Emily Maddick is our roving reporter on the road with 70 of the planet’s most fabulous women, in a fleet of Valentino red racing cars raising cash for African charities: Shine On Sierra Leone, O Africa and Sumhndila. Their five day adventure will take them from London, via Paris, Lyon, Milan and end in Cannes to join the glitz and glam of the Cannes Film Festival. Here is Emily’s third bulletin...
Lyon - Milano - via McArthurGlen Design Outlet centre - Le Meurice Hotel - Le Chateau de Pizay - via the McArthurGlen Design outlet centre for shopping!
Long Old Journey - But Stunning Scenery
I’ve been christened the ‘car slut’ but the Valentino girls, as I am riding with a different team every day - and loving it. Today’s jaunt? Once again in the back of an Aston Martin (could get used to this) with Matilda Gioli at the wheel. Matilda (who is a dead-ringer for a young Angelina Jolie) is Italy’s answer to Keira Knightley in her hey day. And boy oh boy is she dynamite behind the wheel.(She also charmed the inquisitive Italian pollicemen who couldn’t resist giving us a grilling at the border.) Also in my team was the fabulous Caitlin from Valentino. Irish-Italian. Winning combo. Great craic. We came third after a zippy ride through the Alps. (Well as zippy as five hours can be.)
Joined for Lunch by Jodie Kidd and Shopping With Chloe Green.
Seasoned racing car driver Ms Jodie Kidd was waiting for us in her Valentino red boiler suit for lunch at the McArthurGlen outlet centre (no surprise to learn that these ladies can shop as well as they can drive.) Fresh from the Mille Miglia classic car race in Italy, Jodie had picked up Mollie King to join us too as Mollie’s boyf, Mr David Gandy was also participating in the race. Sadly, the Gandy couldn’t join us on Cash & Rocket, cos, well he’s a boy…soz David. No prizes for guessing who splashed the most cash at McArthurGlen, step forward Ms Chloe Green - but, it was all for her baby brother, Brandon! (Oh to have Chloe as a sister.) ‘I style my brother quite a lot,’ Chloe told us. ‘He’s very fashion forward most of the time, plus what I just bought him would have normally cost £8,000, but I spent £3,000, so he’ll thank me for it.'
Milano-Bound
From McArthurGlen to Milan, I was honoured to ride with the boss, Julia Brangstrup in Michelle Rodriguez’s Aston Martin (Michelle is joining us in Cannes.) And I got her lost. Oops. (Never been good with directions. Rubbish co-pilot.) Julie is such a pro though, and it didn’t ruffle a feather and we still made it into Milano in time for our police escort into the city, all the way to the Hotel Principe di Savoia. Oh how the locals gawped at our parade of Valentino red racing cars conveying through the city. It’s super hot in Italy right now. Earlier, we caught up with plus-size model, Ashley Green (could she look any more like Cindy Crawford?) ‘I’ve been the reigning queen of the after-party so far on this trip,’ she declared to us. ‘Can’t believe I haven’t led you astray yet?’ (Neither can we!)
Cocktails with Franca Sozzani at a Palazzo
So we’ve dined in chateaus, five star hotels, so when in Italy, it calls for cocktails and canapés at a Palazzo right? Palazzo Bocconi was our destination this evening for cocktails hosted by Vogue Italia’s Editor-in-Chief (and living fashion legend) Franca Sozzani.
Elena Perminova boogied with Anna Cleveland and Stylebop director, Leila Yavari, before jetting home to Moscow to relieve hubby Alexander Lebedev from holding fort with the kids. ‘I’ve had such a great time on the rally, I’ve loved driving the Rolls Royce Phantom, but duty calls. I can’t wait to see them all,’ she told us before jetting off! And then we bumped into our friends at Grazia Italia - Sylivia, Editor-in-Chief seems to think I’ll be driving them all to Cannes tomorrow in a Bentley…watch this space! See you in Cannes darlings…