When taking the traditional route, however, ensuring the quality of the flowers one sends is all in the caliber of florist you choose. On this front, we decided to do the research for you, asking some of our most stylish friends to open their little black books and divulge their favorite florists from all around the world. Well travelled, entrepreneurial, creative and chic no matter which city they may find themselves in, these mothers know good flowers when they see them. From Paris to Hong Kong, New York to London, here are their recommendations.

New York

Jackie Astier
Mother of two girls. Stylist, Editor, Interior Designer, Creative Director of fashion brand ASTIER

Favorite Florist:  Zezé, 9338 First Avenue, New York

Los Angeles

Jennifer Creel
Mother of 2 boys and a girl. Jeweller Designer, Actress

Favorite Florist: Eric Buterbaugh. He’s the best, love his flowers.

Paris

Pamela Boulet
Mother of two sons. Philanthropist and Democratic fundraiser, Pamela organizes trunk shows for Andrew Gn, donating proceeds to favorite charities

Favorite florist: La Chaume on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, because it’s been in existence since 1845 and is still so chic.

Debbie Oppenheimer
Mother of two girls. Interior Designer and business owner, Furniture and Accessories Designer

Favorite Florist: Eric Chauvin, in Paris.

London

India Hicks
Mother of four boys and a tomboy. Model, designer, author and founder of Indiahicks.com

Favorite Florist: Rob Van Helden for flowers that are imaginative, original and super chic.

Hong Kong

Gemma Soames
Mother of one boy. Style writer and journalist

Favorite Florist: Ellermanns in Hong Kong is a wonderful place to head for flowers that are lovely, natural and little bit undone whilst still remaining extremely chic. Their shop in Sheung Wan also sells great homewares and accessories, too. .

Saint Tropez

Emily Fisher
Mother of two girls Interior Designer

Favorite Florist: Really, I love buying flowers in the Tuesday and Saturday markets. But Martinaud in Saint Tropez is brilliant for wonderful fresh blooms that last for days. I head there for huge hydrangeas and peonies in divine colours.

Photo Courtesy of Ellermann, Eric Chauvin, Rob Van Helden

Some of those bespoke furnishings including onyx marble coffee tables, a blue lacquer dressing table and a specially designed shoe cabinet now form part of a silent auction being held in aid of the extremely worthwhile Hong Kong Cancer Fund. Bids need to be in by 15^th November, with information available from this email address lappartement@hk.vuitton.com. Extremely chic and a great cause – surely worth a look!

www.cancer-fund.org

Are you superstitious?
Sometimes

What is your lucky number?
15

What is your Chinese zodiac sign?
Monkey

Today, Kristie, a mother to four year old Arabella, lives in Hong Kong and hosts CNN’s daily news program ‘News Stream’ as well as their monthly show ‘On China.’ A leading voice in reporting the rise of China, she is most known for her coverage of the business and tech worlds, bringing a no nonsense approach to her journalism that has garnered her a name for her thought provoking and direct style. She has interviewed everyone from Aung Sung Su Ki to Lady Gaga, Melinda Gates to Chinese artist Ai Wei Wei along the way, and she has done it all looking impeccably chic. Here, she answers Kotur’s questions.

What’s in your make-up bag?

Kristie Lu Stout: Tinted moisturizer, mascara and tubes of bright red and pink lipsticks

Do you have a beauty secret?

Kristie: Sleep and a smile

What would be your desert island essentials?

Kristie: Sunscreen, a hat, and plenty of buckets and spades to build a sandcastle with my daughter

What do you wear on a fat day?

Kristie: A kimono jacket

How would your female friends describe your style?

Kristie: Preppy and exotic

What’s the most treasured item in your wardrobe?

Kristie: My first Cheong Sam from my tailor in Kowloon (Hong-Kong)

Is there anything in your wardrobe you should get rid of but can’t?

Kristie: A pair of trashed Gucci heels I wore on the Great Wall

What do you never leave home without?

Kristie: A smartphone and a charger

Hot date night with your partner, what do you wear?

Kristie: Jumpsuit and matte red lipstick

When home alone, what do you wear?

Kristie: A black jersey tank dress

What do you wear to bed?

Kristie: That’s a state secret

You’re the fashion police for a day, what do you ban?

Kristie: Bluetooth headsets and (if and when they become ubiquitous) Google Glasses

Have you ever worn anything you now regret?

Kristie: The grunge wardrobe I sourced from the Wasteland in San Francisco back in the early 90s

How high is too high a heel?

Kristie: When it’s too high to run in

If you could live in any other time for its fashion, when would you choose?

Kristie: The 1970s

What is your most recent purchase?

Kristie: A Kenzo tiger print scarf and a dozen unicorn horns from Etsy

Can you judge a book by its cover?

Kristie: No, especially if it’s a Penguin Classic with the iconic orange and white cover

What are your bad habits?

Kristie: I’m a terrible music snob and I judge people based on their gadgetry and media diet

What’s your greatest extravagance?

Living in Hong Kong

What are your guilty pleasures?

Mint chocolate chip ice cream, Girl Scout cookies and zombie movies

What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?

Kristie: To move from Silicon Valley to Beijing in 1997

What’s your favorite smell?

Kristie: The ocean

What’s your idea of a great holiday?

Kristie: Family, friends, a new bottle of wine, and loads of laughter

What are you most proud of?

Kristie: My family, my education, and the last 12 years working at CNN International

What are you least proud of?

Kristie: My lack of patience

What is your pure bliss?

Kristie: Writing that perfect last line to a column or script

Who or what would you like to be reincarnated as in your next life?

Kristie: A librarian

What would you eat for your last supper?

Kristie: A bowl of noodles cooked by my mother, salmon poached by my husband, and cookies baked by my daughter. My father and sister would mix the cocktail.

If you could meet someone from history who would it be?

Kristie: Julia Child – to talk about culinary school, the media, and her brief career as a spy

Yes or no to a nip and a tuck?

No, thank you

Do you have a favorite purse or bag?

A Marimekko carry-all tote

How would you like to be remembered?

A mother, wife, daughter, sister, friend… and journalist who always stayed curious

Treepod dining at Soneva Kiri Koh Kood, Thailand

Got a head for heights? Book Treepod Dining at the heavenly Soneva Kiri and be seated in a bamboo pod winched up to six metres in the air so you can gaze down on the rainforest and waves below while an acrobatic waiter serves your meal via a zip line.

Dress code Soneva Kiri’s motto is ‘no news, no shoes’, so think casual – sundresses, shorts and sandals are perfectly acceptable.

Top table Seriously, you can’t beat star gazing from your private pod nestled high in the jungle’s canopy. 

Dress code International urban chic (linens, neutrals) with a colonial flourish (blazer, shiny shoes)

Top table All tables come with jaw-dropping vistas, but window seats offer pole-position, especially the more copious corner spots. Book ahead for intimate booth tables adjacent to the bar or one of the private dining pods lining the open kitchen.

Underwater dining at Anantara Kihavah’s, Maldives 

The Sea restaurant at this boutique oasis of luxury ocean facing villas in the impeccable Maldives excels in seasonal five-course lunches and four-course dinner menus, all served in glass-walled splendour three metres below the waves.

Dress code Crisp linen for him; billowing silk for her.

Top table Book a window seat in Sea for oceanic submersion without getting wet. Fish will float dreamily past as you dine on lobster lunches and degustation dinners, paired with the sommelier’s choice of 6,500 bottles of wine.

Dinner on the Mekong at An Lam Saigon River, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 

French-Vietnamese cuisine is served on tables overlooking Mekong river life in this Saigon boutique hotel that steps back in time. In it’s open air Tram dining room, Vietnamese lanterns typify the hotel’s fusion of French and Vietnamese elements whilst boats float dreamily by. There are comfy rattan chairs with big cushions to sink into, perfect for long romantic dinners. (Start with gỏi cuốn, rice-paper rolls, and move on to succulent duck magret).

Dress code Cool and Continental: think a shift dress and Chanel references (pearls, ballet flats) for her; chinos, linen and cologne for him.

Top table Bag one of the three tables along the river in the ‘Luc Binh corner’ overlooking the water and the Buddhist temple surrounded by palm trees on the other side of the river bank. (Lucky Smith members get first-dibs on one of these tables each evening).

Country Splendor at Le Manoir aux Quatre Saisons, Oxfordshire UK 

Celebrated chef Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons is the grandest, oldest house in a small, secluded Oxfordshire village whilst his two-Michelin-starred restaurant serves a deservedly celebrated menu of modern French dishes. If you’re going all-out (and while you’re here, why not?) go for the nine-course Menu Découverte; if you’ve a smaller appetite, there are five, six, and seven course tasting menus, too. Think english country chic meets delicious french cuisine and you’ll get the drift.

Dress code Très élégant.

Top table Every table’s good, but the conservatory’s views of the gardens make it a top choice. Tables for two predominate; if you’re dining as a group, request the long table in the restaurant’s semi-private La Bourgogne room (for up to 12 guests).

Stunning sea views at Cape La Gala, Sorrento, Italy

Perched on the cliffs overlooking the Bay of Naples, the main restaurant at five start Capo La Gala sits above the pool, with various seating areas dotted around the hotel, inside and out, including one down by the beach. Crisp navy tablecloths stand out against the white Panton chairs, and there are stacks of stripey blue and white cushions. It has a Michelin star to its name, so expect fine flavour combinations, such as tuna steak in herb pastry with caponata and candied tomatoes and ravioli with caciotta cheese and marjoram.

Dress code Pucci and Prada, worn with a tan.

Top table By the windows in the main restaurant, with views straight out to sea.

View details for all hotels on www.mrandmrssmith.com

My Celine Trio bag – it’s indispensable on any vacation whether it’s the city or beach. I have it in various colours, but red is my favourite.

Tod’s sandals – Everyone talks about K.Jacques, but Tod’s sandals are durable but also beautifully made and classic. I buy a few pairs every summer.

Tabla cover-ups – Their East-meets-West cover-ups are super chic and feature stunning hand embroideries from India. Plus, they go easily from beach to dinner – pair them with a pair of gold flats and you are good to go!

Tees and cotton dresses from J.Crew and Alexander Wang – I have these in various styles and colours. They work for any destination

Maui Babe Browning Lotion – I discovered this in Hawaii many years ago and always travel with it. It gives you the perfect golden brown tan!

Gold jewellery from Herve Van Der Straeten – His cuffs and earrings are perfect for the summer and are made from hammered gold. The designs are bold but always elegant, people always stop to ask me about them.

KOTUR Glitter Globe Clutch– It’s my current favourite because its playful yet chic. I’m obsessed with the gold glitter!

Holiday Highlights: Watching the sunrise during a hot air balloon ride over Cappadocia in Turkey where the unique rock formations look like you’ve stepped off a Star Wars movie set and waking up the view of the bosphorus in Istanbul. And my entire trip in Capri was magical, from dining under the lemon groves at Da Paolino and people watching in the piazzetta to discovering the white and green grottos on a private yacht.

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London

Hotel – I tend not to stay in hotels in London but Claridges was where I spent the first night of my honeymoon and I remember booking a room at the Savoy for Valentines Day which had been used by Monet to sketch the Thames. Both are grand, historical, sumptuous and beautiful. A surprise choice would be Shoreditch House in East London – it’s well priced, stylishly functional rooms come with access to the club for breakfast and the rooftop pool.

Shop – Aside from galleries, bookshops are places I love to spend time in and Cecil Court just off St Martin’s Lane is still the best place in the age of Amazon. My favourite shop used to be Red Snapper – I bought most of my Ballard collection from them and a whole host of Sixties psychedelic stuff. I still regret not buying an entire collection of Oz magazine, and now they’ve closed down. So instead, for well-priced modern first editions, Tindley and Chapman is the place to browse. The other really great antiquarian bookshop in London, out along the Fulham Road, is Peter Harrington.

Restaurant – Sheekeys always feels special and has a timelessness to it; St John’s remains a knock-out. The pig’s cheeks and bone-marrow are the stand-out dishes for me, but I’ll eat anything Fergus Henderson cooks, and he’s cooked pretty much all parts of most animals. My new discovery down in Bermondsey near White Cube’s new gallery is Pizzarro, a Spanish restaurant with seriously good food.

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Hong Kong

Hotel – I tend to stay at the Four Seasons because it’s right opposite the gallery and has a great view and a great pool but my favourite Hong Kong hotel is definitely the Upper House. There’s something unbelievably decadent and primal at the same time about lying in a bath looking out over a city, and every room has this possibility.

Restaurant – Sushi Sase on Hollywood Road is excellent, discreet and very accomplished, but for Cantonese food, which I have to eat in Hong Kong, the best I’ve yet encountered is the Tung Po Seafood Restaurant with it’s formica tables, plastic chairs, neon lighting, cacophanous noise verging on chaos and mountains of unbelievably tasty food. For some reason the soft shell crab sticks in my mind but not my throat – all of which makes it almost perfect.

Shop – I’ve not really done much shopping in Hong Kong, which is odd given its mercantile past. The Malls are substantial and have most of what you might need but are utterly soulless. Having said that, there’s a wonderful tailor called Jimmy who has a small outlet at Admiralty Mall who makes shirts for me that are as good as any I’ve ever bought. I’m fascinated by the cookery utensil shops but haven’t yet summoned the nerve to try and take a couple of meat machetes home in my luggage.

—————————————–

Sao Paulo

Hotel – The best hotel in the city, some say in South America, is the Fasano and I’ve enjoyed the odd night there but by some twist of fate when the Fasano had overbooked they found me a room at the Unique and that’s where I now always stay. It’s faintly ludicrous – designed by Ruy Ohtake and looking like a vast hole-filled hammock from a distance, everything about it verges on being over-designed and yet it’s light and spacious and has the most wonderful (decent-sized) rooftop pool by which you can eat breakfast looking back over the city one way and over Ibirapuera Park the other.

Restaurant – It’s got to be those three letters currently at number six on the World’s Best Restaurant list – d.o.m. – where the chef Alex Atala justifies the hype and the price. I once lost part of a filling there but that was probably through eating with too much gusto rather than any reflection on the food. At the other end of the food chain, there’s an unremarkable looking coffee shop across the road from the Unique Hotel where I always buy a milky coffee and a pastry after a run in the park. Standing out in the sun by the awning there makes me almost as happy as eating a gourmet meal.

Shop – The stalls outside the Museum of Football at the legendary Estadio do Pacaembu are a must. When in Brazil, you buy football kit for your sons and nephews … well, I pretty well always do. Better still, go to a game and watch Corinthians.

www.whitecube.com

Pictures:

LONDON: White Cube Bermondsey, Jac Leirner, Cartoon nº 2 2012 Mixed media 48 1/16 x 14 9/16 x 3 9/16 in. (122 x 37 x 9 cm) © the artist currently on show at White Cube Bermondsey and Julie Mehretu, Mogamma, A Painting in Four Parts, 2012 Ink and acrylic on canvas 180 x 144 in. (457.2 x 365.8 cm) © the artist Photo: Ben Westoby, Courtesy White Cube and currently on show at White Cube Bermondsey, Claridges Hotel, J Sheekey’s restaurant and Peter Harrington Rare Books.

HONG KONG: Jake and Dinos Chapman, The Sum of all Evil, 2012-2013 Fibreglass, plastic and mixed media in four vitrines 84 5/8 x 50 11/16 x 98 3/8 in. (215 x 128.7 x 249.8 cm) © Jake and Dinos Chapman Photo: Ben Westoby Courtesy White Cube and currently on show at White Cube Hong Kong, the Upper House Hotel.

SAO PAOLO: Mark Bradford, Thievery by Servants, 2013, Mixed media collage on wood, frame, Overall dimensions: 118 x 358 in. (299.7 x 909.3 cm) 50 panels, each: 21 5/8 x 33 7/8 in. (55 x 86 cm) © Mark Bradford, Photo: Joshua White Courtesy Mark Bradford and  White Cube and currently on show at White Cube Sao Paolo, Unique Hotel Sao Paolo, and d.o.m. restaurant.

Yardbird’s Signature Cocktail: Chu Hi

INGREDIENTS:

 - 90 milliliters Sengetsu Kawabe Kome Shochu, Measured

- 90 milliliters Squeezed Grapefruit, Squeezed

METHOD:

1. Fill 300 mL glass with ice

2. Measure 90 mL Sengetsu Kawabe Kome Shochu into glass

3. Place glass under juicer and fill with the juice of 1/2 – 1 grapefruit

Lindsay Jang Answers Kotur’s Questions:

Why do people love your Chu Hi cocktail? 

What makes a great restaurant and / or Bar?

Amazing food and great hospitality.

What are some of your favourite bars and restaurants around the world?

Yakitori Totto, Balthazar and La Esquina in NY are all excellent, and I love any brasserie in Paris. All the outdoor, healthy spots in LA are great; basically I love any establishment with good quality product and a fun environment. I like to explore and try new spots.