Air Magazine - Al Bateen - November'17 by Hot Media

Issue seventy eIGHt NOVEMBER 2017

George Clooney

Luxury • Culture • People • Style • Heritage

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Contents novEMbEr 2017 : ISSUE 78

Editorial Editorial director

John Thatcher Managing Editor

Faye Bartle Editor

Chris Ujma

air

christopher@hotmediapublishing.com

art art director

Kerri Bennett designer

Jamie Pudsey illustrations

Vanessa Arnaud

CoMMErCial Managing director

Victoria Thatcher Group Commercial director

David Wade

david@hotmediapublishing.com Commercial director

Rawan Chehab

rawan@hotmediapublishing.com

ProduCtion Production Manager

Muthu Kumar

Fifty Four

Neighbourhood Watch

The King and I

Sixty

Sixty Eight

George Clooney’s latest directorial stint hits hard, spotlighting unsavoury suburban behaviour

A London-based exhibition affords a taste of being on tour with Elvis, the ultimate man of the people

How Ingrid Bergman’s rebellion against film industry expectations cemented her legacy

Hollywouldn’t

Contents

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NOVEMBER 2017 : ISSUE 78

Twenty Two

Seventy Four

A collection of Prince photography, snapped by Steve Parkes during the singer’s purple reign

Three little letters with huge performance impact: how Mercedes-AMG feeds your need for speed

Thirty Four

Seventy Eight

Richard Mille created a watch with F1 driving legend Alain Prost (for use on two wheels, not four)

Mexican celebrity chef Martha Ortiz packs plenty of flavour – and that’s just her personality

Thirty Eight

Eighty Two

From a family obsessed with precious stones, Ara Vartanian nurtured a unique way to reveal a gem’s beauty

Arrive dramatically by 4WD limo or Bond-style by speedboat? It can only be Six Senses Zighy Bay, Oman

Radar

Timepieces

Jewellery

Motoring

Gastronomy

Travel

From Forty Three

Art & Design

Philip Colbert skewers society with lobster stealth; plus inside the opulent world of private jet interiors

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.

Welcome Onboard NOVEMBER 2017

Welcome to AIR, your personal guide to Al Bateen Executive Airport, its people, partners, developments, and the latest news about the only dedicated business aviation airport in the Middle East and North Africa. We wish you a safe journey wherever you are going, and we look forward to welcoming visitors to Al Bateen Executive Airport to experience our unparallelled commitment to excellence in general, private and business aviation.

Al Bateen Executive Airport Contact Details: albateeninfo@adac.ae albateenairport.com

Al Bateen

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NOVEMBER 2017 : ISSUE 78

Welcome to World-Class

From humble beginnings in the 1960s when it served as Abu Dhabiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first main airport, Al Bateen Executive Airport (ABEA) is now the only exclusive business aviation airport in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a world-class luxury aviation service facility aiming to meet and exceed the expectations

of business travellers from all around the world. With the 1982 opening of Abu Dhabi International Airport just 32km outside the city centre, ABEA underwent its transformation into a military air base the following year. Military operations continued until 2008, when Abu Dhabi Airports took

www.albateenairport.ae

Al Bateen NOVEMBER 2017 : ISSUE 78

over its operation and developed it into a world-class executive airport. Over a 50-year timespan, ABEA’s wealth of experience, under both civilian and military management, facilitated its smooth transition to what European Business Air News (EBAN) named the Second Best Executive Airport in the World in 2013. The award – and the many accolades since then – mark a remarkable ascent for the airport, which enjoys a strategic position within reach of major businesses and leisure facilities at the heart of Abu Dhabi city. With a stand capacity for up to 50 private jets served by efficient 20

turnarounds, ABEA upholds its excellence in air traffic and ground management operations through its partnership with Munawala, a proprietary fixed-base operations (FBO) service provider. This unique offering provides a single point of contact for all requirements and a full range of competitively priced FBO services. ABEA maintains an unwavering commitment to delivering a worldclass passenger experience. As the region’s only exclusive business aviation airport, it always welcomes travellers from across the globe to its unrivalled location with warm Emirati hospitality.

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Radar NOVEMBER 2017 : ISSUE 78

AIR

The late Prince met art director Steve Parke in the late 80s at Paisley Park, the former’s renowned private estate and recording studio. Parke would become The Purple One’s official photographer, a creative alliance that produced an extensive archive of over 500 photographs. An exhibition at London’s Proud Galleries this month sees Parke share a strippedback documentary of Prince’s enigmatic persona, via impromptu shoots from around Paisley Park. It provides a fascinating glimpse into an off-stage life formerly hidden from the public eye. Picturing Prince: Photographs by Steve Parke, Proud Galleries, 9 November to 3 December 2017. proud.co.uk

Critique NOVEMBER 2017 : ISSUE 78

Film LBJ Dir: Rob Reiner After losing the Democratic nomination, Lyndon Johnson is thrust into presidency after the assassination of JFK At Best: “Woody Harrelson gets close to the essence of this dynamic, irascible, essential figure.” National Review At WoRst: “Ultimately feels like a safe history lesson rather than an inquiry or a revelation.” Screen International

Thor: Ragnarok AIR

Dir: Taika Waititi Poor Thor. He’s imprisoned on the other side of the universe without his hammer and his planet is threatened with destruction… can he find his way out? At Best: “In a world of portentous blockbusters getting ever darker, it’s a joy to see one throwing on the disco lights.” Time Out At WoRst: “The film is basically a Joke Delivery System – and on that score, it works. The movie is fun.” Entertainment Weekly

Darkest Hour Dir: Joe Wright Prime Minister Winston Churchill navigates a critical moment in history At Best: “Balances the great orator’s public triumphs with more vulnerable private moments of self-doubt… in a compelling piece of populist entertainment.” Variety At WoRst: “An acting exercise weighed down by costumes, make-up, and over-lighting [it] has a few things to say about the backbone of a great world leader.” RogerEbert.com

Mudbound Dir: Dee Rees Ruthless social hierarchy pits two families against one another, yet they’re bound by the shared farmland of the Mississippi Delta At Best: “A sprawling, ambitious drama, filled with multiple character viewpoints and arcs… [so] confidently conveyed that one never loses the humanity at its core.” RogerEbert.com At WoRst: “While rooted in a precise historical moment, it’s also a sobering commentary on timeless struggles.” indieWire 24

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A Distinctively Refined Destination Located right next to the iconic Burj Al Arab Hotel, Obegi Home invites you to experience the endless possibilities of redefining your home. With over forty years of experience, we lead the market with the best brands and boundless creativity. Obegi Home is a destination, where you belong. Visit us soon, you will visit us often.

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Critique NOVEMBER 2017 : ISSUE 78

Theatre

AIR

ollowing a successful 2016 run, Minefield by Lola Arias embarks on a UK tour until 14 April. Paul Taylor watched the first stint of this multi-media performance for The Independent, deeming it, “Unforgettably potent. Argentinian theatre-maker Arias has recruited six veterans of the 1982 Falklands War – three from each side – to devise a piece in which they pool their first-hand experiences of the conflict and the toll it has taken on their lives since then… The idea is that recollections tend to become dulled and distorted in the retelling, and that the collaborative process of excavation may bring to the surface [the truth].” This is no emotional exploitation, explains Natasha Tripney for The Stage. “The process of making the piece sits close to the surface… Every question that the show raises, about ownership and omission, it anticipates and addresses. It’s very careful in this regard.” Minefield is a “powerful act of remembrance,” writes Dominic Cavendish in The Telegraph. “It proves no arid history lesson. Personal testimonies abound and, using live video and DIY sound-effects, the piece has a keen experimental edge, one moment skittish, the next darker and more serious.” On Broadway, After The Blast deals with a dystopian future. “There’s a terrific 90-minute play struggling to break free at Lincoln Center’s Claire Tow Theater,” writes Frank Scheck in The Hollywood Reporter. “It depicts a young woman’s growing attachment to a robot in the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust that has driven mankind underground. This imaginative work proves both touching and amusing. Unfortunately, it runs two-and-ahalf hours… the drama squanders 26

A Woman of No Importance. Photography by Marc Brenner

its provocative ideas through selfindulgence. It’s a shame, because Kazan is a promising playwright.” Brian Scott Lipton muses for Theater Pizzazz, “Kazan reminds us, no matter how much ice is on the Earth’s surface, the fundamental challenges of marriage – honesty, trust, fidelity – will always be with us wherever we live… She deserves the ultimate praise for making us look deep into our souls and ask what we would do for love and what we would do to survive. I would hardly call it a blast… but I would call it necessary theatrical viewing.” Says Adam Feldman in Time Out New York, “Cristin Milioti and William Jackson Harper are excellent in the central roles… and [robot] Arthur is downright merchandisable. Perhaps this is how the robot takeover of theatre begins: not with a shock but with an awww.” A Woman of No Importance at Vaudeville Theatre (until 30 December) kickstarts the West End’s Oscar Wilde season. “Does a year of Wilde plays in the West End really have anything to say to us

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today?” asks Dominic Maxwell in The Times, “Or is it just a nice enough excuse for some swish costumes and world-class one-liners? If this first installment in Dominic Dromgoole’s season for his new theatre company Classic Spring is anything to go by, it’s both.” Summarises Michael Billington in The Guardian, “Eve Best brings fierce emotional intensity, Eleanor Bron is a velvet-voiced aristo and Anne Reid delivers Victorian ballads in Dromgoole’s fine revival… [It] establishes dramatist Wilde’s feminist credentials and, in this revival, takes the mothballs out of the melodrama.” There’s “ingenious novelty” here, says Susannah Clapp. “Between scenes, underneath the proscenium arch (this is theatre totally in period), actors appear in front of a velvet curtain with fiddle, guitars and clarinet… In bringing to life this tear-stained, popular culture, Dromgoole defuses some of Wilde’s melodrama and makes the meat of his drama look the more advanced. Here is a rallying cry for women’s rights: a blow against the double moral standard.”

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With over forty years of experience, we lead the market with the best brands and boundless creativity. Obegi Home is a destination, where you belong. Visit us soon, you will visit us often.

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Critique NOVEMBER 2017 : ISSUE 78

Art

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“Y

ou scream, I scream, we all scream for The Scream, but that iconic painting was only a small part of Edvard Munch’s prodigious output, which spanned 60 years and produced many other masterpieces besides the ur-image of high anxiety,” shrieks Time Out of Edvard Munch: Between The Clock and The Bed – at The Met Breuer until 3 February. Writes Emily S Mendel for Culture Vulture, “From only 45 remarkable paintings in this astounding exhibition, one can appreciate his robust 60 years as a working artist… Munch’s oeuvre is much more diverse in its breadth and scope than most art lovers are aware of. This insightful exhibit explores the full extent of his work, with particular importance focused on his later paintings; the artist’s inner life and emotions are uniquely captured by his colour-filled brush, revealing his often reproving, psychological self-awareness.” He was “born into strife [and] his life finished that way,” writes an observant Jonathan Curiel for SF Weekly. “Unlike the bed in other Munch paintings, the bed in this last self-portrait is tidy and made. The clock has no hands… Munch is alone in the room with his art and himself. This is the life that Munch had seemingly envisioned for the end. He’s not screaming. In fact, his mouth is closed, and everything seems perfectly still – as if time had finally stopped for him.” Anni Albers: Touching Vision shows at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao until 14 January, exploring the work of Albers – who is best known for her “pioneering role in the field of textile or ‘Fiber art’, and for her constant quest for new patterns and uses of fabric; she was instrumental in redefining the art as a designer,” says Apollo Magazine. Anni and her husband, Josef, are revered in the art world and, writes Emma CrichtonMiller for Financial Times, this year marks “20 since the laying of the first stone of the Albers Foundation in Bethany, Connecticut, the home of their archives and the engine-room

BELONG .

Edvard Munch, The Dance of Life, 1925. Courtesy Munch Museum, Oslo

of the projects perpetuating in the a particular focus on works made US and elsewhere… abstraction was in the late 1960s and early 70s, their primary mode; they held the when she created some of her most principles of texture, line, form and original and perhaps unsettling colour in greater significance than forms, turning casts of body parts the hierarchies of genre or material.” into everyday objects like lamps and Touching Vision, “Highlights Albers’ ashtrays…” Mara Hoberman of Art lifelong artistic ambidexterity, Agenda, writes about the sculptor through a catalogue of examples taken being,“Best known for her alternately from each of her ‘phases’. Linearly macabre and humorous sculptures presented, and guided by [curator – body parts cast in polyester resin, Manuel] Cirauqui’s steady hand, we anthropomorphic wads of used see the queen of weaving’s singular chewing gum, plastic lamps featuring modernist vision unfold across disembodied red lips or Carrara discipline, decade and timezone,” marble belly rolls… [The] use of colour says Elly Parsons at Wallpaper. “This in this series – a rarity in her drawings is a show that reaches through the – adds a surrealist dreaminess to her loom, and attempts to unspool the signature ‘disarticulation of form.’” Located right next to the iconic Burj Al Arab Hotel, Obegi Home invites goings-on of her mind.” She wanted to address “how we feel, you to experience the endless possibilities of redefining your home. “The body – under pressure, in rather than how we look,” explains With over forty years of experience, market with pieces, subject to social and political Skye Sherwinwe forlead The the Guardian. “Thethe best brands and boundlessresults creativity. upheaval – is the focus of [this] are consistently arresting Polish sculptor’s powerful conflations ofyou the belong. elegant and Obegiwork,” Home is a destination, where says Art Fund of Alina Szapocznikow: grotesque… her sculpture can recall soon, you willthe visitpolymorphous us often. Human Landscapes atVisit The us Hepworth perversity of Wakefield until 28 January. “Working Louise Bourgeois. The malleable through one of the most tumultuous resin suggests Eva Hesse’s eroding periods in history, Szapocznikow sculpture or Lynda Benglis’ pours. She (1926-1973) explored physicality and didn’t know their art. Yet like them, she the human figure against a backdrop was searching for a new voice. ‘How DUBAI-BEIRUT www.obegihome.com of turbulence and torture… There is can we express today?’ she asked.”

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A Distinctively Refined Destination Located right next to the iconic Burj Al Arab Hotel, Obegi Home invites you to experience the endless possibilities of redefining your home.

BELONG .

With over forty years of experience, we lead the market with the best brands and boundless creativity. Obegi Home is a destination, where you belong. Visit us soon, you will visit us often.

Critique NOVEMBER 2017 : ISSUE 78

AIR

Books

lizabeth Hardwick wrote during the golden age of the American literary essay, and The Collected Essays… edited and with an introduction by her former student Pinckney “is significant,” says the Library Journal review. “Hardwick, who was a cofounder, editor, and advisor to the New York Review of Books, covered the important events of her time… with clarity and precision and without sentimentality. Her ear for language and eye for detail… makes her sketches and essays a pleasure to read and savour.” Publisher’s Weekly says, “This fine, revealing career retrospective showcases the late Hardwick honing her favourite form – the literary review – to razor-sharp precision… this book contains ample examples of literary criticism that might be imitated or even matched but not surpassed in its style, insight, and genuine love for literature.” Glows Dwight Garner in The New York Times, “To move one’s way through Hardwick’s essays is to bump into brightness on nearly every

page. This collection is a miscellany, but potent themes emerge. It brings its own kind of news. She was one of literature’s great persuaders. ‘Making a living is nothing,’ she wrote in 1963, in what might have been a credo. ‘The great difficulty is making a point, making a difference – with words.’” Jetting in to catch the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix? Total Competition by Ross Brawn and Adam Parr is an everessential downtime read, affording insight into motor racing’s ‘art of war’. Said Ross Pringle for The Express, “After 24 drivers’ and constructors’ championships across three different formulae, the former Benetton and Ferrari technical director’s wealth of experience is crammed into a relatively concise format that flows along at a brisk-enough pace… The details disclosed about Brawn’s professional relationships are fascinating, but the biggest selling point of this release is the 61-yearold’s analysis of his own mistakes… After spending nearly four decades at the pinnacle of his profession, Brawn

was always going to have a few tales to tell and his first effort into literature doesn’t disappoint.” The discussion happens “between two very high level recent participants,” reviews Winding Road. “Both authors have seen inside the head of the beast… [and] what we see is that the team leaders [make] thousands of decisions each year. What makes Brawn a winner and someone else a back marker is the pattern of focusing hard on the important things and making a higher percentage of the decisions correctly.” “An accessible, marvellously rigorous account of a bygone legal era,” is how Kirkus Reviews describes Gaslight Lawyers by Richard H Underwood. “In the last third of the 1800s, Manhattan was a hotbed of crime,” they explain, “and its courts were often hamstrung by a toxic combination of unscrupulous law enforcement personnel and crude investigative techniques. In this book, Underwood furnishes a series of journalistically rendered vignettes meant to capture the essence of that legal milieu.” Filmmaker Brian L Frye was piqued, called Gaslight Lawyers the 19 th century equivalent of Better Call Saul – surprising, insightful, and hilarious. Charles Dickens would approve.” Writes Lillian Brown for Foreword, “In a time when criminal lawyers were elevated to celebrity status, cases were often defined – and their outcomes determined – by the characters at trial, rather than by the nature of the crimes themselves. The time period was marked by an oftencorrupt criminal justice system, ‘when the field of scientific, forensic evidence was only beginning to emerge and when guilt or innocence usually turned on eyewitnesses in testimony.’ The true allure of the book is in its artfully chosen details. Combining research ranging from court transcripts to personal memoirs, it reconstructs scenes with the kind of particulars that usually come from first hand experiences.”

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Image: Kakslauttanen Kelo-Glass Igloo

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through your options, the home of snow and arctic wilderness calls your attention. One such destination is Finland, where you can view the spectacular Northern Lights and doze off under the magical sky show. The Platinum Card Concierge Services can also arrange driving a Ferrari on ice, sledging down a mountain with husky dogs and even a stroll around the Santa Claus village. Touchdown, Rovaniemi, the capital of Lapland in the northernmost region of Finland, where blankets of snow cover all in sight. From snowmobile to sleigh ride travel from one memorable encounter to another: fishing in a frozen lake, followed by lunch in a traditional ‘lavvo’ with an elderly Sámi who takes you on a journey with his fabled reindeers, then dinner cooked by a private chef in a forest hut. Granting you total peace of mind, Platinum Care is on call to help protect and guide you at any time of the day or night with comprehensive insurances.

Day in, day out, the polar night wraps the arctic sky in a veil of winter-blue undertones. Lit by the moon, stars and freshly fallen crystal snow, a peaceful stillness prevails in the crisp cold air as you finally come to lie down in your glass-ceiling igloo. The Northern Lights illuminate the sky above you with their lively colours, like magic reflected from a world beyond. You gaze through the glass ceiling and discover the lightness of Arctic darkness. Eyelids heavier with each blink, you sleep to the sounds of life. Enter a world of magical experiences and ensure your holidays of snowfall or sunshine are truly special with all The Platinum Card from American Express Middle East offers. Your Platinum lifestyle and travel experts are available day in day out, to curate once-in-alifetime experiences. Search ‘American Express’, or visit americanexpress.ae/airmag 31

OBJECTS OF DESIRE

Master craftsmanship, effortless style and timeless appeal; this monthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s must-haves and collectibles

OB JECTS OF DESIRE

T H E G E N E VA WAT C H A U C T I O N : S I X

C O S m O g R a p h D ay T O n a ‘ L E O p a R D ’

The wildest among Phillips’ auction lineup is undoubtedly flamboyant Lot 103: a Rolex with 36 baguettecut yellow sapphires on the bezel, and lug hoods embellished with brilliant diamonds. Should your tastes tread a little more conservatively, fear not –

there are offerings to suit every sensibility at the sale, held from 11-12 November. Other treasures in this horology bounty are a platinum and diamond-set Royal Oak with salmon dial, an 18k white gold and diamond Cartier ‘tonneau’, plus a gorgeous platinum Lange 1 Tourbillon. phillips.com 1

OB JECTS OF DESIRE

CHANEL

Fw17 EyEwEaR Straight from the runway of the Airspace show emerged an assertive pair of neoaviators for Fall/Winter 2017. Karl Lagerfeld himself snapped the photographs of Dutch model Luna Bijl for a stunning black and white advertising campaign, set against industrial-inspired metallic décor

and softened by key looks from Chanel’s FW 17/18 Ready-to-Wear. Applied to the everyday realm, this eyewear is quintessentially versatile; a union of retro and futuristic from the house that Coco built – one that continues to dominate the fashion arena. 2

OB JECTS OF DESIRE

AKILLIS

py ThOn OpEn BR aCELE T Fascination and danger are on the cards â&#x20AC;&#x201C; or, indeed, the wrist â&#x20AC;&#x201C; with a seductive new curio from this French Maison de Joaillerie. The edgy shape of this five scales model (also available in a three scale linear design) is paved in close-set diamonds. Its motifs echo those found in the overarching

Akills Python collection, inspired by the tales of seductress Cleopatra wearing live snakes around her wrists while weaving her way into royal Egyptian lore. Light and enabling ease of movement, the open bracelet is a refined accessory; delicate yet deadly. 3

OB JECTS OF DESIRE

A S TON M A RT I N

Va nQ U ISh S VOL a nTE

Just in time for a late-Autumnal drive, Aston Martin delivers its sleek new take on the scintillating Vanquish S. The convertible Volante means a topdown, foot-down coupĂŠ from the marque. The profile of this carbon fibre car is handsome, yet while it looks smoother

than melted butter its noise is brutish â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the naturally aspirated 6l V12 sees to that. The cabin is a world of leather and chrome, complemented by leather Alcantara roof headlining; push a glass key into the centre console (which mimics a waterfall), and prepare to vanquish road rivals. 5

OB JECTS OF DESIRE

LV X J E F F K O O N S

ThE maSTERS COLLECTIOn different greats with Turner’s Ancient Rome, Gaguin’s Delightful Land, Poussin’s The Triumph of Pan, Monet’s Water Lillies, Manet’s The Luncheon on the Grass and Boucher’s Reclining Girl. Whether these bags are fit for a gallery or just bold artistic gall, they’re undeniably coveted.

If the first release of this limited edition Louis Vuitton collaboration is anything to go by, the second coming will both sell-out and provoke. Koons polarised fashionistas by framing glorious art upon steadfast LV totes such as the Speedy, Keepall and Neverfull. For Act II he’s opted for six 6

OB JECTS OF DESIRE

AU DE M A R S PIGU E T

R O ya L O a K C U F F L I n K S Watch aficionados are accustomed to glorious reinterpretations of the legendary Royal Oak; Audemars recent release of the watch in Frosted Gold, for one. These cufflinks, however, move its storied legacy in a new direction, drawing inspiration from that emblematic silhouette – the

famous octagonal shape and the hexagonal screws – and applying it at the cuff. Rose gold with blue ‘tapisserie’ in the centre is just one of the colour choices. They may not indicate the time, but these cufflinks are timelessly stylish; a subtle signal of your appreciation for horology heritage. 7

OB JECTS OF DESIRE

K A R L L AGE R F E L D

‘ K a RL In pa RIS’ C a p S U LE C O LLEC T I O n

Mix the Eiffel Tower, ‘Rue Lagerfeld’ street signs and motifs of the designer’s famous feline, Choupette, and what do you get? A playful assortment of 30 ready-to-wear items and accessories, with handbags, totes, pouches, cross-bodys, camera bags, and shoppers – all distinctly

on-trend. The City of Lights serves as inspiration for Chanel’s head creative director, with these pieces brought to life using embroidery, leather patches, sequins, pearls, rhinestones and satin appliqués; irresistible fashion catnip for avid collectors of Karl’s cutesy creations. 8

Timepieces NOVEMBER 2017 : iSSUE 78

Dubai Watch Week TAriq MALik

ver the last few years, Dubai has earned a reputation as the vibrant hub of haute horology in the Middle East. The pinnacle event for the past two years has been the Dubai Watch Week, organised by Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons, along with their renowned Swiss partners, the Fondation de la Haute Horlogorie. The first Dubai Watch Week in 2015 proved to be hugely popular among local watch lovers, and some of the world’s top design and manufacture experts jetted in to attend, give talks, and provide training. Watchmaking masterclasses were offered, and those who attended were treated to a smorgasbord of new and classic timepieces. Last year the number of attendees grew immensely, and it became clear that there was a huge demand, and more than enough interest in the region to make it a regular thing. Those collectors and watch-lovers following the event online, and those lucky enough to attend in person, got to see some wonderful new watches

created especially for the show. independent brands like MB&F and HYT had a special place at the event last year. One particular watch that stands out in my memory was the H. Moser & Cie. Venturer XL Concept Dubai Edition (below). The watch focused on the unique fumé style of graduated dial using ice blue and white blending into each other – and no dial marks or indications to distract your eye from the lustrous colour. it will be hard to top this year, but i’m sure there will be something new from H. Moser. This year Watch Week is bigger than ever – with a greatly enlarged area in the main courtyard and grounds in front of The Gate building that dominates DiFC. i’m looking forward to seeing which new watches will be unveiled – and there are sure to be a few Dubai special editions. The event is expected to welcome thousands of new visitors, and more than 60 industry legends and brands. The theme this year is ‘Classic and Contemporary,’ and the

featured displays will focus on the revival of classical craftsmanship, and contemporary techniques of watchmaking today. Visitors will be able to learn more about the evolution of the watch industry through the presentation of timepieces from both heritage and new brands and, if you’re so inclined, you can even attend a watchmaking class. Another attraction this year is an introduction to watch auctions, in collaboration with Christie’s. This year there is an exciting new twist developing on that front. For the first time in the region there will be an ‘Auction room’. Visitors will get the rare opportunity to learn from the experts about the complex world of the watch auctions. Three different segments of the auction room will run consecutively. One will provide visitors with the opportunity to evaluate their personal watches, while the masterclasses are held in another section. Finally, you can learn how to bid at auctions, and even the children will be given the opportunity to bid at a family day auction. i expect it will be a popular event, based on how much interest was generated over the last two years. On the sidelines of the main event the organisers have made sure that this year there are plenty of opportunities for dealers, manufacturers and interested parties to network, enjoy Michelin star standard dining, and discuss fine horology to their heart’s content. The third consecutive edition of Dubai Watch Week will take place from 16-20 November in DIFC – which is also home to Momentum, Tariq’s cofounded vintage watch boutique. momentum-dubai.com 33

Timepieces NOVEMBER 2017 : ISSUE 78

Tour de Force Richard Mille stirs up watchmaking vélodrama with an Alain Prost-collaborated timepiece, built to accompany the gruelling kilometres spent in the cycling saddle – and keep track of them, too WORds: ChrIS Ujma

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or those privy to the early whispers that enigmatic watchmaker Richard Mille was working on a timepiece with Formula One legend Alain Prost, the natural expectation was for a motoring-inspired watch to emerge from the minds of these French companions. Such assumption would be to foolishly ignore Richard’s propensity for thinking outside the box, though, and true to form, the RM 70-01 Tourbillon Alain Prost was unveiled as an elite instrument to be used on two wheels, not four: this is a luxury timepiece with functionality developed to catch the eye of cycling enthusiasts. Richard Mille has built a reputation on dreaming-up watches that look scintillating, yet can withstand the rigours of battle. The RM 027 Tourbillon created for tennis champion Rafael Nadal, for example, was Mille’s most acclaimed sporting revelation to date. Previously, a tennis player’s horological allegiance was revealed in advertising campaigns and trophy moments, with the watch removed from the sports bag courtside and slipped on the wrist, prior to their crowning. Nadal has worn the rugged, shockproof Richard Mille timepiece in-contest, as an ally that can withstand those punishing moments leading to glory.

A timepiece developed for the cycling fellowship is not as niche as may first appear. Professional road-warriors aside, world-beaters from other sporting disciplines take to the saddle as a supplementary training method or as an outlet for post-career personal endeavour. Four-time F1 drivers’ championship winner Prost is a prime example, with the sport keeping his competitive torch alight. Cycling was not actually a part of Prost’s childhood: even when competing in F1, time on a bike was “not part of my training regime and it didn’t particularly interest me”, he says. But his then physical therapist Pierre Baleydier suggested biking during Prost’s 1992 Grands Prix sabbatical, as an alternative to combat back and knee pain. He joined friends on excursions in Southwest France, and the quest proved addictive. Prost subsequently fell in love with road bikes, he says, “For their technical and even technological aspects. The revolution in the sports equipment continues to catch my attention: the introduction of composites, lighter materials, performance gains in gear assemblies, transmissions and more. As a tech and innovation fanatic, I’m well-placed to appreciate the subtleties involved.”

The rm 70-01 Tourbillon alain Prost; a limited edition of 30 pieces

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Prost’s admiration for excellence also pertains to watchmaking, and from his enduring friendship with Richard Mille hatched the RM 70-01. The initial talking point is its ergonomics: the trademark tonneau shaped case is asymmetric, creating a timepiece that is strictly to be worn on the right wrist, curving nicely away from the carpal bones and preventing the crown from jutting into the hand. Curiosity is also directed to the row of neon yellow numbers along the upper dial. An inbuilt mechanical odometer allows incremental input of kilometres clocked in a cycling session, for the rider to tally how many miles they have accumulated ‘in the legs’. “When I discuss with professional cyclists like Mark Cavendish [part of the Richard Mille brand family] how many kilometres they’re covered since the beginning of the season, nobody is able to tell me exactly how many have been done. I said it would be a good thing to have a watch where you can add the number each time you have been on a ride,” said Mille, at the Paul Ricard Circuit-unveil of his “new baby.” A pusher at 2 o’clock controls a gear selector fork to engage the desired of the five rollers, while the pusher at 11 o’clock rotates the selected roller into place. A ‘neutral’ mode, meanwhile, protects against accidental changes. Other key elements of the 70-01 anatomy are a 54.88mm Carbon TPT 36

case (with beautiful Damascus steellike pattern), spline and allen screws (reminiscent of those used in cycling) of Grade 5 Titanium to ensure perfect control of torque, and the curvature of the case provides optimal viewing on the wrist – plus efficient aerodynamics. “Richard suggested making a watch together, since he’s also passionate about cycling,” explains Prost, adding, “He asked me a lot of questions on technicality and aesthetics, and our exchanges sometimes veered off into frenzy. He listened to my opinion but ultimately he made the decisions: he’s never been wrong.” Prost was a prudent consultant, with a legacy founded on precision: 106 podium finishes and 51 race victories in F1; the current team manager of Renault e.dams Formula E; two decades of (previously) countless miles atop one of his prized bikes, competing in meets like L’Étape du Tour – which allows amateurs to race the same route as a stage of Tour de France. At 62, he rides roughly 200km a week in Switzerland and explains, “The intersection of haute horlogerie and cycling, two disciplines in the midst of remarkable developments, could not but lead to thoughtful reflection – followed by an equally inspired watch.” The eyecatching RM 70-01 on his wrist is the genesis of that careful contemplation, keeping Richard Mille out front, ahead of the chasing pack.

This page: Cycling was a new passion for Formula One hero Prost, who worked closely with richard mille to develop the rm 70-01 Tourbillon alain Prost Opposite page: The case comfortably tapers for a rider going flat-out, with the wrist in a downward position

Jewellery NOVEMBER 2017 : ISSUE 78

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Heart of Stone Ara Vartanian swapped a career as a trader in New York for pursuing his passion for precious stones. His fascination with inverted diamonds and bold designs has earned him high-profile fans around the world WORDS: FAYE BARTLE

s childhood memories go, collecting precious gems off the floor of the family home as a toddler sounds like something out of a fantastical storybook, but it was an everyday reality for Ara Vartanian. Born into a family of jewellers in São Paulo, Brazil, Vartanian grew up surrounded by exquisite stones, learning techniques and gaining experience that would later inspire his own collections. “From a very young age, around three or four years old, I would be running around our home finding stones on the carpet, which I used to collect. I think this had a big impact on the jeweller I am today, as I have always been intrigued by them,” he explains. Despite being immersed in the world of high jewellery, Vartanian poured his efforts into business, graduating with a degree in Economics from Boston University and working as a trader on NASDAQ in New York. But his heart simply wasn’t in it. “I wasn’t very good at it,” he admits. “I decided to change tack and go back to the family business. It gave me the greatest happiness, and I discovered a talent I didn’t know I had.” In 2000, he began working for his father, a diamond dealer, travelling the world buying stones, although he quickly found himself adopting an unconventional approach to the work. “I always thought stones were so beautiful from the back, which sparked a curiosity in me, as most people look at them front on. This led to my father and I having disagreements. He couldn’t understand the fascination, so I decided to start my own company.” Before the year ended, he opened a workshop in São Paulo and was finally able to let the creativity flow. “I wanted to further explore the beauty of the back of stones and the use of inverted diamonds,” he says. “They have a pointy, dangerous tip and a sense of three dimensionality,

I always thought stones were so beautiful from the back, which sparked a curiosity in me, as most people look at them front on

which I find so alluring and I continue to use them in my work today.” The results are impressive, with Vartanian’s collection of handmade jewellery a stunning showcase for innovative techniques. He sources the stones from all over the world, seeking the most interesting and unusual ones in terms of quality, cut and rarity. Those he selects to work with inspire the design of each individual piece. His workshop in Brazil is now integrated into his atelier and Vartanian leads a team of skilled artisans, supervising the assembly of each of his one-of-a-kind creations. And while he dared to strike out on his own, the family influence is still evident. “I always remember my mother saying that ‘comfort is key’ and the piece of jewellery should mould to the wearer’s body,” he says. “This is why comfort is always at the front of my mind when designing pieces.” Vartanian’s keen attention to detail has paid off. His designs are stocked globally, backed up by a London flagship store in Mayfair’s Bruton Place and a concession in Harvey Nichols. Penelope Cruz, Anne Hathaway and Ronnie Wood are among his fans. 39

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While comfort and symmetry remain key influences, finding new ways for women to wear jewellery is an ongoing crusade. “Over the years I have gravitated towards large stones. Therefore, the challenge of designing a piece of jewellery that is comfortable and symmetric has been a lot harder,” he says. “I have always been intrigued by new and different techniques to make sure the piece is as comfortable as it can be. Last year, for instance, I wanted to use an 18mm pearl in a ring and to do this I had to create a double finger ring in order to produce the most comfortable and aesthetically pleasing piece. This to me is the biggest sense of accomplishment, as it’s a huge challenge to put stones in places they shouldn’t be, and for the piece to be comfortable and wearable.” The thought process led the way for two- and three-finger rings – a move that has been well received by clients. “My clients want jewellery that is very well crafted, unique and exclusive to them,” he reveals. “With each piece I create, I give it a lot of love and attention. I love doing bespoke

work and have a lot of fun designing the pieces. It’s always a challenge trying to understand what the client wants, but it’s hugely interesting and I love the feeling of accomplishment that comes with getting it right.” Creating a bespoke piece can take anything from four weeks to several months, depending on the requirement. “One of my first commissioned pieces was over ten years ago, when a client wanted me to design a necklace featuring a pear-shaped Columbian emerald,” he recalls. “I had to find the perfect stone and individually select each diamond – all of which were one to five carats in size – as well as design and create the necklace. It was a very special piece.” Current designs in the making include a bracelet for a male client in London featuring two 10 carat rough diamonds and two 19 carat rough rubies. “People’s tastes in jewellery are evolving in the sense that they want a personal connection to the piece they own and wear, rather than just buying a piece off the shelf,” he concludes. With his raw yet refined approach, Vartanian is set to shine.

Opening pages: 18k white gold double finger ring featuring tanzanite (24.64ct), inverted black diamonds (2.71ct), inverted ice diamond (1.37ct) and white (0.73ct) diamonds Below: From left to right: silver cufflinks; 18k yellow gold ring; silver ring; silver and onyx ring. Photograph: Ara Vartanian Right: Sabrina Gasperin (Ara’s wife) wears: 18k gold, white and black diamond and emerald necklace; 18k gold, white diamond and emerald earrings; and 18k gold, white and black diamond and rubellite ring. Photograph: Ara Vartanian

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Art & Design NOVEMBER 2017 : ISSUE 78

Lobster Banquet

Philip Colbert earned himself the sobriquet of ‘godson of Andy Warhol’ from Andre Leon Talley years before he unveiled the most exciting move in his pop universe yet: an inaugural solo show of his paintings at the esteemed Saatchi Gallery WORDS : Carû SandErS

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oftly spoken art history enthusiast Colbert has long been in pop-training. He started a fashion label after graduating from St Andrews, whose alumni were Prince William and Kate. He moved to London after graduation and set-up The Rodnik Band, his label in 2004. Without knowing anything about clothing, he “somehow made it work”, teaching himself to design and pattern cut, infusing his collections with the most recognisable elements of his brand: parody and jest. “It all came from humour”, he says by way of explanation, “which was my philosophical response to setting-up in a fashion world when I knew nothing about it.” In person Colbert’s agreeableyet-canny manner belies the more boisterous cultural identity has made Rodnik Band a go-to collaborator for power brands. Typically, the global giants have always gone to him. Disney; Rolex; made.com; Smart Car; Absolut; and Snoopy, are among those who sought Philip’s artful spin, fusing his own label’s identity with their DNA. Colbert’s hipster credentials were well and truly sealed when Cara Delevingne appeared in a campaign film for a cute capsule collection featuring Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, Woodstock and the gang. Snoopy, Colbert says, has been one of his favourite partnerships, particularly his work with Rolex, for which he customised watches. So far, so successful, for someone who ‘didn’t know what he was doing’ when he started out, but thought he’d do whatever that was with a bit of whimsy. Philip also has a shop on London’s fashion mecca, Columbia Road, with his wife, artist and filmmaker Charlotte Colbert. The vibrant emporium looks like a Yellow Submarine and they work together on ceramic projects, living their life and art in playful, humorous collaboration. The emblems on which he’s built the Rodnik Band have saturated through the eight, two-metre murals being shown at Saatchi. Colbert’s Lobster character appears at the centre of each narrative – typically wearing one of Philip’s purposefully ‘loud’ suits, emblazoned with fried eggs, and a bemused expression. Conceived as a dialogue between himself and

Opening page: Philip Colbert in front of his work London; the lobster takes centre stage once more in Kitchen Chaos Right: Screw That; Space Pipe Overleaf: Desert Hunt

I make suits featuring them in repeat patterns. I turned myself into one to open this show his pop forefathers, the paintings ruminate on their contributions in the face of popular culture and his own autobiographical journey through this landscape. Colbert even rocked-up to the opening of his Saatchi show, trussed-up as the lurid giant crustacean, a costume that was produced by the makers for the children’s TV series Teletubbies. Philip has said, “I paint lobsters, I make suits featuring them in repeat patterns, so people associate me with the lobster. So, I turned myself into one to open this show.” Created as a dialogue between himself and his pop forefathers, the paintings ruminate on their contributions in the face of popular culture and his own autobiographical journey within it. The Rodnik Band has been referred to by Vogue Italia as ‘a museum of wearable art’ and a regular feature on London’s red carpet. His idiosyncratic have won the countenance of Karl Lagerfeld and Cara Delevingne, who most-enthusiastically put herself forward to star in the advert for his brand hook-up with Snoopy for Selfridges. Furthermore, some of

the most avant-garde clotheshorses in today’s fashion scene, including Anna Dello Russo and Lady Gaga have paraded themselves around in his attention-grabbing frocks. Directing collaborations and collections motored by the zeitgeist only fired Colbert’s artistic trajectory, so it comes as no surprise really that his inaugural solo show would be at Saatchi Gallery, a year after he decided to lay paint on canvas. Colbert explains that many of the symbolic references of art history have become as iconic in themselves, such as the Campbell’s Soup can or the McDonald’s sign. “Both from the art world and the public, I think people could feel the spirit of the paintings and also all the details and work that had gone into them.” He also waxes lyrical about working with Charles Saatchi himself, who personally helped him hang the show. “I found Charles amazing to work with, he personally helped me hang the show, and I was really impressed with his acute eye for detail and how handson he was. I am working on a massive triptych painting now for my next Saatchi show. I also found his

Art & Design

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NOVEMBER 2017 : ISSUE 78

Ultimately my message is that life is the greatest form of art. So live your art chief curator Philly Adams to be a true artistic spirit with brilliant energy.” In his brash, splashy world that bursts with contemporary culture, all the historical references of pop are sewn into Colbert’s lexicon alongside today’s figures and motifs. Pop emblems jostle with surrealism and the pervasive fragments and figures of a modern Britain. Colbert checklists a bingo card of Salvador Dali’s lobster telephone: Lichtenstein’s hot dog; David Hockney’s swimming pool; Francis Bacon’s distorted portraits; Man Ray’s ball bearing. The murals throng with youthful energy but there is a darker subtext. Colbert’s world is witty, whimsical and ironic, yet these are dark times, so he plays as much to our fears as our hopes. Central to each composition is Colbert’s symbolic lobster, who functions as Philip himself, as well as an anthropomorphic narrative device. The works are an explosion of painting 46

styles and ideas, they present modem pop as narrated chaos. The lobster, presented with a world of brands, the threat of violence, Colbert interweaves discomfort into the colour madness. In other work, he creates a kitchen scene of disruption, which takes its inspiration from Quentin Tarantino. The flailing lobster is under threat, his domestic peace disrupted by two sinister intruders. The lobster, says Colbert, is very much the narrator of the works — which allows him to be in conversation with the pop practitioners of the past. Not dissimilar to the approach of Rosenquist, who used surrealistic juxtapositions of products and insertion of politic messages, what is Colbert trying to tell us? What is his survey of today’s consumer culture? Are they crazy vignettes of Brexit Britain? “Ultimately my message is that life is the greatest

form of art”, says Philip by way of explanation. “So live your art.” One thing we are left with is that whatever Colbert’s intention is, he rattles the cage but leaves it us to the viewer to connect the dots. What Colbert shares in common with his pop forefathers is a commercial training in the visual vocabulary of mass culture. Andy Warhol was a highly successful magazine illustrator and graphic designer; Ed Ruscha was also a graphic designer, and James Rosenquist started his career as a billboard painter. Similarly commercial, from graduating from St Andrew’s to moving to London to start a fashion brand, a world he knew nothing about, Colbert has spent over a decade creating a visual vernacular. Creating his world on canvas, he’s managed to cast himself alongside his heroes. To find out more about Philip Colbert’s pop world, visit philipcolbert.com

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Penthouse in the Clouds 48

Your private plane represents the ultimate travel escape, and with a bespoke jet interior, that imaginative odyssey can commence simply by stepping onboard. Call in the experts for your design project, and the sky’s the limit

pend an afternoon browsing private jet interior designs, and your eyes will be treated to a veritable visual feast. The simplest of searches unearths inspiring delights: fish darting around an aquarium located between the dining and lounge areas of an aquatic-themed A320; a soaring New York skyline in sculpted leather relief, forming the backdrop to a suave 1930s art deco bar area; the serenity of a Washitsu, with a chabudai for dining and kisses of cherry blossom motif. Such concepts may seem a flight of fancy, but these ideas (and more) are being savoured in the skies above: the vision of clients looking to furnish their proud aircraft purchase, blended with the creative proficiency of teams making such projects feasible – and aviation compliant. Toulouse-based AirJet Designs is one such dreamcatcher. Jean-Pierre Alfano, its Head Designer, explains that, “Anything that you conceptualise has to be realised. I always say that making a nice drawing is easy, but turning it into reality means considering who will install it, who will create the upholstery, and carefully picking the proposed materials and technology – so that when you enter certification stage, you are not faced with any redesign issues and get sent back to the drawing board.” AirJet will discuss a client’s preference in detail, covering broader themes such as classic or contemporary, to specific examples of a particular interior that inspires them – a home, the aura of a fine hotel they like to frequent, for instance. The jet owner may wish to bring in a trusted interior designer they have worked with outside the aviation sphere. “Some aircraft owners will say, ‘I have a designer I hired for my yacht or villa, and I want them to work on my plane,’” Alfano explains. His company is inserted into the process to provide the crucial know-how: “Often with such collaborations, they do not have experience with aircraftspecific materials and technologies. We oversee the process from beginning to end, ensuring maximum innovation while being true to certification and vessel airworthiness.” For a boutique designer, a factor that can shape the creative process is plane’s intended use. “Jets being utilised for charter [when not flown by the principal owner] can narrow options, purely from a business perspective,” Alfano reveals. “For example, I found beautiful inspiration for a seat rest, that would integrate an intricate weave with leather accent. But as the project was for charter this was too delicate for maintenance purposes, should a passenger accidentally unravel the weave. Working on a plain leather scratch is easier, in terms of upkeep.” The design arm of an aerospace conglomerate such as Embraer, however, can go ‘all in’ with its charter jet approach 49

Art & Design NOVEMBER 2017 : ISSUE 78

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Above: Flamengus, 2017, by Reine Paradis. Courtesy Catherine and André Hug Gallery Right: Les fantômes de Bassam - ancienne école régionale, 2016, by Edith Roux. Courtesy Galerie Dix9 Hélène Lacharmoise; The Grand Bouquet series, 20142015, by Alfred Drago Rens. courtesy Galleria L’Affiche

– evidenced by the resplendent ‘Hollywood’ and ‘Manhattan’ themes masterminded by Jay Beever, Vice President of Interior Design for Embraer Executive Jets. He explains that the seed was planted when a friend in Laguna Beach, John Erdman, exposed him “to the design and history of the SS Normandie, a French ocean liner… I immediately fell in love with its Art Deco and Streamline Moderne interior design, making me think of the wealth of such architecture here in the US. We conceived two sister airships which not only celebrate the Art Deco history of Manhattan and Hollywood architecture, but also deliver the ultimate flight experience.” The Embraer charter themes are ‘scalable concepts’ that can be applied to its entire line of business jets. “The unique and compelling layouts are atypical,” elaborates Beever. “For instance, the first three cabin zones are set aside for the party. These three open gathering spaces encourage socialising. Next is the salon, featuring a more typical cabin layout for relaxation and intimate 50

conversation. In the rear of the aircraft, the Crystal Room is meant for dining. The layout is entirely customisable.” On embracing the avant garde, “The use of aircraft mohair and lamb skin leathers make for luxurious seating applications,” Beever explains. “The exotic veneers and marquetry utilise methods from the period while simulated crystal, developed for aircraft, created special lighting opportunities. Lastly, the 3D sculpted sidewall and headliner trim takes advantage of aircraft space rarely considered a canvas for art.” For AirJet, being headquartered in the heart of Europe also allows them to unearth design gems.“With our network of trusted suppliers, we’ve elite carpet, leather and upholsters, but we’re also able to source timehonoured techniques,” Alfano enthuses. “A French 1930s artisanal Straw marquetry that we are working on for some doors and tabletops, or lamps with intricate mosaic artwork from Italian artisans. We’ve exquisite crafts being produced right on the doorstep.” Of the myriad design details it is certification, Alfano believes, that is

perhaps the most undervalued. AirJet takes pride in deflecting such concerns from the client, yet compliance awareness is included in discussions from the beginning. “We don’t make promises that cannot be kept in regards to ‘out of the box’ ideas that are impossible to install,” he says. “A client may want the seats to be red because their Ferrari is the same shade, so engage a non-aviation upholstery shop to create the seat material. They look nice. But if they are not put through testing and obtain the correct paperwork, when the regulator inspects the plane they could decide to ground it – which of course is costly and timeconsuming. We navigate such matters.” There are evident challenges, but not every project means boldly reinventing the wheel. “These are projects that appeal to one particular client, but not necessarily to the majority of people,” Alfano soothes. “In essence, people desire a similar level of exceptional comfort that they enjoy in their home or yacht. A lot of personalisation focuses on the little details – having that discreet yet distinct mark of the aircraft being one’s own.”

Opening Pages: Acquario, a theme created by AirJet Designs for an A320 Left: The Kyoto airship theme, by Embraer Right: AirJet Designâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Oasis, aboard an A340-500; Manhattan theme, created for charter by Embraer Executive Jetsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; interior design team

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2018 ‫ لعام‬S ‫مجموعة سيارات الفئة‬ S 450 (V6) S 560 (V8) S 560 4MATIC (V8) AMG S 63 4MATIC+ (V8) AMG S 65 (V12) Maybach S 650 (V12)

‫‪ AIR‬مع مرسيدس‪-‬بنز‬

‫النضارة‬ ‫التصميم الخارجي‬ ‫مظهرها الخارجي يُعلن منذ الوهلة األولى‪،‬‬ ‫وبما ال مجال فيه للخطأ‪ ،‬بأنها من الفئة '‪.'S‬‬ ‫ً‬ ‫مسرعة على الطرق‬ ‫وسواء كانت تنطلق‬ ‫السريعة‪ ،‬أو تتباطأ تدريجيًا حتى التوقف‬ ‫لتعلن عن حضورها بمنتهى الفخامة‬ ‫والعظمة‪ ،‬فهذا التصميم االستثنائي‬ ‫من سيارات مرسيدس يتفرد بخطوطه‬ ‫الرائعة التي يمكن تمييزها على الفور‪ .‬كما‬ ‫أن مزايا التصميم المدمجة في شكلها‬ ‫الفريد تضيف درجة أكبر من الفخامة لعام‬ ‫‪ - 2018‬لقد أولت مرسيدس‪-‬بنز كل زاويةٍ‬ ‫وانحناءة في السيارة اهتمامها المعروف‬ ‫بالتفاصيل‪.‬‬ ‫تعد فئة ‪ S‬إنجا ًزا جماليًا استثنائيًا بخطوطه‬ ‫ً‬ ‫وأناقة ال تعرف التنازالت‪.‬‬ ‫الفريدة‪.‬‬

‫مجموعة سيارات الفئة ‪ S‬لعام ‪2018‬‬ ‫)‪S 450 (V6‬‬ ‫)‪S 560 (V8‬‬ ‫)‪S 560 4MATIC (V8‬‬ ‫)‪AMG S 63 4MATIC+ (V8‬‬ ‫)‪AMG S 65 (V12‬‬ ‫)‪Maybach S 650 (V12‬‬

‫‪ AIR‬مع مرسيدس‪-‬بنز‬

‫الدفء‬ ‫التصميم الداخلي‬ ‫يضمن التصميم الداخلي عالي الفخامة‬ ‫أن ُتبهر الفئة ‪ S‬الجميع‪ ،‬فهناك ما يفوق‬ ‫المتوقع لمن اعتاد على التألق والترف‪.‬‬ ‫عالم استثنائي‬ ‫فالمقصورة الفاخرة هي‬ ‫ٌ‬ ‫من الملمس العجيب الرائع يتوفر فيه‬ ‫سطح‬ ‫الكثير من الرحابة واالتساع‪ .‬كل‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫فيها مزين بمواد فاخرة جدً ا‪ ،‬أما المظهر‬ ‫الكالسيكي فتزينه عناصر من التكنولوجيا‬ ‫المتطورة‪ .‬وتجتمع كافة المكونات لتجعل‬ ‫الرحلة بمنتهى السهولة والسالسة‪،‬‬ ‫وتسمح للرفاهية بأن تزدهر‪.‬‬ ‫د ّلل نفسك وانعم بأعلى درجات الراحة‬ ‫أثناء القيادة في مقعد الفئة ‪ S‬المبطن‬ ‫ولن تود أبدً ا مغادرة هذه المقصورة‪ ،‬عالمك‬ ‫الخاص من الراحة والفخامة والتميز أثناء‬ ‫تنقالتك على الطريق‪.‬‬

‫‪ AIR‬مع مرسيدس‪-‬بنز‬

‫الفرح‬ ‫ٌ‬ ‫رفاهية داخل‬ ‫المقصورة‬ ‫سواء كنت وراء عجلة القيادة أو تستلقي‬ ‫مسترخيًا كأحد الركاب‪ ،‬فأنت في موقع‬ ‫التحكم‪ :‬إذ ّ‬ ‫مستويات غير‬ ‫توفر الفئة ‪S‬‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫مسبوقة من الراحة للسائق والركاب على‬ ‫ً‬ ‫سيارة يمكنها حرفيًا أن‬ ‫حد سواء‪ ،‬فهي‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫تصنع األجواء التي تناسب كل عقلية ومزاج‪.‬‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫المحفز‬ ‫وبفضل ميزة التحكم في الراحة‬ ‫للنشاط‬ ‫‪،ENERGIZING Comfort Control‬‬ ‫األولى في العالم‪ ،‬تعمل مختلف األنظمة‬ ‫التي تؤمن الراحة‪ ،‬مثل التحكم في‬ ‫المناخ ووظائف التدليك‪ ،‬بصورة مدمجة‬ ‫وبتناغم تام‪.‬‬ ‫ومتكاملة‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫تسمح هذه الميزة الرائدة للركاب بتعديل‬ ‫إعدادات معينة للراحة والرفاهية بما‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫ويعزز راحتهم‬ ‫يتناسب مع مزاجهم‬ ‫الجسدية أثناء القيادة على الطريق‪ ،‬مع‬ ‫توفر ستة برامج ‪ ENERGIZING‬للراحة‪،‬‬ ‫وهي النضارة والدفء والحيوية الفرح‬ ‫والراحة والتدريب‪ ،‬مع استمرار كل واحدة‬ ‫من هذه اإلعدادات في العمل لمدة عشر‬ ‫دقائق‪.‬‬ ‫يمكن تعديل سيارات فئة ‪ S‬بعناية‬ ‫لتتماشى مع كل مزاج‪ :‬سواء كان ذلك‬ ‫بإعطاء إحساس السباق واإلثارة والحماس‬ ‫الذي يرفع األدرينالين‪ ،‬أو بتوفير أجواء هادئة‬ ‫ً‬ ‫وجهة في‬ ‫مريحة‪ ،‬حيث تصبح السيارة هي‬ ‫حد ذاتها‪.‬‬

‫‪ AIR‬مع مرسيدس‪-‬بنز‬

‫الحيوية‬ ‫السرعة واألداء‬ ‫هذه السيارة الرائدة ضمن مجموعات‬ ‫ً‬ ‫خطوة كبيرة أخرى في‬ ‫مرسيدس تحقق‬ ‫أنظمة القيادة الذاتية‪ ،‬يدعمها نظام‬ ‫القيادة الذكي لسيارات مرسيدس فئة ‪.S‬‬ ‫ورغم جميع جوانبها الحساسة‪ ،‬إال أن هذه‬ ‫السيارة قادرة على إعطاء قد ٍر هائل من‬ ‫القوة الجامحة‪.‬‬ ‫ويعد تعاون مرسيدس لفترةٍ طويلة مع‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫قسم األداء العالي ‪ AMG‬عام ً‬ ‫ال أساسيًا في‬ ‫وصولها إلى ذروة األداء العالي في السيارات‪.‬‬ ‫فإذا ما اخترت أن يقوم قسم ‪ AMG‬بتزويد‬ ‫سيارتك من فئة ‪ S‬بالتجهيزات الخاصة‬ ‫بتعزيز القوة‪ ،‬سيتبين لك حينها سبب ذلك‬ ‫وبشكل جلي‪ .‬إن وحدة التطوير هذه التي‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫تجتمع فيها الخبرات والمهارات في مجال‬ ‫السيارات الرياضية س ُتدخل المزيد من القوة‬ ‫وقدرات الثبات والمناورة على الطريق لتصبح‬ ‫السيارة أقرب إلى السيارات الرياضية المتألقة‪،‬‬ ‫مع دمج كل المزايا يدويًا في سيارة سيدان‬ ‫فاخرة‪.‬‬ ‫إن تصاميم سيارات الفئة ‪ S‬تأتي بمثابة‬ ‫أرضية الرسم بالنسبة لألداء ‪ AMG‬ستوديو‪،‬‬ ‫كي يضع عليها أجمل إبداعاته‪ .‬وبفضله‬ ‫تصبح سيارة السيدان فائقة الجمال هذه‬ ‫ً‬ ‫قوة جامحة تنتظر أن يطلق لها العنان‪.‬‬

‫‪ AIR‬مع مرسيدس‪-‬بنز‬

‫الراحة‬ ‫ٌ‬ ‫رحلة بنعومة الحرير‬ ‫مزايا القيادة شبه الذاتية تأتي معززة في‬ ‫سيارات فئة ‪ S‬الجديدة‪ ،‬فتعطي السائق‬ ‫قدرًا من اإلحساس باألمان وراحة البال بفضل‬ ‫المجموعة الواسعة من أجهزة االستشعار‬ ‫والرادار‪.‬‬ ‫نظام‬ ‫إذ تجتمع خاصيّتا الراحة والسالمة في‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫سهل االستعمال يسمى القيادة الذكية‬ ‫‪ .Intelligent Drive‬وقد أدخلت هذه‬ ‫الميزات المبتكرة في النسخة السابقة من‬ ‫الفئة ‪ S‬للمساعدة أثناء القيادة‪ ،‬مع تعزيز‬ ‫التجربة ذاتها لعام ‪.2018‬‬ ‫سيارات مرسيدس‪-‬بنز من الفئة ‪ S‬تشبه‬ ‫القط في سرعة ردود أفعاله‪ ،‬وفي اإلحاطة‬ ‫بجميع المتغيرات من حوله‪ ،‬مع الذكاء الذي‬ ‫يأتي استكما ً‬ ‫ال لتصميمها فائق الجمال‪.‬‬

‫‪ AIR‬مع مرسيدس‪-‬بنز‬

‫التدريب‬ ‫إعادة تصحيح‬ ‫التوقعات‬ ‫اسما يليق به الكثير‬ ‫إن سيارات الفئة ‪ S‬تحمل‬ ‫ً‬ ‫من االحترام والتقدير‪ ،‬مع تواجدٍ يفرض‬ ‫نفسه على رأس السيارات من الفئة ذاتها‪.‬‬ ‫ومع ذلك‪ ،‬فإن هذا التميز لم يأت وليد‬ ‫الصدفة أو نتيجة تغير في مسار تطوير‬ ‫السيارة‪ :‬بل أنه عملية مدروسة ومتعمدة‬ ‫قام بها خبراء على درجةٍ عالية من التدريب‬ ‫والتوافق في الرؤية‪ ،‬يجمعون فيما بينهم‬ ‫ما يلزم من التخصصات إلخراج أفضل سيارة‬ ‫في العالم‪.‬‬ ‫نظام جديد من الترف‬ ‫وما موديل ‪ 2018‬إال‬ ‫ٌ‬ ‫غير المسبوق‪.‬‬ ‫تخرج الفئة ‪ ،S‬ذات النسب المعروف بين‬ ‫السيارات باقتران القوة بالجمال‪ ،‬لتثبت‬ ‫ً‬ ‫مرة أخرى تفوقها على غيرها في الميدان‬ ‫بنواحي الذكاء والقوة واألداء والفخامة‪.‬‬

‫‪ AIR‬مع مرسيدس‪-‬بنز‬

‫التاريخ يعيد نفسه‬ ‫السيارة األفضل في العالم ال تولد‪ ،‬إنما تخضع‬ ‫لجهود مستمرة من التطور والتحديث‪ .‬لقد جاءت‬ ‫عاما من االبتكارات‬ ‫مرسيدس بنز بحصيلة ‪114‬‬ ‫ً‬ ‫األولى في العالم أدخلتها في الفئة ‪ ،S‬وحوّ لت‬ ‫خالل تلك السنوات الرؤية الطموحة للسيارة‬ ‫العصرية وما يجب أن تكون عليه‪.‬‬

‫السبعينيات‬ ‫أصبحت سيارة ‪116 W‬‬

‫ضمن الفئة ‪ ،S‬والتي ُأطلقت‬ ‫عام ‪ ،1978‬أول سيارة ُتنتج‬ ‫في العالم على خطوط‬ ‫اإلنتاج وتكون مزوّ دة بنظام‬ ‫الفرامل المانعة لالنغالق ‪،ABS‬‬ ‫المصممة للمساعدة في‬ ‫الحفاظ على إمكانية التحكم‬ ‫بتوجيه السيارة حتى عند تطبيق‬ ‫بشكل كامل‪ .‬كان‬ ‫الفرامل‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫ً‬ ‫ً‬ ‫ضجة‬ ‫حدثا أثار‬ ‫ذلك في حينه‬ ‫ً‬ ‫كبيرة في جميع أنحاء العالم‪،‬‬ ‫ً‬ ‫ميزة‬ ‫لتصبح أنظمة ‪ ABS‬اليوم‬ ‫قياسية في جميع السيارات‬

‫المصنوعة‪.‬‬

‫الثمانينيات‬

‫ميزة الوسادة الهوائية للراكب‬ ‫األمامي‪ ،‬التي أصبحت اآلن‬ ‫متوفرة في جميع السيارات‬ ‫العصرية‪ ،‬كانت «مرسيدس‪-‬بنز»‬ ‫أول ُمص ّن ٍع للسيارات في العالم‬ ‫يقوم بإدخالها ضمن السيارات‬ ‫المصنعة في خطوط اإلنتاج‪.‬‬ ‫وقد ظهرت الوسادة الهوائية‬ ‫للمرة األولى في سلسلة طراز‬ ‫‪ 126‬ضمن الفئة ‪ S‬في معرض‬ ‫فرانكفورت الدولي للسيارات‬

‫بسبتمبر ‪.1987‬‬

‫‪ - S‬اليوم األول‬

‫قرن من الزمان‪ ،‬نفسها معيارًا للتميّز على‬ ‫رسخت مرسيدس‪-‬بنز‪ ،‬ألكثر من‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫اعتبارها الشركة الرائدة عالميًا في صناعة السيارات الفاخرة‪ .‬أما الفئة ‪ ،S‬حاملة‬ ‫راية ذلك التميّز‪ ،‬فلطالما كانت ّ‬ ‫واضحا ال يُنافس لما تسعى مرسيدس‪-‬‬ ‫تمثل بيا ًنا‬ ‫ً‬

‫قرن من الزمان‪ ،‬نفسها معيارًا للتميّز على‬ ‫رسخت مرسيدس‪-‬بنز‪ ،‬ألكثر من‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫اعتبارها الشركة الرائدة عالميًا في صناعة السيارات الفاخرة‪ .‬أما الفئة ‪ ،S‬حاملة‬ ‫راية ذلك التميّز‪ ،‬فلطالما كانت ّ‬ ‫سياراتمرسيدس‪-‬‬ ‫مجموعةتسعى‬ ‫إطالقيُنافس لما‬ ‫واضحا ال‬ ‫تمثل بيا ًناأما ً‬

‫التسعينيات‬ ‫بنز لتحقيقه منذ أن انطلقت على الطرقات في الخمسينيات‪.‬‬ ‫قدمت الفئة ‪S‬‬ ‫الثانية‬ ‫األلفية‬

‫(سلسلة طراز ‪ ،)220‬التي‬ ‫بوضع بصمتها كسيارة السيدان‬ ‫تصريحا متنق ً‬ ‫عن رفضهم‬ ‫يعبر‬ ‫ال من مالكيها المميزين‬ ‫تعد‬ ‫فمرسيدس‪-‬بنز‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫ً‬ ‫أعلى‬ ‫درجات‬ ‫أطلقت عام ‪،1998‬‬ ‫اقتصادية‬ ‫األكثر‬ ‫الفاخرة‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫إطالقكل‬ ‫تمولهم‬ ‫عليها‪،‬‬ ‫اعتادوا‬ ‫درجة عن نمط الحياة الفاخرة التي‬ ‫بأدنى‬ ‫والراحة‪،‬ولو‬ ‫من األمان التخلي‬ ‫بفضل‬ ‫وذلك‬ ‫سيارة‬ ‫العالم‪،‬‬ ‫في‬ ‫التعليق‬ ‫مزايا نظام‬ ‫هايبريد‬ ‫‪S 400‬‬ ‫مرسيدس‬ ‫مرسيدس‪-‬بنزمن‬ ‫جيل يأتي من الفئة ‪ S‬إعال ًنا أكيدً ا‬ ‫الهوائييمثل كل‬ ‫ذلك‪ .‬كما‬ ‫الحق في‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫يتم‬ ‫الذي‬ ‫«‪»AIRMATIC‬‬ ‫الجديد‬ ‫اآلن ‪.‬طراز‬ ‫كأول‬ ‫‪2009‬‬ ‫العام‬ ‫في‬ ‫يبشر بأن مستقبل صناعة السيارات هو‬ ‫التحكم به إلكترونيًا‪ ،‬ونظام‬ ‫فاخر مع نظام القيادة الهجين‬ ‫التحكم والعرض «‪،»COMAND‬‬ ‫المحسنة والصديق‬ ‫ذي الكفاءة‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫ٌ‬ ‫أجيال من‬ ‫تسبقها‬ ‫فئة ‪S‬‬ ‫إلى جانب نظامتتميّز‬ ‫السرعة‬ ‫تثبيت‬ ‫التصاميمضمن‬ ‫كأول سيارة‬ ‫وأيضًا‬ ‫الجديدة كليًا بنسبها الملكي‪ ،‬للبيئة‪،‬‬ ‫ً‬ ‫أخرى بذات‬ ‫مرة‬ ‫اآلن‬ ‫المسافاتفي صناعة السيارات‪ .‬وتعاود الظهور‬ ‫مراقبةفي عصرها‬ ‫المبتكر مع الرائدة‬ ‫بطارية‬ ‫اإلنتاج مع‬ ‫سلسلة‬ ‫«‪.»DISTRONIC‬‬ ‫ليثيوم‪-‬أيون‪.‬‬ ‫مجموعة‬ ‫بتصميم خارجي جديد فائق الجاذبية‪ ،‬باإلضافة إلى‬ ‫والروعة‬ ‫القوة‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫ً‬ ‫مسافة أكبر عن باقي‬ ‫من التحسينات التكنولوجية الذكية التي تبتعد بها‬ ‫ً‬ ‫جاهدة اللحاق بركبها‪.‬‬ ‫السيارات التي تحاول‬

‫‪2013‬‬

‫‪2018‬‬

‫بحلول‬ ‫لعام‬ ‫لتحقيقه منذ أن الفئة‬ ‫فقدالخمسينيات‪.‬‬ ‫‪ 2018‬في‬ ‫الطرقات‬ ‫انطلقت‪S‬على‬ ‫حققت مرسيدس‪-‬بنزبنز‬

‫هذا العام رؤيتها في إنتاج‬ ‫رسخت تصنيف مرسيدس‪ -‬بنز‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫أفضل السيارات في العالم‪،‬‬ ‫على أنها الشركة المصنعة‬ ‫تصريحا متنق ً‬ ‫ال من مالكيها المميزين يعبر عن رفضهم‬ ‫تعد‬ ‫فمرسيدس‪-‬بنز‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫ً‬ ‫ركائز‬ ‫وذلك بفضل اعتمادها‬ ‫ألفضل سيارة في العالم‪ .‬إن‬ ‫تطويرولهم كل‬ ‫فيعليها‪،‬‬ ‫اعتادوا‬ ‫منالتي‬ ‫الفاخرة‬ ‫الحياة‬ ‫نمط‬ ‫عن‬ ‫درجة‬ ‫بأدنى‬ ‫التخلي ولو‬ ‫حدود‬ ‫تتجاوز‬ ‫ثالثة أساسية‬ ‫الريادة‬ ‫عاما‬ ‫‪114‬‬ ‫ً‬ ‫من مرسيدس‬ ‫الفئة ‪S‬‬ ‫جيل يأتي من‬ ‫يمثل كل‬ ‫البديهيةذلك‪.‬‬ ‫التقنياتالحق في‬ ‫كمافي‬ ‫وتتمثل‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫إعال ًنا أكيدً‬ ‫أنتجتا ما‬ ‫السيارات‬ ‫صناعة‬ ‫القيادة الذكية‪ ،‬والتكنولوجيا‬ ‫أسطول‬ ‫نعرفه اليوم‬ ‫الفئة هو اآلن ‪.‬‬ ‫السيارات‬ ‫منصناعة‬ ‫مستقبل‬ ‫يبشر بأن‬ ‫الفعالة‪ ،‬وجوهر الفخامة‬ ‫‪ S‬من سيارات مرسيدس‪-‬بنز‬ ‫والترف‪ .‬لقد جاء طراز الفئة ‪S‬‬ ‫لمستواها‬ ‫ترقى‬ ‫ال‬ ‫التي‬ ‫الرائعة‬ ‫ٌ‬ ‫أجيال من التصاميم‬ ‫تتميّز ً فئة ‪ S‬الجديدة كليًا بنسبها الملكي‪ ،‬تسبقها‬ ‫لعام ‪ 2013‬مجهزا بمجموعةٍ‬ ‫أي منافسة‪ ،‬وتبقى الرائدة بال‬ ‫ً‬ ‫أخرى بذات‬ ‫مرة‬ ‫اآلن‬ ‫الظهور‬ ‫وتعاود‬ ‫في عصرها‬ ‫الرائدة‬ ‫أنظمة‬ ‫كاملة من‬ ‫جوانب الذكاء والقوة‬ ‫السيارات‪.‬في‬ ‫السالمة في صناعة منازع‬ ‫باإلضافة إلى مجموعة‬ ‫الجاذبية‪،‬‬ ‫بتصميم خارجي جديد فائق‬ ‫والروعة‬ ‫القوة‬ ‫المبتكرة‪.‬‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫والفخامة‪.‬‬ ‫واألداء‬ ‫ً‬ ‫مسافة أكبر عن باقي‬ ‫من التحسينات التكنولوجية الذكية التي تبتعد بها‬ ‫ً‬ ‫جاهدة اللحاق بركبها‪.‬‬ ‫السيارات التي تحاول‬

‫من بين الميزات اإلضافية الجديدة التي ال ُتحصى لعام ‪ 2018‬تأتي وحدة التحكم‬

‫ّ‬ ‫المحفز للنشاط ‪ :ENERGIZING Comfort Control‬نظام الرفاهة‬ ‫في الراحة‬

‫خصيصا حسب التفضيل‪ .‬إذ تعمل‬ ‫معدلة‬ ‫األول في العالم لتجربة مقصورة‬ ‫ً‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫اإلعدادات الستة المعينة لنظام التحكم في الراحة‪ ،‬وهي النضارة والدفء و‬

‫الحيوية والفرح والراحة والتدريب‪ ،‬على تعديل اإلضاءة والمناخ والموسيقى والكثير‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫تشكل أجواء محيطة تعكس مزاج راكبي السيارة‪.‬‬ ‫غير ذلك‪ ،‬بحيث‬

‫هذه اإلعدادات الستة تحمل بالنسبة لنا معنى إضافي‪ ،‬فهي النقاط التي تجسد‬

‫تماما الجوانب المعقدة لعملية التجديد الهائلة التي خضعت لها الفئة ‪.S‬‬ ‫ً‬

‫الخمسينيات‬ ‫شهد هذا العقد إطالق‬

‫أول طراز من سيارات الفئة ‪،S‬‬ ‫وبحلول عام ‪ ،1956‬مع إطالق‬ ‫مرسيدس ‪ ،S 220‬أصبح للحرف‬ ‫دائما ضمن أسماء‬ ‫'‪ 'S‬تواجدً ا‬ ‫ً‬ ‫طرازات الفئة المتميزة من‬ ‫مرسيدس‪-‬بنز‪ .‬ومع المستويات‬ ‫المتفوقة والمتماثلة من الراحة‬ ‫والسالمة‪ ،‬فقد جاء االحتفاء‬ ‫بأدائها الرائع الذي يرتقي‬ ‫إلى مستوى اعتمادها ضمن‬ ‫«السيارات الرياضية»‪.‬‬

‫الستينيات‬

‫هنا ظهرت جهود العمل‬

‫على مطابقة األداء العالي‬ ‫لمرسيدس‪-‬بنز مع مستوى‬ ‫مماثل من الذكاء‪ .‬وجاءت الفئة‬ ‫‪ S‬اآلن لتجمع بصورةٍ استثنائية‬ ‫ميزات مثل‬ ‫في وقتها بين‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫التعليق الهوائي‪ ،‬وناقل الحركة‬ ‫األوتوماتيكي‪ ،‬والمقود المعزز‬ ‫إلكترونيًا‪ ،‬إلى جانب نظام‬ ‫هيدروليكي فريد من نوعه‪ .‬وقد‬ ‫مهدت هذه األنظمة المتقدمة‬ ‫الطريق إلى ما أصبحنا نتوقعه‬ ‫في مواصفات السيارة العصرية‪.‬‬

‫‪ AIR‬مع مرسيدس‪-‬بنز‬

2018 ‫ لعام‬S ‫مجموعة سيارات الفئة‬ S 450 (V6) S 560 (V8) S 560 4MATIC (V8) AMG S 63 4MATIC+ (V8) AMG S 65 (V12) Maybach S 650 (V12)

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He’s the reigning king of suave on-camera but for his new movie released this month, George Clooney has taken the directorial reigns of a jarring thriller about deceit, betrayal and violence InteRvIew: Jason adams AddItIonAl woRds: Chris UJma

hen George Clooney’s Suburbicon premiered at the Venice Film Festival 2017 in August, he arrived by speedboat with wife Amal. The seemingly inseparable couple wed in the romantic Italian city last year, and it has been a whirlwind for the pair ever since: the family became four when welcoming twins Ella and Alexander into the world back in June. With all the new beginnings, Suburbicon is a return to familiar territory for Clooney: the movie, due for general release at the beginning of this month, marks his sixth stint as a director but his first since The Monuments Men in 2014 and The Ides of March three years prior. He’s hardly prolific behind the camera, but sure does pick a meaty project when the time arrives. Suburbicon, with a script written by the Coen brothers, has a fascinating historical premise that – in some senses – unintentionally holds a mirror up to modern day America, which may just balk at its own reflection. The movie is set in a peaceful, idyllic, suburban community with affordable homes and manicured lawns, bought to life with crisp cinematography. It’s the perfect place to raise a family and, in the summer of 1959, the Lodge family is doing just that. But the tranquil surface masks a disturbing reality, as husband and father Gardner Lodge must navigate the town’s unseemly underbelly of violence, lies and racial tension. It’s a tale of ‘very flawed people making very bad choices’ says Paramount Studios, and those choices are seen through from the perspective of a child, giving the movie a unique vantage on the dark 55

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We lift up that curtain, looking underneath that thin veneer, and see some of the real problems this country has yet to come to terms with. Unfortunately these are issues that are never out of vogue in our country

proceedings. Explains Clooney, “We really wanted it through the eyes of a kid and we didn’t want to give him anywhere to go to tell anybody. We wanted him to feel uncomfortable about it. I’m still very patriotic, plus I’m a positive and optimistic person, so I do look at how this young boy sees that world and he thinks, ‘Well, let’s make this better.’” While the script was written years ago, issues addressed in the film seem almost prescient of the current socio-political climate in the US. “The genesis of the screenplay started when I was watching a lot of speeches on the campaign trail about scapegoating minorities,” Clooney explains. “I started looking around at other times in our history when we’ve unfortunately fallen back into these things, and I remembered the Coen brothers had written Suburbicon. I thought it would be the perfect match to have people looking in the wrong direction, while everyone was talking about making America great again.” Even that seemingly optimistic slogan has an undercurrent, Clooney explains. “‘America great’, everyone assumes, 56

references Eisenhower of the 1950s – and of course it was great if you were a white, straight male but other than that it probably wasn’t so ‘great’. So we lift up that curtain, looking underneath that thin veneer, and see some of the real problems this country has yet to come to terms with. Unfortunately these are issues that are never out of vogue in our country. We’re still trying to exorcise these problems.” Julianne Moore and Matt Damon star in the movie, and the latter has an especially turbulent ride as conflicted Gardner – “I’ve never seen him be so awful,” Clooney laughs. There’s space for Oscar Isaac in the cast, too, as the suspicious investigator. The director explains, “Originally, in 1999 when the Coens were trying to get this movie made, they offered me the part to play. And I wanted to do it, but we never got the movie made. Then when it came around to doing the film again, I thought of Isaac because this young actor is the real deal. He’s an actor of real substance and somebody that I just adore watching. The film is at that point where it needs a shot of energy into it and to take the film on

a new direction – he comes in and the knocks that scene out of the park.” Clooney, surely, must have been tempted to assume a director/on-screen duality. “No,” he says emphatically. “You know, it’s not really fun to direct yourself, as you can imagine. I’d be working with Julianne and we’d do the scene and then I’d go ‘And cut..’ which is a terrible thing to do. So I really didn’t want to do it and Isaac did so much with this film that I couldn’t imagine doing it any better. So no.” So does he believe Moore and Damon’s ‘flawed’ characters are monsters? “I think they’re very sweet people. It’s a funny thing about monsters because the way they are formed is not that they just twist their moustache and they’re bad people. You’re formed, and it happens through a series of really stupid mistakes that are compounded,” he says. “These are two characters who make a plan, not particularly well thought out and not the best of plans, obviously. But they compound at every single fork of the road that they could make a choice they make the wrong one. Every single opportunity they get. They are

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Right: George Clooney with wife amal at the 74th Venice Film Festival

We didn’t know that Trump was coming into office, but the reality is that the story pieces are elements that have always played in Americana monsters. Some of it out of – well, not stupidity – but it’s that they don’t really know how. They hire killers [for a home invasion insurance scam] because they’re not killers and then they have to become killers along the way. They bumble into some really terrible things and they become monsters. Monsters are created and they create themselves in this film, I think.” Heroes, villains and the grey definitions in-between apply to the current US political arena. There was no crystal ball, of course, and Clooney wasn’t to predict a Trumpian presidential era on the horizon: “We didn’t know that Trump was coming into office, but the story pieces are elements that have always played in Americana,” the director says. “The suburbs are a big part of our lives. After World War II this was the way for the new middle class to have a home. For USD6,000 you could have a yard and swimming pool and access a nice school and everybody could get a little piece of it.”

‘It’ representing a piece of US utopia – “so long as your skin was the right shade”, he continues. “Everybody thought the ideal was alright, until you realised that only certain people were allowed to swim in that swimming pool. This is a movie about our constant coming to terms with the idea that we have never addressed our issues with race fully. We’ve tried.” Citing a critical moment for the film’s township, Clooney says, “When you hear that petition where he says, ‘We favour integration but only when these people educate themselves’ – that’s the actual petition that was read in Levittown, Pennsylvania. We didn’t write that, we found it. People didn’t think of themselves as bigots. They thought, ‘I’m not a bigot, they just don’t educate themselves and I don’t want uneducated people here.’ It’s that subtlety that we’re still trying to cope with. And it is a big part of our history and it will be a part of our history for a long period of time.”

So why was it so important to make this kind of movie, at this moment? “I think it’s important because this is something that is really festering right now in the United States. I grew up in Kentucky and they would come to my home town and do Civil War re-enactments, and they’d go to the townspeople and you’d get to pick if you wanted to be a Union or a Rebel soldier. And I’d be, ‘I want to be the Rebel!’ It was fun,” he reminisces. “But you didn’t really understand the history of the Confederate flag and understand that that was a flag that was designed to carry into battle against the United States of America in favour of slavery. And they lost. Now if you want to wear it on your t-shirt or if you want to hang it off of your front lawn, have it – just ‘good luck’ with your neighbours. But to hang it on a public building where partially African American taxpayers are paying for it, when it is symbol of hate – that cannot stand. And we have to come to terms with those things. That’s important.” 59

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Taking Care of Business Before Elvis had left the building, he made sure to put on one heck of a show. A new exhibition brings the on-tour magic of The King to the UK â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a nation never graced by his live presence â&#x20AC;&#x201C; providing insight into how he lived and breathed for his fans WORDS : Chris Ujma

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sprawling, 13-acre estate in Tennessee is where, to this day, thousands of devout Elvis fans flock to get their own piece of The King. A tour of Graceland, the 23-room abode once owned by the singer, is a chance to understand the man: his impact on music, and his reverence as Memphis’ favourite son. Fans scribble profound messages on the exterior perimeter walls; they gawp at the magnificent chandeliers, at the grand piano in the entranceway, and at the mirrored ceiling TV room, with its three sets that allowed Elvis to watch the only trio of stations broadcasting at the time. They lean over velvet ropes to inch closer to a plethora of memorabilia, pose for photographs against walls chock-full of platinum discs or beside his fleet of luxury cars, then take a solemn moment at a headstone (located just out past the kidney-shaped swimming pool, in the Meditation Garden) to offer unspoken blessings for one Elvis Aaron Presley. It’s not until you visit this Blues City home that the emotional connection Elvis forged with his followers truly emerges. Consider yourself a true fan? After seeing pilgrims adorned with tattoos of his lyrics and likeness, truck hoods painted with the singer’s visage, and overheard husband/wife gift-shop conversations about stocking ‘The Elvis Room back at home’, well… only then you begin to understand the depths of the dedication. Angie Marchese, Director of Archives at Graceland for over 20 years, explains that, “A unique aspect of the Elvis legacy is that he has a physical place that people can go to and see ‘behind the curtain’ – where he lived, where 62

he raised a family and nurtured friendships. At Graceland, you get to understand who he really was.” The property was obtained with the financial fruits of Elvis’ ability: he mastered a cross-section of genres from rock ‘n’ roll to blues and gospel. But he shifted records not only with unrivalled vocals, but due to an unbreakable affinity with his audience. Home may be where his heart was, but he’d no intent on hiding behind Graceland’s white walls once success became a friend. Presley was prolific, repaying with his time and energy every cent the fans invested in him. His studio albums, soundtracks and movies are the entryway to an immense career, but his magnetism is no better comprehended than by revisiting footage of his live performances, to see his interaction with adorers. A backstage clip from the candid 1972 documentary Elvis On Tour captures a telling moment into his psyche toward fame. Elvis, by this juncture a seasoned live performance veteran, is nervous and fraught: as part of a ‘15 shows in 15 nights’, he’s arrived for the evening’s show in San Antonio and wants to walk right through the arena, without pause, out onto stage to launch into performance. Tonight the compere has overrun, and Elvis is a bundle of tense energy. Shouldn’t he have been relaxed, at this point in his career? “I’ve never gotten over what they call stage fright,” the singer admits, in an accompanying voiceover. “I go through it every show. I’m pretty concerned and thinking about the show. I never get completely comfortable with it, and I never let the people with me get comfortable with it either.

Opening pages: The Blue Nail jumpsuit from 1972 Below: Elvis in the Beaded Fringe suit

Below: Elvis’s shure gold microphone that he used on stage Right: rehearsals for That’s The Way It Is – a documentary charting Elvis’ summer festival in Las Vegas, 1970

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I’ve never gotten over what they call stage fright... and I never let the people with me get comfortable either. It’s a new crowd out there and they haven’t seen us before, so it’s gotta be like the first time we go on

I remind them that it’s a new crowd out there, a new audience, and they haven’t seen us before, so it’s gotta be like the first time we go on.” The film is a perfect time capsule of the man’s professionalism, pride and performance energy, and the content of the documentary forms the backbone of a new show hosted by London’s 02 arena. Elvis on Tour: The Exhibition has been carefully curated by Marchese, who worked in close tandem with his former wife Priscilla Presley. The showcase chronicles how one of the greatest ever performers delivered onstage excellence every single evening. “He was in and out of town very quickly,” reveals Marchese. “He’d go straight to the venue and they’d be announcing him on the stage. Then, before the band had even stopped playing the last note of the song at the end of the show, Elvis was already in the car and off to the airport to get to the next town. He never performed an encore. So when the announcer 64

would say ‘Elvis has left the building’, he was literally already on his way.” Presley was a pioneer of his day: 1973’s Aloha from Hawaii Via Satellite, for example, was groundbreaking in its time, and an estimated billion viewers tuned in for the first performance to be beamed around the world. Yet he’d little need to rely on gimmicks; his persona was enough to carry every performance. “Shows today are all about pyrotechnics and other elements to make those shows look amazing,” she adds. “For Elvis, it was just him and a microphone and the band: there were no extra things required and the show was still so captivating.” One aesthetic he did famously deploy were those sequinned jumpsuits, helping an already imposing 6ft-tall Presley cut an even more commanding figure on-stage and making ‘what will he wear?’ as crucial a component of the audience excitement as ‘what hits will he perform?’

Marchese recounts their history: “The jumpsuits evolved through the years. When Elvis first started performing back in Vegas in 1969, he contracted with the custom designer Bill Belew, and challenged him to come up with something that was very slick and modern looking, yet he didn’t want to go out in a suit and tie like everyone else was doing in Vegas. That was the birth of the two-piece outfit, modelled after a karate outfit, a look (and sport) which Elvis was very fond of.” The problem, she elaborates, is that the outfits were restrictive and didn’t allow for much movement the way that he liked. “In 1970 the two-piece became a one piece jumpsuit and they added to his showmanship. Over time they became very elaborate, with studwork, stones and embroidery, with capes and belts and intricate designs, which would take on their own characteristics as pieces of art.” There’s a huge swathe of his global fanbase who never saw a jumpsuit-clad

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Left: The american Eagle jumpsuit, worn during Aloha From Hawaii Right: Blue starburst (1973-74), the ‘Wing’ long-fringe suit (197071) and the red Phoenix jumpsuit (1975-76)

He never performed an encore. So when the announcer would say ‘Elvis has left the building’, he was literally already in the car on the way to the airport

King in the flesh. Though G.I. Elvis was stationed in West Germany during the war, he never toured outside the United States –“We have letters of request from the 1970s sent from all over Europe, urging him to visit,” Marchese confesses. “We’re looking to bring that excitement of being on the road to The O2, as a follow-up to the previous Elvis exhibition and to give guests a taste of what it was like to be at an Elvis show.” The Graceland director of archives is fond of revisiting his live performances on film, to see “the interaction and engagement he had from the stage with the fans, making each show different and personal; he loved the excitement that the audience gave him, and was just as excited to see them, as they were to see him”. Meanwhile, the creature comforts the performer relied on to keep his spirits up were, “always travelling

with a chunk of books,” Marchese says of the avid reader, “and a lot of friends served dual roles as backstage hands or lighting guys, so his close group of friends were always with him, which made travelling with Elvis a lot of fun.” Then, towards the end of the 1970s, Elvis used his private jet to travel in luxury across the nation: “The Lisa Marie, a plane named after his daughter, was know as his ‘Flying Graceland.’” Once home from tour, the bricks and mortar Graceland was an embodiment of Elvis’ success – and attests to his lack of ego. Rather than rename it something crass like Elvisland, for example, he respected the title bestowed on the estate by Dr and Mrs Thomas Moore, in honour of her Aunt Grace Toof, the original landowner. The beloved abode is where he lived and, exactly four decades ago

this year, where he met his maker in untimely fashion. Out of respect, the upstairs family area where he passed away is strictly off limits to tours. It’s a concession even the most hardened Preselyite can honour: because it’s practically the only part of his life that is off limits. Elvis never once shortchanged his devotees, even penning an open letter to thank them for continued support during his army hiatus. He respected the process that placed him on a pedestal. “The fans want the shirt off my back,” remarked an onthe-rise Elvis, when pressed about fan frenzy for an interview with Illustrated in 1957. “They can have my shirt,” their ever-accessible hero humbly added. “They’re the ones who put it there.” Elvis on Tour: The Exhibition is at The 02 in London from 3 November. theo2.co.uk/elvis-on-tour 67

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Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Looking at You Playing the sweetheart of Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca was an iconic role for Ingrid Bergman, where she spellbound audiences. Yet Hollywood itself could not seduce the actress, and the non-conformist would turn her back on Tinseltown. Her individuality simply could not be quelled Words: Chris Ujma

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hen Ingrid Bergman stepped off the gangplank of the Queen Mary into New York, she was legitimately respected for her craft back on the European continent; this was no wide-eyed ‘girl next door’. Her ease of performance ensured success from the very first audition – for acceptance to the revered (yet strict) Royal Theatre in Stockholm. Headstrong, she “did not have the patience” to complete the five years of training, heading straight to Swedish cinema to star in 11 films by age 22. Cinema-seasoned and worldly, Bergman was a woman who emerged from what she called the “frightening” climate of German film studios in 1938 when working for UFA and, according to director Carl Froelich, refused to salute Hitler at a rally she was taken to in Berlin. Hollywood would be little match for her steely resolve. It was Intermezzo – the 1936 Swedish-language film about a concert violinist becoming charmed with his daughter’s talented piano teacher, directed by Gustaf Molander – that bridged the Atlantic divide, gaining her a contract in the promised land. Shown in a small art theatre in New York, it was seen by the parents of a Swedish elevator attendant, who’d admired Bergman’s performance. In his elevator that week was one Katharine Brown – a talent spotter for producer David Selznick. He tipped her to watch the film; Brown did, sent the movie to her boss, and Bergman was vaulted into the golden age of Hollywood. Selznick remade the film in 1939, with the same plot but in English, and with Gregory Ratoff at the directorial helm. It was Bergman’s Hollywood debut. The Los Angeles Daily News reaction was a familiar media response to the multi-lingual Scandinavian export. They wrote, of Intermezzo – also known as Escape to Happiness – “Miss Bergman not only has beauty, a quality common enough in Hollywood, but she is endowed with an emotional intensity which is extremely rare. This combination makes her a person who could easily develop into a great actress: even a star.” Molander, who compelled Bergman to stick with movies during tough times, is often the one credited with her discovery, but the late director was adamantly modest about his influence. 70

Nobody discovered her. Nobody launched her. She discovered herself “She spoke her lines beautifully and her radiant beauty struck me the first time I saw her,” he recounted in Ingrid Bergman: My Story, written with biographer Alan Burgess. “She appreciated compliments, accepted them shyly, but they never altered the three totally original characteristics of her work: truth, naturalness and fantasy. I created Intermezzo for her, but I was not responsible for its success… The truth is, nobody discovered her. Nobody launched her. She discovered herself”. The very self-assurance that was the bedrock of her intuitive acting approach also made Bergman something of a Hollywood enigma.

She was eager to succeed but her strident streak remained, and while the timeless romance Casablanca is her best-known film, beneath the surface this Warner Brothers’ picture was the quintessence of her unrest. “In Sweden”, she shared in My Story, “Acting meant the certainty of change. You played old people, young people, nasty people, good people, but you rarely played what you looked like or what you were. You got inside somebody else’s skin.” Michael Curtiz, the film’s experienced director, tried to assuage her, “You’re so wrong, that’s not what they do in America. America is type-casting. The audience wants it at the box office. They

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opening page: ingrid Bergman in 1956 Previous pages: humphrey Bogart and Bergman in the classic wartime romance Casablanca; Bergman, in a scene from the same movie, California, 1942 right: ingrid Bergman, circa 1965

pay their money to see Gary Cooper being Gary Cooper, not the hunchback of Notre Dame. You are going to ruin your career by trying to change.” Casablanca, she despondently felt, was where, “I fell right back to where I’d come from. David Selznick liked it because at last I was going to wear lovely gowns and clothes and look pretty. Oh it was so difficult in Hollywood to play against what Hollywood made you. As I have said, they typecast everyone. All the actors – Gary Cooper, James Stewart, Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart – they were always playing themselves.” A 1973 interview with Michael Parkinson meandered to the topic of her emergence, and he probed about Hollywood executives trying to “process” Ingrid in those formative years. Her reply, though answered with a hint of amusement, is singed by the dark embers of the business. “Yes: it was difficult, and I don’t know where I got my determination from – I was so young, and I wanted so much to try my wings in Hollywood,” she remarked. “Immediately I was considered too tall, and they were going to change my face, knock out some teeth, change my eyebrows to make them thinner, and change my name. When I heard all that I got terribly frightened and said ‘I want to go back’ [to Sweden], I don’t want to do all that. I refused and refused, and they [eventually] accepted my name and what I looked like.” In 1944, Bergman earned her first of three eventual Academy Awards for Gaslight: vindication of her resilience. “It once and for all made the statement to the world that she was a beauty who was going to be an actress; was going to insist on playing roles that afforded her the opportunity for challenge, and she was going to put acting first in her career,” said film historian Jeanine Basinger for Ingrid Bergman: A Passionate Life on A&E Biography. 72

She was the toast of the town. Aside from sublime performances in Joan of Arc, Notorious and Spellbound, her honesty proved refreshing: “Mother was very Swedish, practical, direct and down-to-earth,” her daughter Isabella Rossellini recently shared with The Guardian. “She always told the truth, so when an interviewer asked, ‘Who’s your favourite designer?’ she replied, ‘I don’t buy designer clothes, they’re too expensive.’ Everyone was stupefied, it was blasphemy!” The turning point came in 1950. An industry’s enamour with one of its most bankable stars ended, ironically, for the same reason that it had been besotted: Bergman caring only about being true to herself. Bergman – married to Dr Petter Lindstrom, with whom she had a daughter, Pia – left for Italy to make Stromboli with director Roberto Rossellini. She had seen his film Open City years prior at La Cienega Boulevard. It changed her life. “The realism and simplicity of the film was heart-shocking,” she told Burgess for the book. “There was darkness and shadows… It was as if you were there, involved in what was going on, and you wept and bled for them.” She wrote a short, sweet note to the director, saying that she had seen his work and, should he need an actress, to contact her. They met in Paris (with her husband – her closest advisor since her acting days in Sweden), after which Rossellini penned: ‘I send you as promised a synopsis of my story. I can’t call it a real full length story, because I am used to following a few basic ideas and building them up little by little during the process of work, as the scenes very often spring out of direct inspiration from reality…’ This was an artistic goldmine –an organic acting opportunity in which Bergman could flourish. Driven by ambition, she duly left America behind, for the barren island of Stromboli.

Being in such close quarters and with a mutual creative admiration meant that an underlying romance did evolve between her and Rossellini – advanced by reportedly strained relations with Petter. But any fallout was her entirely her cross to bear. The industry, though, was unable to separate the actress from the woman, and the impact of the affair created an extraordinary stink. Hollywood, so easy to blur the boundaries of decency – a place where, as per Marilyn Monroe, “They’ll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul…” – discovered its moral compass, and the indignation escalated all the way to congress. Bergman’s marital “misdemeanour” was read into the Congressional Record, and she was described by Edwin C Johnson – addressing the US Senate – as “a powerful influence for evil”. He was not the only dissenter. The body of poetic cinema she would craft with Rossellini in Europe, such as Journey to Italy (credited with kickstarting the New Wave of French film), would matter little, and the evisceration meant it would be close to a decade before she even set foot in America again, let alone acted there. Looking back on the ‘debacle’, Bergman said in a BBC interview, “I felt it was my private life, and the people – who judged and wrote and talked in the American senate, and wanted for me to be forever excluded from movies – didn’t know what they were talking about. The only judge that I had was my own conscience.” Casablanca turns 75 this month, and for audiences savouring Bergman’s Hollywood oeuvre, “We’ll always have Paris”. On a personal level, though, perhaps the film title ‘intermezzo’ – meaning an interlude – has more resonance. For Bergman’s bold move to Italy was her artistic and romantic interlude – defiant, it proved to be her own ‘escape to happiness’.

It was so difficult in Hollywood to play against what Hollywood made you. They typecast everyone. All the actors, they were always playing themselves

Motoring NOVEMBER 2017 : issUe 78

Mercs with the Works For 50 years, AMG has been taking cars from Mercedes-Benz and making them even better: at first unofficially and then as a vital part of the company

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WORDS : Chris Anderson

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here would MercedesBenz be without AMG? Those three simple letters have given a lot to the German car manufacturer, and today signify the very best it has to offer. At its plant in Affalterbach, Mercedes-AMG has more than 1,500 employees – entirely separate to the rest of MercedesBenz – with each working to push the boundaries of technology and performance. The current MercedesAMG line-up has more than 50 models available, including sedans, coupes, SUVs and roadsters and, for the track, the team builds the cars that keep Lewis Hamilton on top. 2017 marks 50 years since the set-up of AMG. A separate company to begin with, AMG was started in 1967 by two former Mercedes-Benz engineers, Hans-Werner Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher. Both specialised in building racing engines, but Mercedes-Benz had decided to take a break from motorsport. In response, the pair formed their own company, and the name chosen was an acronym of Aufrecht, Melcher and Großaspach, the town where Aufrecht was born. AMG continued to make racing engines, and one of its earliest successes came just a few years later with a modified MercedesBenz 300SEL 6.3 V8 saloon. The car, affectionately named the ‘Red Pig’ due to its colour and brutish power, competed in the 1971 Spa 24 Hours in Belgium. It amazed spectators by finishing second overall – a large saloon beating a line-up of lightweight, nimble sports cars. While racing would remain an interest for AMG – in 1980, it won the Touring Car Grand Prix at the Nürburgring with a 375bhp Mercedes-Benz SLC AMG Coupe – most of its business came from the selling of unofficial upgrade and accessories packages for Mercedes-Benz road cars. These became popular among followers of the brand, with the elongated AMG badge a symbol of power and prestige. In 1976, AMG moved its headquarters to Affalterbach, with Melcher leaving the company to pursue other interests. The Mercedes-Benz enhancements continued, and in 1986 the company launched its finest creation to date – 76

the AMG Hammer. This was a modified Mercedes-Benz W124 E-Class saloon with a 5l V8 engine, capable of speeds up to 300km/h and rivalling the likes of Ferrari and Lamborghini. By the end of the 1980s, AMG was a respected and globally-recognised automotive company in its own right. Mercedes-Benz had also started to see the benefits of the two working together in an official capacity, initially in motorsport, and then in 1990 with an agreement for AMG upgrades to be available and serviceable through Mercedes-Benz dealers worldwide. As part of the arrangement, AMG would also help to develop factory versions of high-performance cars. The first of these made its debut in 1993 – the C36 AMG. As with later models, an AMG car was identifiable by its two-digit numerals, while the regular Mercedes-Benz versions carried three. To begin with, an AMG spec was applied to each MercedesBenz line as the model with the best

Images: The flagship Audi r8 V10 Coupé, and the TT rs Coupé

performance and biggest price tag. But the partnership was beneficial to both parties, and in 1999 Aufrecht sold a controlling stake in his company to the Mercedes-Benz owners. This allowed AMG more resources, with its factory, offices and showrooms in Affalterbach expanded significantly. It was at this point that it also changed its name to Mercedes-AMG. Further changes came in 2005, when Mercedes-Benz acquired all of the remaining shares, making MercedesAMG a wholly owned subsidiary. Instead of simply making enhanced versions of existing MercedesBenz vehicles, Mercedes-AMG also decided to create its own unrelated models, launching the SLS AMG in 2009. This trend continued, with its second original model, the AMG GT, launched more recently in 2014. It also introduced the 43 series in 2015 to appeal to a broader target group. The strategy appears to have worked. Earlier this year, Mercedes-Benz

reported that sales of its MercedesAMG brand had grown by 44.1 per cent in 2016, with almost 100,000 vehicles delivered. This means that sales have tripled since 2013. Popular with buyers of MercedesAMG cars is the company’s ‘one man, one engine’ philosophy. All of the engines are hand-built in Affalterbach, with the builder required at the end to stamp their work with an engraved plaque bearing their signature. So specialised is this process, there are just 50 engine builders present. Only the V6 Bi-Turbo that forms part of the 43 series is not built in this way. Overall, it means that MercedesAMG ends the year of its 50th anniversary with strong sales, coupled with an increased interest in motorsport. Its presence in Formula 1 is still unrivalled, winning the last three consecutive driver’s and manufacturer’s championships, and even providing the medical and safety cars for the events. Attention has also spread to customer racing with the launch of the GT models. In terms of marking its own anniversary, Mercedes-AMG announced limited edition versions of specific models. Perhaps the highlight here is the AMG GT3 Edition 50 track special, with only five available. Features include a special paint finish, ‘50 Years AMG’ logos, and intake and exhaust systems free from the restrictor plates found on the regular version. The purchase also includes a special edition IWC watch. Then there is the imminent arrival of the brand’s first hypercar, the USD2.7 million Project One, as seen at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September. It looks a little like a Porsche 917 racer, with a turbocharged 1.6l V6 engine pushing more than 1,000bhp, available in 2019 and limited to 275 models. As Mercedes-AMG CEO Tobias Moers said at the launch event, “We are the first to make Formula 1 technology roadworthy.” So in terms of where MercedesBenz might be without AMG, it’s safe to say it wouldn’t produce cars of that calibre. After 50 years, the famous Janis Joplin song lyric, “Lord, won’t you buy be a MercedesBenz” may finally need updating. 77

Gastronomy NOVEMBER 2017 : ISSUE 78

A Woman of Substance Martha Ortiz talks about choosing cooking over children, the industry’s ‘caramel ceiling’ and her plans to shake up London’s food scene...

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WORDS : HANNAH BETTS

“I

believe in women, I believe in their power,” proclaims Martha Ortiz, Mexico’s most famous celebrity chef, as we sit on the top floor of the Intercontinental Park Lane, sipping lemon and ginger tea. “I love to give them opportunities, I love to learn from other women. I believe that we can do it better.” Ortiz, 47, is celebrated for resurrecting her home country’s culinary traditions and invigorating them with a modern, sensually feminine sensibility. Her Mexico City restaurant, Dulce Patria (‘Sweet Homeland’), is regarded as one of the best places to eat in the world. She has written eight books and is a talented and telegenic TV performer, not least on Top Chef México, where her tendency to come out with statements such as “Chilli is like a lover – you need to feel its presence” goes down swimmingly.

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She is also fiercely feminist in a profession often dominated by sweary, macho chefs; she’s famed for calling out the industry’s ‘caramel ceiling’. “You say the glass ceiling, but it is caramel for us… And I will make all my effort to break it. Maybe in Mexico a lot of women don’t hear me because they’re more interested in being married and having… for me, this horrible life, no? A horrible life of dependency.” Ortiz has recently brought her brand of defiant culinary girl power to London by opening Ella Canta (‘She Sings’) at the InterContinental, in an ornate space designed by the David Collins Studio, admired for its work at The Wolseley. Alongside a playful assembly of rainbow-coloured tacos, ceviche and jewel-like gold grasshoppers, she serves a drink entitled Female Warrior, made from grana cochinilla (an insect) mixed with mezcal and garnished with feathers. It is tempting to see Ortiz in this vein — some cross between Wonder Woman and a Renaissance woman. She has the former’s looks — all raven hair

and luminous skin — and her kick-ass bravura. Her credentials for the latter are reflected in a conversation that strays into literature, art, politics, psychology and philosophy. Ortiz walks it like she talks it — and, indeed, cooks it — powerfully, passionately; a subject of male fascination who is, nonetheless, a girls’ girl. Raised in Mexico City, she is the daughter of the famous artist Martha Chapa and Federico Ortiz Quesada, a pioneering transplant surgeon. Like fellow creative Miuccia Prada, she studied political science at university, before running off with her first husband, painter Roberto Cortázar. I mention her former husbands not because she is in any way defined by them — heaven forfend — but because they entail such brilliant, typically Ortizian stories. The first, a dazzling artist, brought her to London to show her a single painting: Leonardo’s The Virgin of the Rocks at the The National Gallery. The second, Culture Secretary Sergio

Vela, wooed her by writing to criticise her food, then informed her he was in love with her mouth by flying her to see Monteverdi’s opera, Poppea, in which a similar emotion is expressed. Currently single, she resolved to remain childless in infancy. “From when I was a little girl, I said to myself, ‘I want a wonderful life and a wonderful life with freedom’. In a way, my restaurants are my children, but they’re more than that. They’re a kind of theatre, where I can write stories through flavours. I’m not that typical chef who goes to a market to get the fish and find inspiration. I go to the V&A and see the psychedelic colours of Pink Floyd and say: ‘I want a dish with these kind of flavours’.” She started cooking as a child and, after university, travelled around Mexico studying local techniques. After a stint working for various restaurants in New York, she opened the now defunct Águila y Sol (‘Eagle and Sun’) in Mexico City in the early Noughties, followed by Dulce Patria in 2011.

I go to the V&A and see the psychedelic colours of Pink Floyd and say: ‘I want a dish with these kind of flavours’ London has found itself home to a flourishing Mexican food scene of late. Peyotito brought the country’s fine dining to Notting Hill, Peyote to Mayfair, while La Bodega Negra brightens up Old Compton Street. The queues outside London’s most popular taquerias, Breddos and El Pastor, stretch long into the night, while the street-food chain Wahaca is celebrating its 10th anniversary. However, those who still wrongly associate it with Tex-Mex machismo will be confounded by a new, female force. “I love to think that Mexico is a woman,” beams our heroine, “and in the dark skin of this beautiful, sunblessed woman, all the ingredients have been blessed and find new form. In this, women are powerful. I love [magical realist film] Like Water for Chocolate. When I saw it I said, ‘I want to be like this character, like Tita, a rebel.’ I adore cuisine because it’s a space of freedom and liberty for women.” She says she “adores” London, having visited when she was nine with her

parents: “As with Mexican history, it’s a passionate kiss between the old world and the new.” She took part in January’s Women’s March there. “When you’re a girl you see horrible things in the world. Hillary lost because women didn’t vote for her and I say: ‘What is happening with us?’” Has she considered going into politics herself? She laughs.”People always say that to me, ‘Leave the kitchen, be our President.’ But it’s not for me.” Are things more difficult for a feminist in Mexico? “I haven’t lived here (England), but I think England has an amazing woman — you have a Queen. You have a Prime Minister. I don’t know if she does well or badly, but you have a Prime Minister. I think that in Mexico it’s hard; in a lot of Latin America it’s hard. But I have two little nieces – adorable – and I always say, ‘Do whatever you want in life. Become a writer, a president, a senator, a designer, a photographer, an artist, a rebel — all of those things. Be whatever you want to be.’”

Personally, I’d like to be Ortiz. Is there some regime behind this fabulous combination of brains and beauty? Is it all the Mexican superfoods: avocados, amaranth and cacao? She cackles. “I’m not an example of living well. I don’t exercise. I work at least 12-14 hours a day and then I read, so I sleep for maybe five. Once, Kellogg’s asked me to be an ambassador for Special K, and I said, ‘I don’t sleep, I take coffee, I smoke cigarettes, cigars.’” She relaxes on her balcony with a glass of red and a smoke. “Like Coco Chanel with her cigar.” It sounds like a life well-lived. “Someone asked me what I want at the end of my life, and I said that I want a restaurant, a beautiful house in Mexico, with just one table and I will choose who’s going to have dinner with me – film directors, writers. I would love to have this long-term conversation and to learn from them. And if I learn more, I will die very happily.” In the meantime, Martha Ortiz can be found rehearsing this fantasy on London’s Park Lane. 81

22 journeys by jet

Six Senses Zighy Bay

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Oman

Travel NOVEMBER 2017 : ISSUE 78

t’s all about the moments at Zighy Bay. The moment on arrival when your slow drive up the steep, winding mountain track finally brings into view the stunning sight of Zighy Bay below, it’s low-rise stone dwellings spread aside the iridescent sea. The moment you’re led to your table at the one-of-a-kind, mountain-side restaurant Sense on the Edge, and see it illuminated by the full moon. And the moment you’re floating on your back, starfish-like, in the resort’s salt-water pool, the jagged mountains to your left; the powder-soft sand to your right. There are countless moments you’ll cherish during a stay at Six Senses Zighy Bay, perhaps the most unique resort in all of the Middle East. That’s certainly true of its two speciality villas: The Retreat and Beit Musandam. The former is a pair of two-room, two-floor residences, each positioned at opposite ends of the beautiful beach. Housing a private spa with a steam room, gym, and a huge infinity edge pool (the centerpiece of a wonderful outdoor space, fully secluded from sight by high cobblestone walls, but close enough to the ocean to hear the waves rolling in), The Retreat also houses a live-in GEM (Guest Experience Maker) room, so any wishes can be granted there and then. Larger still is

Beit Musandam, The Private Reserve. A one-off retreat comprised of three buildings and four bedrooms, it has all the features of The Retreat but adds to them, with a yoga studio, majlis-sized to accommodate up to 100 people, and an elevator to move between floors. It’s also located on its own private beach. Should you feel the urge to leave such secluded splendor, you can set sail in style onboard Dhabab, a fully customised 90-foot Omani Dhow. Able to host six guests in three cabins, and featuring two sun decks, dining areas inside and out and an on-board cinema, Dhabab can be booked for a two-night, three-day serene cruise along the coast of Musandam. By day you’ll snorkel, kayak, fish, and enjoy a treatment administered by the spa therapist you’ve requested to sail with you; by night you’ll indulge in the mouthwatering meal created by the onboard chef, before laying back to be enveloped by the blanket of stars above you. Just another moment you’ll remember long after leaving Zighy Bay behind. Fly your jet into Dubai International Airport for a 4WD limousine transfer, and enhance the experience of your arrival by requesting either entry by speedboat (from Dibba Marina to Zighy Marina) or via paraglide 83

What I Know Now

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NOVEMBER 2017 : ISSUE 78

Brian Wilson singer/songwriter

It’s been hard and it’s been easy. Mostly, it’s been both. My friend Danny Hutton from Three Dog Night recorded a song Easy to Be Hard that I sing to myself in my head sometimes: it’s easy to be hard, it’s easy to be cold. 1964 was the year of everything. The Beach Boys toured around the world in ‘64: in Australia in January with Roy Orbison and all over the United States in July... when not touring, we were recording Fun, Fun, Fun and The Warmth of the Sun at the beginning of the year, Kiss Me Baby at year’s end, and more songs than you can count in-between. I don’t go back and listen to that old music very much. But I do think about it, and I try to imagine what was in my head back then. I can’t always get a 84

clear picture. Sometimes it’s pieces of pictures. It’s hard to get back to where you were, you know? Back in the old days with the Boys, I never liked going onstage. People used to write about how I seemed stiff... I wasn’t afraid of the stage. I was afraid of all the eyes watching me, and of the lights, and of the chance that I might disappoint everyone. There were so many expectations I could figure out in the studio, but they were different onstage. A good audience is like a wave that you ride on top of. It’s a great feeling. But a crowd can also feel the other way around, like a wave that’s on top of you.

and puts it into the world around me. It’s my way of showing people things I can’t show any other way. Music is in my soul – I wrote that once, and it’s one of the best lyrics I ever wrote. SMiLE was supposed to be the followup to [11th studio album] Pet Sounds back in the mid-60s. It fell apart for so many reasons. It fell apart for every reason. Finally I got back to it and finished it up. In my sixties I did what I couldn’t do in my my twenties... When we didn’t finish the album, a part of me was also unfinished. Can you imagine leaving your masterpiece locked up in a drawer for almost forty years? Illustration based on a Brian Bowen Smith

To calm myself, I try to meditate my way into the music. Music is the solution. Music takes what’s inside me

portrait. Abridged excerpt from I Am Brian Wilson: The Genius Behind The Beach Boys, available in paperback this month from Da Capo Press

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WHERE DREAMS LIVE AND EMOTIONS ARE BORN

FROM DREAMS & INSPIRATION SPRINGS THE ROYAL MANSOUR From the exquisite mosaics adorning its palatial interiors to the mesmerising murmur of the fountains in the courtyards, the Royal Mansour reflects the beauty, grace and indeed, the very soul of Morocco. A first glimpse of this sensual luxury makes the heart beat faster, awakening the senses. But the true relaxation offered by this paradise in the centre of bustling Marrakech can only be experienced by a stay amidst the elegant tranquillity and attention to detail of the Royal Mansour. You and those you love will leave refreshed in mind, body and spirit.

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