SPRING/SUMMER 2016
GONE FISHING HOW AN ANCIENT WAY OF LIFE FOUND ITS WAY TO THE TABLE AT LAKESIDE
STEVE WYNN FROM DEVELOPING HOTELS TO SETTING AN URBAN STANDARD
ENDLESSLY LUXE JEWELS AND THE SEASON’S MOST GLAMOROUS FASHIONS
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spring/summer 2016
features 28 master plan In the process of building luxury hotels around the world, Steve Wynn created a powerful brand that now holds sway in urban planning. By Andrea Bennett
74 Spring’s most elegant jewels bloom against handmade chinoiserie papers.
34 hana calling The search for the right fish to serve in Lakeside at Wynn results in an unshakable bond between a chef and a fishing family in Maui—and a journey to the unspoiled paradise that yields its bounty. By Andrea Bennett
44 made in italy More than just words on a label, it’s a way of life—and a law—whose cachet is rooted in uncompromising Florentine craftsmanship. By Reid Bramblett
54 fragile beauty
18k white-gold, 5.7 carat, 256 brilliant-cut diamond, and 173.9 carat blackdiamond bead Nuit de Diamants necklace and 18k white-gold, 28.9 carat, 992 brilliant-cut diamond, and 2.6 carat, 538 brilliantcut black spinel Ruban de Camélia brooch by Chanel Fine Jewelry (price on request). Chanel, Encore, 702-770-5468
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photography by jeff crawford; wallpaper courtesy of cole & son
When a quartet of famous Chinese porcelain pieces— known as the Buccleuch vases—reaches its new home in Wynn Palace, it will have completed a journey spanning more than two centuries and thousands of miles. By Andrea Bennett
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spring/summer 2016
62 lounge acts The high-wattage glam of spring fashion takes its cue from slinky ’70s silhouettes and fabrics. Photography by Bonnie Holland
62 Retro-cool 1970sinspired glamour takes center stage in spring fashion.
74 precious blooms
photography by bonnie holland
Spring’s most fabulous jewels come to life on a backdrop of elegant chinoiserie to suit the season. Photography by Jeff Crawford
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HAPPY SPORT Discover th e Wor ld o f Ch o p a rd : W yn n L as Ve gas • 7 0 2 .8 6 2 .4 5 2 2 Exp lore th e collectio n a t u s .c h o p a rd .c o m
spring/summer 2016
80 red hot The lively redesign of Mizumi, the Japanese restaurant at Wynn Macau, summons both serenity and fun. By Gabriel Cohen
86 The Fleur chocolate cake at Jardin.
82 wynn news Wynn exclusives from Moncler, Veneziani, Dior, Versace, and Jude Frances. Plus: the new Encore Players Club, and Wynn’s sports-wagering app.
86 garden party
94 Where the men are: the spa. The treatments to try right now.
34 Yesterday’s catch can be today’s dinner at Lakeside.
The bright, fresh new décor and dishes in Jardin transform the restaurant into a light-filled centerpiece for Wynn’s colorful gardens. By Larry Olmsted
90 of the essence In Enzo Febbraro’s kitchen at Allegro, some of the simplest, most impeccably sourced ingredients come together in the restaurant’s greatest showpieces. By Andrea Bennett
94 haven sent
96 wynn moment
ON THE COVER Barbara Kraft captures the tranquil beauty of the laguna at Costa di Mare. 22
PhotograPhy by Jeff green (cake); anthony Mair (sPa); erin kunkel (boy)
At The Spas at Wynn and Encore, it’s a man’s world, too. By Michael Shulman
M I K I M OTO.CO M
ANDREA BENNETT Editor-in-Chief
MAUREEN SCHAFER Publisher
Wynn Editorial Advisory Board Maurice Wooden, Michael Weaver Wynn Resorts Liaisons Nehme Abouzeid, Aga Abram, Deanna Pettit-Irestone, Hedy Woodrow Chief Editorial and Creative Officer Mandi Norwood Vice President of Creative and Fashion Ann Y. Song Creative Director Nicole A. Wolfson Nadboy Senior Managing Editor Karen Rose Art Director Allison Fleming Photo Director Lisa Rosenthal Bader Photo Editor Marie Barbier Senior Fashion Editor Faye Power Associate Fashion Editor Casey Trudeau Assistant Fashion Editors Connor Childers, Lisa Ferrandino Copy Editors David Fairhurst, Julia Steiner Senior Digital Imaging Specialist Jeffrey Spitery Digital Imaging Specialist Jeremy Deveraturda Advertising Sales Susan Abrams, Irena Hall, Debra Halpert, Alison Miller, Jennifer Palmer, Maureen Schafer, Dan Uslan Sales Assistant Rue McBride Director of Production Paul Huntsberry Positioning and Planning Manager Tara McCrillis Production Artist Marissa Maheras Traffic Supervisor Estee Wright Traffic Coordinators Jeanne Gleeson, Mallorie Sommers Wynn magazine is published by GreenGale Publishing, LLC. The entire content is copyright of GreenGale Publishing, LLC. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without the express written permission of the publisher. Wynn magazine does not assume liability for products or services advertised herein. Wynn magazine is a registered trademark.
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Gabriel Cohen
erin KunKel
reid bramblett
leilani laCson
The writer of our Macau Spotlight story on the recent redesign of Mizumi at Wynn Macau, Gabriel Cohen is the author of five novels and a nonfiction book. He has written articles and essays for The New York Times, the New York Post’s Page Six Magazine, Time Out New York, Gourmet.com, and other publications. For the Mizumi story, Cohen interviewed Roger Thomas, Executive Vice President of Design for Wynn Design and Development. Says Cohen, “Interviewing Roger Thomas is an easy assignment because his enthusiasm for interior design is so palpable and articulately expressed. It’s impressive to witness how that passion extends to every single element, whether walls or chairs or dinnerware, and how those choices are all guided by an overriding vision of the space. I also appreciate the alchemy of how so many rich historical and cultural influences are incorporated into—and transmuted through—the design.”
Erin Kunkel, who shot our feature on the fishing family behind Lakeside’s Hawaiian fish program, is an award-winning photographer who works around the world and calls the foggy outerlands of San Francisco home. When she’s not behind the camera, she can be found gardening, cooking, and dreaming of warm-water surf destinations. She has photographed more than 40 cookbooks, and worked with clients like Food & Wine, Bon Appétit, and Travel + Leisure. “I always love shooting in Hawaii,” says Kunkel, “but this trip combined several of my favorite things—working with a great chef, amazing food, and high-seas adventures. I especially loved getting a local’s perspec-
Who better to pen our “Made in Italy” story than Reid Bramblett, who developed his popular ReidsItaly.com site after covering Italy in more than 25 guidebooks? “On the very first day of researching my very first book, Frommer’s Tuscany & Umbria,” Bramblett says, “Ferragamo’s Florence flagship was across the street from my hotel, so it became the first store (and museum) I ever reviewed.” Bramblett has since won awards
Leilani Lacson is a wardrobe stylist based in Los Angeles. For the past decade, her work, including this issue’s fashion feature, has graced editorial, commercial, and red-carpet projects. Her versatile style has lent itself to working with a diverse range of clients, including Nordstrom, Bebe, Benefit, Nike, Target, and Disney. She has also styled celebrities such as Meagan Good and Sarah Hyland. “I absolutely enjoy every opportunity I get to style shoots at Wynn,” says Lacson. “It is a pretty great feeling to see each story we shoot here come to life. We find new locations throughout the property that help tell a beautiful story, not only through the fashion but in the details of the décor.”
tive on Hana, where [the fisherman] Greggie and his family showed us remote beaches, took us fishing, and had a pig roast!”
for his trip-planning site, ReidsGuides.com, and a s a daily travel reporter
for MSNBC.com. He has also been Associate Editor of Budget Travel magazine and a contributing writer to Traveland Leisure.com and Condé Nast’s Concierge.com. “It was fun to revisit the Florence fashion scene,” he says. “Especially at a time when Gucci is rediscovering its roots— and its mojo—under new creative direction.”
master Plan
In the process of building luxury hotels around the world, Steve Wynn created a powerful brand that now holds sway in urban planning.
No piece of popular marketing jargon seems to be so desirable these days as the personal brand. Few, of course, have delineated theirs quite as clearly as Steve Wynn, whose name, in his own curvilinear handwriting, has become a lodestar on the Las Vegas Strip. The same can be said about his name on the swooping side of Wynn Macau. And when Wynn Palace opens this year on the Cotai Strip followed
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by Wynn Boston Harbor in Everett, Massachusetts, they will bear the same recognizable name. Wynn himself hatches resort- and even city-altering plans the way other people write grocery lists. So perhaps it is not a surprise that when I ask him about the Wynn brand, he is indifferent to the idea. What he’s doing, he insists, is what he’s always been doing—albeit on a grander scale.
PhotograPhy by barbara Kraft
by Andrea Bennett
By the time Wynn got his start after having graduated from college, he’d experienced the glamour of Las Vegas and Miami, he explains. “I came away from those experiences, when my father died, having inherited a bingo operation next to a concrete-block tobacco warehouse in southern Maryland. I have the Fontainebleau in my head, and the only thing I’ve got going for me is the bingo. So I’m hustling to get the bingo going so I can go to greener pastures and be a developer. The casinos have allowed me to spend more money on fancy destination hotels than I ever thought would be possible. And then I had the great luck and privilege to do it during the golden age of Las Vegas.” In fact, the Wynn ethos was born decades before he built the Mirage in 1989, which, at a cost of $630 million, was the most expensive hotel built to date—and credited with changing the Las Vegas landscape. “The building of a brand was a side effect of a simple observation I made when I was younger,” he says. “I never wanted to be in a business where you were selling price, because the only place to go is down. Instead, I opted to sell experience. And when you’re selling experience, price is irrelevant as long as you keep the promise.”
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As owner of the Golden Nugget in the 1970s, he says, “I made it a four-star place. I was ill-suited to [Downtown’s] Fremont Street, so I tried to remake Fremont Street to suit me.” As a result, on his watch the Golden Nugget made more money than the other Fremont Street casino hotels combined. Fast-forward to the 1990s, and the Mirage gave hoteliers permission to spend, Wynn says. “Instead of building little $150 million hotels, they could spend north of half a billion, and everybody started doing it.” After opening the Bellagio in 1998, Wynn’s name may have become synonymous with luxury to hotel cognoscenti, but he was reticent to put it on the side of a building once the time came to name his new property prior to its 2005 opening. “It seemed egocentric,” he recalls; besides, he wanted to name the hotel after a famous Picasso painting he owned, Le Rêve (“The Dream”). He enlisted advertising guru Peter Arnell, who polled Vegas regulars for weeks and came up with this pronouncement, Wynn says. “‘My answer to you, Steve, is that you can call it “Le Rêve,” but you’d damn well better say it’s the guy who built the Mirage and Bellagio and it means “The Dream.” And for my money, that’s too much information.’”
above: Wynn started in Downtown Vegas with the Frontier and the Golden Nugget, followed by the Mirage, Treasure Island, and Bellagio on the Las Vegas Strip. Wynn Las Vegas (right) opened in 2005, Wynn Macau in 2006, and Encore in 2008.
photography by Quade/ullstein bild via getty images (golden nugget); robert a. van het hof/shutterstock.com (wynn las vegas)
Steve Wynn increased his stake in the Golden Nugget in 1973, becoming the youngest casino owner in Las Vegas.
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“
“
“I opted to sell experience. And when you’re selling experience, price is irrelevant as long as you keep the promise.”—steve wynn
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information. If you told us we’re going to Steve Wynn’s new hotel, we don’t need more information. Why are you having trouble with your surname? It’s not Lipschitz or Spielberg. And what about the double entendre of Wynn? Your name’s not “Lose.”’” Putting his name on his hotels, Wynn says, came down to accountability—whose gate, he muses, swings both ways. “People love accountability. People think they know me that don’t. Or people ascribe to me qualities that I don’t deserve because the people I work with do something wonderful. If something’s wrong, then I’m a jerk, but if something’s nice, I’m a genius. The counterpoint is that accountability is a good thing when people are trusting you with their stay. They want to know that someone cares.” All over the Wynn and Encore grounds, he says, people approach him to thank him for creating a wonderful place. In-person criticism? “Only my mother did that once,” he laughs. What started as Wynn’s modus operandi has become the brand. But Wynn doesn’t see
his properties as a string of luxurious one-offs. “Our idea in China and Boston is the same,” he emphasizes. “The board and I feel that if we do a wonderful job on a metropolitan grand destination hotel and casino, we’ll create the template for cities like Atlanta or Dallas that would want to do this. The hotel we’re building in Boston is a destination—not a box of slots in a regional casino, but an addition to a city that makes people want to go there and vacation. Similarly, Wynn Palace in Cotai is going to be the photo-op for the city. It is orders of magnitude fancier than the competitors—and that’s not developer-speak,” he says. “They’re case studies of why you can trust our brand if you really want to improve your city.” That won’t be the end of Wynn’s to-do list. “They say you’re only as good as your track record,” Wynn says, a flicker of what is perhaps some new idea crossing his face. “So I’m busy creating a track record in Boston and China. And if we do that well, I want to reinvent Las Vegas one more time.”
The spewing volcano in front of the Mirage began an era of showmanship along the Las Vegas Strip.
PhotograPhy by Wendell Metzen/Photolibrary via getty iMages
But Wynn didn’t solidify the decision until he’d made calls to Barry Diller, Donald Trump, and Steven Spielberg to ask their professional opinions. Characteristically for Diller, Wynn laughs, the media mogul responded, “‘Why are you asking me a stupid question like this? I don’t know what the “Le Rêve” idea was about in the first place. Call the place the Wynn and stop screwing around with this “Le Rêve” business.’” Wynn perfectly intones Trump’s voice to recall the second conversation. “‘I’ll tell you one thing. Everybody in New York is talking about your new hotel. They know you’re calling it “Le Rêve” because you’ve got the painting, but they know it’s you. So you might as well call it Wynn—you’re gonna get the flak anyway.’ I said, ‘Okay, thanks, Don,’ and called Spielberg.” The third call sealed the deal for Wynn. “‘If you told Katie [Kate Capshaw, Spielberg’s wife] and me we were going to a new hotel in Las Vegas called “Le Rêve,” we’d need more
BOSSA NOVA
WHEN STYLE BECOMES A STATEMENT.
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hana
Calling The search for the right fish to serve in Lakeside at Wynn results in an unshakable bond between a chef and a fishing family in Maui— and a journey to the unspoiled paradise that yields its bounty. by Andrea Bennett photography by Erin Kunkel
Whole opaka and onaga stuffed with ginger and lemongrass; fresh fiddlehead fern salad; grilled ahi loin; Maui tomato, onion, and goat cheese salad; and big-eye poke are all on the menu at Chef David Walzog’s impromptu post-fishing party in Hana.
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clockwise from top left: Freshly caught skipjack tuna (or aku); David Walzog hooks an aku aboard the Kaihawanawana; Greggie Lind puts Walzog to work unpacking snapper from the cooler after a day of fishing.
“You’ve got to love the freshness right out of the water. The question has always been how we take this experience to the next level and tell the right story about it.”—DAVID WALZOG
G
ina Lind stands in front of the house that she and her family are renovating in Hana, on the Hawaiian island of Maui. Statuesque and strikingly beautiful in shorts and a tank top, her long, curly hair casually tied up and tucked with a plumeria flower while the youngest of her five children— 3-year-old Kaihawanawana (“Kai Kai”) and 10-month-old Adrianna—cling to her limbs, she’s calmly directing a snarl of family traffic. Eight-year-old Talia and 6-year-old Wai’oli are trying to corral the litter of puppies that was a surprise feature of the new property. Her oldest, 13-year-old Ekolu, is helping his father, Greggie, unearth the 70-pound pig that’s been steaming in the imu in the front yard. The compact earth oven is meticulously layered with wood and basalt stones to hold in the heat, and the pig is wrapped in ti leaves and chicken wire to keep the tender meat from falling apart. It’s a fragrant, smoky, labor-intensive once-a-year treat—an indication of just how excited the family is that Uncle David has come to visit. The “uncle” designation is honorary, but David Walzog, Executive Chef of Lakeside and SW Steakhouse in Wynn Las Vegas, and Greggie Lind greet each other like long-lost brothers. They’ve been texting all morning, planning the logistics of the next few days of fishing, cooking, and entertaining. Greggie has recently switched mobile phones, since the last wasn’t consistently picking up Walzog’s texts. “Forget about his wife,” Gina says in her characteristically gentle,
teasing way. “He needs to make sure he can be in constant contact with David.” Yet what Gina laughingly calls the “bromance” between the fisherman and the chef has become crucial to Walzog’s deceptively simple menu of Hawaiian fish at Lakeside—2,700 miles away from this scene of celebratory chaos. Walzog is well aware that restaurants will go to great lengths to engineer a narrative in the name of attracting diners who, now more than ever, care about the origin of their food. Certainly any restaurant with sufficient resources could create the Epcot version of Mama’s Fish House, the famous beachside restaurant on Maui’s north shore. But Walzog wanted to dig deeper. The story behind Lakeside’s now-renowned Hawaiian fish program, which brings snapper, mahimahi, and ono, among other species, directly from their clean Pacific waters to Wynn—sometimes within a day—involves this friendship, naturally. But at its core, it is about supporting the traditions and practices of family fishermen for whom conservation has been an unspoken principle for hundreds of years. And of course, it’s about the purity and the freshness of the fish that Walzog can deliver to diners in less time than many Maui restaurants can. A longtime Maui vacationer, Walzog had always been drawn to the idea of living off what is abundant and available. “You’ve got to love the freshness right out of the water,” he says on the first day of our fishing trip, his slim boning knife zipping through a snapper. “So the question has always been how we take this experience to the next level and really tell the right story about it.”
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clockwise from left:
Ekolu throws his net at dawn from the family’s ancestral land in Mu’olea; opihi are split open and await the fire; ha’uke’uke, the dark purple helmet urchins, are prized for their roe.
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The backyard in Maka’alae before the party arrives.
At its core, the story is about supporting the traditions and practices of family fishermen for whom conservation has been an unspoken principle for hundreds of years. When he was beginning to plan Lakeside’s Hawaiian fish menu, he knew he didn’t want to employ an ordinary commercial fishing operation. “Typically, those boats are out on the water for 12 to 14 days, and they keep their haul on ice until they sell it at auction,” he explains. “That length of time is still considered fresh by the standards of most restaurants.” So he called his friend Eric Kingma, the environmental policy coordinator for the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, for ideas. “He recommended the Linds based on what honest, responsible, and good people they are,” Walzog says. After a flurry of phone calls, he was on a plane to meet them in Hana. A typical day for Greggie and Ekolu starts before dawn, when Gina helps them launch their fishing boat and then drives back home to get the children ready and go to her teaching job at the local elementary school. She’ll come back when their day is done in the late afternoon. The boat is Kaihawanawana, or Whispering Ocean, the name given to the Linds by Greggie’s paternal grandmother following age-old custom. “She had offered us a second name, Ehukai, but that reminded us of rough oceans,” Gina says. “The area of Maka’alae is known for its ehukai [salted breezes] when the ocean is rough.” Because their livelihood is entirely dependent on good seas and the fair treatment of their contents, for the Linds, tradition and protocol—even a bit of ancient supersti-
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tion—are everything. When a member of the crew grabs a banana to take on the boat, Greggie stops him. “No bananas,” he warns. “It’s bad luck.” We ask why, expecting some romantic Hawaiian origin story, and Greggie is flummoxed. It’s just not done, he responds. A single banana can be a scourge to a whole day’s fishing. The reason doesn’t matter. On board, Ekolu and Greggie reel in fish with the intricate choreography that only a father and son born to this life can achieve. Ekolu can’t imagine another way; in fact, he has negotiated a homeschooling arrangement with his mother, his days of fishing contingent on his grades. The waters are choppy, but Ekolu scans the sea for the flocks of birds that signify there are fish below. He looks far older than a newly minted teen as he reels in fish after fish, the densely green hills fronting Haleakala Crater as his backdrop. He and Greggie won’t catch more than they can sell, and nearly all of their haul will go to Walzog. In fact, for Walzog, the fish shopping happens while Greggie is still at sea: “He’ll call me and say, ‘I’m at 200 pounds of mahimahi. Stop or keep fishing?’” Once they’ve reached Walzog’s target, the Linds will return to shore, pack the haul into coolers, drive for two hours down the winding road to Kahului, and ship their fish to Wynn. If they time things right, the shipment will be served at Lakeside the next night.
clockwise from top left: Walzog demonstrates his knife skills on a freshly caught tuna; Wai’oli and Kai Kai serenade each other on ukuleles; Gina and Adrianna Lind; Greggie and Ekolu Lind tend the grill with Walzog.
below:
Fresh ahi poke is garnished with ogo seaweed, sesame seeds, and spring onions and served from a coconut. right: Greggie Lind serves daughter Kai Kai a plate at the party, while Wai’oli awaits his turn from a tree. opposite: Grilled ahi loin anchors a guest’s plate.
T
hat afternoon, it’s Walzog’s turn to go to work, and he takes his cues for the evening menu from the mountain of local ingredients sitting in the tiny kitchen of the house our crew is renting in Maka’alae. A 40-pound tuna is cubed for ahi poke, and tuna loins are seasoned and tossed on a grill in the backyard. Little Lind children scatter to find ti and banana leaves to hold the food; the lemongrass they’ve picked is stuffed inside whole snappers, with fat ginger slices in slits in their flesh. The shredded pork from the imu is seasoned and warmed; native fiddlehead fern shoots, pohole, become a salad spiked with sweet Maui onions; and the island’s famous tomatoes are simply dressed and tossed with basil and spring onions and studded with goat cheese from Surfing Goat Dairy in Kula, in Maui’s upcountry. In Las Vegas, Walzog serves dishes he has refined for a fine-dining audience, but the idea remains the same: Coax the flavor from the fish with the simplest ingredients possible. (His favorite at Lakeside: the onaga, or long-tail red snapper, whose slight sweetness he offsets with an Asian set of pickled Japanese vegetables and ponzu broth.) The beers come out and trucks show up, bringing friends from all over Hana. All this food is a good excuse for a party, which becomes almost too perfectly photogenic when Gina’s father, Hank Eharis, Jr., appears with his ukulele. To say that fishing is in the Linds’ DNA is something of an understatement: Both Greggie and Gina have fishing roots that go deeper than recorded history. On our final morning, we drive to the coastal area of Kanewai in Mu’olea, the family’s ancestral land, where Ekolu sometimes goes fishing at dawn, gath-
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ering up his net and tossing it in one smooth motion from the jagged black volcanic rocks into the sea. There is a distinctly sacred feeling to this area, which was owned by 13 families, seized as “crown lands” during the Great Mahele—the Hawaiian land redistribution carried out in the mid-19th century by King Kamehameha III—and temporarily used as a royal summer palace by King David Kalakaua. The matriarch of the House of Kalakaua, Analea Keohokalole, returned it to the families, from which both Gina and Greggie are descended, in the late 1800s. “But people needed money in the mid-1900s,” Gina explains, “and the only thing they had of value was their land, so they traded it.” After the land was nearly developed, the county and private donors interceded to make the area a kapu, or preservation district. We walk down toward the water, through tangles of yellow liliko’i (passion fruit) vines, mango trees, and coconut palms, and past a horse that ambles through a grassy clearing. The place, announces a sign, is an opihi resting area, referring to the small cone-shaped mollusk that the nonprofit group Na Mamo o Mu’olea, which oversees the district, is trying to protect from professional opihi pickers (consuming a few on-site is allowed). Greggie cooks two over the fire; they’re rubbery and salty and bathed in their own liquid. He splits open purple ha’uke’uke, the helmet urchins that cling to the rocks, so we can taste the buttery yellow roe. Gina’s father, who heads Na Mamo o Mu’olea, considers it a sacred duty to preserve the lands all the way up Haleakala and down to the sea: Every change in the landscape has a cascading impact, eventually affecting the waters that hold the key not only to their livelihood, but also to their culture and their history. “We were married down here, and our families have had their ashes spread here,” Gina says. “It is a ‘piko place’ [literally a ‘navel cord’] for us, lineal descendants who have a close spiritual tie to Kanewai. It is as much a part of us as fishing is.” Greggie and Walzog watch the kids scramble over rocks and through dense trees as the men talk a little shop, discuss Greggie’s next visit to Las Vegas, and, most important, plan what they’ll make for lunch (as it turns out, the world’s most precious tuna sandwiches, from yesterday’s ahi). It is through this friendship, and this family of stewards of the land and sea, that David Walzog has found a story to tell every night in his kitchen.
made in italy More than just words on a label, it’s a way of life—and a law—whose cachet is rooted in uncompromising Florentine craftsmanship. by Reid Bramblett
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opposite pAGe: photoGrAphy by rimAGine Group Limited/CuLturA viA Getty imAGes (tAiLor); Km6064/istoCK (bLACK LeAther); de AGostini piCture LibrAry/Getty imAGes (enGrAvinG); biGGereye/istoCK (brown LeAthers); this pAGe: FrAnCesCo CortiCChiA/istoCK (ArtisAn); triLoKs/istoCK (shoes); i. Jonsson/rAdius imAGes viA Getty imAGes (suit)
Florence, Italy, birthplace of the Renaissance and home to luxury brands such as Gucci, Salvatore Ferragamo, and Emilio Pucci. below: The Ponte Vecchio over the Arno River in Florence.
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photography by Ilya orehov (Florence); vrabelpeter1/IStock (ponte vecchIo)
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ust across the river from the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, is the Oltrarno, the city’s traditional artisan quarter. Step off the Ponte Vecchio, a medieval bridge barnacled with tiny goldsmith shops, and you’ll see a pocket-size boutique called Madova, opened in 1919 by Amedeo Donnini. Inside, surrounded by inventory stacked almost to the ceiling, Donnini’s grandchildren carry on the family practice of crafting some of the finest leather gloves in the world. One pair looks like sober black dress gloves, until you move your hand and bright colors flash from swatches hidden between the fingers—elegant yet playful. This is what “Made in Italy” means in the fashion world: thorough mastery of a craft, including attention to the smallest details; the impression that everything is perfectly made to measure; discipline steeped in generations of cherished tradition but unafraid to be modern and fun. Thousands of miles away, Wynn guests likely recognize the same spirit of uncompromising detail and luxury married to a sense of whimsy that draws the best Italian fashion designers to Wynn’s locations—in Las Vegas, Macau, and soon Cotai. Because even as tiny Madova’s Florentine neighbors have become titans of 20th-century fashion around the globe, the “Made in Italy” label remains as precisely defined and prized as it always has been—representing the best in craftsmanship just as Wynn represents the highest in luxury standards. As a liftboy at London’s Savoy Hotel in the early 1900s, teenager Guccio Gucci admired the guests’ elegant and sturdy bags. When he returned to his native Florence in 1921, he opened an English-style luggage store. Gucci’s goods soon became fashionable among moneyed horsemen. This—and a family legend that the Guccis had been saddlers during the Renaissance— inspired the brand’s equine symbols: the horse-bit spangle, the green-andred-striped ribbon resembling a cinch strap. By the 1960s, Gucci bags had become stars, seen on the arms of everyone from Elizabeth Taylor and Jacqueline Kennedy to Peter Sellers and Samuel Beckett. Despite its fame and fortune, however, the Gucci firm has remained committed to its core ideals, declaring that “100 percent of its leather goods, shoes, and ready-to-wear are still produced in its Florentine workshops,
WYNN LAS VEGAS AND ENCORE
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above:
A Gucci bag display at the Gucci Museum in Florence, and a model walking the runway during Gucci’s show for Milan Fashion Week, Spring/ Summer 2016. below: The Gucci store at Wynn Macau. top right: The Brioni store at Wynn Las Vegas.
The “Made in iTaly” TreaTMenT in las Vegas In February of 1951, a Florentine antiques and art dealer named Giovanni Battista Giorgini took it upon himself to make Italian clothing fashionable—and biggest North American companies to swing by his Florence villa after the annual Paris runway season. As part of the soirée, Giorgini mounted Italy’s very first fashion show, featuring, among others, the designs of a local marchese named Emilio Pucci. The gamble paid off, orders poured in to local ateliers, and “Made in Italy” became all the rage. In 1952, the event moved into the Pitti Palace, where the Roman fashion house Brioni hosted another first: a men’s fashion show. Since then, Florence’s annual fashion parade has introduced such designers as Valentino and Armani to the world, and today’s Pitti Immagine calendar includes half a dozen annual fashion shows in Florence’s Renaissance-era Fortezza del Basso. But fans no longer have to make the pilgrimage to Italy to get a bespoke
employing over 45,000 people in Italy alone.” This is in part because “Made in Italy” is not just a label. It’s a law. In 2009, Italy passed one of the world’s strictest labeling regulations for domestically produced goods. The full rules for “Made in Italy” certification are available at madeinitaly.org, but they boil down to this: The product must be manufactured entirely within Italy to the company’s exclusive designs, using Italian workers, traditional methods, and grade-A natural materials, and in hygienic and safe working conditions. This devotion to quality and custom has paid off: A 2013 survey of 10,000 luxury consumers in 10 countries by the Boston Consulting Group found that knowing an item was made in Italy generated the highest level of consumer confidence in the categories of clothing, accessories, and jewelry, and the second-highest in watches (after Switzerland) and cars (after Germany).
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Jay Lipe, a senior lecturer at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, who teaches an advanced course in Rome and Florence called “Made in Italy” Brand Management, says the label conjures in the consumer’s mind “this idea of a certain quality of the raw materials, of an element of craftsmanship, and of a skilled artisan who is involved in the final processing.” It’s no wonder that Italian brands celebrate their Italianness. In 2011, Gucci even opened a museum and café in a stately palazzo that had been, appropriately enough, the seat of Florence’s medieval merchant guilds. Overlooking the Palazzo Vecchio on bustling Piazza della Signoria— “the living room of Florence”—this was where the city’s powerful cloth importers, wool manufacturers, furriers, and silk weavers once held sway. The guilds’ timeworn stone crests are now on display in the bookshop,
Brioni Su Misura suit like the one Daniel Craig wore in Casino Royale. The Brioni boutique at Wynn is the only one in the US to offer the brand’s Miror technology, a kind of virtual closet in which a computerized 3-D tailoring system allows clients to choose from among 1,500 fabrics and 8 million styling combinations. While the suits may take shape in Vegas, this is still a “Made in Italy” experience: All Brioni master tailors are trained at the company’s own tailoring school in the Abruzzo mountains, where they study no fewer than 220 steps of workmanship, from drawing and cutting to the proper way to iron.
PhotograPhy by tIZIaNa FabI/aFP/getty Images (bags IN wINdow); VeNturellI/wIreImage (model wIth bag); barbara KraFt (guccI store; brIoNI store)
exportable—by inviting buyers from the
Wynn Las Vegas 路 702.770.3520
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photography by alessia pierdomenico/bloomberg via getty images (shoes); Fratelli alinari/alinari archives, Florence/alinari via getty images (craFtsmen)
Craftsmen at work in the studio of footwear designer and manufacturer Salvatore Ferragamo in Florence’s Palazzo Feroni circa 1937. above: Vara shoes, by Salvatore Ferragamo SpA, on display at the company’s museum in Florence.
replaced on the building’s façade by a new crest, featuring a suit of armor carrying Gucci handbags. In 2015, Gucci promoted a relatively unknown 43-year-old associate designer named Alessandro Michele to creative director, and he has embraced the sense of elegance-meets-fun that defines Florentine fashion. Michele has brought back the floral prints and swishy fabrics once beloved by Princess Grace. His exciting new designs mix Art Nouveau details, 1920s flapper style, hippie peasant dresses, and the smart lines of mid-20th-century fashion. And he has returned the brand’s famous interlocking G’s to pride of place in its roster of pattern and clasp designs. While the Gucci Museo also has—naturally—a small shop on-site, the company’s primary Florence boutique is on Via de’ Tornabuoni, the main artery of the city’s shopping district. Anchoring the base of this boulevard, a block south of Gucci, is the mighty 13th-century Palazzo Spini Feroni, its castlelike battlements profiled against the sky. A luxurious hotel in the 19th century, the palazzo became the seat of the municipality of Florence during its brief 1860s reign as capital of the new Kingdom of Italy. In the 1930s, a cobbler named Salvatore Ferragamo purchased the building, filling its frescoed halls with craft workshops, fashion ateliers, and offices for what was by then already a footwear empire. Ferragamo had made his first shoes—for his sisters’ confirmations—at the age of 9. He was apprenticed to a cobbler in Naples at 11, and by 13 he had opened his first shoe shop. Three years later, in 1914, he emigrated to America to join his brother on a shoe and boot assembly line outside Boston. Impressed by the industrial techniques he saw but devoted to old-world craftsmanship,
Ferragamo emphasized comfort as much as style, taking anatomy and mathematics classes at USC to puzzle out how to distribute weight over the arch of the foot. Ferragamo soon decamped to Southern California to forge his own alchemy of modern methods and the traditional cobbler’s art. By 1923, LA newspapers were calling him the “shoemaker to the stars” for a client list that included nearly every screen goddess of the early 20th century: Ingrid Bergman, Lana Turner, Mary Pickford, Rita Hayworth, Ava Gardner, Bette Davis, Marlene Dietrich, Katharine Hepburn. Ferragamo succeeded not just because he crafted flawlessly elegant, occasionally outrageous confections and slipped them onto famous feet to grace Hollywood’s red carpets. He emphasized comfort as much as style, taking anatomy and mathematics classes at the University of Southern California to puzzle out how to distribute body weight over the arch of the human foot. His research allowed his artisans to massproduce shoes that retained the elements of a made-to-measure fit. Today the brand still offers more than 70 fit and size combinations. Ferragamo returned to Italy in 1926, settling in the emerging fashion capital of Florence, where he eventually turned the Palazzo Spini Feroni into not only his brand’s global headquarters, but also a museum displaying shoes made for his celebrated
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clients. (His firm continues its Hollywood association, especially in period films, providing footwear for Madonna in Evita and Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady, for example.) Like his Florence neighbors Gucci and Pucci, Ferragamo and the house he founded gained worldwide fame without losing sight of the important role that Italian artisanal traditions played in his success. He likely could not have anticipated that he and his contemporaries would come to epitomize the luxury that people flock to Las Vegas and Macau to experience at Wynn. He wrote in his autobiography, “All over Italy— even today, and in the cities as well as the poor villages—you will see cobblers sitting in their tiny stone rooms, surrounded by heaps of shoes all higgledy-piggledy, working crouched over their lasts under the beam from a naked electric-light bulb.” That was written half a century ago, but wander the side streets of the Oltrarno neighborhood today and you can still glimpse that very scene through the open windows of 21stcentury Florentine craftsmen. Wander the Esplanades of Wynn and Encore and you’ll understand how this painstaking, time-honored craftsmanship has become the ultimate in contemporary luxury.
PhotograPhy by Vittorio Zunino Celotto/getty images for Conde nast international luxury ConferenCe (PalaZZo sPini feroni); mondadori Portfolio Via getty images (ferragamo); alessia PierdomeniCo/bloomberg Via getty images (shoes)
clockwise from top left: The Palazzo Spini Feroni, home of the Ferragamo museum in Florence; Salvatore Ferragamo in 1956 with a stack of celebrity shoe forms; a shoe exhibit in the Museo Salvatore Ferragamo.
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Fragile Beauty When a quartet of famous Chinese porcelain pieces—known as the Buccleuch vases—reaches its new home in Wynn Palace, it will have completed a journey spanning more than two centuries and thousands of miles. by Andrea Bennett
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PhotograPhy © Christie’s images Limited 2011
P
acking and shipping four vases that have virtually no equal in the world is, as you might imagine, not a matter an art handler takes lightly. When a set of legendary vases from China’s Jiaqing period (1796–1821) fitted with early-19thcentury French ormolu journeys the mere six miles from its current location in the lobby at Wynn Macau to the Wynn Palace VIP registration area in June, the logistics involved will be nothing short of “intense,” explains Wynn Design and Development’s Director of Purchasing, Pamela Cyr. On moving day, a specialty fine-art mover and installer from Hong Kong will arrive with six employees to de-install the vases, detach them from their ornate gilt-bronze mounts, secure them in the crates that originally took them the 6,000 miles from London to Macau in 2011, and move them to the Cotai Strip. Flanked by heavy security, the art handlers will transport the vases to their new home, where the process will begin in reverse. “Even a short move is very complex, due to the value of the vases, the coordination needed, and the staff it takes to make the move happen,” says Cyr, who managed their original move from Christie’s in London. The four-foot-high vases, painted with Buddhist and Daoist emblems, with their 19th-century gilt-bronze handles and bases, are not ordinary parlor decoration. Purchased by Steve Wynn at the Christie’s International “Exceptional” sale in London in 2011, they were the most expensive of 50 lots and set a world auction record for ormolu-mounted porcelain when Wynn paid $12.8 million for the set. But in fact they had been parlor decoration
clockwise from top left: The vases at
Wynn Macau; a vase in its home in Dalkeith Palace in 1902; Dalkeith Palace; a print of Montagu House, Whitehall, 1896.
for two centuries prior, albeit for a family of Scottish nobility that included two of the foremost art collectors of the early 19th century. The quartet, known as the Buccleuch vases, was either first acquired by Elizabeth Montagu, 3rd Duchess of Buccleuch and Queensberry (1743–1827), and later inherited by her grandson Walter, 5th Duke of Buccleuch and 7th Duke of Queensberry, or they were purchased by him in the late 1820s. By 1827, Walter was one of the richest landowners in Britain (the current Duke of Buccleuch is still the largest private landowner in the United Kingdom). And though a property inventory for Elizabeth’s Montagu House prior to his inheriting it listed a number of vases, including “Sea Green China Vases” and “enameld [sic] China Jars,” it was her grandson who became one of England’s greatest collectors, with the largest stores of not only Boulle furniture and Sèvres porcelain but also of ormolu-mounted Chinese porcelain. Montagu House, Whitehall, was one of London’s grandest private mansions in its day,
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hosting aristocracy and housing the exceptional Buccleuch art collection, which included works by Raphael, Rubens, Rembrandt, and Canaletto, along with many porcelain objets d’art. The vases resided with the Buccleuch family, later in the family’s Dalkeith Palace in Scotland, until the death of Walter Montagu Douglas Scott, 8th Duke of Buccleuch and 10th Duke of Queensberry, in 1973. They were auctioned twice after that, including in 2011, when Wynn Executive Vice President of Design Roger Thomas spotted them in his Christie's catalog and immediately made plans to fly to London to bid on the quartet. The find was so memorable, he recalls, he still has the catalog. The vases likely originally arrived in London via one of the importers of “foreign curiosities” in the West End, who sought exotic items for wealthy clients for whom oriental objets were in vogue. The ormolu mounts were attached to “improve” the porcelain—dealers worked with Parisian marchands-merciers (merchants) to
commission the mounts. To the credit of the bronziers who made them, they recognized the incredible quality of the porcelain, says Robert Copley, Christie’s Deputy Chairman and International Head of the Exceptional Sale of Decorative Arts. “Often the pieces were pierced to accommodate the ornate mounts,” he notes. “What’s interesting about the combination of these vases is that the French respected the porcelain enough to leave it intact.” Not only are the vases of incredible quality, they are also significant for combining images and motifs from both Buddhism and Daoism. The 2,000-year-old indigenous Chinese religion of Daoism thrived throughout the 300-year-long Qing Dynasty, during which these vases were produced, despite the emperors’ preference for Tibetan Buddhism. The many bats in flight depicted on the celadon background are an auspicious symbol of happiness and prosperity, as the word “bats” is a homophone in Chinese for a word meaning “happiness.” According to the lot notes by
PhotograPhy by barbara Kraft (vases in Macau); © country Life (DaLKeith PaLace); © beDforD LeMere & co./aLaMy stocK Photo (Montagu house)
Montagu House, Whitehall, was one of London’s grandest private mansions in its day, housing the exceptional Buccleuch art collection.
Christie’s historians, the eight Buddhist and Daoist emblems, of central importance on the vases, are believed to bring blessings and harmony: “The Lotus symbolizes purity and harmony; the Vase or Jar alludes to the elixir of life that stands for victory… the Twin Fish expresses the freedom and happiness that true knowledge brings.” The only parallels known to these vases were acquired by the Prince Regent (George, Prince of Wales, later George IV), and are still in Buckingham Palace. To give a sense of the workmanship involved, the 1814 commission for the Prince Regent required 31 different craftsmen. Today, visitors can see the vases that originally adorned Carlton House in the palace’s State Dining Room, transferred there when George became king. For Steve Wynn, who has been dubbed one of
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the 21st century’s “Medici buyers,” acquiring the vases was part of a goal to repatriate some of China’s most important art. Wynn began collecting Chinese art in 2006, when he purchased a rare red porcelain vase from the 14th-century Hongwu period and donated it to the Macau Special Administrative Region, where it is now in the permanent collection of the Cultural Affairs Bureau’s Macau Museum. “It’s not only important that Macau expands economically, but also culturally,” he explained. When Wynn brought the Buccleuch vases back to China, he announced in a ceremony at Wynn Macau that returning the pieces was part of a continuing policy to add to the cultural enrichment of the community. “China is where the vases have their roots and their story,” he said. And after a long trip abroad, collecting some embellishments on the way, the vases have found their way back home.
above:
The only known similar vases were acquired by the Prince Regent, and seen here in an aquatint engraving of the Blue Velvet Room at Carlton House by Charles Wild, circa 1816. left: One of the Buccleuch vases without its mount.
photography by rischgitz/getty images (blue VelVet room); © christie’s images limited 2011 (Vase)
For Steve Wynn, acquiring vases was part of a goal to repatriate some of China’s most important art.
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Style
PHOTOGRAPHY BY BONNIE HOLLAND
The golden age of ’70s-era Vegas will always be in style, as far as we’re concerned. And while fashion is cyclical, the arbiters of style are harking back to the glamour of metallic and gossamer fabrics, slinky contours, and flowing bohemian silhouettes. The season’s most wearable and dazzling looks seize the best elements of years past, updated for today’s glamour girls. Wool tweed cardigan ($3,600), top ($1,300), shorts ($1,000), and Dior Conquest shoes ($1,100), all by Dior. Dior, Wynn, 702-770-3450. Metal brooch ($1,250) and metal and plexiglass bracelet ($2,525), both by Chanel. Chanel, Wynn, 702-770-3532
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Cutout dress by Yigal AzrouĂŤl ($890). Wynn Collection, Wynn, 702-770-3545. Metal necklace by Chanel ($575). Chanel, Wynn, 702-7703532. Sandals by Charlotte Olympia ($825). Bags Belts and Baubles, Wynn, 702-770-3555
Lounge Acts The high-wattage glam of spring fashion takes its cue from slinky ’70s silhouettes and fabrics.
photography by Bonnie Holland styling by Leilani Lacson
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opposite page: Embroidered jumpsuit by Naeem Khan ($8,490). Wynn Collection, Wynn, 702-770-3545. Metal and plexiglass bracelet by Chanel ($1,825). Chanel, Wynn, 702-770-3532. Gold nappa Piloutin Laminata small studded handbag by Christian Louboutin ($990). Wynn Collection, see above. Metallic silver/gold platform sandals by Giuseppe Zanotti Design ($795). Wynn Collection, see above this page: Off-white doublefaced linen, cotton, and silk dress by Hermès ($4,250). Hermès, Encore, 702-6503116. Metal and glass pearl necklace by Chanel ($12,000). Chanel, Wynn, 702-770-3532
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Figured toile dress ($3,850) and glass pearl and plexiglass bracelets ($1,300) and cuff ($1,425), all by Chanel. Chanel, Wynn, 702-770-3532 opposite page: Top ($1,130), earrings (price on request), and shoes (price on request), all by Prada. Prada, Wynn, 702-770-3495. Leather skirt by Chanel (price on request). Chanel, Wynn, 702-770-3532
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Chalk crepe sleeveless dress with organza flutter ruffle by Jason Wu ($1,995). Wynn Collection, Wynn, 702-770-3545. Patent heels by Ralph Lauren (price on request). Ralph Lauren, Wynn Macau (opening June, 2016). Jean Star Cluster clutch by Edie Parker ($1,295). Bags Belts and Baubles, Wynn, 702-770-3555
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Garden Party bird-print silk dress by Valentino ($2,990). Wynn Collection, Wynn, 702-770-3545. Small Trunk Vintage Stripes clutch, Edie Parker ($1,695). Bags Belts and Baubles, Wynn, 702-770-3555. Lima sandals in suede/mirror leather in marble/light champagne by Jimmy Choo ($1,150). Wynn Collection, see above opposite page: Silk faille off-theshoulder top ($1,295) with ladder detail paired with silk crepe cigarette pant ($995), both by Marchesa. Wynn Collection, Wynn, 702-770-3545
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opposite page: Multiwear dress by Camilla ($600). The Swim Shop, Encore, 702-770-5460. New Bisque platform heels by Salvatore Ferragamo ($1,150) this page: Raffia organza pastel rose gown by Roland Mouret ($4,065). Available for special order at Wynn Collection, Wynn, 702-770-3545. Silk tassel Devon Kite clutch by Judith Leiber ($3,995). Wynn Collection, see above
Precious blooms blooms
Spring’s most fabulous jewels come to life on a backdrop of elegant chinoiserie to suit the season. photography by Jeff Crawford styling by Casey Trudeau
18k white-gold, 29-carat diamond briolettes, and 60.14-carat fancy-cut diamond High Jewelry Collection necklace by Chopard (price on request). Chopard, Wynn, 702-770-3469
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Wallpaper courtesy of Gracie
set design by Betim Balaman/Apostrophe
Wallpaper courtesy of fromental
from top: 18k
white-gold, rubellite, ruby, and white champagne diamond brooch ($9,630) and 18k whitegold, diamond, champagne diamond, golden diamond, rubellite, and tsavorite ring ($15,180), both by Wendy Yue. 7.35-carat diamond and 25.67-carat ruby diamond Classic Butterfly earrings by Graff (price on request). Graff, Wynn, 702-770-3494
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Wallpaper courtesy of fromental
45.15-carat diamond Nuage necklace by Graff (price on request). Graff, Wynn, 702-770-3494
Wallpaper courtesy of fromental
6.20-carat diamond and 8.66-carat sapphire FloralGraff watch by Graff (price on request). Graff, Wynn, 702770-3494. 18k white-gold and pink-sapphire, ruby, champagne diamond, whitesapphire, and tsavorite ring by Wendy Yue ($18,880).
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White-gold, diamond, pink-sapphire, and tsavorite garnet Rose Dior Bagatelle ring (price on request) and white-gold and diamond Rose Dior Bagatelle necklace (price on request), both by Dior Fine Jewelry. Dior, Wynn, 702-770-3496. 18k white-gold and diamond Caresse D’OrchidÊes par Cartier necklace by Cartier ($51,500). Cartier, Wynn, 702-770-3498
Wallpaper courtesy of fromental
opposite page : 18k white-gold, 14.5-carat oval-cut ruby, and 40.65-carat round-cut diamond, pear-shape diamond, and marquise-cut diamond necklace (price on request) and 18k whitegold invisibly set 42.5-carat diamond Mesh cuff bracelet (price on request), both by Jacob & Co.
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Wallpaper courtesy of Gracie
The lively redesign of Mizumi, the Japanese restaurant in Wynn Macau, summons both serenity and fun. by Gabriel Cohen
Guests returninG to MizuMi in Wynn Macau are in for a treat before they even sit down at their table: a dramatic, freshly imagined space. Previously the restaurant favored natural colors of stone, straw, and wood, but as Roger Thomas, Wynn’s Executive Vice President of Design, explains, “When I look at Japanese art,
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some of the pieces I’ve most loved are red lacquer with gold accents, and that’s what inspired the new room.” As they had done in renovating Mizumi in Wynn Las Vegas, Thomas and his design team added a coat of deep red lacquer to the restaurant’s split-face sandstone walls and then applied gold leaf to create what
photography by barbara kraft
Red Hot
“If I could walk into a Japanese writing box, it would look like this.” —RogeR Thomas
looks like stacks of gold. They added similarly striking new colors and textures to the wooden walls and ceiling beams. Various other aspects of Japanese art, architecture, and crafts influenced the redesign, which complements the new menu, created in consultation with three of Japan’s best-known Michelin-starred chefs, heralded in the culinary traditions of sushi, tempura, and teppanyaki. Diners may feast on delicacies flown in from that country on a regular basis, including abalone from Iwate, sea urchin from Hokkaido, and marbled beef from Ishigaki Island. The restaurant’s iron entry gates, a symbolic nod to a 1910 gift of cherry trees from the people of Japan to the people of the United States, were retained, but large sake barrels near the front door were removed to help create a more open, flowing entrance. Above the foyer, tubular red silk fish kites were hung vertically to produce a vivid chandelier. The design team also collected magnificent examples of antique obis—brocade sashes worn on elegant kimonos—which they unfolded and placed on the walls to create vertical stripes. The carpet design, based on one of the obis, was custom-woven for the room. The new chairs in the dining rooms feature embroidered Japanese family crests. The new look also reflects Thomas’s love of traditional Japanese lacquered writing boxes, which held inkstones, brushes, and other implements. “I’ve always found them to be remarkable works of art,” he says, “and really marvelous because they were also used for creating art. So if I could walk into a Japanese writing box, it would look like this.” Although the influence of traditional Japanese art and culture is unmistakable, a number of lively contemporary elements were added as well. To reinvent and highlight Mizumi’s outdoor rock garden, translucent stones were sculpted and lit from beneath so they glow. The reception area now features a large yellow foldedsteel origami dog (“Dogami”) by Los Angeles–based sculptor Gerardo Hacer. The sushi bar and the private and teppanyaki rooms are graced with paintings by Las Vegas artist Sush Machida, who created colorful large-scale images of waves in a style that, while very modern, was inspired by 19th-century Japanese woodblock prints. Overall, diners may find that the new décor at Mizumi has a dual impact. “Japanese art is able to evoke festive and serene feelings at the same time,” Thomas explains. “I hope we’ve managed to do that, too. You walk into a space that has lively energy, but at the same time there’s a certain amount of reverence to it. A joyous serenity.”
WanT a LiFT? From the slopes to the streets, and now with an address on the Wynn Retail Esplanade, Moncler redefines après ski.
From an all-black tribute to the Rolling Stones for guys to white-assnow après skiwear for everyone, the latest and greatest of Moncler’s luxury clothing and accessories are on offer at the brand’s newest US boutique on the Wynn Esplanade this season. The brand, known for its ultra-lightweight outerwear since it was founded in Grenoble, France, in 1952, offers a Spring/Summer 2016 collection awash in natural hues—think sand, cognac, chestnut, and tobacco—and sinuous patterns like macro camouflage (reproduced from specifications for British colonial uniforms). from left:
Women’s Corail silk striped jacquard jacket with coulisse ($1,355); men’s Samuel cotton gabardine jacket ($880), both by Moncler. Moncler, Wynn, 702-770-3452
Bag
patrol Wynn Macau’s exclusive exotic offerings. Diorama The Diorama bag was an instant hit when it launched in 2015, and Wynn Macau is the only place to find its most covetable 2016 iteration in lambskin with a leather and exotic fish marquetry flower. Its delicate scales, in a rounded fan pattern, recall the corolla on Dior dresses. MOP 42,000, or
Bravo, EncorE! Wynn’s Tiny Baubles boutique is home to a highly curated selection of designers, including lauded jewelry brand JudeFrances.
Versace palazzo empire Versace’s new It bag for Spring/Summer 2016, the Palazzo Empire in Jungle Green Python is offered
The arrival of JudeFrances’s spring and fall jewelry collections at Tiny Baubles on the Wynn Retail Esplanade is always eagerly awaited, and this spring’s Encore line is no exception The new sterling silver collection incorporates styles and motifs from the brand’s most popular designs since its launch in 2002, such as the Provence quad, Lisse kite, and Moroccan Casablanca and quad motifs, all crafted with semiprecious stones,
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including white topaz, moonstone, iolite, and amazonite. The Encore collection provides endless combinations of JudeFrances’s signature styles, including the earring hoop and charm concept, stackable gold bangles, long layering chains and pendants, cocktail rings, and simple gold stackers. Stack up!
Bangles and cuffs ($450–$1,320) from the Encore Collection by JudeFrances. Tiny Baubles, Wynn, 702-770-3559
exclusively at Wynn Macau in the Asia Pacific region. The supple python leather bag’s signature Medusa head clasp is painted tone-on-tone. MOP 24,000, or around $3,000; wynnmacau.com
photography by barbara Kraft (store exterior); Courtesy of MonCler (jaCKets); Courtesy of Dior (DioraMa bag); Courtesy of VersaCe (palazzo eMpire bag); Courtesy of juDefranCes (braCelets)
$5,250; wynnmacau.com
NEED IT? WANT IT? DOES IT MATTER? 8 DEPARTMENT STORES 25 DINING CHOICES 250 STORES IN THE HEART OF VEGAS.
NEIMAN MARCUS | SAKS FIFTH AVENUE | NORDSTROM | MACY’S | MACY’S MEN’S STORE | DILLARD’S | FOREVER 21 | TED BAKER AFTER ALL, THERE IS| NO SUCH THING AS TOO MANYGOODS BRACELETS. BESIDES, I’M IN CIGARS VEGAS AND I DIDN’T COME HERE TO BE TOPSHOP TOPMAN ZARA | DICK’S SPORTING | DAVIDOFF BAR & COCKTAILS | LOUIS VUITTON | ANTHROPOLOGIE BORING. Treat yourself at Tiffany & Co., Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, Macy’s, Michael Kors, Forever 21, Henri Bendel,
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On The Strip across from The Venetian, Wynn and TI. 702.369.8382 | thefashionshow.com
haute! who goes there? Carrying a Veneziani bag, offered exclusively in the United States at Wynn, is a sure sign of a fashion insider. The brand was founded by Jole Veneziani, a grande dame of Italian fashion who was among the few designers selected to take part in the first Italian Haute Couture show in Florence in 1951.
play time Lounge and wager at the new Encore Players Club. a time-honored (and timeworn) casino floor formula the world over has been to stock the floor with table games and slot machines—encouraging players to focus only on the task at hand. Wynn’s new encore players Club has departed from that template, realizing that today’s younger guests want a social space. enter the club just across from andrea’s, Surrender, and VDKa
bar, stocked with everything from interactive and social games to a rotating roster of great DJs. look for Suzo Happ interactivepro tables, roulette, craps, blackjack, and slots, and a specialty cocktail program. Or you can settle in to watch sports on 23 56-inch HD televisions. (Order from a special menu from Wazuzu on major game days.) But for bragging rights—and one of the best selfies you’ll take in Vegas—play Steve Wynn’s own white-lacquer Blatt Billiards table shipped in from his manhattan penthouse.
The makings for the SW English Laundry espresso martini.
Norma pailettes embroidery bag ($3,800) by Veneziani. Bags Belts and Baubles, Wynn, 702-770-3555
here’s an app for that! Account-based wagering has arrived at Wynn in
interior motives
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Often referred to as Wynn’s “design guru,” Roger Thomas’s full title is Executive Vice President of Design for Wynn Design & Development. Thomas was recently inducted into Interior Design magazine’s Hall of Fame; at the ceremony, he offered this simple philosophy: “I want to create interiors for the most sophisticated person in the world, and I want them to be comfortable.”
app for iOS and Android. Sign up at the Sports Book and download the app. Then just log in and place your bet, no matter the place.
photography by barbara Kraft (EncorE playErs club; sW); JEff grEEn (Martini); courtEsy of VEnEziani (bag); courtEsy of Wynn (sports app)
The recently redesigned SW Steakhouse at Wynn.
full force in the form of the Wynn Mobile Sports
garden party The bright, fresh new décor and dishes in Jardin transform the restaurant into a light-filled centerpiece for Wynn’s colorful gardens. by Larry Olmsted
For years the restaurant at the beginning of the Encore Esplanade greeted diners with Seated Lady, a giant bronze by Colombian artist Fernando Botero and known affectionately by regulars as “The Fat Lady.” Now gone, the big, dark statue personified the restaurant Botero, the dinner-only steakhouse that has given way to its polar opposite, the light, bright Jardin. The new three-meal-daily eatery overlooks the Encore pool, and its very name, French for “garden,” evokes warmth.
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“I don’t design to theme. But the name of the restaurant says it all: It’s about gardens in all the beauty they present. Our job is to connect the inside to the outside and vice versa,” explains Roger Thomas, Executive Vice President of Design for Wynn Design and Development. “The dining room was completely refurnished with cabinets specifically selected for Jardin and used to separate the space into more intimate dining areas while maintaining the focus of the view on the beautiful
photography by jeff green
The Fleur chocolate cake at Jardin tells the restaurant’s story in layered dark chocolate mousse and moist chocolate cake in a chocolate “flower pot.”
clockwise from far left:
Jardin brings gourmet riffs on American favorites and comfort foods to Wynn—along with a wealth of institutional memory. gardens that surround the circular room.” The overall architecture was not changed, since the restaurant lends itself to being either dark and more formal or full of light, he says. The focus of the space is now on a giant flower arrangement and a mirror-filled light well. And since a busy room that serves three meals a day can accumulate carts and other elements, part of Thomas’s job was to eliminate clutter. Bridging the gap between the more formal Tableau and the casual Terrace Pointe Café, Jardin brings gourmet riffs on American favorites and comfort foods to Wynn—along with a wealth of institutional memory. Chef Joe Zanelli helped open Tableau in 2005, then
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launched the Country Club, before running room service for both hotels when Encore opened. After a stint with popular local restaurateurs Blau + Associates at their Honey Salt and Andiron Steak & Seafood eateries, he returned here to wind down Botero and oversee its transformation into Jardin. “I was doing a hundred filets a night at Botero,” says Zanelli. That was just months ago, but today the leading dinner choice at Jardin is herb-crusted salmon sitting atop a sunny yellow sauce of lemon, confit fennel, and Peruvian yellow peppers served with a quinoa and vegetable medley. “Usually you have a fish dish in the top four or five, but I never expected it to become
so popular. It is definitely number one.” While the salmon reflects the lighter, fresher aesthetic at Jardin, with its quarterly menus focused on the best seasonal ingredients, this is still Vegas, and Zanelli is quick to point out that “filet is number two.” Other heartier favorites are the short-rib ravioli at dinner, and what has quickly become the breakfast signature, the chef’s inspired take on fried chicken and waffles. The classic soul food dish has enjoyed a national resurgence, but he did not want to do another cookie-cutter version—and had no plans to serve waffles at all. Instead, he borrows from the classic Toad in a Hole egg dish and makes a slice of thick, crispy
photography by Jeff green (dishes this page and opposite); barbara Kraft (exterior); Jeff gale (Zanelli)
Jardin’s take on the ever-popular bacon and eggs, with Kurobuta pork belly, quail eggs, kimchi fried rice, and black garlic aioli; patio dining outside the restaurant; Chef Joe Zanelli in his kitchen; housemade butterscotch maple bourbon pudding with bourbon maple cream and bacon almond brittle.
To keep things seasonal and garden-style, Zanelli has booked an entire greenhouse to provide tomatoes, zucchini, arugula, and other vegetables.
An American Wagyu ribeye cap is served with arugula salad, fork-mashed potatoes, trumpet mushrooms, and sauce au poivre.
French toast with an egg set in a hole in its center, paired with double-breaded, buttermilk-soaked fried chicken. The same poultry preparation anchors one of the most popular lunch choices, the buttermilk fried chicken sandwich, on a challah bun with house-made ranch dressing and cole slaw. “You have to appeal to every taste here,” says Zanelli. “Everyone in the two hotels comes for breakfast. At lunch you get shoppers and conventioneers, plus some players. For dinner we get a big pre-show crowd and big club crowd. It is very varied, but we wanted to elevate the three-meal restaurant. Using high-quality ingredients, we make as much as we can here from scratch, try to be creative, and do as much tableside preparation as we can.” That means soups poured individually and a flashy signature dessert, the Fleur “flower pot cake”: dark chocolate cake inside a hard chocolate-shell “pot” sprayed the color of terra cotta. Serving three to four, the cake is presented whole and sliced tableside. “So many people started ordering them to go that I had to find special boxes. We make at least 30 a day.” Other tableside flair includes the rolling Bloody Mary cart at breakfast, and Moscow Mule cart the rest of the day. Designed by Wynn property mixologist Damian Cross, this includes a giant copper mule mug that holds an entire bottle of vodka and all the fixings, which is then ladled out like punch for the table in individual copper cups. To keep things seasonal and garden-style, Zanelli contracted with a local farmer and has booked an entire greenhouse to provide tomatoes, zucchini, arugula, and other vegetables. “I’m an East Coaster, but I have been out here long enough for my flavor profile to lighten up. I use more spices, herbs, and acids, and we put a lot of flavor in, but we are not cooking with butter or heavy cream,” he notes. “It is related to the weather here in Vegas, and this space, which is very bright with lots of natural light. It’s like eating on your sun porch.”
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Of the essence In Enzo Febbraro’s kitchen at Allegro, some of the simplest, most impeccably sourced ingredients come together in the restaurant’s greatest showpieces.
It Is 11 am and I am sIttIng across from Executive chef Enzo Febbraro at one of his tables in allegro, where passersby on a heavily trafficked path toward the casino floor can see me, through a large window, ostentatiously eating a creamy mound of burrata—a mozzarella curd pouch bursting with salty mascarpone, cream, and ricotta. a big sign at the door announces that the restaurant won’t open until 3 pm , but it’s not stopping Febbraro’s supplicants from seeking special dispensation. the flash of guilt I almost feel is gone in the next bite. Febbraro pushes the cork lid of a prized salt container toward me. It reads: “Ingredienti: mare, sole, vento.” or sea, sun, wind. “Brilliant, isn’t it?” he says with a broad smile. It’s not surprising that this very simple compound spelled out on the label of a jar would resonate with him. the salt is sprinkled over a plate we are
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sharing whose ingredients are nearly as elemental as those on the label: tomatoes, burrata, olive oil, basil. and by sharing, I mean I am eating as he cheers me on like an indulgent grandmother. the quality of the ingredients is crucial. the olive oil is tondo d.o.P., a bright green-gold oil made from the famous tonda Iblea olives on the estate of marchesi achille Paterno’ di spedalotto in sicily. “It’s just a little bit peppery at the very end,” he enthuses. the tomatoes are the deeply pigmented red-brown Kumato variety originally bred on spain’s costa almería and now sourced from california; he’s picked them because they’re firm and sweet, with a hint of sourness that gives the creamy burrata just a bit of edge. the salt has been harvested from salt pans since the Phoenicians established their western colonies in sicily 2,000 years ago, and he
PhotograPhy by anthony Mair
by Andrea Bennett
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Febbraro stretches hot mozzarella curd; mozzarella lovers can also order this burrata as part of a larger mozzarella platter, which includes stracchino, mozzarella di bufala, and fried stracciatella; the curds are tempered in a hot bath.
describes where it hits on your tongue with the poetry of a master sommelier. When you are eating with Enzo Febbraro, you have to make a concerted effort to distinguish his charm from the food. Is this plate really so seductive or is it Enzo’s exuberance that attracts 270,000 diners to this 160-seat restaurant each year, hoping to dive headfirst into his lasagna Napoletana? Since he isn’t dining with all those clients, it must be the food. Febbraro may have picked up the grandmotherly urging from his own, whose kitchen in Naples he began cooking in as a child. At 13, he was working in a Neapolitan pizzeria. “I’m a cliché!” he laughs. By 15 he was laboring in a restaurant kitchen in the Adriatic coastal town of Cattolica in Emilia-Romagna, and at 16 he had graduated from culinary school and was embarking on apprenticeships across Europe. Cooking took him through Paris, Nice, Munich, GarmischPartenkirchen, Madrid, Milan, and London. But Chef Gino Angelini, for whom Febbraro worked at the Grand Hotel des Bains in Riccione, south of Rimini on Italy’s Adriatic coast, was the mentor who not only taught him about fine dining, but also brought him to
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the United States. Angelini had decamped to the landmark Rex il Ristorante, credited with introducing Los Angeles to grand Italian dining. “He brought me over for a quick job to cook for the Grammys,” Febbraro recalls. “That was 20 years ago, and I never left.” His tour of the US was no less extensive, winding through Philadelphia, New York, Las Vegas, and Washington, DC, where he was recruited by Steve Wynn, for whom he’d cooked at an event a decade earlier as chef of the famed Filomena Ristorante in Georgetown. When he came to the US, Febbraro says, he was at a philosophical crossroads: “You can end up on this campaign to collect Michelin stars, or you can do what is true to your heart. Of course there is a place for that exalted and complicated food, but I want people to come here and get their soul filled—and reminisce about some wonderful place in Italy they traveled to.” To that end, dishes from grandmother and mama are on the menu, tweaked and perfected over time: lasagna with “Sunday Meat Ragu Sauce” and smoked mozzarella, and seafood risotto studded with shrimp, scallops, calamari, mussels, and clams.
Febbraro and his team begin making burrata at 4 PM each day, tempering the mozzarella curd in a pot of hot water, melting it in a hotter pot so it can be shaped into a ball, then stretching it into a paper-thin sheet and cutting it into precise little squares. In one quick motion, he fills each square with a mixture of mascarpone cheese, mozzarella, heavy cream, and salt and pepper, then quickly wraps it in plastic, twisting it into a perfectly round little purse. It takes his kitchen crew only 45 minutes to make the 50 or so they’ll need for the evening. “You have to eat it within the evening,” he says firmly. The fresh burst of cream just isn’t the same on day two. On some days, the burrata is filled with lobster or crab as a menu special. “You know, I’ve traveled a lot and I love the international inf luences,” Febbraro says, but a culinary life spent all over the world has only confirmed his love for his rich Italian heritage. “The greatest Italian cuisine is the simplest. You know that you can’t fake it. You choose a great olive oil, and a great tomato, and you can’t find a surrogate for good quality.” If this is a cliché, I’ll have another.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANTHONY MAIR (FEBBRARO, DISH); SABIN ORR (CLOSE-UP)
“The greatest Italian cuisine is the simplest. You can’t find a surrogate for good quality.” —ENZO FEBBRARO
PICK 5 1. Is your shoulder sore after playing the back nine? Try The Spa at Wynn’s arnica oil-enhanced, deep-tissue Muscle Melt Treatment. 2. For those who have overindulged—or are suffering from jet lag—both spas pair a 50-minute aromatherapy massage and a pedicure in The Revitalizer. 3. To get ready for a late night: the Men’s Executive Retreat, an 80-minute deep- tissue massage followed by a 50-minute facial targeted just for men. 4. Seeking the highest state of tranquility? Try the 4 Hands Relaxation Ritual, where two therapists work in harmony, giving the guest the Spa’s “most sensational massage.”
Paging auric goldfinger!
Haven Sent At The Spas at Wynn and Encore, it’s a man’s world, too. by Michael Shulman
The new 24 Karat Facial, just unveiled in February, uses real gold leaf to slow the depletion of collagen and target fine lines.
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Find the spa intimidating? Statistically, you’re no longer in the majority, says Erika Valles, Director of Spa Operations at The Spa at Encore. In fact, the ratio of male to female spa visitors is one-to-one. “The spa is no longer looked upon as purely recreation,” she says. “They’re viewed as preventive health care.” While weekends are always busier than weekdays, the peak times in the Encore Gentlemen’s Lounge are over Super Bowl Weekend and during March Madness. The lounge’s secret: luxe chaises and couches facing the enormous 80-inch flat-screen television, one of the largest on the property.
photography by anthony mair
5. Before or after any treatment: hydro- therapy circuit in the men’s spas—seven different plunge pools and showers, 10 to 15 minutes each.
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photography by barbara kraft
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