FEBRUARY 2022
JAMIE DORNAN
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AIR X PARIS BRAIN INSTITUTE
Right, from left to right: Jean Todt, Gérard Saillant, Richard Mille. ©EmmanuelFradin
Meeting Of Minds AIR
How Richard Mille supports the invaluable research of the Paris Brain Institute
B
rain diseases affect nearly one billion people worldwide. With the ageing population, this figure is set to increase. To combat this threat, Paris Brain Institute (ICM), an international scientific and medical research centre located in Paris, works to truly understand the workings of the brain, with the aim of developing treatments for the diseases that affect it. At the forefront of neuroscience, the Institute is ranked second among the 35 international institutions active in the field of neurological research. It also fosters connections between patients, researchers, physicians, and entrepreneurs which, in 2012, led to the active support of the Richard Mille brand. 2019 saw Richard Mille involve himself personally, becoming a member of the Institute’s Campaign Committee, while in 2021 the brand increased its support by launching the Richard Mille Donors’ Club. “I was approached by my friend Jean Todt, who played a crucial part in the founding of the Paris Brain Institute, while Gérard Saillant, the Institute’s president, convinced me of the need to support this cause, to play a part in it by supporting the institution in a lasting and reliable manner to ensure the means to make long-term projections and greater 2
visibility,” explains Richard Mille. “Just a few years ago, the Institute had to campaign to recruit scientists. Today, it receives unsolicited applications from top researchers seeking to come and work there. In my view, it is our responsibility to support this success and level of performance by helping the Institute function optimally. Supporting a structure as advanced and promising as the ICM is a noble cause. Lending our support to this research helps saves lives and improve many existences.” In addition to the creation of the Donors’ Club, the Richard Mille brand has also pledged to donate the equal amount of every watch sold at its boutiques, a commitment that has been in place since January 2021. Such sustained support has reaped rewards. Since its launch, Paris Brain Institute has created a predictive model of Alzheimer’s disease, which plays a key role in the assessment of therapies; achieved the optimisation of deep brain stimulation, opening-up the prospect of treating other ailments; and passed through the blood-brain barrier, thereby making the delivery of treatments to the brain more effective. “Neuroscience is on the verge of major advances,” says Professor Gérard Saillant. “We need to step up our efforts, develop new skills and innovate again and again in our research models.”
To continue its work — work that has a tremendous bearing on human health globally, now and into the future — Paris Brain Institute’s 700 researchers, comprising the world’s greatest scientific talent, require continuous funding (presently, donations from its patrons account for a little over 40% of its funding needs), which is why the work of Richard Mille is of such importance. Put simply, scientific and therapeutic research is imperative to change lives. “There are lots of exciting possibilities,” says Richard Mille. “Research is all about exploring lots of avenues simultaneously and hoping for creative success to emerge. “Our clients are very much people who engage with society. They have passion, and care about sharing this. You see this whenever you meet them. They trust us to engage with worthy causes. It is all part of being in the same family — you have common aims. With the Paris Brain Institute, members of the Donors’ Club know their donation is directly invested into one of the most pressing causes in today’s world.” To learn why the work of the Paris Brain Institute is of personal importance to Richard Mille, turn to page 68. To know more about the Richard Mille Donor’s Club, contact Marielle Lethrosne at the Paris Brain Institute: marielle.lethrosne@icm-institute.org
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Contents
AIR
FEBRUARY 2022: ISSUE 125
FEATURES Thirty Two
Thirty Eight
Forty Six
Fifty Two
Fifty Shades brought Jamie Dornan celebrity, cash — and criticism. Now he’s in a film strongly tipped for Oscars.
Texas-born Daniel Roseberry is perhaps Paris’s most unlikely couturier. And yet, he’s the most exciting designer in town.
Meet Jerry Schatzberg, the legendary photographer and film director whose images are the subject of a new show.
Half a million people made history at Woodstock in 1969, but how much of it is myth?
The Golden Touch
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An American Tale
King Of New York
The Myth of The Legend
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L E A DING T H E WAY
Contents
FEBRUARY 2022: ISSUE 125
REGULARS Fourteen
Radar
Sixteen
Objects of Desire Eighteen
Critique Twenty
Art & Design Twenty Four
Timepieces Fifty Eight
Motoring
EDITORIAL
Sixty Two
Chief Creative Officer
Gastronomy
John Thatcher john@hotmedia.me
AIR
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 Twenty Eight
Jewellery
Why Jessica McCormack’s bespoke approach sets her apart in the world of diamond jewellery.
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.
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NasJet FEBRUARY 2022: ISSUE 125
NASJET is the leading private aviation operator and services provider in Saudi Arabia that delivers world-class services in aircraft management, charter, flight support, sales and completions. Launched in 1999 in affiliation with US partner NetJets Inc, NasJet - originally NetJets Middle East (NJME) - demonstrated the highest levels of regional expertise by being the first private company in Saudi Arabia to be awarded an Aircraft Operating Certificate (AOC) by the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA). The company has since grown to managing/supporting in excess of 19 fixed-wing aircraft, and employing 150 in-house aviation industry experts. We operate 24/7 from a state-ofthe-art flight center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, delivering superior levels of safety, service and value. VISION To be the leading business aviation solutions provider in the Middle East.
Welcome Onboard FEBRUARY 2022
MISSION • Safety: Our clients and employees’ safety and security are the highest priority in all our operations and services. • Standards: Our clients receive the utmost levels of service with word-class standards. • Empowerment: Our employees are vital to our success and are rewarded for their outstanding performance and innovations. • Profitability: We strive to ensure the full success and profitability of our organization. • Responsibility: We pride ourselves with our work ethics and strive for the highest levels of professional standards. VALUES • Transparency: We are transparent with our clients and with each other. • Efficiency: We achieve the highest levels of efficiency within our organization. • Communication: We work as a team and communicate with each other to improve the success of our business. This month we have relaunched our company website to provide a more user-friendly, design-driven portal which provides a full overview of our services and outlines the advantages of utilising them. You can visit it at nasjet.com.sa We welcome the opportunity to serve you onboard one of our private jets.
Captain Mohammed Al Gabbas Chief Commercial Officer
Cover: Cover: Jamie Dornan by Mark Mann/AUGUST
Contact Details: nasjet.com.sa / +966 11 261 1199 / sales@nasjet.com.sa 9
NasJet FEBRUARY 2022: ISSUE 125
Ways We Can Serve You Full range of services cater to your every need Aircraft Management Owning a private jet is certainly a pleasure, but it is also a major capital investment. We can handle that hassle and give you peace of mind knowing that an established and experienced international operator is efficiently managing your aircraft. The company has grown to managing/supporting in excess of 19 Middle East-based aircraft. Charter NASJET has a dedicated fleet of ultra-modern aircraft available for immediate charter, including Airbus, Boeing, Gulfstream, Legacy 600, and Citation Excel. We are also able to source any type of aircraft in the world if our fleet does not match your preference. Your requests and personal requirements are managed by a team of highly experienced charter experts, focused on making your trip exceptionally comfortable and seamless. Remember, we are looking to exceed your expectations, with our Client Service team operating 24/7, 365 days a year to ensure we are doing just that. For frequent charter clients we have a number of flexible and dynamic Block-Charter programs with all the usual benefits of on-demand charter but with additional cost savings based on volume discounts and flexible payment terms. The charter programs allow you to take control of your flying requirements, on a trip-by-trip basis. At the same time, it grants you access to the largest regionally managed fleet with seamless operations and a superior level of safety, reliability and value. For Charter Broker enquiries, please contact our 24/7 charter department at +966 11 261 1199 or email charter@flynas.com. Flight Support-Aircraft Owners Aircraft owners managing an aircraft internally can still benefit from NASJET’s unrivaled level of international support and significant 10
‘economy of scale’ cost-saving benefits. The NASJET Flight Center, Client Service, Charter Team and Engineering Teams operate 24/7, supporting owners with flight planning, overnight & landing permits, ground handling, fuel management, accommodation, catering, aircraft insurance, maintenance and aircraft evaluations. NASJET will provide aircraft owners with ‘back-up’ aircraft at attractive prices, when their aircraft is not available. The core management fleet includes Airbus, Boeing, Gulfstream, Legacy 600 and Citation Excel. Aircraft Sales As a world class owner, operator and manager of corporate aircraft, we are in the unique position of understanding the many advantages and disadvantages of aircraft ownership. We offer real-time pricing analysis, aircraft financing at preferential rates, aircraft inspections, sales/ marketing collateral and assertive price negotiations. Close ties with the leading business aircraft manufacturers, operators and international sales brokers further ensures the information presented is accurate and timely. Dedicated teams are able to handle legal and administrative documentation, including registration and licensing as well as scouring the market to present you with the widest
possible choice of aircraft. We have the required experience to enter into negotiations on any aircraft model, and together with marketing and advertising experts, we can help you buy or sell your aircraft with cost efficiency and the utmost discretion. With NASJET you can be assured that your aircraft sale or purchase is being managed by aviation experts. Completions Advisory If you are planning to purchase a new ‘green’ aircraft, or refurbishing your current aircraft, we have the capability and wealth of experience to ensure the completion and delivery of the aircraft is to the highest standard, protecting the future residual value of your aircraft. NASJET and appointed partners provide advice on the design, selection and installation of the cabin configuration, layout, type of seats, carpets, sidewall treatments and other furnishings, entertainment and communication systems, galley and lavatory fixtures, avionics packages, exterior paint and extended warranty programs Operating business aircraft in extreme hot and humid climates can mean the finishing and preparation of materials has to be of a specific requirement. Capitalizing on our regional knowledge as an operator of over 19 fixed-wing aircraft with hundreds of thousands of miles flown across every continent in the world, we guarantee your aircraft will be finished to the optimum standard.
NasJet FEBRUARY 2022: ISSUE 125
Introducing Our Fleet Over 19 fixed-wing aircraft are under our management
We are also able to source any type of aircraft in the world if our fleet does not match your preference Airbus Corporate Jet (ACJ) A318 In NASJET, we have two types of Airbus A318, an aircraft which combines Airbus reliability and intercontinental performance. Airbus A320neo Airbus A320neo is distinguished by its innovative technologies and the spaciousness of its cabin - the widest in the single-aisle aircraft category. The aircraft is equipped with a new generation of engines that contribute to a 15% cutback of fuel consumption and harmful emissions, and a 50% reduction of noise level. Boeing (B767) and Boeing (BBJ3) Boeing Business Jets bring the best of 12
private air travel, offering customers a wide range of Boeing products. The robust characteristics of this aircraft also provide an excellent value proposition when outfitted for more personalized space, unmatched reliability and worldwide support. Gulfstream (G650) and Gulfstream (GIV-SP) NASJET is the largest Gulfstream operator in the Middle East. You can fly in a spacious and comfortable cabin, which includes a full-service galley to serve your favourite meals. Legacy 600 Legacy 600 has installed an Ionization System which allows it to eliminate
99.9% of all microbes, bacteria, germs, bad smells, etc… in the air of the cabin during flight. This Legacy 600 is the first and only business jet to have this system installed during Covid-19, and will reduce the spread of the virus within the air of the cabin significantly. Citation Excel The Citation Excel aircraft combines transcontinental range and remarkable efficiency in a beautiful mid-size jet. The cabin offers comfortable room and a spacious interior. The high-quality leather seats are extra wide with full reclining capabilities for optimal comfort.
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.
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Radar
As Artistic Director of the women’s collections, John Galliano led Dior through a golden period of theatrical shows and designs, cementing his legacy as one of the great couturiers. His years at the helm of Dior are celebrated in a new book, Dior by Galliano, which sees his inventive creations shot by Laziz Hamani, with further contributions from illustrious photographers like Irving Penn, Paolo Roversi, and Annie Leibovitz, who captured this image of Penelope Cruz in an elaborate piece from Galliano’s Autumn-Winter 2007 couture collection.
Dior By Galliano, published by Assouline, is out now 14
Credit: Penelope Cruz wearing the Tatiana Usova-inspired by Velazquez coat, haute couture Autumn-Winter 2007, Le Bal des Artistes, photographed by Annie Leibovitz, Vogue US, December 2007. @ Annie Leibovitz/Trunk Archive
AIR
FEBRUARY 2022: ISSUE 125
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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
MOSCHINO
P R E FA L L W O M E N S W E A R 2 0 2 2 It’s to the movies we go with Moschino, in a collection (the menswear follows suit) that manages to look every bit retro as it does futuristic. The filmic worlds of A Clockwork Orange, Bladerunner, and 60s-era sci-fi are all referenced, while there’s more than
a nod to Sgt. Pepper-era Beatles, via Jeremy Scott’s repurposing of militaristic regalia in details such as double-breasted dresses and jackets. “I never let an opportunity go to express myself with the bravado people expect from me,” said Scott. 1
OB JECTS OF DESIRE
B L A N C PA I N
TR ADITIONAL CHINESE CALENDAR The dial also references both the Gregorian and Chinese calendars, while the model is powered by a movement exclusively developed by Blancpain across five years. It’s limited to 50 individually numbered timepieces.
To mark our entry into the Chinese Year of the Tiger (from February 1) Blancpain has issued a new version of its celebrated Traditional Chinese Calendar, a model in platinum with a white grand feu enamel dial, that has a tiger engraved on its back. 2
OB JECTS OF DESIRE
DIOR
ROSE DIOR COUTURE Flowers were a lifetime inspiration for Christian Dior, a passion manifest not only in his couture designs and embroideries but also the gardens of his home. Each season, Victoire de Castellane, Dior’s artistic director of jewellery, delivers an ode to the rose,
the celebrated couturier’s favourite flower. Adding to an existing trio of collections in this blossoming range is the Rose Dior Couture, a nine-piece line that brings together rose gold and diamonds on delicate necklaces, stud earrings and rings 3
OB JECTS OF DESIRE
SA I N T L AU R E N T
CHERRY BOOT Anthony Vaccarello’s Spring 2022 RTW collection was shown against the backdrop of a twinkling Eiffel Tower, a sky-reaching structure brought to mind by the platform heel on these high-rise Cherry boots, a throwback to the grunge era that
erupted in 90s Seattle. They come in myriad styles: one with a single buckle, another with double buckles, and this tri-buckled version, in black or caramel, leather or suede. You can also go full on nostalgic with a lace-up version. 4
OB JECTS OF DESIRE
PAT E K P H I L I P P E
R E F. 5 7 5 0 ‘A D V A N C E D R E S E A R C H ’ M I N U T E R E P E AT E R Since its founding in 2005, Patek Philippe’s ‘Advanced Research’ department has worked alongside its research and development divisions in pursuit of new materials, technologies, and conceptual fundamentals intended to bring new perspectives to
watchmaking. From their work comes the Ref. 5750 ‘Advanced Research’ minute repeater, which features a totally new all-mechanical sound amplifying system. It’s released as a limited edition of 15 watches, cased in platinum and endowed with a unique dial design. 5
OB JECTS OF DESIRE
R M SOTHEBY’S
1 9 96 F E R R A R I F 5 0 The Ferrari F50 was built to celebrate the Scuderia’s 50th anniversary and was designed from the ground up to give customers a driving experience described by Ferrari as “a Formula 1 car for the road”. In fact, its V-12 engine was a direct
descendant of that which powered Alain Prost’s Ferrari to five wins in the 1990 Formula 1 World Championship. Only 349 examples of the F50 were made, making it the rarest of the anniversary cars. It will be auctioned in Paris on February 2.
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OB JECTS OF DESIRE
U LYA N A S E R G E E N K O
EVENING COLLECTION Perfectly timed for Valentine’s Day, romance was most certainly in the air when Ulyana Sergeenko created a new evening collection, with velvet and lace to the fore. Included are mini dresses with lace inserts, crepe and velvet midi dresses with various cut-
outs, jacquard corset dresses with slits along the thigh, and velvet jackets, lace bodysuits, and jacquard corsets with basques. Released in a limited edition, various accessories include chokers, satin gloves, and over-the-knee satin stocking boots. 8
OBJECTS OF DESIRE
Critique FEBRUARY 2022 : ISSUE 125
Film Sundown Dir. Michel Franco When the relaxing Mexico vacation of a wealthy family is cut short by a distant emergency, one relative disrupts the family’s tight-knit order, bringing tensions to the fore. AT BEST: “A smart, engaging drama.” — Brian Tallerico, rogerebert.com AT WORST: “Barely scratches the surface of its profound themes.” — Rene Sanchez, Cine Sin Fronteras
Clean Dir. Paul Solet AIR
A tormented refuse collector attempts to live a quiet life of redemption, but his good intentions soon make him the target of a local crime boss. AT BEST: “It isn’t perfect, but it sure is a lot of fun.” — Tessa Smith, Mama’s Geeky AT WORST: “Obvious and derivative in borderline-shameless fashion.” — Nick Schager, Variety
Here Before Dir. Stacey Gregg When a new family moves in next door, their young daughter quickly captivates a mother still mourning the loss of her own daughter. Before long, her fascination turns to obsession. AT BEST: “Casts a witchy, wintry spell.” — Leslie Felperin, Hollywood Reporter AT WORST: “No one will feel as injured by the film’s final-act choices than its audience.” — Kate Erbland, IndieWire
Rifkin’s Festival Dir. Woody Allen A husband accompanies his publicist wife to a film festival, concerned by her fascination with her young, buzzed-about film director client. AT BEST: “Woody Allen can still make a trenchant, absurd, fantastically funny comedy.” — Roger Friedman, Showbiz 411 AT WORST: “It feels incredibly off and forced.” — Jordan Ruimy, World of Reel 18
Critique FEBRUARY 2022 : ISSUE 125
Books linger with readers long after the final page.” Elsewhere, Kirkus praised Guterson for “subverting expectations over and over again.” With her memory fading, an elderly woman confronts a lifetime of secrets and betrayal. That’s the premise for Hannah Lillith Assadi’s The Stars Are Not Yet Bells, which Kirkus describes as “A haunting elegy for loss, desire, and memory.” Fellow author Joanne Tompkins also considered it a powerful read: “A luminous and deeply moving portrait of the end of life and the persistence of desire. While Hannah Lillith Assadi’s characters are forced to deny the truth of themselves and who they love, in her assured hands the extraordinary beauty of life and love and the natural world is never lost.” In a starred review, Publishers Weekly was also full of praise for Assadi’s style. “The beauty of Assadi’s prose and the splendid depiction of a love that transcends death make for a singular
rendition of an oft-told story. This will leave readers undone.” Dangerous Women by Hope Adams is a tale of historical fiction in which in the year 1841 one hundred and eighty Englishwomen file aboard the convict ship Rajah, embarking on a three-month voyage to the other side of the world. One of them, however, is a murderer. “Masterful plotting, well-drawn characters, and a plausible balance of despair for what was left behind and optimism for what lies ahead add up to an immensely satisfying read,” reviews The Guardian. “Basing her novel on fact, Adams draws from the actual ship’s logs to create an intriguing story,” says Booklist. While best-selling author Emma Rous hails it, “A dazzling novel. Adams takes the fascinating history of a convict ship and brings it to life in a captivating story filled with intrigue and dark secrets. An immensely satisfying tale of guilt, innocence and second chances.”
Credit: Penguin Random House
The Final Case by David Guterson tells of a young Ethiopian girl who dies one late, rainy night a few feet from the back door of her home. When her adoptive parents are charged with her murder, a criminal attorney in the last days of his long career decides to take on their case. “A beautiful, heartfelt novel. Guterson’s tale swirls and loops and soars and digresses, gradually pulling you, like a vortex, closer and closer to eternal truths about death and life, hate and love. Especially love,” writes fellow author Daniel James Brown. “[An] outstanding literary thriller…Equal parts philosophical, humane, and self-deprecating, it powerfully speaks to the ineffable contradiction of living a meaningful life,” reviews Publishers Weekly. “Guterson sensitively explores religion, white privilege, and justice while examining with realism and empathy the bond between parents and their children. With its simple message of hope, this novel will
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Art & Design FEBRUARY 2022: ISSUE 125
AIR
Lines of Duty
From painting sin-afflicted London and psychedelic jungles of angst, Henry Hudson finds peace on the horizon WORDS: CARU SANDERS
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These pages, clockwise from top left: Henry Hudson, Horizon Line Somewhere Over Egypt, 2022; Henry Hudson, Horizon Line Somewhere Over the Pacific Ocean, 2022; Henry Hudson, Horizon Line Somewhere Over the Mediterranean Sea, 2022 Last page: Henry Hudson
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“Y
ou’ve got to have faith”, George Michael once sang, a mantra now followed by Henry Hudson, as he boldly departs from the anxiety-ridden vignettes of his 20s and 30s. After graduating from Central Saint Martins, Hudson had his ‘Eureka!’ moment in an art shop when he came across some Plasticine. “I really believe that artists are curious characters, and that if something is picked up, it should be pushed, studied, explored, burnt, punched, pulled apart, smoothed, squashed and turned on its head,” he said. True to his word, and inspired by the likes of Lucian Freud, Leon Kossoff, and Frank Auerbach — in particular their use of thick oil paint — Hudson would use Plasticine, a hairdryer, and a hand mixer to master his gloopy-yet-precise technique, sculpting uniquely textured paintings to earn him the label of one of the art world’s Bright Young Things. While still in his 20s, he started his ten-panel series of 21st century depravity, reworking the narrative of William Hogarth’s A Rake’s Progress by melting and layering Plasticine. Hogarth’s work depicts the story of Tom Rakewell, a young man who inherits money from his late father and squanders it on expensive clothes, womanising and gambling. As acquaintances of Hudson also squandered their inheritances on fast-and-loose lifestyles, he couldn’t help but see the parallels. “The costumes were different,” Hudson says by way of explanation. “But the stories were the same.” Piecing together his own twist on the cautionary tale, Hudson retold the story for a modern audience. His version follows Young Sen, a science prodigy from China who wins a scholarship to King’s College London to study medicine. Yet instead of a becoming a doctor, Sen becomes an artist and overexuberantly tears his way through the city, sinking into addiction and insanity. The series was exhibited at Sotheby’s S|2 Gallery to huge success. Damien Hirst said Hudson was “f***ing mad”, which Hudson took as a compliment, and following critical and commercial triumphs and further sell-out shows, Hudson turned 30 and caroused his 22
We all need to have faith. It’s part of what makes us human
own way through the art world. In 2016, now in his 30s, he presented Sun City Tanning at the same gallery The pieces were no less allegorical, although this time the compositions featured no people at all. For this body of work, Hudson took us to the jungle, which he described as his “anxiety paintings.” Using the jungle works of Henri Rousseau as his reference, as well as pictures of botanicals and photographs taken at Kew Gardens, Hudson’s fantastical world represented a metaphysical enquiry into human behaviour. In his own words, these psychedelic landscapes, “Were about hysteria and nature itself.” In 2019, Hudson travelled around the world for his iPad hybrid portraits series to capture some of the pillars of the art world, among them Ai Wei Wei, Ed Ruscha, and Rashid Johnson. The contemporary portraits were unveiled by Simon De Pury in June 2021 at Hudson’s studio in East London. It was while travelling back and forth to the US to photograph the subjects for that exhibition that Hudson dreamed up the idea for his horizon line pieces. When looking out of the window of a plane, identity and individuality would slowly slip away, yielding to a greater sense of perspective. Having grown up surrounded by religious ideologies, Hudson connected these experiences to a sense of being closer to a higher power and, as such, he began to think of new horizons. For Hudson, these horizon lines can be found anywhere and everywhere. They are as earthly as they are ethereal, present in the skies above us and on the well-trodden footpaths and hiking lines beneath our feet, shared by people and animals alike. Equally, these desire paths are
reminiscent of pilgrimages, pathways walked over countless centuries. Now, as Hudson prepares to turn 40 in May, his latest works reflect a tranquility and simplicity hitherto unseen in his work. Although these pieces are visually very dissimilar from the detailed style that Hudson has become known for, they are created with the same materials the artist has been using for some time, namely Plasticine and vivid colour pigments. However, the process has been adjusted to construct these works differently, producing different meanings. Instead of churning the pigments directly into the Plasticine itself, the artist diffuses the colour atop the Plasticine layers, ensuring the hues are kept in their purest and most luminescent form. Then, to create the horizon lines, Hudson cuts directly into these spectrums of colour, using a handmade cutting tool of his own creation. With the potential of ruining what has just been created, risk is always involved. However, it is perhaps this gamble that intrigues both artist and viewer. With the horizon line cut through as the symbolic marker in each painting, Hudson is able to address some of the deeper questions within us; about voids, spirituality, dream states and finding peace. In essence, this body of work represents something intensely personal for Hudson. The courage to create something seemingly humble and unassuming channels his experience of growing up and developing as an artist. In an innate and instinctive process, Hudson perhaps does take a gamble with these clean and discrete works. Yet, as William Faulkner once said, “You cannot swim for new horizons until you have the courage to swim for the shore,” and it is the simplicity of these artworks that gives way to their timelessness and layers of meaning. These horizon lines are many things to many people; they are at once landscapes, seascapes, pathways, sunsets, sunrises or escapes. “We all need faith,” Hudson concludes. “It’s part of what makes us human.” Henry Hudson’s Scapes shows at Unit London until February 7.
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Timepieces
FEBRUARY 2022: ISSUE 125
Flip Art It takes uniquely talented artisans, antique machines, a lot of patience and a few gulps of fresh mountain air to create Jaeger-LeCoultre’s miniature masterpiece Reverso wristwatches
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WORDS: STEPHEN DOIG
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he journey to the watchmaking epicentre of the Vallée de Joux, in the mountains an hour and a half outside Geneva, could have been designed by the Swiss tourist board. Chocolate-box chalets, rainbow-flecked waterfalls, alpine forests and — on the approach to the historic JaegerLeCoultre manufacture on the banks of Lac de Joux — a jolly procession of cows, with bells ringing right on cue. But for all the sense that you’ve arrived at some charming idyll that time forgot, the technology inside the factory — which has been on the site in some form since 1833 — is entirely 21st century. “The Vallée de Joux became such a hub for watch production precisely because the work is so intense,” says Stéphane Belmont, heritage director of the 189-year-old house. “When you’ve been working on something incredibly detailed and all-consuming, it’s important to have space, light and air.” That fresh air has been all the more necessary recently, because the house’s new trio of watches is its most labourintensive and impressive to date. To mark last year’s 90th anniversary of its iconic Reverso timepiece — the beautiful art deco watch created in 1931 with a dial that flips over — its artisans were presented a challenge: to recreate three artworks with secret stories behind their façade, on the flip side of the dial. The resulting Hidden Treasures range, featuring exact replicas of Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of a Lady, Van Gogh’s Sunset at Montmajour and Gustave Courbet’s View of Lake Léman are two years in the making and a glorious showcase of just what these unassuming artisans — who hail from the local area, even skiing to work in winter — can do. “The story of the Reverso has always been linked to art,” says Belmont of the micro-enamelling and miniaturepainting processes that are a hallmark of its fantastically opulent dials. The Reverso sprang to life in dynamic form: Jacques-David LeCoultre (grandson of the founder, Antoine LeCoultre) was challenged by British polo players in India to create a timepiece that could be switched over to protect the glass on its face while its owner thwacked a polo ball up and
These pages, from left to right: Hidden Treasure Klimt; watch face; making of Hidden Treasure Van Gogh Next pages, from left to right: Hidden Treasure Van Gogh; making of Hidden Treasure Klimt; Hidden Treasure Courbet
down a field at full gallop. Early designs featured coats of arms or school crests, but it was a maharaja who requested that his come with a painting of his beloved. An artisanal legacy was founded, with Jaeger-LeCoultre going on to become the only Swiss brand with in-house microenamelling artisans, painting within minute dimensions for weeks at a time before baking the finished artworks at 800C. The paintings in question were chosen because of their beguiling backstories and the fact each had been lost for significant periods of time. The Klimt is the artist’s only ‘double portrait’; an early portrait of a lover who lost her life, which was later painted over, the image beneath was only discovered by an art student in 1996. It was later stolen, before the thief repented and left the painting in a patch of tangled ivy outside the museum from which he’d filched it. The Van Gogh was bought in 1908 by a Norwegian industrialist, before a blowhard artistic acquaintance proclaimed it a fake and the painting was banished to the attic, only to be 25
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finally authenticated in 2013. The work by the French realist painter Courbet languished in storage for 70 years. Each of the paintings has been replicated in mirror image on the concealed side of a watch, with the style of each artist posing its own specific challenges. “Courbet painted using a blade, not a brush, so those strong, deep lines are hard to convey with a single-hair brush,” says Sophie, who has been working there since 1995, one of just four master enamellers at the manufacture. With the Van Gogh, meanwhile, it was the swirls that proved tricky to replicate. The enamellers travelled to see the paintings in person — no photograph could convey the depth and richness of the paints, nor their exact colours — before setting to work. Every dial took two weeks to create, and only 10 of each were made. The process begins with the making of a guilloché dial, the technique of creating a series of regular, tiny, stylised grooves in metal. To do this, a master engraver works on a century-old machine that could double as a prop in 26
wonderful ‘The thing about enamelling is that no day is the same ’
Geppetto’s workshop. “We tried new technologies, but nothing gives the effect of this hand-operated machine,” says the engraver. “It’s all about applying the right pressure.” There is a deft choreography to the craft, with one hand pushing the bit that will create the grooves and the other manipulating the metal. A feather’s frond of weight either way, and the metal is ruined. It can take half a day to complete one dial. From there, the painstaking process of micro-enamelling to recreate the painting begins; if one stroke is out of place, the artisan has to start again. “Pink is the most difficult colour to get right,” says Sophie of the array of pretty paint pots spread out on brightly lit desks, making reference to the rose hues in the Klimt portrait. “Because that pigment doesn’t react well to heat or metal.” The patience of St Monica is a must. “You develop an emotional attachment to the piece, and the wonderful thing about enamelling is that even though you work on the same piece, no day is the same; there are things to discover every time you sit down at the workstation.” “There is a ‘before and after’ to seeing our artisanal crafts here,” explains CEO Catherine Rénier, who joined the house in 2018. “I believe that people leave with the most astonishing respect for the skills our craftspeople possess because certain processes, like the enamelling on minute surfaces, only we can do. We make sure we train new generations; we take young apprentices and train them every year, and alongside the official training, I always say that the unofficial training really takes place seeing their peers work, picking up things, sitting alongside the master craftsmen.” The Hidden Treasures timepieces were unveiled at an exhibition in Paris, with high-rolling clients flying in to get a glimpse of these rare items. But for Rénier, the unveiling was also a chance to doffher cap to those humble artisans in the Vallée de Joux. “These people are loyal and stable. That’s why they stay: for the people around them, the constant challenges, and the chance to keep learning new techniques.” That, and the rather enviable commute to the office each morning on skis.
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Jewellery FEBRUARY 2022 : ISSUE 125
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Personal Touch Why Jessica McCormack’s bespoke approach sets her apart WORDS: JOHN THATCHER
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ust as it has for a lot of luxury brands, Instagram has established a new way for Jessica McCormack to sell to her clients. “We’ve done six figure sales through it,” she says, sorting through a tray of rings, their diamonds sparkling in a warming ray of winter sun which beams through a bay window. “And it’s a great way for the client to get up close and personal with the jewellery, more so than is possible if it’s behind a cabinet in a shop. You can zoom in, see what it looks like on. It is amazing…” she continues, in a manner that suggests a ‘but’ is on the horizon. It duly arrives. “But… it’s annoying as well!” The fact that social media is ‘always on’ is one common irritant (more so when your clients are in different time zones), but for McCormack in particular, you get the sense that it’s the lack of personal interaction that’s the biggest bugbear, and that’s not limited to the social sphere. “I still don’t enjoy going into jewellery boutiques and staring into a glass cabinet,” reveals the New Zealand-born daughter of an antique dealer father. That’s why when we meet just before Christmas in London, we do so at 7 Carlos Place, a magnificent Georgian townhouse in Mayfair, the entirety of which comprises Jessica McCormack’s sole boutique. Unlike the row of high-end jewellery boutiques in nearby Bond Street and their polished display cabinets, 7 Carlos Place is an appropriately personal space, with only pesky insurance paperwork coming between McCormack and her desire to leave six-figure sum items exposed for customers to see, touch, and try on. “If I had my way, nothing would be locked away behind glass.” We’re on the first floor, in the library, a long, wooden-floored room lit by bay windows that perfectly encapsulates McCormack’s aesthetic. Paintings, sculptures, books, curios, a mix of the antique and the contemporary, a fusion of styles. Beneath us is the workshop, an addition McCormack hails as “a dream”, being one of the few 30
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You can find me on the shop floor and talk to me about what you like and I can then make that happen
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jewellery houses to have one in-house. It’s home to six benches and a young team of eager creatives. “Typically in this industry you don’t see new generations coming through, but we look for young talent and they come with lots of enthusiasm and ideas.” Approximately thirty percent of the business accounts for bespoke creations, with McCormack involved in each piece. “I try not to be totally OCD about it,” she laughs, though she enjoys nothing more than meeting clients face to face, talking about their likes, their lifestyles, and how they wear their jewellery, before putting pencil to paper to sketch her vision for a piece that’s subsequently brought to life when the stone (or stones) is sourced. “That’s the beauty of having everything in the one townhouse. You can find me on the shop floor and talk to me about what you like and I can then make that happen.” McCormack has made it happen for a slew of celebrities, from Zoe Kravitz to Kate Moss, Rosie Huntington-Whitely to Taylor Swift. “They’re all clients, first and foremost, and I want them to buy the items they would wear normally.” On the table before us is that month’s edition of Harper’s Bazaar, the cover of which sees the actress Jodie Comer dazzle in a pair of moonshine diamond earrings, for which McCormack painstakingly cut the diamonds into half-moons. Her face grimaces when she thinks about the waste involved in the cutting, yet she concedes that they are “Stunning. There’s also a necklace to match.” Whereas some obsess about the 4Cs, McCormack simply considers
the visual impact of a stone, and how it can be set to maximise its optical quality. “Usually, when men come into the bridal suite [on the townhouse’s second floor, another beautifully designed space in which McCormack also designed the plinths to hold the glass and steel cases that house elements of the bridal collection] for an engagement ring they’ll immediately say how they’re looking for a G colour, VS stone, to which I ask. ‘What is that? Show me what that means?’ It’s that type of information about a stone that distracts from the reason they’re really buying it. It’s ticking a box.” This is where Jessica McCormack again makes it personal, more interested in guiding the buyer to a stone and style of ring that truly suits its owner than she is in simply selling for the highest price. “It’s what I’ve always done, how I started my business,” she says, when I ask about how she also works with stones or jewellery (typically items that are no longer worn or family heirlooms) given to her by clients to transform into something else. She tells of a recent commission from a client in New York, for whom she took the Harry Winston-style diamond from her unworn engagement ring and remounted it in a necklace. “I want people to wear it, use it, enjoy it. You don’t want something you put on once a year,” she says of such commissions, pointing out how this is a great way to help people build their collections without them having to buy everything new. As for what could be new for McCormack, a second boutique may be in the offing. The US and UK are her two biggest markets, the Middle East third, from where she has a loyal following who visit the townhouse whenever they’re in London — it’s a stone’s throw from Claridge’s, after all. “I did go and have a look at a space in New York,” she says before her voice trails off into silence, as though the very thought of expansion is simply too much for someone who loves to keep things personal.
Opening page: Jessica McCormack This page, clockwise from right: the library at 7 Carlos Place, Jessica McCormack's London townhouse boutique; the making of diamond gypset cushion cut hoop earrings and finished pieces; Jessica McCormack
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Jamie Dornan was a model known as the ‘Golden Torso’ before Fifty Shades of Grey brought celebrity, cash — and criticism. Now he’s starring in a film strongly tipped for Oscars
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amie Dornan drives down a deserted road in the vast, sweeping plains of the Australian outback. Suddenly in his mirror a huge articulated lorry begins to bear down on him with terrifying speed. He panics, heads off road and yet the truck keeps on coming, smashing repeatedly into him from behind. After the crash, Dornan’s character in big-budget TV drama The Tourist, remains nameless and wakes up with no memory. So begins the slow unpicking of the show’s central mystery: why is Dornan there and why are people trying to kill him? “It’s a proper trip,” Dornan says. “Different to anything I’ve done before.” Dornan, 39, is refreshingly honest about how his career has yo-yoed since his debut as a Calvin Klein model nicknamed ‘the Golden Torso’ in the early 2000s (modelling didn’t satisfy him). His acting breakthrough came as a brooding psychopath in The Fall. Gillian Anderson, his co-star, “really pushed for me to be cast. I know how much of a fight it was.” That helped him to win the part of Christian Grey in the Fifty Shades films, which “made a ton of money” but the “critics were horrendous about”. He is still trying to move on from Grey, with mixed success (see the roundly mocked Irish rom-com Wild Mountain Thyme last year), but is sanguine about bad reviews. “You ride it. I’m in the wrong game if I can’t take criticism.” The Tourist, though, puts him firmly back in serious actor territory — just in time for awards season. It is a show that is hard to categorise. “It’s both an action movie and a goofball comedy. And a thriller,” Dornan says. “One of my mates who I really trust said it’s the best comedy ever. I’ve been lucky enough to film 34
both this and Belfast during lockdown and they couldn’t be more different.” Belfast is Kenneth Branagh’s poignant autobiographical film about how he and his family fled the Troubles when the actor was eight years old. It was up for seven Golden Globes (winning Best Screenplay) and won the audience award at the Toronto International Film Festival, a reliable form guide for next month’s Oscars. Dornan, who was nominated for the best supporting actor Golden Globe for his performance as Branagh’s father, grew up in the suburbs of Belfast. He now lives in Gloucestershire, England, with the singer-songwriter Amelia Warner and their three daughters, but Northern Irish politics casts a long shadow. “I wear the importance and the history of the place every day,” he says. “Let’s be honest, the divisions are still there today, particularly in workingclass communities. Sectarianism is real. There’s not an actual war happening any more — and that’s huge — but the problems haven’t gone away. It’s important to try to understand it. Belfast is an interesting way to see it, through the eyes of a boy — the beginnings of a conflict that ran on for 30 years.” He has another connection to the film. His father, the obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Jim Dornan, once met Branagh and there was a picture of them together hanging in the family home. Dr Dornan died in March, aged 73, after contracting Covid while his son was in Australia filming The Tourist. “I was in quarantine when Dad passed,” he says. “I still had three and a half days in that hotel. It was a mad time.” For my dad not to see Belfast really hurts,” he says. “I take comfort from the fact that he knows I did it. Some people
go their whole lives without being told they’ve made their parents proud. My dad told me every day.” His father also had a theatrical side. He was offered a place at Rada when he left school, but his parents made him study medicine instead. Dornan’s mother, a nurse, was also forced to give up her place at art school, but the family creativity goes back further. His grandmother’s first cousin was the actress Greer Garson, who won an Oscar for the film Mrs Miniver in 1942 and still holds the record for the longest ever Oscar acceptance speech, at seven and a half minutes. Growing up, Dornan says he was “fortunate that my dad gave me the opportunity to explore my creative side. I didn’t want to become an estate agent in Belfast and play a bit of club rugby at weekends — with the greatest respect to estate agents in Belfast. I just felt I had a wee bit more to offer than that... even though it is lunacy to try to be an actor. Only 4 per cent of actors are employed — who in their right mind would pursue that?” In Belfast Dornan’s character is asked whether his father helped him. “That is hard to watch now,” he says, “given everything that has happened.” Seeing a film like Belfast on the big screen these days is as surprising as finding the epic scale of The Tourist on the small screen, although TV is getting bolder. “Unless it’s a remake, a sequel, made by Marvel or DC, it’s too much of a risk in cinema,” he says. “Whereas coming out of the pandemic people are more comfortable taking those risks with what they watch at home. Television has the ambitions that movies used to have — The Tourist has hints of Christopher Nolan’s film Memento about it.” The show’s creators, Harry and Jack Williams, have a strong track record for dark, intense
‘ I wear the importance and the history of Belfast every day’ Above: Jamie Dornan in a scene from Belfast 35
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Credit: © Stephen Doig / Telegraph Media Group Limited
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psychological thrillers such as The Missing, Liar and Baptiste. “We wanted to inject levity and absurdity,” Harry says. “We wanted to break out of that ‘brothers grim’ reputation we have. We’re not that grim. We’re nice. Well, I’m nice.” They sought to surf the wave of hyperreality sweeping the small screen with shows such as Landscapers and Squid Game that’s a reaction to the kind of shows they usually write. “Hyperreality is preferable to actual reality at the moment,” Jack adds. “We’ve had a lot of dark television, but people have been indoors a lot and domestic noirs are less appealing. We wanted something cinematic in the sun with adventure, absurdity and twists. That opening sequence cost a lot of money and took ages to shoot. We could have started the story of a man trying to find out who he is in a much smaller way, but the world is hard and depressing enough right now. “You don’t want to watch dramas that make you feel any worse than we all already do, so we wanted to have some fun. And, let’s be honest, have a
massive car chase with an enormous lorry because why wouldn’t you? This is entertainment.” The Tourist lovingly and openly samples scenes and themes from the big screen, including the truck chase from Duel, a buried alive sequence from The Vanishing, plenty of nods to No Country for Old Men and a bow in the direction of Martin McDonagh. “We talked about the things we love — there’s a moment much later in the show that completely references Out of Sight, lots of Martin McDonagh films, even the Spice Girls somehow end up in there,” explains director Chris Sweeney. “You can put all that to Jamie Dornan and he’s like a Swiss army knife actor, he can just do it. He might say, ‘Is that realistic?’ You say, well, let’s give it a try anyway, and boom, it’s amazing.” With a hat tip to the Coen brothers, Dornan is helped, sort of, by a trainee cop in her first week on the job played by Dumplin’s Danielle Macdonald and appears to start a friendship with Line of Duty regular Shalom BruneFranklin’s beautiful waitress Luci — unless, as we begin to suspect, she
knows more than she’s letting on. “Choosing the level of deception between these two characters, watching Jamie Dornan figure out who he is and Luci trying to hide the truth was the most fun,” Brune-Franklin says. “I was so blown away by the script, I love that the audience are in on it with her. TV is becoming much more ambitious and cinematic; it’s fun to watch characters like Luci play out across six to ten hours, not two hours of the screen.” The Williams brothers liked toying with Luci but found writing for Danielle the most fun. “Most shows on TV, there’s a police officer, in they come, and they take over,” Jack explains. “What if you step outside that convention? What if she is the least useful person possible — someone who hasn’t done it before, a trainee and her boss is nowhere to be seen because he can’t be bothered. Frankly we love writing comedy.” “And it’s so funny,” Dornan says expansively, leaning into the Zoom lens. “I don’t understand the point of being an actor if you don’t want to chase different genres.” 37
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Texas-born and tailoring-trained, Daniel Roseberry is perhaps Paris’s most unlikely candidate for a couturier. And yet, says Chloe Street, he’s the most exciting designer in town Left: Daniel Roseberry, courtesy of Schiaparelli
WORDS: CHLOE STREET
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“I
want to be the alt couture house, the really alternative destination for surreal, twisted luxury,” says Schiaparelli artistic director Daniel Roseberry, as he shows me his latest outré creation for the storied French couturier. The item we’re admiring at the brand’s light-filled Maison on Paris’s Place Vendôme is from the SS22 ready-to-wear collection, and it’s a bijou difficult to name. A vast, golden breastplate-cum-necklace consisting of a chunky golden chain with a trueto-size rhinestone-embellished ear attached, from which is suspended a navel-grazing, body-moulded plate of resin. “It’s the perfect piece of Schiaparelli jewellery that everyone will scream for,” says the 36-yearold American designer excitedly. Among those screaming might be Lady Gaga, who wore a Schiaparelli gown with a golden dove brooch to the inauguration of US President Joe Biden and featured on the covers of November’s Italian and December’s British Vogue wearing the label’s black crepe bodycon dress exploding at the side with giant gold lamé sleeves. Or maybe Bella Hadid, whom Roseberry dressed for the 74th Cannes Film Festival in an avantgarde black wool maxi dress with a cleavage-baring neckline covered by a vast golden necklace replicating the 40
bronchi passage of lungs. Or perhaps it’s one for Cardi B, who took to the streets of Paris in September wearing a tweed Schiaparelli jacket with inbuilt golden conical breastplates and a gigantic, flame-like golden headpiece that doubled as sunglasses. “When I started, they said make a list of who you want to dress, because we knew we wanted to take red carpet seriously. Cardi B was one of the first on my list, because she’s creating culture, because she’s completely in control of her own iconography, and because she has charm for days,” says Roseberry, who took the helm of Schiaparelli in 2019 and in the two and a half short years since has succeeded, amid a pandemic, in positioning the heritage couture house firmly at the vanguard of contemporary cool. “It’s the intersection of US pop culture mixed with Parisian traditions — that’s the secret sauce.” It was Tod’s chairman Diego Della Valle, who had purchased the defunct brand as a personal project in 2013, who enlisted Roseberry to breathe fresh energy into the surrealist house first founded by Elsa Schiaparelli in 1927. Roseberry had recently quit Thom Browne, where he’d worked for a decade as head of men’s and women’s collections and, with no prior couture experience and no French-speaking ability, jumped on a plane to Paris. He became (and remains) the sole American
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It’s the intersection of US pop culture mixed with Parisian traditions — that’s the secret sauce
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at the top of a Parisian couture house, and the first since the 1920s. Elsa Schiaparelli found fame with art-like, surrealist clothes that disrupt the established norms of couture: from Dali-painted lobster dresses to shoeshaped hats. She was the first designer to use exposed zips and shocked the world with a culotte-like divided skirt design that became a frontrunner for the first-ever women’s shorts. When she shuttered the doors of her brand in 1954, Schiaparelli left behind an archive of outlandish designs. Has Roseberry done his research? “I’ve actually tried to keep a healthy distance,” he says, explaining that he’s visited the archives in the Louvre and The Met, and that often a piece or two will come forward to inspire a collection, but that by and large the connection “is more intuitive than literal.” Roseberry is currently focused on Elsa’s surrealist designs. “We’ve boiled down her colour story to black, bone white, Giacometti gold and shocking pink,” he says. He’s fascinated by the aspects of her work that focus on the body — see Emma Corrin in a black mini dress festooned with
giant pearl-encrusted molars and Kim Kardashian in a green Hulk-like moulded leather six-pack bodice. The brand’s best-selling piece is the anatomy jewellery bag, a black calfskin top-handle bag adorned with gilded brass lips, nose and a pair of eyes that nod to the surrealist artist Jean Cocteau with whom Elsa Schiaparelli had a long collaborative relationship. “I call her the Mrs Potatohead from France,” says Roseberry, mischievously. “Anyone walking around with this will be late, because people will stop you so many times to ask where it’s from. You put it on the table and it’s instantly a conversation. That feels very Schiap.” The clothes might be scene-stealing, but Roseberry himself is anything but. Raised in Dallas, Texas, the son of a priest and from a family of ministers, he didn’t have an obvious fashion role model growing up. Moving to New York aged 21, he studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology before joining tailoring supremo Thom Browne two years later. His mum is his No 1 fan: “I sent her some pieces from the ready-to-wear and — this kills me — she installed a mannequin 43
in the dining room and dressed it in the pieces. And then she hung the earrings on the wall! I was like ‘Mom, you’re meant to actually wear them.’” His own aesthetic is polished but understated; he’s wearing a triple denim ensemble — shirt, jeans, blazer — with crisp white trainers. Flamboyant Parisian couturier he is not. “I’ve never been somebody who needed to express through my personal style. Besides, the last thing I think anyone wants is to have a big ego presented with a diva behind it, some tortured soul,” he says, smiling. Inspired by famously friendly figures such as Alber Elbaz, he instead aspires to be a force for levity and joy, and one who’s known for being nice to people. “There are some monsters working among us,” he says. “And this industry rewards that, for sure.” Roseberry recently opened the brand’s first pop-up concept with Dover Street Market in London, with similar pop-ups in DSM LA and New York to follow. The stores, which will focus on ready-to-wear denim, knitwear and the brand’s most coveted accessories, are part of a retail expansion project 44
that has also seen Schiaparelli open a space in Bergdorf Goodman in New York, its first permanent outpost beyond Place Vendôme. With sales soaring and a client base rapidly expanding in the United States, Europe and the Middle East, and a growing presence in Asia, Roseberry is already turning gold-dipped brass into bullion. “We are dressing a hedge fund’s wife in the US and an incredible mega lawyer in the UAE,” he says, explaining how pieces are crafted remotely using just a set of measurements from which the ateliers make a mannequin to do fittings. Upstairs the team is making something custom for Cardi B and next to it, a suit for Jill Biden. “The beautiful thing about couture is that you’re putting clothes on the back of some of these people during the most important moments of their lives.” And yet, despite all the dizzying success, Roseberry remains grounded. “The fact that I got invited to do this and the fact that all these people who are so gifted as artists in their own right are here to support my ideas is, no question, the honour of a lifetime.”
Credit: Evening Standard/The Interview People
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last thing I think anyone wants is to have a big ego ‘ The presented with a diva behind it, some tortured soul ’
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New York photographer and film director Jerry Schatzberg has worked with lots of famous names. A new exhibition highlights his most memorable images WORDS: CHRIS ANDERSON
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ill the real Jerry Schatzberg please stand up? Is he a photographer, a nightclub owner, a movie director, or an amalgamation of all three? Now aged 94, there is no doubt that Schatzberg has led an eventful life, mixing with the kinds of personalities that allowed him to excel at all three professions — Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin and others in terms of photography, even shooting the cover to Dylan’s 1966 album Blonde on Blonde, and with his movie work he is credited with discovering Al Pacino, directing the actor in his very first film. But it is the man’s photography that is currently under the spotlight, with a new exhibition, 25th & Park, currently on show at the Fotografiska gallery in New York. The city is a more than appropriate setting, as Schatzberg was born here in The Bronx, back in 1927, and still calls New York his home. It is also where he first learned to become a photographer during the 1950s, and had a studio located near the gallery. In an interview with Dazed magazine several years ago, he explained how his interest came about, looking for a way to escape the family fur
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Opening pages, from left to right: Faye Dunaway, Red Hat, 1968. Courtesy of the artist; Bob Dylan, Smoke, 1965. Courtesy of the artist. These pages, from left to right: Geoffrey Holder, On Stage, 1963. Courtesy of the artist; Aretha Franklin, Rainbow Fog, 1967. Courtesy of the artist
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It was like falling down a rabbit hole. ‘This studio, all black and white, touches of red, it was just like magic ’
business. “I hated it,” he said of his job at the time. “I’d spend my lunch hour walking through a big retail photo shop, just fascinated by these cameras. One day I saw an ad for a photographic assistant, and even though I had no idea what that was, I called. It was like falling down a rabbit hole. This studio, all black and white, touches of red, it was just like magic. My first job was for [famed US fashion and advertising photographer] Bill Helburn — and later I set up my own studio.” Fashion shoots and celebrity portraiture became Schatzberg’s staple, with his studio set up in Park Avenue South, and regular commissions from such magazines as Vogue, Esquire, Glamour and Life throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Schatzberg truly immersed himself in his work, befriending and getting to know his subjects. He and Bob Dylan were inseparable during the mid-1960s, exploring New York together, and he even became engaged for a time to actress Faye Dunaway. A book of his work with Dylan was released a few years ago, and Schatzberg remembers the time with great fondness. He told The Rake: “I had a studio full of props, so I’d find something and give it to him to see what 48
he’d do, and usually he just went along with it. He was having a good time too, because we didn’t take it too seriously.” These sessions led to the iconic cover image of Dylan’s album, Blonde on Blonde, taken in the Meatpacking District of New York. “I just like the area,” says Schatzberg. “It was originally where they used to slaughter cattle, so it had its own nature and its own looks.” It was a freezing cold day, with Schatzberg’s hands shaking, resulting in an unintentionally blurred image of Dylan against a brick wall. “We shot a lot of sharp ones that day,” Schatzberg later revealed to Rolling Stone: “I was delighted he picked a blurry one for the cover. If I had made the final choice, I don’t think I would have sent it.” Sadly the two would eventually drift apart, and Schatzberg would find his time becoming more preoccupied with running nightclubs. “I was a fashion photographer and I used to hang out at discotheques,” he told Dazed. “A friend of mine owned Le Club, and I thought it might be fun. First I had a club called Ondine, uptown. Salvation was the second one, on Sheridan Square. With Ondine, we started bringing in bands from California. We had The Doors
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Right: still from The Water Diviner, 2014
Doors before they had an album, Buffalo Springfield too, ‘ We had The and Jimi Hendrix when he was still Jimmy James ’
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These pages, clockwise from top left: Carmen de Lavallade, 1962. Courtesy of the artist; Mick Jagger, Lunch Break, 1966; Jimi Hendrix, Mirror Image, 1967. Courtesy of the artist
before they had an album, Buffalo Springfield too, and Jimi Hendrix when he was still Jimmy James. Dylan would be there, when the Stones were in town they’d come, The Animals were always there, and it really took off. But my partners reneged on the deal, and that’s when I left and went downtown and opened Salvation. Jimi played the opening night. It was a wild time.” There was also his move into film. Inspired by his life in photography, he directed Puzzle of a Downfall Child in 1970 starring then ex-girlfriend Faye Dunaway as a former fashion model on a downward spiral. “There’s a scene in [Dunaway’s] dressing room where her character has a list of photographers she refuses to work with on the mirror, and she wrote my name on the list when we were having a little disagreement,” says Schatzberg. “I thought it was funny and left it in the film.” And for his 1971 follow-up, The Panic in Needle Park, he cast an unknown actor for the lead, Al Pacino, whom he had seen in an off-Broadway play. The story is that when showing early footage to his friend and fellow director Francis Ford Coppola, Schatzberg had inadvertently helped to cast one of the main roles in The Godfather. Pacino
became a huge star. But Schatzberg was still able to work with him again, casting him alongside Gene Hackman for 1973 road movie Scarecrow, which went on to share the grand prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Like his photography, Schatzberg’s movies were seen as realistic, raw and gritty, which he always credited with his upbringing on the streets of New York. More movies followed, but Schatzberg has not helmed another since 2000’s The Day the Ponies Came Back. However, even at 94, he still thinks there could be time for one more. “I’ve recently decided I’d really like to do one more film,” he told IndieWire. “I don’t know what it is yet.” Perhaps a biographical movie might be an idea, telling the story of a New York photographer with lots of famous friends, who went on to become a successful director. Maybe dropping into the exhibition at Fotografiska, and seeing some of the many faces he photographed during the 1950s and 1960s, can provide the needed inspiration. Jerry Schatzberg: 25th & Park is running at the Fotografiska gallery, New York, until March 5. fotografiska.com 51
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THE MYTH OF THE LEGEND
Nearly half a million people made history at Woodstock in 1969, but how much of it is myth? WORDS: JAMES HALL 53
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n the summer of 1969, in New York state, a music festival took place. The extravaganza — coorganised by Michael Lang, who died last month aged 77 — became a byword for Sixties counter-culture and came to symbolise the hippy ideal. Fifty years on, we still talk about The Woodstock Generation. The name is a portmanteau favourite: add the suffix ‘-stock’ to anything and it becomes a festival. There are dozens of Woodstock films, books and songs. Those lucky flower children; what a trip. And yet the reality of Woodstock was quite different. It was dangerously overcrowded, many of the performances were so-so, and the sound was patchy. There were food shortages, scant facilities and a batch of dodgy hallucinogenics doing the rounds. Further, some of its organisers saw it as a money-making and marketing exercise (though it lost money anyway). Woodstock’s perceived glory, in many ways, is also a triumph of modern myth-making. So what was it actually like on Max Yasgur’s upstate New York farm in the summer of ’69? And how did Woodstock go on to define an era in the popular imagination? Organisers originally expected a crowd of 50,000 people, but sold 186,000 tickets in advance, and an estimated 450,000 folk actually turned up, with a further million trying to get there. The freeways were clogged for miles around as thousands of people abandoned their vehicles. Sullivan County declared a state of emergency. Still, the chaos was nothing when compared to the state of the site itself. At six weeks’ notice, the festival’s venue had been changed to the village of Bethel — 40 miles south-west of the town of Woodstock — meaning that little infrastructure could be put in place. Facilities were basic: there was just one phone-line into the site, and there was reportedly one lavatory for every 833 people. According to The Smithsonian magazine, the minimal food offering was run by three inexperienced men who called themselves Food for Love. The organisers claimed that the caterers, realising that there was money to be made, quadrupled the price of a hot-dog from 25 cents
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to $1. Angry attendees burned two concessions down, and emergency food donations had to be airlifted in. And then, as the festival began, it rained. The torrential downpour turned the stage microphones into electricity conductors, doling out shocks to those who touched them. The rain also meant that raw sewage from the overflowing loos at the top of the site was mixing with mud and cascading down into the crowd in the valley below. When the clouds did part, medics reportedly tended to cases of burned eyeballs after people (their drinks spiked) had lain on their backs staring at the sun. More common were lacerated feet from festivalgoers walking around without shoes: one report cited 836 treated foot injuries. It was on the festival’s second day, however, that tragedy proper struck. A 17-year-old called Raymond Mizsak was killed when he was driven over by a tractor towing a water-tank. The driver hadn’t seen him: the sleeping Mizsak had pulled his sleeping bag over his head and was surrounded by piles of wet litter and other sleeping bags. A second death followed: 18-year-old Marine Richard Bieler, who died from an alleged drug overdose, although another report suggests hypothermia and inflammation. (There were also two births, providing some nice cosmic balance). The media had a field day with all this. The hippies’ utopian dreams, wrote The New York Times in one representative report, had ended “in a nightmare of mud and stagnation”. The music itself has remained central to the Woodstock myth. People think of the festival and remember Jimi Hendrix performing The Star Spangled
Banner, or Joe Cocker’s impassioned singing of With A Little Help From My Friends. (Lang would go on to manage Cocker for over 20 years.) But equally, many musicians struggled to perform. The Grateful Dead’s set was described by drummer Mickey Hart as “very terrible”. The stage was collapsing, the band faced sporadic electrocution, and they ended their set with a 50-minute version of Turn On Your Love Light. Sitar maestro Ravi Shankar said he “didn’t like” Woodstock and was “almost sorry” to be there. He later conceded that the festival was a “great happening,” but said that the musical vibe was wrong and the rain had destroyed his instruments. He couldn’t get a proper sound out of his sitar for a month afterwards, and bandmate Alla Rakha’s drum cracked as it dried out. John Fogerty from Creedence Clearwater Revival agreed: he said that by the time his band played in the small hours of Sunday morning, the audience consisted of “a half-million people asleep.” He added: “It was sort of like a painting of a Dante scene, just bodies from hell, all intertwined and asleep, covered in mud.” During The Who’s set a few hours later, political activist Abbie Hoffman ran on stage and ranted into a microphone. Pete Townshend hit Hoffman with his guitar. Speaking to journalist Howard Smith about the skirmish in June 1970, Townshend admitted it “wasn’t a particularly pleasant incident”. Even then, Townshend questioned the idea that Woodstock was a “big historic” moment, which was how it was already being portrayed. “In a country which has got such a huge population, it doesn’t seem so astounding to me that when you put together some of the best rock music that there is in the land, and the best publicity that I’ve ever seen for any show on earth, that you get half a million kids,” the guitarist said. “I don’t think that that’s quite so astounding. It’s just that America does.” Townshend’s comments cut to the heart of the Woodstock myth. Although the organisers lost an estimated $1 million, they were a well-connected group who pushed the right buttons. In March 1968, two young businessmen called John Roberts and Joel Rosenman placed
Opening pages: Jimi Hendrix performing on stage This page: Conditions on site were described as “like a painting of a Dante scene”
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ads in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, saying: “Young men with unlimited capital looking for legitimate investing opportunities and business propositions.” Artie Kornfeld and Michael Lang, who wanted to put on a festival, stepped forward. The four men formed a partnership and arranged Woodstock in just seven months. (They would then fall out spectacularly just weeks after the festival ended.) Far from being an organic gathering of countercultural tribes in a pastoral paradise, Woodstock was as corporate as it got. Although the mainstream press were sceptical, the organisers cleverly wooed the music press. In June 1969, California’s Newport Pop Festival ended in riots, in part due to heavy-handed security by the Hell’s Angels (an arrangement that would be fatally repeated in December at The Rolling Stones’ Altamont festival). Woodstock bosses called a summit of the underground press and ‘rock community leaders’. Here, they discussed ways to ensure that Newport did not set a precedent for other festivals that year. The gesture ultimately proved futile, given what happened, but in engaging with key players, they attempted to secure the music scene some positive coverage. Even Woodstock’s financial loss was turned into a plus. The problems were largely due to ineptitude: there were no gates or ticket booths, so the hundreds of thousands of visitors could walk right in, forcing organisers to turn Woodstock into a ‘free festival’ on the spur of the moment. In anyone else’s book, ‘free festival’ would have meant ‘loss-making’, but the organisers quickly framed ‘free’ as ‘righteous’, ‘anti-corporate’, sticking it to the Man. In an October 1969 interview, coorganisers Roberts and Rosenman — who’d split with Kornfeld and Lang by then — discussed how they could (in modern parlance) monetise their learnings. They’d attracted half a million kids to Woodstock, and not 56
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unfairly reckoned, despite its lossmaking, that they had an ‘in’ with the young generation. They talked about moving into advertising. “We mounted a promotion that has to go down as the greatest promotion in history,” said Rosenman. “I think that there’s thousands of companies, promoters, creators in this country who are just dying to reach that market.” Their aghast interviewer, concerned that they were selling out, asked whether they’d hire themselves out to Coca-Cola to help them appeal to young folk. The duo said they wouldn’t lend their names to products in which they didn’t personally believe. “I happen to think Coke’s very tasty,” Rosenman added. The Woodstock legend burgeoned further with the 1970 concert film. The rights to film Woodstock had been bought by studio Warners for a pittance, but Martin Scorsese was one of its editors, the film went on to take $16.4 million following its release, and it won an Oscar. Woodstock (the film) has been re-released three times, and it still makes the shindig look amazing. Cinemagoers flocked to relive it, or live it for the first time. The process continued. Joni Mitchell wrote a song about Woodstock (covered by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young). Bryan Adams immortalised the era in Summer of ’69. Ang Lee made another film about it: 2009’s Taking Woodstock. And subsequent anniversary festivals have been organised, though with varying success. While Woodstock ’94 was a modest triumph, Woodstock ’99 was a nu-metal hellscape that ended in riots and arson (an HBO documentary about it, Music Box, arrived last year). A proposed ‘Woodstock 50’ festival in 2019, co-produced by Lang, was plagued by problems, and never
came to pass. Still, these events, successful or not, have merely served to bolster the original’s status. John Lennon said in late 1969 that the fact Woodstock took place was enough. The power and the positive message of such a gathering was “everything”, he said. The truth is that Woodstock was a snapshot of a moment in time. It happened less than a month after Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the Moon, a week after the Manson murders, and the month before The Beatles released Abbey Road. So it fits our view of the Sixties today. But looking back, 50 years on, you realise that not only is the Woodstock myth a complex one, but it has eclipsed other seminal events, such as the Harlem Cultural Festival, which ran from 1967 to 1974. The reason one was forgotten and the other has become a national myth was, to state the obvious, because music writers and filmmakers, and Woodstock itself, were predominantly white. Black cultural events were for decades of little interest, and Woodstock’s beacon status came about because of the white authorship of pop-cultural history. Things, however, may be changing on that front. The 2021 film Summer of Soul, which focused on the Harlem events, set about re-balancing our view. Its director, Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson, said in promoting it that 1969 marked a turning point in black culture, as the year when the “seeds of black joy” started to sprout, and style, fashion, music and creativity took root. Up until then, he says, the word ‘African’ had been an insult. Thompson added that in making his film, he had been made aware of five or six other black-led events from the Woodstock era that were almost equal to the Harlem Cultural Festival, yet which the world has heard too little about. Here’s hoping we can soon see them all. Woodstock’s status in music history is assured — but it’s high time that the truth about not just the festival itself, but the period it represents, emerged from behind the myth.
Credit: © James Hall / Telegraph Media Group Limited 2022
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Far from being an organic gathering of countercultural tribes in a pastoral paradise, Woodstock was as corporate as it got
These pages, from top to bottom: The traffic jam to the entrance of the festival stretched for 20 miles; a sea of people on the first day of the festival
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Motoring
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FEBRUARY 2022: ISSUE 125
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Fully Charged The first all-electric production car from Mercedes-AMG is here – but the company is known for performance, grunt and brute force, so how does the EQS 53 4MATIC+ measure up? WORDS: CHRIS ANDERSON
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ewis Hamilton has had it tough recently. The Mercedes-AMG driver missed out on (arguably unfairly, certainly controversially) what would have been an unprecedented eighth title win as the 2021 Formula 1 season closed out with a final lap showdown in the last race at Abu Dhabi. But the start of the 2022 season is not far away, and Hamilton has consoled himself in the meantime by appearing as the face of Mercedes-AMG’s latest production vehicle. He poses with the car in a shoot, admires its aerodynamic silhouette, and even demonstrates some of the technology — watching a door handle pop out after pushing it with his fingertips in a short promotional video. Hamilton’s star power has been called upon because the MercedesAMG EQS 53 4MATIC+ is a big deal — the company’s first series-production, all-electric vehicle. Yes, a necessary direction perhaps, with parent company Mercedes-Benz already offering electric cars (including the standard EQS, the electric equivalent of the S-Class). But the ‘AMG’ tag is a signifier of cuttingedge performance, and cars enhanced to be the fastest, most extreme versions of themselves. How can a car be electric — in other words, silent — and still deliver that full-on AMG experience? Looking over the car should ease a few concerns — the aggressive styling; the gorgeous MBUX Hyperscreen stretching across the dashboard; the Nappa leather interior. In terms of looks, technology and luxury, it ticks all the AMG boxes. But what about the performance? The EQS 53 4MATIC+ comes in two flavours, Night Edition and Touring, with both delivering 658hp and 950Nm of power and torque respectively, giving a 0-100km/h time of 3.8 seconds and a top speed of 220km/h. The Night Edition, being more sportsorientated (go for Touring if you prefer luxury and comfort), also has an optional AMG Performance Package, offering 761hp and 1,020Nm, with 0-100km/h in 3.4 seconds and a top speed of 249km/h — and even a ‘Race Start’ feature to get you launching like a rocket from standstill. Whichever way you look at it, this car will shift. And the noise? Speed is all well and good, but the experience is important too, and without hearing a grunting, powerful engine, why bother? Well, Mercedes-AMG has also thought of 60
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As you drive, you hear the corresponding sounds of a meaty, all-powerful, gas-guzzling engine
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that and its solution is the AMG Sound Experience Performance. This is described as a multi-sensory experience, involving special speakers, a bass actuator, and a sound generator, linked to the throttle pressure and driving mode. So as you drive, you hear the corresponding sounds of a meaty, allpowerful, gas-guzzling engine. A cunning trick? Maybe so, but it is very hard to distinguish from the ‘real’ thing. Mercedes-AMG has paid a lot of attention to the four-wheel-drive electric running gear too, developing a highlyefficient, in-house 107.8kWh lithium battery, with a range of 579km, to power two bespoke electromotors on the front and rear axles. The battery is said to be ultra-light and direct-cooled, with reduced cobalt content and improved energy density, and is built for fast charging and longevity. Connected to a 200kW charger, it promises 300km of range in around 15 minutes, and should be good for 10 years or 249,000km of driving. By taking control of its own battery production, Mercedes-AMG hopes to reduce the manufacturing reliance on rare Earth materials, and make the entire supply chain carbon neutral as quickly as possible. Battery status is one of the details displayed in colour and clarity on that amazing hyperscreen, and is paired with a head-up display. It comprises three screens that optically coalesce under a shared glass cover for an aesthetic user interface and instrument panel. Artificial intelligence and learning systems are built-in, displaying route information, battery level, charging point locations, weather, and so on, which should alleviate range anxiety on a long journey. All EQS 53 4MATIC+ models come with parking assistance, a variety of driving modes, and air suspension included. You also get those AMG styling touches, such as the black panel front grille with chrome detailing, the body-coloured front bumper, bespoke side skirts, and an AMG bootlid spoiler.
The Night Edition adds 21-inch AMG alloy wheels, a flat-bottomed sports steering wheel, and a few sporty styling extras, while the optional AMG Performance Package includes ceramic brakes and carbon-fibre trim. With Touring, you get 22-inch multi-spoke alloy wheels, and the option of the Rear Luxury Lounge package, which has opulent head restraints, multimedia tablets, head-and-shoulders heating, and a host of other comforts. So has that AMG magic been successfully bottled as an electric car? Overall, it would be hard to argue otherwise. As a first foray into the electric market, the EQS 53 4MATIC+ is a solid start for Mercedes-AMG — not unlike Lewis Hamilton in a Formula 1 race. Ah, that must be the real reason for involving him. A solid connection.
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Gastronomy FEBRUARY 2022: ISSUE 125
Reach For The Stars Having realised a childhood dream of winning three Michelin stars, Gert De Mangeleer’s next move was highly unusual
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WORDS: JOHN THATCHER
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chef’s quest for three Michelin stars typically spans a lifetime’s work and, more often than not, ends unfulfilled. But if you manage to scale such heights barely six years from starting out. What then? “I was still in complete euphoria but, looking back, it wasn’t such a strange question,” says Gert De Mangeleer, remembering a conversation with guests of his Bruges-based restaurant, Hertog Jan, shortly after it was awarded its coveted third star. “We always dreamed of three stars. And every day, Joachim [Boudens, Gert’s business partner and best friend] and I worked to achieve that dream. In 2002, we gave ourselves fifteen years to achieve it, and when we started Hertog Jan at the time it was more of a pub. We kept investing in better equipment in the kitchen and more comfort in the front of house. When we got our second star in 2010, the third was awfully close. So, in order to welcome our guests to more suitable surroundings, take the kitchen to the next level and provide a nicer place to work for our employees, we bought a beautiful old farm. This is where it was going to happen. We were going to completely renovate the farm, move the restaurant to it and get that third star.” 62
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The move to the farm was, says De Mangeleer, “An enormously intense period. We had put so much of ourselves into the project and we were way over budget, financially speaking, which was mentally demanding and very stressful. Those are really times that define a person.” Such honesty may help explain De Mangeleer’s next move: “After about four years, you suddenly notice that your restaurant has become a routine organisation. On the one hand that’s something to be really proud of. On the other hand, that routine becomes a bit boring. And then you start to ponder and talk to each other [with Joachim]. Then, suddenly, the idea pops up: what if we stopped? So you start to consider it.” Yet not only did De Mangeleer consider it, he did it, closing Hertog Jan at the height of its success. “In the end there were various different things that played a role: Joachim, who was always present at Hertog Jan, was even more bothered by the routine than I was. I gained a lot of inspiration during my many travels. However, you also start to take stock. I have four kids; the oldest is seventeen and the youngest is 64
six. I wanted to experience her growing up, more consciously. In the end it was all of these things together that made us take the decision to stop. And we’re happy to have been able to do so in this way, because on the way to the three stars, our dream was also to be able to stop whilst still at our peak, and we feel we’ve succeeded in that.” In the background of this, De Mangeleer and Boudens were also experimenting, opening Less Eatery on the site vacated by Hertog Jan’s move to the farm. “Joachim and I went to London for inspiration. We wanted to strive for the metropolitan vibe of Shoreditch, but we had a problem: we didn’t have any money. So we decided to work with what we had and gave a new vibe to the old Hertog Jan building. We opted for a simple table setting, an accent here and there with graffiti and suitable music. The cuisine focussed on the product and was fairly simple. And that’s how we started.” As with Hertog Jan, the pair later sought a new location for Less Eatery, finding it in Bruges, where it blossomed to win a Michelin star of its own. “Now we are where we wanted to be with Less. The vibe is metropolitan and the
Previous page: Gert de Mangeleer © Tim Tronckoe These pages: dishes from Hertog Jan
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Our dream was also to be able to stop whilst still at our peak
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menu very varied, with dishes that my many journeys inspired,” says De Mangeleer, who delegates cooking duties to Ruige Vermeire, the partnerchef who started out working front-ofhouse with Joachim when still a school student. Later he joined De Mangeleer in the kitchen. developing step by step. Another success story is Bar Bulot. It started as a pop-up as recently as 2019. Now it totes a Michelin star and the billing of ‘Brasserie of the Year’, as voted by the revered Gault Millau. “Bar Bulot has become a cosy, stylish restaurant where we attach great importance to old traditions, but still give it a contemporary interpretation,” says De Mangeleer. “For the dishes, we resolutely choose the best products, which are prepared according to the rules of the art and without frills. “What we bring to Less Eatery and Bar Bulot, we could not bring to Hertog Jan. We strongly believe in building an identity in which everything is right and attuned to each other. This also means that you often have to make choices. You can't put all your inspiration in one place, which is why the diversity in identity of our different businesses is so nice.” The past six months have witnessed three new openings: a second Bar Bulot branch in Antwerp, a new fast-casual concept called Babu in Ghent and, most thrillingly of
all, the return of Hertog Jan. Its new location is within the soonto-open Botanic Sanctuary hotel in Antwerp. “I missed my own place. I didn't have to think twice,” says De Mangeleer, of the request from the hotel to relaunch his famed restaurant. “I didn't want a copy-paste story of what used to be. The years of closure were good to completely break free from the existing, and to start from scratch with a fresh mind. In the new Hertog Jan you will find more of the inspiration I gained in Asia. The restaurant is also smaller (only 18 seats) with limited opening hours. Creatively, I can really enjoy myself here.” Before it opens, De Mangeleer heads to Dubai, cooking at a one-nightonly dinner at Jubilee, Expo 2020 on February 17. “I always strive for flavour, lots of flavour, and depth,” he says of his food. “For me, it should be a little like a good wine. When you taste it, it also continues to resonate in your mouth. A dish should do the same thing for me. There is also a lot of emotion in my dishes. I use ingredients to express myself in the same way that a painter uses paint.” Expect nothing less than a masterpiece. Gert De Mangeleer is at Jubilee, Expo 2020, February 17. book.jubilee@gatesdxb.com
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Travel
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FEBRUARY 2022: ISSUE 125
JOURNEYS BY JET
The Londoner United Kingdom
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or one glaringly obvious reason the past couple of years have produced precious little to shout about for a hotel industry that has borne the brunt of the pandemic. Little surprise, then, that when The Londoner opened-up on a corner of London’s Leicester Square at the tail end of last year the noise was deafening. The capital’s biggest opening for many a year — a world-first super boutique hotel, no less — has since hosted the biggest parties in town, as the in-crowd christened it their go-to place. And it’s obvious why from the moment the tophatted door attendant ushers you inside to a lobby that’s more swinging lounge bar — at various times throughout the day, a crooner takes to the grand piano that sits on a slightly raised stage. This is a hotel that wants you to feel right at home, which you do — instantly. Stay here and you’ll have the run of The Residence. Comprised of three individually designed spaces for residents’ eyes only, it also offers its own concierge service. The Drawing Room is as relaxed as it sounds, all plump sofas, helpyourself soft drinks and weighty style tomes for your perusal. It leads through to The Y Bar, an intimate, design-driven spot for light bites and creative cocktails. While downstairs, a hidden door through the powder rooms gives up the secret of the vintages-filled Whisky Room. Not that you’ll mind mixing it in the communal attractions, the pick of which is The Retreat, a subterranean wellness floor that’s already established among the finest in the city. Highlights here include a pool flanked by cosy cabanas, a cutting-edge gym, a hair and nail salon,
and a superfood and drinks clinic. Super food of a more regular kind is served at flagship restaurant Whitcomb’s, which leans towards French Mediterranean fare — gorgonzola tart, burrata with Seville orange, grilled lobster with cognac — and offers up a supreme meat selection that’s reserved for this restaurant only. Every dish we tried here was worthy of fulsome praise — a zesty, perfectly salted yellowtail carpaccio, succulent seared lobster with a balanced hit of Scotch Bonnet chilli, and a flaky-to-the-touch dover sole, grilled in garlic butter. Post dinner drinks should be taken upstairs at 8, the hotel’s high-rise Japanese izakaya lounge. Bag a spot in its Shima Garden, aside the fire pit. Or, in summer, on the lounge
terrace, to soak up views of the London skyline while you work through a long list of inventive libations. Views, though, don’t come much more impressive than at the duplex Tower Penthouse Suite, an exceptional space peppered with art and sculptures that has statement features throughout, among them a wall-to-wall windowed bathroom and custom-made marble bar for in-room entertaining. Stay here and you’ll be granted exclusive use of the hotel’s secret VIP entrance. Without doubt, the noise generated by The Londoner is set to rumble on. Land your jet at London City Airport, from where a private chauffeured car can be pre-arranged. The Londoner is a member of Preferred Hotels & Resorts Legend Collection.
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What I Know Now FEBRUARY 2022 : ISSUE 125
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Richard Mille FOUNDER, RICHARD MILLE AND MEMBER OF THE PARIS BRAIN INSTITUTE’S CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE I constantly try to think ‘out of the box’. When you break traditions and try to think differently from anyone else, when you refuse to do things the way they have always been done, you become creative, you find inspiration. You see the world differently. Keeping your mind and brain active and curious is the cornerstone of being mentally fit. Some stretching and cardio exercises each morning, and a nap of 20 minutes every day is also very important for me. At Richard Mille we believe very much in giving back. If you look at our partners, so many of them use their personal success to reinvest in society, to give back and work for something better. We believe that success breeds generosity. When you have partners and friends like these, you have to share and boost their generosity. I became involved with the Paris Brain Institute (ICM) in 2012, when my 68
long-term friend, racing champion Jean Todt, asked me to. I find their work on mobility issues, the link between the tiniest thought — an electro-magnetic current deep in our brain cells — and the response in our muscle tissues absolutely fascinating. This can help people, with what are for now are lifechanging injuries, to regain hope. The work of the Paris Brain Institute is important because, first and foremost, it is a more and more pressing issue. One in eight people in the world are affected by illnesses of the nervous system. What the ICM offers is long term stability and support. We want to make the long-term commitment that this requires. Breaking taboos is the essence of what we have always been about. Our clients are often people who break the rules. This is why they like us. If our clients thought like everyone else, I am not sure they would buy our watches. They see how, over these last few years,
mental health issues are discussed more and more. Being part of the Richard Mille Donor Club is a matter of trust. It is about sharing the values and beliefs of the brand. It is all part of being in the same family. With the Paris Brain Institute, members of the Club know their donation is directly invested into one world’s most pressing causes. The ICM is doing ground-breaking research day in, day out, in multiple sectors, helping all kinds of different patients, in a more and more personalised way. I think it is important to support multiple sources of hope in a wide variety of fields. This seems to me more hopeful and helpful for humanity than looking for just one particular ‘Eureka!’ moment. In 2021, the Richard Mille brand created the Richard Mille Donors’ Club to support the work of the Paris Brain Institute.
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