Polo Lifestyles - Haiti: Holiday Gift Guide 2019

Holiday Gifts An exquisite selection of gifts for the holiday season only at Tiffany.

VOLUME III / ISSUE XII / DECEMBER 2019

Haiti Ambassador Claude-Alix Bertrand Publisher

Joshua Jakobitz

Stanley Pierre-Etienne

Assistant Copy Intern

Kenneth Carrion de los Condes

Brand Representatives Anne-Isabelle Saint-Pierre - Dubai Rudy Volel - New York City Michael J. Snell - The Hamptons Stanley Pierre-Etienne - Caribbean Sara Ali - London

Lifestyles Contributor

Editor-in-Chief

Michael J. Snell

Mark Wine

Lifestyles Contributor

Joey Velez

Style Contributor

Fitness Columnist

Wellness Columnist

Cezar Kusik

Wine Contributor

Anne-Isabelle Saint-Pierre Style Contributor

Claire Barrett

Head of Photography

Jyoti Paintel

William Smith Philanthropy Contributor

Spiritual Guidance Contributor

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Kemissa Racine

Raphael Dapaah Art Contributor

Gregory Bertrand

Style Contributor

Contributing Photographers Eva Thompson Katerina Morgan Michael J. Snell Candace Ferriera

Polo Lifestyles is a publication of HT Polo Publishing Co. 995 Detroit Avenue, Suite A Concord, CA 94518 Copyright Š Polo Lifestyles 2019 All Rights Reserved.

For information or to advertise Contact editor@htpolo.com Read online at www.pololifestyles.com

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Aspen Valley Polo Club St. Regis World Snow Polo Championship Saint Moritz Snow Polo World Cup Kitzbuhel 18th Bendura Bank Snow Polo World Cup Ghantoot Polo & Racing Club British Polo Day Thai Polo & Equestrian Club Thai Polo Open Pink Polo Cup Al Habtoor Polo Club Sir Winston Churchill Cup Val de Vie Estate Pink for Polo Cuatro Vientos Polo Club XV Copa Tanoira Argentine Polo Association 126o Abierto de Argentina Grand Champions Polo Club Wellington Open Legends of Polo Carlos Gracida Memorial 2019 International Cup: USA vs France Delhi Polo Club Maharaja Sir Pratap Singh Cup India Masters Sotogrande Iberian Polo Tour Copa Sotoestates Copa Casa Fagliano Copa Finca Monasterio

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SCOREBOARDS & COCKTAILS:

BENTLEY SCOTTSDALE POLO CHAMPIONSHIPS page 26 POLO LIFESTYLES EDITORS & CONTRIBUTORS

Ambassador Claude-Alix Bertrand

Publisher Polo Lifestyles @haiti_polo_captain

Cezar Kusik

Wine Contributor Polo Lifestyles @cezareatsdirt

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Josh Jakobitz

Editor-in-Chief Polo Lifestyles @joshuajakobitz

Kenneth Carrion

Kemissa Racine Style Contributor Polo Lifestyles @kemissa

Anne-Isabelle St-Pierre

Mark Wine

Fitness Columnist Functional Muscle Fitness @functionalmuscle

Joey Velez

Jyoti Paintel

Spiritual Contributor Polo Lifestyles @jyotipaintel

Michael J. Snell

Lifestyles Contributor Brand Representative Mental Wellness Columnist Lifestyles Contributor De Los Condes Dubai Velez Mental Performance MJS Groupe @deloscondes_inspired_living @isasaintpierre @velezmentalhealth @agnello_1

Raphael Dapaah Art Contributor Dapaah Gallery @dapaahgallery

Stanley Pierre-Etienne

William Smith

Style Contributor Philanthropy Contributor Lanmou Pou Ranyon Santa Fe Comm. Foundation @stanleypierretienne @willismith_2000

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Gift wrapping: The art of present(ation) page 64

Dominica radically addresses relisience pg 146

Hermes' traditions are its ultimate success page 123

Three columns on wellness start on page 159

2019 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE Everything on our wish list, whether we've been naughty or nice, to make holiday memories for a lifetime. page 80

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VOLUME III / ISSUE XII / DECEMBER 2019

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR This is the last letter from the editor that I’ll pen in 2019, and this issue successfully closes out our third volume of Polo Lifestyles.

They say that the end of the year is a time for reflection, so here’s my synopsis in three words: 2019 flew by. We had so many trips, tournaments, events, new contributors and exciting brand partnerships.

We logged thousands of airline miles, wrote countless emails, and hosted more conference calls than I care to admit. Let’s just say I added the call-in conference call line to my list of favorites for efficiency’s sake. Last month, I wrote about the fire from which we fled before dawn one Sunday morning (videos on my Instagram @ joshuajakobitz) in October. Since then, things have calmed down considerably; although the team coordinating our third annual Holiday Gift Guide might not agree! We set the deadline early, but I knew, based on my schedule and our partners, that we would be making last-minute additions and swaps.

This year’s Holiday Gift Guide is our best yet (in my humble opinion) and considerably longer than any previous guides. With ideas for men, women and home, plus gorgeous advertising from presenting brand Versace, you can’t help but be inspired to do a little shopping.

But can I encourage you to actually leave the house to do your holiday shopping? There’s just something about the touches, feels and smells of a department store. As I make my way through various stores each holiday season, I can’t help but notice significantly less retail foot traffic. While it used to be impossible in the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas to find an associate at Neiman, now you trip over them. Retailers, that is, successful, forward-thinking retailers, are making changes to the way they present their stores, their products and their brand.

Driving foot traffic is a battle that must be won, or it will be lost before we know it.

Meanwhile, other methods of shopping, ordering and looking are growing, according to a major study of 104 million online shoppers on Lyst.com. The platform measured clicks, impressions and purchases as they relate to pop culture, influencer social media, and presentations in major fashion capitals. As marketing decision-makers are asking the question, Are influencers really that influential?, studies like Lyst’s show that major names still and will always move the needle on trends. Other influencers doing brands the best sales-wise are those working in a target market (like us… insert a breath of relief) with a clearly identified and curated audience.

These trends, without a doubt, carry us into a new decade when the clock rolls over to 2020 in a few short weeks. Are we ready?

Absolutely, bring it on.

Happy holidays, Josh Jakobitz josh@pololifestyles.com page page18 18

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amas Lizzo, who's become a music star and fashion icon, performed at the American Music Awards

katerina_perez Oversize jewelry that we can't get enough of from @ilgiz_f available in Paris and Moscow

prensapolo The Abierto de Argentina and the Argentine polo season wow capacity crowds rain or shine page 20

facundopieres

rickyfan08

Facundo Pieres, now #1 in the world, is enjoying the Argentine season in Palermo

Ricky Martin on the cover of @attitude magazine

icon.global The globally recognized real estate agency specializes in ranches and equestrian properties

kerbito Kerby Jean-Raymond, head of fashion house Pyer Moss, had a huge year

neimanmarcus Neiman Marcus has the perfect gift for everyone on your list with endless options and ideas

hermes Hermes dropped a tongue-in-cheek campaign for social media just in time for the holidays

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Click and comment on our choices... tag @pololifestyles.

We will share noteworthy comments with you next month.

lunionsuite Janet Jackson wears @jovanalouis for Harpers Bazaar Vietnam @bazaarvietnam

paardengruiter Gorgeous diamond graphite saddlepad from Hufglocken for dressage

sussexroyal @smartworkscharity dressed the Duchess who promotes their 1:1 model to benefit women in the workforce

hellocanadamag Canadian Shawn Mendes made a fashion statement, forgoing a shirt under his jacket at the @amas

sellerie.jaipur.choice Gift exchanges are for everyone in the family including our polo ponies make someone's holiday bright

waterfordcrystal Classic and iconic, the Waterford annual holiday ornament is a beautiful addition to any tree

polointhecity Congratulatory kisses for polo players in Sydney following an exciting Polo in the City match

agnello_1 Waking up on a 172ft-er is probably the best way to wake up... ever #fortlauderdaleinternationalboat

thegleneaglehotel Let someone else do the heavy lifting and enjoy the holidays The Gleneagle Hotel page 21

@U SP OL OASSN NEW YORK | BARCELONA | BUENOS AIRES | DELHI | DUBAI | ISTANBUL

U S P O LOASSNGL OBAL . COM MILAN | MOSCOW | MUMBAI | RIO DE JANEIRO | SHANGHAI | MIAMI

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BENTLEY SCOTTSDALE POLO CHAMPIONSHIPS

PRESENTED BY TALKING STICK RESORT

MATCHES: U.S. AIR FORCE 5 / 3 U.S. MARINES MOLINA 12 / 6 TALKING STICK RESORT BENTLEY SCOTTSDALE 7 / 5 BARRET-JACKSON SOUTHWEST WILDLIFE 4 /4 ARIZONA EQUINE RESCUE

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he Bentley Scottsdale Polo Championships: Horses & Horsepower, presented by Talking Stick Resort, wrapped up its 9th year with 11,139 attendees and another year of victorious teams, exciting upsets, event firsts and increased ticket revenues.

The day kicked off with the U.S. Air Force Team defeating the U.S. Marines 5-3 in the General George S. Patton Tournament presented by Safeway Albertsons and Sanderson Lincoln.

That was quickly followed by Molina’s Arizona Polo Club’s triumphant 12-6 upset over Talking Stick Resort Centtrip Wales

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Polo Team. The Camacho brothers, Felipe and Andres, along with Arizona Club president Diego Florez scored a record 12 goals for Arizona’s highest-ranked polo team.

$10,000 purse sponsored by ERP Polo LLC, going to the winning charity. In a tight match-up, the teams ended in a 4-4 tie with a split purse: $5,000 for each charity.

In the signature featured match of the day, Nacho Figueras carried his team, Bentley Scottsdale’s Aspen Valley Polo Club, to a hard-fought 7-5 victory over Barrett-Jackson’s Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club. Figueras scored four of the team’s goals, followed by Grant Ganzi, making it the fifth consecutive year that Aspen Valley has captured the Molina Cup.

Also a winner this year was Bernadette Parra. whose dog, Lucky, took home Best in Show for the second year in a row for the event’s sixth annual Canine Couture show presented by Lugari Pet Salon.

The day concluded with the first-ever charity match-up. Southwest Wildlife took on Arizona Equine Rescue for a

Entertainment included a special performance by two cast members of Americano!, the country’s most intriguing new musical, debuting January 31 at The Phoenix Theatre Company, plus performances by the Phoenix Symphony, Doc Jones, field-side tango

dancers from Fred Astaire, Phoenix rapper Ali Tomineek and his creative fusion with the Phoenix Opera, and a first-ever acoustic guitar showcase in the Sanderson Lincoln Black Label Lounge.

The day also included half-time performances by the Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show and the World’s Longest Catwalk Fashion Show, presented by Phoenix Fashion Week. An impressive display of vehicles by Sanderson Lincoln led the fashion show as models traversed the field – in over 200 yards of fashion provided and inspired by the U.S. Polo Assn.

Other horsepower highlights of the day included a sneak preview of the

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BENTLEY SCOTTSDALE T H E P O L O PA R T Y

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TYLER PERRY STUDIOS GRAND OPENING

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BENTLEY SCOTTSDALE T H E P O L O PA R T Y

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BENTLEY SCOTTSDALE T H E P O L O PA R T Y

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2020 Barrett-Jackson Car Collector Auction, plus more displays by Bentley Scottsdale, Courtesy Volvo, Earnhardt’s Genesis Collection and exotic cars

by Scottsdale Ferrari and Maserati.

Guests enjoyed a variety of Polo Party fare at the ninth annual event included high-end cuisine provided by Steak 44 in the Prime VIP Tent, five-star catering by M Catering throughout the event, including bottomless French fries and complimentary mimosas in the BarrettJackson Champagne Lounge. Food trucks and pop-up concepts like Fried & Fizzy were also on site.

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REDEFINING THE BENTLEY GRAND TOUR FOR 2035 Inspiring an extraordinary human experience through a perfect blend of technology and craftsmanship.

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126o ABIERTO DE ARGENTINA TRIPLE CORONA - PALERMO

ELLESTINA 15 / 8 LA NATIVIDAD LAS MONJITAS 16 / 9 LA ALBERTINA ABU DHABI

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n Sunday, November 24, the fourth date of the 126th Argentine Polo Open HSBC was played, the highest inter-club world competition, in which 10 teams of 28- to 40- goals participate, grouped in two zones, featuring the most important players of Argentina, South Africa and Uruguay, in the Argentine Polo Fields in Palermo. page 38

In the first turn, they faced in a very good game, the debutante and recent winner of the 79th Open de Tortugas, Ellerstina Johor, before the big surprise of the tournament, La Natividad, emerged from the classification.

Although the Zeta commanded the actions throughout the match, the team of the Castagnola brothers (Camilo

again top scorer of the team) played equally for the greater part of the match and managed to be only two goals down entering the sixth chukker.

Then, the power of Ellerstina could do more and with Polito Pieres intractable and his cousin Facundo very effective against the rival, Ellerstina was left with the victory, 15-8.

Photos by Katerina Morgan

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Then, Las Monjitas got their second win in the tournament beating La Albertina Abu Dhabi by 16-9.

After a very even first half in which the purple-jerseyed team defended in a great way (kudos to Alfredo Cappella Barabucci), Guillermo Caset put the team on his shoulder, converted eight of the last 10 goals for his team and led Las Monjitas to a great win by 16-9.

The victory, in addition to leaving him to the group of Chacras de Murray as the leader of the area, allowed him to win the Navarro Correas Cup. page 39

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ABIERTO DE ARGENTINA

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ABIERTO DE ARGENTINA

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ABIERTO DE ARGENTINA

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ABIERTO DE ARGENTINA

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ABIERTO DE ARGENTINA

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126o ABIERTO DE POLO DE RUS HURLINGHAM

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URUS

#SINCEWEMADEITPOSSIBLE

A super sports car soul and the functionality typical for an SUV: this is Lamborghini Urus, the world’s first Super Sport Utility Vehicle

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UAE NATIONAL DAY CUP AL HABTOOR POLO CLUB - UAE

OPENING MATCH: HABTOOR POLO 4 / 7 AM POLO

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ive teams are set to compete in a week-long tournament held in honor of UAE’s 48th National Day.

The opening match between Habtoor Polo and AM Polo teams began with a fast lead for Habtoor Polo ending the first chukker at 2-0. AM Polo showed a steady performance and took the lead at the end of the third chukker having 5 goals to 4. Both teams gunned for page 52

the win as alternate goals were scored during the final chukker.

The last 90 seconds of the game almost assured a fifth chukker only to be settled

by Tomy Iriarte as he delivered the winning goal for AM Polo team ending the match with 7 goals to 6.

This Friday’s Polo Picnic was in full swing as guests watched the matches in picnic style and the children amused themselves in a dedicated kid’s area.

UAE NATIONAL DAY CUP 2019 MATCH SCHEDULE: Nov. 27: 14:45 - Bangash-Mahra vs. Ghantoot Polo 16:00 - AM Polo vs. Green Gates Polo Nov. 29: 14:30 - Subsidiary Final (round robin) 16:00 - Final Match

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UA E N AT I O N A L DAY C U P 2019

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SUPER-YACHTS

AT FORT LAUDERDALE INTERNATIONAL BOAT SHOW

HIGH SOCIETY

MICHAEL J. SNELL @agnello_1 Lifestyles Contributor

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. – From October 30 to November 3, the Fort Lauderdale International Boat celebrated its 60th Anniversary, and one of the most anticipated shows ever.

Held at the Bahia Mar Hotel and Yacht Club in Fort Lauderdale Beach, this show not only drew spectators page 58

and prospective owners from around world, but, this being the world’s largest in-water vessel show, comes along with other, more personal challenge – whose yacht is bigger, more luxurious and most expensive?

Cruising their way across the Atlantic Ocean were a record number of world-class yachts, poised to splash onto the U.S. boating scene making their debut at this year’s show under

the critical eyes of yachting aficionados and owners alike.

Alongside those experts, another 1,500 boats lined the nearly six miles of docks that housed the notable yacht attendees including Lürssen’s 311-foot Madsummer noted to have stolen the spotlight as the show’s largest mega-yacht, as well as Heesen’s Yacht Vida, coming in at 180 feet. Lexus’ Marquis Lexis 650, a 65-foot yacht

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drew inspiration from the automobile brand’s car line.

The International Super Yacht Society also held their prestigious 2019 Leadership In Design Awards that included naming the stunning Utopia IV built by Rossinavi and designed by Enrico Gobbi first in its class.

If, for some reason, you aren’t into the whole yacht scene, there are plenty of other things to see. With

the five-day show attracting approximately 110,000 attendees and 1,200 exhibitors from 52 countries, there is something for everyone to explore.

Notable exhibits and partners this year included official FLIBS timekeeper Ulysse Nardin, Wispering Angel Rose, Triton Submarines, Delta Private Jets, Ferrari, Lürssen, Marina Coast Peru and Rossinavi.

The week was not short on excite-

ment as glamorous parties and social mixers feted all week. The most sought-after ticket was to the Yacht Chef Competition. Limited to a select 600 guests, onlookers watched as young chefs battled it out while sampling mouth-watering cuisine and sipping cocktails.

The prestigious yacht chef Danny Davies was crowned winner of the Wine Enthusiast award. page 59

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HIGH SOCIETY

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PASSION COLLECTION DREAMED AND DESIGNED

BY JEAN-CHARLES BOISSET CREATED BY BACCARAT

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LAVISH LIFESTYLES A COLUMN BY KENNETH CARRION THAT YOUR CONCIERGE WILL LOVE TO HATE

TIED WITH A BOW

GIFT WRAPPING THE ULTIMATE PRESENT(ATION)

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rom an early age, my appreciation for a beautifully wrapped gift was noticeable to all those in my household.

I requested that all gifts be wrapped in the matching paper and ribbon that I selected. As children, around Christmastime, we view a wrapped present with more reverence than we do as adults. When it comes to gifts, this childlike sense of wonder remains with me. During the holidays and, especially at Christmastime, as children we obviously viewed a wrapped gift

by Kenneth Carrion de los Condes Lifestyles contributor On Instagram @deloscondes_inspired_living Images courtesy De Los Condes

much differently than we do in adulthood. At a very early age, my appreciation for a beautifully wrapped gift was noticeably apparent to all those in my household.

century, the affluent used decorative paper or pieces of fabric, along with ribbons and lace, to cover presents as a practice of luxury.

I requested that all gifts be wrapped in the matching paper and ribbon that I selected or approved for each holiday season. Even more humorous is when I first discovered wired ribbon and double-stick tape, which I saw as the ultimate game changers.

But the birth of modern-day gift dressing, as it was once referred to, rose to popularity in 1917 thanks to two brothers, Joyce and Rollie Hall of Kansas City, Missouri. At the time, they ran a stationery store (which would eventually become known worldwide as Hallmark).

Though wrapping presents has become a tradition across all cultures, the history of this practice can be traced back to ancient Asia. Here in the West, however, in the early 20th

One year, they ran out of standard tissue paper used for concealing and decorating the gifts of their customers. In need of wrapping paper, the pair found a stack of fancy French

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LAVISH LIFESTYLES

paper meant for lining envelopes.

They placed the paper for sale, and it quickly sold out. The trend continued for the next couple of years before they began producing and selling their own printed, decorative wrapping paper. Many department stores began developing the practice of choosing to wrap customers’ items with manila paper before eventually switching to decorative paper altogether.

In my design work, I often see a piece of fabric, wallpaper, or material that is viable for gift wrapping. I put these page 66

aside for later when I need to create a masterpiece. I have often found myself carried away with finding the right materials or obsessing about the perfect shade of ribbon or ornament to adorn a present. Gift wrapping is such an obsession; there have been many instances when I have realized long after the fact that I’ve spent much more monetarily on the wrapping than on the present itself. Don’t let that discourage you or have you thinking ill of yourself.

Once you have selected your mate-

rials, create the perfect gift-wrapping-conducive atmosphere for your work. Find a well-lit area with plenty of room to spread out. I am sure I cannot be the only one who dreams of having a gift-wrapping room. I have visited many homes with such rooms that would have you wonder how you ever wrapped a gift without one. They are efficient spaces dedicated to having entire walls with rolls and sheets of paper, bolts of fabrics, ribbons and so many other materials, all readily available at your disposal. The ideal gift-wrapping room has a large graft-

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ing table and all the tools necessary to create.

However, such a room is not a requirement, only a wishful luxury.

For the purposes of the season, any space can do as long as you know the proper steps. When wrapping gifts and using decorative paper, keep your seams as seamless in appearance. Whatever adhesive used should always be as transparent as possible.

Try to use double-stick tape or strategically place tape where it can easily be covered by ribbon or ornaments.

Sometimes we may not have the time to dedicate to gift wrapping. This is when a paper gift bag is most commonly used, or perhaps the actual store or boutique bag itself. And yes, we often think of lining that bag with some tissue paper and calling it a day. However, why not be a bit more festive with that bag and adorn it with some ornament that can be easily clipped or tied to the handle or on the bag itself; we want these gifts to stand out. By adding an ornament, we add both a sense of depth and dimension, just as if someone would wear a piece

of large jewelry as a statement piece.

The same applies here. Texture adds a level of depth and a more luxurious feel. You want your gift to be unique, special and to stand out from the crowd.

If you have been to a white elephant gift exchange, and you understand the psychology behind it, you probably agree that most times, we will either choose the largest gift or often the gift that is most beautifully wrapped, completely oblivious to what’s inside.

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Many of you, as well as many of my clients, have that discerning eye and a fond appreciation for anything exhibiting a level of sophistication or sheer elegance. I tend to think ostentatiously when holiday gift wrapping for my

A wellwrapped gift conveys the message that one matters, that the recipient is worth your valuable time.

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clients with materials that have a very rich and luxurious appearance.

A well-wrapped gift conveys the message that one matters, that the recipient is worth your valuable time.

And as always, a gift should be given from the heart. Give that present with a sense of pride and confidence. Let that gift be showcased and displayed by giving it that first impression and a presentation worthy of such.

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Gorgeous TACK ROOM RENO STAYS TRUE

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TO EQUESTRIAN ROOTS & HISTORY

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The tack room door is made from reclaimed tongue-and-groove floor planks and finished with a brass pull from an old mail slot. page 74

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NEW LIFE FOR ABANDONED BARN

AN ESTATE GAINS ENTERTAINING HUB A forlorn barn, re-imagined as story-book stone cottage with candlelight suppers and room to spare.

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PHOTOS BY BJÖRN WALLANDER

rom a basic barn re-imagined as a swank paneled library to a storybook stone cottage where suppers are held by candlelight, a rural Illinois estate brims with diminutive delights, thanks to designer Annie Brahler-Smith (ABS).

How does a stable in Illinois end up resembling a tweedy gentleman›s club?

ABS: Would you believe by accident? It happened while I was designing a series of outbuildings on the 40-acre property, which was purchased by a former professional baseball player and his wife.

While they were mulling over how to redo the main house, I started designing some amazing auxiliary structures — a collector’s garage for his cars, a garden house, and a pool house with twin pergolas.

The look was very rustic-luxe. The house came with a barn that was horrible — ugly white-andgreen aluminum — but they needed it for their horses. So I decided to overhaul it, inside and out.

The husband told me, “We will let you do your own thing, and we’ll stay out of your way.”

Now the barn looks like it has history — as if it evolved over time and generations.

How do you add character to a prefab, aluminum barn?

ABS: Salvaged lumber and simple, natural materi-

Tosk, the family’s Arabian, grazes in front of the limestone entertaining cottage. To remove old varnish from the salvaged doors, Brahler-Smith sprayed on a mixture of lye and water, then sealed the raw wood with clear paste wax. page 75

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als. The stable’s metal exterior is clad in reclaimed barn wood.

In the tack room, the floors are reclaimed from another barn tear down, the walls are oak plywood trimmed in off-the-rack molding from Home Depot and the ceiling is standard bead board.

The antique furniture, which I mostly found in France, Holland and Belgium, has more personality than pedigree. I’ve always been drawn to imperfections. I started my career importing flea-market finds that I bought while accompanying my husband on his overseas business trips.

The French mahogany table in front of the leather settee? It cost about $20.

You can’t be overly precious in a working barn, not with four horses living right there amid the mud and hay.

That tack room is awfully small. How did you maximize the space?

ABS: The design had to be all about function. I wanted everything to multi-task. The windowsill needed to serve several purposes: a serving area for hot chocolate after riding lessons, a writing table for when the vet and trainers visit and the occasional wet bar in the evenings.

I was walking around my warehouse, which is full of broken furniture and pieces of things, when inspiration hit.

I spotted half of a shapely wooden table and thought, Aha — it could be a

Brahler-Smith flanked an antique Dutch table with a pair of vintage distressed-leather wing chairs and doesn’t worry about wear and tear.

“If something gets stained, that’s a scar from life, and it’s beautiful.” page 76

deep windowsill! Also, the homeowners’ daughters compete in equestrian events, and there’s always tack to be polished, so I lined the walls with hooks and saddle racks. It’s practical but it also shows off the gorgeous craftsmanship of the leather work, which is truly an art form.

A wall of shelving displays the girls’ dressage trophies; I mixed in vintage and antique trophies from Europe to create the sense of a collection.

You also designed a very storybook stone cottage. It’s a party space?

ABS: Yes. The husband already has his man cave: a garage that holds everything from multiple TVs to a taxidermy shark. For his wife, I wanted a ro-

The custom dining table is built from 700-year-old Syrian oak beams that look “almost petrified,” the designer says.

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The husband, a retired professional baseball player, gave his wife the Hermès jumping saddle as a gift.

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mantic fairy-tale environment where she could entertain. It’s a single room with an enormous stone fireplace and a massive dining table illuminated by flickering tapers.

We built the whole cottage out of 19th-century white limestone salvaged from a Civil War–era shot silo. You can see shells embedded in the stone.

Since I was going for an authentically rustic feeling, I designed the space without any amenities — no heat, water or electricity. Just in case, we wired the French chandelier, but it also holds candles so you can dine in soft, low light.

The floor is certainly atmospheric.

What is it made of ?

Crushed oyster shells over tamped lime. You see it all over Europe, and I was determined to have it here. I love that it evokes garden pathways and echoes the limestone’s palette. The cottage’s furnishings, like the gilded Belgian chairs upholstered in French grain sacks, are equally unpretentious.

But since the room is small, there isn’t much furniture. I opted for fewer pieces with grand proportions: Along the wall is a 12-foot-long bench from a French monastery. The dining table, which is handcrafted from Syrian oak I bought in Holland, can seat about a dozen people. With the over-scale chandelier hung low, about 28 inches above the table, the effect is especially magical. I hate when light fixtures are hung up high in no-man’s-land. I prefer to invite pretty lighting to the party.

What is the trick for pulling together such an original space?

I wish I could say I do meticulous research and mood boards. Instead, I feel it in my gut. I get a surge of adrenaline, everything clicks and — boom! — off I go. To borrow an equestrian phrase, when a client allows me to gallop at full speed, I can guarantee I will take them to one-ofa-kind places. page 78

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HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE PRESEN TED BY

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3rd Annual

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE for her

Fusion Necklace by Hermes. A masterpiece in its own right. Titanium in 18k rose gold is elegantly intertwined and embellished with paveset brown diamonds that total more than 100 carats. AQ. hermes.com

Serpenti Seduttori 18K Yellow Gold & Diamond Bracelet Watch by Bulgari.

Iconic drop shaped watch in polished 18K yellow gold with a diamond bezel and a stylized snake-pattern bracelet strap. $27,100. Bulgari.com

Seamless Lotus Crystal Clutch by Judith Leiber Couture.

Signature handset crystal novelty clutches are true works of art inspired by nature, art and culture.

A convertible box clutch covered in vibrant crystals arranged to form exuberant motifs with a push-button clasp and goldtone hardware. $3,995 judithleiber.com

Calla 18K White Gold Palladium, Titanium & Diamond 7-Element Cuff Bracelet by Vhernier. From the Calla Collection. Iconic sculptured two-tone elements embellished with stunning pavé-style “eyelash” edging and randomly placed diamonds results in a contemporary and timeless piece of jewelry. 15.05 tcw white diamonds, titanium and 18K white gold palladium. $89,250. Vhernier.com

Coco silk-satin pajama set by Olivia von Halle.

This ‘Coco’ version is cut from fluid silk-satin that drapes languidly over your frame and finished with ivory piping and lustrous mother-of-pearl buttons. $475.

Net-a-porter.com page 89

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Women's Crystal-Embellished Chandelier Earrings by Paco Rabanne. These chandelier-style earrings made in France are drenched in shimmering crystals. $550. lyst.com

Thin Modern Screw Cuff, 14k Gold Pavé by Miansai. An elevated extension of our iconic screw cuff bracelet, this meticulously crafted women’s cuff in 14-karat solid gold features an elegantly powerful pavé diamond threaded bar closure. $6,700. miansai.com

Smart Caviar Two Tone 38mm Watch Bracelet, Medium by Lagos.

Exclusively compatible with Apple Watch Series 1-5. Fits with 38, 40, 42, or 44mm watch head. From artist and master jeweler Steven Lagos, the brand pioneered a new category of jewelry, between fashion and fine jewelry, conveying a vision of bold femininity. $3,500. neimanmarcus.com page 90

Metallic Plissé Floral Appliqué Strapless A-Line Ball Gown by Oscar de la Renta. Glitz and glamour is redefined in the form of this striking metallic ball gown. Ruched at the bodice to resemble lacquer, this plissé creation flaunts decadent appliqués.$7,999. Oscardelarenta.com

Chanel: The Impossible Collection by Chanel. This handbound book is presented in a linen clamshell case, and includes a curation of 100 iconic Chanel looks, along with rare archival photos. It’s so luxurious, each book comes with white gloves. $895. assouline.com

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Tambour Monogram 39.5 by Louis Vuitton. Make the Tambour watch your own. Choose an interchangeable strap from a wide range of colors and materials and change it out quickly and easily with an additional strap to align with your own style. $3,310. Louisvuitton.com

Moncler Atena Puffer Jacket by Moncler Grenoble.

Ultra-sporty puffer jacket with utilitarian styling will keep you warm and cozy during those cold winter days. Topped with an exaggerated funnelneck concealing an optional hood, it has a voluminous, oversized silhouette for a borrowed-from-theboys look. $2,335.

Moncler.com

Garden of Eden Jacquard Cape

by Etro. Exuding signature eclectic charm, this topper features a multicolor, boho-inspired motif. It is crafted of lightweight wool and silk blend and cut in a voluminous draped silhouette, exuding an easy throw-on elegance. $1,580. Etro.com

Diamond Mallet Collection by Tara Gray Jewelry. Stand out from the crowd with fine jewelry fit for the Sport of Kings in your choice of 14KT white, yellow or rose gold with VS diamonds. $3,499 for the set, also sold individually. TaraGrayJewelry.comÂ

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Juste un Clou bracelet by Cartier. A nail becomes jewelry in 18K white gold, set with 624 brilliant-cut diamonds totaling 3.61 carats. $86,000. cartier.com

Instructional Cork Yoga Mat by KYOMA. Yoga mat with dozens of exercises printed directly on the surface, so you can ditch your smartphone and focus on your body and well-being. Features a naturally anti-bacterial, hypoallergenic cork surface and a base made of a non-toxic elastomer. $75. bloomingdales.com

Bottleneck Vase Set by Anthropologie. A funky set of vases will make any of your giftee’s rooms look distinctive. $600. anthropologie.com

Scalloped suede sandals by Prada.

The Duchess of Cambridge has worn these whimsical and feminine sandals on many occasions—so they're perfect for the lady in your life who is on the social circuit. $795. prada.com

Fabulous Eau de Parfum by Tom Ford. Explicit.

Exclusive. Fabulous. A decadent oriental leather with an intoxicating grip, the scent can only be described in one way: capturing a rarefied air. Evoking the private exchanges and insider moments where fantasies come true. $860 for 8.5 oz. tomford.com page 93

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HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE for home

Deco Tic Tac Toe by L’Objet. Since the Egyptian game of Senet was first played around 3100 BC, we have long been fascinated by the whimsical hand of fate. Inspired by the timeless allure of gaming and magic, these L’Objet creations use luxurious materials to give modern finishes to classic patterns. $695. L-objet.com

Wine Therapy Set by Baccarat. The Baccarat Wine Therapy set is your best ally for sharing moments with friends and enjoy a great party. A glass for each personality. $890. Us.baccarat.com

Nutcracker Brigade Lumbar Pillow

by MacKenzie-Childs. Instantly update your home for the holidays with well-placed comfortable pillows. Our Nutcracker Brigade Lumbar Pillow features nutcrackers from around the world standing ready to celebrate the season.

Delightful details include sequin accents and black and white checked cording around the edges. $175.

Mackenzie-childs.com

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Scala Palazzo Verde Porcelain Scented Votive by Versace. From the Scala Palazzo Verde Collection, an elegant series of candles featuring the most iconic Versace motifs on one-of-a-kind porcelain. Stylish table accents with refined details and elaborate craftsmanship give that unmistakable Versace touch on fine natural wax candles with luxurious fragrance that shine brilliantly. $325.00. versace.com

Barocco Dog Harness & Collar Set by Versace. From the Barocco Collection.

Signature goldtone logo coins punctuate this dog harness and collar set giving a luxurious look to your pet. $795. Versace.com

Holiday 2019 Advent Calendar by Jo Malone London. Countdown to Christmas in style with 24 scented surprises, from captivating Colognes to indulgent Bath & Body miniatures. $450.00 Jomalonelondon.com

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Oviparity by Gucci and IDEA Books. A special, limited-edition artbook of photographs by Greek photographer, film and stage director, producer and screenwriter, Yorgos Lanthimos. $80.

Available at Gucci Garden in Florence and Gucci Wooster in New York

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Reindeer Christmas Ornament for 2019 in red by Lalique. In Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon countries, the tradition of offering Christmas ornaments has been practiced for decades during the holiday season. This year, the Lalique ornament is illustrated with a reindeer. $125. Lalique.com

Dom Perignon Lenny Kravitz Limited Edition with Gift Box 2008 by Dom Perignon. This unique limited edition of Dom Pérignon Vintage 2008, designed by Lenny Kravitz, marks the second year of his collaboration with Dom Perignon. Lenny Kravitz elevates the iconic label on the Vintage 2008 bottle by borrowing from the craft of goldsmiths to work hammered metal on the surface of the shield. $230. Clos19.com

Abaculus Pyramid Picture Frame by Jay Strongwater.

Gleaming rows of polished faceted metal pyramids - enameled in a brilliant kaleidoscope of overlapping colors that ombre around the border - define the Vertex Pyramid 3” x 4” Frame with a sleek modern sheen. $395.

Jaystrongwater.com

Miele PureLine M-Touch Series by Miele. 24 Inch Whole Bean Built-In Plumbed Coffee System with Touch Controls, Dual Dispensing Spouts, 10 User Profiles, Automatic Rinse/Cleaning Program and Integrated LED Lighting. $4,099. mieleusa.com

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3rd Annual

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE for him Horse head by Baccarat. The horse is known as a great friend to man from contexts as diverse as agricultural farming to military training. Moreover, the horse has long been a cultural symbol of grace and power.$415. Us.baccarat.com

1834 Churchill Watch Safe by Wolf. The safest place for your valuables, forged in steel with 9 bi-directional steel bolts, secure electronic keypads, wrapped in top grain cowhide leathers and encased in exquisite rare woods or leather paneling. Bluetooth controlled winders count precisely the turns per day using WOLF’s patented algorithms. $119,995 special order.

Wolf1834.com page 104

Nero Leather Briefcase by Bottega Veneta. A luxurious daily companion in intricate woven leather with double top handles, a snap button closure and one interior zip pocket. $4,250. Saksfifthavenue.com

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Reversible Logo Wool Beanie

by Givenchy. Colorblock wool hat with logo detail can be worn on the reverse. $265.

Saksfifthavenue.com

Intrecciato Speedster Leather Slide Sandals by Bottega Veneta. Racing checks adorn these open-toe, flat leather slides. $690. bottegaveneta.com

16 Inc MacBook Pro by Apple.

Designed for those who defy limits and change the world, the new MacBook Pro is by far the most powerful notebook Apple has ever made. With an immersive 16-inch Retina display, superfast processors, next-generation graphics, the largest battery capacity ever in a MacBook Pro, a new Magic Keyboard, and massive storage, it’s the ultimate pro notebook for the ultimate user. $2,399. apple.com

Silk boxers by Tom Ford. A luxurious boxer with black velvet waistband and signature Tom Ford jacquard logo. $185. tomford.com

Valentino Garavani Logo Leather Low-Top Sneakers by Valentino. Sleek in its minimalist, calfskin leather design, these sneakers flaunt graphic logos. $695. Valentino.com

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Puffy Oversized Backpack from Off-White. Industrial straps define a sporty puffer backpack that's perfect for outdoor adventures or an urban commute. $1,995. bloomingdales.com

Valentino Garavani Logo Hardware Leather Buckle Belt

by Valentino. Hardware simply elevates this leather belt to iconic status. $495. valentino.com

CODE 11.59 Tourbillon Openworked by Audemars Piguet. AP is a force when it comes to the release of killer openworked timepieces and the CODE 11.59 Tourbillon Openworked does a formidable job at skeltonizing the new in-house manual wound calibre 2948.

Approximately $175,000. audemarspiguet.com

2020 Mercedes-Benz Maybach S650 by Mercedes-Benz. With a 621-hp biturbo V12, a predictive suspension that camera-scans the road, and innovations that cater to your every sense, the superlative Mercedes-Maybach S 650 takes first-class travel to new heights without leaving the ground. $202,500.

Mbusa.com

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Santal 33 by Le Labo. A perfume that intoxicates a man as much as a woman.

Cardamom, iris, violet, ambrox crackle in the formula and bring to this smoking wood alloy some leathery notes, and give this perfume its signature and addictive comfort. Santal 33 is where sensuality rises after the light has gone. $335. lelabo.com

RITZCARLTONYACHTCOLLECTION.COM

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I N T R OD U CI N G T H E 2 02 1 S EAS O N

RITZCARLTONYACHTCOLLECTION.COM page 109

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EXCLUSIVE HOLIDAY GET-AWAYS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM page 111

UNITED KINGDOM L

HOLIDAY GETAWAYS SURE TO SOOTHE THE SOUL

eave the hard work to someone else this Christmas with one of the fabulously festive hotel packages in the United Kingdom.

So you can be sure its wine tasting and cookery demonstration (creative canapés) will be good - and its seven-course Christmas menu (roast duck with clementine curd, jasmine and all the trimmings) even better.

BELMOND LE MANOIR AUX QUAT’SAISONS

It looks a picture, too, with a Christmas tree in each individually styled bedroom, and two more at the top of the lavender path.

A fairytale romance for Francophiles.

Magnificently, the restaurant at this 32-room hotel outside Oxford has held onto its two Michelin stars since it was opened by the uber-charming Raymond Blanc in 1984. page 112

Address: Church Road, Great Milton, Oxford, OX44 7PD Website: belmond.com

HECKFIELD PLACE, HAMPSHIRE The homely Georgian house that’s more downtown than Downton. It was 2018’s biggest hotel opening, a grown-up country house hotel that manages elegance and homeliness without the swagged formality of others.

Christmas at Heckfield feels like having the run of your own pile, with cocktail-making workshops, screenings of The Nutcracker ballet and Father Christmas and his reindeer popping by on Christmas Eve. If you can stay awake,

Heckfield Place

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The Pig's Barn Bedroom at Bridge Place, Kent.

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Chewton Glen

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there’s midnight mass in the church next door, too. Stay for the Boxing Day children’s Olympics, archery and falconry, or better still, jazz and cocktails back at the ranch.

Address: Heckfield, Hook, RG27 0LD Website: heckfieldplace.com

THE CONNAUGHT, LONDON Artful treats in an updated classic For a magical Christmas in London 2019, Claridge’s 121-room sister hotel The Connaught offers a similar mix of seasonal specials: carols, carrots for the children to leave out for Santa’s reindeer, stockings for all and carriage rides. The Christmas tree here follows the anpage 114

nual artist-designed tradition and sits outside the hotel on Carlos Place. Other highlights include impeccable Martinis in the glittering Art Deco Connaught Bar, a four-course Michelin-starred Christmas Eve lunch at the shiny new Hélène Darroze restaurant and a moment of serenity in the Aman Spa, one of the best spas in London.

Address: Carlos Place, Mayfair, W1K 2AL Website: the-connaught.co.uk

GLENEAGLES HOTEL, SCOTLAND Non-stop fun in the land of snow.

Refurbished in an understated mod-

ern style, this 232-room Perthshire estate with two Michelin-starred restaurant pulls out all the stops at Christmas, laying on an ice rink, a visit from Santa Claus and his elves, even its own Aladdin panto.

The Gleneagles Suite becomes a place to mingle with other guests, taste global delicacies, and listen to carols from the Soul Nation rock choir; and on Boxing Day, non-golfers can try cocktail-making and off-road driving, join the annual clay-pigeon-shooting competition and treasure hunt, or have their fortune told.

You may well even get snow.

Address: Auchterarder, PH3 1NF Website: gleneagles.com

Babington House, Somerset

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CHEWTON GLEN, HAMPSHIRE A family house party mere steps from the beach. Frederick Marryat stayed at Chewton Glen while writing Children of the New Forest, and this historic favorite is a great choice for Christmas.

Book a tree-house suite with freestanding bath and outdoor hot tub for family time and forest views, then join the house party in the 18th-century main house: a kids’ movie night with pick ‘n’ mix and popcorn is planned in the new Beehive Tree house den with treasure hunts, beach walks and a falconry display on Christmas and Boxing Days.

In between it’s one long feast, with turkey, cranberry and chestnut stuffing

sandwiches for afternoon tea, and a three- or five-course meal.

Address: Christchurch Road, New Milton, BH25 6QS Website: chewtonglen.com

THE PIG AT BRIDGE PLACE, KENT The sexiest and newest Pig hotel, set in a 17th-century manor, the latest and sixth Pig from the cult brand lies within five acres in Kent’s bucolic landscape.

The hotel’s rich navy and deep berry burgundy tones, lit by puffing fires and candles, make for an especially cozy Christmas backdrop, and this being only 10 minutes from Canterbury

Cathedral, a carol sing-along should be on the cards. While there will be no tinsel (come on, this is The Pig, after all), festivities will be simple but merry.

Try and nab the rustic barn, with a private terrace, countryside views and a bathroom with a roll-top tub and chaise longue. If there’s a time to wallow, this is it.

Address: Bourne Park Road, Bridge, Canterbury, CT4 5LF Website: thepighotel.com

BABINGTON HOUSE, SOMERSET A country livener for hip Londoners, it’s been over 20 years since the Soho page 115

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Left: Babington House at Somerset

This page, top: the Royal Lochnagar Living Room and below: Gleneagle at Christmastime

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House group opened their first rural outpost in a listed Georgian building outside Frome.

Numerous celebrity weddings and an extensive renovation later, it still has its original hip factor.

Christmas here is both buzzy and laid-back, with members swinging by for a hot mulled Somerset cider at the zinc-topped bar, a swim in the heated indoor or outdoor pool, and a treatment at the Cowshed Spa overlook-

ing the kitchen garden. As seasonal specials, the hotel lays on a visit from Father Christmas with presents for the children, drinks and canapés in the bar and candlelit carols in the adjacent chapel.

Of course, there’s a big sitdown lunch and a choice of outdoor activities: archery, clay pigeon shooting and pony rides on Boxing Day. Address: Charity Lane, Frome, BA11 3RW Website: babingtonhouse. co.uk

Left: Jean-Georges at The Connaught, right: the exterior of The Pig and living room of a suite at the Babington.

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FASHION & STYLE HERMES REFUSES TO CHANGE 2019: THE YEAR IN FASHION

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HERMES

REFUSAL TO CHANGE IS ITS MOST RADICAL GESTURE YET The fashion house remains loyal to a way of life more common to Europe’s medieval guilds, dedicating itself to the idea of craftsmanship above all else.

IF THERE IS a signifying gesture that contains nearly 200 years of obsession, it is the ballet of the point sellier. This is how it begins: The artisan is young, with a confidence that comes from years on the bench, her eyes focused on two small back-to-back precut pieces of leather. She holds in each hand a twoinch needle, threaded with linen fiber that she has dragged through beeswax to render waterproof. Then, wielding the needles like surgical instruments, she pierces the leather, pulling taut the threads to draw the halves together in an unbreakable bond. Whether it’s bleu saphir for the panel of a Birkin or tawny caramel for a harness or juniper suede for the shoulder of a blazer, the motion has been the same since the leather craftsman Thierry Hermès left Germany for Paris, using just such a stitch to craft harnesses for the gentry at the company he founded in 1837.

The handbag will possess no overt logo.

It will be the artisan’s from start to fin-

ish and will take days, or in the case of a larger item — like a saddle— maybe weeks. It will be perfect and will cost more than virtually any other such item you can buy off a shelf, though ever so slightly different from all the others because of the particular hand used to create it. “We would never think of having someone just do all the sewing, and then another person do the hardware,” says Céline Rochereau, who after 30 years in the handbag ateliers in France and workshops worldwide now keeps track of the dozens of artisans Hermès posts, like foreign attachés, in cities around the world, in case a customer in Shanghai or Seoul or San Francisco needs a closure tweaked or a stain removed. “You put your mark on it from start to finish; it is yours.”

There are other European makers of exquisite things that keep a few workshops staffed with artisans. But no multinational company stands so fixedly with its past than Hermès. Despite now having over 300 stores, from Denver to the Northern Mariana Islands, the enterprise clings resolutely to the romance of the human touch in the face of manifest and mounting impracticalities. As the world — fashion, especially — has increasingly become mechanized to control costs and capitalize instantly

on trends, Hermès has resisted, certain all along that if you hand-make elegant things, labor costs and materials be damned, there will always be enough people with a great deal of money and taste to buy them.

THE AUTOMOBILE OUGHT to have ended Hermès. The company’s original raison d’être was the horse, for whom it made every accouterment, from bridle to saddle. But by 1920, the Hermès family, which was headed by Thierry’s grandson Émile-Maurice, had discovered that their customers’ appetite would endure no matter mode of transportation. Just a couple decades after the debut of the Haut à Courroies, a 16- or 20-inch-wide bag big enough to stow a saddle, the company began making a handbag to stow in the trunk of a sports car. Next, having secured the French rights to a little-known turn-ofthe-century American invention, the zipper, Hermès used it to make a golf jacket, leading the company into the apparel business.

Still, the family held tight to its equestrian roots, basing the shape of a perfume bottle on the contour of a stirrup or a coat closure on a harness bit, and thus maintaining an instantly recognizable iconography, one that to this day telepage 123

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graphs gentility tempered by an earthy outdoorsiness. Even as it introduced men’s and women’s ready-to-wear, silk scarves, shoes, porcelain, jewelry and fragrance in the 20th century, and grew to a $4-billion-a-year international enterprise in the 21st, the family insisted that virtually everything continue to be handcrafted; they sensed that once you try to stretch that legacy to embrace the shiny and the new, its power is forever lost.

While family control has offered a comforting permanence, Hermès, with its roots in the workshop, is uniquely decentralized. With no “Monsieur” or “Madame,” the modern company hews instead to the contours of the guilds: There are separate ateliers (and corresponding heads) for women’s readyto-wear, perfume, shoes and jewelry, men’s wear, silk and home furnishings.

Hermès, now run by the family’s sixth generation, tends to choose cerebral leaders, one’s comfortable subsuming their egos to the whole, recognizing that the brand relies as much on skilled artisans as on the sketch pad.

Much of what distinguishes the company is its anachronisms, the kind that page 124

any consultancy would surely urge them to reconsider. Today, the company has over 13,400 employees, 4,000 of whom — an unheard-of ratio for an international luxury business — are craftspeople.

In a universe of runway to closet, the company remains politely contemptuous of glitz and unapologetically dear. In retrospect, such a retrograde philosophy has proved prophetic.

“You know if it is right,” says Charlotte Macaux Perelman, an architect who was recruited in 2014 to run the furniture and housewares atelier. “And if it’s wrong, you can’t live with it. No matter how long it takes you to find the right answer, you just keep looking.”

AN HERMÈS SILK takes about two years to complete, a process that may take weeks at another house where silk scarves — though big moneymakers — are mostly a riff on that season’s patterns and colors.

Perhaps the company’s most iconic symbol, scarves were introduced in 1937 and are referred to in-house as “carrés,” for their square shape. They have been produced for the past 16

years under the aegis of Bali Barret, in an esoteric manner that is more like creating an illuminated manuscript than manufacturing something to be tied around your neck.

For the 20 designs — 10 each for the spring and fall collections — there are hundreds of proposed sketches from outside artists and illustrators. Barret is an impresario, cajoling artists and scouring the world for new talent, nurturing the ones she feels may someday make the cut.

The silk atelier in Lyon, two hours southeast by bullet train, has a color workshop with 25 employees, where the inks are hand-mixed for each of the season’s silks (there are eight to 12 colorways per design). Barret scoffs at Pantone color charts, — “Absurde” — preferring to work instead from the house’s own 75,000 registered hues.

Most Tuesdays, members of the Lyon team travel to Paris to present prototypes. Barret stands before a huge whiteboard with the silks affixed with magnets in rows, giving critiques. The sessions can last up to nine hours. The following Tuesday, the team returns for Barret to give them feedback on the

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newly executed strike-offs, and then the Tuesday after that, until she is satisfied.

This is all before the actual production, of course: A scarf can have as many as 45 different screens on which individual colors are applied to be pressed onto the thick silk, itself loomed in a Hermès workshop in Pantin from 300 raw cocoons. “Creating the silks,” says Barret, “is the most pure, as close to a painting as you get, a perfect object.”

LAST YEAR IT was “Let’s play!” This year it’s “In the pursuit of Hermès dreams.” Every year there is a theme, announced 36 months in advance to give the designers time to find their inspiration. It is revealed at a private dinner by Pierre-Alexis Dumas, the sixth-generation Hermès scion who became the artistic director after his father, Jean-Louis, who ran both the creative and business sides for 28 years, announced his retirement in 2005. He gathers the creative directors, as did his father after inaugurating the tradition in 1987.

Dumas spends a lot of time pondering where Hermès is headed as the world speeds up exponentially: There are chal-

lenges to remaining an anachronism; no other company of this sort has such vertical integration, with command of much of its raw materials and total control of many items from conception to finish. Hermès has had a robust online commerce presence since 2001, but it is an uneasy fit on social media. The digital world, says Dumas, “creates the illusion that everything is closer when in fact the important things are getting farther away.”

In the past decade, there has been a widespread cultural backlash against mechanization and a newfound celebration of handwork, which should benefit a company like Hermès, but there is still pressure to appeal to a younger generation. Dumas’s goal is to give the company’s fastidiousness a contemporary expression. As such, Hermès lately devotes a great deal of time and a massive amount of money to staging events worldwide that showcase its processes in unexpected milieus like South Korea and Tasmania. You can bring in your mother’s scarf and the company will “overdye” it for you in a futuristic-looking machine made just for the task, creating a trippy new colorway. Petit H,

an atelier started in 2010 by the family member Pascale Mussard, is the company’s grand yet playful gesture toward sustainability: It gathers leftover leather scraps and silks and extra buttons and slightly imperfect crystal glassware from every corner of the operation and turns them into one-of-kind pieces, from teddy bears to Christmas ornaments to eccentric embellished handbags.

Still, maintaining a guild-like operation requires working from the bottom up.

Many of the outside craftspeople with whom the company collaborates when it doesn’t have in-house expertise are growing older — and their children are uninterested in carrying on. Unlike competitors who are in constant pursuit of growth, ever-expanding into new categories to satisfy stockholders, Dumas and his cousin seem more inclined to pull back, to invest in cultivating craft expertise inside and among far-flung outside partners in corners of the world.

By Nancy Hass for The NY Times Photos courtesy Hermes, from a recent social media campaign

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THE YEAR IN

FASHION 2019

T

his year 104 million shoppers started their fashion search on Lyst.com. Lyst analyzed the data; crunching the queries, page views and sales metrics across six million fashion products from over 12,000 online stores, alongside the global media coverage and social media mentions generated by the year’s biggest brands and trends.

From streetwear to spider brooches, Timothée Chalamet to Tevas, here’s page 128

what was trending in 2019.

MOVEMENTS SUSTAINABILITY Searches including sustainability related keywords increased 75% year on year, with an average of 27,000 searches for sustainable fashion every month. Searches for specific sustainable materials rose; 102% for econyl, 52% for organic cotton, 130% for repreve and 42% for tencel. Sustainable denim and sneak-

ers were the most wanted product categories. Several brands launched meaningful sustainability initiatives this year, from paying closer attention to the materials used in their collections, to launching donation programs and investing in recommerce.

INCLUSIVITY 2019 saw a number of vocal callouts against the industry’s lack of diversity and representation.

Shoppers searched for fashion reflecting the needs and tastes of diverse

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communities; searches for adaptive and modest fashion rose 80% and 90% respectively. There was a 52% increase in searches for the terms ‘genderless’ and ‘gender neutral’ with fashion. “Woke” consumers looked for designers and retailers that aligned with their values and in response, some of the world’s most powerful brands launched diversity campaigns and programs to promote inclusivity, some hiring new teams to help them improve at the board level.

MOODS EXTRA ROMANCE 2019 was the year of romance and over-the-top fashion. Searches for beaded bags, pearl hair accessories, tulle skirts and babydoll dresses significantly increased this spring. Playing with proportions was a global trend: “mini bags” saw a 50% increase in views over the summer, while brands such as Ganni, Cecilie Bahnsen, Rotate and Jacquemus turned big puffy sleeves into one of this year’s must-haves.

CULT GIRL SUMMER A trend rooted in rural Americana, demure prairie dresses were one of the hottest trends

of the summer, with searches peaking in July. New York-based label LoveShackFancy was the breakout brand in this new summer dress category; page views rose 65% between January and March.

90s RESURGENCE From cropped tops to square-toed heels and slip dresses, Lyst saw a number of ’90s trends gain momentum this year.

Fendi’s Baguette bag saw a 164% rise in searches year on year, and celebrities dug out archive pieces from designers like Jean Paul Gaultier, Thierry Mugler and Versace.

SHAPEWEAR REVOLUTION Searches for biker shorts continued to rise, up 137% year on year, while demand for bodysuits and leotards collectively grew 83%. Kim Kardashian West launched a controversial shapewear line. Tom Ford’s sportswear-inspired S/S ’20 collection added glamour to the category.

PSYCHEDELIC From tie-dye to neon green, psychedelic motifs and rave colors were popular this Summer.

From Proenza Schouler’s knitwear to Ralph Lauren’s tie-dye polo t-shirt, customers embraced psychedelia.

Searches for neon green pieces went up 69% over the summer.

STATEMENT TAILORING Searches for short suits grew 19% in March, while Scandi girls at Copenhagen Fashion Week inspired a 55% rise in page views for ‘oversized’ blazers. The most common search terms used alongside suits were ‘vivid’ and ‘bright.’

‘STREETWEAR’ EVERYWHERE As dress codes continue to relax and the definitions of luxury, streetwear and sportswear evolve, the phenomenon previously known as ‘streetwear’ powered the year’s biggest trends. This year, customers spent on average $192 on a new pair of sneakers, a 39% increase year on year. The average spend on a T-shirt also increased 16% to $67. Off-White was the most searched for brand of the year.

SURVIVALIST In a politically turbulent year, customers looked to fashion for survival. Cargo pants and utility vests saw a surge in searches in the fall and demand for belt bags increased 33% over the last six months.

Stomping boots sales increased 73% in September. page 129

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MOMENTS FROM 2019 JANUARY 24 MEME COUTURE Viktor & Rolf ’s couture show featured rainbow-colored tulle gowns adorned with slogans. In just a couple of hours, social mentions for the brand and its “meme couture gowns” grew by over 249%.

FEBRUARY 19 FAREWELL TO KARL Legendary couturier Karl Largerfeld died in Paris at the age of 85. He had been ill for several weeks and absent from two of Chanel’s haute couture shows the month before.

Virginie Viard was announced as his successor at Chanel.

APRIL 12 K-POP TAKES OVER Girl-band Blackpink made K-Pop history when they performed on the main stage at Coachella. The video for their single “Kill This Love” broke YouTube records, becoming the fastest video to hit 100 million views; the biggest YouTube premiere of all time.

MAY 1ST FASHION DOES CAMP This year’s Met Gala theme, “Camp,” saw Katy Perry dressed as a chandelier then a burger, and Billy Porter arrived carried by six men in a “Sun God” ensemble. Lady Gaga had four live outfit changes on the red carpet, one of which sparked a 112% rise in searches for designer Brandon Maxwell.

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MAY 10 RIHANNA MAKES HISTORY After months of speculation, Rihanna officially announced the launch of Fenty, becoming the first woman to create an original brand at LVMH. In its first month of operation, the new luxury house generated more than 5,000 media articles from around the world and over 7 million social media impressions.

JULY CÉLINE SLAYS COUTURE WEEK From a Chanel catsuit to Ksenia Schnaider’s asymmetrical jeans, an Off-White bodysuit, and a 3D Iris van Herpen gown, Céline Dion turned Paris into her own personal runway during Haute Couture Fashion Week. Her numerous couture looks sparked a 7,831% rise in social mentions over four days.

AUGUST 2 A ROYAL FORCE FOR CHANGE Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, guest-edited the British Vogue September issue, titled “Forces for Change.”

Photographed by Peter Lindbergh, the cover featured 15 women chosen by Meghan for their “inspiring impact on modern life,” including Greta Thunberg, Adwoa Aboah, Jacinda Ardern, and Sinéad Burke.

AUGUST 24 A NEW POWER PACT French President Emmanuel Macron and Kering CEO FrançoisHenri Pinault debuted the Fashion Pact. Signed by a reported 32 companies and 150 brands — including Gucci, Chanel, Hermes, Stella McCartney, H&M and Nike — the Pact presented a set of shared objectives the fashion industry will be working toward to reduce its impact on the climate, biodiversity, and the oceans.

SEPTEMBER 20 A SAVAGE SHOW The Savage x Fenty fashion show was streamed exclusively on Amazon Prime Video, featuring guest musical acts Halsey, Migos, A$AP Ferg and Fat Joe, as well as a diverse group of models including Alek Wek, Cara Delevingne, Joan Smalls, Laverne Cox, and Normani. Searches for Savage x Fenty lingerie spiked 43% in September.

SEPTEMBER 21 J-LO RETURNS TO THE JUNGLE Jennifer Lopez walked the Versace runway during Milan Fashion Week in a new version of her iconic “Jungle” dress, which led to the creation of Google Images in 2001. Her appearance received $9.4 million worth of media mentions and online engagement.

SEPTEMBER 29 CARDI B OWNS THE FROW Cardi B stepped out at Paris Fashion Week dressed in florals by British designer Richard Quinn.

Cardi’s ensemble contributed to a +17% rise in searches for the brand that month. Later she sat alongside Anna Wintour at Thom Browne, choosing a professional look by the designer in a $30,000 ensemble from Chanel.

OCTOBER 1 GIGI TO THE RESCUE Creative Director Virginie Viard presented her first solo ready-to-wear collection for Chanel during Paris Fashion Week, which was gatecrashed by French YouTuber “Marie S’Infiltre” when she jumped on the runway, before being stopped by model Gigi Hadid. The stunt contributed to a 2,618% rise in social mentions for Chanel.

OCTOBER 14-18 ROYAL FASHION DIPLOMACY For the royal tour of Pakistan, William and Kate chose outfits by local designers and brands, referencing regional culture and history. After Kate wore a shalwar kameez on her arrival, searches for the item increased 170% the following week. Jenny Packham, Beulah London and Ghost, worn on the tour, collectively saw a 139% spike in searches week on week.

Left to right: Meghan Markle, Harry Styles, and Zendaya

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The 10 celebrities whose personal style choices drove the biggest spikes in searches, sales, news coverage and social media mentions over the last 12 months.

MEGHAN MARKLE, Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle was the most powerful dresser of 2019 and her outfits sparked, on average, a 216% increase in searches for similar pieces.

After she wore five different shirt dresses on the Royal Tour of South Africa, searches for the category grew 45% over a month. The Club Monaco dress sold out in less than 24 hours, following a 570% spike in searches and wearing a J Crew skirt saw a 102% increase in searches for the brand.

TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET Timothée Chalamet’s embellished Louis Vuitton bib was this year’s breakout look at the Golden Globes. The sequin hoodie he wore to the UK premiere of The King sparked a 192% rise in searches for men’s hoodies, and searches for Haider Ackermann spiked 806% the week he wore one of the brand’s suits.

ZENDAYA Putting the Z in Gen Z dressing, Zendaya’s Instagram sparked millions of searches. When she stepped out on the Met Gala red carpet dressed in a light-up Cinderella

gown by Tommy Hilfiger — complete with a carriage-shaped bag and glass slippers — her look caused a 54% rise in searches for the brand. The Vera Wang gown she wore to the Emmy Awards in September created a 33% spike in searches for the brand.

BILLIE EILISH Seventeen-year-old singer-songwriter Billie Eilish has over 40 million followers on Instagram.

After wearing several neon green outfits this Summer, searches for the color rose 69%. Meanwhile, searches for BBCICECREAM spiked 211% in less than a week after she tagged the brand in an Instagram post.

CARDI B Cardi B sent searches soaring when she wore a vintage Mugler gown to the Grammy Awards: searches for the designer spiked 169% in four hours. She was one of the most impactful faces at Fashion Week in September, her outfits by Chanel, Thom Browne and Richard Quinn were amongst the most talked about online that week.

LISA, BLACKPINK This year, Blackpink member Lisa became the most followed K-Pop idol on Instagram, with nearly 27 million followers. After she shared a series of photos of herself wearing the Celine Triomphe bag, searches for the accessory increased 66%.

KYLIE JENNER The top celebrity fashion influencer for 2018, Kylie continued to drive mass global demand for her outfits. Wearing a floral milkmaid dress in August, she was responsible for a 66% spike in searches for the style. Wearing a daring gold dress to Justin Bieber and Hailey Baldwin’s wedding, she broke wedding guest rules and had more impact on searches than the bride.

FASHION 2019

POWER DRESSERS

LIZZO As Lizzo’s music has grown year on year, so too has demand for her signature leotards - searches have risen 28% year on year. She had many hit outfits at the MTV VMA, including an 80s lilac off-the-shoulder prom dress. Lizzo fashion has been a breakout search term since September.

HARRY STYLES After Harry sported a single earring to the Met Gala, men’s searches for single earrings grew 28% from May. Known for his vibrant outfits, there was a 78% increase for blue suits in March after he wore a particularly vibrant ensemble in New York.

BILLY PORTER Billy Porter was responsible for some of the most talked-about red-carpet moments of the year. When he wore a custom tuxedo-gown by Christian Siriano to the Oscars, searches for the designer increased 101% in 24 hours.

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BREAKOUT BRANDS

FASHION 2019

Left to right: Bottega Veneta, Pyer Moss and Paco Rabanne

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To name the breakout brands of the year, we monitored the labels that showed the biggest spikes in interest over the course of 2019. Fendi’s Zucca print was the most wanted logo on Lyst this year.

BOTTEGA VENETA Daniel Lee’s takeover turned Bottega Veneta into one of the most talked-about fashion brands of the year, inspiring the creation of the popular Instagram fan-account @newbottega. Demand for the label’s accessories spiked 53% this year. Bottega Veneta climbed 21 places in the Q3 Lyst Index hottest brands ranking, entering the list for the first time.

PYER MOSS Kerby Jean-Raymond’s shows have become one of the most anticipated events of Fashion Week.

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After presenting his S/S collection in September, the brand saw a 226% rise.

JACQUEMUS Fueled by the popularity of its Le Chiquito bag, demand for Jacquemus continues to grow.

Searches increased 37% in June after the brand held its S/S ’20 show in the lavender fields of Provence, while social mentions spiked 761% in the 24 hours following the event. Jacquemus jumped 37 positions in the Q3 Lyst Index hottest brands list.

and social media engagement spiked after American actor Ashton Sanders stepped out in a custom Telfar look at the Met Gala.

PACO RABANNE A 2019 update on its iconic 1969 chainmail designs, along with celebrity endorsements from the likes of Priyanka Chopra and Sophie Turner generated thousands of social mentions for the brand.

Searches for Paco Rabanne are up 31% year on year.

MOLLY GODDARD Searches for Molly Goddard are up 46% year on year; the designer’s tulle pieces proved to be particularly popular with influencers, celebrities and customers alike.

RICHARD QUINN Richard Quinn’s designs were seen on Cardi B, Kendall Jenner, Billy Porter, Céline Dion, and Winnie Harlow. Searches are up 56% year on year.

TELFAR This year, Telfar saw an 89% increase in searches on Lyst. The label presented one of the most talked about shows at New York Fashion Week

SAKS POTTS Page views for the Danish brand spiked 1,328% in July when Spanish singer Rosalía wore its signature Foxy coat.

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WORLD’S MOST WANTED BOTTEGA VENETA The Pouch.

Bottega Veneta’s “The Pouch” bag has sparked more than 10,000 views a month since its launch. Page views increased 297% on Lyst in September.

The bag was seen on editors, celebrities and influencers worldwide; Rosie Huntington-Whiteley instagrammed it 39 times in the space of three months.

BOTTEGA VENETA Stretch Sandals.

Barely-there sandals were a huge trend this year, and Bottega Veneta’s version was in high demand all summer.

Searches spiked in July, increasing 471%.

GUCCI GG Logo Belt. Having appeared nine times in the Lyst Index over the past two years, the Gucci GG

Logo belt remains one of the most sought-after luxury accessories. Two Gucci belts were sold through Lyst every minute this year.

JACQUEMUS Le Chiquito Bag. Searches for Jacquemus’ Le Chiquito bag increased 130% in May and generated more than 20,000 page views over the summer.

PRADA Logo Bucket Hat. Worn by many celebrities and influencers, Prada’s Bucket hat sold out multiple times online, with searches spiking in May. LOUIS VUITTON Multi Pochette Bag. Weeks before its release, Louis Vuitton’s Multi Pochette bag already had a long waiting list. When it launched in October, it sold out online within days.

GANNI Checked Seersucker Midi Dress. Ganni’s neon checked dress was a favorite among influencers and editors this year. It promptly sold out after a 101% rise in demand in July.

SANDY LIANG Fleece Jacket. Sandy Liang’s ‘90s-inspired fleece jacket was the designer’s most popular product this year.

WEEKDAY Row Sky Blue Jeans.

Made from 100% organic cotton; the sustainable Weekday Row jeans were the best-selling jeans of 2019 on Lyst.

Searches for the brand grew 68% year on year.

GUCCI GG Supreme Small Messenger Bag. Gucci’s men’s GG Supreme Messenger bag was one of this year’s most coveted accessories. Searches for men’s bags increased 44% year on year.

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VERNISSAGE {PRIVATE VIEWING}

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JONATHAN KWEGYIR AGGREY page 137

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VERNISSAGE: PRIVATE VIEWING

Jonathan Kwegyir Aggrey

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China's business-only approach to a nearly $600 billion investment in Africa blurs the lines when it comes to African art and artists.

JONATHAN KWEGYIR AGGREY IS BETTER KNOWN IN SHANGHAI THAN PARIS RAPHAEL DAPAAH @dapaahgallery Art Contributor

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othing in recent years has divided popular opinion amongst people of African descent more than China’s involvement on the African continent. Whilst some warmly welcome the sorely needed direct investment and China’s business-only approach, others have expressed their concern about the rise of a new colonial power cloaked in the attire of transparent and mutually beneficial partnership and trade.

The jury is still out on whether China should be perceived as a friend to Africa or as a potential threat to her independence, but in the world of contemporary art, China’s increased involvement and patronage has been unanimously embraced, especially by contemporary African artists.

Over the past decade, with growing economic hegemony and global influence, Chinese investors in Africa’s raw materials have also become collectors of Africa’s contemporary art, driving the value of the work of the frontier market artists and creating a ripple effect of greater demand for contemporary African art.

One artitst in particular who has benefited immensely from the cultural patronage and interest of the Far East in Africa is Ghanaian artist, Jonathan Kwegyir Aggrey.

Aggrey is a sensational artist to say the least. A specialist in the watercolor medium, a master artist amongst his West African contemporaries and an ambassador of Ghana to watercolor artists internationally, Aggrey is one of the continent’s most prolific and promising artists. Uniquely, whilst many contemporary African artists, including Aggrey, have enjoyed patronage from across Europe, England and France, especially, and increasingly from local collectors in Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa, notably, Aggrey has enjoyed considerable attention and support from curators, collectors and even museums in China. page 139

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One of China’s leading curators at the Qingdao Art Museum commented that, “Jonathan’s use of fine lines in his work to depict the poles and ropes around the canoes is reminiscent of Chinese calligraphy writing.”

I sought to discover why China is investing in contemporary African artist from the perspective of the artist, especially one whose work now hangs in a well-established museum in Qingdao, a sea port city in China, far removed from the artist’s own studio in Ghana’s coastal capital city.

“African art has come a long way in the history of human development. It is gaining global attention and the world is accepting it. The Far East, especially China, has opened her doors to embrace different cultures and diversities, seeking to understand the African people and their ways of life,” said Aggrey, in an interview with Polo Lifestyles in November.

“I received my first invitation from China in 2014 as the one and only African watercolorist selected amongst 18 other international watercolorists to show my work alongside Chinese watercolorists at the Qingdao

International Watercolour Biennale. Four of my paintings were subsequently collected by the Qingdao museum as part of their permanent collection.”

One of China’s leading curators at the Qingdao Art Museum commented that, “Jonathan’s use of fine lines in his work to depict the poles and ropes around the canoes is reminiscent of Chinese calligraphy writing.”

Further to his work being exhibited and collected in Qingdao, Jonathan has exhibited annually since 2014 in China in various art fairs, exhibitions and tours, such as the well-attended and prestigious annual Silk Road International Arts Festival held at Xi’an City in China.

So what does this all mean as far as China’s involvement in African is concerned, and for contemporary African art?

I would say that it is a clear indication that China’s relationship with Africa is more complex than most know, and beyond the business-only mantra, there does appear to be a great appetite to understand the culture and heritage of the continent in which China has committed to invest $60 billion.

For contemporary African artists like Aggrey, this means a greater platform and audience to showcase their work to the fastest growing economy in the world with the fastest growth rate of self-made millionaires and billionaires globally.

If London and Paris are currently the meccas of African art today, I would keep an eye open for the rise of Shanghai and its role in the contemporary African art world tomorrow.

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THE ISLAND OF DOMINICA & CLIMATE CHANGE RESILIENCE

The tropical paradise heavily dependant upon tourism was 90% destroyed by Hurricane Maria. Since then, leaders have battled to build back an island that can not only weather a storm, but also outrun the effects of global climate change.

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DOMINICA MAY BECOME THE WORLD'S FIRST CLIMATE-RESISTANT NATION TECH

The devastation from Hurricane Maria spurred an ambitious goal to fully adapt to climate change.

IT STARTED IN the evening on September 18, two years ago.

The winds picked up; waves began crashing ashore with intensity; the skies darkened.

Unbeknownst to the people of Dominica, Hurricane Maria was slowly gathering the strength it needed to destroy over 90 percent of the island’s structures, cripple its economy and force a small country that did little to cause climate change to reckon with its consequences. page 146

Yet despite the ominous signs befalling Dominica, many residents say they were no more worried than usual. The tiny Caribbean island, after all, is no stranger to hurricanes. Situated in the eastern Caribbean, Dominica sits just over 500 miles northeast of Caracas, Venezuela and among a string of islands that stich the Caribbean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean.

And though the soon-to-end 2019 hurricane season spared the nation, it may not be so lucky next year, or the year after.

In the span of a single night, Dominica

was torn apart. But from the devastation, the tiny country forged a new goal: to become the world’s first climate-resilient nation, capable of prospering despite a new era of storms made worse by climate change.

As Maria approached land, the island’s residents quickly realized the storm would be much worse than they had anticipated.

“We kept listening to the radio to figure out what was going on,” says Ann Aeevieal, a local cook at the Tamarind

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Tree Hotel. “They said it was a Category 2, and then a Category 3.”

Studies have shown that the Atlantic Ocean is heating up, causing storms to become more common, intense, and long-lasting. Warm ocean water is fuel to a hurricane, powering it like an engine. The warmer the water, the more the engine revs, growing faster, larger, and capable of dumping more water.

As Maria neared the Caribbean Sea, it burst to life, a process that meteorologists describe as rapid intensification.

Stephanie Astaphan, an employee at the island’s Secret Bay hotel, says, “When you’re living in the hurricane belt, you get desensitized. And then Anderson Cooper said, ‘The island of Dominica is about to get a Category 5’ and I had this out-of-body experience.”

Then the storm hit. Local baker Sheila Jelviel lives in Scott’s Head, a southeastern neighborhood where the hurricane struck the hardest. Just after nightfall on September 18, the sea rushed into her home. A small skiff rammed itself through her front door. “We had to go

out the window in the back to escape,” she recalls.

Though Maria was the worst storm to ever strike Dominica, the country’s economy has been shaken several times over the past decade, absorbing major hurricanes and tropical storms in 2015, 2013, and 2010.

Hurricane Erika wiped out an estimated 90 percent of Dominica’s GDP in 2015. By comparison, the World Trade Organization estimates that Hurricane Maria cost Dominica just page 147

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TECH

over two years’ worth of economic output. Financial experts anticipate it will be roughly three more years before Dominica can return to its pre-hurricane state.

Five days after the storm hit, Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit addressed the United Nations General Assembly.

“I come to you straight from the front line of the war on climate change,” Skerrit said in his address. “In the past, we would prepare for one heavy storm a year. Now, thousands of storms form on a breeze in the mid-Atlantic and line up to pound us with maximum force and fury.”

Skerrit’s impassioned speech was a plea for the funds to make Dominica into the world’s first fully climate resilient nation. It requires not replacing what was lost but building for a future where climate change all but guarantees a storm of Maria’s scale will strike again.

Dominica is striving to construct not

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only hurricane-proof buildings but also a diverse economy, including a tourism sector that attracts more high-end spenders and an agricultural system that grows a variety of fruits and vegetables eaten locally, rather than primarily exporting bananas.

Execution Agency of Dominica (CREAD).

The island also needs to appear pristine.

While Dominica’s economy has grown from selling agricultural goods and timber, the island itself is the product it sells to the world. In an area only slightly larger than Austin, Texas, Dominica contains 365 rivers, enough to swim in a new one every day for a year, locals like to point out. There are active volcanoes, lush rainforests, stunning coral reefs, and black sand beaches. On travel websites, it’s billed as the Nature Island, a destination for the athletic adventurer or the affluent yogi in search of retreat.

“It’s incumbent on every citizen to know what they need to do for themselves,” she says. “Making decisions about what they’re building, whether they’re getting insurance, those are individual decisions—not things a government can do.”

“The challenges are not just related to infrastructure. Resilience in our view is how vulnerable you are in the first place,” says Pepe Bardouille, CEO of the government’s Climate Resilience

Amid new policies and regulations, Bardouille says there’s a new collective consciousness now preparing for future hurricanes like Maria.

CREAD was established in early 2018 to ensure that every sector building back after Maria was keeping climate resilience in mind. Uniform building codes, varied agricultural products, new geothermal energy plants, improved healthcare facilities, reliable transportation infrastructure on land and at sea—it’s CREAD’s job to figure out how to hurricane-proof everything as much as possible.

“How to keep a society and economy in a small country with a limited tax base

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and a huge number of climactic challenges running on a shoestring. Those are the challenges,” Bardouille says.

Dominica look cleaner, and a pristine Caribbean island is a place where tourists want to visit and spend money.

One component of Dominica’s plan to become climate resilient involves banning plastic. The reasoning for the ban boils down to infrastructure.

Dominica’s waste collection system, run by the government-created, privately run Dominica Waste Management Corporation, collects trash that goes into a single, already-stuffed landfill.

But what if residents could instead individually compost their single-use items in the hot, humid conditions of the Caribbean? Might they lessen, or avoid altogether, the need for recycling machines that may not hold up during the next version of Hurricane Maria? In resorts and national parks, Dominica lives up to its Nature Island title. It’s hard to find litter of any kind. But venture into the island’s cities, drive along its roads, or peek inside a drainage ditch, and plastic trash is everywhere.

“It would be very simplistic to say this is just about building back,” says Bardouille. “I think there’s a serious underestimation of the amount of trauma and post-traumatic stress, and the impact it had on the fabric of our society.

We have to now look at the economic strength of our nation,” she says.

Less visible trash would make

Nature, too, is healing its own scars.

When Hurricane Maria blew through Dominica in 2017, the winds were so intense that leaves were stripped from trees.

It worried Bertrand Jno Baptiste, or Dr. Birdy, the island’s foremost bird expert.

Would the forests still be hospitable to the imperial parrot, called the Sisserou locally, a large, multi-colored bird with bright, lime-green feathers? The country’s national bird is endangered and found only on the island. Baptiste spent hours searching for it, listening for its

loud call and trying to spot its graceful flights.

“I did not think it was going to come back. It was so bad,” he says. But after 13 hours of watching, one appeared, and then more, and now the birds are routinely spotted flying above the rainforest canopy.

The trees at the edge of the rainforest still show the scars of Maria. Bare branches face the ocean, still struggling to regrow what was ripped off in an instant.

“There’s no one who doesn’t think this won’t happen again,” says Baptiste.

Like their famous parrot and rainforests, Dominica is coming back to life, albeit with the scars to remind Dominicans that hurricanes of such magnitude will always be part of their reality. To become truly hurricane proof is to function like the country’s tropical ecosystem, capable of recovering—even thriving—in the wake of disaster.

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THE RIPPLE EFFECT OF

MASTER STONE

A flirtatious, but naive bartender blossomed into a globe-trotting sommelier under the direction of a master CEZAR KUSIK @cezareatsdirt Wine Contributor

I met the man in 1997, at the Rubicon restaurant in San Francisco. Oblivious of its reputation, I fortuitously landed a job as a bartender at the world-renowned, establishment which boasted one of the best and most diverse wine lists in the country at the time.

Owned by a prominent New York restaurateur, Drew Nieporent and his celebrity investors and partners, Robert DeNiro, Francis Ford Coppola, and Robin Williams, the restaurant was the spot to go to and be seen in the Bay Area within its newly booming tech industry.

Back then, I knew that Cabernet Sauvignon was a red grape variety and Riesling a white one. Beyond that, my wine knowledge was laughable. But I was a damn good bartender, so they hired me.

Later, I found out that it was partly because of my wine ignorance that they gave me the job. They needed a solid barkeep, not another Larry Stone groupie to bask in the limelight and suck the knowledge out of one of the page 152

best sommeliers in the world. Little did they know, I knew nothing about Larry Stone and seeing as how researching was an unknown tool for gathering information at the time, I could not care less. They called him Master Stone and spoke about and to him with reverence.

I, on the other hand, was making great money and flirting with all the secretaries from the financial district, telling them embellished immigrant stories and topping their wine glasses with Gevrey Chambertins and Barolos without knowing what the grapes in these wines were.

Then I started attending his Saturday afternoon wine tasting classes, and my life took an unexpected change in direction.

Wine became my profession.

Larry Stone grew up in Seattle, Washington. The only child of European immigrants, his mother, Rachel from Romanian, and his father, Irving, born in Tarnow, a historically Polish city, which back then was occupied by the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Food and wine were always a vital component of his upbringing. His father worked at Pike Place Market in Seattle, supplying the family with fresh produce, and his mom was a fantastic chef.

Larry made his first wine at the age of 14… from apples.

While in college, his appetite for knowledge was incessant: literature, linguistics, music, art history, European and Asian religions, chemistry; he excelled in all of them. He even taught in his senior year.

In his student years, while traveling in Europe, his appreciation for wine and food increased dramatically. It was then when his girlfriend at the time bought him the Alexis Lichine Encyclopedia of Wine, and he practically memorized the entire book.

In 1981, to supplement his meager teaching income at the University of Washington, he applied for a wine waiter position (no one really knew what a sommelier was at the time) at the Red Cabbage restaurant, a local establishment known for its extensive wine list. The owner, very skeptical of this come-from-nowhere, self-promoting wine guy used Lichine’s Encyclopedia to test Larry’s knowledge. Guess what the outcome was? Yes, Stone got the job.

The latter part of the ‘80s seemed to be the period that established and solidified Mr. Stone’s career in wine. In 1986, he won the first prize at the American Sommelier Competition. In 1988, Fred Dame nudged him into taking the master sommelier exams, given only for the second time ever in the U.S. He took and passed all three levels offered

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Back then, I knew that Cabernet Sauvignon was red and Riesling was white. Beyond that, my wine knowledge was laughable. Then I started attending Master Stone's Saturday afternoon wine tasting classes, and my life took an unexpected turn. Wine became my profession. page 153

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The Ripple Effect of a Master

at the time: the intro, advanced, and master portion of the Court of Master Sommelier, all within a week. He was the ninth Master Sommelier in the U.S. Shortly afterward, in the same year, he proceeded to win a prestigious international French wine and spirit competition in Paris, a highly anticipated event dominated by the French for years. The competition was televised, and Stone stunned the audience and the judges with his knowledge and blind tasting skills. Now you know why they call him Master.

After that, in 1989, he moved to Chicago, where after a short stint at Four Seasons, he became the wine director at Charlie Trotter’s restaurant. A job which allowed him to combine on the highest level his passion for food and Master Stone and the author at Boulevard in San Francisco

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wine and where he also formed some of the most important, lifelong friendships in the field. In 1993 he came back to the West Coast to open Rubicon in San Francisco. Its wine list quickly became its biggest attraction. Through his reputation and connections, Stone managed to amass an impressive collection of wines, some directly from legendary wineries like DRC, Jayer, and Gaja. I still have a copy of it, over 60 pages, close to 2,000 different labels of absolute gems from all over the wine-growing world with wines going back to the 19th century. In 2006, he left Rubicon to become the general manager of Rubicon Estate winery in Rutherford, Napa Valley, owned by Francis Ford Coppola. After that, there was the Quintessa winery, and then he turned to hands-on wine making full time. In 2006-2007, the

Willamette Valley project, Evening Land, was created with Larry as a consultant. Larry left the project a few years after, but Oregon’s Willamette Valley remained as his target for future wine making.

Lingua Franca, Mr. Stone’s newest, most ambitious project in terms of scope seems to be the culmination of his wine journey. It is a Willamette Valley winery.

Situated in the Eola-Amity sub-appellation, its neighbors are some of the best historic vineyards of the region, Seven Springs, Lone Star, and Jerusalem Hill.

Stone set his sights on this very coveted piece of land called Janzen farm in 2010.

Planted with Pine, Cherry and Plum trees, the land had been owned by the Janzen family for decades. The owner had refused to sell the property to nu-

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merous wineries in the past. Larry had the patience to negotiate over two years and finally bought this 150-acre, prime, east-facing land in December of 2012.

Initially, the plan was just to grow and sell the fruit. However, with the support and insistence from Dominique Lafon, one of the leading white Burgundy producers, the decision was made to found a winery. Larry partnered up with Lafon and hired a young, talented Frenchman, Thomas Savre, to make his wines. “Willamette Valley is an ideal location to grow Pinot Noir and Chardonnay,”, Mr. Stone said.

“Its average seasonal temperatures combined with long daylight hours during the growing season and total annual rainfall resemble the conditions in Burgundy, where the fruit attains uncontested perfection”. The first vines

were planted in 2013, and the first 2015 vintage was made at a custom crush facility from grapes purchased from one of the best vineyards in the region. That first vintage also made Larry realize that to have full control over the wine making process, he needed to build a winery. The construction started in early 2016. Lingua Franca, “honest language” in Latin, refers to a common language, a universal tongue used by tradesmen in olden days. Wine, just like that language, triumphs over cultural and geographic differences bringing unity. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are the sole grapes of the Lingua Franca label. Several different cuvées are released each year, most made from the estate fruit.

From the offset, Lingua Franca has implemented low-impact, organic and

biodynamic farming practices. No-till farming with a cover crop improves soil structure and increases microbial and mycorrhizal activity. It is through this symbiotic interaction of fauna and flora and the focus on the preservation of the natural habitat of the land that the winery achieves the ultimate health of the vines and purity of flavors in the fruit. The team at Lingua Franca has a creative energy and the guidance and framework established by Larry. Having an exceptional and well-planted vineyard site is the magnet that attracted the talent. But, most importantly, he empowers talented people to have creative control over their own work.

I’ve had the privilege of tasting Lingua Franca wines on numerous occasions with the man himself. His understanding and knowledge of the vineyards, the wine making and the wines themselves are humbling. Yet, he speaks of them with the modesty and reverence of a person who merely lends his helping hand in this magical, nature-inspired process of making wine. The wines are flawlessly balanced with delicate fruit and savory flavors intermingling and persisting long after swallowed.

The winery is in its infancy but has already received the highest accolades and praises from wine publications and critics alike. Wine and Spirits magazine called Lingua Franca one of the top 100 wineries of 2018 and 2019. The wines have been hailed by Robert Parker and Jancis Robison and are featured on some of the best wine lists throughout the world.

One of the biggest legacies of Master Stone is his mentorship. Throughout his career, he has inspired a slew of young people in the hospitality business who went on to become top professionals of the wine trade. He mentored and curated numerous master sommeliers and influential wine personalities. He inspired people who never even met him.

Master Stone and part of his globally selected team at Lingua Franca

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The Ripple Effect of a Master

A Lingua Franca tasting, Master Stone's present project

Crossing paths with an individual can change another person’s life. That was definitely the case with me. Meeting Larry Stone, working with him, and continuing our friendship has been rewarding and inspirational. It has given me opportunities that few in the business are presented. I have tasted some of the rarest wines available, and through his contacts, I have traveled to most

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wine regions in the world, meeting some of the top personalities in the business.

Most importantly though, through the friendship I have been privileged to listen to him talk and share his wisdom.

His universal knowledge and erudition transcendence wine and adds an extra layer, a philosophical dimension to the subject. He’s always been to me, the

highest validation of this somewhat “skeptical” profession. He is a living proof that to fully know and understand wine is to know and understand history, chemistry, geology, geography, among other subjects but, most importantly it is to embrace and promote humanity at its best.

Willamette Valley, Oregon

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C AYDE N C A M PA IG N CA NOP Y BE D

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SPIRITUALITY DEFINING THE DIVINE

2019 PREPARED US FOR

A WAVE OF ASCENSION ENERGY IN 2020

2020 carries some of the most potent cosmic energy we have seen in a long time and this is mainly due to the alignment of Pluto and Saturn, which peaks in January 2020.

The alignment of these two planets is going to set the tone for the entire year and our soul, along with Planet Earth is going to be learning how to harmonize with this ultra-potent energy.

There are so many significant alignments and transits happening in 2020, however in this article, I want to focus more on how 2019 is preparing us for this new wave of energy.

What is coming in 2020 feels like a huge opportunity to ascend into higher levels of consciousness. The vibration of the planet is going to be shifting and rising, and as this energy draws closer, our spiritual growth will be accelerated.

about raising ourselves so high that the darkness has no choice but to fall away.

called to let go, and this process is being accelerated.

The darkness is too heavy to carry into this new wave of being, so we must unpack and let it go, in order to harmonize with the planet and the cosmos. And, the time to begin shedding, assessing, and evaluating is in 2019, for when 2020 rolls around, the time to rise would have already begun.

While it’s always a good idea to release the things that weigh us down and hold us back, this is not just about releasing your old boyfriend or your negative self-talk. This is deeper and perhaps you have been feeling it as 2019 moves further along.

Now is the time to release, now is the time to unpack, now is the time to think about what you can shed and let go of in order to move into the new, and many of the cosmic alignments in 2019 are pointing to this.

If we take the first five months of 2019 so far, we can see a pattern emerging.

From January to May, time has been speeding up as we have experienced a string of potent Full Moons.

This is a huge ascension and awakening process, but like all processes of moving into the light, there must be some darkness as well.

In January, we had a Blood Moon Eclipse, followed by a trio of Super Moons. We also had two Full Moons falling in the same sign back to back, and a Seasonal Blue Moon.

2020 is not necessarily about wading through the darkness in order to “fix” it, instead it is about rising above it. It is

All these unusual Full Moons reveal a deeper theme from the Universe. We are being called to release, we are being

Under this energy, we are slowly being called to shed and peel back the layers of society and of life as we know it.

This is about allowing everything you know to crumble. This is about surrendering to all that you think you are and all that you have been. This is about letting go of not just your past but also your future.

This is about shedding and releasing everything you have ever believed, desired, dreamed, or wanted. This is about total surrender.

Everything is up for questioning.

Everything is up for review. Everything you ever thought or believed in is going to be challenged. Some things will stick, some things will remain the same, but others will have to be shed, released, transformed, and done away with. page 159

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2019 PREPARED US FOR A WAVE OF ASCENSION ENERGY

Who you thought you were is changing, and the world is changing, too.

Whatever is brewing in 2020 is not happening overnight. These changes, these upgrades, these waves of energy have been bubbling in the undercurrent of our lives, and while we may not see the full outcome or direction till 2020, we are being prepped right now.

The most significant months for this preparatory work come in March 2019, September-October 2019, and in December 2019. These are the months to pay close attention and to see where you are being called to change, to release, to awaken, and to step into more of your authentic self.

These are the months where you will be able to get a small taste of what is to come on both a global and personal level.

While we are being called to empty ourselves, so too is Planet Earth. We may see changes in the economy, in government and politics, and the environment.

We may also see changes in how we approach love, motivation, fame, and success as a society.

As Saturn and Pluto are the main players in this energy, we may also see issues arise when it comes to power, structure, and order.

While I don’t believe it’s entirely possipage 160

ble to predict what is exactly going to happen on a political or global level, we can look to the past to help us see what has happened under similar astrological alignments.

2020’s energy is unique, but if we look back through world events, a common thread seems to be an abuse of power, whether this is through wars, recessions, or revolutions.

While an “abuse of power” can manifest in many different ways and can even take on different meanings, this is a classically what we have seen.

While there may be an abuse of power in some capacity or issues relating to an abuse of power, it also means that there is a change of power in the works as well.

When abuse comes into play, it is only a matter of time before something is done to change, correct, or fix the situation, and hopefully, in this case, it can be resolved for the better.

The alignments of 2020 will trickle into 2021, so who knows when we will see the major changes manifest, but the effects of whatever happens is likely to be long-lasting.

While we may see things playing out on the world stage that is of concern, on an energetic level, this is a time where we can really ascend and separate ourselves

from the heaviness of the old ways of thinking.

This is a time where we can lift ourselves up, not to be free of darkness necessarily, but so we can enter into a lighter and more authentic state of being.

A channelled message from my heart to yours: Rise up, rise up. This our time to shine.

Your soul was destined to be on this Earth at this time for these waves of ascension. You knew it was coming and you are ready for this. Keep lifting yourself higher, keep accepting and owning yourself, for that is key.

Lifting higher is not about removing all negativity and never making a mistake, it is about being real. It is about owning the human experience in all its many facets.

Own the good stuff and the bad, know that life is just a game to be had. There really is no beginning or end, life is not all there is, but for the short time that we are here, it is our duty to make the best of it, the most of it, and to honor it for all it can do.

Life in all its definitions brings amazing things to this world and to the next, so get living.

SEASONAL COLLECTION

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Welcome Home

ART DECO MASTERPIECE WITH SPECTACULAR PARK VIEWS 781 FIFTH AVENUE 1104, NEW YORK 10022 $11,750,000 USD This immense and pristine two Bedroom, two Bathroom (plus two Powder Rooms) Art Deco masterpiece recently received a multi-million-dollar, museum-quality renovation throughout.

bathroom is located on the opposite side, giving maximum separation and privacy. A sleek, newly renovated Kitchen with separate entrance and adjacent Laundry Room/Pantry completes this truly spectacular home.

This South/West facing corner unit is the most desirable exposure in the building, featuring high ceilings and sweeping Central Park and Fifth Avenue views from nearly every room.

The Sherry-Netherland is a 38-story Neo-Gothic Cooperative built in 1927 and features a recently restored ceiling mural in the lobby based on Raphael’s frescoes at the Vatican Palace. It is a full-service white-glove Cooperative, with 24-hour Doorman, Concierge and Attended Elevators. Residents may enjoy hotel services, including daily maid service (included in your monthlies), an on-site Fitness Center, Hair Salon, Valet Parking, and Room Service available from Harry Cipriani.

Located in the most premium midtown location, minutes from the best restaurants, shopping, and cultural events New York City has to offer, this is city living at its pinnacle.

The over-sized Living Room is perfectly proportioned, offering ample room for both Living and Dining. The adjacent wood paneled Library can also act as a separate formal Dining Room or a luxurious Home Office.

The expansive Master Suite includes a large windowed Master Bath and gorgeous walk-in Closet, plus a separate Powder Room (easily converted to an additional walk-in closet if desired).

The second Bedroom with en-suite

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Welcome Home

MAGICAL NOHO LOFT THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS 710 BROADWAY, 2ND FLOOR, NEW YORK CITY $4,250,000 USD

Two giants in the design world, Gachot Studios and Paul Fortune, recently collaborated to create this AD-featured top to bottom gut renovation of the most gorgeous full floor Noho loft to come on the market in... well maybe, ever.

Every square inch has been thoughtfully and lovingly considered in this exquisite one bedroom plus guest room (interior bedroom), both en suite. Twelve-foot ceilings and beautifully scaled rooms combine to create an extraordinary volume of space that achieves a sense of luxury and authenticity without a hint of pretension.

The private key-locked elevator opens to a foyer with custom built-in oak coat closet and seamlessly flows into the living room designed for comfortable gatherings with friends and family; here there are soaring ceilings, three massive west-facing sash windows, and grand wall space perfect for displaying even the largest works of art.

Throughout are rift and quarter-sawn oak floors. The kitchen with chef ’s island has custom mill work, flawless Vermont Denby marble countertops and backsplashes, easy-glide drawers, and a suite of stunning high-end appliances from Bosch, Wolf and Sub-Zero—a cook’s dream kitchen. page 170

The adjacent dining room is spacious enough to accommodate large parties.

One-of-kind leather floors lead to the master suite which includes extensive custom closets with in-laid mirrored closet doors accented with gorgeous architectural hardware, a gas fireplace, and four fixture master bath with radiant heated floors, private water closet, Zuma soaking tub, luxurious stall shower and floor-to-ceiling imported marble with Waterworks fittings.

An interior room with en suite bath, also customized to the highest level, functions as a pin drop quiet bedroom. Additional features of this extraordinary ~2,550 square foot loft include multi-zone central heating and cooling, laundry room with floorto-ceiling storage, a powder room with marble flooring, wainscoting and countertops with Waterworks fittings, and a perfect office nook. The list of special features goes on and on.

Storage conveys with the residence.

Located in the heart of Noho down the block from Washington Square Park and scores of trendy stores and delicious restaurants and proximate to all major transportation. Nearby subway lines include the 4/5/6/N/Q/ R/W/L/F/M. Pets are welcome. Please note that various vintage light fixtures are excluded from the sale.

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The first modern diver’s watch The Fifty Fathoms collection embodies Blancpain’s passion for the marine world, introduced for the first time in 1953 with the creation of the first modern diver’s watch. Ever since, we have worked alongside divers, scientists and underwater photographers in their exploration and discovery of the awe-inspiring beauty of the oceans, contributing in this way to the revelations of this fascinating world and the motivation to protect it. page 172

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COACH WINE: FUNCTIONAL TRAINING

FISH OIL IS THE KEY TO FAT LOSS AND MUSCLE GROWTH

The entire balance of your bank account and all the tips on the Internet can't help if you don't follow some basic guidelines.

MARK WINE CSCS, BA, USAW, PT, PES, CES @functionalmuscle Healthy Lifestyles Contributor

In my previous columns, I covered information on various topics; but this piece is different. I am going to cut straight to the point and tell you that Fish oil is the key to fat loss and muscle growth.

By the end of this short column, you will know what kind and how much to supplement.

FISH OIL provides essential fats, which are Omega-3 fatty acids. Much like essential amino acids, essential fats cannot be produced within the body and therefore must be consumed.

The body uses fish oil’s fat to build up a lipid outer layer

of the cell, which protects the cell. Therefore, the body does not turn fish oil into fat.

The protective cell lipid layer, which is made up of whatever fat you eat, is a critical component to fat loss, creating a healthy omega-3 outer layer results in a superior activity of insulin sensitivity.

INSULIN SENSITIVITY is a key factor in fat loss. When the cell receptors are more sensitive to insulin, due to the healthy omega-3 lipid layer, the body is then less likely to store glucose as fat.

Instead, the cells utilize it as energy.

Insulin’s purpose, once in the bound form, is to shuttle carbohydrates to muscles to be stored and used for energy later. By reducing your carbohydrate levels and supplementing with fish oil, one can significantly reduce their body fat levels while increasing their lean mass levels; after all, fish oil is anabolic.

Fish oil decreases cortisol and inflammation, and by doing so, it turns the body anabolic. In fact, the NCAA banned the distribution of fish oil by major institutions because it provides athletes with distinct advantages.

This fact alone should disclose the power of fish oil, but we will continue.

What is cortisol?

CORTISOL is a hormone that is elevated due to stress.

It is linked to fat gain and decreased mood while inhibiting protein synthesis.

Inflammation is similar to cortisol, but it has the added bonus of causing joint pain and immune system degradation. Fish oil counters all of this and allows the body to grow.

Does this one supplement sound TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE? Yes, but it’s not, so try it. page 173

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FISH OIL IS KEY TO FAT LOSS & MUSCLE GROWTH

A common question I receive is, “How many grams per day should I take?”

Most studies have their participants ingest 4 grams total per day, which has proven very successful for fat loss. However, some studies have shown more rapid fat loss with higher dosages, even as high as 1 gram of omega-3 fat per one percent of your body fat percentage per day. A high number, but one that has proven successful for rapid fat loss.

I usually prescribe to my clients anywhere from 4-8 grams of fish oil per day on an individual basis. I also recommend that their diets consist mainly of omega-3 fat from grass-fed organic meat or flaxseed. Our society is an omega-6 dominant society, which is not as healthy as omega-3. Omega-6 comes from plants rather than marine life.

Disclaimer: Be wary of just any old fish oil. You know the saying, “You get what you pay for?” Well, this is a true statement for fish oil. Major brands typically sell you polluted fish oil with limited amounts of EPA and DHA. Choose brands that source their oil from wild cold water fish. This form of fish oil is usually in triglyceride form rather than ethyl ester form, which has higher bio-availability.

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M U S C L E

F I T N E S S page 175

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FIGHT THE URGE

BUILDING RESILIENCE, PART III

they do not, when, in fact, resilience involves behaviors, thoughts and actions that are learned and developed.

JOEY VELEZ, MA, MBA @velezmentalperformance Wellness Contributor

While self-discipline helps fight off temptation and understanding your purpose provides clarity and meaning to your actions, what happens when you face adversity, extreme pressure, or stressful situations?

Staying out of the mud is one thing; getting out of the mud once you are in it is another.

To pick ourselves up from the dismay that adversity causes, we must develop resiliency.

By combining resiliency with self-discipline and purpose, we can complete the puzzle and confront any situation with the utmost confidence.

WHAT IS RESILIENCE? Resilience is the process of adapting to adversity, threats, or significant sources of stress, such as family strife, relationship trouble, poor health, or financial problems. In other words, being resilient means being able to bounce back from difficult experiences. However, there are misconceptions surrounding what it means to be resilient. One of those is that people either have it or page 178

Another misconception is that resilience is an extraordinary quality that only a few of us possess, when, in all actuality, people display it every day. One example of resilience is found in the workforce. Nearly 60,000 employees are laid off each day in the U.S.; however, the unemployment rate is at its lowest since 1969. People are being laid off, but are not letting that deter them from finding new employment opportunities.

Also, being resilient does not mean that a person does not experience difficulties. Often, the road to resilience is likely to involve a considerable amount of emotional distress. Hitting rock bottom and experiencing its associated emotions provide a differing perspective on what being resilient means. By battling back through the toughest of times that any one individual can face, it would make any minor setbacks feel like a walk in the park.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE My mother has always displayed that resilient characteristic throughout my life, but this was never more apparent than during my high school days. My mother left a long-tenured position to follow a colleague who was starting his own company and wanted my mother by his side. Two weeks after leaving her secure and stable position, her colleague passed away, which led to the business folding and leaving my mother without a job. Nevertheless, my mother persisted and was able to gain new

employment within a couple of weeks, only to be laid off one month later. Was my mother deterred? No, as she was able to land another opportunity within the month, but once again, she was laid off just a handful of weeks later. So, in the three months after my mother left her safe and comfortable position, she dealt with an untimely death that left her without work and was laid off from two separate employers.

Where she displayed her resilient nature was in her actions and behavior. Not once in any of this did she complain, nor ask the question, “Why me?” Not once did she let her only son believe that she was a failure. What she did do was continue to push forward to provide for her family. These would be tough moments for any one person to face at any point throughout their life, but to meet them all in one quarter of a year can have a damaging effect on one’s psyche. However, not my mother. Watching her throughout this time helped me understand what it truly means to be resilient. My mother showed me that when adversity strikes, you can choose to let it defeat you, or you can use it as fuel to keep you moving in the right direction.

HOW TO BUILD RESILIENCE Becoming resilient likely involves considerable emotional distress. While experiencing extreme adverse situations that yield a high volume of discomfort and stress is a key contributor in developing resilience, I do not recommend you seek out these situations simply to develop an understanding of this concept. Therefore, whether you have

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MOLD YOUR MIND

experienced extreme cases of tragedy or not, there are five ways you can build resilience: keep things in perspective, choosing your response, accepting inevitable failures, setting goals, and practicing self-care.

While dealing with a painful experience is difficult, it is vital to keep things in perspective. Focusing on the immediate impact can blow the event out of proportion; therefore, it is important to consider the experience in a broader context and view the long-term outlook of the event.

Often when faced with tragedy, we automatically believe that the event is insurmountable. You cannot control when or where adversity will strike, but you can control how you respond as well as your interpretation of the event. For example, instead of focusing on what happened, focus on how it could have been worse. Instead of

focusing on what went wrong, focus on what is needed to be done next to move forward.

Change and adverse situations are a part of life. Accept the fact that not everything will go your way, that you will fail and make mistakes along the way, and that some goals may become unattainable after experiencing difficult times.

Being able to accept these situations allows you to focus on other aspects.

After acceptance, develop realistic goals and create an action plan to move toward those goals. Having goals increases motivation, confidence and provides a sense of direction. This way, you divert your attention away from the unachievable and toward what you can achieve to increase progression.

Finally, you want to incorporate selfcare into your daily routine. Paying attention to your own needs and feelings play a vital part in fighting through

adverse situations. Whether it contains joyful activities, relaxation or exercising, taking care of yourself connects your body and mind so that you will be more equipped to handle situations that require resilience.

FINAL THOUGHTS Resilience is a mindset, a characteristic that can be developed as an effective tool to handle adverse situations.

Difficult times are a part of our lives and there is no way to predict when they will show up but working on skills to increase your ability to handle such situations can present you with a plan to face tragedy and adversity head on.

There is no replacement for experiencing extreme forms of distress and fighting back from those moments, but the more you develop your mindset to handle those situations, the more prepared you will be when they come. page 179

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