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When I backpacked through Europe for the first time after college, I often found myself gazing not at the famous paintings in the Louvre or the grandeur of La Sagrada Familia but at European dudes’ sneakers. Especially in Paris and Barcelona, there were so many unfamiliar styles and brands on display that just looked so...cool. Eventually I ducked into a random shop in Florence and came out with a pair of white-and-red Golas that would make me feel much more stylish than I probably was as I sauntered around San Francisco the rest of the summer.
We all do this when we travel: Our eyes wander from the stuff we're “supposed to be” looking at to what people are wearing, driving, riding, carrying. We study how they walk, ponder how they engage with their environment, imagine the daily rhythms of their lives. When we do this, we're soaking up this ineffable thing called style, and so often elements of what we absorb bubble up later in our own self-expression: the furniture we choose to fill our homes with, the way we wear our hair, or, yes, our choice of sneakers.
While every issue of Condé Nast Traveler touches on this idea in various ways, this one makes it the focus. From Milan to Miami, we explore the way a destination's material culture can make it worth visiting. Often as you're putting together a magazine, themes emerge that you didn't even realize were there, and for me this time it's the way bold young people are pushing design traditions into the future—that's the story in Milan and Tangier, San Miguel de Allende and West Africa. Every place is ever-changing, which is why each return visit is an opportunity to discover a destination anew.
This article appeared in the September/October 2023 issue of Condé Nast Traveler. Subscribe to the magazine here.