Issue seventy One APRIL 2017
Lily-Rose Depp
Luxury • Culture • People • Style • Heritage
CALIBER RM 011 YELLOW FLASH
Contents aPril 2017 : ISSUE 71
Editorial Editorial director
air
John Thatcher Editor
Chris Ujma christopher@hotmediapublishing.com Sub-Editor
Emma Laurence
art art director
Kerri Bennett illustrations
Vanessa Arnaud
CommErCial managing director
Victoria Thatcher Group Commercial director
David Wade
david@hotmediapublishing.com Commercial director
Rawan Chehab
rawan@hotmediapublishing.com
Forty Two
Fifty Six
Level-headed and imagesavvy, model Lily-Rose Depp is rewarding the trust of being made Chanel’s No 1
“When she walks down the street, she leaves musical notes” – honouring peerless Ella Fitzgerald at 100
Forty Eight
Sixty Two
Dylan Jones’ London Sartorial paints the capital as a bastion of rule-breaking in the realm of men’s fashion
There’s something about Maria… and it led to Grazia Chiuri becoming the first woman to helm Dior
Dependable
Forever Ella
Business development manager
Mohamed Galal
mohamed@hotmediapublishing.com
ProduCtion Production manager
Muthu Kumar
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Street To Bespoke
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Contents
AIR
SEPTEMBER APRIL 2017 2015 : ISSUE : ISSUE 71 52
Eighteen
Seventy
Richard Mille lends its name to Les Voiles de Saint Barth, a week of yachting (and fun) in the Caribbean sun
The Quattroporte still has four doors, but it’s countless updates that will tempt you toward Maserati’s talisman
Twenty Eight
Seventy Four
Saatchi Gallery celebrates the art of the selfie – from Van Gogh to Velázquez, and Kahlo to… Kardashian?
Michelin-star cuisine for the curious: LIMA Dubai opens its doors to give the UAE a new slant 0n Peruvian fare
Radar
Art & Design
Thirty Four
Timepieces Forty years on, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak is a watchmaking icon – but it wasn’t an instant classic
Motoring
Gastronomy
Seventy Eight
Travel
The once-Versace Casa is now a fashionable 10-suite hotel; a stylish slice of cool on Miami Beach
Thirty Eight
Jewellery
Presenting Coco Avant Chanel, a delicate collection to honour the pre-fame days of the maison’s founder
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Tel: 00971 4 364 2876 Fax: 00971 4 369 7494 Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission from HOT Media Publishing is strictly prohibited. HOT Media Publishing does not accept liability for omissions or errors in AIR.
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Empire Aviation Group APRIL 2017 : ISSUE 71
Welcome to this issue of AIR – Empire Aviation Group’s aviation lifestyle magazine for aircraft owners and onboard guests. When it comes to acquiring or chartering a jet for longer journeys, the type of aircraft selected is an important decision. Spacious cabins with comfortable seating and sleeping options, separate compartments for privacy and a decent-size galley to cater for all passenger in-flight service. For larger groups travelling, a large luggage capacity is often required. The ultra long-range business jet also has the capability of flying non-stop on intercontinental missions to many of the world’s global cities for business and leisure. Over the last 10 years, Empire Aviation Group has had the privilege of working with many customers from across the region. During this period we have grown our management and charter fleet to over 20 aircraft, with the majority of these in the super midsize category.
Welcome Onboard Issue seventy One
This includes the latest addition to our fleet – the Bombardier Global Express XRS. In fact, this is the third XRS we have taken under management but the first we have offered for charter. In this issue we are delighted to introduce you to our latest XRS aircraft, which has been well received by the charter market since it was introduced. We believe the capabilities of this aircraft will meet the demands of our regional and international clients extremely well.
Steve Hartley
Contact Details: info@empire.aero empireaviation.com 13
Paras Dhamecha
Empire Aviation Group
AIR Magazine
MARCH 2017 : ISSUE70
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Empire Aviation Group APRIL 2017 : ISSUE 71
Meet the Bombardier Global Express XRS: now available for global charter The Empire Aviation Group (EAG) team has inducted a third Bombardier Global Express XRS on to the managed fleet of business jets – the first XRS to be offered by EAG for global charter. The XRS is a large-cabin, ultra longrange business jet which is being managed and operated on behalf of the owner, following the team’s successful induction of the aircraft on to the fleet; this involved managing
the registration and delivery of the aircraft to the owner. EAG’s managed fleet now comprises more than 20 business jets, based in the Middle East, India, Nigeria and Hong Kong. This particular XRS is a preowned 13-seater aircraft powered by twin Rolls Royce engines and has a range of 11,390km, with a top speed of 950km/h. 16
Radar
AIR
APRIL 2017 : ISSUE 71
2017 marks the eighth edition of the Richard Mille-endorsed Les Voiles de Saint Barth, and this year promises a best-ofthe-best battle down in the Caribbean seas. Between 10 and 15 April, over 80 vessels take to the sapphire waters – and the latest edition of the regatta has attracted a blend of established racers and firsttime competitors. This is a performance-yacht event (with a dash of community spirit) that celebrates technical accomplishment, daring expertise and beautiful visuals – qualities shared by the exceptional timepieces of its principal sponsor, no less. lesvoilesdesaintbarth.com
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Critique APRIL 2017 : ISSUE 71
Film Life Dir: Daniel Espinosa The crew of the International Space Station conduct pioneering research on the first extraterrestrial life found on Mars, with unexpected consequences… At Best: “Lean, mean, and terrifying.” The Playlist At WoRst: “A high-end Alien knockoff, so polished and attractively cast that you might sometimes forget it has almost the same plot.” Metro
Colossal AIR
Dir: Nacho Vigalondo An out-of-work woman has to grapple with a phenomenon that means her actions affect the fate of all human existence At Best: “One of those movies with the amount of creativity that some directors never produce in their whole lives.” RogerEgbert.com At WoRst: “Presents its plot like a ridiculous gamble, and keeps pulling it off, somehow managing to justify its existence.” indieWire
Graduation Dir: Cristian Mungiu A doctor surrenders his morals in order to ensure his daughter – who suffers a tragedy on exam day – aces her finals At Best: “An expertly calibrated portrait of… when someone starts down a slippery slope of well-intentioned malfeasance.” AV Club At WoRst: “A schematic rehash of themes that Mungiu and his fellow new-wavers have expounded time and again.” The Film Stage
Hounds Of Love Dir: Ben Young When a woman gets abducted by a serial-killer couple, she must drive a wedge between them to survive At Best: “Benefits from impressive control of visuals to build suspense and from the spiky performances of its fearless cast, flagging Young as a talent to watch.” Hollywood Reporter At WoRst: “There are no twists or turns in Hounds Of Love, only good old-fashioned storytelling.” Bloody Disgusting 20
Critique APRIL 2017 : ISSUE 71
AIR
Books
M
ohsin Hamid’s “striking, lyrical new novel Exit West explores how lives can be upended in the blink of an eye”, says Sophie Gilbert in The Atlantic. “Saeed and Nadia, the two central characters in Hamid’s fourth novel, meet at the beginning of the book, at a night class on ‘corporate identity and product branding’… That the banality of their courtship plays out as their country is lurching toward civil war is deliberate: [this] is a story about how familiar and persistent human existence is… But it’s also a warning against the assumption that the end of the world will leave rich, western countries unscathed.” Writes Sukhdev Sandu in The Guardian, “Exit West, a novel about migration and mutation, full of wormholes and rips in reality, begins as it mostly doesn’t go on… We think we know what will happen next: a boy-girl love story, opposites attracting, secular individuals struggling with the shackles of a theological state… [It’s] animated – confused, some may think – by this constant motion between genre, between psychological and political space, and between a recent past, an intensified present and a near
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future.” Michiko Kakutani critiques for The New York Times, “By mixing the real and the surreal, and using old fairy-tale magic, Hamid has created a fictional universe that captures the global perils percolating beneath today’s headlines… painting an unnervingly dystopian portrait of what might lie down the road.” “Neither Heston’s ‘cold, dead hands’ nor his films get their due in a new biography,” pens Ryan Vlastelica for AV Club, of Charlton Heston: Hollywood’s Last Icon by Marc Eliot. “‘There was so much more to Heston’s life than a single exclamation,’ he writes… Eliot is right that no life can be fairly reduced to a single moment (though surely anyone reading a Heston biography is aware the man was more than just those five words). But [the book] fails to deliver the kind of complex portrait that intro promises. The book’s subject is a hugely important figure, but Eliot mostly avoids the things that make Heston historically notable. And what he does cover, he offers a surface-level look, brushing past contradictions and offering irrelevant tidbits instead of meaningful insights.” Says Kirkus Reviews of the biography,
“The prose is workmanlike… and the book is hagiographic: Eliot criticises the lesser films – Julius Caesar, The Hawaiians, The Call Of The Wild – but not Heston, except to acknowledge that he ‘remained weakest in the romance department in his films’ and that his late-life politics cost him acting jobs. Readers will enjoy the many inside-Hollywood anecdotes [and it’s] an entertaining picture of a complicated cinema icon, albeit through rose-coloured glasses.” Bruce Cannon Gibney has sparked furore with his emotion-stoking A Generation Of Sociopaths: How The Baby Boomers Betrayed America. “[It’s] a cri de coeur against baby boomers, who ‘unravelled the social fabric woven by previous generations in the interests of sheer selfishness’. Having made a fortune in social media (PayPal, Facebook) and leveraging other people’s property (Airbnb, Lyft), venture capitalist Gibney is now ticked at having to shoulder the debt of that vast population – 75 million, at last count – born between 1946 and 1964, ‘a swaddled youth [that] fostered sociopathic entitlement’,” writes Kirkus Reviews. Explains Dana Milbank in her Washington Post column, “The core of Gibney’s argument… is spoton… In addition to making a mess of Social Security and Medicare, Gibney notes, they dragged the national savings rate down to 5% between 1996 and 2016, from 10% between 1950 and 1985. [He] blames the boomers for everything: abortion, divorce, overeating, high inflation, taking deferments during Vietnam… crime, poor educational standards, corporate tax rates, adjunct professors.” The author circled the wagons in Salon, which reported, “Gibney says a hallmark of the boomer is an inability to plan for the future… ‘They really just don’t save, and all these personal behaviours translate into international policy. Climate is another indicator of improvidence and lack of empathy – they don’t really care about the environment, just about themselves.’”
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Critique APRIL 2017 : ISSUE 71
Art
AIR
“T
he first thing you may notice about him as an artist is that he’s an ace storyteller, so good that you realise how rare that is,” pens Holland Cotter of Mastry by Kerry James Marshall, at LA’s Museum of Contemporary Art until 3 July. “Sometimes he spells out narrative scenes, even somewhat fantastical ones, straightforwardly as in the sublime 1997 painting Souvenir I, in which a middle-aged matron arranges her living room as a shrine to 1960s civil-rights martyrs. What’s fantastical is that the woman has glitterencrusted wings, like an angel,” she writes in The New York Times. Lanre Bakare interviewed Marshall for The Guardian, noting, “His subjects aren’t just dark skinned, but pitch black. Noticeably, unavoidably, purposefully black, standing out as a direct challenge to the art-world status quo… these paintings tell a story of workingclass African-American life…” Said the artist to Bakare, “[One of] the most important consequences of getting work of mine into major museums [is] that, yes, a young person has said, ‘When I saw that picture, I realised I could do this.’” The exhibition is “both a homage and a riposte to the canon of western art”, argues Ariella Budick for the Financial Times. “He wants to redeem a pernicious stereotype of black life that permeates American culture, from Hollywood to politics… His beauty salons and barbershops are theatres, where patrons gather for uplift and cultural exchange.” “Hieronymus Bosch is the painter of our greatest fears,” posits The Economist. “For centuries the received wisdom was that the Renaissance started in Italy. Bosch In Venice is an important show of work by one of the finest Dutch painters, and challenges that view. It shows how an artist usually associated with the medieval was using a naturalist style at least 50 years before Vasari [wrote of the trend]… This exhibition suggests that half a millennium ago, in a small town once considered an 24
An installation from Disobedient Bodies. Photo: Lewis Ronald, courtesy The Hepworth Wakefield
artistic backwater, the Renaissance began with Bosch.” The collective shows until 4 June at Venice’s The Grand Ducal Apartments. Says Sarah Hyde for Art Net News, “Perhaps to counter potential temptations of the flesh, this [is] a powerful visual reminder of exactly where sin can get you – or, if you are inclined to sin anyway, a lesson in how to do it really well… All his works are littered with iconography and visual metaphor, from birds to much less familiar creatures, strange new monstrous species, figments of the artist’s imagination, visionary landscapes, curious German architecture, torture with agony on the scale of the Spanish inquisition, plenty of apocalyptic fire, curious submarines, and the mouth of hell itself – images that swirl through our minds and into our subconscious like an uncontrollable waking nightmare.” Of his first exhibition Disobedient Bodies at The Hepworth Wakefield, curator JW Anderson admitted to The Guardian, “It is quite petrifying… because it opens you up to both the art and the fashion worlds, who are equally critical.” Explains his interviewer Abigail Radnor, “The
show aims to create a discussion on the theme of the body, more specifically the ways in which each artwork, each piece of clothing, can reimagine, subvert or ‘disobey’ the body. There are more than 100 works by more than 40 artists and designers, ranging from Hepworth to Issey Miyake, Sarah Lucas to Yves Saint Laurent, to Naum Gabo and, of course, Anderson and Loewe. The pieces are paired and grouped to make the viewer think about how they relate to each other.” Writes Samantha Conti for WWD, “He’s relishing all the connections, disconnections and juxtapositions on display. One of his aims… was to remove the body from the garment and… highlight its tactile and sculptural qualities… Although there’s a big emphasis on… the tactile qualities of the pieces, touching is off limits. To help those who can’t resist [there’s] a whole room [dedicated] to knitwear: sleeves as long as firemen’s hoses dangle from the ceiling and puddle on the floor, as do multicoloured skinny sweaters and scarves, all of which were made with old Anderson inventory.” You’ve got until 18 June to obey the artist’s rules.
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Critique APRIL 2017 : ISSUE 71
Theatre “S
’wonderful, s’marvellous,” enthuses Time Out London of the Gershwin musical An American In Paris, which has arrived in the UK capital. “This lavish, award-winning Broadway production is a chance to see at its glitzy finest toe-tapping dance routines, gorgeous costumes, and swirling romance unfold in the capable hands of acclaimed choreographer and director Christopher Wheeldon.” The cast is led by Transatlantic duo Robert Fairchild (New York City Ballet principal dancer) and British Royal Ballet dancer Leanne Cope. He plays Jerry, an American GI dreaming of becoming an artist in postwar Paris, and she plays Lise, a beautiful young dancer who distracts him from his lofty ambitions. “Just how extraordinary [it is] is unspooled all evening with exuberant, sweeping innovation, dark historical understanding and a big, smart heart,” says Linda Winer, writing for Newsday. “Despite old-fashioned comedy and breathless romance, the show is not just simple fun. In the menacing alldanced introduction, we see a Paris deeply scarred by the Nazi occupation. People reach out in yearning and are violently pummelled with contradictory emotions about the past.” Terry Teachout of The Wall Street Journal was won over: “Once you’ve seen it you’ll find it hard to settle for less again… It’s been years – decades, really – since I last saw production numbers that were infused with this kind of rich, sustained creativity.” The production just opened on the West End, and runs at the Dominion Theatre until October. “With contrived accents and mannered performances, Terry Kinney’s production of Arthur Miller’s The Price lacks genuine dramatic punch. The tension in this family drama does not accrete, with each performer working against each other in tone and approach,” reviews The Stage’s Nicole Serratore of the play, which shows at the American Airlines Theatre in New York until 7 May. Michele Willens pens for Theatre Reviews, “Mark Ruffalo is the focus in this two-and-a-halfhour drama, portraying the son who 26
sacrificed a budding educational opportunity to become a cop. Tony Shaloub is the one who did get that opportunity, and became a successful physician, while Jessica Hecht plays Ruffalo’s wife and Danny DeVito is the elderly appraiser who comes to offer a price [for the family’s possessions, which they are forced to sell in a Depression-era scenario]… As exciting as the quartet of names looks on the marquee, the performers often seem to be playing at different speeds, on different levels. Ruffalo, so dynamic on screen, is rather listless – at times it is difficult to decipher his words. Hecht is burdened with the least defined role, and Shaloub, while always magnetic, has a tough time bringing his character’s shifting sentiments to life. It is DeVito who gives us the most complete, and ultimately sympathetic, character… dreaming of one more sale.” Griff Rhys Jones has ended his London stage hiatus in The Miser, at the Garrick Theatre until 3 June. “The production’s anything-for-a-laugh approach means we miss the point
that this play, like all great comedies, has a tragic undertow… Although sticking to the original structure, the evening becomes a sustained gagfest… We even… get a gag about the possibility of my giving the show a fivestar review. Sorry, no chance,” skewers Michael Billington in The Guardian. “I did laugh at some of the verbal jokes… but I still feel there is more to Molière than an assembly of funny voices and walks.” Says Fiona Mountford in the Evening Standard, “Sean Foley and Phil Porter have taken beaucoup de liberté avec Moliére’s nearly 350-yearold comedy to provide a pumped-up evening that at times feels like an exhausting onslaught of mirth… I feared that everyone, both on stage and off, would require a good lie down come the interval.” Writes a more upbeat Amelia Forsbrook for Exeunt Magazine, “This adaptation really hits the contemporary spot, providing two comedic vehicles – arrogant anachronism and fantastique Franglais – that are as valuable to the production’s sense of humour as gold is to the miser.”
The cast of An American In Paris perform I’ve Got Rhythm. Photo: Matthew Murphy
Art & Design APRIL 2017 : ISSUE 71
Through The looking glass Whatever your view on selfies, there’s no denying they’ve become ingrained in our world narrative. A new exhibition, From Selfie To Self-Expression, goes beyond the surface image to explore the link between modern selfie culture and art history WORDS: Emma LaUrEncE
W
AIR
hat is art? A question posed by Leo Tolstoy in 1897 and one that remains impossible to answer in any finite way. Wherever you stand on the subject, though, most of us would agree that the work of the old masters – Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Velázquez et al – is worthy of the title. Each of these artists had a particular affinity for selfportraiture; Rembrandt painted, drew and etched close to 80 versions of his own image, effectively documenting his life through his chosen media. Fast-forward a few hundred years and add in a bit of modern technology, and this kind of self-reflection is no longer the preserve of a gifted few – anyone with a smartphone is capable of capturing their likeness, frame by frame, and broadcasting it to the world. So does that make Kim Kardashian an artist, the Frida Kahlo of a new age? It’s an ideological (if provocative) leap explored in a new exhibition at London’s Saatchi Gallery, From Selfie To Self-Expression. Explains Nigel Hurst, the gallery’s CEO, “The slideshow of a teenager trying out various poses can by no means be compared to the skill and rigour of Van Gogh’s self-portraits, but the art world cannot ignore the selfie phenomenon. Whether it’s an excited fan meeting a celebrity on the red carpet, or a traveller showing
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the backdrop of their latest adventure, the selfie is how many choose to document their lives.” Celebrity and adventure are both major players in the selfie universe, and form a key pillar of the exhibition – the former through images of everyone from Kardashian, who’s turned the act into a million-dollar business, to Hillary Clinton, who made its empowering potential a cornerstone of her presidential campaign; the latter through so-called extreme selfies epitomised by astronaut Tim Peake’s famous shot taken thousands of miles above Earth. “They all provide arresting images of our time,” says Hurst – as do the parallel stars of the exhibition, who range from the aforementioned masters to more contemporary imagemakers like Cindy Sherman, Tracey Emin and Gavin Turk. As you wander the gallery’s halls – themselves no strangers to controversy – the exhibition explores the evolution of self-portraiture, from paintings like Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait With Bandaged Ear (produced shortly after the world’s most famous act of self-mutilation) and Frida Kahlo’s richly symbolic (and selftherapeutic) Self-Portrait With Thorn Necklace And Hummingbird, right through to Benedict Cumberbatch’s 2014 Oscars photobomb, via the era-defining fisheye portraits of George Harrison and feminist reflections of Juno Calypso.
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Previous page: a selfie – 1920s style From far left: Vincent Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait With Bandaged Ear, from The Samuel courtauld Trust, The courtauld Gallery, London; Frida Kahlo’s Self-Portrait With Thorn Necklace And Hummingbird,courtesy of Banco de méxico Diego rivera Frida Kahlo museums Trust
AIR
From fine art to news reportage, selfies have emphatically become one of the most significant expansionist forms of visual expression Of course, admits Hurst, “Selfies aren’t self-portraiture in the way that a Rembrandt self-portrait is. He seems to be trying to get to the bottom of what makes him a human being, how he shares his common humanity and what’s unique about his character. Most selfies are constructs, more to do with how we want the world to see us than how we really are.” Constructs they may be, but they’re also the most popular form of self-expression of our time – over a million selfies are taken every day, and they’re an important thread in the fabric of our shared global experience. “From fine art to news reportage, they have emphatically become one of the most significant expansionist forms of visual expression,” says Hurst. Such a shift has only been made possible by the new and increasingly powerful documentary tools at our disposal. “In the 16th century it was only artists that had the tools to create self-portraits,” explains Hurst. Now, more than two billion people around the world own smartphones – a number that’s set to triple by the year 2020 – and many of those smartphones are capable of producing (and sharing) studio-quality photographs at the tap of a screen. “They’ve become an 30
integral part of how we document our world,” says Hurst, a concept illuminated by another of the exhibition’s pillars, the Young British Photographers – who the gallery hopes will have the same impact as the Young British Artists before them, led by Damien Hirst and championed by Charles Saatchi. In conjunction with the exhibition’s partner Huawei, makers of the only mobile phone to incorporate dual Leica lens technology, the new P10 (in Hurst’s words, “a photography studio in your pocket”), the gallery commissioned 10 visual artists to capture the world around them using the device. The resultant collection, which forms part of the show, includes works by light-photography pioneer Chris Levine, who produced Queen Elizabeth II’s holographic Diamond Jubilee portrait, Jonny Briggs, whose images explore the constructed reality of the family, and acclaimed London street photographer Matt Stuart. The final pillar of the exhibition is a selection of 10 works shortlisted from 14,000 entrants to the gallery’s #SaatchiSelfie competition, the range, diversity and flair of which exceeded the expectations of everyone involved, says Hurst. No mean feat
Clockwise from top left: George Harrison’s Taj Mahal Self-Portrait; cindy Sherman’s Untitled Film Still #32, courtesy of the artist and metro Pictures new York; Barbara Kinney’s Hillary For America; Daniel rozin’s Mirror No 12
when you consider the calibre of the judging panel: “Tracey Emin is known for her autobiographical and confessional artwork that spans a number of artistic mediums,” he explains, “Juergen Teller is renowned for his intimate and playful take on celebrity and fashion photography, Idris Khan uses photographic processes to explore his own social and religious upbringing, and Juno Calypso’s surreal projection of femininity in her alter ego Joyce highlights some of the absurd constructs associated with womanhood.” The world’s first exhibition exploring the history of the selfie – a form of expression that is oft derided but
nonetheless inescapable – is certainly ambitious in its scope, but it marks an important crossroads in the way we view, document and communicate with our world. “We hope,” says Hurst, “by positioning everyday selfies alongside celebrated artworks to inspire debate about selfies and how we choose to express ourselves. We also hope that visitors will realise the potential of their smartphone as an artistic tool, and encourage them to photograph their daily lives with even more creative vigour and individuality.” From Selfie To Self-Expression, in partnership with Huawei, is at London’s Saatchi Gallery until 30 May; saatchigallery.com/selfie 31
OB JECTS OF DESIRE
OBJECTS OF DESIRE
Master craftsmanship, effortless style and timeless appeal; this month’s must-haves and collectibles
OB JECTS OF DESIRE
C h o pa r d
ThE GaRDEn OF K al ahaRI
The Garden that flourished from the magnificent 342ct Queen of Kalahari diamond is one worth revisiting. On our most recent wander through its blooms, these drop earrings in white gold are breathtaking and also ingenious. The 26ct heart-shaped and 25ct pear-shaped gems
are divine both on their own, and as the sum parts of something far bigger – added as embellishing pendants to a necklace that contains a 50ct brilliant-cut diamond. Two more glittering reasons why the treasures to emerge from the unearthed Queen are already Chopard icons. 1
OB JECTS OF DESIRE
omega
SpEEDmaSTER 38mm
The Swiss masters continue to breathe new life into an enduring classic, and commemorating 60 years of the Speedmaster has revealed some stunning iterations of the ‘first watch on the moon’. While the social-media-savvy #speedytuesday version sold out upon
its online-only launch, the ‘cappuccino’ 38mm is a slower-burning yet equally wise wrist acquisition. The chronograph is graced with a diamond-pavé bezel, 18ct Sedna gold and a taupe-brown leather strap, ensuring an Omega blend of sporty DNA and horological elegance. 2
OB JECTS OF DESIRE
TUmI
h a l l E V O ya G E u R B a C K p a C K
Reliability is sought after in a travel companion, and there’s minimum fuss (with maximum convenience) in the new Voyageur women’s range from TUMI. The well-poised and petite Halle will fit a 12in computer (in a specially padded compartment), and is
joined in the collection by pieces such as the gold-metallic Calais and wellorganised Daniella. Pebbled leather is a versatile travel hit, style wise – add in lightweight design as with the Halle, and you’ve got a must-have addition to the globetrotterista’s TUMI arsenal. 3
OB JECTS OF DESIRE
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OB JECTS OF DESIRE
m erCede s
mERCEDES-amG GT C ROaDSTER EDITIOn 50
It’s love at first sight with this matte graphite beauty… But Mercedes created the covetable motor to honour a more enduring union – the 50th anniversary of its collaboration with fine-tuning performance experts AMG. To celebrate, they unveiled a trio of cars: this GT C, plus
a C43 Coupe and Cabriolet. The Roadster is the choice pick, packing a four-litre twin-turbocharged V8 that creates 550HP and 502lb-ft of torque. There’ll be just 500 in existence, and expect special ‘Edition 50’ badging to further solidify exclusivity. Quite the birthday gift. 5
OB JECTS OF DESIRE
I WC sCh a f f h aUse n
Da VInCI pERpE Tual CalEnDaR ChROnOGR aph
This 2017 release from IWC resonates with watch lovers, and its aesthetic will be equally appreciated by art aficionados, too. The 68-hour power-reserve timepiece is replete with an in-house Ref IW392101, as well as co-axial minute and hour totalisers at the 12 mark, and a midnight-
blue moonphase disc. Meanwhile, 18ct red gold against a crisp white dial was a prudent move, striking the perfect balance between formal and contemporary. It’s a watch that will tempt an admiring wearer to check the time possibly more often than is necessary‌ 6
OB JECTS OF DESIRE
gUer nsey’s
maRCIal DE GOmaR COllEC TIOn
The Empress of Spain is just one of the breathtaking green-emerald finds within a stunning auction catalogue, comprising pieces once belonging to the late Emeralds International founder. Captivating in beauty and steeped in heritage, the mystical collection has too many fiery
keepsakes to delve into; the best solution is to attend the previews at Americas Society on 23 and 24 April. Though you’ll want to gaze upon these glorious gems up close, liveauctioneers.com is an online option for those who can’t slip away to New York for bidding on 25 April. 7
OB JECTS OF DESIRE
Joseph Chea ney & sons
C uS TOmISED By yO u, maDE By ChE anE y
1.2 million. Not a price point, but the number of potential permutations from this tailored ‘1 of 1’ service. The skilled British shoemaker gives private access to its workshop treasure trove, guiding the client through a plethora of fine calfleather swatches, helping them carefully
contemplate minute shoe details such as lining hues, lace holes, and embossing for sock and sole foils. Six weeks later, admire truly personalised bench-made footwear (handwritten name in the lining, no less), while toasting a process that upholds Cheaney’s 130-year heritage. 8
Timepieces April 2017 : ISSUE 71
Blasts From The Past TArIq MALIk
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he little haven of Basel is the heart of the Swiss watch industry, and home to the always anticipated Baselworld – the most important annual event in the world of luxury watches since its first SchweizerMustermesse Basel in 1917. The event is a showcase for the watchmaking elite, and the place where the top brands display their trophy masterpieces, though 2017 saw notable changes. The Timex Group – along with British watchmakers Bremont – withdrew from the 23-30 March showcase, and Ulysse Nardin and Girard-Perregaux moved over to Geneva’s Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) in January, along with many of the smaller independent brands that usually feature in the Carré des Horlogers section of the fair. It made little difference, because Basel is still the premier luxury watch fair, and there was more than enough happening to hold our interest. With so many new watch enthusiasts discovering the joys of vintage-watch collecting, many leading brands have taken to reissuing original designs with modern updates, and it’s a trend that continued this year. Among the best surprises was Breguet, which revealed a new addition to its Tradition collection quite some time before the fair. It’s one of the watches that pay tribute to the brand’s origins, with a movement architecture based on the Souscription watches created by Abraham-Louis Breguet. The original Souscriptions had a single hand, and Breguet made it easy for people to buy them – you could place a down payment and pay the rest on
delivery. Well, perhaps that part of the tradition didn’t make the update… Nevertheless, the Dame ref 7038 is the first ladies’ watch in the Tradition series. The offset dial is made of natural white mother-of-pearl and the bezel is set with 68 brilliant-cut diamonds and a ‘watch jewel’. It’s part jewellery, part haute horlogerie. Another watchmaker reinventing from its own past is Arnold & Son, with its Tourbillon Chronometer No 36 that commemorates the noteworthy pocket-watch design by brand founder John Arnold back in the 18th century. (Arnold was a rival to Abraham-Louis Breguet so it’s fitting that these two pieces were revealed at the same time in Baselworld.) It’s a 46mm showpiece and a beautifully executed piece of microengineering, with the design mirrored top to bottom and, of course, the pièce de resistance – the tourbillon located at the 4h30 position.
Meanwhile, Omega unveiled its new addition to the Speedmaster family hot on the heels of the recent #SpeedyTuesday, made especially as a tribute to its online fans. This new Speedmaster, however, goes back to the watch’s original purpose as a racing chronometer – and leaves the well-known arenas of space travel (and cyberspace) behind for the moment. The Speedmaster Moonwatch Automatic Master Chronometer builds on last year’s success, with the Co-Axial Master Chronometer Calibre 9900 movement. The new look is decidedly different, from the alternating minute track to the matte black dial with orange markings and the sporty orange on the hands. The black leather strap with orange underlay finishes it off as a racing Chronometer – even though the name ‘Moonwatch’ is still there, this one is fit for the racetrack. Blancpain’s contribution to Baselworld took inspiration from its vintage Bathyscaphes of the 1950s, and it has all the hallmarks of a great diving watch, including a unidirectional bezel that rotates counter-clockwise and a luminescent dot that aligns to the minute hand to time your dive. The blue shades are not exactly new on Blancpain designs, but are particularly fitting for this model. The sapphire caseback lets you admire the Calibre 1150 movement, and the 50 Fathoms is water resistant to about 300m. It’s always fascinating to see fresh chapters being written into existing watchmaking heritage stories. Find Tariq’s co-founded vintagewatch boutique Momentum in Dubai’s DIFC; momentum-dubai.com 33
Timepieces APRIL 2017 : ISSUE 71
Standing Tall AIR
With its Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar Ceramic, Audemars Piguet scored one of the most exciting watch unveilings of the year – and its roots stem from the watchmaker’s most successful ever timepiece
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ot every classic was an instant classic. Even watch collectors have a fondness for familiarity (cloaked with words like ‘vintage’ and ‘heritage’). So when the radical Audemars Piguet Royal Oak debuted in 1972, it’s fair to say that many didn’t know what to make of the Gérald Genta-designed, deep-sea-diving helmet-inspired piece of savoir faire – incredulously made in steel, too, not gold or platinum. Now beloved, the Royal Oak has come full circle (or octagon). The distinctive porthole bezel silhouette with its eight exposed front screws may be boxy, but it’s clean, timeless and – with the benefit of hindsight – distinctly conservative, given the
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skeleton-on-steroid offerings seen in the market today. “It was a crazy innovation from the start, yet became an icon,” admits the brand’s CEO François-Henry Bennahmias. The industry and its loyal subjects warmed to the timepiece, and the talisman has served as an enduring starting point for Audemars Piguet innovation. Says Bennahmias, “It has withstood the erosion of time and has everything it takes to continue being an avant-garde of haute horlogerie – provided that we ensure each edition lives within its time.” Royal Oak acorns have been planted in many a commanding Audemars Piguet timepiece. Rare interpretations of this AP talisman include an Offshore
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Royal Oak acorns have been planted in many a commanding Audemars Piguet timepiece, but ceramic marks a substantial milestone in terms of casing
Opening page: Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar Black Ceramic Clockwise from far left: Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph Titanium novelty in slate grey; Royal Oak Offshore Tourbillon Chronograph in titanium; Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph novelty in 18ct pink gold; Royal Oak Offshore Tourbillon novelty with 18ct gold
Tourbillon Chronograph in platinum, a Concept GMT Tourbillon in white ceramic, a glistening Offshore in full pavé diamond, a more laid-back twotone 15400SR, a platinum, openworked Tourbillon Chronograph… and those choice mentions are all just inside the last three years. There are many others; Bennahmias elaborates, “If we talk about the outer shell then the Royal Oak Frosted Gold is another great achievement. It’s the first time the Florentine technique was used all the way through the case and bracelet – the approach consists of hammering the surface of the gold to create indentations, which will give the metal that unique diamond-dust effect.” SIHH 2017 marked a substantial head-turning milestone in terms of casing: the independent watchmaker unveiled a Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar sans metallic case for the first time (it’s the Royal Oak Offshore that is the usual ‘push the envelope’ canvas). In hand-finished black brushed ceramic, the Perpetual Calendar possesses enough matte to melt the heart of any unconverted Royal Oak observer. It has a minimalist look, but don’t allow its understated Cimmerian darkness fool you – the backstory of its creation is complex. The material is durable and resilient: unscratchable, resistant to high temperature and even unruffled by thermal shocks. Explains the CEO, “Black ceramic is extremely hard to machine. It takes five times longer to produce the Royal Oak bracelet in black ceramic than it does in steel. This is exactly what happened when we launched the original Royal Oak in steel in 1972, by the way: steel
was much harder to work with than white gold, the tools weren’t ready, we even had to make the first prototypes in white gold, but we knew steel was a much better material to withstand the more active way of life cherished by the new generations of youngsters… and we were right.” So the newest Perpetual Calendar is another watershed moment? “Black ceramic is a step in that same direction – it is harder, but much lighter, and easier to wear, almost like a second skin.” The 41mm is replete with a Grande Tapisserie dial, pretty, photorealistic moonphase, 5134 calibre and – given its sheer complexity to construct – will be a rarity. “Many people were waiting for this watch and it ended up matching their expectations. There was only one inspiration: to push technical boundaries. It is the first time that we’ve managed to apply the signature brushed and satin finishing of the Royal Oak to the entire ceramic case and bracelet, which is no mean feat,” Bennahmias expounds. “And it makes this model extremely hard to copy, by the way.” The Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar Ceramic is a fine example of Audemars Piguet propelling its creative vision forward, yet blending expertise with traditional visual cues. “Our designers are always thinking about the watch of the future. They have one foot rooted in our origins as they must master the codes that comprise AP’s creative DNA – always considering the watch of the 21st century and, of equal importance, how it’s going to be worn.” A classic – assuredly so, this time, without the need to wait. 37
Jewellery APRIL 2017 : ISSUE 71
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Once Upon A Time… Each finely crafted high-jewellery offering from Chanel tells a story, and the Coco Avant Chanel collection is no exception – illustrating the quest for freedom, the desire for sobriety and the search for lightness WORDS: CHRIS UJMA
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etelling the story of historic influencers like Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel often becomes arrowfocused on their eventual destiny and all-conquering success. How an individual such as the mademoiselle carried themselves (and eventually, carried others) with the eyes of the world upon them is fascinating, of course. But within the narrative there are oft-neglected chapters worth lingering on, too; anecdotes and undercurrents that are essential 38
components of the enduring legend. Well, a new collection from the maison seeks to address that. Coco shook the Parisian couture scene as a budding designer in 1918 with her reshaping of feminine dresscode expectations. Her first brush with high jewellery, though, was in 1932 when she unveiled Bijoux de Diamants within her private salons. It centred on a theme of diamonds and platinum, and there’s an echo of this in the spirit of the present-day Coco Avant Chanel
collection – a stunning 43-piece suite of desirables – what with its light pink, grey and white colour palette. This carefully crafted high-jewellery collection celebrates fascinating nuances from the well-connected founder’s pre-popularity tale. The collection represents an anthology of names, with pieces inspired by Coco Chanel’s friends, family and close relations who wore her creations in the fledgling 1900s. Mademoiselle Coco’s little sister
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Coco’s confidantes are respected in this collection, whose gems are all named after ladies of her highly regarded close society Previous page and opposite: Work on pieces from the Coco Avant Chanel collection at the Chanel workshop at 18 Place Vendôme This page: Stages of production in the workshop – an insight into Chanel’s intricate high-jewellery creation process
Antoinette, for example, is among those whose names adorn collection pieces. Another is Jeanne Dirys, a silentmovie star who chose to wear fine millinery from the house of Chanel on many an occasion. Her allegiance to Mademoiselle Coco is revered, with her name lent to exquisite pieces such as a two 18ct white-gold colliers (with marquise-cut diamonds and fancycut pink sapphires being respective embellishments), an 18ct white-gold watch, a head jewel with 512 brilliantcut diamonds, two stunning diamondladen rings and an eye-catching brooch with pretty pink sapphires. Still another is Maud Mazuel, a “true advisor, companion and chaperone” of Coco’s, who is recognised here in an 18ct white-gold ring set with a round-cut diamond, complemented by another ring adorned with 36 dazzling baguette-cut diamonds. A bracelet and necklace, both minimalist in
colour but conversation pieces in any setting, complete the glittering homage to Ms Mazuel. Part of Chanel’s reknown was the connections she made that vaulted her into fashion consciousness. But she had her friendship treasures throughout: La Perle De Rigadin actress Lucienne Roger, whose appearance in a Chanel hat marked the maison’s debut magazine cover; comedian and singer Marthe Davelli; and famous courtesan and one-time dancer at the Paris Olympia, Émilienne d’Alençon. Her confidantes are respected in Coco Avant Chanel, whose gems are all named after ladies of her highly regarded close society. They’re no better honoured than in this suite of high jewellery that – like the profound friendship they each shared with Mademoiselle Coco – will endure and ensure nuanced details of Chanel lore continue to be told. 41
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With Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis as parents, she was always set for something special. Now Lily-Rose Depp is a millennial pin-up and the new face of Chanel. So does she borrow her dad’s Jack Sparrow eyeliner? No, but she shares his hairbands… WoRDs: RichaRd GRay and Louisa McGiLLicuddy
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ashion loves celebrity offspring. Jaggers, Le Bons, Baldwins, Hadids and Jenners – they’re all over catwalks and billboards, popping down the generation line like Russian nesting dolls, each one tinier and more beautiful than the last. And with most of these mini-mes now speaking to a social-media following that overshadows their parents’ legacy, it pays brands to lend their patronage. The most recent to join the fold is LilyRose Depp, the 17-year-old daughter of Johnny Depp and the French singer Vanessa Paradis, and now the face of Chanel’s fragrance, No 5 L’Eau. It’s a canny move by the house, which wants to woo the millennial market with a fresh take on the classic scent – L’Eau is its lightest incarnation yet. In industry terms, landing the No 5 campaign is the biggie, and it separates Lily-Rose from the rest of the current ‘daughter of’ herd. She follows in the footsteps of Catherine Deneuve, Nicole Kidman, Gisele, even Brad Pitt. And then there’s her mother: Paradis has been a friend of the brand ever since she fronted a campaign for its younger fragrance, Coco, as a teenager back in the 1990s. Now Lily-Rose has picked up the baton. At the Chanel Metiers d’Arts presentation in Paris she opened the show, slinking through the revamped Ritz hotel, leading a pack of the nextnext-generation stars, including Keith Richards’ granddaughter Ella and Bob Dylan’s grandson Levi. So why has the venerable house found a muse in this 17-year-old? It’s partly because she was born to one of Hollywood’s most bohemian couples (Depp and Paradis split in 2012 after 14 years together, but remain on good terms); and it certainly helps that she’s a doppelgänger for her mother. They have the same tiny, birdlike frame, the sleepy eyes, the slight snarl to the smile – though the trademark gap tooth has skipped a generation. We meet at yet another Chanel show, but this time Lily-Rose is sitting on the front row, sandwiched between Patrick Demarchelier and the singer Usher. Afterwards, when we sit down to chat backstage, she is unfazed by comparisons to her mother. “I love my mum’s style. Everyone looks up to their mum and wants to dress like her,
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I love Jane Birkin and Brigitte Bardot. But I don’t try to dress like anybody… Wear what you’re comfortable in especially when they’re growing up,” she says, in-between sips of fizzy water. She goes on to cite her mum as one of her fashion icons: “I stole all her make-up, her shoes, her high heels, when I was a baby. I was the worst!” Born in Paris (she now spends most of her time in LA), Lily-Rose is chatty and laid-back – no Gallic froideur here, nor any hint of a French accent — although once in a while she struggles for a word and reverts to French. She’s dressed head to toe in Chanel, of course, in a Tetris-print tunic and white shorts, with lined red lips. Most impressive are her thick, untamed brows, in the vein of that other mega-millennial, Cara Delevingne. “I never tweeze them, ever, because it hurts! I have a low pain threshold. Even in the middle, I don’t touch them, unless it’s getting out of control. They pretty much stay
as they are.” Really? A teenage girl not worrying about a monobrow? Indeed: “I just fill my brows in with a pencil and brush through them with brow gel,” she shrugs. “I love a kind of boy brow.” What about your dad’s eyeliner? There must be legions of kohl stockpiled from the Jack Sparrow days – have you ever borrowed his? “I actually haven’t, no.” Does he borrow yours? “No,” she laughs. “He hasn’t asked. We’ll borrow each other’s hair ties, but that’s it. No, I stick to my mum’s make-up – it’s what I trust.” It was with her mother that she made her first proper public appearance, in March 2015, when they arrived arm in arm at a Chanel event in New York. Until then we knew relatively little about the demi-Depp: the only mention had been in 2007, when, aged seven, she was admitted to Great Ormond 45
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Street Hospital in London following a life-threatening E coli infection. Her parents spent three weeks camping out on the ward; her father was filming Sweeney Todd at the time and referred to it, looking back, as “the darkest period in my life”. Yet four months after that New York show, she was fronting Chanel’s eyewear campaign, and in February last year had her first magazine cover, for the SS16 issue of Love. When it comes to her own style, she says, “I love Jane Birkin, I love Brigitte Bardot…” She pauses. “But I don’t try to dress like anybody. I think the best thing to do is wear what you’re comfortable in. When I’m at home, I’ll wear a T-shirt or a tank top and jeans and sneakers every single day. But I also love statement stuff and the more out-there pieces that you don’t see all the time. I love a lot of jewellery, especially rings, as you can tell” – every knuckle is gem-encrusted – “and hoop earrings. I wear hoops every day.” It’s not unironic that the tagline for No 5 L’Eau is: ‘You know me and you don’t.’ Unlike her peers, Lily-Rose seems to keep a mantle of relative
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privacy. She doesn’t do Twitter, Snapchat or Facebook, although there is, of course, an Instagram feed with 2.3 million followers, but it’s closely curated, not full of selfies and overshares. We know her favourite movie is The Wizard Of Oz, that she’s friends with the Victoria’s Secret model Stella Maxwell, and has known Karl Lagerfeld since she was eight. She supported Bernie Sanders in the US presidential election (or at least the teen equivalent of political activism – reposting screenshots of his speech). Apart from the West Coast-to-Left Bank lifestyle, Lily-Rose is pretty much your average 17-year-old: every sentence peppered with “like”, Beyoncé songs soundtracking her nights out (“Her older stuff especially, like Baby Boy”). There was a bit of a hoo-ha when she supposedly came out as sexually fluid on Instagram in August 2015, but she clarified her comments later – she’s just not into labels. She has been linked to the 25-year-old British model Ash Stymest for the past year, though the topic is off limits. (What teenage girl would want to talk about her love life with a stranger?) Possibly best of all, for her 16th birthday she threw an alternative French Revolution-themed “Sour Sixteen” party, complete with guillotine, swords and a dungeon. The birthday girl wore a pout and a garland of onions around her neck. And she is nothing if not on-brand. “I’m never not wearing No 5,” she says, in her LA drawl. “I put it on as soon as I get out of the shower.” The house perfumer, Olivier Polge, has taken apart the 80-plus ingredients of the original formulation to emphasise its greener top notes – lemon, mandarin, orange – and tone down the powdery vanilla base. It’s meant for generous spritzing: “I spray it in my hair because I heard it sticks better, and I spray it on my neck, on my wrists and on my clothes a little bit, too.” As is tradition, there was an epic video to accompany the launch (remember Baz Luhrmann’s No 5 film with Nicole Kidman?). This one was made by Johan Renck, the Swedish director behind Bowie’s 10-minute Blackstar video. “Johan was so much fun to work with,” she says. “He was super-nice and welcoming. We talked about what to do to a certain degree,
Al images: From the chanel no 5 L’Eau photoshoot – with ss17 collection pieces – in Los angeles
I’m selective, I only want to do things I really, really care about but he was very, like, ‘If you want to try that, let’s try it, and if it doesn’t work, then it doesn’t matter, we’ll just try other things.’” She’s serious about her acting career, however, dropping out of high school last year to focus on it. She made her debut in Yoga Hosers, a quirky little film by the Clerks director Kevin Smith, who is an old friend of her dad’s. She’s been friends with Smith’s daughter, her co-star Harley Quinn Smith, since they were five. In fact, Depp, Paradis and even her younger brother, Jack, all had cameos in the project, which premiered at the Sundance
Film Festival. Next on the horizon is a meatier role, as the younger sister of Natalie Portman in Planetarium, a tale of psychic siblings set in the 1930s. Then there’s The Dancer, with the French singer-songwriter Soko. It screened at Cannes last May — there are YouTube clips of Lily-Rose doing her publicity in perfect French on the Croisette like a pro. “I’m selective, I only want to do things I really, really care about,” she says emphatically. “I’d rather just do a few things that I’m excited about than do a bunch of stuff all the time.” You get the feeling people will be happy to wait. 47
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city SlickerS The UK capital is a bastion of gentlemanly style, but as Dylan Jones explains in London Sartorial, there’s no time like the present to spot exceptional menswear on these fabled Big Smoke streets WoRDs: Chris Ujma
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itle aside, Robert Montgomery’s Poem For The City Of Istanbul could just as well have been penned about London: “Everything in the city is perfect / the voices in the streets are sacred music / and the streets belong to no-one.” Well, the thoroughfares of England’s capital may also belong to no-one (apologies, Your Majesty), but every day they are ‘owned’ by the stylish. “London is the home of menswear.” That’s the bold statement that introduces Dylan Jones’ menswear showcase London Sartorial: Men’s Style From Street To Bespoke by Rizzoli – an image-heavy inspiration guide, which captures every permutation of menswear in the hometown of both Savile Row suits and the rock’n’roll of the King’s Road. Its author – influential British journalist, OBE and longtime editorin-chief of GQ – believes there’s no better indication of the bespoke/ street style fusion than “the rise of the hipster. Go down to Shoreditch in the East End, where you’ll see the most beautiful suits worn by guys with ginger beards and masses of tattoos – that’s where traditional meets cutting edge. Moreover, what we find with London events such as the men’s fashion week is that what is happening outside is just as important as what’s transpiring on the catwalk – people are getting dressed up with the intention of being photographed”. Photographed these men have been, out in their natural habitat – and this coffee-table tome is an excellent visual collection of sartorial envy, bravery, creativity and audacity. It’s a condensed zeitgeist of menswear in the capital: who, where and – most crucially – wear. From the parks to the financial district and Bond Street to the bus stop on the corner, London is teeming with clothed examples of style savvy.
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“Menswear is something we are extraordinarily good at. It is an intrinsic part of British heritage and history. Just look at the three-piece suit… it is the most intimidating form of formal daywear. And it was invented in Britain,” Jones purrs. That waistcoat-endowed composition is a statement indeed, but the point being made here is that London menswear comprises multi-faceted chatter – looking good is manyfold, unconfined and unlimited to being buttoned down and breasted. This book sings that concept while swinging from the streetlamps, with an array of ensembles captured across the Brit-proud 240 pages. He outlines, “The city is also full of haute streetwear, or what some have called ‘luxury ladwear’. This new look eschews tailoring and eccentricity and plays to the gallery on the street.” This ocean of tielessness is charted in various chapters: the eclectic prints and baggy/skinny extremes of ‘Brit Pop’, humbug stripes and Jaggerlike suave in ‘Like A Rolling Stone’, subjects with as much careful attention to outfits as to their mobile-phone screens in ‘London Calling’, and the effortless-cool rebel daredevils of ‘The Kids Are Alright’. The Windsor-knotted wonders have their place, though, with a smattering of suave in the form of razor-sharp-suited ‘Taking Care Of Business’, black and white bespoke boisterousness in ‘West End Boys’ and smart but moody ‘Pinstripe Punks’. Readers can browse not only the style-savvy pavement treaders and pinstriped wolves of Canary Wharf, but also those who operate in the public eye – and are equally influential. Jones heralds the modern-day torchbearers and London lookbook cavaliers such as Lewis Hamilton, David Beckham, Hu Bing, James Bay, Aman Singh and Jason Atherton. It’s a tough group to assemble, though, as opposed to
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Menswear is something we are extraordinarily good at. It is an intrinsic part of British heritage and history the strong female style heroines who women seek to emulate. “For men it is slightly trickier, because we like to think we know how to dress without being overly influenced by anyone else. Consequently, calling someone a ‘style icon’ is tempting fate,” Jones cautions. A time to employ this delicate approach was when those in charge of reinventing London Collections Men (which has now slowly been rebranded as London Fashion Week Men’s) were deciding who to appoint as ambassadors. Jones reveals, “We actively sought out popular figures who represent a wide variety of disciplines, as well as a wide variety of demographics… all men who resonate with the Great British male.” Menswear can be a slippery concept to pin down, but the emergence of that very men’s fashion week is a key component to understanding the current scene. “For what seemed like years, the menswear element of London Fashion 52
Week was always tacked onto the end of the women’s shows, almost as an afterthought,” Jones writes; he was involved in its 2011 revamp, and in the book he outlines the moment that ensured the week’s ascension to among the seasonal-showcase elite. “We moved it so that our men’s fashion week now precedes those of Florence, Milan, Paris and New York. The British Fashion Council asked me to chair the initiative, and so along with the BFC’s CEO Caroline Rush, I spent six months not just espousing the idea, but trying to encourage those British designers who had previously decided to move abroad – Burberry, Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, et al – to move back and show in London.” It was a sell based on emotion and future-banked nostalgia. “We knew that in order to encourage all the press and buyers to put another three days in their diaries and come to London, we had to make the experience fun.
opening page: ‘Pinstripe punks’, photographed by Thomas Cooksey Previous page: martell Campbell, London, 2014, © jonathan Daniel Pryce Above, from left: styled by savile row’s richard james © richard james; GQ Style aW14, photograph © rebecca Thomas, styling by Victoria higgs opposite: London’s Calling, 2016 © jonathan Daniel Pryce. all photographs featured in London Sartorial by rizzoli
Right now is London’s golden age, and it is an era graced with more willing consumers
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We wanted them to wake up in Milan (the fashion week that immediately follows ours) with the mother of collective hangovers. We wanted them all to tell anyone who would listen: ‘You know what? I went to London and I had a seriously great time.’ Our pitch to designers was simple: come and show your clothes in the coolest capital in the world, come and show your wares in the city with the best restaurants, the best museums, the best art galleries, public spaces, parks, hotels and cocktail bars.” The latter is a salient point. For all of the charming and glorious history of London style – which, make no mistake, Jones pays homage to, as well as the pioneers who shaped it – he nevertheless believes the present day is the true era of glory. “Right now is London’s golden age, and it is an era graced with more willing consumers; people expect decent fashion to be like food, and assume you can just leave your apartment and find everything from fine dining to a decent dirty burger on the very next corner. Another aspect is that great designers understand this is a business, rather than in the 1980s when there were some fantastic designers who were not at all savvy, and didn’t have a business plan. Now designers are more aware that they have to have a direction as opposed to putting the clothes on the backs of minor celebrities. London is the centre point because previously, designers would be plucked from fashion or art school and snapped up by French or Italian designers. That’s just not happening any more.” For a definitive ‘who’s who’ of wardrobe, the author also details designer profiles of 48 gentlemen’s outfit influencers. It’s in alphabetical order, but among the names you’ll find concise bios of the likes of “the godfather of men’s fashion” Sir Paul Smith, creative director at Alexander McQueen Sarah Burton (who “carefully tweaked the house’s aesthetic, while always being mindful of [his] legacy”), Christopher Kane (whose eponymous label initially caught attention by “spearheading a revival of British high fashion”), Tom Ford (who “has always been something of an Anglophile, which he displayed with panache when he took over from Brioni as James Bond’s tailor of choice”), and men’s 54
matriarch Vivienne Westwood (“It is impossible to overstate just how important Westwood is in the narrative of modern British menswear”). There is literary oxygen given to the creative minds at the big brands here, too. Messrs Dolce and Gabbana collectively weigh in, “We love London, because London means a good time. London is a party.” There’s a glance behind the eyes of British minds at Burberry (CEO Christopher Bailey, “the man who brought a modern twist to one of the oldest fashion houses in the world while maintaining its heritage… catapulting the brand into the digital age”), Coach (Stuart Vevers,
Above: GQ 2016. Photograph © Daniel riera, styling by Luke Day opposite, from top: model dressed in a margaret howell creation, © margaret howell © joshua Lawrence © jill Kennington; models dressed in Christopher shannon creations © Nicholas Kay © Christopher shannon. all photographs featured in London Sartorial by rizzoli
We are in the middle of a disruptive period… it’s endless and it can’t last, but this is a truly amazing period
the “custodian of the women’s line, he was also charged with reinventing their menswear, and he did so by launching it in London”) and Dunhill, “the perfect brand for anyone who wants to relive the golden age of advertising, whether you consider that to be the Sixties, the Eighties, or, indeed, now”. And what would London be without its ties to bespoke tailoring? The now more accessible Savile Row has “always appealed to the establishment, but in the last two decades it has opened itself up so much that it now attracts customers from all four corners”, says Jones. Gieves and Hawkes, Hackett and Hardy Amies are among the Row royalty hat-tipped here. In all, it’s an electric, eclectic mix of names (and no-named ‘everymen’) shaping both formality and flair – so very typical of the times. “We are in the middle of a disruptive period where fashion events are taking place all over the world. There’s so many offshoots: menswear in women’s shows, womenswear in men’s shows, you have Burberry going straight to the consumer, as well as the obvious shows in LA but also Hawaii and South America. There are also pre-collections… it’s endless and it can’t last, but this is a truly amazing period of disruption,” Jones muses. The prolific style author has his finger on the menswear pulse, and charts the bloodline to date; Jones hopes he has compiled “the first book that comprehensively captures the relationship between London’s anarchic and the traditional”. It’s a tome for the talisman – a style bible on the one hand and a testosterone-fuelled affirmation on the other. “Whether you are shopping in Bond Street or Shoreditch, whether you are taking your credit card down Lamb’s Conduit Street or Mount Street, or flitting between Regent Street and the King’s Road, in London there is something for every man,” Jones enthuses. One thing is for certain: for the gentleman aspiring to make his sartorial mark, modern-day London is the place to be – and the place to be seen. London Sartorial: Men’s Style From Street To Bespoke by Dylan Jones, published by Rizzoli, is out on 4 April; rizzoliusa.com 55
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Bursting onto the hit parade as a 21-year-old, a club scandal involving Marilyn Monroe and a longtime journalist’s interview unicorn – just three aspects from the life of Ella Fitzgerald, the shy, peerless First Lady of Jazz WORDS: Chris Ujma
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t the presenting podium of the 1976 Grammy Awards, a tuxedoed Mel ‘Velvet Frog’ Tormé asks a knowingly smiling Ella Fitzgerald, “How do you explain to people what jazz is? How do you talk about it?” “Well,” she considers, “I have a way, maybe we could try?” She pauses. “Shap ba biddidy-no wonaleenoh a-dee-woah no-waleedoh a-bad-abowbay,” she scats, with ease. “Shoobadoop-doob-a-dan...” Tormé begins to whoop back, amid applause, as the big band rouses and the pair launch into a three-minute-long improvised scat guaranteed to warm the soul. I challenge you to find the short YouTube clip and not smile – and try to quell a suddenly possessed tapping foot. The ‘What’s Jazz?’ clip is a lightning bolt of essential Ella: pearls, grace and poise, joyfully forgotten in a heartbeat for her true love of singing. Earrings jangling back and forth as she performs off-the-cuff vocal gymnastics (while somehow still widely beaming), her syllables flow randomly yet fall into a natural, seemingly predestined cadence. 25 April marks 100 years since the Yonkers-raised Queen of Jazz was born, and from her 60-year body of work there’s ample reason that the ‘Ella at 100’ centennial celebrations will span an entire 12 months. Fitzgerald was the first woman to win the Lifetime Achievement Grammy award, she scored 13 Grammys and racked up triple figures in album recordings but, honestly, it’s not about the awards. Praise streams from all of her respected peers – golden greats who consider Fitzgerald the standardbearer. “Ella knows her way around her voice as very few people today. But there are times when she seems to be unaware there are things the human voice just doesn’t do. She does them,” asserted jazz writer and executive Dom Cerulli; “Man, woman or child, Ella is the greatest of them all,” uttered Bing Crosby; in Johnny Mathis’ opinion, “She was the best there ever was. Among all of us who sing, she was the best.” Or perhaps you’d rather hear the words of a regular Joe? “Ella Fitzgerald could sing the Van Nuys [California] telephone directory with a broken jaw and make it sound good,” remarked a spellbound spectator exiting a 1956 Hollywood Bowl performance of hers. 58
I saw Charles Bronson on a plane and gave the stewardess a fan note to deliver to him – I was astounded when he walked up in person to thank me for it. It just never occurs to me that some people might want to read about me Let’s settle a distractive rumour early on. A story abounds that Marilyn Monroe changed Ella Fitzgerald’s life – substantiated by a quote from Fitzgerald herself. “I owe Marilyn Monroe a real debt,” she said. “She personally called the owner of the Mocambo and told him she wanted me booked immediately, and if he would do it, she would take a front table every night. She told him – and it was true, due to Marilyn’s superstar status – that the press would go wild. The owner said yes, and Marilyn was there, front table, every night. The press went overboard. After that, I never had to play a small jazz club again.” The media interpreted that Fitzgerald was
Opening page: Ella Fitzgerald on stage in Berlin, 1960 Clockwise from left: a Us performance in 1940; performing with Dizzy Gillespie, ray Brown, milt jackson and Timmie rosenkrantz at Downbeat; with Frank sinatra in 1958 Next pages, from left: in full swing, 1970; with Duke Ellington and his orchestra for a performance on NBC
maligned because of her race, and cast Monroe as her front-row-seat saviour. Not quite, in this instance. While Monroe did advocate for Ella, the Mocambo did not refuse her on race grounds. Such behaviour was happening in America, but not at this club – proof being that they had readily booked talents such as Eartha Kitt, Joyce Bryant and Dorothy Dandridge as performers years before Fitzgerald. Writer April VeVea investigated, and found it was likely that she was refused for her incompatible singing style, and Monroe managed to coax the owner into changing his mind. As for Fitzgerald’s quote about Monroe’s attendance, well… she was not there. On opening night, the likes of Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland were snapped at the event, but no Marilyn. A photo of Fitzgerald and Monroe exists, and is oft miscredited as being at the Mocambo, but was actually at the Hollywood Club. Back to reality. A 21-year-old Fitzgerald recorded A-Tisket, A-Tasket in 1938, and the ditty rocketed to number one on the Hit Parade, remaining there for 10 weeks. Over the decades she developed an astoundingly velvety vocal range, though, which spanned three octaves. It’s her smooth, swooping ballads that best showcase it, and perhaps the energy for her love songs emanates from the personal experiences that had both blessed and befallen everyday Ella. “My voice is the part of me that [the public] know. Someday I’d like to write a book so people can see the other side of me. Because I have been married, and like all women I have been in love – and out, and in… and made a few mistakes – and I think through our songs, most singers try to tell that story,” she told Brian Linehan on an episode of his long-running talk show City Lights. There’s actually a dearth of books written about Fitzgerald. Of her live performances? Plenty. About her vocal technicality? Yes – even scientific papers. But a scandal-laden tell-all? No (not yet, at least), and it can be attributed to lack of content. Fitzgerald is of an ilk whose personal life was hidden from view, with her talent – not her daily movements – being the qualifier of her spotlight time. Fiercely private, she could sing eternally on stage, yet was far from prolific in front of the interview mic. Her close friend 59
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and publicist Virginia Wicks said of the singer’s shyness, “She knew there were many intelligent people coming to interview her [and] she didn’t think she had the vocabulary or knowledge to deal with them… She didn’t do a lot of talking. Ella kept a lot inside her head.” “She leads no public life at all, not from any burning desire for privacy, but from a sense of modesty”: an assessment by The Times Herald of Port Huron Michigan in 1972. “I break my neck reading about famous people,” she confessed to them. “I spilled a salad down my front at the Universal commissary when Cary Grant was introduced to me. I saw Charles Bronson on a plane and gave the stewardess a fan note to deliver to him – I was astounded when he walked up in person to thank me for it. It just never occurs to me that some people might want to read about me.” The proper thing to do is speak of the most significant LPs under an artist’s belt, but best of luck attempting that with Fitzgerald, such is her prolific album output. From her first pressing right through to her final studio hurrah on the Quincy Jonesproduced record Back On The Block in 1989, she spread her voice across approximately 80 albums. Flying Home is pointed to as her seminal record in terms of popularising scat, bop beat and jazz. Stuart Nicholson penned in the book Ella Fitzgerald: A Biography Of The First Lady Of Jazz, “For Ella, whose remarkable ear intuitively reacted to the subtle chord voicings, bop represented a challenge that linked her vocal technique to her powerful, propulsive rhythmic gift… Such a stylistic Rubicon was too wide for the swing musicians to cross; [and some] almost succeeded in adapting to bop, but only one – Ella Fitzgerald – successfully made the transition. In a music dominated by males, this was no mean achievement.” “She made ‘scat singing’ a household term… [and was] one of the few singers who had both sufficient technical knowledge of harmony to make sense of bebop chord changes and sufficient vocal dexterity to incorporate its odd intervals into melodic statements,” wrote Eric Porter in What Is This Thing Called Jazz? “Her legions of loyal fans and critics were impressed by the instrumental 60
Her remarkable ear intuitively reacted to the subtle chord voicings, and bop represented a challenge that linked her vocal technique to her powerful, propulsive rhythmic gift qualities of her voice, even when they worried that she was leaving jazz when she began her series of ‘songbook’ recordings for Verve in 1956.” Signing with Verve was a turning point in a sense – the label was formed by iconoclastic jazz passionado Norman Granz, who became her manager. “I was interested in how I could enhance Ella’s position, to make her a singer with more than just a cult following among jazz fans,” he told biographer Tad Hershorn. “When I recorded Ella I always put her out front, not a blend. The reason was that I frankly didn’t care about what happened to the music. It was there to support her. I’ve had conductors tell me that in bar 23 the trumpet player hit a wrong note. Well, I don’t care. I wasn’t making perfect records. If they came out perfectly, fine. But I wanted to make records in which Ella sounded best.” The move paid off, and the 1956 release Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Cole Porter Song Book remains one of the biggestselling jazz albums of all time, selling 100,000 copies in its first week. Fitzgerald’s timeless voice means she continues to attract new generations
of fans; when alive, she said, “One of the most thrilling things after all these years of singing, people still want to come and hear me. I see young people still want to come and hear me… I cannot describe the feeling I get when I look out to an audience and see young people watching, listening and deep in concentration.” The caring songstress also assigned all royalties from her recordings to benefit the charitable foundation that bears her name, in order to help families and children in need. It’s fitting, because Ella Fitzgerald had a childlike innocence to her own craft. “The only thing better than singing is more singing,” she said, memorably, to the New York Sunday News. “I sing the way I feel.” Ella at 100: The Centennial Celebration is a series of independent events, held at venues from across the US (such as the Smithsonian in Washington) to as far afield as Austria, Finland and even Wales. Some are grand gala nights and concerts, others are smaller scale, but each is intended to commemorate her influence on music. For a complete schedule, visit ellafitzgeraldfoundation.org
Ella Fitzgerald could sing the Van Nuys telephone directory with a broken jaw and make it sound good
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AIR Maria Grazia Chiuri, photographed by Polaroid legend Maripol
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Christian Dior has always stood for a beautiful, soft femininity. Now, though, there’s a woman at the helm of the couture house for the first time in its history… and guided by Maria Grazia Chiuri, things are changing WoRds: Kate FinniGan
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t is early evening in Paris and the lights are sparkling along Avenue Montaigne. On the first floor of a townhouse around the corner from the main Dior atelier and headquarters, Maria Grazia Chiuri sits on a squashy sofa in a lofty white room where the floor and soft furnishings are dove grey, or rather, Dior grey. The weather is mild in Paris and the 52-year-old is wearing a black minidress and knee-high leather riding boots. Her hair, which over recent years has changed from long and brunette to short and blonde and also pink, is cut in a choppy platinum bob. Covering both of her square artisan’s hands are some of the fiercest rings I’ve seen on a woman: jagged, hard, flashing baroque rings fit for a Roman emperor or a gnarled rock star – an eagle with wings outspread over the knuckles either side, a giant pearl set in diamonds. It’s impossible not to stare. This is her only jewellery, she says, since “a visitor” to her Roman apartment a couple of years ago robbed her of everything else. She laughs, as she does frequently. “No matter. Other things are more important.” In 1946, Christian Dior opened his fashion house and ushered in the New Look, which did much to define ideas and ideals of both womenswear and womanhood for the mid-century and beyond. After his death in 1957, six male designers – including Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan, John Galliano and most recently Raf Simons – followed him as 63
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I never imagined I’d become a creative director. No, I never even dreamt it, because in my mind it was impossible
All images: First Looks of the Dior SS17 collection, photographed by Morgan O’Donovan
designers of the couture and ready-towear collections. In the middle of 2016, after the departure of Simons, and an interim period with no official lead designer, a woman took the helm as the artistic creative director for the first time in the label’s history. That woman is Maria Grazia Chiuri, a Roman who quietly made her name at Valentino as co-creative director with Pierpaolo Piccioli and revived a fashion business that had lost its way. Together they breathed life into couture for a younger generation of Hollywood stars, and introduced a romantic, almost medieval aesthetic in ready-towear that gracefully chased the trend for short, sharp body-con and platform heels out of the door. At the same time, they created the cult Rockstud shoes and bags that became modern classics and a major commercial success for the brand. It was an impressive result and it has led to Chiuri now being arguably the most important woman in fashion, a top job that she describes as an exciting adventure. “Mr Toledano [Sidney Toledano, the chief executive of Dior Couture] was very brave to choose me,” she exclaims. “Very brave. When I started in fashion I never imagined I’d become a creative director. Not at Valentino, never at Dior, absolutely not. No, I never even dreamt it, because in my mind it was impossible.” At the time of our interview she had been at Dior for three and a half months, which is less than a blink compared with the 17 years at
Valentino, and nine years before that at Fendi. So perhaps it’s no surprise that she launches into peals of tickled laughter when I ask her if she feels at home yet here in Paris. “Home!” she exclaims. “Noooo. I feel well but home is another thing. I speak Italian at home!” Laughter again. “It is difficult for me that I have to speak another language to the one I speak at home. I have no talent for languages so for me to try to speak in French… and my English is not like my Italian.” In fact, her English is near fluent. Impressive, given that she only started learning in 2008, when she took over from Valentino. Chiuri’s voice is gravelly and when she says that her new life here is “strange”, she draws out the vowel. She has had to change everything for this job. You can’t design for Dior and live in Italy so she has left home, for the working week at least. She is married to Paolo Regini, a well-known shirtmaker in Rome, and they have two grown-up children. Nicolo, 24, and his father are in Rome, where Chiuri returns for weekends. Her daughter Rachele, 20, is studying in London. “We are a European family now,” she says ruefully. At the time, Chiuri had been in her new apartment for only three days. “It is strange to arrive home and be alone. It’s like when you are a child. I’ve had to find furniture for my apartment, to start again. My apartment in Rome is a family house, now I live in a single 65
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If it is a feminine brand we have to start a dialogue with women. It’s not about describing a silhouette. It’s a message that you want to help them to be happy
person’s apartment. I think, why do I have to buy all these things, this food?” She shrugs and laughs. “I only need enough for one glass.” It is a big adjustment but she made it with her eyes wide open. “I understood that if I don’t do it now then when? I am, I hope, in the middle of my life.” She chuckles. “I want to live to 100! And so you think also about that, no?” Last September, a matter of weeks after her appointment, she showed her first Dior collection. She did it in a specially built giant wooden box in the gardens of the Rodin Museum, the new within the old. It was a functional contrast to some of the glossy, modern temporary edifices and extravagant walls of flowers favoured by her predecessor, Raf Simons, and it marked a moment of renewal. The all-white quilted fencing jackets and trousers, an androgynous uniform that opened the show, continued this idea of a fresh start. And yet within the collection there were generous links to 66
Simons and other Dior designers past, including a bee motif introduced by the Dior Homme designer Hedi Slimane. Though it was Mr Dior himself who first referred to his workers as bees. Mr Dior’s signature was also seen in the tulle skirts that Chiuri embroidered with tarot symbols. (Dior was profoundly superstitious and had a reading before each show.) His New Look Bar jackets, which could be a blessing or a curse to a designer, were also referenced, but Chiuri’s nonchalant versions were less overly defined waist, more fluid flick. “My approach is like a curator in a museum. You choose what you like about this heritage and at the same time you give your point of view. And you mix it with your vision for the future,” she says. “I really want to speak with the new generation of women. I want to move this brand.” And move it she has. One person who went backstage before the show said they were looking for obvious Dior signatures among
the clothes and couldn’t see any for the sea of fencing jackets and branded underwear (adapting the J’adore Dior slogan to J’adior and printing it along bra straps) and, most noticeably, a white T-shirt emblazoned with the words ‘We should all be feminists’, the title of a TED talk by the Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The message was new but very clear. There was a woman at the front of the house of Dior at last and she was about to make herself heard. Chiuri tells me that in her interview for the job it was pointed out to her that Dior is a ‘feminine’ brand. Immediately, that led her to pose a question. “Okay, what does that mean now? Because sometimes when you say that, it makes you think of the past, of the 1950s,” she says. “In my mind if it is a feminine brand we have to start a dialogue with women. It’s not about describing a silhouette. It’s a message that you want to have a relationship with them. That you want to impose nothing on
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I want to teach women that they can choose a piece and mix it with something they find more comfortable. It’s really important I have a realistic idea of women
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them but help them – like Mr Dior said – to be happy. To be beautiful, but to be happy.” That said, she doesn’t overanalyse her role: “I never think about my real clients. I don’t know who the real clients are, honestly. It’s impossible if you are a huge brand.” She raises her arm to the room and its high ceilings to illustrate her point further. “You know, I think this place is beautiful. I don’t want to paint this room black: absolutely not. I want to maintain the white because I think it’s a beautiful colour and it’s light. But I want to live in this space in a modern way, not as if I am in a museum.” She is distressed, “sad”, about the way she sees women being treated in the world right now and the rise of misogyny. “It’s a strange moment and to speak about it is important. It’s like we’ve gone back to the past,” she says. “In Italy, in Nigeria. See what happened in Buenos Aires last October, this big protest by women because so many women die every week because of violence. It’s not a good moment for men and women. I’m surprised, and I never imagined this would happen in my life. I don’t want it for my kids.” To address such issues through a luxury fashion brand is to invite criticism. Do we really need Dior to tell us to be feminists, some have said? Maybe we do. And also why not? Why should empty slogans be acceptable but political ones distasteful? Her feminist statement adapting Galliano’s J’adore Dior T-shirt – made famous by Sarah Jessica Parker in Sex And The City – is her way of speaking to the new
generation whose attention she believes Dior must grab. “You have to do it in a way that is exciting for them now,” she says. “Mr Dior was speaking about women who had come out of the Second World War. They needed beauty, optimism, luxury. But now probably you have to find another language. We have to understand how real women feel today. It’s not easy.” One of the ways in which she hopes to relate to younger women is in the styling of the show, which saw those tulle skirts worn with flat fencing boots and embroidered sweaters, with leather biker jackets and cross-body bags – making the way women dress now work for Dior. “When I work on a collection I have in my mind an idea of a wardrobe,” Chiuri says. “Of course, I want to propose the look on the runway but on the other hand I want to teach women that they can choose a piece and mix it with something they find more comfortable. It’s really important I have a realistic idea of women. They want to be cool but at the same time effortless and at the same time comfortable. And also, it depends how you feel in the moment.” She laughs. “I remember once my office asked me two weeks before a party what I was going to wear. Two weeks before?” She frowns. “I don’t know! I don’t know what I will wear tomorrow. If on the night I don’t feel well or I’m not in a good mood or I am very happy, I will change my dress.” Chiuri’s mother was a seamstress. She grew up around clothes and dressmaking. As a teenager she loved
vintage style and spent all her time in the Roman markets. “I was probably a little bit hippie, bohemian. Flowers, denim, that kind of thing, and I loved music,” she remembers. “I was a typical teenager that loved dressing, image. But I did not know it could be a job.” She attended Rome’s first fashion college, the Istituto Europeo di Design, in its inaugural year. She liked accessories and started to sketch, “and step by step I understood that it might be possible one day to collaborate with a little company to make shoes”, she says. “And so I found my way. But for me to arrive at a brand like Fendi? I was very happy!” She worked with the five Fendi sisters who head the house and with whom she still has a close relationship. “Oof, strong women,” she says, smiling. “I was very lucky to work with them. I really love them. They are super-cool, talented women who were the owners of the company. It was an education and they gave me every opportunity.” It’s also where she met Piccioli, with whom she moved to Valentino in 1999. Continuing with accessories over those many years, she rose through the ranks to the very top of the company. “But it was a passion. It didn’t matter about the different roles there, I didn’t think about that,” she says, shaking her head. “I know that others see you with a different eye, but in my mind I have always been the same girl who started to work in fashion.” She pauses. “It’s not about your position in the company, it’s about what you do. It’s about the story you want to tell.”
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Motoring
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APRIL 2017 : ISSUE 71
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Avanti Back in 1963, Maserati began a motoring revolution by launching the fastest fourseat sedan in the world. And while the cultured Quattroporte has an undeniably rich pedigree, the exquisite 2017 version carves a name of its own WORDS: CHRIS UJMA
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he trident of the ancient Roman god Neptune forks the Maserati emblem – inspired by the mythological character’s statue in Bologna’s Piazza Maggiore, where he brandishes the three-pronged spear. The Romans anciently charged him with presiding over the sea, water and earthquakes… So it’s somewhat fitting that my first day bestowed with the 2017 Quattroporte GranLusso was the same day that a meteorological apocalypse was dumped down onto Dubai from the heavens. Blustery howling wind, lashings of rain, airborne sand drifts and traffic chaos; the ultimate gauntlet was laid out for the sedan, and a blueskied Maserati party this was not. Tempestuous swirling clouds reflected in the car’s moody navy bodywork, and the remodelled grille of this fierce new trim strategy snarled ‘bring it on’. Yet once its four doors (hence the name Quattroporte, the literal translation in lingua Italia) have been thudded shut, the GranLusso nestles its occupants in a luxurious, hushed cocoon. Outside elements – however rasping – are muted, and it’s simply a joy to be within. On this tailored trim option, bespoke silk fabric by Ermenegildo Zegna adorns the seats, doors, headliner and sun visors, punctuated by openpore Radica wood. There’s comfort in the fourzone climate system and air-quality control, while an abundance of hand-stitched interior leather heightens the opulence. This leather adorns seats that harbour heat and cooling technology, while there’s plenty of tactile reward for curious fingertips – sculpted aluminium gear-shift paddles sit behind an electronically adjustable leather steering wheel, both immensely touchable. The day’s scenario befitted the GranLusso’s Modena origins: Italianesque passion and brio from the weather, met with equally Italianesque impeccable style – aloof and effortlessly suave. In no terms discounting performance, those very looks are one of Maserati’s assets in the road duel being played out with its German rivals. Collaborating with Zegna for the sumptuous cabin 71
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Sharp, sculpted and shark-like, it has had to evolve to remain among the most ferocious of its species
styling is a Michelangeloian masterstroke, and renders the subtle choice between the GranLusso and the GranSport – with its carbon fibre-packed cabin and sport-specific outside modifications – a tough call to make. The first ever Quattroporte was designed by Pietro Frua and debuted at the Turin Motor Show in 1963. Maserati considers this race-bred model its executive flagship, so re-energising it was a key priority for the marque. The 2017 update makes a statement that it’s getting with the times, and has added to the harmonious engine notes and sculpted edges a dose of up-to-date tech. Quite how this will be received entirely hinges on the buyer’s warmth toward driving autonomy and advanced driver-assistance systems. Adaptive cruise control with Stop & Go; lane-departure warning; forward-collision warning with advanced brake assist; automated emergency braking; a new surround-view camera… annoyances or assets? One thing is for certain: on a day of short-tempered fellow motorists on unpredictable highways, the pings, alerts and Maserati Stability Program (MSP) offered advanced peace of mind to protect its imposing 3,171mm-long frame (and those within it). Whichever side of the fence you sit on, Maserati can’t bow to the purists looking to stave off road-aware computer ‘babysitting’, and needed to lace these safety/convenience features into its high-end offering to avoid losing ground. In the age of constant connectivity, an invigorated infotainment system will appeal to allcomers, though. An 8.4in screen with Maserati Touch Control (MTC) Plus now laces Apple CarPlay and Android Auto into an intuitive system. There’s a reason the majority of focus will settle on QP design features rather than the composed drive: the impeccable V6 and V8 engine options have remained relatively unchanged, being so accomplished. The three-litre petrol V6 with twin-turbo direct injection GDI is placed within 72
the Quattroporte, S and SQ4 versions. The GTS receives a petrol V8, twin-turbo, direct injection GDI, and the QP can be configured in all-wheel or rear-wheel-drive versions. 0-100km/h timings are listed for each model as 5.5, 5.1, 4.9 and 4.7 seconds respectively. In spite of its size (the wheelbase makes it the longest in its class), this car is gazelle-like in the straight, thanks to a generous use of aluminium in the chassis, body and suspension, plus a selected dose of Sport mode sonata. There is one slight wrinkle to being swathed in cabin silence, though – the QP generates an engine tone that is a proud Maserati hallmark, yet it feels like everyone gets to envy it except those inside. Reshaped front and rear bumpers make the new Quattroporte sharp, sculpted and sharklike, and despite being a pioneer of its segment it has had to evolve to remain among the most ferocious of its species. The QP 2017 does so with grace and heart, delivering a polished, modern drive, nestled in cultivated Italian elegance – especially in the GranLusso trim. It’s not cold tech perfection, but an expression of gusto and romance… irrespective of the weather.
All images: The Maserati Quattroporte 2017, in GranLusso trim
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Gastronomy APRIL 2017 : ISSUE 71
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Peruse Your Senses Virgilio Martinez masterminded a Michelin-star success story in South London, and now he’s delivering an immersive Peruvian experience on a new frontier. LIMA Dubai in upscale City Walk, to be precise WORDS: ChrIS Ujma
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hen embarking on an epic adventure – say, trekking Sacred Valley trails to find the mystical Incan city of Machu Picchu – you want to be guided by the best, and Virgilio Martinez is that man when it comes to uncovering the curious fare of his homeland. Beyond the familiar tang of a bygone bite of ceviche or a sip of Pisco sour, the most discerning epicure is met with a universe of puzzling flavour profiles to unpack at LIMA Dubai. “The strongest part of our restaurant is that, probably, nobody knows the exact origin of this new kind of cuisine. But while people talk about Peruvian cooking being a trend, for me it is everyday food, so I know how to deliver it in a unique yet approachable way,” Martinez confides. His observation is accurate: there has indeed been a flourish of Peruvian dining experiences in Dubai of late, but banish those experiences and leave preconception at the door. The chief proprietor – whose dining venture Central is ranked fourth on San Pellegrino’s World’s 50 Best Restaurants – carries himself with humility, but trust me, he’ll plant a conquering flag on the Huascarán summit of Peruvian gastronomy. He explains, “Guests will be challenged – they are going to see different colours within the dish that look unfamiliar and unusual, so that’s going to surprise them – but a nice surprise.” The contemporary cuisine is sensational, and adding to the excellence is how it’s parcelled in a sensory getaway that belies the restaurant’s urban location, in the heart of Dubaian suave – City Walk boulevard. “We strive for uniqueness,” explains Martinez, of a move that was five years in the making. “We keep matters manageable – Central in Lima has only 40 covers and a tasting menu of 18 courses. In LIMA London we have 60 seats and then a second UK-capital location. Expansion to Dubai was natural, as people have accepted Peruvian food and the UAE is a combination of people coming from different parts of the world.” Arrive here for an evening meal and you step into a stylish, tactile environment. It’s brimming with traditional Peruvian design cues and there’s a moody, just-right dark atmosphere – the only thing ‘amiss’ 76
Delving into an authentic dish and eating it at a table that was crafted from natural materials from the jungle… that’s an unrivalled experience being the cool breeze of air-con in place of sticky jungle humidity. Hip-swaying Spanish-laced music thuds with a heavy beat, a soundtrack to immersion. “Some tables are a blend of wood and stone flown over from Peru, like many of the fabrics and materials throughout the restaurant interior,” Martinez shares. “I’ve an architect who I work with from back home – of course the easiest way is to source from Dubai, but if I’m delving into an authentic dish and eating it at a table that was crafted from natural materials from the jungle… that’s an unrivalled experience.” When it comes to the Marinera Norteña-like courtship of your taste buds, he confesses, “Our menu is quite long, because we want to showcase the vast amount of flavours and the broad spectrum of ingredients. We start with vegetables, move to tiradito [sliced rawfish carpaccio marinated in juices with a bit of spice], then ceviche, followed by dishes composed around meats, poultry and so on. There’s a bit of everything, and the majority of ingredients have come from Peru. That detail, for me, is a luxury element – procuring something so fresh from that far away.”
Some profiles are punch-nose brazen – the moreish buratta and its granandilla, explosively juicy tomatoes and lacing of tiger’s milk unashamedly tests your guesswork. Others are ‘safer’ yet delightful, like a tender Wagyu sirloin with a dancing hint of cassava purée and Aji citrus sauce, accompanied by something notable upon a side slab of granite – melt-inthe-mouth creamy corn brûlée that is pure kitchen innovation. Martinez says, “Many have encountered quinoa, but we have so much more – different colours, sizes, varieties and tastes of even that. I am sourcing very boutique, unique produce from small producers in Peru, and I am trying to get a few very, very special things – such as this great variety of corn, where people are perhaps only accustomed to little ‘common’ corn. All these fruits, herbs and such are from high in the Andes or the depths of the jungle in the Amazon, and we will be as authentic as possible in terms of what we cook.” With every course, Michelin-starred Martinez rises to the occasion. He’s obssessed with finding new angles of culinary enjoyment: an example is his
testing of “the well-balanced acidity of the ceviche. We create and serve the traditional version, of course, but we are working on an evolution using some other elements, which I think is the best way to showcase a new style of Peruvian dish. This restaurant is a meeting point between fine dining and casual, and I am impassioned by hosting people who go away surprised and amazed and happy”. It’s a pleasantly mild Dubai day, and I’m talking to an (outwardly) laid-back Martinez on the outside terrace of the venue, just days away from its official opening. He’s basking in the afternoon sun – but not in the accolades his restaurants have garnered. “If you start to dwell on the awards you could begin to change your philosophy – and even the way you behave, actually. In my case I try not to think too much of the things that have changed in my life. It’s not big drama because what we do is special for us, and we stay humble. Success arrived, but organically so,” he explains. LIMA Dubai is a journey wellmatured with national spirit – and it’s home-grown pride that makes the difference. Martinez smiles: “We’ve become accustomed to promoting our culture and our food, so we’re not only ambassadors for fine dining, but for Peru.” 77
Travel
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15 journeys by jet
Casa Casuarina, Miami
T
his baroque abode’s new moniker is Casa Casuarina, but its more familiar association is as the former Gianni Versace Mansion – and careful attention has been paid to honour its late owner through a hotel imbibed with daring and class. This Ocean Drive property is a gift from one purveyor of taste to another, preserved by Victor Hotels for those with an eye for stylish ambition. Fashion impressario Versace first acquired the home in 1992 and invested millions in an image overhaul – adding a new wing in the south grounds. Its many rooms have been modified into 10 exclusive suites, eight of which overlook the courtyard while the other two – the Mosaic and Medallion – provide views of the garden. The garden is a true centrepiece, home to the visually commanding 54ft-long ‘Million Mosaic’ pool with its thousands of 24ct-gold tiles. Equally tasteful is the Mediterranean fare by executive chef Thomas Stewart at Gianni’s, and his cuisine is not the only restaurant draw – it’s an ideal place in which to admire the surrounds, what with the Medusa Dining Room (formerly a formal salon), a patio that overlooks the elegant garden, and The Onyx Bar for hushed post-dinner conversation. This monumental ‘casa’ is a South Beach oasis of Spanish architecture, stunning design and spaciousness (19,000 sq ft, for those counting) – striking a delicate balance between bombastic and elegance; opulence and intimacy; daydreams and real-estate reality. Fabrics, prints, gems and mosaics decorate what was a haven of relaxation for Gianni, and what is now a sanctuary of magnificence for the elite when in Miami. Your gateway to Casa Casuarina is Miami International, or Fort Lauderdale as a viable alternative, both of which can accommodate jets; vmmiamibeach.com 79
What I Know Now
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APRIL 2017 : ISSUE 71
Anne Vierstraete Managing Director, art Brussels
Aged 12, visiting an exhibition of works by Austrian painters Klimt, Kokoschka and Schiele at the Belvedere in Vienna with my father, I clearly remember being bowled over by Egon Schiele’s nudes – his paintings were unlike anything I had seen before. I’d say that it was from this particular moment that I really began to engage with art. A few years later, encountering works by Cy Twombly felt like a second revelation, to realise that art could also be so pared down and abstract. From then on, my curiosity was limitless. These early experiences have influenced how I and my team at Art Brussels really emphasise the ‘discovery’ element of the fair; it can be so exciting 80
and eye-opening to encounter new artists and new forms of art. The most valuable advice I received was from an older friend of mine: we are each responsible for our own happiness. I always look at life positively, identifying what is possible rather than focusing on constraints; open-mindedness, the ability to speak foreign languages and the increasing accessibility of travel, meanwhile, have been key to broadening my horizons. Freedom – along with respect for oneself and others – are essential values to me. Art needs a context of freedom to be both fully expressed and understood. The encounter
between an artwork and its viewer is definitely of an extremely personal and intimate nature. Nothing is ever written in life and that’s part of its magic. I never expected to helm Art Brussels, which I had visited assiduously for more than 30 years. The setting offers the perfect environment to keep my finger on the pulse of the work of both emerging and more renowned international artists, and my greatest pleasure is to share this exciting platform with the thousands of art lovers visiting the fair each year. Art Brussels takes place from 21 to 23 April; artbrussels.com
A £10M Restoration for
One of Scotland’s
Best Loved Buildings
THE WILLOW TEA ROOMS BUILDING
217 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow
A unique piece of Glasgow’s famous Sauchiehall Street is being restored as part of a £10 million project to preserve one of Scotland’s most famous and best loved buildings, the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Willow Tea Rooms.
Charles Rennie Mackintosh, born 7 June 1868, was a ScoĴish Architect, Designer, water colourist and artist. His artistic approach had much in common with European Symbolism. His work, alongside that of his wife Margaret Macdonald, was inĚuential on European design movements such as Art Nouveau and Modernism. The Willow Tea Rooms opened its doors on 29 October 1903 and today the building is of international signięcance. They are the only tea rooms where Mackintosh had total control over both the architecture of the building and decorative elements of the interior. In 2014 the building was bought by Glasgow businesswoman, Celia Sinclair (pictured above) in order to prevent the forced sale of the building, closure of the Tea Rooms and loss of its contents to collectors The building is now in the ownership of ‘The Willow Tea Rooms Trust’, a registered Charity.
The tea rooms are a catalyst for the regeneration of this part of Glasgow and will become a focal point for Cultural Tourism, aĴracting both domestic and international visitors. To help restore the interior and to create the education, skills and training centre, The Trust needs to raise a further £2.5 million in match funding from the public, business, Charitable Trusts and Government to bring this world-class venue back to life.
OPPORTUNITIES NOW AVAILABLE to support this world class ‘Interactive Visitor/Exhibition Centre, Education and Learning Suite’: a living breathing museum experience in the beautifully re-created Salon de Luxe at the ‘Mackintosh Tea Rooms’ as commissioned by Catherine Cranston in 1903. We launch in June 2018 in line with Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s 150th birthday celebrations. Contact our team in the Glasgow Project OĜce: w. www.willowtearoomstrust.org e. info@willowtearoomstrust.org t. +44 (0)141 332 7696
at Annabel’s London Dubai: Dubai Mall +971 4434 3888 Abu Dhabi: Galleria Mall, Sowwah Square +971 2677 7607 Doha: Porto Arabia, The Pearl +974 4444 8283