Talking Travel and Style with Kate Betts

Travel and style go together like form and functionality.  I had fun chatting about both and much more recently during a Travel Fun interview with Kate Betts, fashion and style editor extraordinare.  Kate has worked as the driving force at illustrious publications including Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar.  She has also written about fashion and style for the New York Times and is currently contributing editor at TIME Magazine. Kate and I met many, many years ago in Paris when she was an intern at the International Herald Tribune and I was operating Chic Promenade, a shopping service I had created in France. We share many interests, mutual French friends and a passion for France (although we do love to chuckle together about some of our pet peeves about la mentalité française!)

I was happy to snatch her for an interview during her March trip to Telluride.  Click on the play button below to hear what Kate has to say about style and travel.  As Kate says, “It matters what you look like, how you feel about yourself, how you present yourself.”  She provides beauty and packing tips that she uses on all her travels whether she’s off to the fashion shows in Milan or heading out to the Rockies for a ski vacation. I loved what she shared about visualization and I’ve already picked up her favorite all-purpose moisturizing cream that’s her special secret.

Listen to what she has to say about fashion editors.  I had to ask her if they’re all hung up on what they wear!  You’ll enjoy hearing her response along with her explanation about the difference between fashion and style.  People obsessed with fashion follow the crowd whereas style setters follow their own beat.

Kate’s latest project has been the researching and writing of a book about Michelle Obama, entitled “Everyday Icon:  Michelle Obama and The Power of Style.” “The way she has used style to set the tone has been very powerful for women,” Kate says.  “Her voice has been her style.  She is the quintessential American woman.”  I felt lucky to get the scoop on all this since mine was the first interview Kate conducted about the book, to be published February 2011 by Clarkson Potter.  In our chat, Kate also talks about her impressions of our first lady and her charismatic husband.

Throughout our conversation, Kate refers many times to the French, especially in terms of their sense of style.  “Style is something you have within you,” Kate says. I guess that’s why I often say that French women are born with the knowledge of how to tie a scarf.  They know how to properly apply their make up as well, being careful never to over do it, just like in Telluride.  Kate and I commented that we rarely do ourselves up in T-ride but we both smiled about having touched ourselves up a bit for our radio interview.  As Kate says, it does matter how you look, how you feel about yourself and how you present yourself, no matter where you are, right?

Click on the play button to hear lots more good stuff from Kate.