Welcome to The Velvet Runway, where we blend insightful travel guides, style inspiration, and lifestyle advice tailored for curious minds and style enthusiasts alike. Our mission is to provide practical tips, curated itineraries, and inspiration that elevate everyday experiences—whether you’re looking to explore new destinations, refresh your wardrobe, or simply find ways to enhance your daily life.
Created with a passion for exploration and discovery, our content is crafted to inspire and empower you in every journey you take, from the big adventures to the small moments of joy.
About Julia
I’m Julia. I was born in the UK but I have lived in France for the last thirty years, so I guess I’ve acquired the “French touch”. I love fashion and travelling whenever and wherever I can.
I am the owner and founder of The Velvet Runway and a qualified Personal Stylist and Life Coach at Julia Rees Coaching.
However, I have always been passionate about travel and recently became a certified travel advisor and launched my travel planning services at The Velvet Runway Travel
I studied Psychology at University, followed by a 15 year career in Finance and 13 years as a secondary school teacher before retraining as a Personal Stylist in 2016 and more recently as a certified Life Coach and Travel Advisor.
I‘ve been where you are or somewhere close. I’ve moved to a new country (where I didn’t speak the language), I’ve quit my 9 to 5 job to launch a new business, I’ve written the book, run the marathon and had my share of successes and failures.
All of this provided me with proof that I could do anything I set my mind to and that I was capable of doing hard things, evolving and living my best life, and now I want to inspire others to live their best life too!
The goal of The Velvet Runway is to encourage you to go after what you desire in all aspects of your life, covering style, lifestyle and traveling. I am here to encourage and support you to make your dreams come true.
I hope that the inspiration you find on this site encourages you to live your best life and go after your dreams.
About The Velvet Runway
The Velvet Runway aims to inspire you to live the life of your dreams by sharing with you style, lifestyle and travel inspiration as well as mindset tips and inspiring interviews with people who have created the life they love.
I have always been passionate about style, beauty and travelling, and spend much of my free time researching beauty products, shopping (or at least window-shopping) for new clothes and planning my next holidays!
In September 2015, I decided to start The Velvet Runway to share my passions and provide inspiration to help you live your dream life.
The name “The Velvet Runway” signifies both travel, with the allusion to airport runways, but also style with the allusion to fashion runways (catwalks) and the “velvet” is for a touch of luxury and elegance.
We provide travel inspiration at every point of your journey, from fun trip ideas to travel guides and hotel and resort reviews.
You will find fun suggestions for trips (such as five of the best European Christmas Markets), travel guides to small towns (such as Evian-les-Bains), big cities (such as Seville) and areas ( such as the Alentejo area of Portugal. You can also find hotel and resorts inspiration, such as these features on Minos Beach Hotel in Greece, the Hotel La Ponche in Saint-Tropez and the Hideaway Beach Resort in the Maldives.
Whether you love the city, the mountains, the lakes, the beach, hiking in national parks, road trips or relaxing by the pool in luxury hotels, there is something here to appeal.
And because our overall aim is to inspire you to live your dream life, we also feature style and beauty inspiration, health tips and ways to enjoy your life at home too.
So, you will also find lifestyle features (such as home decor tips), beauty tips (such as seven steps to prep for summer) and style inspiration (such as How to look elegant on a budget).
British-born, I’ve spent over thirty years, living and working in France. Both my daughters were raised in France and now both live in Paris. My youngest daughter, Hannah Rees, has recently become a regular contributor to the blog and I hope that you will enjoy her articles about French Style and Living in Paris.
However you found our site, I hope you will take a little time to browse and that you will leave feeling inspired and ready to live the life of your dreams.
I’m thrilled to have you as part of our community and am excited to be a part of your journey. Dive into our guides, explore our tips, and let’s discover all the ways we can make life a bit more stylish, adventurous, and meaningful—together!
Look good, feel good, live your best life 🙂
With love,
