was also incredible, and was the ideal backdrop for all our photos.

 

Part of the series:

On The Road

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