AIR Magazine - Empire Aviation - May'22 by Hot Media

MAY 2022

ETHAN HAWKE

Contents

AIR

Credit: Jean Shrimpton © David Bailey

MAY 2022: ISSUE 128

FEATURES Thirty Four

Forty

Forty Six

Back to Nature

Man Of The House

The pin-up of Generation X, Ethan Hawke on being trolled on stage and going to the dark side for Marvel.

He is 84 and struggling with ill health, but the legendary photographer David Bailey is as outrageous as ever.

The American model Lindsey Wixson on hanging up her high heels and retiring to rural Kansas.

Jean Paul Gaultier was once considered shocking. So what’s he up to now? Enjoying a renaissance, of course.

Hawke’s Eye

Life Through A Lens

Fifty Two

CALIBER RM 72-01

“This is the only mask I wore for two weeks.” Maceo, Soneva Enthusiast since 2010

“Nestled in the Baa Atoll UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, the pristine marine ecosystems around Soneva Fushi are just waiting to be explored.” Fabio, Diving Instructor since 2009. We are Sonevians. Inspiring a lifetime of rare experiences MALDIVES | THAILAND soneva.com

Contents

MAY 2022: ISSUE 128

REGULARS Fourteen

Radar

Sixteen

Objects of Desire Eighteen

Critique Twenty

Art & Design Twenty Six

Timepieces Thirty

Jewellery

EDITORIAL

Sixty Two

Editor-in-Chief

Gastronomy

John Thatcher john@hotmedia.me

Sixty Six

Journeys by Jet

ART Art Director

Kerri Bennett

Sixty Eight

What I Know Now

Illustration

Leona Beth

COMMERCIAL Managing Director

Victoria Thatcher General Manager

David Wade

david@hotmedia.me

PRODUCTION Digital Media Manager

Muthu Kumar Fifty Eight

Motoring Beyond the towering performance, the aggression and the thirst, the Aston Martin DBX707 provides further reason why the super SUV market is running hot.

Tel: 00971 4 364 2876 Fax: 00971 4 369 7494 Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission from HOT Media is strictly prohibited. HOT Media does not accept liability for any omissions or errors in AIR.

T H E F I R S T N AT U R E I M M E R S I V E W E L L B E I N G I S L A N D R E T R E AT IN THE MALDIVES Designed as a nature immersive wellbeing retreat with 68 private pool villas, the island’s wild forest remaining untouched, JOALI BEING offers personalised transformative programmes and unique transformational spaces, including hydrotherapy, movement, and sound healing experiences.

Bodufushi Island | Maldives Joalibeing.com

Empire Aviation Group MAY 2022:ISSUE 128

Welcome Onboard MAY 2022

Welcome to this issue of AIR — Empire Aviation Group’s aviation lifestyle magazine for aircraft owners and onboard guests. A business jet offers a convenient and luxurious way to travel, but the private aviation experience starts and ends on the ground. This is therefore a vitally important part of the service and makes a substantial contribution to the overall passenger experience. From passenger reception to terminal and lounge facilities, the transfer to the aircraft and the boarding process, ground services should provide a seamless set of complementary services to match the inflight standards. As a global operator, we work with leading ground support companies worldwide, such as FBO (Fixed-Base Operators that provide services at airports for privately-operated aircraft, including private terminals) and MRO facilities (Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul). We carefully select the best of the best, ensuring that we consistently deliver high standards to support our passengers — whether aircraft owners or charter clients. Dubai is firmly established as one of the world’s leading commercial and private aviation hubs, with a global reputation for high-quality business aviation services and facilities. It allows Empire Aviation to deliver the best experience to aircraft owners and passengers. We are very fortunate to have two of the world’s finest international airports on our doorstep in Dubai. Dubai International and Dubai World Central (DWC) Al Maktoum Airport serve as key operating bases for our managed fleet. Quiet, relaxed executive terminals with high-quality facilities roll out the red carpet for VIP passengers with fast, comfortable transfers from the private jet terminals to the waiting private aircraft. In this issue, we highlight the role our FBO and other partners are playing in helping create a memorable experience for our passengers and clients.

Paras P. Dhamecha Founder & Managing Director

Contact Details: Cover: Ethan Hawke Getty Images

info@empire.aero empireaviation.com

Empire Aviation Group MAY 2022:ISSUE 128

Rolling Out The Red Carpet How Empire Aviation delivers its VIP service on the ground Private aviation is not just about the flying experience — the service on the ground makes a vital contribution to the overall passenger experience, whether it is a business or leisure mission. Empire is one of the leading private aviation operators in the Middle East, with most flight operations originating from Dubai. So, we are fortunate to benefit from access to two of the world’s finest international airports right on our doorstep. Since starting operations at DWC (Dubai World Central), we have been building our partnership with Jetex, one of the world’s leading FBO (Fixed-Based Operations) operators, which manages one of the private executive terminals at DWC. The Jetex terminal is the largest, most luxurious facility in Dubai, merging exceptional contemporary interior design with 5-star hospitality 10

and ensuring that all VIP travellers receive the red-carpet experience. There are many benefits to working with expert ground specialists and Jetex provides a bespoke range of vital services supporting Empire flights and passengers at DWC. For passengers, the first-class facilities of Jetex FBO are quickly apparent upon arrival. The terminal provides direct access to the lounge from the curb, for comfort and convenience, with the option of a (literally) red-carpet welcome. Inside the terminal, customers have access to all the amenities, including plush seating areas, a relaxation room with Metronaps, and a lavish cigar lounge. The impressive private lounge facilities and welcoming refreshments make for a relaxed transit through to airside, with E-gate access and a

separate screening area for baggage. Customs clearance works 24/7 with the dedicated Jetex staff at the terminal and there are always Jetex agents on hand to assist. Jetex can provide everything from catering services to aircraft fueling and immigration procedures for passengers and crew. Once airside, passengers can see their aircraft parked in front of the terminal and enjoy a fast (around one minute) luxurious transit from Gulfstream G650 the terminal to the business jet, courtesy of the facility’s Rolls Royce limousine service — a world first. Welcomed onboard by the Empire flight crew and comfortably seated on your business jet, it is just a short taxi from the terminal to the runway and then you are ready for takeoff. Definitely not your average flying experience.

Empire Aviation Group MAY 2022:ISSUE 128

Supporting Business Aviation Around The World How the collaboration between aircraft operators and service providers delivers a specialised service

Empire Aviation works with several business aviation specialists globally who support private jet operators. These specialist companies arrange all the ground experience for passengers and crew and assist with any aircraft maintenance requirements and this is a vital collaboration between aircraft operators and service providers. Aircraft support services are managed by teams of licensed engineers and certified specialists. Many of the leading service providers have facilities across the globe and these are essential to support Empire Aviation’s operational requirements. These global service providers must be able to deliver a consistently high 12

level of service, including meeting the service needs of aircraft models from all the major manufacturers — a real benefit for flight departments and charter companies of all sizes. Empire Aviation’s private aircraft owners recognise the benefits of a ‘one-stop shop’ and appreciate the fast access to their aircraft. Time is of the essence to operators, aircraft owners and charter clients. There is no doubt that a strong working relationship with global FBO/MRO service providers ensures higher flight dispatch reliability, timely operations and consistency in service delivery around the world. Working with suppliers who provide

high levels of all-around service performance ensures that Empire Aviation’s customers benefit from all the comforts and privacy of the most exclusive VIP terminals. For our flights, services might include the delivery of flowers and provision of catering and pre-and postflight crew briefings at the FBO facilities, which help create faster and direct access to the aircraft. The collaboration between aircraft operators and service providers ensures the seamless delivery of support for Empire aircraft and their owners, and a comfortable and convenient private flying experience for passengers.

Service and Detail that Shape your Journey. Immerse in the luxury of rich experiences at the JW Penthouse Suite and Marquis Penthouse Suite, spread across two levels of impeccably designed space with a touch of traditional Arabic design. Each 624sqm suite features two separate bedrooms with two separate living rooms. Additional benefits include complimentary airport transfers, private check-in and check-out and access to the Executive Lounge on the 37th floor. Enjoy celebratory dining in over 12 award-winning restaurants, and pampering at the luxurious Saray Spa.

JW Marriott® Marquis® Hotel Dubai marriott.com/DXBJW Sheikh Zayed Road, Business Bay, PO Box 121000, Dubai, UAE | T +971.4.414.0000 | jwmarriottmarquisdubai.com

Radar MAY 2022: ISSUE 128

Credit: Devon Aoki for Alexander McQueen, 1997 © Nick Knight

AIR

This month’s staging of Photo London will honour the visionary work of the hugely influential photographer Nick Knight, whose stellar career includes award-winning fashion editorials, memorable advertisement campaigns, and album sleeve artworks for the likes of David Bowie. “My quest has always been to use photography to show me things I could not see,” said Knight, whose work will be exhibited from May 12-15. Photo London, Somerset House, London, 11-15 May.

OB JECTS OF DESIRE

OBJECTS OF DESIRE

Master craftsmanship, effortless style and timeless appeal; this month’s must-haves and collectibles

OB JECTS OF DESIRE

CHANEL

J12 TOURBILLON DIAMOND Watches and Wonders provided Chanel with the perfect opportunity to demonstrate its ever-growing prowess when it comes to watchmaking — its dedicated Watchmaking Creation Studio producing a series of wonderful pieces in recent years. The latest line up is no exception. From

it, the J12 Tourbillon Diamond features the Caliber 5, the first Flying Tourbillon movement made in-house, with a solitaire diamond at the heart of the cage. Available in matte black ceramic and steel or glossy black ceramic and 18-carat white gold, each version is limited to 55 pieces. 1

OB JECTS OF DESIRE

BRU N EL LO CUCI N EL L L I

MEN’S SPRING SUMMER 22 Tapping into the post-pandemic mindset, with the return to normality seeing men gradually shake off their sweatpants in favour of more elegant attire, Brunello Cucinelli has created a signature stylish collection that virtually screams this season — light neutrals give way to faint

pastels: yellows, pink and light blues. After a two-year hiatus, the suit returns in a relaxed manner, alongside blazers, light knitwear and relaxed trousers big on tailored details. As always with Cucinelli, the cloths used — linens through to virgin wool — are exquisite. 2

OB JECTS OF DESIRE

C H O PA R D

ALPINE E AGLE KSA EDITION To celebrate its longstanding partnership with its KSA-based partner Attar United, Chopard has added to its expanding Alpine Eagle collection with an exclusive model dedicated to Saudi Arabia. It’s produced in a 33-piece limited series and crafted entirely from

Lucent Steel A223, while its signature Vals Grey dial (a nod to the colour that reflects off the roofs of old Alpine houses) is brightened by green hands and numerals, a striking hue selected to reference the green in the Saudi national flag. 3

OB JECTS OF DESIRE

FEIT X OLIVER JEFFERS

A L L T H AT W E N E E D FEIT is an artisanal footwear brand founded in direct response to massconsumerism. Moving away from excess and synthetics, FEIT uses natural materials that are hand-cut, moulded, and stitched by master craftsmen. Oliver Jeffers is a visual artist and author

who uses painting, illustration, and storytelling to explore how we relate to and make sense of the world around us. Together, they have created a capsule collection of special-edition indoor slippers developed for adults and, for the first time, children. 4

OB JECTS OF DESIRE

DOLCE & GABBANA

DG SUNRISE COLLECTION Colour comes to the fore in a collection big on shades of natural gems — jade green, aquamarine, and rose quartz used to decorate women’s pieces like flowing chiffon dresses, poplin shirts and charmeuse blouses; sand and garnet red, terracotta and carnelian orange for men, 5

resplendent on sporty items such as pique polo shirts, linen shorts, silk shirts, and T-shirts in jersey with jacquard details. The collection is completed by accessories accentuated by the logo pattern, such as the Portofino and NS1 sneakers and coordinated hats.

OB JECTS OF DESIRE

M ERCEDE S

EQS SUV Continuing its pursuit of zero-emission mobility, Mercedes’ latest EV launch (its third, but first SUV) was produced in a completely CO2-neutral way. One for big families, the EQS SUV can comfortably accommodate seven people across three rows of seating, with even the second row

electrically adjustable as standard. It’s also a car that does the thinking for you — its Navigation with Electric Intelligence system plans the fastest and most convenient route, including charging stops, based on numerous factors and reacts dynamically to traffic jams or a change in driving style.

OB JECTS OF DESIRE

RICHARD MILLE

RM 47 TO U RBILLON Born of a conversation between Richard Mille and double Formula One champion Fernando Alonso (an enthusiast of Japanese culture, and in particular the ways of the Samurai), the RM 47 Tourbillon is designed in homage to the country’s traditions. A stunning example of high-level

craftmanship, it is entirely hand-carved by the engraver Pierre-Alain Lozeron and painted by his wife Valérie Lozeron, who have used Samurai armour to illustrate the different aspects of ancestral Japanese culture. Melding tradition with cutting-edge technicalities, it is limited to 75 pieces. 8

OBJECTS OF DESIRE

Critique MAY 2022 : ISSUE 128

Film Shepherd Dir. Russell Owen Seeking solitude as a shepherd on a remote Scottish island following the death of his wife, a man’s terrifying visions begin to overwhelm him. AT BEST: “A brooding, bleak, atmospheric nightmare that grips with ease.” — Martin Unsworth, Starburst AT WORST: “Ultimately unsatisfying gothic rural horror.” — MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher

The Innocents Dir. Eskil Vogt AIR

When a group of Nordic children discover that they have telekinetic powers, terror strikes as events take a dark and violent turn. AT BEST: “A clever, engaging and often electrifying feature.” — Fionnuala Halligan, Screen International AT WORST: “The isolation of children within their own world is startlingly realised.” — Laura Clifford, Reeling Reviews

Operation Mincemeat Dir. John Madden The extraordinary true story of an idea proposed by two Allied intelligence officers which they hoped would alter the course of WWII. AT BEST: “A comfortable watch, elegantly played by its ensemble cast.” — Paul Whitington, Irish Independent AT WORST: “Too familiar in content and too monotone to catch the public imagination.” — Eddie Harrison, film-authority.com

Apples Dir. Christos Nikou Against the backdrop of a global pandemic that causes sudden amnesia, a man finds himself enrolled in a programme designed to help unclaimed patients build new identities. AT BEST: “It’s a cult film in the making.” — Alexa Dalby, Dog and Wolf AT WORST: “occasionally too muted for its own good.” — Tim Robey, Daily Telegraph

Critique MAY 2022 : ISSUE 128

Books Dog Flowers is a memoir in which the author, Danielle Geller, retraces her mother’s life. In the wake of her mother’s death, Geller finds her life packed into eight suitcases, all of which contain clothes — except one. In it, Geller unearths diaries, photos, letters, and a few undeveloped disposable cameras, which take her on a journey of discovery. “Geller travels through snippets of her own life and that of her mother’s, creating a narrative where all roads lead to her mother’s home in the Navajo Nation. It’s an honest, intimate, and heartwrenching memoir that explores fractured family, the damaging effects of alcoholism and poverty, and what it means to seek healing from legacies of trauma. This book gave me chills,” recommends fellow writer Kali Fajardo-Anstine. “Geller’s mix of archival research and personal memoir allows readers to see a refreshing variety of perspectives and layers, resulting in an eye-opening, moving narrative. A deftly rendered, powerful story of family, grief, and the search for self,” says Kirkus Reviews in what’s a starred review. While Reader’s Digest

hails it as “equal parts hopeful and heartbreaking.” While emotionally adrift in a temp job reviewing correspondence for a large law firm, one email trail in particular between a partner and his wife catches Cassie Woodson’s eye. What begins as an interest turns into an obsession. That’s the story that unravels in Lindsay Cameron’s Just One Look, which Sarah Weinman, writing for The New York Times Book Review, says is “[A] delicious and marvellously controlled portrayal of one woman’s delusions, and how they undo her, but also create something new and whole.” “A brilliantly addictive exploration of modern loneliness and obsession,” praises fellow author Helen Monks Takar. While Booklist says of Cameron’s first book: “A highly entertaining narrative that positively sparkles with wit and insight… This is the author’s suspense debut, and it succeeds wildly. Highly recommended for all collections.” Revenge of the Scapegoat by Caren Beilin, is an inventive tale of familial trauma, chronic illness, and contemporary art. Kirkus Reviews

was most impressed by “the darkly comic strain that persists throughout the novel; though the narrative involves childhood trauma, domestic abuse, addiction, and medical exploitation, Iris’ wholly unique voice makes for a very funny work.” Publisher’s Weekly hails the skill of Beilin. “The author lands on an infectious and perfect blend of cultural criticism, wry writing advice (‘Don’t bother writing a character since people change’), and magnificently weird storytelling. Belin’s account of re-emergence manages to be both hilarious and deeply moving.” Also noting the book’s rich humour in his review was author Steven Dunn. “Revenge of the Scapegoat made me bounce-laugh so hard my cheeks and belly kept jiggling while reading the pains. The pains that are so impossible and absurd that Caren Beilin writes them as full characters with their own interior agency. I’d never thought of our pains having their own lives, but I see it now, and hopefully I’ll be able to live with my various physical and emotional pains in a better way.”

Art & Design MAY 2022: ISSUE 128

Movers and Shakers The journey continues for Objets Nomades, Louis Vuitton’s travel-inspired design collaborations

AIR

WORDS: SUSIE RUSHTON

ate morning, at the Louis Vuitton store in Miami’s ritzy Design District, and some of the world’s most esteemed designers have gathered to present their work for Objets Nomades. They’re in town for the annual Design Miami, a fiesta that attracts the famous and the monied; this is the pinnacle of their week. Objets Nomades is a collaborative furniture project Louis Vuitton launched in 2012, which now encompasses everything from a complex foldable mirror to a $50,000 hand-twisted leather hammock, each link joined by a gilded rivet. Below the mezzanine where I’m standing, a spotlight shines directly down on to a vibrant green seat. It’s the new Petal chair, by Dutch design studio Marcel Wanders, and the lighting creates diamond-shaped shadows on the white plinth. How clever, I comment to its creator, Gabriele Chiave, to have engineered the chair to throw LV monogram-shaped shadows. (There is of course a diamond among that famous grid of symbols, invented in 1896 by Georges Vuitton.) Chiave laughs and peers over the edge of the balcony to check the

effect. “I’m seeing it now for the first time! I never realised it, but seeing it now in this light — it’s very interesting. Sometimes you get these things for free as a designer.” Serendipity is a surprising ingredient in the project, which might otherwise appear extremely serious. For the past 10 years, the French maison has worked with a roll call of important designers: the Campana brothers, Patricia Urquiola, Atelier Biagetti, India Mahdavi, Atelier Oï, Raw-Edges and dozens more. This year it draws the Beijing-based designer Frank Chou into its orbit with a first item of outdoor furniture, the Signature, which is constructed from elegant curls. Available either as a chair or elongated into a couch, it is fit to grace any billionaire’s terrace. Naturally all the pieces are handmade in France, Italy or Spain, often in leather, and produced in limited, numbered editions; prices run easily into five figures. It is a collection that LV CEO Michael Burke holds dear, and he has said it draws in some of the house’s wealthiest clientele. And yet all the designers who collaborate with the brand insist that, despite the potential

Opening page: Cocoon Campana, Campana Brothers This page: Bomboca Sofa Lagoon, Campana Brothers Opposite page, clockwise from top left: Anemona Table, Atelier Biagetti; Swell Wave Shelf, Andrew Kudless; Ribbon Dance, André Fu

‘

Working with a company like Louis Vuitton, detail is very important. It’s been like doing an MBA

folding chair may evoke holidays, but at the Miami presentation there are as many Murano glass vases or statement sofas that aren’t in any realistic sense designed for the road. Louis Vuitton has not taken a predictable route into design. “We don’t have a beautiful line of furniture covered in leather,” Frémon points out. “Instead we have a collection of very innovative, surprising products.” Released only when they are ready for market, rather than to a seasonal deadline, some of the pieces take up to four years to develop. “Unlike fashion, sales start slow, and then increase over the years,” she says. Adding to the complexity, when necessary, Louis Vuitton sources the most expert freelance artisan possible to manufacture each item. For the Cocoon swing chair, which was technically challenging due to its convex and concave padded surfaces, the house went to a French leatherworker who did not make handbags, because, Frémon explains, “making a handbag and making a piece of furniture are completely different.” This slow-design approach has gone down well with clients, who are seemingly happy to wait for updates to the collection and, in the meantime, send in photographs of their Objets Nomades in situ at home. “Each one of the pieces creates a ‘wow’ effect,”

’

says Frémon. “When people purchase them, they might have this large living room, with big long sofas and couches, and then they have a Cocoon chair, or a Bomboca.” Others, she confides, do buy “the entire collection”, and it was in response to client requests that the company developed the outdoor furniture with Frank Chou. Due to the pandemic, Chou never met with the LV team in person, “but we’ve learnt to work by Zoom quite well,” says Frémon. For Chou’s first pieces for Objets Nomades, the cantilevered Signature chair and sofa, upholstered in waterproof fabrics by Italian textile designer Paola Lenti, he took inspiration from topography, notably the terraced fields of Yunnan, and Antelope Valley in Arizona. “They’re somehow connected to our subconscious,” he says. “They capture nature’s beauty, the forces that shaped and sculpted them.” Very much of the moment — as outdoor furniture they reflect how our lives moved into the open air as the pandemic progressed — and yet classical, it’s almost fitting that Chou was, at the last minute, unable to travel to Miami to see his debut in person. Travel for these collaborators is in the imagination, not a literal expedition but a metaphor for leaving one’s comfort zone and — however long it takes — exploring design to its limits.

Credit: © Susie Rushton / Telegraph Media Group Limited 2022

AIR

power imbalance, they maintain an unusual degree of freedom. “It feels like a family. We go for dinner. It’s a good atmosphere — I need it to work in this way, otherwise I get blocked,” says Humberto Campana, one half of the Campana brothers, whose Cocoon swing chair has been the collection’s best seller for several years. Other pieces he has made for Objets Nomades include the Aguacate screen, the pattern of which resembles a vivid avocado. “It’s a joke,” he says, smiling, and yet at the same time, “working with a company like Louis Vuitton, detail is very important. It’s been like doing an MBA.” Exuberant Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola, who has worked with Vuitton since 2007, agrees. “There are not too many occasions where they say no,” she says. “Luxury for me is time to think, and they give me freedom to explore, to do a high level of research.” Mentoring the designers is Nathalie Frémon, head of Louis Vuitton’s architecture department, who has led Objets Nomades since the start. “It began as a research and development concept,” recalls Frémon over green juice at her South Beach hotel before the launch. Ten years ago, the maison didn’t sell any furniture, and the plan was to interpret its history as a travel brand through the creation of movable designs echoing the 19th-century trunks that made its fortune. Hence the nomadic name. But rather than turn to in-house creatives, “We thought it would be interesting to look at the brand through an external designer’s eyes.” Frémon mentions the Trunk-bed, an inventive piece of luggage that folded out into a bed, which was developed in 1874 for colonial explorer Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza. The first pieces of Objets Nomades stuck to a literal brief: transportable furniture. An early work was Marcel Wanders’s chaise longue, which converts into a backpack. “That first brief was a bit difficult to understand,” admits Chiave. “To make furniture pieces to move around, to relate to travel, it was a bit strange.” Over the years the project has become less literal; travel and nomadism are now a state of mind for the Objets customer. Certain pieces, such as Urquiola’s elegant Palaver

LIVING IT UP Sun, sea and style set the scene at Madinat Jumeirah Living, Dubai’s iconic address

ART DIRECTOR: KERRI BENNETT PHOTOGRAPHER: SABRINA RYNAS LOCATION: MADINAT JUMEIRAH LIVING

Stylist Chloe Bosher Hair and Make-up Katharina Brennan Model Hasti, MLN Model Management Jewellery Vhernier Clothing Page 1 Cardigan and trousers: Etro Shoes: Elisabetta Franchi Bag: By far Page 2 Jumpsuit: Missoni Page 4&5 Dress: Kristina Fidelskaya Shoes: Mango Page 6 Jumpsuit: Missoni Shoes: Elisabetta Franchi Page 7 Suit: Missoni Shoes and Bag: By Far Page 8 Top and Skirt: Missoni Sandals: Max & Co

Timepieces MAY 2022: ISSUE 128

AIR

Back To The Future With some of its rarest watches up for auction this month and a brandnew piece announced, Patek Philippe’s mastery remains timeless WORDS: JOHN THATCHER

hile it’s true that Patek Philippe is one of the most forward-thinking watch manufacturers in the industry — as the recipient of over 100 patents and counting, innovation is tattooed onto its DNA — it’s also a fact that its storied past is never far from the headlines. This month presents the perfect example of both. Let’s start with the here and now. At Watches and Wonders 2022, Patek unveiled a total of twelve new models, including the brand-new Ref. 5326G001 Annual Calendar Travel Time, a timepiece debuting a self-winding caliber that has eight patents alone. Complications (but only if they are primarily ‘useful’) and Patek Philippe have always been the most willing bedfellows. The Annual Calendar, a full calendar with day/date/month that requires only one manual correction per year, was patented in 1996. So too, in 1997, was the Travel Time system, a complication that displays

two time zones via a second hour hand. For the first time, these two exceptional watchmaking firsts are encased within the one timepiece — the Annual Calendar Travel Time, a unique combination of watchmaking artistry and elegance. It was not without complications of its own making, however. To ensure the watch displays the correct date in the local time zone, obstacles had to be overcome, with the engineers having to modify the Annual Calendar mechanism. In a conventional annual calendar, the display advance around midnight lasts about 90 minutes, so a date misalignment could occur if the time zone is adjusted within this period. To ensure that users see the correct date longer, Patek Philippe’s engineers shortened the display advance of the Annual Calendar discs by a factor of 5 to about 18 minutes. The Travel Time function was also redesigned. Originally, it involved two time zone pushers. Now the user must

‘once-in-a-lifetime’ occasions to secure ‘This is one of those a masterpiece of horology ’ .

Opening pages, from left to right: Annual Calendar Travel Time Opposite page: Reference 605 HU (Heures Universelles) This page, from left to right: Reference 3448; Reference 5959

merely pull the crown to the middle position and then turn it clockwise or counter-clockwise to adjust the localtime hour hand in one-hour increments in either direction. When the owner is not travelling, the two hour hands can be superposed to look like one hand. Another key feature of the Annual Calendar Travel Time relates solely to its visage, its dial coloured charcoal grey, with a fine gradation and slightly granular structure in reference to the cases of old cameras. It was designed to reminisce of travels past, of exploration and wanderlust, a vintage style that brings us nicely to the other reason why Patek Philippe is omnipresent within watch circles this month — the auctioning of some of its legendary pieces. First to come under the hammer on May 9, as part of Christie’s Geneva Rare Watches sale, is the Kairos Collection, billed by the auctioneer as ‘the finest collection of Patek Philippe contemporary timepieces ever to appear at auction.’ Which is some statement. Curated by a private collector with an eye (and the means) to acquire the rarest watches, each of the 30 pieces in the collection is in ‘absolutely pristine condition.’ And such is the interest in them that the sale will take place in three parts and in three countries — Hong Kong and New York following on from Geneva. Though it’s impossible to select a highlight, the stories of some lots are particularly compelling. Lot 65 is a limited-edition pink gold split-seconds

chronograph Ref. 5959R-001, retailed by Tiffany & Co. The reference 5959 is “so rare and exclusive that few people have ever seen one or are even aware of its existence,“ says Christie’s in its literature for the sale. With a black dial and Breguet numerals, it was only made for one year between 2016 and 2017, and in a special limited series of just 15 examples. “Reference 5959 is one the modern Patek Philippe models which best preserves the DNA and heritage of the revered Maison Genevoise. In fact, a practically unique case in the history of Patek Philippe, it is a virtually exact replica of a vintage model, specifically the first split-second chronograph wristwatch ever produced by the company, in 1923. The only differences are the modern signature, the co-axial button in the crown, and the snap-on back instead of hinged.” Lot 119, Reference 3448, also stands out for its rarity. “In the rarefied world of complicated vintage Patek Philippe masterpieces, the reference 3448 is one of the most sought after of all. Its minimal good looks and large size is perfectly suited for today’s most discerning collectors. Only 586 examples of the 3448 were ever made. Of these, only three, including this watch, are known to have been doublesigned for the highly prestigious Rome retailer Hausmann & Co.” Its dial is another notable aspect. “The silky finish is a feature of the very best dials made by Stern Frères, called

‘satiné opalin’. Exactly correct for the year 1970, the present dial would be one of the last of the engraved hard enamelled dials to be used on the reference. The dials changed to printed signature and calendar numerals from 1971.” Later this month, attention turns to Hong Kong, where at a live Christie’s auction on May 24, an extremely rare Patek Philippe piece will be presented for the very first time. The Patek Philippe 605 Heures Universelles, an 18K gold open-faced keyless lever world time watch, was one of the earliest pieces to employ Louis Cottier’s world time system, who also supervised its creation. Of the 95 pieces produced by Louis Cottier and Patek Philippe from 1939 to 1964, only 3 examples in yellow gold, with an enamel map depicting the entire globe, are known to have survived — this is one of them. “A treasure of this rarity and quality does not appear every season,” says Alexander Bigler, Vice-President & Head of Watches Christie’s Asia Pacific. “This is one of those ‘once-ina-lifetime’ occasions, where we have the chance to discover and hold in our hands a tremendous timepiece. The rarity is phenomenal, and the condition is exquisite. The vibrancy and the playfulness of the colours are a delight, and only enamel can ref lect this kind of beauty. A pocket watch of desire, for many savvy collectors, and the chance to secure a masterpiece of horology.” Proof that when it comes to Patek Philippe, ingenuity is timeless. 29

Jewellery MAY 2022: ISSUE 128

Love Story As film’s finest flock to Cannes for its annual film festival, AIR celebrates Chopard’s starring role WORDS: JOHN THATCHER

AIR

hen the film industry’s annual round of backslapping ceremonies (there was even a bit of face slapping at the Oscars) docks aside Boulevard de la Croisette for the steeped-in-glamour Cannes Film Festival this month, all eyes, as always, will be on the movie stars. Yet though the names of Bardot and Bogart are synonymous with the festival, so too should the name Chopard. In fact, Chopard’s association with the Cannes Film Festival runs deeper than that of any screen legend. Back in 1997, Pierre Viot, then President of the Cannes Festival, invited Chopard’s Artisitc Director Caroline Scheufele to conceptualise a redesign of the Palme d’Or, the trophy coveted by film’s finest. Challenge accepted, Scheufele’s new design made a deliberate nod to Cannes itself, a dainty palm motif attached to a rock crystal (ensuring each trophy is naturally unique) introduced in reference to the swaying palm trees that line the Croisette and the resort town’s coat of arms. The new trophy design debuted in 1998, and has remained the same ever since, apart from one important alteration — since 2014 it has been fashioned from 118 grams of ethical 18-carat yellow gold. It was, says Scheufele, a move to “draw 30

the world’s attention to the theme of ethics and environmental responsibility. Our workshops have made the award the first ethical film trophy, crafted from Fairmined-certified gold.” It is, then, not only a trophy coveted within the film industry, but a gleaming tribute to Chopard’s commitment to sustainable luxury, a piece of art to which five Chopard artisans are devoted to handcraft each year. And yet it’s not the only trophy the maison creates for the festival. Since 2001, Chopard has also sculpted the Trophée Chopard, an award shaped like a film spool that’s presented by a cinema legend who acts as godfather or godmother to an actress or actor at the outset of their career. Past recipients include the likes of Marion Cotillard, Diane Kruger and, more recently, Léa Seydoux and John Boyega. Naturally for someone so instrumental in shaping the legacy of the festival, Scheufele has developed a firm love of film. “For 11 days, we are gathered in the enchanting setting of the Bay of Cannes, and yet we take pleasure in being confined inside a cinema to discover films inspired by love and passion, as well as by drama, struggles and social issues,” enthuses Scheufele. Such passion has found another regular outlet for her creative expression

Previous page and right: an artisan working on the rose brooch

‘

For 11 days, we are gathered in the enchanting setting of the Bay of Cannes, and yet we take pleasure in being confined inside a cinema to discover films inspired by love and passion

AIR

’

– Chopard’s Red Carpet Collection, which this year is comprised of 75 high jewellery creations to mark the 75th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival. The full collection will be unveiled during the festival itself (May 17-28) but, prior to then, Scheufele has revealed a few key pieces that help illustrate the elite craftmanship of Chopard’s artisans. Under the banner of ‘Chopard Loves Cinema’, the collection is not only an homage to the silver screen and its journey from black and white to colour (and how colours can be used to spark certain emotions), but to Scheufele’s film favourites, whether it be a certain story, the world in which it is set, or a legendary scene. One such story is that of Cinderella. In the legendary tale, Cinderella’s fairy godmother whisks her to the ball in a carriage magicked from a pumpkin, which is where Scheufele picks up the wand. In Chopard’s fairy tale, that pumpkin is a spectacular ring composed of spessartite garnets and tsavorites, which opens to reveal a diamond slipper. It’s a piece as magical as anything Cinderella’s fairy godmother could conjure, one that took 100 hours of expertise. Another ring that’s equally enchanting is rose-shaped, its delicate petals lovingly sculpted from titanium and aluminium speckled with pink sapphires. They are designed in a way to cradle a precious two-carat diamond nestling at the heart of the flower. Dazzling. As is the 4.40-carat emerald at a centre of a ring that’s further adorned with delicate lacework and diamonds in pear, heart, and round cuts. One further ring previewed before it’s slipped on the finger of a film 32

star in Cannes is a colourful 18-carat white and rose gold, aluminium and titanium piece set with spessartite garnets totalling over 13 carats and underpinned by a supporting cast of tsavorites and diamonds. “Chopard’s commitment to cinema is the result of a shared vision and long-term collaboration with the organisers of the Cannes Festival,” details Scheufele. That relationship is beautifully expressed through a black and white diamond-studded rose brooch, selected by Scheufele to reference both a blossoming rapport and the rose worn by Charlie Chaplin on his lapel in the film City Lights, widely considered a screen masterpiece and a watershed moment when contemporary cinema began to flower. Common to every high jewellery showcase at Chopard are watches — a speciality of the Scheufele family through generations — and the Red Carpet Collection features the best of them. Two preview examples include one entirely set with rosettes of diamonds (32.82 carats) and pink, yellow and orange sapphires, while the other pairs diamonds with exquisite heart-shaped rubies (8.40 carats). It is a magnificent choker, however, that’s sure to steal the spotlight — it’s entirely crafted from diamonds totalling 204.35 carats. “In 25 years, I have been privileged to witness special moments in the world of cinema and a lot of emotions,” says Scheufele. The next special moment will arrive the second the actress sporting that spectacular choker steps on to the red carpet in Cannes.

HAWKE’S AIR

EYE Ethan Hawke on being trolled on stage and going to the dark side for Marvel WORDS: ROBBIE COLLIN

AIR

hen did Ethan Hawke receive the most wounding criticism of his career? His teenage heart-throb days? Those midcareer forays into horror? Not quite. In 2005, Hawke was appearing in a play in an intimate off-Broadway theatre: “Or at least intimate enough that I could hear every word the audience said,” he recalls, in a melodiously husky Texan drawl. The director had come up with a bold opening: as the crowd took their seats, Hawke would already be lying on stage, his character passed out drunk, only to wake after the house lights dimmed. At the time, Hawke was going through a painful divorce from the actress Uma Thurman, the possible causes of which had become a tabloid talking point. “And when the crowd saw me lying there, they’d just talk openly about me — and, I’m not kidding, at three performances out of eight, the talk would be nasty,” he cringes. “Things like: ‘He was a real s*** to her.’ ‘Did you hear he did this?’ And even: ‘Wasn’t he terrible in that movie?’ “I just had to breathe deep and remind myself that these were the people I wanted to play for,” he shrugs. “You gotta love thy neighbour, but you don’t get to pick ’em.” It’s a crisp spring morning in a London hotel. Hawke, 51, sips his coffee, folds his arms, and stretches his legs so far off the sofa that his body resembles a ferry’s loading ramp. “And in some strange way,” he chuckles, “it was a nice fire to walk through.” Hawke is not the type to shy from the paths that could leave your extremities singed. As a Generation X pin-up in the early 1990s, he spurned blockbusters to slip off to Vienna with Richard Linklater and Julie Delpy, and make Before Sunrise on a shoestring. A decade later, he spent the movie-star money earned from his Oscar-nominated performance in 2001’s Training Day on writing his first novel and playing Hotspur in Henry IV. And now, in the wake of two of his richest, most raved-about roles — a stricken, alcoholic Protestant minister in First Reformed, and a firebrand abolitionist in The Good Lord Bird — he’s gone to Marvel. Yes, that Marvel. After 36 franchisefree years, Hawke is playing the 36

‘

We’re often greedy and subjugate our best selves. Sometimes, frankly, you have to

’

villain in the superhero serial Moon Knight. His character, the icy cult leader Arthur Harrow, is the enemy of Oscar Isaac’s Steven Grant, a hapless museum gift shop employee who is also the earthly avatar of the Egyptian moon god Khonshu. It’s a freestanding Marvel oddity, which for Hawke was a huge part of its charm. “I didn’t have to figure out, like, what my relationship to Thor was,” he says. Recruiting him had been Isaac’s idea. Hawke lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife, Ryan, and their two daughters; Hawke also has two children from his marriage to Thurman, the eldest of whom is the 23-year-old actress Maya Hawke. Isaac lives nearby with his wife and two sons, and towards the end of 2020 the two had bumped into one another in a coffee shop queue. “This guy in a face mask told me how much he’d enjoyed The Good Lord Bird,” Hawke recalls. “Then he pulled it down and said ‘It’s me. Will you be the baddie in my Marvel thing?’ And I was like, ‘Is this guy being serious?’ ” Hawke had just returned from Ireland, where he’d been filming The Northman, Robert Eggers’s Viking vengeance epic. That experience — all mud and mayhem, and brooding allusions to Hamlet — was, he raves, “right in my wheelhouse”. But Marvel was new: lots of green screen and elaborate sets. He likens the job to being a kitchen assistant in a thronging restaurant: “Marvel buys the groceries and sets the table, but as long as you’re making the kind of food its customers will keep coming back for, they’ll let you cook whatever you like.” However laidback he may be in person, Hawke clearly thrives on the grind. When Hollywood downed tools

Right, clockwise from top: still from Before Sunrise (1995); still from Reality Bites (1994); still from Gattaca (1997)

‘

in 2020, he finished his fourth novel, the frisky and unflinching A Bright Ray of Darkness, about an actor whose marriage is in the process of collapse. Yes, it was inspired by his own experiences, and yes, it features a scene in which the lead character, while on stage, overhears audience members tutting about his personal life. He also helped devise a Zoombased production of Waiting for Godot, in which he starred opposite John Leguizamo. And made a film in Rome with Abel Ferrara. Oh — and directed a shrewd and sweeping six-part documentary titled The Last Movie Stars, about Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, and the ways in which cinema shifted during the star couple’s long-lived careers. That project, which will be broadcast later this year, is based on transcripts of reminiscences Newman had once recorded with industry friends, and intended at one point to rework into a memoir. The original recordings were lost, so Hawke decided to dramatise them like radio plays: George Clooney voices Newman and Laura Linney Woodward, while Sam Rockwell, Zoe Kazan, Vincent D’Onofrio and others take on supporting roles. He thought of Clooney for Newman because “there’s a kind of symmetry. With that level of stardom comes a very specific kind of responsibility: we saw Newman wield it, and Clooney also takes it very seriously.” Did he ever want it for himself? “Do I wish that Before Sunrise had made $100 million, and then I could do whatever I wanted? You want the artistic freedom it can bring. But it’s also a cage that I don’t know if I would have been able to handle. It can be 38

’

very hard to grow when people think they know exactly who you are.” Hawke’s carefully staked-out position on the fringe of mainstream success gives his talk an onlooker’s candour, and this was never more evident than five years ago, when he was one of the few major actors to openly admit he had been aware of Harvey Weinstein’s history of sexual misconduct. One of Weinstein’s accusers was Hawke’s ex-wife Thurman, who claimed the producer had attacked her in a London hotel room during the Pulp Fiction promotional tour; Weinstein, who is currently serving a 23-year sentence for rape and sexual assault, has denied this. Did Hawke feel powerless to speak out at the time? He stops to reflect. “Not powerless. We’re often greedy and subjugate our best selves. Sometimes, frankly, you have to.” He recalls trying to drum up funds for a project with Linklater, and suggesting to his longtime friend that they ask Weinstein for help: Linklater told him he’d rather the film went unmade, and it did. “That’s why I don’t judge anybody for what happened to them,” he says. “When I hear somebody say ‘How could those agents send those young women into a meeting in a hotel room?’, my answer is ‘Try stopping them.’ You’re treating these young women as if they were already victims. But they were the best actresses of their generation, and they knew that if you wanted to get a movie made, you had to talk to [Weinstein] at that point. And for those who had the courage to think ‘I can handle this guy’, he was making dreams come true.” Hawke and Linklater have made six films together: three of them were the Before trilogy, a series of snapshots

from the lives of a couple, Celine and Jesse, over 18 years; and one was Boyhood, a seemingly impossible project shot over 11 years at a rate of about 15 minutes per annum, about the childhood and adolescence of a Texas lad. (Hawke played the boy’s father.) Hawke imagined the latter as an experimental work that might be screened in art museums, if they were lucky: instead, it was nominated for six Oscars, took Best Film at the Baftas, and made almost $60 million worldwide. The customary nine years have now elapsed since the last instalment of the Before films. Have he, Delpy and Linklater talked about making a fourth? He reveals the three swapped some emails about a possible lockdown instalment, with Celine and Jesse in quarantine, “which would have been funny. But I think, for all of us, the Before films are over. There’s something about the way the first opens on a couple in their 40s fighting on the train, and then the third one ends with Celine and Jesse having effectively become that couple, that to me feels complete.” Revisiting the characters, he says, would require “changing the architecture. We had an idea that it would maybe be cool to make nine short films in secret, one per year, and release them together. Or perhaps go back in 30 years, when only one of them’s around. But it would have to be something all three of us agreed on.” And presumably have the backing to do so. “If you want to make movies with the Richard Linklaters of this world, you also have to be in movies millions of people see. That’s what keeps the actor’s life interesting,” he grins. “You gotta pay to play.”

Credit: © Robbie Collin / Telegraph Media Group Limited 2022

AIR

Marvel buys the groceries and sets the table, but as long as you’re making the kind of food its customers will keep coming back for, they’ll let you cook whatever you like

AIR

He is 84 and struggling with ill health, but the legendary photographer David Bailey is as outrageous and indiscreet as ever

“T

errible hair,” says David Bailey, handing me the contact sheet from a portrait of Princess Diana. “You know, from the hairspray — solid as a plastic dummy.” To be fair, it was the 1980s and, anyway, lavish use of Elnett probably saved Diana from injury: during the shoot, Bailey’s assistant dropped a light on her head. “I thought, oh F***!” says Bailey, though the Princess was remarkably understanding, and made a point of reassuring the girl afterwards. “She said: ‘Don’t think about it; it was a terrible accident’. I told her she had been very magnanimous — that’s right, because she asked me what magnanimous meant.” “This one,” he says, tapping a different shot, “is probably where I was trying to loosen her up.” The Princess is smiling, sweetly goofy. “Everything she is doing here is what I told her to do, though if I want to make them laugh, I tell them something funny. I don’t say ‘F***** laugh’.” One hopes he said nothing of the kind to the Queen, when she sat for him in 2014, but his gambit that time was to ask if “the jewels” were real. 41

Previous page: Jean Shrimpton, overpainting circa 2010s These pages, from left to right: Andy Warhol 1965 © David Bailey; Jack Nicholson, circa 2010s

AIR

‘

Warhol. You couldn’t find him. I don’t think there was anything to find

“I said: ‘I bet that cost a few bob, girl’.” “You called her ‘girl’?” “It just came out. I call everyone ‘girl’. But she was girlish. Made a real effort. We had a laugh. Beautiful skin, the Queen.” Bailey — whose rascal looks and glorious insurrection made him the poster boy for the Swinging Sixties — turned 84 in January. He is rotund but not plump, dapper in a clapped-out way and dressed in what has become his trademark get-up: flannel shirt, scarf, trainers and a baseball cap. Beneath it, his owlish eyes are wide, watchful. We have met to talk about a discreet selling exhibition of his work at Sotheby’s, its prints priced at between £20,000 ($26k) and £80,000 ($104k). Discreet, though, Bailey is not: his conversation froths with inside stories from 62 years in the business. He also swears like a navvy — so much so that I fear for the virtue of the builders in the mews below — and sews up almost every sentence with a wheezy cackle. Four years ago, he suffered a stroke and was diagnosed with vascular dementia. Perhaps for that reason, he also seems a little less sure of himself than when 42

I last met him about a decade ago. “I forget things — I’m like Mortimer here,” he says, ruffling the chow chow that has sidled up to the table and is looking at Bailey intently. He inherited the dog from his youngest son, Sascha (he has another son, Fenton, and a daughter, Paloma). “I’d never have bought one. Look at him, you can’t tell one end from the other with all that fluff.” I reach out a hand: “Seems sweet, but he can be vicious,” Bailey says, though I think he is joking. How is he coping with the diagnosis? “I just get on with it. I’ve always been dyslexic so it didn’t make much difference.” His family? “They joke: ‘Oh, don’t tell Bailey, he’ll forget, hee hee’. It has its advantages because I forget the bad times, but sometimes I forget the good times too. This is getting a bit existential. What did you say your name was?” He is cackling again, though when he prises the lid off his takeaway coffee, I notice his hands trembling. Bailey’s photographs are extraordinary things: so vital that they seem to crackle. He loathes talking technique but has said that his secret was to “fall in love with [the subject] a bit, just for that moment.” Those who have sat for

’

him often say that he talked to them for hours before taking a single frame, which belies his carefully cultivated reputation for cantankerousness. He is charm itself when he wants to be. Only one person has defeated him: “Warhol. You couldn’t find him. I don’t think there was anything to find.” His favourite print from that shoot, which took place in 1965, sees Warhol’s mouth slightly open, revealing a row of weirdly tiny, doll-like teeth. Bailey and he were staying with the art collector Baby Jane Holzer at the time, and took a drive together into upstate New York. “Out of the blue he said: ‘Have you ever wondered what happened to all those people who used to make buttons?’ I was like, ‘Hello?’ He was a strange man.” You don’t come to Bailey for political correctness. He turns acid when I broach MeToo — “I don’t know anything about that. I don’t know any of them” — and is perplexed by cancel culture: “People’s minds change, but the time doesn’t change, they can’t change their actions; can’t go back.” The son of an East End tailor’s cutter, Bailey was born in Leytonstone, London, in 1938 and took his first

These pages, from left to right: Mick Jagger © V2; Jean Shrimpton 1962 © David Bailey

photos during national service in Singapore, then assisted the society photographer John French. It was John Parsons, though, the art director of Vogue, who gave him his break. Bailey was the enfant terrible at Vogue, whose payroll he joined in 1960. On the wall of his studio is one of the fashion pictures he took for them, a ravishing study of a model in a 1965 Balenciaga wedding dress. “Did they mind that you photographed her from the back?” “I didn’t ask them.” “Vogue didn’t tell you what to do?” “Yeah, ‘course they did. I ignored them.” Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, pretty much every cultural titan of the day sat in front of his lens. His fame quickly reached and then surpassed theirs, not least for his womanising. ‘David Bailey makes love daily’ went the rhyme. He dated the models Jean Shrimpton and Penelope Tree, plus Anjelica Huston, and was married to Catherine Deneuve and Marie Helvin. He’s been with his current wife, the model Catherine Dyer, since 1986, and credits the success of that relationship, modestly, to his sense of humour. Bailey and I look through proof prints together: Michael Caine with an unlit 44

’

cigarette in his mouth; Jane Birkin wearing only a necklace; the Queen, also in a necklace (though a dress besides); Jagger in a furry hood. The Rolling Stone lived with him for a while. “When he was 18 or 19 he had nowhere to live, so I let him crash with me. We were great friends.” “Jean was the most beautiful girl in the world,” he says, when he gets to Shrimpton. They were together for two and a half years and are still the best of friends — he recently visited her in Cornwall. Does he associate her with a happy period in his life? “It’s always been a happy period in my life. S*** happened but you get over it.” He pulls out another: “Look at her arm. She was actually perfect.” I ask Bailey if his idea of beauty has changed over time. “Beauty is not what people think,” he replies. The first time he became aware of that quality, “was when I went with my mother to Bond Street, to see the New Look [fashion collection] — you know, Dior, so it must have been 1947 or ‘48. She couldn’t afford it, but she put it on and spun around and it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Her spinning, that skirt swinging. She was beautiful, though I didn’t know it at the time. She was just my mother.” He signals he’s had enough of that by pushing a well-known fashion magazine across the table. “I’d never take a picture like that. I can’t believe they published

it. Calls himself an art director? He couldn’t direct traffic in a car park.” Who does he like? “Only [the British fashion photographer] Tim Walker.” But more generally he’s not impressed with the scene. “The days of star photographers have gone. Something’s happened, because it’s gone for everything — music, and art. Nobody knows any painters except David Hockney.” Bailey knows quite a bit about art. He has painted since childhood, and has easels set up in his north London and Devon homes. Several photographs at Sotheby’s are overlain with playful brushwork, while on the wall here in the studio are paintings of people, but not portraits, he clarifies, “because painting portraits is boring.” He loves Caravaggio and Julian Schnabel, though Picasso is the don. He famously turned down the offer to shoot the latter “because it seemed like a long way to go for one picture” and has always regretted it. “But it’s good to have a regret, and it’s my only one.” “They’re about death, those pictures,” he says of some of his vanitas still lifes, of flowers and skulls. So I next ask him whether he thinks about it more now — how he would like to go. “I really don’t know,” he replies. Would he like to choose when? “No,” he says. “Better to let it happen. Better not to know.”

Credit: © Lucy Davies /Telegraph Media Group 2022

AIR

‘

Beauty is not what people think

AIR

BACK TO NATURE The American model Lindsey Wixson on hanging up her high heels and retiring to rural Kansas

WORDS: TAMARA ABRAHAM

AIR

f you don’t know Lindsey Wixson’s name, you probably know her face. Her doll-like features, the dimples, those lips and gap teeth have made her one of the most distinctive models working today. Over the past decade, she has starred in campaigns for what seems like every global designer brand (Chanel, Dior and Fendi, to name just three), appeared on 14 Vogue covers and even (briefly) retired from fashion-all before her 28th birthday. But that’s where the starry glamour of her life ends, because her extraordinary looks mask a remarkably down-to-earth person. When I heard I’d be calling the supermodel and sustainability champion at her ‘farm’ in rural Kansas, I expected to be discussing organic vegetable crops and her eco-living utopia. I did not expect to be pondering the merits of frozen burritos. “I wouldn’t call it a farm. I don’t have livestock. Maybe a nature reserve,” she corrects me. “We are kind of lazy out here — we do like frozen burritos and stuff like that because it is winter. What we did grow last year was a watermelon. And then we did okra. But it was really an experiment.” The ‘we’ refers to her husband of two years, set designer Two Hawks Young. The couple met on a Stella McCartney shoot in 2018. “We were friendly during the shoot,” she recalls. “Then we met

‘

up in Chinatown, where I lived for most of my time in New York. I remember thinking, this is so familiar, things that are familiar and nostalgic... I’m really drawn to that. We were pretty much inseparable from there on, and I invited him to Kansas before Thanksgiving and he met my family. So it all happened quickly.” They married in April 2019, in Shelton, Washington, in front of about 70 guests. Young is of Native American descent, and the ceremony was on his tribal land at Arcadia Point. Wixson could have commissioned a couture gown from any of the world’s top fashion houses, but instead she chose a selection of garments pulled from her wardrobe: “I wore a Chloé cream silk dress with a Zac Posen eiderdown knit dress over the top, and knee-high black suede Prada boots,” she says of her unusual bridal look. Her hair was braided with a string of pearls, over which she wore a Chanel headband, which she customised with a pendant, and a red-and-black beaded veil. It’s all a far cry from Wixson’s school prom. By then, the modelling wunderkind was so well known that designer Jason Wu created her dress, and CNN followed her home to Wichita to cover it (I reported on it as a young journalist in New York, too). But it’s only 15 years since Wixson was just another fashion-obsessed schoolgirl.

“Even when I was 12, I would immerse myself in YouTube videos of models like Jessica Stam, Lily Donaldson and Gemma Ward,” she says. Fashion was a means of escape for her and her sister, Kirsten, who is four years older. “We come from a place that kind of swallows culture,” she says of their childhood in suburban Kansas, where their father, now retired, installed satellite dishes. These days, though, she says it’s very diverse for the middle of the country. Wixson’s entry into fashion was via a modelling competition in a local shopping mall-and she didn’t even win the first time round. But the following year she netted a six-month course of ‘modelling etiquette’ classes. It sounds like one of those moneyspinner businesses designed to take advantage of naive teenagers’ fashion aspirations, but it was legitimate: scouts from several major modelling agencies came to call, and one, Vision Los Angeles, signed her. And then the fairy tale began. Wixson, who at 15 needed to be chaperoned by her mother, had been in Los Angeles for only two weeks when she was cast in a shoot with the renowned photographer Steven Meisel. Her runway debut was at Prada — Miuccia Prada has a talent for casting the next big thing — and the rest of the industry fell in love with her. “Everything was working out

’

I come from a place that kind of swallows culture

Opening pages: On the runway for Fendi AW19/20 Previous pages, from left to right: Wixson at the Balmain aftershow party, 2016; the 4th Annual amfAR Inspiration Gala New York, 2013 Right: Backstage at Max Mara, 2015

‘

how I had dreamt it would,” Wixson says. Campaigns for Miu Miu, Versace, Chanel and Mulberry followed. She stumbled on the catwalk at Naomi Campbell’s Fashion for Relief show in Cannes in 2011 — a moment that might have been a career ender but only served to charm the fashion set even more. Elsewhere she’s been notably surefooted. Victoria’s Secret was a huge feather in any model’s cap at the timealthough it is no longer. But Wixson had the confidence, aged 18, to turn it down. At 21, she went to a casting to be one of the underwear brand’s Angels. Nothing in her varied career had prepared her for the experience: “Normally, the casting director expects you to show up bare-faced, no makeup, not even cover-up for spots, and in clothes that will show off your body. And I go to this casting and I see the girls are in full hair and make-up. And I just thought, ‘I’m not getting this, I’m just doing this so my agent will be happy.’ They have all this underwear that everyone tries on — it’s really gross — and I was right behind Gigi Hadid, and she says, ‘You got it, you’re everything that they want.’ And I hug her and she goes out and she stuns. And then I go out and I don’t stun.” She dodged a bullet. A New York Times report in 2020 detailed ‘an entrenched culture of misogyny, bullying and harassment’ at Victoria’s Secret, as well as then chairman and CEO Leslie Wexner’s alleged links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Wexner denies any wrongdoing and was never convicted of any wrongdoing. “I’m really glad I didn’t go full on for it because I wasn’t really into it. And now they’re rebranding, and I don’t know — they haven’t called again.” Wixson’s modelling career came to an abrupt halt in 2017 when she developed ‘turf toe’, a painful sprain 50

of the big toe, caused by walking in stratospheric heels, and announced that she had had enough. ‘To all my fashion fans, I am sad to inform you that my injury has put me in a position to retire from this high-heel business,’ she posted at the time on social media. She moved from New York to Seattle with her then boyfriend and devoted her time to ceramics, making bowls and cups, but the relationship ended and Wixson returned to Kansas, where she took a job working in a bar as rehab, of sorts, for her foot, starting with four-hour stints and building up to seven-hour shifts. Anyone who has waitressed will know that it can be both gruelling and humbling work, with no room for big egos, so it says a lot about Wixson that she enjoyed herself — although it could be awkward, mid-shift, to be asked to sign autographs and pose for photographs. Eventually, her foot recovered, and Wixson returned to modelling. In the autumn of 2018, she walked the Miu Miu show-in flats-which she describes as a “homecoming”. When the pandemic hit, in March 2020, she and Young left New York, driving non-stop for 21 hours through the Midwest to Kansas to avoid having to stay in a hotel. “A lot of these really rural towns in America, they don’t wear masks indoors,” she says of the places they drove through. “There were flags flying, sometimes not even an American flag, just a Trump flag.” In order to keep busy in their self-imposed retreat, she and Young became a fashion-world dream team. Brands would send them the clothes they wanted shot, which the couple would quarantine, then together they would stage photo shoots, with Young behind the camera and Wixson in front of it, doing her own make-up and styling herself. One campaign, for the sustainable and carbon-neutral label

’

AS by DF, meant driving for five hours to Monument Rocks, a landscape of dramatic chalk formations. “I would change in the back of the truck,” she says, “and then we did everything, most of the shots before noon and then the last shot around sunset. And then we drove back the other five hours.” Were they really a dream team? Up to a point: “I had to sort of direct him, like, here’s the shot, this is the framing, a little bit of a nudge creatively... and I’m pretty bossy,” she admits. The results were a success, though, landing them more collaborative projects, including a shoot for Italian Vogue. However, for one who seeks to live as sustainably as possible, the fashion world, with its endless hunger for more and newer, is problematic. And Wixson is planning to do an environmental science degree. So is she waving goodbye to modelling again? “My goals as a model have shifted to try to hold brands accountable for business practices that go against my personal beliefs,” she says. “I’ve had to explain to my agents that if a brand says they’re recycling polyester, I don’t care what they’re doing with polyester, because I want to stop working with brands that use polyester in the first place, because they still pollute with microplastics.” Changing the fashion system is a long game, though, so she’s hopeful that a pivot to acting is on the cards. “Karl Lagerfeld put me in some of his films,” she says. “I’m hopeful for some director seeing what everyone in the fashion industry saw. That could maybe turn into something bigger.” For now, though, modelling is the platform from which she can make the biggest difference. “I feel like I should have a say in what projects I take on and what I promote, because it ultimately comes back to me: my face is on it.”

Credit: Tamara Abraham / Telegraph Media Group Limited 2022

AIR

My goals as a model have shifted to try to hold brands accountable for business practices that go against my personal beliefs

AIR

As head of his eponymous fashion house, Jean Paul Gaultier was once considered shocking, yet he has paved the way for many modern designers. So what’s he up to these days? Enjoying a renaissance among Hollywood’s new It girls, of course WORDS: LAURA CRAIK 53

AIR

Such a gesticulator is Jean Paul Gaultier that I half expect him to punch through the computer screen and land on my desk, arms flailing like windmills. His Big French Energy isn’t done justice by Zoom: like all larger-than-life characters, he is best experienced in the flesh. At 69 he still speaks with the rapidity and enthusiasm of a tween, his words tripping over themselves in a mellifluous singsong. And while it’s clearly ridiculous to call a man soon to be a septuagenarian the ‘enfant terrible’ of fashion, in many ways Gaultier’s lifelong nickname still fits. “I’m a very old enfant terrible at this point,” he says, chuckling. “I can’t remember who gave me the name, but I think it was the British press. For me it was a compliment. I don’t want to be part of the system.” These days he isn’t — he retired from fashion in January 2020, after presenting his final haute couture show in Paris and celebrating 50 years in the business — but he is still part of the culture, and never more so than now, with the world in the throes of a Nineties love affair, of which JPG’s clothes are a pivotal part. On TV, in the new series of Euphoria, Zendaya’s character, Rue, wore a red jacquard vest circa 1994, while her Gen X counterpart Carrie Bradshaw in And Just Like That was dressed in a full JPG look from the spring/summer 1997 collection. In real life, meanwhile, Rihanna, FKA Twigs, Cardi B, Dua Lipa, Bella Hadid and Kendall Jenner are just a handful of the celebrities with whom he has found favour in recent months. He is as nonchalant about this new generation of fans as only the man who put Madonna in a conical bra can be. Very few designs truly deserve to be described as ‘iconic’, but JPG’s pink conical bra is one such piece. It was one of a series of designs he created for the singer’s 1990 Blond Ambition tour, after they became friends in 1989. “Madonna I was literally in love with. I asked her three times to marry me. She refused, of course. The first time I saw her was in 1984, on Top of the Pops. She was so stylish that I thought she was British. She’s American, of course, but she’s really international. I was lucky to meet her early on in her career, because I always adored her style. I felt a perfect osmosis between us.” He loved that she was always in 54

control of her own image, a feat that eludes some female pop stars even now. “She was never la femme objet — objectified — even in a corset dress. She was provocative, but very ‘No, don’t touch’ at the same time. Even now she’s fighting for the right to do whatever she wants no matter how old she is. It’s great.” He has a low opinion of those who persist in telling her to cover up, as the rappers 50 Cent and Nelly recently did. “People don’t say anything to criticise men when they get older. For women it’s still not like that. Madonna might be criticised for what she wears now, but for me she is courageous and exceptional. You can show an aggressive sexiness at any age, even when you are very old.” Gaultier regularly cast older models on his catwalk throughout the Eighties and Nineties, long before it became political to do so. “I find some people are more beautiful old than when they were young,” he says simply. His fashion shows were also rare historic examples of body positivity and gender inclusivity: the singer Beth Ditto and the drag queen Conchita Wurst are just two of the less predictable models to have been cast. In the Eighties he famously placed an ad in the French daily newspaper Libération seeking “Atypical models. The facially disfigured should not refrain from applying.” Yet he’s modest when I suggest that any of this was groundbreaking. “Maybe because I myself was a little different I always loved different people,” he says with a shrug. “There is not only one kind of beauty. There are many kinds. You just have to look. I am very anti-fashion when fashion insists that models have to be small. Fat can be very beautiful.” His catwalks have always been racially diverse. His 1997 collection was titled Fight Racism and paid homage to black singers of the 20th century, including Nina Simone and Neneh Cherry. Naomi Campbell walked in the show; the two have been good friends since she first came to Paris to model for him in 1987. “Naomi has always been herself. Her character is very… particular,” he says, laughing. “She is a unique beauty.” He hasn’t met her baby daughter yet. “But it’s the best thing that could ever happen to her, to have a child.” Even in the noisy world of high

Previous page: Gaultier is mobbed at the end of his last couture show at Theatre Du Chatelet on January 22, 2020 in Paris This page: Madonna in Gaultier’s famous conical bra

‘

Madonna I was literally in love with. I asked her three times to marry me. She refused, of course

’

This page, clockwise from left: Haute Couture fall/winter 2012/2013; Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2015/2016; Gaultier in his showroom, 1984

AIR

Credit: Sunday Times/News Licensing

fashion, Gaultier’s designs were always so striking, bold and unique that they never failed to stand out. He put men in skirts long before androgyny became a trend: it was back in the mists of 1985 that his Et Dieu créa l’homme (And God Created Man) collection showcased men in skirt suits. But don’t expect the man who practically invented the idea of Insta-friendly clothes to be a fan of Instagram. “I don’t look at it. Sometimes somebody shows me something new there, but I don’t like to scroll through it. It gives me vertigo. I prefer to be inspired by what is around me. You can say something through what you are doing, and I prefer to do it like that.” Nor is he a fan of Netflix’s Emily in Paris. “I saw it but I couldn’t go on for more than 20 minutes. I know it’s a big success, and that the French are in a bad mood about it. It stereotypes, and I think if it had been done by the British it would have been done with a little more humour, like Inspector Clouseau. It’s an old cliché of Paris.” Gaultier himself grew up on a council estate in the Paris suburbs, the only child of an accountant father and a cashier mother. It’s hard to believe that he was once awkward and shy, though more believable that he was given the nickname fille manquée (literally ‘failed girl’, the equivalent of ‘tomgirl’) by his schoolmates. Aged 22 he met Francis Menuge, who became his partner in work and life until his death in 1987. Another great influence in his life was the designer Pierre Cardin, who gave the 18-year-old Gaultier his first job, part-time initially, so he could finish school. “I owe him everything,” he said after Cardin’s death in December 2020. Those with long memories may

remember Gaultier for Eurotrash, the cult late-night British TV series he cohosted with Antoine de Caunes in the Nineties. Its high/low mix of fashion, gossip and news was perfect post-pub TV, garnering three million viewers a week at its peak, and becoming Channel 4’s most popular entertainment show. Who was his favourite guest? “Oh. Hmm. Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa,” he muses. “Carla Bruni. She was able to adapt herself to any situation and was very funny. And Lolo Ferrari. She had the big breasts — fake, but enormous, enormous, enormous,” he says, gesticulating in a large, circular motion. He recalls one incident where she fell down while dancing and was unable to get up again. “It was sad. Her breasts were so heavy that she couldn’t stand.” It’s fair to say that Eurotrash is one Nineties phenomenon that won’t be enjoying a revival any time soon, but Gaultier would be too busy to resume his presenting duties anyway. He’s currently a judge on the French version of Strictly Come Dancing, while last year he launched a rental and resale service that allows fans to enjoy a selection of vintage Gaultier pieces, including tailoring, corsetry and his trademark trompe l’oeil mesh tops and dresses. Even in retirement he’s still paying it forward, by inviting different designers to oversee his haute couture collections in Paris. In January Y/Project’s Glenn Martens took the helm. “It’s so interesting to see a younger person interpret my style. It’s very flattering.” “Yes, yes, yes,” he says, waving his arms again. “I’m in love with my life, with my job, with my friends, with my partner. You need to be loved.” Words to live by.

‘

There is not only one kind of beauty. There are many kinds. You just have to look. I am very anti-fashion when fashion insists that models have to be small

’

Motoring MAY 2022 : ISSUE 128

Size Matters

Beyond the towering performance, the aggression and the thirst, the Aston Martin DBX707 provides further reason why the super SUV market is running hot WORDS: ANDREW ENGLISH

I AIR

t’s debatable, but probably the first super SUV was the Porsche Cayenne in 2003, yet more recently there have been rivals such as the Audi RS Q8, Bentley Bentayga S, Rolls-Royce Cullinan, BMW’s X5 and X7, the Mercedes-Benz AMG GLE 63S and Range Rover’s Sport SVR. More recently, Lamborghini’s Urus took the whole idea into hyperspace with its 3.3sec 0-60mph time. No, since you ask, it hasn’t got much in the way of off-road ability on its 22-inch, low-profile tyres, but the all-terrain drive selector headings of neve (snow), terra (off-road) and sabbia (sand) might give you some idea of the type of terrain that typical owners might encounter outside of racetrack-smooth Tarmac. Yet if you gripe and say these are horrible, overweight, and overpowered, the manufacturers of super SUVs might reasonably point out that there is a huge demand for them. It took Porsche 44 years to sell one million 911 sports cars yet last December, less than 20 years since the model was introduced, a German customer took delivery of the millionth Cayenne. In fact, various Porsche bosses have even posited that without it, the company might not have survived. While a few super luxury car makers have refused to join the fray (McLaren is one example), others have had to, the

sector is still growing and if you’re not in it, you’re watching your rivals drive past while warming your hands on a bonfire of your own money. Previous refusenik Ferrari is about to launch an SUV, which will allegedly be named Purosangue, while Aston Martin joined the rush 18 months ago with the DBX, a Mercedes-Benz-engined, 5.1 metre-long 2.2-tonne behemoth, with 542bhp and 516lb ft from a turbocharged V8 engine and a top speed of 181mph. I liked it, generally, though it couldn’t hide its Mercedes roots from the engine note to the touchscreen in the centre of the facia. The thing about this market is that it’s as fickle as hell and the sheer power and performance of the Urus has drawn well-heeled buyers from other marques. Lamborghini sold 5,021 of them in 2021, which is 60 per cent of the total output of its Sant’Agata factory. That car has not just doubled the size of the company, but also upped the super SUV ante. And while this might seem like car makers engaging in a pointless armwrestling contest, buyers are drawn in, too. Numbers matter; power and torque, acceleration and those pointless lap times on the old Nordschleife circuit at the Nurburgring; Aston couldn’t afford its DBX to be left napping as merely rapid.

a limited slip one in the rear. Acceleration is now a 0-100km/h in 3.3sec, with a top speed of 310km/h, with 19.1mpg in the Combined WLTP cycle and CO2 emissions of 323g/km. They’ve speeded up the rear axle, reworked the power steering system, and braced the front of the car even further to bolster the side stiffness and improve the steering response while taking out the artificiality, or so they say. Walk up and the first thing that strikes you is the stretched and widened look, which has had additional cooling radiators stacked on each side of the grille. There are two sorts of brake cooling for the dinner plate-sized carbon-ceramic rotors and six-piston calipers. Tiny winglets and plastic filets help keep the air on the car (or fool it into flying off earlier than it wants to) with the result that despite the extra cooling and downforce, the coefficient of drag is

exactly the same as the standard DBX. The wishbone front/multi-link rear air suspension has been reprogrammed, there are a set of new seats front and rear and the centre console is reworked, although it’s still the previous-generation Mercedes-Benz screen in the centre. Frankly the instrument binnacle is a bit of a mess, trying to convey far too much information in too small a space; Aston used to do simple things like having one control to change the power delivery and gearbox set-up and another to control the suspension and stability algorithms. So, it’s recognisably a DBX inside and out, but it all looks sharper and meaner without anything actually changing much bar a few ducts and darts. The engine blares on start-up, although you can switch that off to prevent your neighbours forming a lynch mob. It moves off like a ship leaving dock, docile and actually pretty easy to control, with a

AIR

So, under relatively new chief executive Tobias Moers (formerly of MercedesAMG), it has taken the DBX through a movie training medley; cue cuts of boxing gyms, exhausted men in bloodied silk shorts leaning on the ropes, training staff snarling and a triumphant first fight. Well Aston is hoping so. With its fancy-pants name, the DBX707 is on sale now — the 707 suffix denotes the metric horsepower of the new model from its German-built AMG 4.0-litre V8. Though the engine’s bottom end remains the same, nestling in the V are a couple of larger turbochargers with main shafts running on ball bearings to reduce friction. Power and torque are up to 697bhp at 6,000rpm and 663lb ft peaking at 4,500rpm, though it’s pulling like a rottweiler on a leash from 2,500rpm. The transmission is a nine-speed automatic with a wet clutch, there’s an electronically controlled centre differential and

‘

Push the pedal farther and you’d better be ready for the response

’

lovely progressive feel to the steering and accelerator. Likewise the carbon-ceramic brakes, which can sometimes be grabby, especially when cold, but not here. It really does steer beautifully, with a natural feel at the wheel rim; more front suspension castor provides more self-centring and an accuracy which occasionally betrays the car’s 2,245kg weight and bulk. In fact, the DBX707 is deceptively large with a 5,039mm body length on a 3,060mm wheelbase and a width without mirrors of 2,050mm and height of 1,680mm, yet it’s only when parked next to smaller fare that you notice — cliché it may be, but it does shrink around you at the wheel. The ride quality is pretty good, with a stiffly-sprung but not uncomfortable feel, although the 22-inch Pirellis let you know about bumps and potholes with sharp edges. The active anti-roll system stiffens individual wheel rates in corners so the Aston thumps a bit if the outside wheels hit a mid-corner bump. Speed up and at first the way the nose carves into a turn also defies the car’s mass. You only need stroke the accelerator pedal and the DBX707 wafts happily along, its rev counter barely registering any under-bonnet activity. Push the pedal farther, though and you’d better be ready for the response when the big turbos spool up. Unlike the smaller-turbo Mercedes-AMG models, there is some lag in the Aston’s response, but what a response it is, with a horizon-warping ability accompanied by a hair-raising soundtrack. Again, Aston engineers have wrought their own exhaust sound, although there’s only so much you can do with what is basically the same engine as the AMG unit. And you’ll not be spending too much time at full chat, not necessarily because the fuel consumption is dropping below 15mpg, but because there’s simply not the road space. The next corner is upon you rather rapidly. And then the Pirellis do a fine job of tracking round, but ultimately this big car would rather go straight on. Self-control and accurate judgement of speed are absolute essentials of driving a car like this — did anyone say slow in, fast out? Fortunately, the brakes are a phenomenon, stopping time after time without fade, in fact without any noticeable change in their extraordinary performance. 61

Gastronomy

AIR

MAY 2022: ISSUE 129

Red or Dead

It’s been a long time coming, but finally the little red book of Michelin that the world’s best restaurants live or die by has parked up in Dubai WORDS: JOHN THATCHER

AIR

ubai’s latest architectural wonder, the Museum of the Future, was a fitting venue for Michelin to announce that the city will be the latest to have its gastronomic offering appraised, with the best restaurants then bound within the pages of a little red book that remains the biggest thing in the culinary world. For while Dubai established its epicurean credentials long ago — a whole host of Michelin-star toting super chefs having beaten a path to the city to open restaurants — the presence of the guide itself remained conspicuous by its absence, its arrival slated for some time in the future. Then, voila! Last month’s confirmation that the Michelin Guide Dubai will unveil its first selection in June. “Dubai is one of the shining gems of the seven emirates, and it has grown into one of the world’s principal destinations for business and tourism,” said a spokesperson for Michelin Guides. “A city of superlatives, it has a rich history that stretches back millennia and includes influences from many cultures. Arabic and other Middle Eastern cuisines remain popular, and now the diversity of the population and the popularity of Dubai has led to the city having one of the most cosmopolitan and wideranging collections of restaurants in the world. We will be showcasing the best of Dubai’s gastronomy, to reflect not just the sophistication that the city is famed for, but also the wide diversity of cuisines that the city’s location and history provide.” Perhaps it’s just coincidence that Michelin’s arrival in the region follows swiftly on the back of 50 Best, a rival arbiter of culinary expertise who debuted with MENA’s 50 Best Restaurants back in January. But whatever the reason for its longawaited coming, the fact it’s here is surely good news for both consumers and restaurants alike — for far too long, Dubai has been starved of restaurant critics with the knowledge to match the skills of the chefs at the city’s best restaurants. Now is when the real work begins for those chefs, a coveted guide for which fellow cooks in the thirty-five other countries where Michelin is present 64

have shed sweat, tears and, I daresay, a little blood, in an attempt for their restaurant to be granted a coveted star or three. To do so, chefs must impress the invisible critic — not the invited influencer common to Dubai, who’ll turn up for a free feed in return for some snaps and a deluge of approving emojis on Instagram. “All independent inspections are completely anonymous; the restaurants and chefs are never aware when a Michelin inspector is dining, allowing for them to have a complete comprehensive experience to judge and rate the restaurant exactly how a customer would experience it.” So who are these inspectors? “The anonymity of the inspectors is an integral part of the methodology of the Michelin Guide; hence we do not disclose information about them. Rest assured that we will never compromise on the quality of the inspection process and the guide. Dubai is an international city, with a broad range of international cuisine alongside local cuisine. The team of inspectors are therefore made up of inspectors locally and from around the world.” Likewise, nor will Michelin disclose exactly how many of the city’s restaurants those anonymous inspectors will visit, only to say that the selection will be broad. “The selection reflects the quality of the gastronomic scene in a particular country or city, regardless of the style of cuisine, or the category of the establishment. Consequently, our inspectors have of course tried all types of cuisines on offer in Dubai, from street food to restaurant dishes. We look at all types of food, and we do not favour one style over another when making our selections.” Despite its status as gastronomic royalty, the Michelin Guide had humble beginnings. At first a small book for travellers devised by brothers Andre and Edouard Michelin (owners of the tyre company), it contained maps and information on how to change tyres, along with a few ideas of what to do when not on the road. Naturally, this would later extend to a list of restaurants to stop and eat at, and when this section gained in popularity the Michelin brothers recruited a team of mystery diners — inspectors, as the

company now calls them — to visit and review restaurants anonymously. In 1926, the guide began to award stars, initially marking them only with a single star. Five years later, a hierarchy of one, two, and three stars was introduced, and in 1936, the criteria for the starred rankings was published. That hasn’t changed. One star is awarded for ‘high quality cooking, worth a stop!’; two stars are served up for ‘excellent cooking, worth a detour!’; while three are dished out for ‘exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey!’. “The awarding process of a star, which is a powerful and very special moment in the life of a chef, meets the strict criteria used by all inspectors

all over the world. To assess the quality of a restaurant, inspectors rely on five criteria: quality of the ingredients; mastery of cooking; harmony of the f lavours; expression of the chef’s personality in the cuisine; and consistency, both over time and across the entire menu. “As the Michelin Guide has an international presence, it is essential that its selections are made according to the same criteria and the same methodology everywhere in the world. This is what ensures that a star in Tokyo shows the same promise of quality as a star in New York or Berlin. The inspection team is not inf luenced by any commercial partnerships, or that particular region’s local cultural work scope,

but purely on the culinary dishes and culinary dining experience.” That last bit is important to note. For the Michelin Guide Dubai, Michelin has partnered with Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), which may hint at external inf luence. However, one need not look far for a precedent: when 50 Best launched in Abu Dhabi, it did so in partnership with the Department of Culture and Tourism — Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi), yet when the votes were counted, no Abu Dhabi restaurant made the top twenty. In contrast, the top ten featured six from Dubai, which probably tells you the real reason why the city is now home to the region’s first Michelin Guide.

Opening pages and below: the Michelin Guide in its early form at the turn of the last century

‘

The anonymity of the inspectors is an integral part of the methodology of the Michelin Guide

’

AIR

Travel MAY 2022: ISSUE 128

JOURNEYS BY JET

RAKxa Thailand

hailand’s well-earned reputation as one of the world’s foremost holistic health and wellness destinations is perfectly encapsulated in RAKxa, the country’s leading all-in-one medical retreat. As transformative for the mind and soul as it for the body — you’ll find RAKxa immersed in the protected island of Bang Krachao, a jungle-clad private paradise alive with nature — here, holistic offerings come courtesy of a dedicated team of industry-leading doctors and practitioners from Bumrungrad International Hospital, experts of time-honoured healing disciplines that marry science to tradition. As we emerge from the pandemic, this is the place to boost your immunity, reset, and prioritise those health goals through a combination of advanced medical treatments, holistic therapies, and antiinflammatory cuisine, the latter served up at an organic-focussed restaurant (a second will open later in the year), with guests able to benefit further from nutritionist support and personalised dietary programmes. On the medical side, an holistic approach is undertaken by doctors who perform genetic, hormone and micronutrient tests to gather data that’s then shared with doctors, healers, trainers, physiotherapists, and nutritionists in order to create hyper-personalised programmes that deliver results. One such programme relates to weight management, for which a team of experienced medical doctors and specialists in health and wellness, nutrition and physical therapy are devoted to your goals. An integration of stateof-the-art weight-loss technology with holistic techniques is curated bespoke for each guest following a thorough

consultation, with the aim of implementing an achievable lifestyle change. RAKxa’s treatment facilities are grouped into three main zones, each with its own dedicated health focus. At the VitalLife Scientific Wellness Clinic — the antiaging clinic of Bumrungrad International Hospital — guests will find the likes of an oxygen therapy hyperbaric chamber, an infrared sauna used for detoxification, and a cryo-sauna, the cold therapy (-140°C for a period of three minutes) that increases circulation and metabolism, while decreasing pain from injuries. RAKxa JAI is the retreat’s holistic wellness centre, where the ancient traditions of energy healing are employed to work in tandem with modern methodologies. Lastly there’s health zone RAKxa GAYA, termed a ‘medical gym’ due to its diagnostic approach. This means that in addition to Olympic-grade machines which are used to assess a guest’s stability, balance, movement and posture before a bespoke training plan is curated, neurotraining techniques are also employed to stimulate a guest’s thought patterns as they exercise. A workout for mind and body. The villas here are equally thoughtful — elegant in design to promote a feeling of serenity, luxurious touches abound, including Thai silk from Jim Thompson. Outside, a calming lake in the shade of bountiful trees adds to the overall quietude. The journey to rejuvenation begins and ends here, in Bangkok’s beautiful ‘green lung’. Land your jet at either Suvarnabhumi or Don Mueang International airport, from where a private transfer can be arranged. rakxawellness.com 67

What I Know Now

AIR

MAY 2022: ISSUE 128

Jan Becker GLOBAL CEO, PORSCHE LIFESTYLE GROUP The best piece of advice I’ve ever received is to not wait for others to do it. If you want to achieve or get something, become active yourself. Because your own motivation and your own actions are the most important — even when it comes to inspiring other people with your ideas. One thing I do every day is question the status quo and look for the best solution possible. I try to push boundaries in order to stay one step ahead of things and to fulfil the company’s vision. A lesson I learned the hard way was that even good decisions can go wrong

when things change quickly. Questioning yourself, and the situation, and adapting accordingly is key when circumstances change. But as Nelson Mandela once said: “I never lose. I either win or I learn.” I’m inspired by people who had aspirations or goals that were deemed impossible and yet still succeeded, whether in business, politics, sports or culture. There is no objective measure for success. Success is always relative and can’t be judged purely by the outcome. It depends on where you start. My

formula: define your goals together with your team, be bold but honest, know your strengths and weaknesses, set and follow the path without distraction or compromise, and have trust in you and your team and you will succeed — no matter what your goal is. If I could go back and tell my younger self something it would be that no one succeeds alone. Surround yourself with a diverse team of talented and open-minded individuals that share common values and goals, and take great care of the people you work with — they define your success.

D E S E RT R O M A N C E Treat your loved one to something unique and memorable at Al Maha, A Luxury Collection Desert Resort & Spa. Providing privacy and tranquility in equal measure, the Desert Romance Package includes a two-night stay in a luxurious, secluded suite with your own private, temperature-controlled swimming pool, exclusive VIP amenities, premium sparkling beverage upon arrival, gastronomic dining experience at Al Diwaan, romantic deck dinner and a 60-minute spa treatment for both guests.

*Terms & conditions apply FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO BOOK YOUR STAY PLEASE CALL 971 4 832 9900 OR VISIT AL-MAHA.COM