What people are wearing in Hydra + other things that inspired me this week #14

Bonjour everyone! With Christopher Nolan bringing Homer’s mythical world back into the spotlight, my Greek island hopping feels particularly on theme this week: I feel a little like Zendaya on tour, except mine comes with ferry tickets instead of private jets transporting my gowns and a much more literal, donkey-produced version of Matières Fécales that nobody really warns you about. Also: the Greeks are still processing the hubris of an Odyssey tour that doesn’t include a stop in its actual birthplace. Zeus is not amused.

The next stop on my tour? Hydra. A tiny island in the Saronic Gulf, just a short ferry ride from Athens and one of the few islands in Greece where the only traffic jams you’ll encounter involve donkeys, water taxis and the occasional celebrity failing to go unnoticed through the harbor (Brad Pitt was filming here a few months ago and you could still hear his name echoing around the port).

I must admit, the main town is so breathtakingly beautiful that it’s easy to stay on the surface: the magnificent stone mansions decorating the coastline, the yachts, the men and women in full glam, the packed diving spots that make you feel like the main character in a Mediterranean summer movie.

Normally I’d be rolling my eyes at all this excess, maybe even telling you to avoid the island altogether (”it’s lost its soul!”, I see myself typing in all caps), but Hydra has such an extraordinary cultural and political importance for the country that it (almost) makes me forget the flotilla of superyachts pulling into the harbor every evening. In fact, it only takes a bit of curiosity and one quick conversation with a local to learn that Hydra (1) played a major role in the Greek Revolution, with its wealthy shipowners financing a significant part of the fight for independence and (2) was home to more than 20,000 inhabitants (Athens had fewer than 10,000 back then), giving Greece five prime ministers, two presidents and many influential figures who helped shape the modern state.

They’ll also tell you that Hydra’s post-war cultural renaissance started with Boy on a Dolphin (1957), with a sultry Sophia Loren playing a free-spirited Greek sponge diver, making all the creative souls of this world realize they could find here something money cannot easily buy: a refuge from the noise, a place to disappear, create, inspire themselves and hopefully inspire others.

Among them was Leonard Cohen, who fell in love with Hydra’s slow rhythm of life and bought a modest fisherman’s house here in 1960—he soon found himself at the heart of a bohemian circle of artists, writers and creatives whose unconventional lives and complicated love stories generated almost as many headlines as their work (even becoming the subject of a proper documentary—must be a fun watch!).

And then came the mega stars: locals still love telling stories of encounters with Jackie O, Princess Diana wandering incognito around the harbor in a red cap (during what would be her final summer), and our own Greek star Melina Mercouri and Jules Dassin strolling the pebble-paved streets wrapped in each other’s arms.

As you can imagine, my favorite way to read a place is through the way people present themselves, so I was dying to know whether Hydra had managed to find the balance between its Hollywood glamour and old-world traditions.

A quick verdict? Hydra’s visitors are definitely keeping the island’s stylé tradition alive, maybe even dressing more tastefully than what I saw on the Côte d’Azur, where the last time I visited I felt the excess had crossed that fine line between luxury and being just a bit too much (was it because I visited in August? Someone enlighten me!). The whole thing was honestly super fun to witness, although definitely mixed with moments of surprise when even my boat rides to secluded beaches came with the kind of people-watching opportunities usually reserved for a Saturday stroll through the Marais:

In this week’s list: colorful kaftans and swimsuits, sandals and mules from Burberry/Gucci/Flabelus, a gorgeous Prada silk pouch, great straw hats and bags, a €3k dress, and many more fab items I spotted all over Hydra, filled with links and styling inspiration to recreate the looks yourself. Plus, the one beauty secret I kept from Zendaya’s Greek-goddess-inspired no-makeup makeup look (apart from the fact that I really need these Prada blushes).