A collection of 26 immensely private beach and ocean houses and residences exist beyond the bounds of time; where nothing is fixed, and anything is possible. Where you are free to set your own beat. Free to do – and to be – as you please.
www.thenautilusmaldives.com
FEATURES
Thirty Four Playing A Blinder
Cillian Murphy has carved out a career by choosing projects big and small but always successful. Ed Cumming seeks out his secret.
Forty Trunk Tale
Beautifully made and designed to transport anything from caviar to violins — it’s no wonder the LV luggage trunk remains a status symbol.
Forty Eight The Designer’s Designer
Madame Grès was viewed as the custodial genius of French haute couture. A new book explores her legacy.
Madame Grès Evening ensemble composed of a dress in ivory silk jersey and a coat in grey taffeta. Anonymous, 1952. All rights reserved
REGULARS
Fourteen Radar
Sixteen Objects of Desire
Eighteen Art & Design
Twenty Six Jewellery
Thirty Timepieces
Fifty Eight Gastronomy
Sixty Two Travel
Sixty Four What I Know Now
Fifty Four Motoring
Rolls-Royce has introduced the Ghost Series II – and it’s hauntingly beautiful.
EDITORIAL
Editor-in-Chief & Co-owner
John Thatcher john@hotmedia.me
COMMERCIAL
Managing Director & Co-owner Victoria Thatcher
PRODUCTION
Digital Media Manager Muthu Kumar
Bespoke Luxury Safes
Welcome Onboard
JANUARY
2025
Welcome to this first issue of 2025 of AIR – our luxury aviation lifestyle magazine for aircraft owners, charter clients and business aviation aficionados. It’s such a pleasure to start the new year with positive news and developments, including another industry award recognition for Empire - Customer Service Team of the Year presented at the Aviation Business Middle East Awards - which is always a very satisfying achievement.
We also start the year on the back of a very successful MEBAA 2024 show at the Dubai Airshow site at Dubai World Central, where we were able to meet and greet many of our industry partners, friends and industry media, at our dedicated pavilion.
We had the pleasure of sharing Empire Aviation’s unique story, as well as updating guests on our latest developments. Highlights include welcoming new aircraft to our management fleet and closely following the exciting progress of our upcoming business aviation facility at the Mohammed bin Rashid Aerospace Hub (MBRAH) in Dubai.
2024 has been a remarkable year for Empire Aviation, marking significant milestones in our growth and success. Looking ahead, 2025 promises to be another pivotal chapter in our extraordinary journey. Our team will be busy inducting new and pre-owned aircraft onto our management fleet, delivering aircraft to owners acquired through our aircraft sales division, as well as working and carefully planning for our eventual transition to our new headquarters at MBRAH.
This move will bring us closer to our managed aircraft and strengthen our collaboration with partners in this dynamic new hub’s rapidly evolving private aviation ecosystem.
On behalf of everyone at Empire Aviation, I wish all our readers a peaceful and prosperous 2025.
Paras P. Dhamecha Founder and Managing Director
Empire Aviation Group
Since launching in Dubai UAE in 2007, Empire Aviation has developed into a global private aviation business integrating a comprehensive range of services, based on a distinctive aircraft management approach and personalised service, ensuring aircraft owners and charter clients enjoy all the privacy, safety, comfort and convenience of private aviation.
Empire Aviation operates one of the Middle East’s largest managed fleets of business jets, with aircraft based in global locations. The company operates in the key regions for private aviation, covering the USA, Europe, India, Africa and Indonesia, in addition to the Middle East. The Empire Aviation team comprises 130 aviation specialists across the globe. Empire Aviation holds AOCs (Air Operator Certificates) in the UAE and San Marino.
At MEBAA 2024, Empire Aviation’s Paras Dhamecha briefed the media on 2024 highlights, the prospects for business aviation in 2025 and the progress on the company’s new facility at the Mohammed bin Rashid Aerospace Hub (MBRAH) at Dubai South
Empire Aviation started in 2007, when private aviation was still in its infancy. At the time, we were amongst the first in the industry and, while we started strongly, the 2008 crisis slowed things down for the industry in general, although the Middle East and Dubai managed to keep going. I believe we were in the right place at the right time.
Nearly twenty years later, there are more than a hundred business jets in Dubai alone. So, the growth here—relative to the size of the city, the country, and the economy—has been exponential. The pace at which this place implements plans and the vision helps everybody. We've benefited from this along the way.
2024 has been an excellent year for Empire Aviation and we had a great start with Gulfstream, who appointed us as representatives in India, which has gone well. A number of airplanes
have been sold into that market and we've increased our own managed fleet here by a few aircraft. We've added four aircraft in 2024 and we have a few more lined up for 2025. We have also progressed our new airport building here in Dubai, which we're excited about. We're finally getting closer to our airplanes again and it is always great to be right there when they depart and arrive. The move to MBRAH is absolutely fantastic news for our business, coming together with all the other services to create a great business aviation ecosystem. Whether it’s hangars or maintenance facilitieswhatever you need is being created around this new hub and it's a very positive move for everybody. The industry is growing together, which makes life a lot easier when you have everything on your doorstep.
Above image: Future home of Empire Aviation on Aviation Boulevard, DWC
Empire Aviation Group
Empire Aviation Wins Customer Service Team of the Year
Award recognises the customer service team delivering exceptional support and ensuring a seamless experience for passengers and clients within the aviation industry
Empire Aviation is a global private aviation business with an asset management approach in which each aircraft owner has a unique ownership business model and a range of highly personalised customer services. The company can acquire, manage and operate private jets on behalf of owners and manage charter as part of the ownership model.
Today, Empire Aviation operates one of the Middle East’s largest managed fleets of business jets. The team of 130 professionals provides all the major services associated with private aviation – aircraft management, flight operations and charter, as well as aircraft sales and CAMO.
The integration of customer services and aviation expertise and experience enables Empire Aviation to provide a high degree of personalised services. The team looks after every operational and maintenance detail of the aircraft, including the negotiation of all contract services with suppliers and tracking all costs to deliver the best value to owners, with open books at all times.
The Empire Aviation Charter & Owner
Services team supports owners and charter clients. They coordinate aircraft availability with the company’s flight operations team, book the preferred flight slot and timings, and arrange onboard catering and any additional special requirements, along with ground transportation. Aircraft owners will have their preferred cabin setup and catering specifics arranged with their cabin crew for a more personalised experience, while charter clients may be new to Empire with new requests or repeat customers familiar to the team.
Every owner has access to qualified and certified pilots with the necessary experience and interpersonal skills to establish positive relationships with owners and guests. The commitment to crew training and development reflects the dedication to excellence in private aviation. The relationship between aircraft owners (and charter guests) and crew is based on a much more personal level of service than in other aviation sectors.
The onboard team is a vital component of Empire’s 5-star customer service to clients
and is responsible for delivering the positive flying experience expected. This means that our recruitment of crews on behalf of owners and their ongoing training and development are essential elements in the success of our management and customer services and flight operations.
Business jet owners expect a 5-star, VIP onboard service experience from professional and personable cabin crew. Cabin attendants manage passenger comfort and the flying experience, from offering onboard silver service catering to ensuring the cabin interiors are impeccably presented and managed. More importantly, they play a primary role in onboard safety and they must have the training and expertise to handle any potential onboard situation, from minor cabin accidents and onboard first aid to first responder medical assistance.
Managing an aircraft for an owner includes ensuring easy access to the airplane and the Empire Aviation team can mobilise an owner’s aircraft within three hours’ notice and meet specific requests, from cabin to ground services.
Brought to you by Maybourne, The Emory is a modern masterwork by Richard Rogers and Ivan Harbour.
It was while casting for a fashion show that Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana first met their muse, Monica Bellucci, a brief encounter that swiftly turned to friendship and an ongoing working relationship that now stretches 30 years. To celebrate their creative collaboration, the designers proposed the idea of a book, which has now been realised in large-format form by Rizzoli. It features 12 beautifully shot portraits of Bellucci that were commissioned solely for the book, alongside the duo’s ever-arresting advertising campaigns that she starred in and her most iconic shots. “Monica did not charm us solely by her typically Italian beauty and sensuality, but also for her charisma,” say Domenico and Stefano in the book. “She knows how to be both tough and sweet. It is perhaps in this mingling of opposites that the secret of her magic lies.”
MonicabyDolce&Gabbanaisoutnow, publishedbyRizzoli
OBJECTS OF DESIRE
Master craftsmanship, effortless style and timeless appeal; this month’s must-haves and collectibles
Chanel’s globetrotting Métiers d’art show, staged annually in places that are linked in some way to the creative vision of Gabrielle Chanel, made its most recent stop in Hangzhou, China, a nod in particular to an artwork she hung in her apartment at 31 rue Cambon, which
depicts daily life aside Hangzhou’s West Lake. The lake provided the backdrop for a show that showcases the incredible depth and range of craft in Chanel’s creative canon, perhaps best expressed in coats fashioned from tweeds, satin, velvet or embroidered with small flowers.
CHANEL
OBJECTS OF DESIRE
RICHARD MILLE
RM 032 ULTIMATE EDITION
Since 2011, when it debuted the RM 032 series, Richard Mille has taken a deep dive into exploratory materials so that its underwater watches are as technically excellent as they are incredibly lightweight and robust. The new RM 032 Automatic Flyback
Chronograph Ultimate Edition completes the collection, a watch that’s limited to 80 pieces and features a newly developed and patented locking crown that immobilises the watch functions and perfects water resistance, rendering redundant its immense pressure.
Bella Hadid wasn’t the sole attraction at Chopard’s sparkling Ice Cube event in Dubai. On display was the maison’s remarkable Ice Cube Secret Watch, a spellbinding timepiece made all the more alluring by the inclusion of 36 princess-cut diamonds totalling 8.54
carats. Entirely handcrafted, it took 800 hours to perfect, assembling 102 cubes of varying sizes in a puzzle-like fashion and meticulously polishing each at least three times, so that when worn it feels barely there – but looks sensational.
CHOPARD ICE CUBE SECRET WATCH
MERCEDES-AMG PURE SPEED
With no roof or windscreen – plus a low front end with its drawn-out shark nose – the strictly limited MercedesAMG PureSpeed is a racing car in its purest form. It debuted at last month’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, a fitting venue given the car’s countless ties to motorsport. They include the driver-
protecting HALO system, a feature of every Formula 1 car, and two aerodynamically optimised helmets designed bespoke for the car, which have an inbuilt communication system to allow driver and passenger to talk, even over the engine’s considerable guttural roar.
JW Anderson has rarely stepped out from the limelight in recent years, winning a slew of accolades – most recently Designer of the Year at the prestigious British Fashion Council’s awards – as he combines designing duties at LOEWE and his eponymous
brand. For the latter, he has launched the Loafer bag, the only accessory presented in the brand’s previous two runway shows. Made in Italy, the penny-loafer inspired bag comes in two sizes (classic and large), two fabrics (leather and suede) and multiple colours.
JW ANDERSON LOAFER BAG
Rimowa suitcases are easily identified by their parallel aluminium grooves, a design the 126-year-old company introduced back in 1950. To craft the new, limited-edition Original Cabin Optical, these grooves have been given a makeover to feature a shimmering,
geometric pattern created via an interplay between brushed and unbrushed finishes. Limited to 2002 pieces – a number chosen for being palindromic, with the individual number of each case stamped on the accompanying label – the case also features the jacquard pattern inside.
RIMOWA ORIGINAL CABIN OPTICAL
HOF SIR CLASS
To inaugurate the launch of Germanybased HOF, a company that has evolved from legacy car customiser HOFELE, specialists in the individualisation of Mercedes-Benz, the brand has released its debut model. Named Sir Class, it’s the most powerful and fastest Mercedes-
Benz G-Class-based car ever produced, one capable of hitting north of 300 km/h. That’s a fact that took two years of development and a hefty seven-figure investment to realise, with such power putting it in the company of a MercedesBenz Formula 1 car.
OBJECTS OF DESIRE
Year Of The Lobster
Last year was a big one for Philip Colbert, otherwise known as the Lobster Man. This year has started even bigger…
For much of last year it seemed to be the case that wherever you turned in the art world you’d see one of Philip Colbert’s lobsters. The colourful crustaceans were in Singapore for Colbert’s collaboration with Vogue; at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, home to the world’s largest collection of Roman artefacts, which was turned into the House of the Lobster; on the terraces of the Stadio Olympico (as a giant inflatable), the home of AS Roma, for whom Colbert collaborated to design a special kit in aid of The Red Cross; afloat on a giant rubber ring in the middle of Seoul’s Lake Seokchon; and the year ended with a show at London’s Saatchi Gallery, which extends into this month.
Titled The Battle for Lobsteropolis, the show continues Colbert’s series of battle scene artworks, this time his faithful lobster embarking on a journey through time, confronting artificial intelligence in reimagined historical battles. The works – which also include a series of sculptures inspired by classical mythological figures – explore the ongoing tension between history and technological progress, as AI-generated art challenges traditional norms in the art world.
The state of flux this creates provides the perfect canvas for Colbert’s hyperpopstyle history paintings, a new example of which, After Battle of Issus Mosaic, reimagines the iconic ‘Alexander the Great’ mosaic that’s currently housed at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli. Colbert’s composition relocates the battle to his dystopian Lobsteropolis – a realm that evokes both nostalgia and unease. The clash between Colbert’s lobster and a rising army of AI avatars challenges viewers to reconsider the enduring influence of art history as it confronts the digital age directly.
“I am fascinated by AI because it challenges the boundaries of creativity,” outlines Colbert when we speak to discuss his Saatchi show. “It’s both
a tool and a mirror for our collective subconscious. In the Saatchi show, I’ve used AI as a collaborator to extend my ‘hyper-pop’ aesthetic. By training AI models with my artistic language I created a hybrid approach – the result is a dialogue between man, machine and my recurring lobster icon, which symbolises surrealism and human mortality as well as the absurdity of existence. But it’s a paradox because they are battle paintings and the lobster is battling the future of AI in the compositions.
“AI democratises creativity and obviously raises questions about originality. It’s reshaping the roles of the artist, the viewer and the creative process itself. Rather than fearing the end, my work encourages curiosity about how AI can elevate,
mutate, and provoke new ways of being.”
While the lobster is central to Colbert’s themes and stories, taking the fight to the dangers and complexities of the modern world wherever he finds them, it is also very much part of his persona. In fact, Colbert talks of sketching lobsters as symbols of surrealism for as long as he can remember, while even before embarking on his artistic career he had a suit made that was adorned with lobsters. From that moment on, people began referring to him as the Lobster Man, a moniker Colbert keenly embraced.
“Lobsters have always seemed like aliens from another planet. As a kid, I was fascinated by them,” explained Colbert in a recent interview for Whitestone Gallery. “The process of becoming a
Opening pages, from left to right: AI Battle Scene; Philip Colbert
These pages, from top to bottom: After Battle of Issus Mosaic; AI Battle Scene II
‘ I am fascinated by AI because it challenges the boundaries of creativity ’
lobster as an artist unfolded in stages. Beyond my childhood obsession with the species, I was drawn to their symbolic value. The iconic impact of lobsters on historical culture, particularly in surrealism, and its symbolic status as a memento mori – from the Dutch still life period to the ancient Pompeii mosaics – all shaped my artistic journey.
“Initially, I depicted the lobster as an icon of surrealism. My creations, including doodles, paintings, clothes and accessories, became a means of conveying a distilled message of surrealism in a visually accessible way. When I began working on my first painting show in 2017, facing the
idea of self in the studio, it felt apparent that I should embrace my already established persona as the Lobster Man and, as an artist, fully become a lobster. At that point, I started drawing my self-portraits as a more personified lobster character.”
Born in Scotland and a graduate of the University of St. Andrews, Colbert was drawn to art through his appreciation of early Pop painters like Richard Hamilton and Roy Lichtenstein, with his early work championed by people of the stature of Charles Saatchi and the late fashion titan
André Leon Talley, who labelled Colbert
“The godson of Andy Warhol.” It also caught the attention of luxury brands, the likes of
Rolex, Bentley and Christian Louboutin, with whom Colbert has since collaborated.
“I am passionate about the democratisation of art, the idea that art is for everyone and the spirit of artistic expression that transcends mediums. So, in this sense, I embrace collaborations and projects that take my work out of the traditional artistic context.”
This year is already shaping up to be as big as the last – in every sense. “I’m about to launch a massive takeover in Macao with a 30-metre-wide inflatable along the bay and lots of outdoor sculptures and activations across the city. The lobster is going on holiday to Macao!”
This page: Battle Scene Figure XXIV Opposite page: Philip Colbert
HORSE PLAY
Dynamic and responsive with an exhilarating V8 soundtrack, the striking soft-top Ferrari Roma Spider is the epitome of la dolce vita, an easy-to-drive, beautifully styled and perfectly proportioned car that’s as classic as it is contemporary.
It’s a stunning car that sees the soft top return to a frontengined Ferrari for the first time in over 50 years, when it topped the 365 GTS4, but this is an innovative, thoroughly modern version – which can be actioned in a little over 13 seconds at speeds of up to 60 km/h – that allows for extensive personalisation via chic, haute couture-like fabrics and stitching options.
It only adds character to a car that’s full of it: two separate spaces, one each for driver and passenger, were created in an evolution of the dual cockpit concept, the passenger granted the feel of a co-driver; the start button backlit in red to highlight the drama of the moment the iconic Ferrari twin-turbo roars to life; the active spoiler at the rear of the car’s upper body which, thanks to a unique mechanism, can be deployed into three different positions; and the patented wind deflector that keeps you comfortable while cruising with the roof down.
It’s a car made for pure pleasure, whatever your journey.
Joy To The World
For three decades Solange Azagury-Partridge has dazzled with daring designs imbued with happiness
WORDS: JOHN THATCHER
The Swinging Sixties will forever be cited as the decade when a cultural earthquake rocked London and reverberated around the world, but the Nineties mirrored it, a decade in which the fledgling careers of young creatives exploded all at once across film, fashion, publishing, music, art and design. It was the time of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano, Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin, Oasis and the Spice Girls, and housed in a jewel box-like boutique in Notting Hill, the jeweller Solange Azagury-Partridge. So unique are her creations, so varied her inspirations, that she was easily able to sidestep from a creative director role at Boucheron – where her tenure, which was supported by a personal recommendation from Tom Ford, birthed the ever-fashionable Quatre
collection – to one creating costume jewellery for H&M, while her avantgarde creations are now on permanent show in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
“I want to feel satisfied and happy that I’ve created something I can be proud of, that can give the wearer an everlasting source of pleasure,” she tells us when discussing a new book by Rizzoli, Solange: Jewellery for Chromantics, which celebrates her three decades of label-defying designs.
What is easier to define is the emotion that underpins her work –joy. “I do like to try and imbue a happy spirit into my work and to feel uplifted by my surroundings and things that I live with.”
You can see happiness in Solange’s love of the playful, the colourful. “I love every colour really, but certain hues of each colour speak to me more profoundly than others. I suppose it’s a deep colour saturation that excites me the most. Colour definitely acts on
At the start of her chapter in the book, jewellery historian Ruth Peltason attempts to describe the free-thinking creative. “If Solange Azagury-Partridge were a painting, she’d be a triptych. Or a book of short stories rather than a novel, a box of crayons instead of a pencil. She’s the chameleon that changes its colours, the octopus whose eight limbs dart in as many directions yet with laser focus and aim. She’s the plant whose leaves and buds and blossoms are as variable and changing as the seasons. She is, in a word, Solange.”
my feelings of wellbeing. I can become actually distressed if I have to spend time in a room with a colour that upsets me.”
Solange talks of using solitude as a stimulus. “I suppose it always has. I can’t really think straight surrounded by people or noise. I have to separate myself to read and reflect or dream.”
How, then, did she deal with working for a global brand like Boucheron? “It was interesting in that the spirit and ethos and history of the company was what needed to come first. My focus and point of view on what I found interesting created a particular look to the work. Another person would be inspired and drawn to other aspects of the brand, which would make their work look different. However, when I design for myself there are no additional considerations apart from what’s in my head.”
Jewellery and fashion have long resided in Solange’s mind. “My grandmother wore an armful of gold bangles which always made such a great sound. As she aged, she would give them to her daughters and granddaughters. I was lucky to eventually receive one.
‘I can become distressed if I have to spend time in a room with a colour that upsets me ’
I had lots of cousins around me growing up and we were all obsessed with fashion. We’d walk around as a gang of little kids, aged between seven-12, swinging our flared jeans and fringed jackets, with bells on strings around our necks, thinking we looked incredibly cool.”
It was by chance, however, that Solange kickstarted a career in jewellery design. Ceding to his fiancé’s formidable taste, Murray Partridge let Solange select her own engagement ring. Instead, she designed it, taking a rough octahedron diamond and setting it askew on a thick gold band. A s engagement rings go it was far from conventional and it caught the covetous eyes of her friends. Soon it was celebrities – the likes of Sarah Jessica Parker and Beyoncé – who wanted a bespoke Solange design, which saw her
eponymous brand expand globally. Today, it’s those bespoke creations that keep clients enthralled. “Bespoke pieces generally start with the stone, which is a totally different process from starting with the design. The shape of the stone, where it’s going to be worn, on a finger, neck wrist or ear will influence the structure and shape. When I design conceptually, I can usually find the materials and stones I need to include and get the gems cut to fit. The clients who request bespoke pieces tend to be open minded and willing to experiment.”
What does she think of the adoption of new technologies in jewellery design, the likes of 3D printing and AI? “I think these are great. They can help you to visualise a piece. However, making them by hand brings an additional dimension and magic that machinemade jewellery lacks.”
It’s that touch of magic that’s Solange’s signature. “I realise that all things are possible. Some things are harder to achieve but can be very worthwhile. So my approach is fearless.”
Solange: Jewellery for Chromantics is out now, published by Rizzoli
Opening pages, from left to right: Jade bangle, 2002, shot by James Pretty; Julianne Moore wearing emerald Mirror Ball earring
This page, clockwise from top left: Secret Diamond, 1999, shot by Edward Edwards; Stoned, 2010, shot by Edward Edwards; book cover; Viridian Ring, shot by James Pretty
Time To Celebrate
How A. Lange & Söhne rose like a phoenix from the flames to produce exceptional timepieces collectors covet
WORDS: JOHN THATCHER
For A. Lange & Söhne it’s been a time of celebration. In recent months its most iconic timepiece, the Lange 1, turned 30, while Walter Lange, the great-grandson of founder Ferdinand Adolph Lange and father of the manufacturer’s modern iteration would have reached 100. This year sees the rebirthed A. Lange & Söhne turn 35 years old.
“There are indeed several milestones,” says Wilhelm Schmid, A. Lange & Söhne’s CEO, who is swift to cite the importance of pieces including the Zeitwerk, Odysseus and Grand Complication in the company’s success story. “The fact that we have also introduced 73 in-house calibres since 1990 shows that our focus is on constantly pushing the boundaries of watchmaking with our philosophy of ‘never standing still.’ But to achieve all this, we depend on a valuable asset that makes me particularly proud: skilled craftspeople. The passionate colleagues in our manufacture are
the prerequisite for bringing our craftsmanship into the future.”
As a result, training and education have been at the heart of the company’s culture since it established its watchmaking school in 1997.
“As a visionary, Walter Lange understood that the future success of A. Lange & Söhne depended on highly skilled watchmakers, and that the school was an essential investment that would pay off in the long run. And he was right. From modest beginnings with just two apprentices, it has grown over the years into an internationally renowned training centre of excellence for precision watchmaking.
“In addition to watchmaking, we train in other watchmaking-related professions, such as tool mechanics, precision mechanics and office management. To date, 262 apprentices, including 245 watchmakers, have successfully completed their training. Most of the young people who apply to us come from the Glashütte area,
which shows that A. Lange & Söhne is deeply rooted in the region. We take great pride training young talents in a craftsmanship that is as much about tradition as it is about the future.”
The tradition A. Lange & Söhne honours dates all the way back to 1845, when watchmaker Ferdinand Adolph Lange established A. Lange & Cie and opened his own workshop in Glashütte. He was later joined by his sons, Richard and Emil, hence the change of name to A. Lange & Söhne (A. Lange & Sons), the pair going on to establish the brand as a leading watchmaker thanks in part to its technically complex, highly decorative pocket watches.
Then came WWII, which brought not only disruption but destruction. On the last night of the fighting in 1945, a bomb dropped on the company’s main production building, while the Soviet Union’s subsequent occupation of Germany led to the expropriation of every watchmaking company in the Glashütte area.
Previous page: Wilhelm Schmid This page, clockwise from left: Walter Lange; Lange 1 in pink gold with blue dial; Ferdinand Adolph Lange; Lange 1 and Little Lange 1 in platinum with a black onyx dial
‘ Our focus has always been, and will continue to be, on collectors ’
But with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 came the rise of A. Lange & Söhne.
“Walter Lange saw himself as a bridge to the past,” outlines Schmid. “After German reunification, he was determined to build on his family’s legacy and once again build watches that are among the best in the world. It was clear to him that he could only realise this vision in Glashütte, and his commitment was so strong that it took him and his team only four years until the first collection was presented, despite considerable challenges.
“Walter Lange’s most important partner in this endeavour was Günter Blümlein, a charismatic strategist who also had a firm belief that a comeback for this historic brand was possible, even though they had to start from scratch.
“Fusing traditional craftsmanship with a commitment to technical innovation, they made sure that A. Lange & Söhne would once again be at the forefront of the world of fine watchmaking. Their legacy is embedded in every timepiece that leaves our manufacture until today, and it will continue to inspire our approach to watchmaking in the future.”
One such timepiece is the Lange 1. “It’s a piece that blends originality, elegance, and horological precision. Developed out of the passion to do things differently, it was both technically and aesthetically pioneering when it was launched in 1994. The asymmetrical dial layout, guided by the classical design principles of the golden ratio, achieves a harmonious and balanced composition that feels
both contemporary and enduring. All these distinctive details make this timepiece clearly recognisable, even if you remove the logo.”
To celebrate its anniversary, two new versions of this legendary timepiece were launched in October, one in platinum featuring a black onyx dial, the other a pink gold version with a blue dial. Each example is limited to 300 pieces, while just 150 of their smaller versions, Little Lange 1, were produced. Such relatively low numbers tally with the manufacturer’s overall output, which is limited to 5,000 pieces each year. “There is a natural limit to the number of timepieces that we are able to produce, and rather than being determined by the marketing department, it is actually defined by the number of skilled watchmakers we have. Our watches are handmade and it takes highly trained people to make them. We work in a very specialised field that depends on expert training and a high level of experience – two aspects that involve a great deal of time. Every Lange watch is distinguished by an incredible high level of craftsmanship that is impossible to rush.”
Schmid sees a clear benefit to maintaining the current level of production. “On the one hand, we are large enough to have a global distribution network, but on the other hand we are small enough to create a special proximity to our customers. I’m a strong believer in knowing your customer. I’m not saying it must always be a direct relationship, but it remains fundamentally important for a brand
that only produces a few thousand watches a year to know where these watches end up, who is buying them and what they want. This also means that our focus has always been, and will continue to be, on collectors.”
Collectors of A. Lange & Söhne have certainly benefitted from this focus. “We have learnt that many of our watches have an increase in value on the secondary market. This is particularly true for limited editions, high complications, or models that are no longer in production. However, even recently launched watches that are difficult to get are in great demand and can fetch high prices at auction. Certain models, such as the Tourbillion ‘Pour le Mérite’, are sold for up to five, six, or even eight times their original sales price.”
The most recent example is the singular Datograph Up/Down ‘Hampton Court Edition’, which achieved CHF825,500 (US$930,000) when it was auctioned in November.
A. Lange & Söhne’s collector-first approach has since birthed a number of luxury salons across the globe (Geneva, Zurich, San Francisco and London), beautifully appointed private lounges to which clients are invited to experience the brand up close. “It is this blend of exclusivity and accessibility that makes it so special,” says Schmid. “The best way to experience our watches is to hold them in your hands, listen to their ticking sound and hear our story from us.”
The story of A. Lange & Söhne is as unique as the watches it creates. One always worth celebrating.
P LAYINGA blinder
tercessihtuoskeesg
Like anybody tasked with interviewing Cillian Murphy, I prepare by reading about his eyes. According to Matt Damon, you “find yourself swimming” in them. Christopher Nolan calls them “crazy”. Donatella Versace finds them “mesmerising”. One critic claimed that describing them would require “a thesaurus that does not yet exist”. The playwright Enda Walsh has complained of “those bloody eyes everyone’s going on about”. Cerulean, azure, cobalt –which version will loom from Zoom?
None, it transpires. “Do you mind if we keep the cameras off and have an old-fashioned chat?” comes the soft Cork voice through a black screen. It is a Sunday morning and Murphy, 48, is in Manchester, where he has been shooting the upcoming Peaky Blinders film. “We’ve been on three weeks of these brutal night shoots and I just rolled out of the scratcher,” he says (which I quickly google to check that it means ‘bed’ in Ireland). “I’m still in my pyjamas.” What kind of pyjamas?
“Comfortable yet conservative.” The reader will have to imagine Murphy, clutching his coffee, talking into his computer.
Since his breakthrough in the early 2000s, Murphy has spent two decades
engaged in two pursuits. On the one hand, he became one of the most respected film stars of his generation, equally comfortable with small budgets (The Wind that Shakes the Barley, Anthropoid, 28 Days Later) as massive ones (Sunshine, Dunkirk, Inception). And as the murderous but moral Tommy Shelby in Peaky Blinders, Murphy created one of the most memorable TV characters of the 21st century, a face that launched a million terrible imitative haircuts.
On the other, Murphy gave every impression of loathing the circus: the selfie requests and silly interviews that come with being famous. He was perfectly polite, funny and self-effacing – but completely resistant to anything that attempted to probe the real man.
That all changed when his turn as the father of the atomic bomb in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer launched him into another galaxy. The film took close to a billion dollars at the box office. And Murphy took the Golden Globe, the Bafta, the Screen Actors Guild and the Oscar for Best Actor, among other awards (including a special mention from the Alliance of Women Film Journalists for Most Egregious Lovers’ Age Difference for his on-screen fling
with Florence Pugh, 29 this month).
“None of us could have predicted what would happen,” he says of Oppenheimer’s triumph. “I knew it was one of the best scripts I’ve ever read, but we were aware we were making a three-hour biopic about a physicist. It was a confluence of events, an extraordinary thing to be involved with, and really heartening that so many went to see it.”
If Murphy’s captivating performance came as little surprise to his fans, it was shocking to see him enjoying the press attention, or at least making a fair job at pretending to. He appeared on endless red carpets, in endless tuxedos, to press endless flesh and answer the same questions endless times. His bemused face was widely memed. “I think you can decide to enjoy something,” he says. “If you went into that with any cynicism or feeling like you didn’t want to be there, it would be very unpleasant. I chose to enjoy it, my family were there, we were surrounded by lovely people, Emily [Blunt] and [Robert] Downey [Jr].
“It was amazing meeting all these amazing artists socially, all the time. Casually bumping into Martin Scorsese, people whose work has changed your life, and being reassured that everyone finds it
just as bizarre.” Did Marty tap him up for the next project? “No, that was the extent of our interactions,” he laughs. “A hello and talking about the canapés or whatever.
“There was a lot of healthy slagging [off], too, by the way,” he adds, lest he come across as too incorrigible a luvvie. “In Ireland, slagging is one of the deepest forms of affection. On the day of the Oscars, my best friend and brother flew out as a surprise. They did an intense amount of slagging.” If your best friend can’t give you a hard time when you win an Oscar and front a Versace campaign, I suggest, something has gone badly wrong. “Absolutely,” he laughs. “It’s a fair target.”
Rather than dwell on an extraordinary few months, Murphy headed back on set.
“I haven’t properly reflected on it all,” he says. “I went straight back to work. I don’t know if that was the correct thing to do or not, but I did.” He knew the Peaky film was coming; there were also two book adaptations in which he was
‘ Slagging someone off is the deepest form of affection ’
involved as a producer and actor. Steve, a Netflix adaptation of Max Porter’s novella Shy, finished filming last July. There was also Small Things Like These, an adaptation of Claire Keegan’s Orwell Prize-winning 2021 novel. It’s hard to imagine a more drastic counterpoint to a billion-dollar blockbuster: a patient, unsettling film about Ireland’s Magdalene asylums, the religious institutions to which 56,000 ‘fallen women’ – single mothers, pregnant out of wedlock – were sent between 1922 and 1996 for ‘pen¬ance and rehabilitation.’
The film takes place over a few days at Christmas 1985. Murphy plays Bill Furlong, a successful coalman who
uncovers terrible abuse at his local asylum at a time when he is reckoning with his own unhappy childhood. It was produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, through their new company Artists Equity, after Murphy pitched to Damon on the Oppenheimer set.
“We were sitting in the night in the middle of the desert,” he recalls. “We were waiting for rain, or for the rain to stop. Matt Damon is one of my heroes. He told me about his new company and how they were looking for material. I said I happened to have a script I was developing, a small little film about this very specific and difficult period in Irish history. I said, ‘Think of it like Manchester by the Sea meets Doubt.’ He got it immediately.”
There are overlaps with Oppenheimer. In between the long speeches about isotopes, Nolan used Murphy’s face as a landscape, etching the grief, self-loathing and pride that came to the physicist for creating such an awesome and terrible
These pages, from left to right: Still from Oppenheimer (2023); still from Peaky Blinders (2013)
‘ For an actor, vulnerability is your superpower’
weapon. In Small Things, Furlong must weigh his disquiet against the malign power of the Church, which he hopes will educate his five daughters.
“The sort of acting that’s always appealed to me is when the actor can project nonverbally what they’re feeling,” he says. “I’ve always cut my own lines, to try and do it with as little as possible. Oppenheimer was an incredibly verbose film. But with Small Things, he was that sort of Irishman who was quite monosyllabic and reserved, and we meet him at a point in his life when he is going through something emotional and quite profound. These deep-thinking Irishmen are probably less common nowadays, but I remember them from my childhood. Without going too deep, the country had been oppressed for a long time. I think it was James Joyce who said we were colonised once by the English and once by the Church. It’s probably fair. It was a difficult time to be an individual during that period when the Catholic Church had a very tight hold on its morals and the inner workings of human beings.”
The film reunited Murphy with Enda Walsh, who wrote the script. Walsh gave Murphy his first break with Disco Pigs, a play – later a film – that hauled Murphy out of a law degree, after a promising earlier career in a jazz-rock band. And Walsh is one of several collaborators –Christopher Nolan, Steven Knight, Danny Boyle – to whom Murphy has returned.
“I didn’t know Enda was going to be this generational writer,” he says. “He was just this guy that had great hair.
“But the glue with all these recollaborations is trust. For an actor, vulnerability is your superpower. It’s harder to do that in a room full of strangers. But in a room of people you’ve known for a long time, you can be as raw as you need to be. That’s what I like to try to achieve, but you have to have the right register. I need to be around friends. I believe the camera or audience can read any tension or holding back in the mind of the actor.”
The Peaky Blinders film is the final leg of another long, happy collaboration, which began in 2012. The original show was not necessarily the most promising pitch: a highly stylised depiction of a hard-living Brummie gang in the aftermath of the First World War. Yet it found a vast audience, for reasons that still aren’t clear even to him.
“No one knows the answer, really,” Murphy says. “Audiences love gangsters, and there really hadn’t been a proper English gangster show. And there hadn’t been a proper show about workingclass people between the wars. And then because it had its own culture, the language and accent and costuming and music and haircuts. It was original. Probably being on Netflix helped. We didn’t have any advertising at the start, so it was owned by the fans.”
Once Peaky finishes, he will head home for a rest. With his wife, the artist Yvonne McGuinness and their teenage sons, Malachy and Aran, Murphy moved to Monkstown, Dublin, in 2015, after 14 years in London. This was not, he says, for fear of the boys having “very posh English accents.”
“I think I said that on an American podcast in a sarcastic manner and it became a headline,” he says. “It’s ridiculous. I was making a joke! That’s not the main reason we moved home. Irish people tend to have a bit of a dry sense of humour and it doesn’t always translate.”
Aran, 17, has shown promise as an actor; this year he will appear in an adaptation of Klara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel.
“It may not be the thing he does, but he’s really good at it,” he says. “One of my friends saw him in a play and said, ‘Cill, he’s better looking, he’s a better actor, he’s younger and he’s taller. You’re screwed.’ We’ll see. People are smart enough to judge you on your talent. There’s no way any kid will get by on nepotism alone. Everyone in this business gets found out unless they’re good, and he’s a good little actor. But we’re not putting him under any pressure. If he decides to become a musician or a poet or a farmer or a chef, that’s up to him.”
Meanwhile, Murphy is not revealing any further plans – not even what part Nolan has surely lined up for him in his next film.
“Honestly, I just want to have a rest,” he says. “I really enjoy being at home and not working. I enjoy going to the shop and walking the dog and watching movies. I haven’t been able to do that at all. My creative output gets used up very quickly. I think you need to live as a human being to portray a human being. The life I lived for part of this year was definitely not reality.”
Back to his scratcher, then, for a bit of well-earned shut-eye.
Beautifully made and designed to transport anything from caviar to violins — it’s no wonder the LV luggage trunk remains a status symbol
WORDS: HANNAH ROGERS
English princesses had miniature renderings of them made for their dolls. Maharajas preferred to use theirs to store one-of-a-kind tea sets. The earliest regal fan was an empress: Eugénie de Montijo of France. One hundred and seventy years later there is still no receptacle considered to be more stately, striking or stylish than a Louis Vuitton trunk. Few fashion icons come as densely packed. That’s not just in regard to the broad variety of contents it can carry — caviar! Croquet sets! On-thego casinos! — but its level of design detail, craftsmanship and history.
Here is a creation that has, over the years and in various guises, been adapted to hold just about anything. Ask one of its keen collectors and they will tell you: this also applies to its desirability and value.
Sotheby’s sold a Yayoi Kusama polka dot-strewn model designed in collaboration with the Japanese artist in December 2023 for £204,600 (about $260,000). In April last year a limited-edition red and white monogram Courrier 90 trunk by Vuitton and the iconic streetwear label Supreme went at Christie’s for £75,400 (around $96,000).
Those cult contemporary models are certainly cool, but the preowned, vintage varieties are held in equally high regard. Also last yeat, the curated digital marketplace Catawiki sold a large Vuitton travel trunk dated between 1889 and 1896 for €66,000 (roughly $70,000). Its new Dutch owner was one of 55 keen bidders.
Fleur Feijen, the site’s senior fashion expert, tells me demand is only rising. “A Louis Vuitton closet trunk dating back to 1919 was the most expensive interior object [we] sold in 2023.
“Louis Vuitton trunks speak to multiple types of potential buyers. They show both the history and the craftsmanship of the fashion house,” she explains, citing the brand’s classic Explorer trunk as the holy grail for collectors.
Where these objects are made goes some way to explaining why. The site of Vuitton’s trunk-making operations has remained the same for 166 years. Asnières, a village a few miles northwest of Paris, is where Louis Vuitton moved his booming five-year-old business after outgrowing its Paris-based Rue Neuve des Capucines workshops. The brand’s thriving production line
‘ Here is a creation that has, over the years and in various guises, been adapted to hold just about anything ’
Previous pages and below: Bed Trunk x Pharrell Williams
Above: archival image of Louis Vuitton craftspeople
Right: LV Party Trunk
Below: making of The Secrétaire Bureau 2.0
‘ The level of design detail, craftsmanship and history is extraordinary ’
has remained there ever since. Until 1964 so did the Vuitton family.
Asnières is LV’s heart and soul — and where, in 1858, the very first commercial Vuitton trunk was put together. Hundreds of artisans still work there building bespoke special orders and passing down traditional skills and savvy. The location was initially chosen due to its position close to the River Seine, so that it was easier to receive the requisite raw materials and wood.
That earliest trunk was revolutionary when it hit the market. It had a flat lid, rather than the domed lid that was then conventional, which meant it could be easily stacked, and was covered in the house’s ingenious, glue-treated and watertight Trianon canvas. Such clever features, of which several more would follow over the decades, are what put Vuitton trunks at the top of luxury traveller’s shopping list. Vuitton, a carpenter and layetier — specialist box maker and packer — innately understood what his distinguished clientele wanted. Their expectations were goals he had learnt to meet his entire career. From 1837 he had apprenticed at the luxury layetier Marechal; then in 1852 was
appointed the official trunk maker to France’s Empress Eugénie. The designer was responsible for all her luggage for several years — not just their exterior design, but the separation of any delicates intended to travel within them. These were less suitcases, more made-tomeasure, moveable wardrobes.
Such was the norm for wealthy 19thcentury tourists. Packing light was hardly an option then: lavish excess was in fashion — as were corsets, extravagant headwear, wooden hoop skirts and voluminous, frothy layers of lace. Trips were largely undertaken by horse-drawn carriage or boat and could last weeks to months. It was the job of Vuitton to ensure every last item arrived in perfect order.
The Vuitton trunk’s original design has itself travelled through time virtually unscathed. To this day they are hand-built around a fût: a frame crafted of layers of light, humidityresistant poplar, okoume or beech wood. The lining is sewn or glued in. Then come additional decorative interior details determined by the trunk’s intended use: ribbons, leather and lace that could be embossed or dyed. Felt might be used for
shoe boxes; velvet for jewellery. Motifs on outer coverings have varied with age, but their composition has rarely veered from Vuitton’s painted or glue-treated canvas. After the plain grey Trianon came the counterfeit-challenging Rayée — striped — style in 1872. The first woven beige and black checkerboard Damier iteration followed in 1888. This is still found in stores now.
It wasn’t until 1896 that the brand’s famous monogram pattern was introduced. Vuitton himself was too humble to mark his designs with his initials, so his son and business partner Georges created the graphic flower and quatrefoil design after his death. Specialty materials began to appear in the atelier in the late 19th century. Zinc and copper styles were preferred by intrepid explorers, today leather is popular. Other developments include smart iron-covered corners and edges, and up to a thousand decorative studs being nailed by hand on the trunk in straight lines. Vuitton’s trunks captured the attention of early-19th-century shoppers because they were stylish, yes — but they were also pioneering. In addition to being waterproof and
This page: Making of the LV Party Trunk
‘ The Vuitton trunk’s original design has itself travelled through time virtually unscathed ’
stackable, they were lightweight. Instead of bulky metal brackets they came with nifty canvas hinges. In 1886 came the ‘unpickable’ spring lock that famously not even Houdini would agree to attempt an escape from.
It’s what Vuitton’s trunks could — and can — carry, though, that makes them masterful. It has designed trunks for transporting all sorts of items, large and small. Ernest Hemingway had a library trunk conceived in the 1920s to hold books and his typewriter.
In 1938 scaled-down trunks lined with pink silk were crafted as gifts not for England’s Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret themselves but, delightfully, for their dolls.
In 1926 Prince Youssef Kamal of Cairo and Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III turned to Vuitton for a deluxe picnic trunk and tea case respectively. And in 2008 a trunk to cart caviar was developed for commercial sale, complete
with 30-year-old mother-of-pearl ladles and spoons and vodka glasses.
Of all the trunks built as mobile wardrobes, the shoe cabinet conceived for the French opera singer and film star Lily Pons stands out. Developed in 1925, due to the dainty proportions of her feet it had 36 drawers in a trunk that would normally house 30. Each drawer was designed like a shoe box with silk bags and trees; it also had two compartments for stockings.
“Vintage Louis Vuitton has always been highly sought after as people connect to the heritage of the brand, the craftsmanship and the uniqueness that a vintage piece offers,” says Tim Bent of Bentleys London, which stocks exceptional and unusual versions of the travel/lavish interiors accessory.
“Every trunk has a backstory, it’s just that sometimes that story has been lost in time. We piece together what history we can from snippets of
information on the trunks — from old luggage labels, travel stickers and the hand-painted initials of the original owners. Sometimes the pieces fall into place, sometimes they don’t.”
There’s a toiletries kit for the couture designer Jeanne Lanvin (1926); a vanity case for Sharon Stone (2000); trunks for watercolours, flowers — even croquet sets, skateboards and, for the French string quartet leader Pierre Sechiari in 1895, a violin. More than a century later, the pieces now carry the likes of a writing desk, cocktail bar and a doll’s house, while Nicolas Ghesquière and Pharrell Williams have paired up to create a modern Bed Trunk, the first example of which was produced by Louis Vuitton in 1868 for globetrotting explorers.
Louis Vuitton trunks are beautiful and adaptable, clever and useful, and — as recent auctions suggest — a sound investment.
This page: making of The Secrétaire Bureau 2.0
Opposite page: Secrétaire Bureau 2.0
A pioneer of sophisticated minimalism, Madame Grès was viewed as the custodial genius of French haute couture. A new book explores her legacy
WORDS: JOHN THATCHER
‘ She built a body of work that transcended the fleeting fashions she viewed with contempt’
If you were asked to name a legendary couturier prominent in the mid-twentieth century, chances are the name Madame Grès would not slip off the tongue quite as readily as those of her contemporaries – the likes Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiaparelli. Yet to those same peers she was viewed as the custodial genius of French haute couture. Devoted to her craft and prolific between 1930-1950 – “I have nothing to say and everything to show. All I do is work, work, work. When I’m not sleeping, I’m cutting. That’s my life.” – her legacy attracted the adoration of designers like Azzedine Alaïa, Cristóbal Balenciaga, Yves Saint Laurent and Jil Sander and continues to weave threads of inspiration picked up by the current crop of haute couture dressmakers.
Now her work is the subject of a new coffee table book, Madame Grès Couture Paris. Written by French fashion historian Olivier Saillard and published by Rizzoli, it shows Madame Grès’ dresses displayed as works of art
in the exclusive settings of the Bourdelle Museum in Paris and the SCAD FASH Museum in Atlanta, many of the highly prized designs handcrafted for clients including Marlene Dietrich, Princess Grace of Monaco, Jackie Kennedy, the Duchess of Windsor and Edith Piaf.
Yet despite being a successful, inspirational figure – or perhaps because of being so – Madame Grès was just as famously taciturn. Known to give journalists no more than a morsel of information to feed off, she would simply tell them that all she did was work. Edmonde Charles-Roux, the former editor of French Vogue, described her as “the world’s most secretive, most silent, and most determined woman.” Then there’s the story of a book about her, published in Japan, which she purchased the entire stock of so that no copies could be distributed. And the retrsospective exhibition of her life’s work which she pulled out of, despite it being advertised in the press.
must have been palpable. This was a character whose car was a blue Jaguar, which she fitted with mink seats and a television, while she named her signature perfume Cabochard (‘Pigheaded’) to poke fun at her stubbornness, so there wss undoubedtly much beneath the bonnet to exlpore. But Madame Grès remained resolute in her determination to speak only of her work. “Madame Grès was without equal in terms of discouraging biographers, attracting them and then immediately disappointing them,” writes Saillard in the book. ‘Madame Grès is not so much a subject as a theme – the theme of life’s work. She is less a monograph than a catalogue raisonné in which private life, or the absence of a private life, in her view, has little place.”
Born Germaine Émilie Krebs in 1903, she purposely misled journalists about the exact date and place of her birth. No one knew she’d died until her daughter reported it a full year later, in 1994. She changed her name several times during her long career, ditching
This page: evening dress in olive-green silk jersey, Spring-Summer 1975
Right: evening dress. Denyse Smith, 1948. All rights reserved. All other images shown courtesy of the SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film, photography Colin Gray
‘ She invented her craft through the use and re-use of draping, raising it to the level of an art form ’
her birthname for Alix Barton, or simply ‘Alix’ and then swapping it for Madame Grès, and yet she continued to wear a turban in her hair, a look that made her immediately identifiable.
Also immediately identifiable was her work, her complex yet delicate haute couture designs evocative of ancient statuary, the result of a passion for –and formal training in – sculpture.
“Determined to the point of spending her entire life in the solitude of the atelier, Madame Grès aspired to be a sculptor and did undoubtedly become the greatest sculptor of all the fashion designers of her era,” states Saillard unequivocally. “Across five decades, from the 1930s to the 1970s, she persisted, with monastic dedication, in building a body of work that transcended the fleeting fashions she viewed with contempt. Claiming to wear out up to three pairs of scissors for each of her collections, she invented her craft through the use and re-use of draping, raising it to the level of an art form.”
Using mostly jersey – silk jersey in particular – to convey her sculptural
forms, she broke with convention.
“I never create a dress on the basis of a sketch. I drape the fabric on a mannequin (sometimes on the client directly), then I examine its character in depth, and that’s when I pick up my scissors. Cutting is the critical and most important stage in creating a dress.”
“Legend has it,” says Saillard, that so real was her fear of being copied, “she would take the rough mock-ups home and hang them on wooden mannequins in her apartment so she could rework and hone them in isolation.”
In 1933 she partnered with couturiere Julie Barton to open Maison Alix Barton on Rue de Miromesnil in Paris, which later became Maison Alix in 1934, on Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré. Eight years later she founded Maison Grès and set up showrooms and workshops in the heart of Paris, a city she would embody. When she was shut down by the Nazis for flouting their restrictions on the use of fabric, she reopened with a defiant window display of blue, white and red. Saillard identifies two elements of Grès’ work that single it out.” The first is
clearly identified by the use of drapery, notably for evening gowns but also for beachwear… The second element, often overshadowed by her iconic drapery, is in the Persian, Indian, and Berber influences that are seen throughout her different periods. Costumes from the Far East, the Middle East, North Africa, or Central Europe were incorporated into her designs, but without the usual exaggerated folkiness or exoticism.”
“As soon as you find something that is personal and unique, you need to take full advantage of it and keep working at it unremittingly, taking it as far as you possibly can,” remarked Grès when asked what is crucial to fashion. “Equally, you need to perfect your own technique and never neglect or overlook any detail.”
By doing so, Madame Grès ensured hers is an enduring legacy, whether she wished for it or not. Her work simply speaks for itself.
Madame Grès Couture Paris, Text by Olivier Saillard, Contributions by Anne Graire, is out now, published by Rizzoli
Ghost Story
Rolls-Royce has introduced the Ghost Series II – and it’s hauntingly beautiful
WORDS: JOHN THATCHER
“We’re the Rolls-Royce of…” has become common parlance when other luxury brands reach for a favourable selfdescription of their standing. It’s a short, neat and instantly persuasive way to assert the credentials of a product without having to part with a hefty marketing fee. You can see the appeal.
In nearly all cases, however, another popular saying springs to mind – ‘chalk and cheese.’
Rolls-Royce sets the standard – hence the constant claims to an association – and nothing quite matches it. And you don’t even have to step inside one of its vehicles to confirm this. On a recent trip to a crisp, autumn-tinged Provence to drive the new iteration of the Ghost and its Black Badge sibling, a mid-morning coffee stop offered an opportunity to see at first hand the level of craft, artistry and painstaking detail that goes into each and every car.
Working from a print of autumn foliage, a steadyhanded, steely-eyed craftswoman created an expressive wooden marquetry for a dash, explaining how she adds a rich tone to the texture. It’s a dying art, due mostly to the lack of next-generation enthusiasts in what remains a niche discipline, but one that has a long history with luxury travel – the Titanic used it throughout its first-class cabins, as did the Orient Express – and one that RollsRoyce continues to embrace to striking effect.
It’s such craftsmanship that makes each Rolls-Royce a true luxury, not the intrinsic value of the materials
‘ What’s obvious is the artistry and painstaking detail that goes into each and every car ’
used. And it’s such craftsmanship –and the promise of more should you wish for it; Rolls-Royce calling the Ghost Series II “a potent canvas for creativity” that caters to a client who now spends a reported ten percent of their vehicle’s purchase price on bespoke enhancements – which accounts for many of the refinements made to the second-generation Ghost, which was launched in 2020. The twin-turbocharged V-12 engine carries over unchanged, as does the near perfect silence it runs at and its lightness on the road, thanks to its intuitive Planar Suspension System which took engineers 10 years to perfect.
The first Ghost, which debuted in 2009, marked a changing of the times for Rolls-Royce, a car designed for a new, younger customer. It helped the marque shed its image as an ‘old man’s car’, one readily associated with landed gentry and aristocracy, and ushered in a period in which Rolls-Royce continues to thrive. So though it may not be the company’s best-selling model – like almost every car brand these days, that honour is reserved for its SUV, the Cullinan – it is arguably its most impactful in that it helped lay the
foundations on which all future models have been built. Its 2020 iteration was the company’s most technologically advanced V12 Rolls-Royce.
The Ghost Series II takes design cues from some of those models to affect its subtle changes. The inspiration for its new tail lamp configuration comes courtesy of Spectre, while the Spirit of Ecstasy clock cabinet and bamboomade Duality Twill fabric, which took over a year to develop and comes with the option of three base and 51 thread colours, both debuted on the recent Cullinan update. Its illuminated fascia, which runs the length of the passenger side, was introduced in the previous Ghost and is masterfully designed here to emulate an evolving night sky.
Newly crafted for the Ghost Series II are slimmer, slicker headlights and a richly grained, natural wood named Grey Stained Ash. It’s been hand-stained and enlivened by microscopic metallic particles via a process that took four years to master and creates a beautiful shimmering effect, a look that dovetails rather well with the car’s new exterior launch colour of Mustique Blue, its name derived from
the sun-kissed shoreline of the Caribbean island and its own shimmer fashioned from glass and mica flakes. It joins the 44,000 other hues you can now select from and those you can create completely bespoke for you and you alone – such colours are retained for exclusive use.
Mustique Blue is a similar hue to one that graced a 1929 Phantom II Continental prototype built for Henry Royce, which used ground fish scales to create pearlescent paint, the first time it was ever used on a motor car.
Rolls-Royce talks of effortlessness, elegance and timelessness as the tenants of its design principles, which ensures that its cars reflect its heritage as much as point to its future.
Simplicity may underpin it – we’re shown how the outline of a Rolls-Royce’s highly recognisable design is created with just three pen strokes – but just like a graceful swan, it’s what you don’t see that matters most. Those many hours, days, months and years its craftspeople devote to the pursuit of creating something that’s much more than a motor car. It is a gallery of their crafts, a gallery you’re invited to curate.
Big Fish
As Sexy Fish lands in Dubai, Björn Weissgerber, the group’s Global Chef Director, reveals how his food backs up the restaurant’s famed opulence
WORDS: JOHN THATCHER
Richard Caring, chairman of Caprice Holdings and billionaire restaurateur who acquired the unofficial title of ‘King of Mayfair’ along with many of London’s most popular restaurants and members’ clubs (The Ivy and Annabel’s among them), retains a finger on the pulse of popularity.
If his earlier restaurant purchases dialled into the lure of celebrity, his most recent offerings have been cooked up to feed the content-hungry hordes on TikTok and Instagram. Bacchanalia opened on London’s Berkeley Square in 2022, a paean to Roman decadence, where waiters wear togas, the toilets are designed for influencers and guests dine amid unabashed opulence – statues designed by Damien Hirst, handpainted ceiling murals and 2000-yearold Greek and Roman artworks.
But before Bacchanalia there was Sexy Fish, which sits on the same London square and set the tone. Opened in 2015, it cost a reported £15 million (close to $19 million) to transform a boring old bank into a fantasy land of waterfall walls, 13-ft silicone crocodiles and Frank Gehry Fish Lamps. Subtle it is not. To back up such screaming loud ostentatiousness, the food had to be damned good. Which is where Björn Weissgerber enters the fray. He joined Sexy Fish in 2016 with a
CV that speaks for itself – and does so just as loudly as the restaurant’s interiors. El Bulli, Arzak, Mugaritz, The French Laundry and El Celler de Can Roca all feature, each of them fixtures in any list of the world’s best ever restaurants. He also picked up a Michelin star of his own while running Ca’s Puers in Mallorca, before taking up a role with the Zuma group to open restaurants across the globe.
As Global Chef Director, Weissgerber now does the same for Sexy Fish, overseeing its expansion to Manchester, Miami and now Dubai. Sexy Fish and Dubai has always seemed the perfect pairing, so what took it so long to arrive? “I couldn’t agree more!” says Weissgerber. “Dubai is the perfect fit for Sexy Fish; its vibrant energy mirrors the spirit of our brand. It was all about finding the right moment, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to bring Sexy Fish to life here.” Alive it most certainly is. Octopus tentacle pillar columns wrapped in hand-blown Murano glass; a coral reef wall decorated with over 2 million pieces of hand-painted coral; Damien Hirst mermaids; jellyfish table lamps… you get the idea. But what is different is the food. “Each Sexy Fish location has its own unique touch and Dubai is no different,” outlines Weissgerber. “We’ve introduced exciting new dishes
‘ Michelin stars cannot be your only drive otherwise it becomes a demon ’
inspired by the local culture and created a one-of-a-kind experience that resonates with the city.”
One such dish is Sexy Udon. “The name says it all! This dish brings together our bold, playful approach with a touch of luxury, featuring rich udon noodles infused with white truffle. It’s crafted to delight the senses and add an element of unexpected indulgence to the dining experience. It perfectly reflects our commitment to pushing culinary boundaries in a way that feels fresh, fun and unapologetically daring. Japanese cooking is about giving each individual product your total attention, so we give the ingredient its own stage with a twist.
“While Japanese cuisine remains at the heart of our concept, I love to take in influences from each city’s culinary landscape, creating a blend that feels both authentic and exciting. It’s about balancing tradition with innovation, embracing new ingredients, techniques and ideas that reflect the diverse cultures we’re surrounded by.”
Weissgerber’s own surroundings when growing up in Lauf, Germany
have proved an enduring influence on his food. “My parents ran their own restaurant, so food became a natural part of my life from a young age and I was constantly exposed to fresh ingredients and vibrant flavour.
Helping out there taught me early on that food is more than just something to eat – it’s a way of connecting with others. My German roots gave me a sense of discipline and respect for tradition, while my Swedish heritage brought a more adventurous, creative side, encouraging me to play with flavours and experiment. I think this mix is what defines my approach to food today: precise, rooted in tradition, but always open to innovation and new ideas.
“Every restaurant I’ve worked at, whether it was The French Laundry or El Bulli, taught me invaluable lessons. Each one had its own essence and style of cooking, which gave me a unique perspective on the importance of authenticity. The most important lesson I’ve taken away is to be true to yourself in everything you create; each of these iconic places thrives because
of its distinct identity and commitment to its values. But another lesson is that a restaurant is only as strong as its team, its community and the guests who walk through its doors. This emphasis on authenticity and putting people at the core of the experience has shaped my approach and keeps me grounded in everything I do.”
When I ask if he hopes to add to his single Michelin star one day, it’s this people-first idea he returns to. “This is a difficult question. Michelin stars cannot be your only drive, otherwise it becomes a demon. Success is about feeling engaged with your surroundings, with the people. I love to work with people. Different cultures require different approaches, some more gentle while others more to the point and direct. I think it’s great to learn from others and equally to teach others – it’s how we grow and develop as humans.
“Having a busy restaurant with returning and loyal guests is the ultimate goal for every chef.”
It’s highly likely Sexy Fish Dubai will deliver that goal.
These pages, clockwise from inset: Romeo Roma; The Lake Como EDITION; Château de la Commaraine; Thuwal Private Retreat
The sun-soaked islands of the Maldives continue to be cherry picked to house new, ever opulent resorts, but when one can’t be found it can be made. Spanning three such artificial islands a short speedboat ride from Malé, the Mandarin Oriental Maldives is slated to open at the tail end of the year, offering the usual mix of beachfront and overwater villas but also ten ultra luxury Residences, which are set to be some of the country’s largest. Its opening will mark Mandarin Oriental’s debut in the region, where they will be joined by fellow newcomer Corinthia. An architectural marvel designed to mimic the graceful flow of the manta ray, Corinthia Maldives will be set across two islands, one of which is designed for those who value privacy in paradise.
Speaking of paradise, Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Project will welcome its latest big-name operator with the opening of The Red Sea EDITION, while a 40-minute boat ride from Jeddah lies the just-opened Thuwal Private Retreat, a full-service, exclusive-use property replete with luxury trappings. The EDITION will also bring its edge to the calming shores of Italy’s Lake Como. Scheduled to open in the spring, The Lake Como EDITION will take shape from a 19thcentury building conversion and include two penthouse suites and a clutch of lake-facing restaurants.
Staying in Italy, a few other openings of note include Milan’s first Rocco Forte hotel, for which the group’s Director of Design, Olga Polizzi, has collaborated with interior designers Paolo Moschino and Philip Vergeylen on a full refurbishment of The Carlton, Milan. Also completely transformed ahead of its March opening, Collegio alla Querce, a former boarding school, overlooks the spellbinding city of Florence and the rolling hills of Tuscany beyond. Its many
‘ Romeo Roma marks the final project of the late Zaha Hadid and, for good measure, features an Alain Ducasse restaurant’
attractions include the original chapel and a signature bar that was formerly the principal’s office. Further south, in the capital, is the Romeo Roma, which was due to open as we went to press. An historic palazzo which dates to the 1500s, it marks the final project of the late Zaha Hadid and, for good measure, features an Alain Ducasse restaurant, he of 21 Michelin stars.
In Ducasse’s homeland of France, Château de la Commaraine – sister hotel to the award-winning Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa – is slated to open in July. The historic château is currently undergoing a top-totoe renovation and will emerge with 37 rooms and one four-bedroom private villa, complete with an exclusive tasting room that can be fully privatised.
London has been a real hotbed of luxury openings in recent years and Six Senses has taken note. Residing in what was once an art deco department store in Bayswater, Six Senses London will open in the summer
and feature the brand’s inaugural private member’s club, Six Senses Place.
Leaving Europe for the US, the Oetker Collection (Eden Rock, Le Bristol, The Lanesborough…) debuts with The Vineta Hotel in Palm Beach, returning the near century-old building to its former name, glory and trademark pale-pink hue.
Not one to be outdone by openings elsewhere in the world, Dubai’s muchanticipated Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab will add to the nautical theme (it’s shaped like a superyacht) in an area which already boats the iconic sail-shaped Jumeirah Burj Al Arab and wave-inspired Jumeirah Beach Hotel. Other noted openings on our radar include the Six Senses The Palm Dubai – which will include a lap pool on the hotel’s 109th floor – and the sky-reaching Mandarin Oriental Downtown, Dubai.
Sir Rocco Forte
CHAIRMAN AND FOUNDER OF ROCCO FORTE HOTELS
I learnt a great deal from my father. He believed strongly in acting with integrity in dealing with staff, suppliers, customers and business partners. He had huge determination and an ability to go to the heart of a problem when others were faffing around the edges. He would never take no for an answer and would always try to find a way of doing things that others thought impossible. He also had a great ability to delegate and put a great deal of trust in the people who worked for him, but was ready to step in when necessary. He inspired great loyalty and had great charm, which drew people to him, and was always quick to praise a good job done. He always found time for people. I once said to him, ‘Why do you give that man so much of your time? He is not important to us.’ He replied, ‘Yes, but it is important for him.’
My greatest achievement is Rocco Forte Hotels, the company I founded in 1996 with my sister Olga. We
started with the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh and now have 15 properties, with five more set to open in the next three years. Each of my hotels has a distinct personality and honours its location and the staff are genuine and truly passionate about their jobs. I would not be able to have such spectacular properties without the great teams behind them. Their passion is what makes our service so unique.
A lesson I learnt the hard way was when I first started the company. I opened hotels in Manchester and Cardiff and, although they did very well, I soon realised they were not a good fit for the company I wanted to create and the locations would not have attracted the customers I was aiming at. Things are of course changing now, but at the time it was a lesson learnt and I was sad to part with such great properties.
If I could change one thing about myself I would like to be younger, but
with all the experience I have now. I would also love to be able to sing but have the worst singing voice. When I was at school I was invited to join the choir. They thought that with such an Italian name I would be a great singer, but I was kindly asked to leave after only one term.
I would tell my younger self to choose his battles, to remain calm at all times and never let himself get easily upset.
There are several people I admire and one is Dubai Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum, who is carrying on his father’s vision of Dubai in such an admirable way. I remember when, in 1979, I went to Dubai for the opening of an airport hotel and there was hardly anything else around it but desert. To have witnessed the development that has taken place in Dubai since then is amazing. The leadership is still striving to improve the area and has created a safe and enviable environment that’s admired by all.
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