Valentine's Day: A Female Insight

 

Daisy Knatchbull, founder, The Deck London

What the occasion means to you? I often try to snub Valentine’s Day as a well-constructed marketing piece, but I am a hopeless romantic sometimes. A bunch of flowers never goes wrong! I think it’s about celebrating your love for someone (romantic or friendship) and also yourself. Outline your preferred ways of celebrating it? I usually try and make time to have a one-on-one dinner with my boyfriend. We try and find somewhere different and fun – an establishment that we wouldn’t usually visit. This year we have actually been treated to a London staycation by Page8 Hotel which I’m looking forward to and is definitely different to my usual Valentine’s! Reference to memorable days of the past? Life gets crazily busy at the best of times and I certainly know I can often forget to spend proper quality time with the people I love, so it’s a good way to remind myself of that.

Eléonor Picciotto, Mrs Rake

What the occasion means to you? An absurd excuse to get a woman flowers and a box of chocolates to supposedly express your love, driven by heavily imported American marketing. What if she doesn’t love you back, hates chocolate because it gives her pimples and travels too much to keep flowers fresh and hydrated? Then everything is ruined before it even started! Outline your preferred ways of celebrating it? A big dinner at home with friends, with a majority of them single, and a few couples to balance it out. “The Valentine’s date night topic” will always be raised and the debate can be very interesting; it can even lead up to couple creation towards the end. Who knows? Reference to memorable days of the past? A few years back, a bouquet of 23 red roses that were one meter tall arrived to my office with a written card that said: “There isn't anything more beautiful than a rose besides the face of the one who receives it.” It took me 24 hours to figure out who sent it. Post the delivery he said: “You always claimed that Valentine’s was commercial, expected, and lacking of surprise, well - gotcha’ on that one!” We started dating a few weeks later and stayed together for 6 years. Are there any particular ways you’d like to celebrate in the future? I would love a genuine surprise to be an experience. Not necessarily love related even though it somehow will be because he will think about what I would enjoy not what a girl should enjoy. That could be spending a day, an evening, a night in an unusual way… like sleep on top of the mountain or get my weight in raspberries. Just sayin’.

 

Caroline Andrew, founder, Caroline Andrew London

What the occasion mean to you? It’s a day to be appreciative of your loved ones, family and close friends - as well as other halves. It’s a time to be in the company of those you most care about. Outline your preferred ways of celebrating it? A romantic evening with my partner. Love letters, good food and a night of hot sex. Reference to a memorable day of the past? One of my favourites, and slightly awkward/hilarious memories growing up was my parents sending me anonymous Valentine’s Day cards year after year, and me wondering each time who it was from — hoping it was a boy.

Countess of Lucan, founder, Lucan

What the occasion means to you? As Warren Zevon sang: “Bring lawyers, guns and money, dad, get me out of this.” Outline your preferred ways of celebrating it? A gun in my hand, cash in the bank and gas in the tank heading shooting in full Lucan regalia, driving a sexy vintage Porsche with a stock of cigars next to me. The final secret ingredient: epic tunes to which my feet can tap to the beat dressed in a pair of kick-ass Louboutins. Reference to memorable days of the past? That would be a kiss-and-tell story, although I can mention they were smoky and hot, filled with Ramon Allones cigars Are there any particular ways you’d like to celebrate in the future? I still love a good, now almost, old-fashioned romantic evening with popcorn in the cinema.