Luxury London Magazine Spring 2022

SPRING 2022 £8.00

MAGAZINE

Laura HADDOCK THE DOWNTON ABBEY NEWCOMER ON DEFINING HER OWN SUCCESS

JEREMY KING THE EMBATTLED HOSPITALITY BOSS COMES OUT FIGHTING

HOPE

SPRINGS

ETERNAL Inspiring interiors, nostalgic fashion & joyful jewellery to lift you into the new season

ALSO INSIDE: PHIL DANIELS, KATHARINE POOLEY, LUCA RUBINACCI & EUROPE’S BEST CITY HOTELS

Amanruya, Amanruya,Bodrum, Bodrum,Turkey Turkey

How Howyou youchoose choosetotosee seethe theworld world creates createsthe theworld worldyou yousee. see.

Why Whymerely merelysee seeititwhen whenyou youcan can experience experiencethe thebest bestofofit? it?

InInthe thehands handsofofexceptional exceptionalpeople, people, your yoursojourns sojournswill willbebesensational, sensational, your yourescapades escapadesflawless. flawless.We Weharness harness the thepower powerofoftravel traveltotoenable enableyou you and andthe thecommunities communitiesyou youvisit visittotolive live extraordinary extraordinaryand andfulfilled fulfilledlives. lives.

Use Useour ourtime timetotosave saveyours yoursand andlet letusus introduce introduceyou youtotoexperiences experiencesand andpeople people that thatwill willenhance enhanceyour yourworld-view world-viewand and ignite igniteyour yourpassions passionsininplaces placesthat that will willleave leaveyou youlost lostfor forwords. words.

carrier.co.uk carrier.co.uk

@carrierluxuryholidays @carrierluxuryholidays

HARRYWINSTON.COM HARRYWINSTON.COM

©2019 Harry Winston, Inc. CLASSIC WINSTON™ RINGS ©2019 Harry Winston, Inc. CLASSIC WINSTON™ RINGS

LONDON, LONDON,171 171NEW NEWBOND BONDSTREET STREET0207 0207907 9078800 8800 LONDON, LONDON,FINE FINEJEWELLERY JEWELLERYROOM ROOMHARRODS HARRODS0207 0207907 9078899 8899

#BrilliantlyInLove #BrilliantlyInLove

CLOS19 BRINGS THE WORLD’S FINEST CHAMPAGNES, WINES AND SPIRITS TO YOUR FINGERTIPS.

Shop online on

Clos19.com

CONTENTS

32

108 92

UP FRONT

46 THE REAL LIFE

10

The life of the man who inspired

GODFATHER EDITOR’S LETTER

13 THE BRIEFING

32

The latest comings and goings in

50

INTERVIEW: JEREMY KING

The hospitality kingpin speaks out after going into administraion

Marlon Brando’s character

66

INTERVIEW:

How East Anglia became the

the world of luxury

PHIL DANIELS

INTERVIEW:

The British actor returns to the

LAURA HADDOCK

West End stage

The Downton Abbey actress

62

NORMAL FOR NORFOLK UK’s wine capital

COUTURE

CONNOISSEUR

72

C U LT U R E

56 TOP TABLES

74 MADE IN ITALY

40 THE AGENDA

60 REVIEW: HAWKSMOOR

steps into the limelight

NOUGHTIES NOSTALGIA Millennial fashion is back

Restaurants to book this spring

Fendi’s patronage activities continue a national legacy

Your guide to art, drama, film and

WOOD WHARF

fashion in the capital

Sampling the flagship steak

LUCA RUBANACCI

joint

The scion on preserving the

78

INTERVIEW:

family business

62

116

98

COLLECTION

108 REVIEW: MANDARIN

84

ORIENTAL, LAGO DI COMO ABOUT TIME Stories from the horological world 86

INTERVIEW:

Inside the hotel group’s first European resort

HOMES & INTERIORS

The new CEO on taking the helm at Piaget 92

JEWELLERY NEWS Sparkling new collections

ESCAPE 98

EUROPE’S BEST CITY HOTELS Where to take an urban break

MAGAZINE

SPRING 2022 £8.00

BENJAMIN COMAR 114 GO WITH THE FLOW Curved pieces for a soothing interior 116 INTERVIEW: KATHARINE POOLEY The queen of interior design on her winning strategy 124 THE GREAT MIGRATION For-sale homes just outside London 13O PROPERTY OF THE MONTH

Laura HADDOCK THE DOWNTON ABBEY

NEWCOMER ON DEFINING HER OWN SUCCESS

JEREMY KING THE EMBATTLED HOSPITALITY BOSS

HOPE

COMES OUT FIGHTING

SPRINGS

ETERNAL Inspiring interiors, nostalgic fashion & joyful jewellery to lift you into the new season

ALSO INSIDE: PHIL DANIELS, KATHARINE POOLEY, LUCA RUBINACCI & EUROPE’S BEST CITY HOTELS

COV E R

A landmark rental in Westminster Image from the Graff Wild Flower Collection, page 92, © Graff

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Richard Brown

FROM THE EDITOR

E

SPRING 2022 Issue 27

DIGITAL EDITOR Zoe Gunn ASSISTANT EDITOR Anna Solomon DIGITAL WRITER Ellie Goodman EDITOR-AT-LARGE Annabel Harrison

ntering The Wolseley is a little like stepping into a private members’ club you haven’t paid to belong to. Once you’re through the heavy velvet curtains of the former-car-showroom-turned-white-table-clothcafé, you’re into a world where everyone’s chummy and chatty and knows what to order and knows how to dress. It’s the sort of place you keep your blazer on, just in case you get kicked out for taking it off.

A.A. Gill famously wrote a book about breakfast at The Wolseley. Giles Coren scribbled a spiteful review because he couldn’t get in (most unlike him).

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Rob Crossan Josh Sims Kari Colmans HEAD OF DESIGN Laddawan Juhong

I’ve wanted to interview Jeremy King, one half of the hospitality duo behind the Piccadilly restaurant (as well as The Delaunay and, once-upon-a-time, Le Caprice and The Ivy), since we launched this magazine four years ago. Not that King is particularly media shy, just that the stars never seemed to align. This year, they did. Which turned into something of a scoop.

DESIGNER & PRODUCTION Georgia Evans

If you follow the thrust of London’s dining scene, you’ll know that back in January, Corbin & King was forced into administration by its Thai-based majority shareholder (“It’s not me in financial trouble – it’s them!”). We’d love to claim our subsequent chat with King as a nimble piece of direct-to-source journalism. Truth is, we’d teed up the tête-à-tête several weeks earlier. It just happened to be scheduled for two days after the news of the administration broke.

MANAGING DIRECTOR Rachel Gilfillan

Naturally, we presumed King would cancel. Quite the opposite. King did politely ask for the interview to be postponed (something to do with more pressing matters, whatever they could be), but a few days later he joined us on Zoom in characteristically combatant form. Rather than ignore the elephant in the room, he addressed it with a four-bore shotgun (p.62).

GENERAL MANAGER Fiona Smith

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Asleen Mauthoor CLIENT RELATIONSHIP MANAGER Alice Ford CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Eren Ellwood

Some other London institutions in this issue: Phil Daniels (p.50), who’s about as London as a Routemaster crossing Tower Bridge; interiors doyenne Katharine Pooley (p.116), whose Walton Street boutique has become a Mecca for high-end design lovers; and Downton Abbey newcomer Laura Haddock (p.32), who’s far too young to be called an institution but who was born in Enfield and is fast on her way to becoming a national treasure, so there.

Enjoy the issue. See you in The Wolseley (which is still open by the way).

PUBLISHED BY

RICH ARD B ROWN Editorial Director 6 SALEM ROAD, LONDON, W2 4BU T: 020 7537 6565 LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

WWW.LUXURYLONDONMEDIA.CO.UK

Southport Dark Oak Suede

BY APPOINTMENT TO HRH THE PRINCE OF WALES MANUFACTURER AND SUPPLIER OF FOOTWEAR CROCKETT & JONES LIMITED, NORTHAMPTON

MADE IN ENGLAND | SINCE 1879

CROCKETTANDJONES.COM

Our new Unstructured Collection featuring the SUPERFLEX leather sole, our most flexible sole to date.

Life feels better behind the wheel of a classic.

Specialist insurance for classics, moderns, collections, homes and marine.

Call our friendly UK team for a quote.

0330 162 4377 footmanjames.co.uk

All cover is subject to insurer’s terms and conditions, which are available upon request. Footman James is a trading name of Towergate Underwriting Group Limited.

Registered in England No. 4043759 Registered Address: 2 Minster Court, Mincing Lane, London, EC3R 7PD Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

FP: ADGE.2287.08.21

Luxury London 2021 ad.indd 1

14/03/2022 11:19:32

The Briefing T H E L AT E S T N E W S F R O M T H E W O R L D O F L U X U R Y

Morgan unveils its new Super 3, 113 years after the British motoring company introduced its first three-wheeler. Powered by a 1.5-litre Ford three-cylinder engine, the Super 3 is the first Morgan to feature a monocoque aluminium construction and will hit 62mph in seven seconds (p.26).

From £41,995, morgan-motor.com

14 The Hotel Raffles The Palm Dubai lands on the Palm Jumeirah 18 The Restaurant Jean Imbert ruffles feathers at Le Relais Plaza 22 The Openings The five-star hotels set to launch in London 24 The Tournament Saudi Arabia hosts the world’s first desert polo meet 26 The Cars The six most exciting supercars of 2022 30 The Books Coffee table tomes to decorate your home

LUXURY LONDON

F E AT U R E

01 THE HOTEL

Raffles The Palm Dubai SINGAPORE’S MOST FAMOUS HOTEL GROUP OPENS A 389-ROOM MEGA-RESORT ON THE LAST REMAINING BEACH PLOT ON DUBAI’S PALM JUMEIRAH Words:

Nick Savage

T

he first thing one notices when driving up the ‘trunk’ of the Palm Jumeirah is the sheer scale of the man-made archipelago. As the taxi progresses up the northern coast of the outermost ‘frond’, the sense of immensity continues when we arrive at Raffles The Palm Dubai, the second outing in the city from the luxury hotel group, which opened at the tail-end of 2021. It’s a hotel worthy of a Mughal emperor, palatial in detailing, both macro and micro.

Named Blüthner Hall in a nod to the Blüthner Louis XIV Grand Piano that presides over the space, the hotel lobby features gorgeous soft-peach marble Corinthian columns that ascend to a lofty domed ceiling generously filigreed with gold leaf. The centrepiece is an immense Venetian chandelier crafted from shimmering Swarovski crystals. It’s one of 6,000 commissioned for the property.

During check-in we’re assigned a butler for the remainder of our holiday. It’s our first taste of the peerlessly attentive service we’re about to receive.

I’m here with my wife and nine-monthold for some hard-earned beach time

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

15

The hotel boasts the largest indoor swimming pool in the Middle East after a long period of isolation from… well, we all know what. For winter sun, Dubai delivers. Our room, a Premier Ocean Suite, is perched five stories above the hotel’s 500-metre private beach, which is encircled by a golden diadem of loamy soft sand.

It is one of 389 rooms, 56 suites and eight towering private villas, all painstakingly overseen by Italian designer Francesco Molon, with sweeping 180-degree views. Each room seems to recall gilded eras ranging from Versailles to the Taj Mahal. With twin vanities, a yawningly deep bath, separate rainshower, enormous bed, well-lit walk-in closet, a bountiful balcony and 62 sqm to move around in, it was more than spacious enough for a party of two-and-a-half.

During the day, the place to be is inarguably by the waterside. However,

guests will have to make the challenging decision of whether to opt for midcentury-styled, candy-striped sun loungers by the ocean, or by the pool.

The latter is hemmed in by stunning Moorish tessellated tilework, soaring date palms, three bars (including a swim-up), a children’s area and the excellent Amalfi-inspired restaurant, Piatti, which boasts breezy Italian cuisine, live performances and what must be one of the best-stocked wine cellars on The Palm.

The restaurant also provides the poolside fare. You can’t go wrong with its take on the Singapore Sling (famously created at the original Raffles hotel in Singapore). At The Palm, they blend sous-vide spice-infused Sipsmith Gin with acacia honey, lemon juice and aquafaba.

The pool is a great place from which

to admire the hotel itself. From this aspect it’s redolent of a birthday cake for the gods with quadruple-tiered circular balconies in the centre and mirrored windows reflecting the azure brilliance of sea and sky. When dusk descends, the exterior and fountains are illuminated with green spotlights that glimmer like emeralds.

While breakfasting at Le Jardin, the main restaurant of the hotel, which offers an incredibly ample buffet and gorgeous indoor and outdoor seating, I find myself in impeccably manicured gardens. It’s here that I meet Khan, a falconry expert.

He’s keen to show my daughter Isla the aviary, and we meet a flock of raptors running the gamut from saker falcons to Eurasian eagle owls to Harris hawks.

I’m even encouraged to don a protective glove and have one of the latter retrieve from my hand.

The Raffles Club on the fifth floor offers breakfast as well as aperitivi, and is perfectly appointed for the job, with generous balconies on both sides of the building. We particularly enjoy it for aperitivo hour, when one can watch the sun touch down beyond the horizon.

LUXURY LONDON

THE BRIEFING

Matagi is the hotel’s flagship restaurant, and destination dining at its finest. Sharing common DNA with modern Japanese restaurants like Nobu and Zuma, it’s deliciously dark. Its design equally recalls Tokyo and Bali, with a statement kintsugi bar overhung with gantry, exquisitely tiled walls inset with Asian artefacts, and hanging lantern chandeliers that cast a soothing light.

The fare, overseen by the hotel’s culinary director Batuhan Piatti, skews from moreish nibbles, such as crispy Alaskan king crab tacos teeming with avocado, tobiko and lemon zest, to innovative sushi rolls to more substantial mains prepared on the robata grill – think miso black cod or Wagyu A7 tenderloin.

When the food is this good and the beach is so close, a visit or two to the

In spite of its immense scale, Raffles The Palm manages to provide a refreshingly intimate experience gym might be prudent. Raffles The Palm boasts the largest indoor swimming pool in the Middle East, a yoga studio, and all the equipment necessary to offset the caloric intake.

The hotel can also attend to aches, pains and niggles at its world-class spa.

Guests enter the 3,000 sqm Cinq Mondes Spa through an Instagram-worthy

corridor that feels more decompression chamber than hallway. It’s been outfitted with leading-edge technology, hydraulic and air equipment, as well as 23 treatment rooms, seven scrub rooms, two private spa suites, two traditional hammams and Japanese bathtubs.

It’s here that we’re treated to a spa odyssey that certainly cleansed mind, body and soul after two years with little travel. After a 30-minute Tahitian scrub with organic Monoi, Tiaré sugar and coconut powder, we receive a traditional Thai couples massage for a cool 90 minutes. We leave feeling almost alarmingly relaxed and refreshed.

It’s a sensation that summarises the Raffles experience quite well. In spite of its immense scale, Raffles The Palm Dubai manages to provide a refreshingly intimate experience.

For anyone looking for some easilyaccessible sunshine and unbridled luxury, you can’t really go wrong.

Premier suites start from £290 per night including breakfast, raffles.com

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

17

JEAN IMBERT WAS APPOINTED RESIDENT CHEF AT THE PLAZA ATHENEE IN 2021 FOLLOWING THE DEPARTURE OF ALAIN DUCASSE

LUXURY LONDON

THE BRIEFING

02 T H E R E S TA U R A N T

Le Relais Plaza THE APPOINTMENT OF JEAN IMBERT AS RESIDENT CHEF AT THE RECENTLY-REOPENED LE RELAIS PLAZA RUFFLED PLENTY OF FEATHERS AMONG FRANCE’S TOP FOOD CRITICS. LUXURY LONDON HOPPED ON THE EUROSTAR TO SEE WHAT ALL THE FUSS WAS ABOUT Words:

Rob Crossan

L

ast year, Paris’ esteemed food critics found themselves noisily spluttering into their confit de canard. This sort of choking fit happens rather a lot in Paris, an act that, one would imagine, does very little for the starched linen tablecloths of restaurants across the arrondissements.

It’s easy, you see, to raise the opprobrium levels of Parisian critics to the heat of a rotisserie chicken spit.

Anything that disturbs the idea that French dining reached its creative zenith around 1909, and therefore cannot be improved upon, will induce fury. The idea of a chef who uses both Snapchat and a spatula is just plain offensant.

And so to the howls of pastisbreathed anguish from the gourmet establishment regarding the appointment of Jean Imbert as the resident chef at Hôtel Plaza Athénée.

You’ll know the hotel even if you haven’t stayed there; it’s the one on Rue de Montaigne with the overflow of cardinal red-hued geraniums on every balcony. You might not, however, be aware of Monsieur Imbert. Winner of France’s Top Chef TV competition in 2012, Imbert has since opened two restaurants with American rapper/record producer Pharrell Williams.

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

19

Venerable food critic François-Régis Gaudry called Imbert’s appointment “bling-bling”. “He has neither the CV nor the experience for such a place,” Gaudry added, claiming that Imbert’s celebrity selfies and brand tie-ins were “extra-culinary”.

The uproar was only heightened by the man Imbert replaced; Alain Ducasse; chef at Hôtel Plaza Athénée for more than two decades and a national figurehead for all that is elegant, subtle and restrained about fine dining.

What went largely unreported among the French press was the fact that 40-yearold supposed enfant terrible Imbert was actually trained at the Institut Paul Bocuse – the eponymous, elite, higher-education culinary school set up by the late Lyonbased chef who, even before he died, was referred to by other chefs as ‘God’.

It’s also worth pointing out that French chefs have always been keen to court celebrities. Auguste Escoffier himself, the founder of French cuisine as we know it, named his peach Melba dish after his friend, the opera singer Nellie Melba. If he were around today, there’s no doubt Escoffier would be doing corporate tie-ins with Chrysler and Chevalier and comping minor-league Kardashians.

At the time of Luxury London’s visit,

the full-scale Imbert dining experience had yet to open in Ducasse’s former La Cour Jardin space. The less formal experience in the Le Relais Plaza bistro was, however, well up and running, with lunch tables some of the most in-demand and bickered-over in Paris. Though to call Le Relais Plaza a ‘bistro’ is like calling Catherine Deneuve a soubrette. For this is one of the most beautiful dining rooms in all of France.

Deneuve, by the way, is on the wall of the narrow corridor that leads to Le Relais Plaza; her signed photo is surrounded by others of Ava Gardner, Sophia Loren and Naomi Campbell, the last of whom scrawled in pen underneath her picture that the visit to the Plaza made her feel very ‘Parisen’ (sic).

The dining room is an Art Deco museum piece; apt for the city that started the whole movement back in 1925 following the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes. Built a decade later, Relais is a miasma of banana leaf plants, zodiac stained glass, sunbursts, zigzags and, most spectacularly, an immense gold lacquered tree-scape fresco behind the bar.

The chandeliers are original René Lalique and they give the place the kind of honeyed, amber tinged lighting that takes you to Golden Age Hollywood

more than Europe. This is a space where you can imagine corpulent executives from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer dining with a petulant Joan Crawford, all blowing cigarette smoke at the varnished ceiling over vast martinis.

And so, what of the food? Well, the Parisian food traditionalists need to radically upscale their definitions of a chef ‘disrupter’. There’s nothing radical or nauseatingly novel in manner of serving ‘cassoulet inside a Michelin tyre’ or ‘sex on le plage’ cocktails here.

Imbert has created a notably concise menu of six starter choices and 10 main courses; a welcome change from the vast, bland ‘international’ style brasserie menu here before; one that was seemingly tailor-made for international guests who want every restaurant to serve the sort of food dished up by their golf club in the Hamptons.

Around me is a theatrical assemblage of Parisian figures. The Ronseal-tanned, Côte d’Azur-based octogenarian, sipping Moët with his mistress, both having flown into the capital for a carnal weekend of giflé et chatouille. The still lithe-legged matriarch, blonde bangs frozen in place, conspiring with her daughter at a corner table, both competing in a scarf war for who has the longest film spool of cashmere around their necks. An aspiring

There’s all but nothing here for veggies, vegans and the glutenfree; perhaps the closest Imbert gets to being genuinely contrarian

LUXURY LONDON

F E AT U R E

popstar, dressed in too-new leather, being cajoled by a despairing-looking female assistant in pin-striped culottes into ordering more than just a café au lait.

The food is, apparently, inspired by Imbert’s grandmother’s and is defiantly ignorant of contemporary trends. There’s all but nothing here for veggies, vegans and the gluten-free; perhaps the closest Imbert gets to being genuinely contrarian.

I opt for the foie gras terrine and porto jelly and am served a margarine tub-sized portion to smear on my spikeended mini baguette. Not too cold and wonderfully taut, the jelly bursts on impact with my spoon to reveal acres of goose liver that avoids the mousselike smoothness of inferior foie gras for something that glories in its own fat and doesn’t shrink from the back note of livery offal that it should possess. I ate and I ate and I thought I heard trumpets.

For main, there is a Gascon-style decadence to the dishes. ‘If I lunch on the beef fillet and foie gras in brioche pastry with dauphinoise I’m going to stay lunched for a year,’ I thought, before plumping for the only slightly less-sybaritic daily special (served every Thursday) of sausages in brioche.

Served with an admirable lack of

sauces and reductions (a mere beaker of vinaigrette salad was the sole side), this was two slabs of slipper-soft brioche with a disc of pistachio-flecked sausage pressed into each slice.

Garlicy, herby and, above all, unapologetically musky and malodorous, this is the Platonic ideal of sausage mince.

Lean but not emasculated of its piggyness, it’s a bold dish, emblematic of a chef whose confidence in himself has only risen in the face of a chicken-stock tsunami of criticism that serenaded his arrival here.

Imbert was working a shift while I dined. His hair is a feat of gravity; gravy brown and thick as a bramble bush, it stops just before the chandeliers. He grins at diners but never stops moving for a second as he makes a brisk tour of meet-and-greets.

By 12.25pm there was not a spare table in the place. Noticeably, since customers have actually started eating his food here, Imbert has been uncharacteristically quiet on social media, and the establishment critics have penned not a pejorative word.

21 Avenue Montaigne, 75008, Paris, dorchestercollection.com LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

21

03 THE OPENINGS

Home Suite Home LONDON IS SET TO WELCOME A RAFT OF HOTEL OPENINGS IN THE COMING MONTHS. HERE’S WHERE TO STAYCAY IN 2022 Words:

Zoe Gunn

INHABIT QUEEN’S GARDENS, LANCASTER GATE

THE OTHER HOUSE, SOUTH KENSINGTON & COVENT GARDEN

Blurring the lines between traditional hotel, serviced apartments and private rental, The Other House will open two locations this year. Each of the two spaces, one in South Kensington’s Harrington Hall and the other in the Wellington Block in Covent Garden, will offer around 200 ‘club flats’, all of which come equipped with a bedroom, living area and kitchen. Designed to be used for both short- and long-term stays, all guests will be granted access to the Residents Club, which features a gym, pool, yoga studio and two bars.

Opening summer 2022, from £228 per night, otherhouse.com

ONE HUNDRED SHOREDITCH,

Following the success of its debut Paddington hotel, Inhabit will throw open the doors of its second site in nearby Bayswater in spring.

The 159-room hotel was designed

by Holland Harvey Architects and Caitlin Henderson Design, and will be set across a series of mid-century townhouses on a quiet square close to Lancaster Gate. Among the highlights will be a meat-free, largely vegan restaurant and bar, a library and an underground wellness space.

SHOREDITCH

The latest London opening from the group behind Sea Containers, One Hundred Shoreditch has been designed by Lore Group creative director Jacu Strauss, who’s fitted the hotel’s 258 rooms with vintage furniture and custom artwork. British seafood and an extensive range of all-day dishes will come courtesy of Goddard & Gibbs, while panoramic views and a foliagestrewn terrace are the lures of The Rooftop bar. There will also be a coffee shop from Ozone Coffee, and the latest cocktail bar from award-winning master mixologist Mr Lyan.

Opened March 2022, from £175 per night, onehundredshoreditch.com

Opened March 2022, from £170 per night, inhabithotels.com

LUXURY LONDON

F E AT U R E

RAFFLES LONDON, WHITEHALL Raffles London promises to be one of London’s most exciting new hotel openings in years. Housed within The OWO, the modern conversion of Whitehall’s Old War Office, the partnership will see Raffles operate a 125-room hotel, alongside offering hospitality services and facilities to 85 private residences. The development will include 11 bars and restaurants, a spa with a 20-metre indoor pool, and a 620-capacity ballroom.

Opening late 2022, rates TBA, raffles.com

CHATEAU DENMARK, SOHO Inspired by the musical heritage of Soho’s Denmark Street, the vibe at the new Chateau Denmark will be rock’n’roll – think gilded detailing and sumptuous fabrics juxtaposed with graffiti and bold colour palettes. Spread across a series of Grade II-listed townhouses, the hotel’s suitestyle apartments will feature unique touches such as caricatures by Sex Pistols frontman Johnny Rotten, hand-carved four-poster beds and party-ready DJ ports. Food will come courtesy of the first London outpost of modern Chinese fine-dining group Tattu.

Opening April 2022, from £510 per night, chateaudenmark.com

THE TWENTY TWO, MAYFAIR The Twenty Two is a new boutique hotel and private members’ club on Grosvenor Square. Inhabiting a Grade II-listed Edwardian manor, the room features 31 rooms and suites designed by Natalia Miyar and Bambi Sloan, with a striking colour scheme contrasting with the building’s period features. An all-day restaurant will be helmed by executive chef Alan Christie, who has devised a modern British menu infused with southern European influences.

Opening April 2022, rates TBA, the22.london LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

23

04 THE TOURNAMENT

The Richard Mille AlUla Desert Polo

LUXURY LONDON

F E AT U R E

AGAINST THE BACKDROP OF SAUDI ARABIA’S ALULA CANYONS, FOUR TEAMS CLASH IN THE WORLD’S FIRST DESERT POLO TOURNAMENT Words:

Kari Colmans

Translated as ‘first born’ in Arabic, it is only fitting that the grand city of AlUla provided the backdrop for the first ever modern polo tournament to be staged in a desert. Patrons and professionals from all over the world gathered for the weekend-long activities, which saw four teams unite in a visually exquisite arena.

Featuring big-industry names such as Adolfo Cambiaso, David ‘Pelon’ Stirling and Pablo Mac Donough from the Argentinian polo outfit La Dolfina, as well as the face of Ralph Lauren Black, Nacho Figueras, the prestigious event heralded the beginning of a national equestrian rollout, focussing on Saudi Arabia’s longstanding horseback-riding heritage and the sport’s deep cultural significance in the country.

While it was touch and go who would be the victor on Day One, with Team AlUla beating Team Bentley to advance to the final, Team Richard Mille then took the win over Team Saudia in the second match. Day Two saw Team AlUla come out victorious against their challenger Team Richard Mille to win the first ever Desert Polo trophy. experiencealula.com

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

25

ASTON MARTIN DBX 707 For anyone that thought the standard Aston Martin DBX was lacking in power (with 542 bhp), the news that the marque is launching a more potent take on its sports-orientated SUV will be much welcomed. Called the 707 – which happens to be the exact figure that Aston has upgraded the power output to – the car is set to launch in the second quarter of the year when it will claim the title of ‘most powerful luxury SUV’ on the market. With more aggressive styling, a new grille, bigger rims and a more sports-orientated interior, the 707 should be a formidable opponent to the likes of Ferrari’s Purosangue or Bentley’s Bentayga Speed.

LOTUS EVIJA

05 THE SUPERCARS

Six of the Best

First revealed in 2019, the Evija represented a radical new dawn for Lotus. Not only was it the marque’s first EV, it was also the most extreme performance car to come out of the Hethel carmaker, aside from its iconic Formula One cars, of course. Firmly placing Lotus in the all-electric hypercar category, alongside the Rimac Nevera and Automobili Pininfarina Battista, the Evija is set to launch this year and boasts just short of 2,000 bhp. Limited to just 130 models, this Lotus will be a very rare sight when it hits the roads.

Expected Q2, from £1.7 million, lotuscars.com

AS ASTON MARTIN, FERRARI AND LOTUS PUT THEIR LATEST HIGH-PERFORMANCE CREATIONS INTO PRODUCTION, HERE ARE THE MOST ANTICIPATED SUPERCARS (AND A THREE-WHEELER) OF THE COMING MONTHS Words:

Rory FH Smith

LAND ROVER RANGE ROVER After the covers came off the original Range 53 years ago, it’s time for the much-anticipated fifth generation to make its mark on the world’s city streets, country lanes, fields and fords. “Over time, it’s created an indelible stamp on the psyche of the country,” said Jaguar Land Rover’s chief creative officer, Professor Gerry McGovern, at the car’s unveiling in 2021. “It hasn’t changed too much – it’s evolved.” With its progressive looks, a tapered tail and cleaner interior, the fifth-generation Range Rover can rise to well over £130,000 with a few of the many options selected.

Expected Q2, from £94,400, landrover.co.uk

Expected Q2, from £189,000, astonmartin.com

LUXURY LONDON

F E AT U R E

MORGAN THREE-WHEELER

FERRARI PUROSANGUE The idea of a high-riding, off-road Ferrari is a little contradictory, right?

Correct. But the never-ending rise of SUVs means that there’s no stopping the most iconic sports-car maker from pressing on with its most controversial model yet. Called the Purosangue – which translates as ‘thoroughbred’ – details of Ferrari’s first SUV are hard to find, but the marque’s former chief technology officer, Michael Leiters,

revealed the car could accommodate a V6, V8 or V12 engine, with the two larger engines benefitting from some form of hybridisation. Lining up to compete with the likes of Aston Martin’s DBX 707, the Lamborghini Urus and the Bentley Bentayga Speed, the Purosangue will need to bring some Maranello magic to the SUV mix in order to stand apart.

Expected Q4, price TBA, ferrari.com

MERCEDES-AMG PROJECT ONE The Mercedes-AMG Project ONE is a rare example of F1 technology being engineered for the road. Slotting in a de-tuned version of the very same 1.6-litre turbocharged V6 hybrid that’s powered Lewis Hamilton’s F1 car, the Project ONE churns out more than 1,000 bhp with an expected top speed of more than 220mph. With the British champ believed to be one of the recipients of the £2.1 million car when they eventually hit the road later this year, expect to see one or two cruising around Monaco’s casino square sometime soon.

Expected late-2022, from £2.1 million, mercedes-amg.com LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

27

Away from the automotive arms race being waged by the likes of Aston Martin, Mercedes and Lotus, plucky British brand Morgan is busy shaping up its new eccentric three-wheeler. Carrying on Morgan’s three-wheeled heritage, which dates back to the company’s origin in 1909, the new three-wheeler is their latest take on the unusual sports car that was produced between 2011 and 2021.

Equipped with aluminium coachwork, a 1.5-litre three-cylinder engine from Ford and a transmission from the Mazda MX5, the three-wheeler promises to pack a fair bit of bite.

Expected Q2, price TBA, morgan-motor.com

06 T H E S T AY C A T I O N

The Old Bank Hotel THE INDEPENDENTLY-OWNED OLD BANK HOTEL IS THE PERFECT BASE FROM WHICH TO EXPLORE THE CITY OF DREAMING SPIRES Words:

T

Annabel Harrison

here’s a small coffee house on Queen’s Lane, sandwiched between Queen’s College and Teddy Hall. Buses rumble and bikes race past as students sip coffee and devour late breakfasts. I revisit this friendly little café 16 years after my first visit – following an intimidating grammar lesson as a fresher in 2004. I didn’t appreciate, back then, that it had been in operation in some form or other since 1654 – but it doesn’t surprise me to learn.

In this city, even little coffee houses have big stories to tell.

As anyone who has spent time in Oxford knows, there aren’t enough hours in the day, or days in the week, to scratch the surface of its history. It’s saturated. How best to try? Walking, walking and more walking. Allow hours for aimless meandering; peer into colleges as imposingly large doors swing shut, venture down narrow twisting lanes, and look up – at spires and gargoyles and mysterious facades. On this visit I’m looking down as much as up, though,

from my terrace at the Old Bank Hotel – a stone’s throw from the Queen’s Lane Coffee House. Jeremy Mogford opened this hotel and its popular Quod restaurant in 1999 but its three buildings date back to the 13th century.

I’m staying in ‘The Room With The View’, as the hotel brands it. The room has a beautiful bathroom, sumptuous bed and kitted-out coffee station but it’s the terrace that makes it unique. I sip champagne as I gaze down at students scurrying to lectures or, just as likely, the pub, and out over the beautiful All Souls’ College and the Radcliffe Camera, using my in-room telescope – yes, really – for sights further away.

Included in the rate is the mini bar – stocked with four full-size bottles as well as miniatures. There’s no bath due to building regulations but other rooms in the hotel do have them (in case a bath will make or break your stay).

I enjoy satisfying breakfasts in the calming Quod (served until 11am and with kids’ options, too), befriend the lovely front desk team and read in the cosy hotel library. I walk for hours, exploring the Ashmolean Museum and climbing hundreds of steps to the top of the University Church of St Mary the Virgin, built in 1280 (book tickets online), where I can, in fact, look down on The Room With The View. This emphatic reminder that occasionally, my terrace is in fact someone else’s view, comes at the end of my visit. My return trip is imminent because, as ever, I leave Oxford longing to go back. from £275 per night, oldbankhotel.co.uk

THE CHURCHILL SUITES If you’d prefer to be a bit further from the city centre, stay at the Old Bank’s sister hotel, the 17th-century Old Parsonage. Its Churchill Suites – Winston and Randolph, after the war leader’s son – opened last summer.

Scrutinise the rare photos on their walls before penning a letter at your own leather desk or snoozing in a handmade Epoc bed. Sir Winston would approve.

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

29

LUXURY LONDON

THE BRIEFING

Icons of Cycling, edited by Kirsten van Steenberge, £49.95, accartbooks.com

In Perfect Shape: Fritz Hansen, edited by Mette Egeskov, £56, abebooks.co.uk

Porsche Milestones: Refueled,

By Wilfried Muller, £29.75, whsmith.co.uk

07 THE BOOKS

BUY THE BOOK EIGHT NEW COFFEE TABLE TOMES THAT YOU CAN VERY MUCH JUDGE BY André Butzer, introduction by Hans Werner Holzwarth, £80, taschen.com

Logo Beginnings, by Jens Muller, £60, waterstones.com

THEIR (EXCELLENT) COVERS

Mario Testino. SIR. 40th Ed., edited by Patrick Kinmonth, £20, taschen.com LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

30

Herlinde Koelbl. Angela Merkel. Portraits 1991–2021, £50, taschen.co.uk

Louis Vuitton Manufactures, by Nicholas Foulkes, £80, assouline.com

ORIGINAL, LIMITED-EDITION ART DECO POSTERS

97 x 65 cm. Priced at £420 each (inc. UK sales tax).

Private commissions are also welcome.

@pullmaneditionsposters

Our central London gallery All images and text copyright © Pullman Editions Ltd. 2022

View and buy online at w w w.pullmaneditions.com

WORKS LIKE A

CHARM L AU R A H A D D O C K ST E P S I N TO T H E L I M E L I G H T

Words:

Anna Solomon

B

y the time Laura Haddock joins me on Zoom, I’ve already finished work for the day, eaten dinner, and gotten through several episodes of Love Is Blind (don’t judge me). After a long week, I’m almost ready to turn in when the time of our late-evening virtual meeting arrives.

Thankfully, there’s a lightness to the actress’s sing-song voice that makes me feel instantly refreshed.

She pops up in a chic apartment, looking off-duty – she’s wearing a black roll-neck and her hair is pulled back in a low, casual bun. Haddock is in Montreal,

hence the lateness of the call, filming for her newest role in an as-yet-untitled espionage thriller series from Netflix.

“We’re on night shoots at the moment – I start work at 5pm and finish at 6.30am,” she tells me. “It gets to -35 degrees, and we’re filming outside. I don’t think I’ll ever complain about the cold again!”

Biting conditions and sleep deprivation aren’t the only challenges. Haddock has also had to learn a foreign language, and an accent, for the role that is, apparently, “going to be a bit of a game changer”.

“I’m excited about how it’s going to be received, because I don’t think anybody

“I don’t think anybody has ever seen me in this light before” has ever seen me in this light before.”

Which is intriguing, because the 36-year-old has appeared on-screen in many guises, from the love interest in The Inbetweeners Movie, to a sibling hell-bent on revenge in White Lines, and Chris Pratt’s mum in Guardians of the Galaxy.

She’s also been Lorenzo de’ Medici’s mistress in Da Vinci’s Demons and a descendant of Merlin in Transformers 5: The Last Knight.

As of April, Haddock will appear alongside Maggie Smith, Michelle Dockery and Laura Carmichael in Julian Fellowes’ Downton Abbey: A New Era. The second film to follow the muchloved series sees Downton’s aristocratic residents escape to France, where the Dowager Countess has been bequeathed a villa, while the Abbey is used as a filming location.

Although she’s yet to see the finished film, Haddock assures me that “it’s everything that Downton fans will be hoping for.”

“I remember reading the script and thinking, ‘God, I hope this works out, because I’ve just ruined it for myself’!” she laughs, adding that it delivers a “lightness of touch but doesn’t shy away from drama or pathos”.

Haddock speaks with an earnestness

LUXURY LONDON

INTERVIEW

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

35

THIS PAGE AND PREVIOUS LAURA HADDOCK AT THE GLOBAL PREMIERE OF TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT, LEICESTER SQUARE, LONDON, 18 JUN 2017 © ALAMY

THIS PAGE AND OPPOSITE LAURA HADDOCK IN WHITE LINES, 2020 © NETFLIX

that makes you believe every word she says. She describes filming Downton Abbey as “wonderful” and gushes about playing opposite the “iconic” Smith, who she recalls watching in Hook as a child, commenting particularly on hers’ and other cast members’ ease on set. “It kind of feels like [repertory] theatre – their chemistry is amazing, they all love each other and know each other really well.”

Laura plays Myrna Dalgleish, the glamorous star of the production being filmed at the Abbey. She is dealt a blow when, halfway through filming, the studio decides that the silent film should be turned into a ‘talkie’ – which, in the late1920s, were taking off rapidly. But Myrna is famous for her face, not her voice, which is distinctly un-glamorous. The East End actress struggles with voice coaches as the panic-stricken director plans to dub over her.

It’s a set-up ripe for comedy, but, as Haddock is quick to convey, is rooted in something serious. Myrna’s experience was common among actresses at the advent of spoken films, and the reality was “incredibly discombobulating and probably quite terrifying”.

“A lot of [actresses] were non-English speaking, from Eastern European countries, and often they couldn’t learn the language or un-learn their accent quick enough, and their careers were essentially done,” says Haddock. She invokes the example of Norma Talmadge, a star of the silent era who, after two failed attempts at speaking films, never appeared on screen again.

“It was a thing that women specifically had to go through, because a lot of the male actors were English,” Haddock continues, adding that, although she’ll never face professional upheaval at this scale, she does experience occasional niggling fears of “not being able to keep up with the industry” for reasons related to her gender. She recalls the trepidation she felt on telling her agent that she was pregnant for the second time: “Obviously they were ecstatic for me, but it was also like… that’s another eighteen months [out].”

Throughout our interview it becomes clear, although not through any virtuesignalling soundbites, that Haddock cares deeply about women’s representation,

LUXURY LONDON

INTERVIEW

and hers is a life that’s been shaped by strong female role models. Her first ever role – an octopus – was cast by a primary school teacher who wrote her own play.

Then, an ex-actress teacher encouraged Haddock to audition for drama school – prior to this, she’d never considered pursuing acting as a career.

She is enamoured with the contingent of actresses that came up in the 1960s and ’70s – Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn, Susan Sarandon, Meryl Streep, Sally Field – and is “obsessed with the story and life” of American filmmaker Nora Ephron.

Haddock adored Meg Ryan “and anything she touched” growing up, and her favourite films are Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail and When Harry Met Sally: “I’ll watch them and they will always make me feel like life is cool, life is chill.

Everything is fine.”

Although initially tongue-tied when I ask about her inspirations, Haddock is soon effusing in a way that causes my eyes to drift to the clock in the corner of my screen, conscious that our interview time is running out. But I’m loath to interrupt – it’s charming to watch her light up.

She describes the “amazing” experience of playing Nancy Nicholson (wife of poet Robert Graves); her desire to play Sylvia Plath; and her admiration of Sally Rooney’s Normal People: “We were either them, or we knew them.”

Despite being starry-eyed about other leading ladies, Haddock herself is happy to fly ever-so-slightly under the radar.

She doesn’t consider her career to have had a ‘breakthrough moment’ as such, and doesn’t feel that it needed one.

“I think it gets dangerous when that’s the aim, because then you start making choices that aren’t made because you really identify with a story or a character,” she says. “Maybe it’s because I don’t have a lot of interest in being, you know, really famous.”

Haddock tends to keep details of her private life, private. She has two children – Pip, six, and Margot, four – but you won’t see their faces on Instagram. She shares them with ex-husband Sam Clafin, also an actor, who has starred in The Hunger Games and Peaky Blinders – they divorced in 2019 and, although tabloids have scavenged for details, the pair has betrayed only respectful joint statements.

When we touch on the pandemic (mandatory these days), Haddock recalls “asking lots of questions, like anyone who was self-employed… you know, thinking about exploring other options”.

In an alternate universe, she says, she would have considered a career in nutritional therapy.

But there’s no doubt about her passion. “I love being an actress and I would never want to change that,” she says.

“I still get that rush of adrenaline and excitement and nerves, which is a sign that you care.”

Haddock views her relationship with the camera like a best friend, someone “who you’ve known forever, but who you’ve had a massive fight with and aren’t speaking to” – a mindset that helps her zone out of the commotion on set and embody a role.

The camera might be her best friend, but Haddock seems like the kind of

person who has lots of friends. She’s that ‘It’ girl who’s actually, annoyingly, really nice. Hell, she’s even made me feel like one of her inner circle – like there’s nowhere else she’d rather be on a Friday evening than on a Zoom call with a random stranger.

That’s probably what happens when you choose not to chase ‘fame’, and opt to define ‘success’ and ‘happiness’ on your own terms.

“You’re always trying to get that job where you feel like, ‘oh, I’ve broken through something’, but it’s not necessarily a personal breakthrough. I want to be successful,” muses Haddock, “but I don’t measure success by anything other than my own aspirations and desires.”

“I don’t have a lot of interest in being, you know, really famous”

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

37

Downton Abbey: A New Era is released in cinemas 29 April 2022

TEA, CAKE & CHANDELIERS AFTERNOON TEA SERVED DAILY IN THE HEART OF COVENT GARDEN BOOK NOW AT THELANE.CO.UK

LW_TRDL_Adverts_2022_V1B.indd 1

14/03/2022 14:24

Culture MUSIC, MUSEUMS AND MASTERPIECES

FOOTBALL: DESIGNING THE BEAUTIFUL GAME TRACES HOW DESIGN HAS UNPINNED THE WORLD’S MOST POPULAR SPORT. THE EXHIBITION WILL RUN FROM APRIL UNTIL AUGUST AT LONDON’S DESIGN MUSEUM (P.40).

40 The Agenda Your guide to culture in the capital this seaon 46 The Real Godfather The astonishing true story of the mobster thought to have inspired Marlon Brando’s character 50 Phil Daniels We catch up with the English actor as he returns to the West End stage

T H E A G E N DA YOUR CURATED GUIDE TO CULTURE IN THE CAPITAL Edited by:

1

Anna Solomon

Cornelia Parker, Tate Britain The OBE artist’s exhibition on Millbank promises to be big, bold, and visually enthralling. Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View (pictured) explores the ‘archetypal’ image of the explosion – something Parker claims we are constantly exposed to from cartoon violence to a never-ending news cycle on the horrors of war. By suspending the fragments of a denotated shed, she gives something fleeting duration.

Equally captivating are Parker’s large-scale sculptures Thirty Pieces of Silver and Magna Carta, and the immersive War Room is a must-see. £16 for adults, 18 May – 16 October, tate.org.uk

COLD DARK MATTER: AN EXPLODED VIEW, 1991, CORNELIA PARKER. TATE © CORNELIA PARKER

2

LUXURY LONDON

C U LT U R E

After decades of limited scope and rigid confines, menswear is becoming less clearly defined.

But creativity in this (arguably neglected) arena does not begin and end with Harry Styles wearing a dress, or even Billy Porter’s fabulous red carpet ensembles.

Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear traces the evolution of men’s clothes throughout the centuries, from silhouettes favoured by the Habsburg dynasty to notions of aesthetics in 1970s Bradford. The V&A’s first major exhibition on the subject will interrogate the construction and performance of masculinity via the work of designers, stylists, tailors and artists, as well as their clients and sitters, showcasing around 100 outfits that go far beyond the staid suit-shirt-and-tie trifecta. £20 (free for members), 19 March – 6 November, vam.ac.uk

Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear, The V&A

ABOVE HARRIS REED FLUID ROMANTICISM 001.

PHOTOGRAPHER: GIOVANNI CORABI THIS IMAGE OMAR VICTOR DIOP, JEAN-BAPTISTE BELLEY, 2014.

COURTESY MAGNIN-A GALLERY, PARIS © OMAR VICTOR DIOP

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

41

3

Football: Designing the Beautiful Game, The Design Museum

IMAGES COURTESY OF THE DESIGN MUSEUM

It is estimated that more than half the planet’s population (approximately 3.5 billion people) tuned into the FIFA World Cup in 2018 – football has the unique ability to unite people, transcending borders, beliefs and backgrounds. This Design Museum exhibition explores the beautiful game through the lens of design, from the masterplanning of super-stadia like Camp Nou in Barcelona to the innovative materials used in

today’s boots, the graphic design of team badges and the grassroots initiatives pushing back against football’s commercialisation. The international fervour surrounding the sport has pushed visual, technological and architectural limits; Designing the Beautiful Game offers a rare insight into the people and processes that have made this possible.

Price TBC (free for members), 8 April – 29 August, designmuseum.org

4

LUXURY LONDON

C U LT U R E

Madama Butterfly, Royal Opera House Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly tells of the heartbreak of young geisha deserted by her American husband, who then returns years later only to take their son away. This is one of the most powerful operas to come out of Italy, made all the more poignant for its simplicity.

From £11, 14 June – 6 July, roh.org.uk

Raphael, The National Gallery

5

ABOVE SAINT CATHERINE OF ALEXANDRIA, RAPHAEL, C. 1507. © THE NATIONAL GALLERY LEFT AN ALLEGORY (‘VISION OF A KNIGHT’), RAPHAEL, C. 1504. © THE NATIONAL GALLERY LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

43

Raphael stands alongside Da Vinci and Michelangelo as one of the masters of the High Renaissance.

But, unlike his fellow proponents, Raphael achieved his fame in just two decades, dying at the age of 37. His works, which capture both the human and the divine, are prolific – many can be found in the Vatican Palace, where the frescoed Raphael Rooms illustrate the magnitude of his talent. With loans from the Vatican, as well as the Hermitage, Louvre, Uffizi and others, this is one of the first exhibitions to explore Raphael’s career across all mediums. £24 (free for members), 9 April – 31 July, nationalgallery.org.uk

6

The Forsythe Evening, Sadler’s Wells Theatre In 2018, master choreographer William Forsythe produced a show juxtaposing classicism with neosoul and house beats (reflecting his desire to push the boundaries of ballet). It was such a success that the English National Ballet decided to do it again: this time, audiences can expect tracks from Khalid, Barry White and Lion Babe, up to 30 dancers on stage at one time, and ever-more astounding levels of athleticism.

From £15, 31 March – 10 April, sadlerswells.com

PHOTO BY JASON BELL, CREATIVE DIRECTION BY CHARLOTTE WILKINSON STUDIO

7

The Seagull, Harold Pinter Theatre Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke’s West End debut was short-lived when it had to close during previews at the start of the pandemic. Now, after a two-year hiatus, The Seagull is returning for an 11-week run. Chekhov’s tragic comedy, which tackles the relentless passage of time and futile pursuit of love, has been thoroughly modernised for the 21st century by director Jamie Lloyd (who has just

wrapped up the critically-acclaimed Cyrano). Appearing alongside Clarke is a who’s-who of British talent, including GoT colleague Indira Varma and Sophie Wu (Fresh Meat).

From £15, 29 June –10 September, haroldpintertheatre.co.uk

8

INSTALLATION VIEW OF THE SUMMER EXHIBITION 2021 AT THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS, LONDON. PHOTO: © ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS, LONDON / DAVID PARRY

LUXURY LONDON

C U LT U R E

Summer Exhibition 2022, Royal Academy of Arts

The Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition has never, in its 250year history, missed a show – not even during the Covid pandemic, when it was moved to the winter.

A highlight in London’s cultural calendar, the exhibition has featured works by the likes of David Hockney, Wolfgang Tillmans, Tracey Emin, Bruce Nauman, Wim Wenders and Ed Ruscha.

But generally, around two thirds are by non-Academicians – as the world’s oldest open submission show, anyone can enter their work to the Summer Exhibition, from

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

45

leading artists to household names and emerging talent. This year, the theme is ‘climate’ – expect artworks across a wide array of media ranging from painting to sculpture, photography, printmaking, architecture and film, expounding on this most urgent of subjects. Most of the exhibits on display will be available to buy, giving guests the opportunity to support both the artists and the RA’s charitable work.

From £20, 21 June – 21 August, royalacademy.org.uk

LUXURY LONDON

C U LT U R E

W H E N F R A N C I S F O R D C O P P O L A’ S

Frank

M A S T E R P I E C E M A D E I T S C I N E M AT I C D E B U T E X A C T LY H A L F A C E N T U R Y A G O , T H E R E WA S O N E S U R V I V I N G M O B S T E R F R O M T H E M A F I A’ S G O L D E N AG E W H O I N M A R LO N B R A N D O ’ S C H A R A C T E R M AY H AV E S P O T T E D M O R E T H A N A PA S S I N G R E S E M B L A N C E T O H I M S E L F. T H I S I S T H E A S TO N I S H I N G , R E A L- L I F E S TO RY

COSTELLO O F F R A N K CO ST E L LO

The ‘REAL’ Godfather Words:

Rob Crossan

COSTELLO IN THE WITNESS CHAIR UNDER THE THREAT OF ARREST, AFTER HE WALKED OUT ON THE SENATE CRIME INVESTIGATING COMMITTEE ON THE PREVIOUS DAY, 16 MARCH 1951, CSU ARCHIVES/EVERETT COLLECTION

H

e survived an assassination attempt, valued brains over brawn, enjoyed a long marriage and adored gardening.

As fanciful as these biographic details of the fictional Vito Corleone seem – this year marks half a century since the Mafia Don was first portrayed, unforgettably,

by Marlon Brando in The Godfather – they are characteristics Mario Puzo’s character (Puzo wrote the book upon which Francis Ford Coppola’s film is based) shared with a real-life mobster, Frank Costello – aka the Prime Minister of the Underworld.

“I don’t think there will ever be another sitting boss who can meet with judges, political bosses and have that kind of unbridled influence... that’s something that happened under Frank Costello for just one era,” said John Miller Jnr, Costello’s godson, a former journalist who now, in a move unlikely to please his late LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

47

godfather, is Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism at the New York Police Department.

The man who Mob historians and movie insiders believe was the basis for Don Corleone arrived in New York on a boat from Italy at the age of four. Born 26 January 1891 as Francesco Castiglia in Calabria, he quit school in the fifth grade and worked as a rent collector for a local mobster while his father ran an ailing grocery store.

Determined to rise out of the poverty of East Harlem, Frankie, as he was now known, spent a year in prison in 1918 for weapons possession. Never again would he allow himself to be caught so easily by the authorities.

Despite hailing from the south of mainland Italy at a time when leading Mob families, seeking loyalty and family connections, preferred to use only Sicilian immigrants, Frank worked his

THIS IMAGE COSTELLO CONFERRING WITH HIS ATTORNEY, GEORGE WOLF, WHILE TESTIFYING BEFORE THE KEFAUVER COMMITTEE, 1951 BELOW COSTELLO, 78, LEAVING THE NEW YORK COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE. HE WAS QUESTIONED BY A GRAND JURY ABOUT GAMBLING OPERATIONS ACROSS THE COUNTRY, 15 MAY 15 1970

way through the ranks of American syndicated crime; preferring to use money, rather than threats, to ‘buy’ the people who mattered.

Costello even extended his formidable influence into New York politics. After amassing immense wealth and influence through bootlegging and bookmaking during Prohibition, Costello built a slot machine empire in New York and then New Orleans – the latter with the full support and endorsement of Louisiana governor Huey Long, just one of the many political titans who fell under Costello’s influence.

“The police were involved in Prohibition in the sense that they were moving liquor and smuggled booze for the gangsters, off-loading shipments,” says mafia historian, Anthony M. DeStefano.

“The politicians saw the Mob as a source of cash, which politicians needed... The democratic machine… needed a good source of cash. The gangsters were that source of cash because they had a big stockpile of money from Prohibition.

They were able to entice the politicians, who the mobsters needed to run favours.”

By buying off juries in his sporadic court appearances, Costello avoided another jail term and by his mid-30s was a multi-millionaire with serious political clout. In 1932, he went so far as to attend the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, working to secure Franklin D. Roosevelt the presidential nomination.

“Can you imagine a gangland leader going to a Presidential convention and sharing a suite of rooms with one of the most important political leaders

LUXURY LONDON

C U LT U R E

in New York City?’ asks George Walsh, author of the seminal 1980 book on Costello and NY mayor William O’Dwyer, Public Enemies. “That was a sign of just how close Costello was to the political establishment.”

Yet even Costello’s political influence couldn’t help his boss, Lucky Luciano, often cited as the founding father of modern organised crime in the United States, who failed to live up to his moniker when he was sentenced to 30 to 50 years in prison in 1936 after being convicted of running a prostitution ring.

With Lucky’s proposed successor Vito Genovese being charged with murder and fleeing to Italy, it was Costello who now stepped up from his role as ‘consigliere’ (advisor) within the Genovese crime family to become its acting boss. It was a succession that, in 1951, put Frank directly in the spotlight of the infamous Kefauver Hearings – a colossal Senate investigation into organised crime.

The hearings were televised; a medium that did Costello no favours. His deep, rasping voice (the result of having a polyps burnt off his throat in a botched operation) made his voice seem to many Americans like a clichéd James Cagneyesque movie gangster brought to real life.

Costello’s evasive, garbled responses, his demands that only his sweating, constantly wringing hands be filmed and his eventual decision to walk out of the hearings resulted in an 18‐month prison sentence for contempt of the Senate. It would be the beginning of his downfall and the end of any serious attempt to quit the Mob and turn legitimate.

“Costello thought he could acquit himself well in his testimony, but it came out very poorly,” reflected DeStefano.

“People came away shaking their heads and figuring, ‘Well this guy is doing something wrong or has done something wrong in life.’ He was never really allowed to shake the image. Even though you’re making your money legitimately, if you have that bad image, that reputation, it’s going to prevent you from being socalled legitimate.”

The Kefauver Hearings wouldn’t, however, be Costello’s most infamous moment in the national spotlight. Just like the Don Corleone character in The Godfather, in May 1957 a now elderly Costello was the victim of an assassination

attempt that failed to kill him.

Orchestrated by his rival Vito Genovese, who was vying for control of Lucky Luciano’s former empire, the two men’s inevitable clash had its roots in their vastly contrasting personalities.

Always keen to avoid violence, Costello was a cerebral character who lived a discreet life. Calling himself ‘Mr Schedule’, Frank dressed like an English gentleman. With his numerous Wall Street investments, and love of the steam room at The Biltmore Hotel, he was the very essence of a sophisticated corrupter rather than trigger-happy killer.

Genovese had a more impulsive, explosive personality and it was he who persuaded Vincent ‘The Chin’ Gigante to finish off his rival. Yet, astonishingly, the bullet Gigante fired clipped Costello’s skull but didn’t puncture it. It was a survival that bordered on the miraculous.

As with Marlon Brando’s character, Costello took the assassination attempt as a warning and bowed out of Mob life in favour of retirement on Long Island, acting occasionally as a mediator and advisor for younger bosses such as Carlo Gambino.

Despite a lifetime upholding the omerta, Costello, now 82, began talking to crime author Peter Maas for a proposed biography, just at the time that Coppola was making the first of what would become the Godfather trilogy.

Through the first few weeks of regular two- or three-hour long meetings with Maas, Costello revealed that Joseph P. Kennedy, father of the murdered President John F. Kennedy, wanted the Mob’s help in bringing alcohol into the USA. Kennedy was a major importer of whisky for more than a decade after the end of Prohibition and Costello claimed that he and Kennedy were in the liquor business together for “a time thereafter” – a claim that was later furiously denied by the late Kennedy’s family.

But Peter Maas’ book was never completed. Just weeks after recorded interviews began, Costello died of a heart attack, taking most of his secrets to the grave.

There is speculation that an elderly Costello may have watched an early screening of The Godfather in the last year of his life. Did this influence his decision to finally go public with his memoirs?

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

49

Costello made headlines after his death in a way that utterly eclipses the low-key ending of The Godfather Nothing is certain. Yet Costello made headlines after his death in a way that utterly eclipses the low-key ending of the first Godfather movie.

In 1974, a full year after he was interred in the immense family mausoleum in the cemetery of St. Michael’s in Queens, a bomb seriously damaged the vault. Mobster Carmine Galante, recently released from jail on a narcotics conviction, was found to be behind the explosion. About to be anointed as the new boss of the rival Bonanno crime family, the bomb sent out a clear message as John Miller Jnr, Costello’s godson, explained in an interview given in the late 1990s: “This was his [Carmine’s] message, saying ‘all the old bets are off’. And Frank was the very definition of the oldstyle boss and the old ways. He shunned dealing narcotics, he believed in a certain code and this was Galante’s way of spitting in the face of the old ways.”

A more violent, chaotic chapter in the history of the New York Mob families was about to begin – and one that would see a gradual unravelling of the immense network of influence and control that the Mafia held over the highest echelons of politics and industry. Costello, not unlike Marlon Brando himself, was the last of a vanished generation.

As Peter Maas, whose torpedoed biography of Costello was never published, stated before his own death in 2001: “Costello was certainly the only major figure in the Mob who could have been a huge success legitimately. You keep hearing stories about how smart Mafia Dons are and what they could have done if they’d chosen another road. Costello is the only one who really could have done it.”

© MATT CROCKETT

STILL BREAKING GLASS A S H E TA K E S O N H I S L AT E S T R O L E I N M A R I A N N E E L L I O T T ’ S N E W P L AY, C O C K , L O N D O N - B O R N

P H I L D A N I E L S TA L K S I C O N I C C H A R A C T E R S , H I S L O V E O F T H E AT R E A N D S U P P O R T I N G C H E L S E A F C

Words:

Josh Sims

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

50

LUXURY LONDON

C U LT U R E

“I

’d never heard of them,” says Phil Daniels, speaking of Blur.

“Recording those lines took about an hour and then I didn’t think any more of it. I asked Steve Sutherland [the editor of NME at the time, who suggested Daniels for the part] what to do about the fee and he said ‘Take a cut!’ – but I’m never gonna buy a mansion out of it.”

While you’re unlikely to get Daniels to riff off one of the most quotable tracks of the 90s on cue – ‘I get up when I want, except on Wednesdays…’ – he has, of course, revisited the line on numerous occasions with the band itself. He hangs about behind the drums, comes on and does his bit to 120,000 people to rapturous applause. What the younger faces in those crowds might not realise is just how far and wide the career of the Parklife narrator has ranged.

Indeed, if anyone has made the case for the virtue of keeping your head down and working your nuts off, it’s Daniels.

Since emerging in the early 1970s as one of the country’s most talented young actors – having trained at Islington’s Anna Scher Theatre School alongside the likes of Pauline Quirke, Kathy Burke and Gary Kemp, he was just 20 years old when he stole the show in Quadrophenia and starred alongside Ray Winstone in the seminal Scum – the King’s Cross-born 63-year-old has done nothing but graft.

Daniels isn’t just cockney-Mod Jimmy Cooper and tearaway gangster Richards.

Daniels isn’t just the voice of Parklife and Kevin Wicks from EastEnders (one of Daniels’ most high-profile roles, before he left the soap in 2007). Rather, Daniels, as anyone with a passing interest in theatre will know, is a veteran of the stage.

Many of his landmark performances have

been in a renaissance play, Shakespeare’s works especially. If you saw Daniels play the fool, opposite Ian McKellen, in King Lear a few years back, you’ll know just how finely calibrated his live performances can be.

Daniels has done musicals, pantomime and politically-charged theatre – most notably playing the Labour Party chief whip in This House at the National Theatre – but it is the nuances found in the works of Shakespeare that he most enjoys sinking his teeth into.

“I started on the stage and always enjoyed that, but I was lucky in a way because Shakespeare never got pushed at me in school, so when I first encountered the plays it was in work, acting, and I think that’s good because when you get taught Shakespeare it becomes very academic, when it should be acted. Once you start investigating one of his plays it’s often about something very different to what your master told you at school. People think they don’t like Shakespeare. They don’t [get to] appreciate just how brilliant a writer he was.

“The fact is that with average plays you exhaust the possibilities. The mark of a good play is that you keep finding things as the show goes on, and [the actor] finds more interesting ways of developing the character. You can do that with all of Shakespeare.”

It was the opportunity for character development that drew Daniels to his current role in Mike Bartlett’s Cock, opposite Jonathan Bailey, Jade Anouka and Taron Egerton at the Ambassadors Theatre in Covent Garden. “It’s a farce really about two guys who live together, and one of them has an affair with a lady and there’s this dinner party where they all meet up,” he explains.

“I play the father of one of the men, and turn up at the dinner party too.

And all hell breaks loose basically. So when they asked me to do it I thought, ‘why not? That sounds fun’. But Cock

“The mark of a good play is that you keep finding things as the show goes on”

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

51

PHIL DANIELS AND TARON EGERTON IN REHEARSALS OF COCK © BRINKHOFF MOEGENBURG

is just such good writing because you think it’s a tragedy when in fact it’s a comedy. We’ve done run-throughs of the play, in the same room, with the same people, and no one laughs. And we’re doing a comedy. So you’ve got to suck it and see.”

Many of Daniels’ early roles saw him play disaffected, anti-establishment figures, one of a then-new generation of working-class actors who broke through the glass ceiling at a time when playwrights were providing punchier material.

“I think with the early work, in the 80s, we were all trying to change the world a bit – and there were writers trying to say things about society.

There were social documentary dramas happening in the 60s but up until [the 80s] bovver boys with leather jackets were about it and they never had anything interesting to say. I think maybe what happened was that my type of actor came along at the right time. Equal opportunities across the board seem to be better [for working class actors since

then] but whether they actually are I don’t know. If you have money and an education there’s more opportunity – in all walks of life.”

Daniels is lucky enough – or not, depending on your point of view – to have been central to not just one pop-culture icon, in Parklife, but two.

His portrayal of Jimmy, the young Mod who escapes his humdrum work life by dancing and pill-popping in Quadrophenia, has gone down in cinematic history. The film itself has a 100 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Daniels still puts in guest star appearances at the occasional Mod convention and talks about Quadrophenia fondly, yet discusses the film with the nostalgia of something that happened a very long time ago.

“It’s a weird one when you do something that becomes iconic. For years, for me, it was just a job. You know, I was 19. I was big fan of The Who [the film is loosely based on the band’s rock opera of the same name] and suddenly I had a part in that film which was amazing. But when it came out, because there weren’t LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

52

“It’s a weird one when you do something that becomes iconic”

LUXURY LONDON

C U LT U R E

any cassettes or DVDs, it just did its bit.

The critics weren’t great on it – they thought it was a load of yobs running around – and then for years it wasn’t massively big. It became quite a big film with DVDs coming out.

“It says something that I took the bus to the premier,” says Daniels. “No one was bothered with the film. Now, if I put a tweet out with a picture of me as Jimmy, the Mods go mad. There’s so many of them still out there that still live that life.

For years, I just blew it out and didn’t bother with [the Mod interest]. But, you know, if you can’t beat them, join them…” Daniels has only recently bought a vintage scooter.

When he’s not in front of a camera or, as is his preference, it seems, up on stage – “I like the whole process of getting [the production] to a certain point and, having learnt the whole thing, doing it in front of the audience and, you know, getting it on” – Daniels keeps himself busy with sport, both watching and playing. If his afternoons are free of matinee performances, there’s a good chance you’ll find him on the golf course.

“People have said that that’s surprising.

Why is that surprising?” he asks, perplexed. “I’ve reached a good standard.

I play with my mates and we play for the drinks after. I’m not spending every hour

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

53

out there. It’s a zen game and I think I’ve seen my limit. But, you know, I like to dream big.”

And then there’s football. Despite being a North Londoner, he supports Chelsea FC. “I think liking [1970s Chelsea player] Peter Osgood was about the strength of it. I always say the No.14 bus went to Highbury one way and the other to Fulham Broadway – and I just got on the wrong bus.”

Directed by Tony- and Olivier-award winning Marianne Elliott, Cock, runs at Covent Garden’s Ambassadors Theatre from 5 March to 4 June, tickets from £20, cocktheplay.co.uk

LONG LIFE FORMULA ® IS MY LONG LIFE SECRET

In the verdant hills of Romagna lies Castrocaro Terme, a historical town known for its century old thermal waters and velvet muds. Lucia Magnani Health Clinic, just an hour from Bologna airport with direct flights from London’s main airports, is the ideal destination for beauty, medical and well-being treatments.

Discover the seven best-selling programmes available:

WEIGHTLOSS | CLEAN | EVERGREEN | ENERGY | RESTART | SPORT | RELAX SCAN THE QR TO BOOK YOUR STAY

T. +39 0543 412800, info@luciamagnanihealthclinic.it Viale Marconi 14 / 16 - Castrocaro Terme (FC) - Italy www.luciamagnanihealthclinic.it

Connoisseur TAST I N G

NOTES FOR

THE URBANE EPICUREAN

Argyll Street’s new night spot INCA combines Latin American cuisines with high-energy entertainment (p.56)

56 Top Tables Restaurants to book this spring 60 Hawksmoor’s new flagship The feted steak joint floats into Canary Wharf 62 For King & Country Jeremy King comes out swinging 66 Normal for Norfolk East Anglia is making a name in the wine world

INCA, SOHO

TOP TABLES LO N D O N ’ S S O C I A L S C E N E I S B AC K I N F U L L SW I N G , W I T H

A R A F T O F N E W ( A N D R E L O C AT E D ) R E S TA U R A N T S O P E N I N G

T H E I R D O O R S A C R O S S T H E C A P I TA L . L I F E S T Y L E C O N C I E R G E C O M P A N Y, I N N E R P L A C E , S U G G E S T S W H E R E Y O U S H O U L D B E M A K I N G R E S E R VAT I O N S T H I S S P R I N G

Words: Nick Savage

The Aubrey

LUXURY LONDON

CONNOISSEUR

KNIGHTSBRIDGE

The Mandarin Oriental Hotel has always been something of a culinary destination. Heston Blumenthal elevated the place to the Michelin firmament with his double-starred destination restaurant, Dinner

by Heston. Before that, it was equally known for serving some of the best bistro burgers in the capital, thanks to Daniel Boulud’s Bar Boulud.

The Aubrey has now stepped into those digs. Launched in tandem with Hong Kong-based group Maximal Concepts, the venture reimagines the traditional Japanese izakaya in a super-luxury setting.

Laid out across a lounge, salon and library, The Aubrey transports you to another world via a burnt-coral colour

motif, Bundt-era lamps, crane-ornamented screens and gilt Louis XIV chandeliers.

It’s replete with intimate alcoves, marble surfaces, velvet furnishings and a soundtrack that borrows heavily from contemporary Japan. As afternoon wends its way into evening, the vibe becomes decidedly clubbier, with visitors popping in just to drink. We were quite taken with the private dining rooms and bars, which are ideal for exclusive get-togethers. We especially recommend the Iberico secreto pork and Saikyo miso sablefish from the robata grill; and the sensational black sesame cheesecake to finish.

SW1, mandarinoriental.com

Wild Honey PA L L M A L L

During the noughties, Anthony Demetre created two restaurants that captured the zeitgeist. Mayfair’s Wild Honey and Soho’s Arbutus perfectly executed the laidback Gallic bistro, attracting the attention of Michelin reviewers who duly awarded each restaurant a star.

It was sad to bid them farewell, but the spirit of Wild Honey lives on in St James’s, where it has taken over the grand space that formerly housed The Balcon in the Sofitel Hotel.

Split between a mid-century modern cocktail bar with art deco mosaic-tiled floors and statement chandeliers, the large space features smart hunter-green velvet high-tops and marbled tables, and a dining area with lavender

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

57

velvet buttonback banquettes, swooping tan leather seating and an equally-impressive chandelier. Located within range of a dozen auditoriums, it’s a prime setting for a pre-theatre dinner, and Wild Honey has a tremendous menu for the purpose.

The crispy chicken with hand-cut macaroni and winter truffles was a starter to remember. The fallow venison with slow-cooked celeriac and kumquat marmalade an equally impressive main.

For dessert, there’s an apple tarte tatin that can be shared between up to four people.

Wild Honey is a high-end venue with eye-popping art.

SW1, wildhoneystjames.co.uk

The Barbary Next Door Layo and Zoe Paskin have mined gold wherever they’ve opened a restaurant, from the excellent Israeli-inspired fare of The Palomar to their Soho venture The Blue Posts (and Evelyn’s Table) to their excellent Mediterranean restaurant The Barbary. The newest string to their bow is The Barbary Next Door, located in Neal’s Yard.

The dining room is more of a long counter, jewel-box small, with just 10 covers. While it may be diminutive in stature, it is perfectly formed and beaming with charm.

For a quiet catch-up, there’s nowhere better. As with any of the Paskins’ restaurants, the lighting and music are impeccably tasteful, and the staff were well-informed yet never overbearing. They were quick to point us in the direction of a Kir Royale and a Cocchi Sbagliato, before steering us to order a delicious Chianu Cruci orange

SEVEN DIALS

wine from Caravaglio, Sicily.

We kicked off with butter soft Afghan khobz bread that billowed pockets of steam when torn apart. A sunset crudo of tuna was delicately balanced with lovely flavours such as carrot, orange and coriander oil. Berbere lentil

INCA SOHO

wot built upon warming layers of flavour and was crowned with seared leeks. If you’re looking for small plates that deliver big flavour, The Barbary Next Door serves some of the best in town.

WC2, thebarbarynextdoor.co.uk

Launching at The London Palladium on Argyll Street, INCA is the latest Latin-inspired restaurant to touch down in the capital, offering immersive live entertainment alongside tasty South American-inspired cuisine at the site that formerly housed Movida and Toy Room. Helmed by battle-tested impresarios Marc Merran and Nathanael Dadoun, INCA represents the leading edge of a new brand of restaurant that splices eclectic eating with a dance experience and latenight clubby vibe.

On an investigative recce we discovered INCA to be a dark and sultry boîte worthy of its address.

The multi-faceted space is decked to the nines with eye-popping

Latin décor that captures the dualities of light and day, darkness and night, sun and moon. Guests enter down a winding staircase with Brazilian tiles that twinkle in the light. In the bar area, you’ll find peep-through walls, secret windows and a stand-out centre stage. Tables and dinners have replaced dancefloors but INCA retains that unmistakably exclusive London nightclub ambience, with performers even approaching dining guests to interact tableside.

An eclectic menu showcases Latin American dishes with delicious twists running the gamut from Carabineros ceviche to nachos with white crab.

W1F, incalondon.com

LUXURY LONDON

CONNOISSEUR

Innerplace is London’s personal lifestyle concierge. Membership provides complimentary access to the finest nightclubs, the best restaurants and top private members’ clubs. Innerplace also offers priority bookings, updates on the latest openings and hosts its own regular parties. Membership starts from £100 a month, innerplace.co.uk

Luca Maggiora has been one of the defining names in London’s nightlife scene and we were beyond intrigued when we heard he would be bringing his impresario’s touch to One Pall Mall with the opening of Italian restaurant Bardo St James’s.

With live music very much the focal point of the venue, Bardo elegantly exudes an upbeat yet intimate (even sultry) atmosphere,

with both top-shelf dining and entertainment. The restaurant shares common DNA with a private members’ club, minus the fees.

People make an effort to dress up and there is a smart dress code (no T-shirts without a jacket, but smart jeans are allowed). There’s also a very cool private members’ lounge bar hidden away behind the restaurant.

Bardo stretches over 11,000

Bardo St James’s S T. J A M E S ’ S

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

59

sq ft and is as ambitious as it is expansive, comprising a large dining room with open-plan kitchen, whisky tasting room, walkin wine cellar and secluded booths.

It’s a great setting in which to enjoy the enlightened Italian cooking of Graziano Bonacina, who formerly carved a name for himself Bulgari Hotel restaurant Sette.

SW1, bardostjames.com

Hawksmoor Wood Wharf R E S TA U R A N T R E V I E W :

Too big to fail?

Y

ou’ve got to have balls the size of a grain-fed, hormonepumped steer’s to open a big-ticket steak restaurant in a period of economic downturn. All restaurants feed off a strong economy.

But given that they’re disproportionately propped up by men who wear chinos and gilets to bet on line graphs all day – it’s a trope but it’s true; the bit about steak restaurants being sausage fests, but also about the chinos and gilets – swanky steak restaurants, more than any other type of swanky restaurants (swanky Brazilian-Peruvian-Japanese mash-ups, for example) rely on a FTSE 100 in bullish spirits (see what I did there?). It’s true. We can draw our own line graph

and you’ll see what I mean...

The story of the swanky (modern) steakhouse begins with Hawksmoor and Goodman. The principal names in premium beef (still) opened in 2006 and 2008, respectively, following a five-year period in which the FTSE 100 was going gangbusters. The index, after recovering from the burst of the dotcom bubble (2000-2002), was up every year between 2003 and 2008. Would that be peppercorn or béarnaise sauce with your sirloin, Sir? For several years, the friendly rivals forged a reputation as the best steakhouses in town before... WALLOP. Lehman Brothers. Economic crisis.

Bailouts. Quantitative easing. No more venture capital. No more lending. No

Words:

Richard Brown

more swanky steak restaurants... For a while...

By 2012, we’re back on our feet.

The City’s up. The Olympics is in town.

Consumer confidence is growing (albeit slowly). Cue the opening of the first admittedly-less-swanky Flat Iron in Shoreditch, followed, in 2014, by three properly-swanky meat dens: hypermasculine Beast (from the same team as Goodman); new City ‘It’ restaurant M (from the former managing director of Gaucho); and pumping, party beef bunker STK (straight outta Midtown Manhattan).

By which point you’d have thought that London would have had its fill of steak places. Not quite. In 2015, New York

LUXURY LONDON

CONNOISSEUR

institution Smith & Wollensky arrives in a sprawling, two-floor site behind The Savoy; followed, a year later, by Soho’s slightly-less swanky Zelman Meats, from the founders of Goodman and Beast, who are clearly trying to make hay while the sun... WALLOP. Brexit. Trump. Slumping property prices (the average one-bedroom flat in London is down 4.5 per cent in 2017 and 8.5 per cent in 2018).

Coronavirus. A freefalling FTSE (down 34 per cent in the first six months of 2020). No more venture capital. No more expense accounts. No more fancy steak restaurants.

It’s not a fully-formed hypothesis, I’ll grant you. The point I’m trying to make, in a roundabout way, is that it’s a bit of a punt to open a two-level, 150-cover steak restaurant – with a 120-cover bar below – in a part of town that owes its existence to blokes betting on line graphs at a time when that betting is being done in bedrooms and home offices in Shenfield and Sevenoaks.

Or, in the case of the first new Hawksmoor in four years, which opened just before Christmas in Wood Wharf (that’s Canary Wharf’s glitzy new residential bit), perhaps not as much of a punt as you might think.

Even before the pandemic, Canary Wharf was on a mission to reconfigure its image. You may have seen the television adverts. You may have seen the billboard posters. You may even have received a glossy newspaper – title: Discover Canary Wharf – through your front door (I edited it). Canary Wharf would like you to think it’s not all chinos and gilets. And, actually, it’s not.

I live nearby. Have done for a decade.

I shop there. I go to the gym there.

It’s where I get my hair cut and where I panic buy my toilet roll. Whether it was the marketing drive, whether it was people stumbling onto the estate during the pandemic, whether it’s London’s gravitational centre gradually shifting east (it’s all three, and other things), people have begun discovering Canary Wharf. It gets mobbed.

Point being, the new Hawksmoor won’t need to rely solely on wolves to avoid becoming a white elephant. It’ll have a steady stream of meat-eaters from the

avenues of flats being built along the A13 and around London City Airport and on City Island, and from Essex and Kent and maybe even the Herzog & de Meurondesigned apartments opposite (which I’m told are selling fast, but then the agents that are selling them would say that).

Young people who don’t wear chinos and gilets. Who’ll visit with friends who also don’t wear chinos and gilets. OK, so there were plenty of men in shirts and merino zip-neck Charles Tyrwhitt jumpers when we visited, but also lots of couples and several tables of Gen-Zedders, who could be identified as Gen-Zedders because they looked like they’d come straight from taking the bins out.

To the meat and gravy. Is the steak as good as it was? Yes. Will you have forgotten how much it costs to eat at a swanky steak restaurant? Maybe. A starter of three roasted scallops with white port and garlic costs £18, so you tell me (to give the squashy little fellas their due, they were the best scallops we’ve ever had). What else? The bone marrow and onions; get it. Drinks? The Fuller-Fat Old Fashioned. It’s made with bourbon infused with salty brown butter. You can feel the smack of the oily fat against your lips. It’s not new, but it is big and it is clever.

I want to mention the cocktail menu, which is actually a leather-bound book with a cover etched with a map of the River Thames. It’s beautiful and imaginative and must have cost money and taken time and is the sort of thing that makes you realise you’re somewhere special. But inside is gimmicky copywriting and low-res illustrations that look like they’ve been taken off WordArt. How’d that happen?

You may have been to Hawksmoor before. You may have a closer one to you. So, why schlep to this one? Well, for the physical space itself. The restaurant occupies a purpose-built pavilion that floats between skyscrapers (it’s been anchored in place; it doesn’t actually move. In case you had visions of drifting around the docks while you ate). I was sent CGIs of the gargantuan structure a year or so before it was towed up the Thames from its build site in Beckton.

Nothing ever looks as good in real life as it does in CGIs. The new Hawksmoor LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

61

does. It’s actually more impressive. Ask for a table by a window and you get to look out at a set from Blade Runner. If you’ve never been to Canary Wharf, or haven’t had reason to visit for a while, I’m convinced it’ll blow your mind. It does mine. Especially at night.

Back to my hypothesis. It could be a load of cock and bull (wahey) but London will get another expensive wagyu-and-wine cave this spring, when M Restaurants opens its fourth outpost at the foot of Canary Wharf’s diamondtrellised Newfoundland. The FTSE 100 gained 14.3 per cent in 2021, its best year since 2016. A coincidence? Probably.

The tenancy was actually agreed six years ago, when the economy was flailing over Brexit and Canary Wharf Group needed a starry F&B tenant for its new built-torent skyscraper.

Anyway, Canary Wharf will get back on its feet. Business will resume. The chinos will return and everyone still loves steak.

Which makes Hawksmoor Wood Wharf look like less of a punt and more of a dead cert. It’s not like anything else in the area has ever been too big to fail.

1 Water Street, E14 5GX, thehawksmoor.com

© DAVID LOFTUS

For

KING and COUNTRY E A R L I E R T H I S Y E A R , H O S P I TA L I T Y P O W E R G R O U P C O R B I N & K I N G – F O R M E R P R O P R I E T O R O F L E C A P R I C E A N D T H E I V Y, A N D C U R R E N T O P E R A T O R O F T H E D E L A U N AY A N D T H E W O L S E L E Y – W A S P U T I N T O A D M I N I S T R AT I O N F O L L O W I N G A L O N G - R U N N I N G F R A C A S W I T H M A J O R I T Y S H A R E H O L D E R , M I N O R H O T E L S . H E R E , A C O M B ATA N T J E R E M Y K I N G TA L K S P O W E R P L AY S , T H E E F F E C T S O F T H E P A N D E M I C A N D W H Y H E W O N ’ T B E R E A DY TO R E L I N Q U I S H C O N T R O L O F H I S B U S I N E S S A N Y T I M E S O O N

Words:

Rob Crossan

J

eremy King sounds surprisingly relaxed for a man whose company has just gone into administration.

“There’s so much more I want to say but currently I can’t,” he says, unpromisingly, over the phone; a conversation that begins with him graciously, and totally unnecessarily, apologising for having postponed our interview from a few days prior due to the small matter of his restaurant empire being placed in the hands of receivers.

It is, as King tells me, a “purely technical” administration; one brought about by the majority shareholder, the Thai-based hotel group Minor International, calling in a loan which they had assured auditors for two consecutive years they would “never” ask for.

The power play by Minor is an attempt, as King sees it, to wrest control from him and his business partner, Chris Corbin; two men who have done more than any other restaurateurs in the last four decades to drag London’s dining scene into the modern age by the butter curler and bread knife. Initially, that was through Le Caprice (in St James’s, which closed in 2020 after almost 40 years), The Ivy (Seven Dials) and J Sheekey (Leicester Square), all of which were sold by the duo in 1998. Currently, the partners’ hospitality business, Corbin & King, operates Bellanger (Islington), Colbert (Chelsea),Fischer’s (Marylebone), The Delaunay (Aldwych), Soutine (St. John’s Wood), The Wolseley (Piccadilly) and

LUXURY LONDON

F E AT U R E

Brasserie Zédel (Piccadilly).

If you’re wondering who to thank for the fact that the egalitarian nature of the grand European style brassiere and bar counter is conscious and upright in London, then extend a firm handshake towards King. If you’re curious as to who is responsible for the fact that, at The Wolseley at least, it’s easily possible to pop in without a booking early in the morning, sit underneath an Art Deco chandelier in a black padded corner booth and have a fresh croissant au Beurre, feel like you’re winning at life and then receive change from a tenner, even in 2022, then you may want to give King a full-blown bear hug.

King’s voice is a redoubtable thing.

At times gentle, laconic and redolent of wood-panelled gentlemen’s clubs and single malt whisky; in other instances, prone to discreet, mischievous chuckles and the occasional stentorian roar. In short, his timbre has all the tones and cadences that you would hope to master yourself should you need to charm, cajole, flatter, discipline and pre-empt the tardiness, tears, tender kisses and tankedup tantrums of hundreds of diners and drinkers every evening across the capital.

Despite his warnings of being hamstrung as to how much he could reveal about the current farrago between himself and Minor International, King actually had rather a lot to say, about everything from Brexit and obnoxious guests to the joys of really, really cheap soup.

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

63

SOUTINE, ST. JOHN’S WOOD

Does the nub of this row with Minor International, which resulted in administration, boil down to a point of difference regarding whether or not The Wolseley should be franchised around the world? It seems, reading between the lines, that this is what Minor International wants to do, and you don’t.

That’s a part of it and it’s certainly contributed to why the relationship has fallen apart. What Minor want to do is franchise out The Wolseley in a scattergun way, whereas I feel it needs to be more controlled. I want to go abroad but it’s about how we do it that matters.

The Minor approach seems to be that anybody who offers to buy a franchise, which means us giving up quite a lot of control, should be accepted and we should take the money and run. I’m not against expansion in the long run, but in terms of opening a second The Wolseley

abroad we need to be very careful. I’ve looked at Shanghai and Hong Kong and very nearly took sites but I want to be careful rather than condemning the brand into somebody’s new, inconsequential-looking building.”

Yet The Ivy has been rolled out into numerous branches around the UK since you sold it and I think this has happened without any noticeable diminishment of the reputation of the original Ivy on West Street.

Well, I’m not so sure about that. The original Ivy is a very different restaurant to what it was in the 1990s. I’m not against change; change is normal, but there are ways of doing it. I’m not going to criticise the rollout of The Ivy as there are so many ways of doing things.

But what I would say is that isn’t the way that I would have done it. The moment

“Lots of people choose to tell their partner they want a divorce in a public place”

you relinquish control of something you can’t begrudge what anyone else wants to do with it. I’m disappointed with what’s happened with The Ivy but it really isn’t for me to criticise. But I would say that if, as a restaurateur, you’re driven purely by money, then you’re giving yourself a finite life.

I feel that way more than ever at the moment; in the panic for restaurants to recoup money after Covid, that I’m being treated as a wallet with legs. It’s understandable but also unpleasant.

Yes, I understand that. If you see customers as just a source of income, as so many restaurateurs do, then you’re missing out on the most important thing.

I’ve just done an induction with my staff and I told them that you must look upon every guest as an opportunity; an opportunity to give them a really, really good time. If you give them a really good time, well, that’s when you make money.

Customers do seem to be exceptionally proprietorial about your restaurants in a way that they aren’t with, say, Gordon Ramsay’s restaurants. I know it’s a softball question, but why do you think this is?

LUXURY LONDON

CONNOISSEUR

THE WOLSELEY, PICCADILLY

The quasi-brasseries and grand cafés are the greatest restaurants. If you go into The Wolseley tonight and do a survey, you’ll find people are there for so many different reasons. People will say I’m here with friends or I’m here with family or I’m here on business or I’m here to do an interview or I’m here to seduce, or I’m here to divorce. Lots of people do choose to tell their partner they want a divorce in a public place in my experience.

Maybe they think in a public place the screaming and shouting will be limited?

They can think that. It doesn’t always work out that way. The great restaurants allow all of those things to happen. I want places where people in evening dress are sat next to people in T-shirts and jeans.

One table is ordering lobster and caviar and the next one is ordering burger and fries. Even better if it’s the couple in evening dress who are eating the burger and fries! Then you’ve got an interesting, non-prescribed place. A lot of the most interesting people who come in are the least affluent. Our menus work on the basis that we give people the opportunity to spend if they want to but we don’t make it mandatory.

It always gave me a psychological lift when I was at my most impoverished in London that I could go to The Wolseley and afford to have a latte and not be sneered at by staff because I wasn’t ordering a bottle of Chablis.

When we first opened Zédel, the thengeneral-manager was seething with me one day about one particular table. There was a mature, single lady who had sat down and asked for a glass of tap water then got a basket of bread. She then ordered the soup. She ate the soup, and another basket of bread, and asked for the bill. It came to £2.25. I’ve always believed in having a really good value soup on a menu, by the way. The staff were furious. We had definitely lost money on her but I told the staff that this was great. I loved the fact that this woman felt so comfortable to come to the restaurant and just order soup and enjoy herself. I had to remind the staff that they weren’t complaining about the other table who were ordering champagne and spending too much, so therefore they shouldn’t complain about the guest that

Position xxxx xxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

spends ‘too’ little. It all balances out in a good restaurant over the course of a day and an evening.

there are alternatives to those places. I think questions need to be asked about what’s happening there at the moment.

Post-pandemic, do you think that the behaviour of customers has changed for the worse?

I think when people behave badly it’s because they have problems at home. It’s minor with us compared to so many other restaurants but what upsets me and the staff the most is when people take out their frustrations on us. I’ve been known to say to customers, ‘are you making your issues my problem?’ But by the same token the majority of customers have been nicer and more appreciative. One of the good things is that customers appreciate staff more after Covid, and vice versa. But, sadly, what I do think is that, from the pandemic, the bad have got worse and the good have got better. People are more aggressive, there’s more nervous energy around and when that combines with alcohol it leads to bad results.

How does your current predicament compare to other stresses and challenges you’ve faced in the past?

Well, it’s not me who’s in financial trouble. It’s Minor International! I’m very positive about the restaurant world. Many people are recalibrating what they think is important and good value. I know there have been casualties but I’m also aware that we’re in an adjustment before we move forward. In terms of things being challenging, this must be right up there.

I think the stress levels are OK though.

I work on the basis that I’m not going to get too upset about something which could well remedy perfectly happily.

And even if it doesn’t, there’s still the possibility to move on. I do still need to do this. I can’t retire and I don’t want to.

We seem to be in a phase, around the richer postcodes of London at least, where themed, party-type restaurants have come to dominance, from Amazónico to MNKY HSE to Sexy Fish. What’s your take on these sorts of places?

I’m a bit taken aback by what’s happened at Berkeley Square. That combination of residential, commercial and artistic now seems to be dominated by these type of restaurants. For my lifestyle, LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

65

In which of your restaurants are you finding sanctuary, if any, during this challenging time?

My restaurants are like children. I can’t make one my favourite. The last week I’ve hardly left the office and The Wolseley. I’m a fan of breakfasts in the restaurants. I rarely do dinners in my places. I always believe that the restaurateur walks the floor while the restaurant owner works it from the boardroom or the dining table. The only way I can do it is by pacing the floor!

COURTESY OF FLINT VINEYARD © SIMON BUCK

NORMAL FOR NORFOLK

LUXURY LONDON

CONNOISSEUR

“I T H E U K N O W B O A S T S S O M E 8 0 0 V I N E YA R D S , A N D , W H I L E M A K E R S O F S P A R K L I N G W I N E I N S U S S E X A N D K E N T H AV E D O M I N AT E D H E A D L I N E S , A C O L L E C T I O N O F V I N T N E R S I N E A S T A N G L I A A R E P R O V I N G T H AT W H E N I T C O M E S T O P R E M I U M P LO N K , E N G L A N D C A N M A K E M O R E T H A N J U ST F I ZZ

Words:

Rob Crossan

have to admit that I absolutely cannot delegate,” says Lee Dyer, pouring from behind his bar another glass of his award-wining Bacchus wine. “But I don’t apologise for it, really. I think the plaudits we’ve received are partly down to my refusal to compromise.”

From a family of fruit and vegetable traders, Lee leads what seems, from my vantage point on a bar stool at least, a far less frenetic (and certainly more garlanded) life than those of his relatives.

I pad over the wooden decking to the side of Dyer’s outdoor bar, grapevines running across the land like neat green stitches, and place myself on a leather armchair to sip what just might be the greatest wine England has ever produced.

The Winbirri vineyard, a 20-minute drive from central Norwich, comprises just eight acres of the Norfolk countryside, an area better known for its potatoes than its pinot. A minor eruption occurred back in 2017 when Lee’s vineyard, only set up by his father Stephen in 2007, won Decanter’s Platinum medal for Best in Show for the 2015 run of the wine I’m now drinking.

No English vineyard, before or since, has won an award of this magnitude for a still wine. Dyer isn’t one to boast, so I’ll do it for him – that’s the equivalent of scooping an Oscar within a decade of graduating from film school.

The Bacchus grape is fast becoming something of a signature among UK vignerons, partly due to its resilience against the vicissitudes of the British climate. With English wine still dominated by sparkling varietals, mostly as a way to combat the acidity that can come with grapes that aren’t perfectly ripened by the sun, producing a still wine with the level

of sophistication of Dyer’s in England is a genuine revelation.

Very gently spiced but with hints of lime, satsuma and almond, this is a wine that gently trapezes on the tongue with a genuine nuance that I previously thought was purely the reserve of wines from the more obscure and expensive parts of the Loire Valley.

“We’re actually trying to get away from the spotlight a little,” says Dyer, the sun casting shadows over neighbouring fields of parsley, maize and wheat. “We don’t enter any competitions now and we’re not really looking to take on big-name London restaurants to stock our wine.

We get approached a lot, but my attitude is always, ‘where were you when we were nowhere?’. That’s why you’ll still see my wine stocked in obscure places in Norfolk – those were the places that were on our side from the beginning.

“You can get my wine in Waitrose, but only in the Norwich branch. I need to be careful with suppliers. We don’t make

much wine and the worst thing you can do as a winemaker is accept an order and then not be able to fulfil it because you don’t have enough wine.”

Unless you’re speedy and nimble with your online orders, you really do have to head to Norfolk to sample the wines of this region – which makes for a rather exquisite road trip.

It’s effortless to visit four or five vineyards in a weekend (all of which have tasting rooms and tours) before heading back to Norwich for dinner and a bed for the night.

And although it’s only Winbirri that has so far scooped a top-level global award, there’s a raft of other vintners making wines every bit the equal of those being produced in the better-known English wine regions of Sussex and Kent.

“The thing you have to remember is that officially the sunniest and driest region of the UK is right here,” says Hannah Witchell, of Flint Vineyard, from her tasting room in a barn opposite the

HANNAH AND BEN WITCHELL OF FLINT VINEYARD

“The thing you have to remember is that officially the sunniest and driest region of the UK is right here”

LUXURY LONDON

CONNOISSEUR

vineyards of the winery she runs with her husband, Ben. The couple made the decision to leave their former home in Beaujolais, just north of Lyon, where Ben worked as a winemaker, to come to Norfolk where their wines, easily identifiable by the Venn diagram logo on their bottles, have developed something of a cult following.

The cute-as-a-button farmyard is frenetic on the morning I visit, with grapes having just arrived from the fields for the beginning of the process that will eventually result in new bottles of Flint’s much-lauded Bacchus and Silex white wines (blends of pinot noir, pinot blanc, pinot gris and chardonnay). Both wines offer another rebuke to the notion that England can only produce acidic, brittle, sparkling wines.

One of the old stables in the Flint farmyard is now a rustic tasting room, complete with tables made from old barrels, which serves a ‘15-mile lunch’ – so called because every ingredient, from the Marsh Pig charcuterie to the artisan bread

from Hempnall, comes from no further than 15 miles away.

Despite their commitment to local produce, Hannah and Ben’s agenda is far from parochial when it comes to wine experimentation.

“The ‘charmat’ method is something we embrace, though not everyone agrees with it,” says Hannah. “Basically, it means that, unlike the traditional method used when you make champagne, we allow the secondary fermentation to happen in a tank rather than in the bottle. It’s how all prosecco wines are made but it’s never been done here. We use the charmat method for our rosé and we were the first producers in the UK to ever try it.”

Hannah and Ben’s rosé is a far more sophisticated beast than the Italian sparklings you may have gotten used to. It’s much softer and creamier than prosecco and leaves a much longer finish.

Think of it as an unexpected yet luxurious stopover on the well-paved journey between prosecco and champagne.

The number of vineyards in Norfolk LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

69

is now in double figures. It’s a small contribution to the national total but is set to grow. With 178 wineries and 800 vineyards now operating in the UK, the amount of hectares under vine has exploded from just 196 in the mid-1970s to almost 4,000 today – extending as far afield as Wales and Yorkshire.

Before heading back to Norwich, I pay my last visit of the day to the Humbleyard vineyard.

After entering a farm shop chock-full of fresh leeks, potatoes, eggs and cakes, the owner, Robert Preston, drives me to a small canopy next to his vines where, sitting in hay bales, we taste his delectable sparkling White Cuvée, a blend of sauvignon blanc and chardonnay.

“We’re pretty ambitious here,” says Robert. “Most vineyards in the UK stick to a very small variety of grapes but we want to experiment. We currently have nine different grapes including some you won’t really see anywhere else in England, like cabernet cortis and sauvignon blanc.

I’ve always wanted to make a Kiwi-style sauvignon here.”

In terms of international recognition, barring the miraculous Winbirri win, English wines still have a substantial distance to go in order to compete with our sunnier European neighbours. But the chalky soil and semi-arid climate of Norfolk suggests that it won’t just be the south coast that’s at the forefront of English wines’ growing reputation for quality.

Not only that, but the pomposity of the champagne houses are gloriously absent in these parts. As the wriggling country lanes guide me back to the (relative) urban sprawl of Norwich, Dyer’s words stick with me as an admirable mantra for winemakers everywhere – even in France.

“There’s a romance to owning and running a vineyard,” he told me. “Ours evolved from a hobby that became a passion and a love. And now I get to play at it seven days a week.”

Winbirri (winbirri.com), Flint (flintvineyard.com) and Humbleyard (humbleyardenglishwine.co.uk) all offer tasting experiences and tours. Greater Anglia (greateranglia.co.uk) runs direct trains between London and Norwich from £60 return, visiteastofengland.com

NEW BOND ST.

ROYAL EXCHANGE

SLOANE ST. WESTBOURNE GROVE

SMYTHSON.COM

Couture CUT

FROM

A DIFFERENT

CLOTH

FENDI’S 2019 COUTURE SHOW TOOK PLACE IN THE SHADOW OF THE COLOSSEUM. THE LOCATION SIGNALLED THE MAISON’S ONGOING MISSION OF PRESERVING ITALIAN HERITAGE, REFLECTED MOST RECENTLY IN ITS RESTORATION OF THE TEMPLE OF VENUS AND ROME (P.74).

72 Noughties Nostalgia Millennial fashion is making a comeback 74 Made in Italy Fendi’s patronage continues a national legacy of cultural conservation 78 Man of the Cloth Tailoring scion Luca Rubinacci on preserving the family business

STYLE HER

NOUGHTIES NOSTALGIA Words:

Anna Solomon

Corsets and crops

MISSONI

Venus corset £255, miaou.com

In the heady days of the millennium, the only time your midriff wasn’t on display was while wearing a corset. So, if you’re not a fan of donning half a garment, check out Miaou’s cute collection of bodice-style tops.

BLUMARINE SS22

Crochet knit dress £1,390, etro.com

Crocheting

Accessories

Missoni reminded us in a recent campaign that crocheting had a moment in the noughties – there were ponchos, obviously, and a knitted halterneck fulfilled the second order of ‘jeans and a nice top’. Fellow Italian fashion house Etro has also taken inspiration in an onslaught of purled pieces.

Mini swipe bag £418, coperniparis.com

From head (bandanas, tinted sunglasses) to toe (wedges and anything with a monogram – thanks Paris Hilton) and everything in between, accessories were everything in the noughties.

Ideally, you’d wear all of the above in one outfit. What can we say?

More was more.

Bridge platform sandal, £380, coperniparis.com

Snake head chain belt £908, robertocavalli.com

Square snake sunglasses, £104, robertocavalli.com

Square knife pump £785, gucci.com

Net and mesh In 2000, J.Lo wore that most iconic of green Versace dresses to the 42nd Grammy Awards, rendering mesh a staple of the decade. This migrated to a broader penchant for garments with holes in them, and a ‘distressed’ aesthetic generally. We’ve also nodded to the decade’s obsession with baker boy hats and layering straps over long sleeves with pieces from MatchesFashion and Givenchy, respectively.

Above left Piercing-embellished baker boy cap, £195, matchesfashion.com Above right T-shirt dress with tag effect prints, £1,430, givenchy.com Right Riviera rope shopping bag, £850, dsquared2.com

Low-rise LOVERBOY

MIU MIU SS22

MISSONI SS22

The news of a 2000s resurgence struck fear into the hearts of many due to this most unflattering of trends. Who actually thought that putting a waistband below your stomach and hips was a good idea?

We certainly didn’t sign it off. Miu Miu and Missoni officially confirmed the return of this cursed craze in their SS22 shows.

Right Rigid low-rise jeans, £510, modaoperandi.com Below Carter pleated mini skirt, £340, net-a-porter.com

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

73

C

ultural superpower Italy has long been an epicentre of art, architecture and design. From the domes and arches of ancient Rome, to the 20th century maisons that dominate Milan Fashion Week, ‘la bella figura’, or ‘good appearance’, is part of the national DNA – an aesthetic history that Fendi seeks to champion and sustain.

The Roman brand has engaged in various patronage activities over the years, which support, promote and preserve Italian excellence, including working on the restoration of the Trevi Fountain. In 2015, Fendi chose the neoclassical Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana (built in 1938) as its European headquarters, opening it to the public for exhibitions and installations thereafter. Then, in 2020, came the label’s most ambitious project yet: the restoration of the Temple of Venus and Rome.

Nearly 2,000 years ago, Emperor Hadrian’s allegiance to Rome was being called into question. To dispel suspicions, he decided to build a temple to honour the goddesses Roma – the personification of the Roman state – and Venus, who was believed to be the ancestor of the Roman people through her son, Aeneas, a survivor of the fall of Troy who had fled to Italy.

The temple was to be the largest ever built in the city, erected between the Forum and the Colosseum. Hadrian even had the Neronian Colossus, a 30-metre bronze statue of the Emperor Nero, removed to make way, an endeavour for

MADE IN ITALY

COURTESY OF FENDI

THE TEMPLE OF VEN US A N D R OME WA S O N E O F T H E L A R G E S T M O N U M E N T S I N I TA LY ’ S A N C I E N T C I T Y. F E N D I , A N OT H E R E X E M P L A R O F I TA L I A N C R A F T S M A N S H I P, H A S R E C E N T LY F I N I S H E D R E S TO R I N G I T

Words:

Anna Solomon

It is hoped that visitors will be able to imagine the temple as it was in the time of Hadrian which he deployed 24 elephants.

The monument was architecturally astounding. It’s defining feature was two adjoining chambers containing statues of the deities; elsewhere, stuccos were covered in gold leaf and intricate busts peered out of niches. The mauve tint of the porphyry columns is still observable today – back then, it would have contrasted with green cipollino marble.

Over the centuries, the temple underwent considerable despoliation.

It was damaged by a fire in 307AD, and thereafter, to help finance the persecution of pagans, as with many Roman buildings, was targeted for its rich materials. In 625, Pope Honorius received special dispensation to strip the bronze roof tiles for the adornment of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.

Fendi has poured some £2.1 million into undoing some of the damage. The restoration, which ended in July 2021, aimed to enhance everything from the roofing to the flooring, as well as improving accessibility with a lift.

While much of the Temple of Venus and Rome has been lost to time, the project coordinators landed on the innovative solution of using beams of light to ‘suggest’ certain elements, including the columns, goddess statues and ceiling coffers. Through a play of light and shadow, it is intended that visitors will be able to imagine the temple as it was in the time of Hadrian.

In the words of Silvia Venturini Fendi, artistic director for accessories and menswear, and spokesperson for the project, when you visit the structure, “you can feel it in the air, and as the sun goes down… on the edge of the Velia Hill in the evening, there’s a moment where time stops and the buzz of modern life fades into the background’.

LUXURY LONDON

COUTURE

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

75

TEMPLE OF VENUS AND ROME. ROME CELLA. CREDIT © ELECTA_PH_STEFANO CASTELLANI

© MARK ODONOVAN

T H E L A DY D I O R B AG , A L A B E L

She’s a

HALLMARK NAMED AFTER

P R I N C E S S D I A N A , I S C O N S TA N T LY F I N D I N G WAY S T O R E N E W I T S

© SARAH BLAIS

C U LT S TAT U S

Words:

Anna Solomon

LADY

LUXURY LONDON

COUTURE

W

hat is it about a designer handbag that inspires reverence? Why does a piece of stitched-together leather send our pleasure receptors into overdrive?

There’s no denying that a well-made handbag is a thing of beauty: supple calfskin, immaculate topstitching, polished accents… But it’s also about the care that goes into its creation. It hasn’t come off a conveyor belt, having been produced at rock bottom prices. The goal isn’t profit, it’s pride. Legacy. The right to be described as iconic. And if there’s one bag that has earned that right, it’s the Lady Dior.

The Lady Dior bag presents a square silhouette, rounded handle, and the maison’s signature ‘cannage’ quilting, said to be inspired by the chairs used at Christian Dior’s first show in 1947. It comes in lollipop shades, accented by gold hardware and embellished with a charm – a nod to the talismans that Dior, a superstitious man, kept on him at all times. Each bag takes eight hours and seven craftsmen to make, consisting of 144 parts, from hand-stretched lambskin to tiny metal feet and eyelets.

The mythology around the Lady Dior also comes from its illustrious history.

Designed in 1995 by Dior’s successor, Gianfranco Ferré, it was initially named ‘Chouchou’, which is French for ‘favourite’. Then, the following year, France’s then-First Lady, Bernadette Chirac, bought the bag as a gift for

© GEORGE VORONOV

PRINCESS DIANA AT THE NATIONAL HOSPITAL OF NEUROLOGY AND NEUROSURGERY IN LONDON, 1996 © REX / SIPA

Princess Diana. She loved it so much that she ordered it in every colour, and so, the ‘Lady Dior’ was named after its most famous fan.

Since achieving cult status in the 90s, the bag has gone through numerous iterations, from John Galliano’s leopardprint version in 1999 to the Lady D-Lite – a 2020 embroidered design by Maria Grazia Chiuri. The D-Lite is emblazoned with the ‘Christian Dior’ signature and available in ‘Toile de Jouy’ and ‘Mizza’ motifs, as well as timeless shades of black, grey and nude.

But it’s not just creative directors that get to put their stamp on the Lady Dior. Since 2016, Dior has been hosting Dior Lady Art, a project that recruits artists to imbue the bag with their own designs. Beautiful things happen when artistic talent and haute couture collide – and the results are available as limited editions in select boutiques.

For the sixth edition of Dior Lady Art, the bag has been gilded with hieroglyphics, marbled via impasto, and adorned by a bee-motif appliqué.

One of the artists, Genieve Figgis (left),

DIANA AT LONDON AIDS CENTER © CHERRUAULT / SIPA PRESS

hijacks 18th-century aesthetics for her hand-painted creations.

Growing up, Figgis would use her sewing machine to make handbags from denim jeans, which she would pair with her father’s blazers and a pair of Dr. Martens. When she became an artist, she renovated an old Georgian house in County Wicklow, Ireland, where she paints in the company of her two dogs.

“It’s very relaxing – I’m surrounded by my books, I’ve decorated and installed interiors myself and the garden is filled with birds,” she says.

Among books and birds, Figgis echoes the works of James Ensor, François Boucher and Jean-Honoré Fragonard, but as though they were “melting” or “dissolving”. The result is unsettlingly beautiful.

For the Dior Lady Art project, Figgis has transposed tiger and cat motifs, deformed by pearl embroidery, onto grape leather. Elsewhere, a distorted tableau of figures and fauna form a carnivalesque scene: “I wanted the bag to represent a happy collaboration with nature – humans and animals living in peace and harmony.”

The Lady Dior has achieved idol status already. But the French maison isn’t in the business of sitting on its laurels, instead constantly seeking to innovate, excel and surprise – much like the bag’s namesake. dior.com

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

77

© CHILLAXINGROAD | ANDREA MENIN

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

78

LUXURY LONDON

COUTURE

MAN

OF THE

CLOTH

T H A N K S T O H I S M U C H - F O L L O W E D I N S TA G R A M A C C O U N T, L U C A R U B I N A C C I , G R A N D S O N O F T H E F O U N D E R O F T H E H O U S E O F R U B I N A C C I , H A S B E C O M E S O M E T H I N G O F A 2 1 ST C E N T U R Y B E A U B R U M M E L L .

H E R E , A S T H E N E A P O L I TA N TA I L O R C E L E B R AT E S 9 0 Y E A R S I N B U S I N E S S , L U C A D I S C U S S E S T H E A R T O F D R E S S I N G I M P E R F E C T LY A N D P R E S E R V I N G T H E FA M I LY B U S I N E S S

“A

nyone who meets me on the beach says ‘hey Luca, can this really be the same man I see on Instagram?!’ Of course it is! I’m not dressed up all the time,” laughs Luca Rubinacci, grandson of Gennaro Rubinacci, founder, 90 years ago, of the Rubinacci tailoring house.

Over the course of almost a century, Rubinacci has become a doyen of leisurely Neapolitan style, with its easy shoulder and cardigan comfort, a pioneer of the deconstructed jacket. Today, Rubinacci is one of the most prestigious tailoring houses in the world. Yet even if you’re not the kind of person to pay £5,000 for one of the company’s suits, you may well have heard of, or more accurately seen, Luca Rubinacci. The creative director of the family firm has become something of an Instagram sensation, with his flamboyant style – to English eyes at least – a touchstone for wannabe peacocks.

On his unique personal style, Luca says this: “It’s not like I sit around for

Words:

Josh Sims

hours planning what I’m going to wear next. My grandfather was this master guru of tailoring so I knew I couldn’t match that, so the idea was always to be ahead of him, in some way, by doing something different. It actually only takes me five minutes to get dressed in the morning – but I do have a huge wardrobe.”

Rubinacci lives in Milan with his Spanish wife, Maria, and their young daughter. ‘Luca’ is actually a family nickname – his given name is Gennaro, after his grandfather. “I was third generation of an already very famous tailoring house. I said to my father, Mariano, that what we do is great but there’s no face to the brand and that my generation needs a face. My father reminded me that if it was my face given to the brand I’d also be the first to be killed – anything negative would be on me. But, so far, it’s worked out well,” Rubinacci says, with a wry smile.

Word of mouth is still the most important form of advertising, says Luca, but social media, Instagram in particular – Luca has almost 300,000 followers – has

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

79

nonetheless helped transform a tailor famous in Italy into one that’s recognised the world over. Luca credits the increased exposure for helping the brand launch a ready-to-wear line, as well as to collaborate with the likes of Patek Philippe and Hublot watch brands, and drive custom to its Mount Street store, which is managed

by Luca’s twin sister, Chiara (“She’s my right hand,” he says, affectionately).

Not that the social media thing is about trying to get men to copy the way Luca dresses – “you don’t have to like the way I dress, at all” – but to encourage them to “experiment”. If you’re new to bespoke, Rubinacci advises that you start with a simple, navy two-piece suit, in two-ply hopsack, and then take ever more personal choices from there.

“Look at ‘style icons’ and they tend to be famous for wearing the same thing all the time, for wearing their uniform.

They only wear, say, a blue blazer, white T-shirt and vintage jeans and think they’re a style icon. Well, yes, you’ve come to be identified for wearing that. But who wants to be identified in that way? I’m more

ALL IMAGES © CHILLAXINGROAD | ANDREA MENIN

like an ice cream maker – I like to make many flavours. I want to try everything.”

That’s not just because, as Luca describes himself, he’s “a bit of a joker”.

There’s method behind the madness, the gingham and the herringbone, even all at once. The greater the diversity of style he’s experienced, he says, the better he can advise his bespoke clients “to help them find their style, not my style. And that’s important.”

Rubinacci says that his grandfather “fell” into tailoring. An art dealer by trade, Gennaro’s good taste often saw him pressed for his opinion on matters of style, including by the King of Savoy, who asked his advice on the best tailors

in Naples. So, alongside his art business, Gennaro established an atelier of his own, naming it London House (it was only later renamed Rubinacci).

Luca doesn’t cut and sew himself, nor does his father. Rather, they work exclusively with the best tailors in Naples, some of whom – the likes of Cesare Attolini – have gone on to become tailoring superstars themselves.

“Usually, with a tailoring house, the head cutter is also the owner, so there can be a resistance to change,” says Rubinacci. “‘We’ve done this for so many years, so why change now?’ They see it as a provocation, not a challenge. Some garments – like this traditional Indian wedding suit crossed with Neapolitan tailoring that we’re working on now – we may only make once or twice in the history of the company. But the attitude has to be ‘why not?’, not ‘why?’.

“A Neapolitan suit is, as they say, imperfectly perfect. And an English suit aims to be just perfect,” continues Rubinacci, who interned at Kilgour on Savile Row for a year before returning to the fold. “But the fact is that some clients really need that perfect look – in business, for example. Yet that doesn’t mean they can’t dress in Rubinacci – we give them a very clean finish but with the Neapolitan structure. Most Neapolitan LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

80

“For years the fashion industry has been saying the suit is over... How many times have I heard ‘no more ties’?” tailors wouldn’t do that – they want the traditional shirt sleeves, the ‘right’ pockets, and if you don’t do that it’s ‘oh my god, Luca! You’re breaking the rules!’ It’s not about breaking rules. It’s about bespoke. It’s handmade. You can do whatever you want.”

Certainly, while Rubinacci enjoys the glamour of the front-of-shop and making the viral videos, he appreciates that it is in the back office that the business is built and maintained. “Constancy is the most important thing for longevity,” he says, “that, and paying your bills on time.

Reputation matters. You must have the respect of all the people who work for you and work with you. To make it in the tricky business of tailoring, it’s not enough to survive a few years. You have to survive a generation. I’m aware that I’m

LUXURY LONDON

COUTURE

really just starting the beginning of my part of the journey.”

The pandemic has, of course, sped up a major cultural shift towards remote working, which, in turn, seems to have sped up the steady decline of the suit. Unsurprisingly, Rubinacci isn’t convinced that society is ready to completely abandon tailoring in favour of sweat pants and slippers. He and his father, if not his grandfather, have been here before.

“For years and years the fashion industry has been saying the suit is over – I remember it in the 90s, in the early 2000s. How many times have I heard ‘no more ties’? I was 20 and I was hearing that. And yet ties are still here. The fact is that the world is big and there is cake for everyone. And, really, remember that bespoke tailoring is such a niche. If it’s what you’re into you can come to us. If you’re not, no problem.”

For all Luca’s talk of unconventional, contemporary tailoring, I point out that a lot of what he wears looks, on the surface at least, like it could just have easily been made in 1932, when Rubinacci was founded, as in 2022.

“Yes, and no,” says Luca. “Take what I’m wearing today. I’m wearing a nice double-breasted jacket, a turtle neck – so very comfortable – loafers and turnedup trousers with pleats – super-classic.

It’s elegant but sporty. But look at the trousers again – if I lift my sweater, you’ll see they have a drawstring waist, just like jogging pants. Nobody knows that because aesthetically it all looks very classic – but I know.

“And that’s the difference between a fashion brand and a tailoring brand – the fashion brand wants to show you that drawstring because it’s trendy. But the important thing for a tailoring company is to keep an open mind about using a drawstring. Sure, my father would say he’d feel stupid suggesting jogging trousers to a client because he’s of a certain generation. And he’s right. But I’m here, in the now, in this generation – I’m riding today’s wave.”

And growing an ever-larger army of social media admirers in the process. marianorubinacci.com LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

81

Collection HIGH

JEWELLERY

AND

HAUTE

HOROLOGY

The world’s first mechanical golf watch, Hublot’s Big Bang Unico Golf, is now available in lightweight orange carbon. Three apertures display which hole a golfer is on, how many shots they’ve taken on that hole, and their cumulative score for the round. £26,900, hublot.com

84 About Time The headline stories from the horological year so far 86 Benjamin Comar The new CEO of Piaget on why a brand should never try to pick its customers 92 Jewellery News Sparkling new collections from the world of haute joaillerie

ABOUT TIME T H E WAT C H W O R L D W I L L D E S C E N D O N G E N E VA I N

A P R I L F O R T H E F I R S T M A J O R FA I R I N T WO Y E A R S .

BEFORE THEN, THESE ARE THE HEADLINE STORIES F R O M T H E H O R O LO G I C A L Y E A R S O FA R

Words: Richard Brown

OMEGA SPEEDMASTER

A remidner: Omega’s original Calibre 321 – a hound-wound column-wheelcontrolled chronograph movement – powered the first Speedmasters and all subsequent Speedies selected by NASA for the Apollo space missions. Three years ago, on occasion of it being 50 years

since the first lunar landings, Omega began re-manufacturing the Calibre 321, placing it in a 42mm Speedmaster in platinum.

And so to the latest chapter in the 321 story: this year’s Speedmaster Calibre 321 Canopus Gold, launched to mark the chronograph’s 65th birthday.

What’s new? A black Onyx dial, Grand Feu enamel-infilled numerals on the bezel, and a 38.6mm case (the original Ref. 2915 measured 38mm), which, along with the watch’s bracelet, bezel and hands, is constructed from Omega’s propriety white ‘Canopus Gold’. £69,500, omegawatches.com

PATEK PHILIPPE REF. 5236P-001

Here’s an oldas-stainless-steel question: why would anyone buy a watch in platinum? Isn’t it, after all, pretty much impossible for Joe Bloggs to spot the different between (very expensive) platinum and (much less expensive) stainless steel? In a word, yes. And isn’t tough-as-nails steel far harder, and therefore far more scratch

resistant, than dentable platinum? Um-hum, it certainly is.

But all that’s to miss the point, isn’t it? Because platinum watches aren’t meant for Joe Bloggs, are they? Platinum watches are meant for those in the know.

Because when you know, you know.

And so to Patek Philippe’s Ref. 5236P001 In-line Perpetual Calendar. The elegant dress watch (it actually dropped

last year) sports a patented one-line display function and is available exclusively, you guessed it, in platinum. Tweaking a base movement to accommodate an energy-hungry perpetual calendar mechanism, the watch is the first Patek to display the day, date and month on a single line in an elongated aperture beneath 12 o’clock.

So, now you know. £104,740, patek.com

LUXURY LONDON

COLLECTION

TAG HEUER AUTAVIA

TAG Heuer’s new Autavia 60th Anniversary Flyback Chronograph is available with either a silver dial and fine-brushed stainless-steel case, or a black dial and DLC-coated stainlesssteel case. Given its stealthy styling and punchy green Super-LumiNova® hour indices, we’d plump for the latter (seen here, kinda). The brace of chronographs, with their extra-large crowns and quick-change leather straps, represent the first time an Autavia has been equipped with a flyback function – where a chronograph hand can be reset and restarted with a single push of a side button. £5,800, tagheuer.com HUBLOT BIG BANG INTEGRAL

Hublot has announced a collection of six timepieces that pay homage to the watch that started it all – the yellow-gold-on-blackrubber Fusion from 1980. Our pick of the bunch is the time-only Big Bang Integral, featuring a rubber-protected crown and 18kt yellow-gold case and bracelet. £40,900, hublot.com

ORIS BIG CROWN X CERVO VOLANTE

ZENITH DEFY 21 CHROMA

Oris has partnered with Swiss sustainable accessories company Cervo Volante on three new Big Crown Pointer Date watches, each featuring a gradient dial inspired by Alpine colours. Pick between three straps made from previouslydiscarded deer leather. £1,350, oris.ch

Powered by Zenith’s high-frequency El Primero 21 movement, the new DEFY is capable of recording passages of time to an accuracy of 1/100th of a second. What, exactly, you’d need to time to that level of accuracy we’re not quite sure, but that’s beside the point. £12,000, zenith-watches.com

BULGARI ROMA BLUE CARILLON GIRARD-PERREGAUX CASQUETTE 2.0

How cool is this? In 1976 GirardPerregaux released the sci-fi looking Reference 9931, a quirky, quartz-powered contraption that was subsequently nicknamed ‘the Casquette’. Half a century later, GP has released the retrofuturistic Casquette 2.0. Now in Grade 5 titanium but still fresh as hell.

Approx. £3,500, girard-perregaux.com

Bulgari’s Roma Blue Carillon Tourbillon features an open-worked titanium middle-case and hollowed-out case-back to maximise the clarity of its chiming function. Activate a side pusher and the skeletonised Roma’s three hammers will chime a C note for the hours, an E D C for the quarter-hours, and an E for the minutes. Melodic.

Approx. £240,000, bulgari.com LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

85

THE CEO INTERVIEW

BENJAMIN COMAR P I A G E T ’ S R E C E N T LY - A P P O I N T E D C H I E F E X E C U T I V E O N P R O D U C I N G U LT R A -T H I N T I M E P I E C E S , T H E P I T FA L L S O F P R O F I L I N G , A N D W H Y A B R A N D S H O U L D N E V E R T RY TO P I C K I TS C U STO M E R S

Words:

B

enjamin Comar has some big shoes to fill. Appointed CEO of Piaget in the summer of 2021, the luxury industry veteran follows in the footsteps of Chabi Nouri, who, on her own appointment in 2017, became the first female chief executive among Richemont’s various watch and jewellery brands – a portfolio that includes Cartier, Chloé, JaegerLeCoultre, Net-a-Porter and Montblanc, among others.

Under Nouri’s stewardship, Piaget went from periphery player to leading luxury name. One of Nouri’s first acts in charge was to launch Piaget’s own e-commerce platform in the United States, before overseeing the company’s entry onto both the Net-a-Porter and Mr Porter websites, the first hard-luxury maison to be carried by the YOOX group.

The move online paid dividends, helping Piaget navigate its way through the

Richard Brown

pandemic while other brands scrambled for a digital solution.

In something of a mic drop, shortly after Nouri took up her new role as strategic advisor to Richemont Group CEO, Jérôme Lambert, Piaget won two of the top gongs at the 2021 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie, the most important awards ceremony in the watch industry.

The brand’s Limelight Gala Precious Rainbow was announced ‘Best Ladies’ Watch’, while the Altiplano Ultimate Automatic was named ‘Best Mechanical Exception Watch’.

By the time the awards were announced in November, Comar already had his feet planted firmly under the table. Yet he deflects any praise in the direction of his predecessor. “Personally, I can take no credit for these incredible accolades. The team at Piaget and Chabi should take all of the credit. What I can say is that it is incredibly rewarding

to be recognised not only for our expertise in ultra-thin watches but also women’s watches.”

Comar started his career at Cartier in 1992, before becoming fine jewellery director at Chanel in 2004. Prior to Piaget, he was based in Paris, serving as chief executive of disruptive Italian jeweller, Repossi. Piaget had always been a company that Comar had respected from afar, so when Richemont came knocking he didn’t have to mull over his decision for long.

“It’s a dream for any CEO to work for a brand they admire – and I have admired Piaget since starting my career at Richemont more than over 25 years ago. I have discovered an ultracreative and fighting spirit within the teams here, which are all dedicated to creativity and innovation.”

One of the first jobs of any incoming chief executive is to evaluate the core

LUXURY LONDON

C0LLECTION

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

87

THIS IMAGE PIAGET’S POLO SKELETON IN BLUE, £24,400 BELOW THIS YEAR, PIAGET PAVED THE POLO SKELETON WITH 1,746 GEMSTONES

customer base of their new employer.

However, in a highly-global post-pandemic word, Comar is quick to point out the pitfalls of profiling.

“I don’t really believe there is one type of customer anymore. There is no more gender, age, nationality. Above all they [the Piaget customer] have a love of craftsmanship, creativity and attention to detail – they choose the products that match their preferences.”

It’s a point I’ve read Comar make before – that it’s the customer that chooses the product, not the brand that chooses the customer. What, I ask, is the danger of a brand attempting to do the latter?

“I think the ‘marketing’ approach of producing collections for a specific customer underestimates the sophistication and fluidity of today’s luxury consumer. Customers buy pieces not because they need them but because

they love them, and their feelings and moods can change rapidly. We are not an FMCG company. We are creating and selling dreams to an unpredictable, highly sophisticated customer.”

Today, Piaget’s men’s watch offering is anchored to a brace of collections: the brawny, go-anywhere Polo sports watch – relaunched in 2016 after a hiatus of almost 40 years – and the Altiplano, with which Piaget (usually) chooses to display its panache for manufacturing mindbogglingly slim in-house movements.

Last year, Piaget debuted the Polo Skeleton, a timepiece that’s 30 per cent thinner than the next leanest Polo.

Refiguring a propriety movement to accommodate an off-centred micro-rotor, Piaget was able to trim down its automatic 1200S calibre to a thickness of just 2.4mm.

The watch’s 42mm case now measures only 6.5mm deep. This year, the brand dropped

LUXURY LONDON

C0LLECTION

a new Polo Skeleton encrusted with 1,746 brilliant-cut gemstones (bottom left).

If the idea of a movement measuring 2.4mm thick strikes you as impressive – and it should – hear this: in 2018, Piaget unveiled a timepiece whose entire girth – movement, case, bezel, the lot – amounted to a bewildering 2mm in total.

The Altiplano Ultimate Concept, officially the world’s thinnest mechanical watch, has since entered production. Its latest iteration, the La Côte-aux-Fées edition, uses pioneering technology to layer the watch’s bridges in a verdant forest-green atomic coating – a nod to the trees that surround the brand’s workshop in La Côte aux Fées, Neuchâtel.

If you’re into your watches, you’ll know that the other big player in ultra-thins is Bulgari, which, through its Octo Finissimo collection, currently holds a number of records for ridiculously lean watches; records that Piaget could once claim for itself. When you’ve made cointhin timepieces your shtick, I ask Comar how important it is to come out on top in the battle of the ultra-thins?

“It is not a battle,” he says. “Piaget is simply showcasing its long-established expertise in ultra-thin watchmaking, for which we are recognised the world over. We are following our own motto – ‘always do better than necessary’ – it is not a question of world records or breaking records, but pushing the limits.”

These days, watches tend to be launched with the help of an army of A-list celebrities. At the 2018 Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie, a Geneva-based watch fair that’s since been rebranded Watches & Wonders, I attended a press conference in which Nouri introduced Ryan Reynolds and supermodel Doutzen Kroes. The following year, I sat across a table from Michael B. Jordan at a gala dinner attended by fellow Piaget ambassador Chinese actor Hu Ge and ‘Friend of the Maison’ Olivia Palermo. More recently, owing to the pandemic, the brand has had to rely on pushing press shots of Jordan, Palermo

and Dutch DJ/producer Shiva Safai Houweling on social media.

Now that the world has reopened, will the ‘Piaget Society’, as the brand chooses to call its celebrity harem, remain such an integral part of the watchmaker’s communication strategy?

“It goes well beyond a communication strategy,” says Comar. “Bringing clients and friends together is at the heart of the Piaget maison and the Piaget Society will be very active in the coming years. Of course celebrity ambassadors can play a role – but the relationship needs to be real.”

Comar and I are talking a few weeks before Geneva will host Watches & Wonders, as of this year, the industry’s biggest get-together. In 2020, citing reasons of spiralling costs and myopic mismanagement, Rolex, Patek Philippe, Hublot, TAG Heuer and Tudor announced they were quitting Baselworld, the industry’s other major trade show, in favour of Watches & Wonders. The move proved to be the death knell for what had been the world’s oldest watch meet.

Comar won’t be drawn on the downfall of Baselworld, and whether he had any sympathy of the newly-installed management team that was given little time to save a ship that might not necessarily have sunk. He does, however, throw his weight behind the concept of physical trade shows in general.

“Clearly the world had to adapt in these past two challenging years,” says Comar, “but I am very much looking forward to meeting the press, our trade partners, our friends and our colleagues in the industry face-to-face – nothing can replace shared moments.”

So, what can we expect Piaget to present at the first major watch pow-wow in two years?

“This year will centre around the Limelight Gala collection,” says Comar, “but we will also be paying tribute to our expertise in ultra-thins.”

Not that it’s a battle, or anything.

“Of course celebrity ambassadors can play a role – but the relationship needs to be real”

piaget.com

PIAGET’S POLO SKELETON IN GREY, £24,400

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

89

w

ENTER THE COVETT VAULT I F YO U ’ V E E V E R D R E A M T O F A N EVENING OUT WEARING THE S O R T O F J E W E L L E R Y YO U S E E O N T H E R E D C A R P E T, O R H AV E B E E N L O O K I N G F O R A WAY O F M O N E T I S I N G YO U R OW N FINE-JEWELLERY COLLECTION, CY N T H I A M O R R OW , FO U N D E R AND CEO OF JEWELLERY C O - OW N E R S H I P S E R V I C E C OV E T T, I S H E R E TO H E L P

T

he seed for Covett was planted when Cynthia Morrow was having dinner with girlfriends. “We realised that our fine jewellery spent most of the time sitting in a safe,” says the London-based native Californian.

Years later, Morrow was considering a career change and knew she wanted to do something with luxury goods and the sharing economy. “That’s where the idea of sharing fine jewellery came from,” she says. “It just makes so much sense; the more a piece of jewellery

LUXURY LONDON

PROMOTION

costs the less you tend to wear it – why invest the full amount, when you can take the other 80 per cent, for example, and invest that elsewhere?”

In 2018, Morrow founded Covett, a co-ownership and subscription-based model that allows people to access fine jewellery without the prohibitive costs typically associated with doing so.

Members can either borrow jewellery from Covett’s vault by subscribing to one of three membership options, or choose to co-own specific items of jewellery by purchasing shares. Covett limits the number of shareowners to five per piece, one of which is Covett for reasons relating to insurance and storage.

And if you want to monetise your own fine-jewellery collection, Covett can help with that too. To find out how you can earn money by adding your jewellery to Covett’s subscription vault, email conceirge@cove.tt.

a Cartier watch for loan through our subscription service. Our co-owners’ vault is separate and only available to those who are co-owners.

How often can a member borrow jewellery from Covett?

Co-owners have access to their pieces monthly. If they’d like to borrow pieces from the subscriber’s vault, they can do that at any time for a fee. All loans are a consecutive five-day period but can be extended for a nominal fee.

Can I sell a piece of my own jewellery to Covett?

Yes, we have three ways that people can monetise their own fine jewellery or watches on Covett. They can sell their piece to Covett, or they can sell 80 per cent of their piece and keep 20 per cent.

The third way is that they can put the piece in our subscription vault for loan, and we share the revenue from each loan with them.

Does Covett sell the jewellery in its vault?

If so, how do shareholders benefit?

From where does Covett source its jewellery?

Our main source is from award-winning independent jewellery designers, the majority of whom are British. We have partnerships with the British diamond watch brand Backes & Strauss, as well as Alice van Cal, Baunat, David Jerome, Eva Gems & Jewels, Karen Phillips Jewellery, Le Ster, Myriam Soseilos, Nadine Aysoy, The Rock Hound, Ouroboros and Zeemou Zeng.

How many pieces of jewellery does Covett’s vault currently contain?

The vault has about 70 pieces of finediamond and gemstone jewellery, and

We are happy to sell the jewellery in our subscription vault as we know people fall in love with pieces and want to wear them all the time. Usually this will be done at a discount unless the person would like the piece to be new, and then we would arrange to sell them a new piece from the brand. Shares in our co-owned pieces can be sold on our platform and if the appraisal of the piece has increased in value, then the shareholders all benefit. If one co-owner wants to buy out the other owners, we would try to broker that, too.

What are some of the most popular pieces within Covett’s vault?

Each week we do a ‘Most Covetted’ email which lists our most popular pieces for the week. Most recently we have had a lot of demand for Alice van Cal’s bracelets and necklaces. The Rock Hound earrings are very popular, as they are real statement pieces, also Eva Gems & Jewels earrings and bracelets get a lot of attention.

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

91

What are your personal favourite pieces within the Vault?

Wow, that is a tough question! We recently added a new piece to our co-ownership vault, which is an emerald-cut tanzanite and diamond cocktail ring. Originally this piece was offered by one of our designer/manufacturers and we placed it on our site. At our January event I was able to see the piece in person, and the photo just didn’t do it justice. It’s an exceptionally clean stone of beautiful colour. Fortunately, we have several others who also fell in love with it and it’s now in the co-owner’s vault.

To monetise your own fine jewellery, contact conceirge@cove.tt. To subscribe to Covett, please visit cove.tt

JEWELLERY NEWS Words:

Zoe Gunn and Annabel Harrison

Tiaras and Maharajahs

Déferlante tiara POA, chaumet.com

The traditional home of high jewellery, the Place Vendôme is also the address of choice for the select few houses capable of crafting creations worthy of the title.

Featuring the finest craftsmanship and most flawless stones, many of these typically-unique designs are snapped up within days of being released (despite sixfigure price tags).

Building on the success of 2021’s Torsade de Chaumet collection, the Déferlante collection takes its cues from the Wavescroll tiara, designed by founder Joseph Chaumet, circa 1900. The highlight of the eight-piece collection is a dazzling tiara (above), which features 1,600 brilliant and step-cut diamonds in a design based on an archival drawing of a fountain.

Just as couture collections often hark back to signature silhouettes and fabrics of a fashion house, so too do designers delve into the history of jewellery maisons. In 1928, Bhupinder Singh, the Maharajah of Patiala, visited Paris, taking over 35 suites at The Ritz. Jewellers waited with bated breath to see which boutique he would favour before he stepped into Boucheron and placed the largest order in the Place Vendôme’s history: 149 custom pieces to be exact. With the New Maharajahs collection, centred around diamonds, emeralds and pearls, Boucheron pays homage to this remarkable moment.

New Maharajahs Padma earring, POA, boucheron.com

LUXURY LONDON

COLLECTION

The Trend: Perfect Platinum There’s no escaping this beautiful silverywhite metal in the year of Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee, as The Queen marks a remarkable 70 years on the throne. The metal is often eclipsed in favour of its shiny precious golden sibling, which has several colour options, and not always for good reason: platinum, which is hypoallergenic, lasts longer than gold and requires less upkeep. Here are some of our favourite platinum pieces to treasure for 70 years and more.

Bespoke engagement ring (left), POA, tadaandtoy.com; Earrings, £6,450, Bayco, bayco.com Ring, £7,260, Fred Leighton, netaporter.com; Necklace, £15,000, boodles.com

Royal Standard

Catherine tiara pendant, garrard.com

In 1735, Garrard company founder George Wicks received his first royal commission from Frederick, Prince of Wales. By 1843, Garrard had been appointed the first official Crown Jeweller and 70 years ago, altered the Imperial State Crown, originally made for King George VI, to fit the young Queen’s head. Garrard’s Albemarle collection is inspired by one of its most iconic commissions – The Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara, one of Her Majesty’s most recognisable pieces. The collection’s update includes a statement diamond ear cuff – a first for Garrard. garrard.com

Wild at Heart Flowers are beautiful, joyful, intricate, unique; no wonder they provide the perfect creative inspiration. Graff’s design team has wandered through an English garden and created jewelencrusted iterations of our favourite flowers. The four Wild Flower styles, from trios and individual blooms to floral clusters and blossoms in a row, are designed to be worn singly, paired in organic asymmetry or assembled in extravagant bouquets. graff.com

Pavé diamond ring, £14,000, Diamond cluster ring, £11,000

LUXURY LONDON

C0LLECTION

SET IN STONE H I G H J E W E L L E RY M E E TS H AU T E H O R O LO GY I N H A R RY W I N STO N ’ S L AT E S T AV E N U E C L A S S I C G R A F F I T I C O L L E C T I O N

Words:

Hannah Silver

I

n the three decades since New York jeweller Harry Winston ventured into watchmaking, traditional watch codes have been reframed, and imbued with a high jewellery heritage. Recurring design elements intertwine Harry Winston’s history into the essential form of the watches: distinctive case shapes recall the bold geometric silhouette of the brand’s flagship Fifth Avenue store, while plays on blue nod to the legendary Hope Diamond which held company founder Winston so enthralled. The so-called King of Diamonds was fascinated by the rare blue-toned diamond, later donating it to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, thus sealing its place in high jewellery legend.

The jeweller’s watches are themselves a love letter to New York City, translating sights from the striking silhouette of the Manhattan skyline, to the neat grid of Central Park and the traditional brownstones of Winston’s birthplace on the Upper West Side, into precious gems in both high jewellery and timepieces.

Three new Avenue Classic Graffiti models embody this fixation with geometry and form. Like the original watches in the Avenue collection, the Classic Graffiti pieces conform to the precise proportions of the Big Apple,

their play with diamonds a dazzling foil for the clean white or rose gold links of the metal. These new pieces mark a new direction for the Avenue watch family – which takes its name from the symmetrical Art Deco codes of New York’s Fifth Avenue – eschewing typical tonal hues, and embracing bolder tones.

The new models, each limited to 30 pieces, travel away from Fifth Avenue, looking instead to the vibrancy of Soho, which is encompassed in a range of joyful colour palettes. While still quintessentially New York, it is the buzz of downtown and the vibrancy of the art and fashion scenes which are here drawn in sorbet shades, playfully set off with scribbles of precious gems.

The first model in bubblegum pink riffs off these sugary sweet hues, casting a mother-of-pearl dial and alligator leather strap against brilliant-cut pink and blue sapphires, its face framed with the geometric row of brilliant-cut diamonds.

Precious stones pop against the cooler blue hues of the second model, a contrast more restrained in the blue and white mother-of-pearl of the third piece.

Playing off a wealth of historical references, these new watches epitomise the high jewellery expertise honed by the House over the past century.

POA, harrywinston.com LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

95

GET YOUR CREDIT

€1,000

F LY NOW Le adi ng p r iva te j et c h a r te r | lu n aj ets.com London +44 2074 095 095 | Geneva +41 22 782 12 12 | Paris +33 1 89 16 40 70 L u n a J ets U K ( Ltd ) i s a f l i g h t b ro ke r a n d a s s u c h a r ra n g es c a r r i a g e by a i r by s i m p l y c h a r te r i n g a i rc ra f t f ro m t h i rd - p a r t y a i rc ra f t o p e ra to rs , a c t i n g a s a g e n t , i n t h e n a m e a n d o n b e h a l f of i ts c u sto m e rs . L u n a J ets U K ( L td ) o n l y a c ts a s a n i n te r m e d i a r y, d o es n ot i tse l f o p e ra te a i rc ra f t a n d i s n o t a c o n t ra c t i n g o r a n i n d i re c t c a r r i e r.

Escape EUROPE’S

BEST

CITY

HOTELS

98 Shangri-La Paris 99 Gran Hotel Inglés, Madrid 102 Mandarin Oriental, Barcelona 103 The Ritz-Carlton, Vienna 104 Matild Palace, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Budapest

PARIS

THE HISTORIC PLEASURE PALACE WHERE TWO WORLDS COLLIDE Words:

Anna Solomon

SHANGRI-LA PARIS

I

n many ways, the Shangri-La Paris resists categorisation. As the former home of Napoleon’s great nephew, it is a bastion of French history. But a prominent East-meetsWest theme, which presents itself in the marriage of Baroque decor and dim sum for breakfast, pulls things in a different direction. It is also the only hotel I know of where you can book ‘by view’.

Prince Roland Bonaparte’s mansion was built in 1896, featuring an elaborate carved façade, stained glass windows, and a vaulted rotunda emblazoned with zodiac symbols. The tradition of hospitality initiated by the prince – who hosted regular soirées for Paris’s academic elite – was revived with the opening of the Shangri-La in 2010.

But first it had to undergo a lengthy restoration: hand-gilded panelling, neoclassical friezes and timber salons were returned to their former glory.

For all of its European grandeur, however, the hotel is predicated on an Asian theme. The 100 rooms are decked

out in distinct East-West style: a Rococo colour scheme of cream and gold meets silk-thread wallpaper, marquetry desks, and orchids aplenty. The Imperial suite offers Versailles-worthy interiors in oriental duck-egg.

This cultural confluence also presents itself in the food and drink: La Bauhinia serves Franco-Asian delicacies under an exquisite glass cupola, from rich laksa to the signature tigre qui pleure (marinated Black Angus steak with a kick) and a famed afternoon tea.

Elsewhere, L’Abeille is a temple to French gastronomy, and chef Samuel Lee Sum puts a Cantonese spin on duck foie gras and live red lobster at Shang Palace.

Resident watering hole Le Bar Botaniste boasts an array of botanical spirits and an absinthe fountain.

The Shangri-La’s spa, meanwhile, leans into European provenance: Romanesque meets Victoriana at CHI, with its glazed columns and mosaics.

Throwing your suite doors open to Haussmann-style boulevards isn’t bad, but

there’s only one view that really matters in Paris: the Eiffel Tower is 500m from the Shangri-La, and observable from about half the rooms.

The hotel is also minutes from the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris and Avenues Montaigne and George V; its 16th arrondissement location is everso-slightly out of the way, so you won’t encounter the crêpe-and-keyring-flogging side of Paris. But Iéna metro is moments away should you need to get there.

The Shangri-La is part hotel, part landmark. Its cross-continental fusion is exciting, and the location quintessential Paris without being on the ChampsÉlysées. Perhaps, therefore, we should conclude that its biggest draw is that it is a world of perfectly-pitched contradictions: at once grand and intimate, East and West, proud of its interior glory and the environs that surround it.

From approx. £830 per night, shangri-la.com

LUXURY LONDON

C U LT U R E

AN ANCIENT HOTEL IN MADRID’S LITERARY QUARTER PROVIDES A TEXTBOOK BOLTHOLE FROM WHICH TO EXPLORE THE SPANISH CAPITAL Words:

Richard Brown

H

ere are some things we were told during a walking tour of Madrid: the Spanish capital has more green space per person than any other European city (it didn’t feel like it); ‘Madrid’ comes from an Arabic word meaning ‘place of many streams’ (we didn’t see any); the city enjoys more cloudless skies than any other major European metropolis (that bit checked out); Madrid is home to the world’s oldest restaurant, where you can eat suckling pig (we opted for the stewed partridge); there’s a fountain on street level that’s been designed to flood a subterranean chamber within the Bank of Spain should anyone try and break in (cool!).

Here’s what to know about the Gran Hotel Inglés: it’s the oldest hotel in Madrid (opened in 1886) and was the first to boast its own onsite restaurant (although, technically, the hotel grew out of a café, rather than the other way round). It’s located in Madrid’s historic, higgledy-piggledy Literary Quarter (official name: Barrio de Las Letras) in a pretty, cobbled street within walking distance of most of the city’s major attractions (see penultimate paragraph).

Hotel Inglés reopened in March 2018 after a £15 million refurbishment by renowned American architect the David Rockwell Group (the outfit behind Maze and Nobu restaurants, New York City’s reimagined Grand Central Station, various Oscar sets, and Las Vegas’ Omnia nightclub). The group preserved Inglés’ exquisite 19th-century façade but gave everything inside a thoroughly modern (and rather un-Spanish) makeover. There are 48 chicly-decorated rooms (ask for one that looks onto the street), a small but sufficient spa, a not-especially-cosy restaurant (set up with the help of two Michelin star chef, Fernando Arellano), a swanky white-marble bar (which doesn’t really reflect the hotel’s history or locale), and a 600-book library curated by Spanish publisher Zenda (we didn’t have time to corroborate that number).

MA DR ID GRAN HOTEL INGLÉS

Here are some things you can do in the immediate vicinity of Hotel Inglés: chase down oily slices of Iberian ham with ice-cold bottles of Mahou on Calle Huertas, the Literary Quarter’s main thoroughfare; arrange a two-hour tour of Museo del Prado, Spain’s most prestigious museum (paintings, mostly); stroll around the Royal Botanical Gardens (Kew Gardens with a nice boating lake and more sun); and, if LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

99

you’re in town on the first Saturday of the month (shame it’s only on then) browse some top bric-a-brac at the open-air Mercado de la Ranas, Madrid’s answer to Portobello Road.

What else to know? Madrid is like no other European capital. For cultural hits and vitamin D, it’s a tough city to beat.

From approx. £345 per night, granhotelingles.com

UNR I VA LLED SPACE ATAT SEA™ UNR I VA LLED SPACE SEA™ The luxury of personal space is central to the promise of The luxury of personal space is central to the promise of An Unrivalled Experience™ with Regent Seven Seas Cruises®. It provides the extravagant An Unrivalled Experience™ with Regent Seven Seas Cruises®. It provides the extravagant freedom you need to explore and relax to the fullest. As the pre-eminent luxury cruise freedom you need to explore and relax to the fullest. As the pre-eminent luxury cruise line on the ocean, we pride ourselves in offering some of the largest balconies and most line on the ocean, we pride ourselves in offering some of the largest balconies and most spacious suites at sea. Our wide range of speciality restaurants, al fresco and in-suite spacious suites at sea. Our wide range of speciality restaurants, al fresco and in-suite dining options, exquisite lounges, bars and expansive spaces are perfect to rest and dining options, exquisite lounges, bars and expansive spaces are perfect to rest and celebrate in, knowing there is never a queue or a crowd and that every detail celebrate in, knowing there is never a queue or a crowd and that every detail is taken care of and every luxury is included. is taken care of and every luxury is included.

Join us and discover how – with our Unrivalled Space at Sea™ – we will exceed Join us and discover how – with our Unrivalled Space at Sea™ – we will exceed your loftiest expectations of comfort and personalised service for a truly your loftiest expectations of comfort and personalised service for a truly unforgettable experience aboard The World’s Most Luxurious Fleet™. unforgettable experience aboard The World’s Most Luxurious Fleet™.

LEARN MORE ABOUT REGENT SEVEN SEAS CRUISES® LEARN MORE ABOUT REGENT SEVEN SEAS CRUISES® VISIT RSSC.COM/ORDER-BROCHURE VISIT RSSC.COM/ORDER-BROCHURE OR CONTACT YOUR TRAVEL ADVISOR OR CONTACT YOUR TRAVEL ADVISOR

* Terms and conditions apply. AD220318_USAS_LuxLondon_DPS UK * Terms and conditions apply. AD220318_USAS_LuxLondon_DPS UK

B AR C ELO NA MANDARIN ORIENTAL, BARCELONA

A TRANQUIL RETREAT IN SPAIN’S CULTURE CENTRE Words:

Ellen Millard

L

ocated in the former headquarters of Banco Hispano Americano, the Mandarin Oriental Barcelona is a picture of understatement from the outside – a sleek limestone building that could easily go unnoticed.

When Spanish architects Carlos Ferrater and Juan Trias de Bes began renovations in 2004 (the hotel opened in 2009), they decided to keep the original façade relatively untouched, concentrating their efforts on the inside of the building. The experience – and staying at the MO Barcelona is an experience – begins with the front doors, which are offset from the street and accessed via a sloping bridge. As you wander through an ivory lightwell to the lobby beyond, the first impression is of discovering something rather special.

Inside, there are 120 rooms, each the vision of Spanish interior designer Patricia Urquiola, whose eye for clean lines and a neutral colour palette, mixed with the occasional splash of Chinoiserie in a nod to the hotel’s Far Eastern roots, makes the suites feel more like luxury apartments than hotel rooms.

In my room, wood-panelled walls and monochrome soft furnishings were offset by the popping citrus yellow of an armchair, vanity stool and Acqua di Parma toiletries. The majority of rooms have a

balcony overlooking the Passeig de Gràcia (mine had an outdoor bathtub) or a terrace leading onto the resident Mimosa garden, where a menu of Mediterranean light bites and cocktails is served.

It is one of several dining options in the hotel, the finest of all being Moments. Decorated in white and gold, the restaurant is headed up by seven Michelin-starred chef Carme Ruscalleda and her son Raül Balam, and was awarded two stars of its own for its fresh take on Catalan cuisine. Ruscalleda also steers the menu in the more informal Blanc, an allday restaurant where a buffet is served at breakfast and an à la carte menu at lunch and dinner.

The basement is home to the spa, which, this being a Mandarin Oriental hotel, is a highlight. There are seven treatment rooms, including a couple’s suite, where guests can enjoy a selection of spa experiences, ranging from aromatherapy massages to caviar-infused facials. There’s also a fitness centre, a hair salon and a 25m swimming pool.

From here you feel both in the thick of one of Spain’s most vibrant cities and worlds away from the crowds. This, I think, is what makes the hotel so special – that, and the spa.

From approx. £410 per night, mandarinoriental.com

LUXURY LONDON

C U LT U R E

I

f your idea of Vienna is all romantic canals, centuries-old architecture, and succulent schnitzel, well, you’d kind of be spot on. And the Ritz-Carlton, made up of four grand 19th-century houses, ticks that elusive authenticity box the moment you step into its marble-flooded foyer. Walnut wall-panelling, parquet flooring, ornate fireplaces and frescoed ceilings are just some of the fine interior flourishes you can expect, as well as several striking staircases, each more than suitable for re-enacting the entire von Trapp bedtime routine.

Choose the two-bedroom presidential suite for the best bed in the house; complete with its own library and dining room, glistening chandeliers, and charming artwork at every turn. It also boasts a balcony with views of the beguiling city below.

The restaurants here don’t just cater to hotel residents. Dstrikt steakhouse has made a name for itself from

breakfast through to late-night supper with its early-bird offering of steak tartare with truffle mayonnaise, fried quail eggs and grilled avocado (as well as all the normal eggs and pastries, naturally). The chateaubriand is worth a try, as is a taste of the extensive local wine selection. Elsewhere, Pastamara Bar con Cucina offers an exciting angle on the flavours of Sicily. Our personal favourites were the fregola e crudi di mare (fregola, parsley, seafood, lardo) and the braised veal cheeks with Jerusalem artichokes and carrots, finished off with a cannolo siciliano, a cone-shaped pastry exploding with ricotta, prickly pear soup and almond sorbet. American cocktail lounge D-Bar and the Atmosphere rooftop bar provide two very different picturesque spots for a night cap.

The in-house spa comes courtesy of Susanne Kaufmann treatments and cosmetics, with products all created from natural ingredients selected from

the Bregenz Forest in Western Austria.

Here, it’s all about tailored wellness.

We highly recommend opting for the bespoke spa assessment, which includes a one-to-one consultation addressing your current routine and individual goals. The therapist then designs a new daily self-care guide and creates a range of customised treatments at the spa on the day. And breathe…

Set on the Ringstrasse, a circular grand boulevard around the historic Innere Stadt district, the hotel is only a 15-minute walk (or even shorter tram ride) from some of the best sites the city has to offer, from the beautiful Vienna City Park, to the Musikverein and Vienna State Opera. From wine tours to waltz classes, concerts to culinary firsts, Vienna is the perfect option for a short-haul city break. It’s so romantic you’ll never really be ready to say ‘adieu’ (to you, and you, and you and you and you…).

From £228 per night, ritzcarlton.com

V IENNA THE RITZ-CARLTON, VIENNA A GRANDE DAME HOTEL IN ONE OF EUROPE’S GRANDEST CITIES Words:

Kari Colmans

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

103

BUDAPEST MATILD PALACE, A LUXURY COLLECTION HOTEL

I

t is on one of Budapest’s grand thoroughfares that you’ll find Matild Palace. The hotel occupies one of a pair of identical mansions built in 1902 at the behest of Her Imperial and Royal Highness Maria Clotilde of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, who enlisted renowned local architects Korb and Giergl to create twin baroque palaces that would act as a ‘grand gateway’ when entering the Pest side of the city across the River Danube via the recentlycompleted Elisabeth Bridge.

Enjoying UNESCO world heritage status, the buildings were originally designed for social use, with each offering apartments, offices and artist studios for Budapest’s wealthier denizens. For decades the neighbourhood thrived but, having sustained serious damage from both a fighter jet crash and Russian tank fire during WWII, both were eventually deemed uninhabitable and abandoned.

It was in this state that Marriott took on the challenge of transforming the southern building into a hotel fit to join its Luxury Collection. After five painstaking years, the restoration of dozens of priceless original features – including Zsolnay ceramic work, Gyula Jungfer wrought iron gates and Miksa Róth stained glass windows – and a disheartening year-long delay due to the pandemic, Matild Palace finally opened its doors in June 2021.

Rooms, there are 111 in total, and 19 suites, are a study in blending modern convenience with the beauty of a listed building. Natural light floods through double casement windows, which provide views over the Danube, Elisabeth Bridge and Buda Castle, while blocking out noise from the (admittedly busy) road below. In the bathroom and adjoining wet room, glittering blue mosaic tiles echo those found in Budapest’s famous spas – an aesthetic which carries down

HISTORIC GRANDEUR IN THE HEART OF BUDAPEST Words:

Zoe Gunn

to the hotel’s own Swan Spa found in its lower levels.

And while it is extremely difficult to eat badly in Budapest, should you tire of goulash and paprikash (a dish so abundant that I inadvertently ordered it twice on our first day), Matild Palace’s Spago restaurant offers a point of difference. Helmed by Wolfgang Puck, with day-to-day operations overseen

by Hungarian-born head chef István Szántó, the seasonal menu roams across the globe applying American, Asian and Mediterranean twists to local ingredients.

Boasting a heady mix of location, history, gastronomy and old-school European luxury, Matild Palace feels like a fitting reincarnation of a building envisioned as an ode to the sophistication, artistic heritage and international importance of Budapest.

From £450 per night, marriott.co.uk

WESTMINSTER, LONDON’S MOST ICONIC ADDRESS

The most personal of hotels in the grandest of neighbourhoods A location that’s fit for kings and queens. Service that is tailored to you and yours. A team that is discrete and attentive.

A commitment to know what makes your stay special, and a desire to make you feel completely pampered.

Come and enjoy London’s most iconic neighbourhood from its most personal hotel, The Guardsman.

1 Vandon Street, London SW1H 0AH T: 0207 309 9200 I reservations@guardsmanhotel.com

guardsmanhotel.com

Making

WAVES T O H E L P C R E AT E I T S T R A I L B L A Z I N G N E W L U X U R Y S H I P,

C E L E B R I T Y B E YO N D ® , C E L E B R I T Y C R U I S E S ® H A S E N L I S T E D T H E TA L E N T S O F G L O B A L D E S I G N E R S , C H E F S A N D TA S T E M A K E R S , I N C L U D I N G I N T E R I O R S P E C I A L I S T S N AT E B E R K U S A N D K E L LY H O P P E N C B E , A N D M I C H E L I N - S TA R C H E F D A N I E L B O U L U D

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

106

LUXURY LONDON

PROMOTION

W

hen it comes to haute living on the high seas, Celebrity Cruises® is an innovator in its field.

The company’s esteemed fleet of everevolving, state-of-the-art ships offers sleek, contemporary design, world-class cuisine and a vast array of modern comforts to rival any five-star resort.

Itineraries are thorough and farreaching, whether touring Europe’s most enthralling cities, exploring remote islands like the Galápagos, or travelling to the sun-soaked splendour of the Caribbean.

The newest addition to its roster of refined ships is Celebrity Beyond®.

This hotly anticipated destination in itself boasts an innovative, outwardfacing design, creating an even closer connection between guests, the sea, and every exciting place on the horizon.

Guests can unwind in expansive openair spaces and discover even more ways to relax and renew.

The ship’s inaugural voyage will set sail from Southampton in April on a 10-night European cruise to Barcelona, by way of Bordeaux, Lisbon, Malaga and Palma.

Celebrity Cruises® has collaborated with an all-star team to bring Beyond® to life, including award-winning designer Kelly Hoppen CBE, who brought her unique vision to the Spa, the staterooms and The Retreat® across the Edge Series ships. For Beyond, she goes even further, also reimagining the Pool Deck with unique sculptures and discreet sunken seating, the Rooftop Garden with stunning new cantilevered float pools and a fresh new take on both the popular Café al Bacio and awe-inspiring Magic Carpet®.

The Magic Carpet® – an industryfirst immersive restaurant and bar that extends from the side of the ship – allows guests to seemingly ‘float’ above water, while savouring delicious food and socialising over fine wines and cocktails.

Renowned US interior designer and TV personality, Nate Berkus, has designed the expanded Sunset Bar, drawing on Moroccan architecture, and featuring private enclaves which allow for cosy têteà-têtes, set against twinkling, postcardperfect panoramas.

For gourmands, Beyond® lays claim to French Michelin-starred chef Daniel Boulud’s first restaurant at sea, aptly called Le Voyage. An adventurous fine-dining menu of global flavours promises a new experience every night, while glamorous interiors are the work of Jouin Manku, the design firm responsible for the Le Jules Verne restaurant in the Eiffel Tower, and Celebrity Beyond®’s Grand Plaza.

The ship’s pièce de résistance, however, might just be The Retreat, an exclusive indoor and outdoor space with a members’ club quality that is only available to suite guests. Designed by Kelly Hoppen CBE, it is referred to as ‘a hotel within a hotel’ and features a private lounge and a two-storey sundeck, where a dedicated concierge team will cater to your every whim. Bask in blissful sunshine while pool attendants deliver cocktails, or dine at Luminae, the area’s private restaurant, where you can explore exclusive menus crafted

by Michelin-starred chefs while gazing through floor-to-ceiling windows.

Swathed in marble, the deluxe spa spans a colossal 13,907 sq ft and includes the first Kérastase Institute on LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

107

the water for haircare and treatments, a barbershop and an acupuncture clinic. Guests can indulge in no less than 120 treatments, including glacial mud wraps, coconut melt massages, Elemis facials and reflexology. Central to the spa is the SEA Thermal Suite, featuring a hammam, Himalayan salt room, infrared sauna and steam room.

On the fitness front, work up a sweat during a high-intensity Peloton® workout or stretch out in the yoga studio. For the ultimate wellness experience, stay in one of the ship’s AquaClass® staterooms or suites, with amenities from wellness partner Goop, and exclusive access to the SEA Thermal Suite and restaurant Blu, where guests can enjoy a menu of health-conscious cuisine and biodynamic wine.

Guests can select from stunning staterooms with infinite balconies or capacious suites with panoramic vistas.

For unparalleled luxury, upgrade to a two-storey Edge Villa with a private plunge pool, or the Iconic Suite with the best views at sea, positioned over the Bridge. Clean lines, soothing tones and contemporary furnishings reflect the modern, sleek aesthetic for which Kelly Hoppen is best known.

Following her maiden voyage around Western Europe, Celebrity Beyond® will set sail on a variety of Mediterranean journeys, including a nine-night tour of the Italian Riviera, before heading off to tour the Caribbean from November.

Whether you’re seeking thrilling adventure, glamorous evenings or a complete wellness immersion, be one of the first to experience Celebrity Beyond®. celebritycruises.com/gb

Mandarin Oriental,

Lago di Como T H E H O N G KO N G H O T E L G R O U P P I C K S A T O P S P O T F O R I T S F I R S T E U R O P E A N R E S O R T

Words:

Richard Brown

LUXURY LONDON

ESCAPE

T

hey chose a better spot than George Clooney, you’d have to say.

Sure, Clooney’s Villa L’Oleandra came with a private jetty and a stretch of lawn that would make the groundsman at Lord’s jealous. But it’s on the west side of the lake, where the hills are steep, so the sun’s almost gone by late afternoon. You can broil around Mandarin Oriental’s teak-decked floating swimming pool, where the club sandwiches come Taschen-tome thick and the Aperol spritz disappears fast, until gone six – if you’ve not slinked off to your own private terrace by then (the hotel has 75 rooms; almost all of them have their own balconies).

Across the lake, you can just about make out Villa d’Este, the fêted weddingcake hotel, which, until the Mandarin Oriental rolled into town in 2018 (Blevio, to be precise), really had only the Grand Hotel Tremezzo and Villa Serbelloni to contend with for the title of most luxurious digs on Lake Como.

But Villa d’Este is old money and pearl necklaces and blazers-on-at-all-times after dark. The Mandarin Oriental is girls in Gucci bikinis reading Sally Rooney novels and guys in Orlebar Brown trunks rereading Never Split the Difference. The crowd tilts younger here. The staff wear polo shirts by Paul & Shark.

The Hong Kong hotel group sure inherited a lovely pile. It was the CastaDiva Resort in a previous life, briefly, before being acquired by London-based private equity firm Attestor Capital in 2017.

Back in the early 19th century, the estate belonged to the opera singer Giuditta Pasta, who, according to legend, would serenade her composer neighbour, Vincenzo Bellini, from her lakeside loggia.

Bellini would later write the aria Casta Diva (Chaste Goddess) from his blockbuster opera Norma with Pasta in mind. Hence, the CastaDiva Resort. Now, the Mandarin Oriental, Lago di Como.

You can visit Pasta’s grave in Blevio, if you want. It’s not far from Ristorante Vapore, an unassuming hotel restaurant that has signed photographs of Harry Styles and Robert De Niro on the walls. It does bowls of excellent ravioli for €14 and plates LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

109

of brilliant seabass for €18. But mostly it’s about the view. Which will make your eyes go misty after several glasses of chianti.

Back to the MO. Not only did the group inherit the world’s most Instagrammable swimming pool, it also acquired three historic Italianate villas (the oldest dates from 1799), six stylish stone outbuildings (finished in 2010), 6.4 acres of mature gardens, 50 species of plants, several hundred metres of prime Como lakefront and a 200-year-old Lebanese cedar tree.

The group then got busy applying its own stamp on the place. Out went the heavy velvet curtains and oldfashioned furniture (most of it). In came contemporary lighting and elegant Chinoiserie wallpaper and vases upon vases of orchids. It took the folks at Michelin just seven months to garland the hotel’s flagship restaurant, the ItalianJapanese L’Aria, with one of its asterisks.

And then there’s the spa. The largest on the lake. It’s in an underground grotto, that doubles as a boathouse, which feels like a setting from a James Bond film. There’s an indoor swimming pool that will massage you with hidden jets, and a Finnish sauna and a Himalayan salt room and a giant fish tank and something called an ‘emotional shower’ – presumably for when the absurd beauty of the whole place all gets a bit too much.

You can’t see Clooney’s pad from the Mandarin Oriental. It’s around a bend, behind some trees. But you can rent a Riva from the hotel’s pontoon and pootle up there to see what I mean for yourself. There are worse ways to spend an afternoon.

A superior room starts from €640 per night in low season, mandarinoriental.com

CELEBRITYCRUISES.COM/GB CALL 0800 240 4286 | CONTACT YOUR TRAVEL AGENT *Terms and conditions apply

Luxury_London_434x286.indd 1

ISN’T IT TIME? J O U R N E Y S A F E . J O U R N E Y WO N D E R F U L L .

SM

20/01/2022 13:57

christofle.com

NEW FLATWARE COLLECTION

INFINI_CHRISTOFLE_LUXURY_LONDON.indd 1

14/03/2022 18:45

Homes & Interiors I T ’ S W H AT ’ S I N S I D E T H AT CO U N T S

LONDONERS HAVE BEEN HEADING TO THE COUNTRYSIDE EN MASSE DURING THE PANDEMIC. IF YOU’RE THINKING ABOUT JOINING THEM, CONSULT OUR LIST OF GORGEOUS PROPERTIES JUST OUTSIDE THE CAPITAL (P.124)

114 Go with the Flow Curved furniture for a soothing interior 116 Katharine Pooley The design queen on her winning signature style 124 The Great Migration Glorious for-sale properties in the home counties 130 Property of the Month A rare heritage rental

INTERIOR TREND

Go with the

FLOW

Words:

Anna Solomon

This season, it’s all about curves and contours If you’re plugged into the world of interiors, chances are you’ve heard of biophilia – the trend influenced by humanity’s ‘tendency to focus on lifelike processes’. Well, this isn’t quite that, but it is similar. Biophilia usually refers to the presence of plants – but organic shapes and earthy tones can have just as calming an effect. In 2022, we’re rejecting crisp lines and severe edges.

Everything has gotten softer: corners are rounded, ceramics are artisanal, and metals are distressed. Natural-feeling textiles like boucle and wicker are coming to the fore, and when we can’t have wooden tones, it’s got to be moss green or rust orange.

Venini Fazzoletto opalino vase, £822, amara.com

Edra velvet chair, POA, monologuelondon.com Curvo wine rack, £150, nambe.co.uk

Tambo wide desk, £850, made.com

Tufted cotton cushion cover, £24.99, hm.com

LUXURY LONDON

HOMES & INTERIORS

Spark light spiral pendant £1,644, designorchard.co.uk

Tom Dixon bash vessel, £225, johnlewis.com

Zanat aurora candleholder, £119, farfetch.com

Alec natural kane floor lamp, £55, dunelm.com

Aaram cabinet, £1,895, kamcekam.com

Rope vase, £22, made.com

Wool rug shape, £585.95, benuta.co.uk

Cenote vase, £305, uk.l-objet.com

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

115

KATHARINE the Great I N T E R I O R D E S I G N E R K AT H A R I N E P O O L E Y I S A N I N D U S T R Y S TA R W I T H A S T R I N G O F ACCO L A D E S TO H E R N A M E , INCLUDING ‘BRITISH INTERIOR DESIGNER O F T H E D E C A D E ’ ACCO R D I N G TO T H E I N T E R N AT I O N A L D E S I G N AWA R D S A S S O C I AT I O N . F R O M C O U N T R Y E S TAT E S TO CO N T E M P O R A RY H O M E S , P O O L E Y ’ S S I G N AT U R E S T Y L E I S … W E L L , W H AT E V E R THE CLIENT DESIRES. LUXURY LONDON TA K E S A C L O S E R L O O K AT H E R L AT E S T R E S T O R AT I O N S A N D D I S C O V E R S T H AT H E R OW N H O M E “ I S N ’ T TO O I N T E R I O R D E S I G N E D ” AT A L L

Words:

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

117

Kari Colmans

THE DRAWING ROOM OF A FIVE-STOREY NOTTING HILL TOWNHOUSE, WHICH POOLEY’S TEAM MANAGED TO TRANSFORM FROM TOP TO BOTTOM IN JUST FIVE MONTHS

LUXURY LONDON

HOMES & INTERIORS

N

ot many people can claim Mohamed Al-Fayed as their first client. But interior design globetrotter Katharine Pooley started as she meant to go on. “People would always come to my home and ask where I had bought certain things, wanting me to help them design their own homes. Interior design just landed on me, as opposed to the other way round,” she muses over the phone, while quarantining in Kuwait at the time of this interview. “I started at the top, that’s for sure. But it just felt totally natural.”

Born in Hertfordshire, schooled in Oxfordshire and France, and then predominantly brought up in Bahrain (followed by 16 years in Asia), Pooley’s projects range in scale and style from traditional country estates to contemporary homes to hotels to luxury spas to beach villas to palaces, castles, ski chalets, planes and yachts. Her eponymous Knightsbridge design studio was established more than 15 years ago on Walton Street, selling exquisite pieces from her extensive travels, including home décor that ranged from console tables and bedside lamps to sculptures, crystals and objets d’art.

A scan through Pooley’s online interior design portfolio and the weighty coffee-table tome she’s just published with French luxury publishing house Assouline, Journey by Design, confirms that she’s not just seized the family motto – ‘try and you will succeed’ – but grabbed it by the horns and run with it.

“Like in any career, every project is a learning curve,” says Pooley. “You build, you learn, you build, you learn. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a doctor or an interior designer, we all learn as we go along.”

Katharine and her team recently completed a showstopper of a townhouse in Notting Hill, a double-fronted

Victorian villa dating back to the 1850s which was extended to include three subterranean basements. Taking just five months to complete (“we signed the client on 21 March, the day Boris put us all in a lockdown”), it was largely coordinated over Zoom, followed by a very socially distanced installation. Quite rightly, Pooley is rather proud of what they managed to pull off. “It just goes to show that so much can be done from home. We just tried to remain positive and kept going no matter what.”

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

119

“Every project is a learning curve.

You build, you learn, you build, you learn”

Katharine worked closely with the client – an international, professional couple in their late 20s – to create a highly luxurious but contemporary interior that highlighted the classical architecture of the property. Brimming with large-scale artworks, alabaster chandeliers, and sculptural furniture throughout, the client’s signature love of colour is clear. From the layers of cobalt and azure blue in the drawing room, to burnt orange and deep burgundy tones in the dining and living room, canary yellow, lapis, teal, emerald and dusky lilac hues span each of the seven bedrooms. Two sculpted acrobats are suspended in motion above the breathtaking basement swimming pool, while a ‘living’ green garden wall provides a serene backdrop to the home spa.

Pooley and her team have also just completed a pretty South Kensington mews house, transforming the once dark property into a light-filled, family home. Standout features include a wine cellar, an enclosed garden terrace and an orangery-style living room. Pretty fabrics, hand-painted wallpaper and mementos

from the family’s history and travels add layers of meaningful detail.

“For me, it’s all about personalisation,” says Pooley, from conceiving specific pieces to reflect the client’s character and interests, to monogramming items you’d never consider. We discuss a recent installation, within a racing car-themed hotel in China (complete with a private racetrack), where she commissioned a coffee table carved out of a crashed racing car. “I very much do not have a signature style because my work is all about the client, not me. Personalisation is something we are seeing more and more of, and I imagine that will continue.”

Having spent more time at home than ever in the past two years, you’d think Katharine would be all for a national home décor refresh. But quite the opposite.

“Trends are like flares – they come in and then they go straight back out. Timelessness and quality are what it’s all about.”

After a push, however, she does settle on one sure trend for 2022 – and no, it’s not house plants – but sustainability. I’m surprised given that the nature of her job is to predominantly ‘acquire more stuff’, but

WITHIN THE NOTTING HILL PROPERTY, POOLEY MANAGED TO CREATE A NATURALLY-LIT READING AREA (ABOVE) AND A LIGHT-AND-AIRY LIVING ROOM (RIGHT) IN THE SUBTERRANEAN WELLNESS SPACE, TWO SCULPTURAL FIGURES DIVE INTO A SWIMMING POOL (BOTTOM RIGHT)

“I very much do not have a signature style... Timelessness and quality are what it’s all about”

LUXURY LONDON

HOMES & INTERIORS

Pooley assures me that this can still be done in a sustainable way, most of the time.

“I always try to dissuade my clients from just gutting a property immediately.

Even if it’s something small like the wooden carcass of a wardrobe, so many things can be re-used.”

Other ways she endeavours to be as ecoconscious as possible include utilising local artisans – whether she’s in Cape Town, Hong Kong or Dubai – and choosing chemical-free, sustainably-made paints, wallpapers and fabrics. “I certainly feel the trend is to try and just need less stuff in general. In 2021 we were all stuck at home, so people wanted to change things. I think in 2022 people are going to be holding onto the pennies much more, even at the very top. We should all need less.”

Ironically, Katharine prefers her own home (her main property in Oxfordshire, at least) not to be “too interior designed”.

“That sounds terrible from an interior designer, doesn’t it?!” she laughs, as we discuss the impossible task of keeping a home looking pristine with young children and messy husbands. “People say its beautiful, but it certainly isn’t perfect.

My living room looks like a toy room, but I try not to get too stressed about it.” Her holiday homes in Devon and the Lake District are, Pooley confesses, “designed to perfection” – before anyone arrives to mess them up, I presume.

“For me the design of these properties is very much based on their usage: one is a beach property, the other is for walking.

I love cooking, so my kitchens especially are designed for me: I have a little drawer under the sink for all my cloths because I hate to have them out. I have a toaster drawer to butter my boys’ toast. We are all becoming much more personalised in our thoughts on design.”

Shortly before we spoke, Kuwait had just reopened its borders and Pooley was one of the first to land, eager to finish off a project she started almost two years ago.

I ask her how she’s finding her current mandatory quarantine? “I’m actually quite enjoying the peace and quiet,” she says. That might be true, but you suspect it won’t stay that way for long once Pooley’s allowed out of her hotel room.

160 Walton Street, SW3 2JL, katharinepooley.com LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

121

We are the official forum for the luxury property

Join The Luxury Property Forum

sector. An exclusive and carefully curated

membership@theluxurypropertyforum.com

membership that facilitates the advancement

or apply via our website

of the industry through networking, developing

www.theluxurypropertyforum.com

strong business collaborations, shared knowledge, experience and contacts.

CGI Image courtesy of Regents Crescent produced by V1

THE GREAT MIGRATION GORGEOUS HOMES FOR SALE WITHIN A N H O U R ’ S CO M M U T E O F LO N D O N

Words:

Anna Solomon

I

n 2021, in what was perhaps the defining property market trend of the year, regional markets outpaced London – up, on average, by 9.3 per cent year-on-year. The South East saw the greatest increase in house value, followed by homes in the North. London came in third. There’s nothing like not being allowed outside to make you realise that, actually, you really like being outside.

Yet while remote working habits have led to buyers widening their geographic searches, access to London remains a top priority. Thinking of joining the exodus?

Here are some of the most spectacular homes currently for sale within commuting-distance of the capital…

LUXURY LONDON

HOMES & INTERIORS

C A S T L E S T R E E T, F A R N H A M , G U 9

This Grade II-listed four-bed home is located on a gorgeous 18th century street in Surrey. A mainline station provides regular train services to London Waterloo, while Farnham Park, comprising some 300 acres of public parkland, is just up the road. This is a classic Georgian-style home: the impressive frontage welcomes you into an entrance hall, while period features, including a turned staircase, combine with updated aspects like the fitted kitchen with its centre island. This open-plan area also includes a second reception/living room, which provides access to a walled garden through bi-fold doors. The first and second floors accommodate four bedrooms, while the lower ground floor offers generous cellarage suitable for wine or recreation. £1,250,000, struttandparker.com

C A M B R I D G E B U I L D I N G , A L D E R S H O T, G U 1 1

As renovations go, this one is pretty spectacular. The Cambridge Military Hospital at Gun Hill Park has been converted into luxury residences, including a penthouse which is literally in the 109 ft clock tower. The Grade II-listed building was constructed in 1875-79 in a neoclassical style, based on design principles championed by Florence Nightingale.

It now comprises 74 homes, including the threebedroom penthouse: a fusion of contemporary spaces and heritage features, which starts with a long, gallery-esque entrance hall and ascends to five further levels, each with a unique hexagonal floorplate and high-vaulted ceiling. The fifth floor, which originally housed a bell, features a cupola, arched windows, and forms a viewing platform for breath-taking panoramas. The top level comprises the clock turret itself, the face of the clock measuring eight feet in diameter. £850,000, weston-homes.com

H A R E F I E L D P L AC E , I C K E N H A M , U B 1 0

Harefield Place is a Georgian manor originally built in 1786 for Sir Roger Newdigate, whose family were, for almost 440 years, the Lords of Harefield Manor, a baronetcy created by King Henry VI. When Sir Roger inherited the baronetcy, he demolished the Elizabethan house and replaced it with the current building. After changing hands, and functions, numerous times, Harefield Place has been returned to its residential origins: the estate has been transformed into a gated development of 25 two- and three-bedroom apartments.

You approach via a sweeping driveway that opens onto a forecourt and parterre garden; the original entrance hall has been retained, and apartments include original or reinstated cornicing, ceiling detailing, architraves and skirting boards. There is also a new-build wing with floorto-ceiling glazing, open-plan layouts, and private balconies and terraces.

Amenities include a spa, gymnasium, swimming pool and tennis court, plus 8.5 acres of landscaped grounds.

Prices from £850,000, harefieldplace.com

H AS CO M B E R OA D, G O DA L M I N G , G U 8

People move out of London for all manner of reasons – one of them is to occupy a gorgeous gable property sitting amid towering trees. Woodmead House fulfils every ‘country house’ brief there is: it sits on 4.83 acres of land and boasts an ornamental pond; there is an adjoining wooded area and the Winkworth Arboretum beyond. The house itself extends over 4,000 sq ft and is arranged over two floors, incorporating a feature staircase, a wealth of oak-work and panelling, impressive fireplaces, window seats, and decorative cornicing. Oh, and don’t forget the all-important boot room, complete with dog washing area (we’re not in London any more, Toto). The Hascombe Road property is believed to date back to the 1930s (with later extensions) and was subject to a thoroughly-modernising refurbishment project by the previous owners. £3,300,000, knightfrank.co.uk

M O L E S H I L L , O X S H O T T, K T 2 2

This 7,000 sq ft, six-bed, four-bath Surrey property is located within the exclusive Crown Estate in Oxshott, on a secluded south-west facing plot of 0.45 acres. A vast block-paved drive leads to a double-front door, which enters into a double-height reception hall with an impressive floating staircase. The generous rear garden includes a large terrace, breeze house, swimming pool and summer house.

Offers in excess of £4,000,000, knightfrank.co.uk

LUXURY LONDON

HOMES & INTERIORS

OLD SCHOOL HOUSE, CHOBHAM, GU24

The Old School House is a new development built by boutique developer Aitch Group with dog-owning residents in mind. This is evident in the vast amounts of outdoor communal space – three acres, to be precise – comprising a tennis court, petanque piste for boules, and an al-fresco dining area underneath a pergola. It’s also indicative of the abundance of picturesque local walks: there’s an ancient woodland nearby, as well as Chobham Common (the largest National Nature Reserve in southeast England) and Horsell Common, which was the basis for H.G Wells’ War of the Worlds (all of this, a mere 28 minutes from London Waterloo).

Homes, which are built on the former site of Flexlands School, have open-plan layouts and private gardens. The two-bedroom show home features a soothing palette of natural tones highlighted by moss greens and burnt oranges.

Prices from £850,000, oldschoolhouse.co.uk

R O W L E Y R I D G E , A R K L E Y, E N 5

The village of Arkley is technically in outer London, but it has such a fascinating history that we think it’s worth mentioning here. This country house was once a top-secret listening base used by MI6 to intercept German signals during World War II, chosen by Churchill for its 440-ft altitude. After the war, the villa was demolished and its role in the effort largely forgotten, other than by military history buffs. Now, the house has been reconstructed and given a modern makeover – the doublefronted façade of the 11,000 sq ft mansion features architecture inspired by the original Edwardian building, observable in bays to the front and rear, dormer windows, and feature chimneys. The interior is even more spectacular, with a three-story atrium surmounted by a glass cupola taking pride of place. Galleried landings lead to rooms bedecked with marble, stone, and oak, and state-of-the-art leisure facilities include a cinema, games room, gymnasium, swimming pool and steam room. £8,500,000, beauchamp.com

WA R R E N R O A D , K I N G S T O N - U P O N -T H A M E S , K T 2

This property enjoys proximity to London without compromising on perks like a swimming pool, orangery and an enormous forecourt. You’ll find it in Kingston-upon-Thames, close to Coombe Golf Club and Richmond Park (although, who needs Richmond Park when the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is on your doorstep?). The house itself is a neo-Georgian property set within a gated development that was the former residence of General Eisenhower during World War II – the 4.72acre plot is shared with only five neighbours, ensuring a degree of privacy and exclusivity. The property also boasts seven generous bedrooms and bathrooms featuring Italian marble surfaces and aqua televisions. £10,500,000, harrodsestates.com LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

127

Proud sponsors of ‘A Garden Sanctuary by Hamptons’ at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show

A garden must combine the poetic and the mysterious with a feeling of serenity and joy.

Luis Barragan

THE BENEFITS OF A GARDEN AREN’T JUST OBVIOUS TO GARDENERS

G A R D E N S . W E ’ R E E X P E R T S AT T H AT

HAM182-Gardens-LuxLdondon-217x280.indd 2

22/03/2022 11:20

HAM

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.

Marcus Tullius Cicero

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.

Albert Einstein.

11:20

HAM182-Gardens-LuxLdondon-217x280.indd 3

22/03/2022 11:20

PROPERTY OF THE MONTH

NINE MILLBANK, SW1 A L A N D M A R K A D D R E S S I N T H E H E A R T O F H I S T O R I C W E S T M I N S T E R I S N O W AVA I L A B L E T O R E N T

B

lending the charisma of Grade II-listed architecture with the contemporary luxuries of a purpose-built living space, a 24-hour concierge, state-of-the-art gym, pool, spa, and private cinema screening room, are just some of the facilities you can expect at the exclusive new 9 Millbank development.

Milbank Quarter is the first phase of the highly-anticipated 9 Millbank, developed by the esteemed Berkley Homes, where apartments have been fashioned to the highest specifications.

The airy, open-plan living spaces feature smart, sophisticated kitchens with integrated appliances, while impressive

master bedrooms boast sizeable built-in wardrobes and classic, marble-clad en suite bathrooms, complete with rainfall showers.

Elsewhere, timber flooring, comfort cooling and underfloor heating are just some of the extra modern conveniences you can expect from the impressive apartments within Millbank Quarter.

Fully furnished in an earthy palette of sand-coloured linens, mossy velvets, and rich brown leather, the apartments are made extra homely thanks to considered lighting and serene artwork.

Boasting a prestigious Westminster postcode, and located just half a mile from Westminster station (with St James’s LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

130

Park and Pimlico on your doorstop), the property is poised between Knightsbridge, Mayfair and the West End, while Millbank itself is a wellestablished centre for art and design, home to Tate Britain and Chelsea College of Art and Design. For those with a family to consider, nearby schools include the historic and notable Westminster School, as well as Francis Holland School.

Imperial College London, King’s College London and the London School of Economics are also located in the vicinity.

From £900 pw for one bedroom, £1,450 pw for two bedrooms, £1,800 pw for three bedrooms, fully furnished, residential.jll.co.uk