On Holiday With: Paula Goldstein Di Principe, Voyage D’Etudes
Today we’re On Holiday With Paula Goldstein Di Principe, editor of the online travel scrapbook Voyage D’Etudes. Paula is also fashion director of Refinery29, a job which takes her adventuring around the world.
Where are you today?
I'm in a very hot and heavy NYC, I recently relocated and strangely not minding how sweaty the city is, it seems part of the adventure the dirty the tight spaces the heat - nothing seems like you can be too precious about it which is what makes it the city that never sleeps. Though I've had to totally give up on make up... it just slides off.
What was the first magazine you remember enjoying?
Haha probably Mizz it was a pre teen girls magazine - I have always been into style - my first style icon was posh spice and as I got older I would collect old issues of i-D, The Face and Dazed & Confused which was ironically where I got my first magazine job aged 20.
Tell us about your first holiday.
The first holiday I remember was actually in Scotland with a huge amount of my extended family - I remember being eaten alive by midges, developing a life-long love for bagpipe music (a little off yes I know) and my dad convincing me that a haggis was a small furry animal not just a sausage.
Are you a beach holiday or city break person?
I'm in cities all the time for work yet even on vacation I don’t like to be too far away from the buzz of culture. When I do want to check out I love water but I don't sunbathe so I’d sooner relax in the mountains or by a lake than the beach.
What is your magazine’s approach to travel?
Voyage is not exactly a magazine, it’s a collection of memories, the adventure of travel
Which holiday/trip from your magazine would you most like to experience?
Voyage will come out in print in October for the first time and to be honest I wouldn't swap the story I shot in big sur for any other in the book... you'll have to wait and see but it’s magic.
Which magazine(s) should people be taking away with them this summer?
Marfa Journal and Mushpit: two very cool magazines run by very cool women - who love girls, I'm really into both creative and social sisterhood #bitchesarebanned.
Why did you decide to make a travel magazine in the style of a scrapbook?
I totally embrace digital. I’m the Fashion Director of a very successful and exciting site Refinery29, yet there is something about the digital world that scares me a little too. Are we losing a little ‘joie de vivre’ in our experiences because we are constantly art directing them for social media? The reason for scrapbooking was that I hope those collecting for Voyage will do a little collecting for themselves as they go, not pausing the adventure, but coming home and putting the time into retelling and remembering what happened.
Who are your contributors?
My contributors are held together by my solid girl gang network around the world and the reach out to both men and women they come across in their day to day adventures to share tales with us.
Where will you be taking a break this year?
I won’t. I actually rarely have vacations I travel so much for work that I’m constantly seeing places and having adventures but I literally have no time for downtime. Last week there were only two days where I wasn't in an airport. I might try to take a long weekend in my own bed.