Cash & Rocket Tour 2015: Part II

Time for Cash & Rocket part two mes amies! Where we left off on tuesday, the tour had just roared into Milan. 35 pillarbox red supercars driven by 70 of the most awesome women in fashion, film, music, art and business and accompanied by a police escort to ensure that no pesky traffic lights or commuters would get in our way. It was glorious, and there was more gloriousness to come that evening…

My room at the Hotel Principe in Milan

Where else could the Cash & Rocket Tour 2015 squad possibly stay in the Italian fashion capital other than the iconic institution that is the Hotel Principe? We arrived en masse and tumbled out of our cars exhausted (again, I had no excuse having not actually driven at all) to be greeted with champagne before heading to our rooms. One quick outfit change and a very half hearted attempt to do some work later, it was time to head back down and off to the Vogue Italia cocktail party.

Wearing REDValentino, Mulberry and Pollini at the Vogue Italia cocktail party

Having insta stalked all the Cash & Rocket events that had gone down before my arrival, I had a not so sneaking suspicion that this would be exceedingly fabulous and therefore the perfect opportunity to wear the stunning REDValentino dress I’d been saving for a suitably swish occasion. Despite my usual willingness to be over dressed and preferably heavily embellished at all times, I actually found myself feeling a bit insecure about my lewk. Perhaps because I was surrounded by so many incredibly impressive and phenomenally stylish women that the sartorial confidence I’m lucky enough to have most of the time faltered a bit. I need not have worried about my outfit being “too much.” In Italy, glamour reigns supreme and there were some truly show stopping gowns on show that evening. Equally show stopping was the magnificent party venue, a vast Palazzo in the centre of Milano. I mean, this place was the stuff Fellini fantasies and Princess dreams are made of.

Me, Mollie and Ashley Graham

With Vogue Italia Editor-in-Chief, Franca Sozzani

Obviously the guest list was pretty epic too, not least because it included all the Cash & Rocket Tour drivers. The opportunity to really spend time with so many amazing women was definitely an aspect of the tour I feel really grateful for. From Cash & Rocket Founder, Julie Brangstrup and Leigh Bristow, the force of nature behind South African charity, Sumbandila to pioneering so-much-more-than-just-supermodels Ashley Graham and Selita Ebanks, this was a very inspiring bunch to be around. Besides drinking rather a lot of champagne and throwing a few shapes to Chelsea Leyland on the decks, the evening also offered more insight into the charities we were supporting, Shine On Sierra Leone, OAfrica and Sumbandila. The work all three are doing really is incredible. In different and hugely forward thinking ways, each helps vulnerable people struggling with circumstances most of us wouldn’t even be able to imagine by empowering them through providing the kind of extensive support and education they can enable individuals and communities to build a positive and sustainable future. You can read more about the charities online here and donate money here.

Me & Mollie resting our feet… All that sitting in a car must have exhausted them!

As the evening drew to a close, we headed down the sweeping staircase and whizzed back to the hotel for late night pizza and our much needed beds. Said beds were so deliciously comfortable that hauling myself out at 6am the next morning was no mean feat! Then I remembered that I’d be spending the morning cruising across Europe in a Maserati and found that I suddenly didn’t feel quite so exhausted after all! The idea of a road trip has never really appealed to me in the past. This is perhaps due to the less than fond memories I have of “long car journeys” as a child during which I inevitably got car sick, bored out of my mind and fell out massively with at least one family member, usually more.

Leaving Milano…

Well, this was certainly a very different experience to spending 6 hours in snail paced motorway traffic, squabbling over loo breaks and which Harry Potter audiobook to listen to! Racing through the mesmerisingly beautiful countryside, seeing different landscapes, singing along to Taylor Swift… Word of advice, doing a car sing along session with a platinum selling pop star doesn’t do much for the ‘ol self esteem but to be honest, I was having far too much fun to care at all!

Pitstop!

Arriving in Cannes!

We made it!

It was a dreamy morning, that got even dreamier when we arrived in Cannes which was positively pulsating with energy and beautiful people in the middle of the film festival. There we parted ways with our cars (sob) and headed to the beach where Nespresso were hosting a lunch. Drinking rosé on a white sand beach, surrounded by friends old and new coupled with the satisfaction and happiness that comes from having just been able to be a part of something amazing; life doesn’t get a whole lot better than that!

Not a bad lunch view, eh?

At the Nespresso beach luncheon in Cannes wearing Tory Burch, Valentino, Coach and LK Bennett

I didn’t want to leeeeeeeave!!

Huge, huge thanks to McArthurGlen, Maserati and Cash & Rocket for an unforgettable experience! I’m on a mission to pass my driving test before next year’s tour…

Love Ella. X