VOLUME VII / ISSUE XI / NOVEMBER 2023
TRIPLE CROWN D E ARGE N T IN A · 8 3 RD ABIE RTO DE TO RT UGAS C O UN T RY C LUB · 130T H A BI E RTO D E H U RL IN G H AM
LUXURY GUIDE TO BUENOS AIRES
WHERE TO EAT, STAY AND GO BETWEEN POLO MATCHES
ESPOUSING THE LUXURY LIFESTYLE
CLIMBING TO THE TOP OF A LUXURY REAL ESTATE BROKERAGE
WHY MOST SUCCESSFUL MARRIAGES ARE START-UPS; NOT MERGERS THE KEYS TO OFFERING EFFECTIVE FEEDBACK
THE GLOBAL VIRUS ALMOST NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT
GENOA BOAT SHOW
THE NEW LUXURY STANDARD FOR NAUTICAL ENTHUSIASTS
WHAT HAPPENED TO EMPATHY? THE DANGER OF BEING INURED TO HUMAN SUFFERING
HOSTING THE HOLIDAYS?
MUST-HAVE WINES HAND-PICKED FOR YOU THE MOST-GOOGLED FASHION BRANDS OF 2023 $32.95 USD
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VOLUME VII / ISSUE XI / NOVEMBER 2023
Ambassador Claude-Alix Bertrand Publisher
Michael J. Snell
Joshua Jakobitz
Lifestyles & Luxury Automobile Contributor
Editor-in-Chief
William Smith
Joey Velez
Copy Editor & Philanthropy Contributor
Wellness Contributor
Claire Barrett
Justin "Goliath" Johnson
Dana Romita
Raphael K. Dapaah
Head of Photography
Luxury Real Estate Contributor
Wellness Contributor
Art Contributor
Brand Representatives
Amritlal Singh
Ascension Contributor
Polo Photographers
Katerina Morgan Justine Jacquemot Irina Kazaridi Helen Cruden Eva Espresso Matias Callejo Mark Beaumont
Michael J. Snell - NYC Stanley Pierre-Etienne - Spain Justin Johnson - Atlanta
Contributing Photographers
Xavier Merchet-Thau Aubrey Chandler Eric Carré Eva Espresso Rob Miskowitch Margarita Crotto
Polo Lifestyles is a publication of HT Polo Publishing Co. 995 Detroit Avenue, Suite A Concord, CA 94518 Cover photo by Katerina Morgan in Buenos Aires Content Copyright © Polo Lifestyles 2023 All Rights Reserved. For information or to advertise Contact marketing@pololifestyles.com Read online at www.pololifestyles.com On Instagram & Facebook @pololifestyles A proud partner of Issuu, The Impression and Mixam
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2023 TRIPLE CROWN - ARGENTINA 130th Abierto de Hurlingham 83rd Abierto de Tortugas 130th Abierto de Argentina HSBC INANDA POLO CLUB Cell C Africa Cup Final VAL DE VIE POLO CLUB VDVPC Challenge Winelands Cup RHONEHILL POLO CLUB Summer Cup 12 Goal ASPEN POLO CLUB Snow Polo Championship
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VOLUME VII / ISSUE XI / NOVEMBER 2023
SCOREBOARDS & COCKTAILS
TORTUGAS COUNTRY CLUB OPEN
PHOTOS FROM ARGENTINA Page 30
POLO LIFESTYLES EDITORS & CONTRIBUTORS
Ambassador Claude-Alix Bertrand Publisher Polo Lifestyles @haiti_polo_captain
Eric Carré
Photographer EC Photography @ti_carre
page 12
Josh Jakobitz
Editor-in-Chief Polo Lifestyles @joshuajakobitz
Claire Barrett
Copy Editor & Contributor
@clairebarrettphoto
@willismith_2000
Claire Barrett Photography May & Stanley Smith Charitable Trust
Eva Espresso Photographer
Eva Espresso Photography
@Eva.espresso
William Smith
Head of Photography
Katerina Morgan
Polo Photographer Horse Polo Art Gallery @horsepoloartgallery
Raphael K. Dapaah Art Contributor Dapaah Gallery @dapaahgallery
Amritlal Singh
Spirituality Contributor Monarch Visionary @monarch_visionary
Michael J. Snell
Lifestyles & Luxury Automobiles Contributor @agnello_1
Joey Velez
Dana Romita
Real Estate Contributor Douglas Elliman @danaromita
Justin Johnson
Wellness Columnist
Wellness Contributor
@velezmentalhealth
@goliathcoaches
Velez Mental Performance
Goliath Coaches
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Parisians go (do)nuts for artisanal pastries, page 90
Chanel presents bright colors in Paris, page 117
Jay-Z's customized timepiece raises $1.5M, page 68
Experiencing the best of Buenos Aires, page 96
GENOA BOAT SHOW SALONE NAUTICO DI GENOVA AIMS TO BE THE WORLD'S MOST-PRESTIGIOUS SHOW PAGE 58
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THE TRIPLE CROWN BY KATERINA MORGAN
K
IA ORA AND GREETINGS FROM NEW ZEALAND, WHERE HALF OF OUR EDITORIAL STAFF HAS BEEN FOR THE LAST WEEK WHILE WORKING ON THE NOVEMBER ISSUE. IT SEEMS A BIT OTHERWORLDLY TO BE WRITING ABOUT POLO ON LITERALLY THE OTHER SIDE OF THE GLOBE. WHILE HERE, WE WERE BLESSED TO WITNESS THE BIRTH OF A FOAL – A FILLY – THE BLOOD OFFSPRING OF TWO AWARD-WINNING PONIES, THE MIRACULOUS CIRCLE OF LIFE HAPPENING RIGHT BEFORE US. Foals are what keeps polo, along with other equestrian activities moving forward. So perhaps in the novelty of the moment, we found ourselves asking, what moves us forward as humans? It certainly isn’t empathy, as writes guest columnist Xochitl Gonzalez this month. Instead, the question is posed, What happened to empathy? Going into the holiday season, it’s my hope that empathy can find its place in the world once again. On a lighter note, we have a fabulous pull-the-curtainback feature from our in-house luxury realtor, Dana Romita, who’s done it all when it comes to real estate. In one graphic illustration involving a haphazardly installed bidet and a stream of water to the face, Romita realized that her career path was going to look nothing like “Selling Sunset” or “Million-Dollar Listing.” Yet, she’s stuck with it, bringing her perspective and her gut feeling about the Manhattan market to every listing and every monthly column. As part of the holiday season, wine contributor William Smith shares his picked-for-you, must-have shopping list for your local wine shop. Worry not about pairing turkey, ham or anything else with the wrong wine, because Smith has a fool-proof plan in place for you. With that, let me be the first, perhaps, to wish you happy holidays. I can’t wait to write next month’s column – the last of the year, but the Gift Guide extraordinaire issue – and look into 2024 with you. Best, Josh Jakobitz Editor-in-Chief josh@pololifestyles.com
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VOLUME VII / ISSUE XI / NOVEMBER 2023
willismith2000 Representing @pololifestyles at the Chile Wine Festival to research this month's feature
tiffanyandco
Rimowa and Tiffany & Co. teamed up to introduce the latest collaboration of two luxury brands
johnhardyjewelry
The Love Knot, now in several new styles to choose from, expresses your endless affection 18
lvmh The World Cup trophy travels in case, as befitting the LVMH brand heritage
chetlott As summer fades to autumn, polo fields will turn from green to brown, but spring is only around the corner
gariagolfcart Great for taking the kids around or hitting the links with your buddies... in festive autumn orange
poloralphlauren Timeless and endlessly chic, Ralph Lauren has perfected the collegiate wardrobe
eq_luxe We just love this ensemble Halloween costuming idea
armanddebrignac When a celebration calls for an upgraded experience, we always order Armand de Brignac
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Click and comment on our choices... Tag @pololifestyles. We will share noteworthy comments with you next month.
harrywinston Naughty or nice? It doesn't matter if Harry Winston is on your list for Santa Claus
milan.petrovic.kw Stunning zebra print wallpaper like we've never seen it before
williamssonoma Truffled birthday cake bites from Williams-Sonoma are almost too tasty to devour
perrier
Perrier x Philip Stark redesigned the perennial Perrier green bottle, in specialty stores now
uspoloassn Bring them up young, bring them up on horseback, bring them up wearing U.S. Polo Assn.
bulgarihotels When you need to kick back and relax, Bulgari Hotels have exactly what you need to get the job done
sothebys.provenance An equestrian property in the Provence region of France is up for grabs... check the Sothebys listing
audi
The color of the season... on an allnew Audi sportscar
louisvuitton Do wonders never cease? The chefs at LVMH properties take pastries to new levels of creativity page 19
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OAK BEND FARM DEBUTS SOUTHWEST CIRCUIT SPORTSMANSHIP CUP
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P H OTO G RA P H S CO U RTE SY DAV ID MURRE L L / US PO LO ASSN .
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AK BEND FARM IN LEDBETTER, TX., HOSTED ITS FIRST TOURNAMENT AS A USPA MEMBER CLUB: THE SOUTHWEST CIRCUIT SPORTSMANSHIP CUP (0- TO 2-GOAL). UTILIZING THE USPA’S TOURNAMENT STIMULUS PACKAGE, THE CLUB WAS ABLE TO BENEFIT FROM $2,500 IN PRIZE MONEY, A PROFESSIONAL UMPIRE, TROPHY REIMBURSEMENT AND A WAIVED TOURNAMENT FEE. One of the newest USPA clubs, Oak Bend Farm brought together players from all corners of the Lone Star state for fun and competitive polo. Competitors traveled from the likes of Austin, College Station, Houston and San Antonio. Oak Bend Farm serves as the home of polo in central
Texas, offering practices and tournaments, horse sales, boarding and vacation rentals. Oak Bend Farm is conveniently located within an hour’s drive of both Austin and College Station and just 90 minutes from Houston. Held over two days, the Sportsmanship Cup kicked off on Saturday, September 23, with two Round Robins to determine which teams would play in the Championship and consolation matches the following day. Six teams competed in the tournament, including Oak Bend Farm, Eagles’ Landing, Bar Spur, San Antonio Polo Club, Elite Motion and Proton Partners. In the championship, Oak Bend Farm took on Proton Partners: the teams fought it out early, with Insua scoring first for Proton Partners followed by Khan for Oak Bend. During the second chukker, Proton Partners poured it on, with page 23
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goals from Insua and Mancebo. Proton Partners kept up the pressure throughout the third with goals from Alston and Insua. During the final seconds of the
fourth and final chukker, Oak Bend’s Ballard was able to convert a Penalty 3, but it was not enough to take the lead, as Proton Partners defeated Oak Bend
Farm to win the Southwestern Circuit Sportsmanship Cup.
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THE SECOND CROWN OF THE SEASON IS OVER! On Saturday, October 28 on court 7, the grand final of the 83rd Tortugas Country Club Open presented by TRS Hotels was played, in which the Emilio de Anchorena Cup was at stake. The defending champion of the tournament, La Natividad, took revenge for the Hurlingham semifinal played in Palermo a few weeks ago, defeating La Hache La Roca by 15 to 10 and thus establishing itself in Tortugas for the second consecutive year. It was a very hard-fought match, although La Natividad always seemed to lead the game with Camilo Castagnola - scorer in the final (9), the tournament (28) and so far in the 2023 Triple Crown (56) - unstoppable against the rival wickers , but committing many fouls in defense, which is why La Hache was always close on the board. In the seventh quarter, the green and white team broke the game, took a 5-goal lead and ended up taking the victory and the title with justice.
THE NUMBERS La Natividad won their second consecutive title in Tortugas, as did Jeta and Barto Castagnola -, while Facundo Pieres, who played the final for the 17th consecutive time, managed to reach his 11th title.
RECORD! With this new trophy, his No. 12th, Pablo MacDonough became the historical leader among the Tortugas winners, surpassing Alberto Pedro Heguy – and his teammate Facu Pieres – who obtained 11.
AWARDS Camilo Castagnola received the Francisco E. Dorignac Cup for having been chosen as the MVP of the final, while on the equine side, Wickford Santa Ana , also played by Jeta, was chosen as the best by the AAP; while Lovelocks Drogba , ridden by Barto Castagnola, received the AACCP blanket for being distinguished as the Best Registered Player Product of the Argentine Polo Race.
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In addition, the referee team took home a commemorative plaque and the historical banderilleros of the AAP, Gabriel Lencina and Julio Gutiérrez, received a medal for their work during the tournament. This competition, the second link in the 2023 Triple Crown organized by the Argentine Polo Association, which began with the 130th Hurlingham Club Open, will then end with the 130th HSBC Argentine Polo Open that runs October 31 to December 2.
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TEAMS AND PROGRESSION: La Natividad: Facundo Pieres 9 (2 goals), Camilo Castagnola 10 (9, one penalty and one corner), Pablo Mac Donough 10 (2) and Bartolomé Castagnola (h) 10 (2). Total: 39. La Hache La Roca: Pablo Pieres 9 (1), Hilario Ulloa 9 (4, one penalty), Guillermo Caset (h) 9 (1 Penalty 1) and Francisco Elizalde 9 (4 penalties). Total: 36. The Nativity: 2-2, 4-3, 6-6, 8-7, 9-8, 11-9, 14-9 and 15-10. page 39
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HIGH SOCIETY
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SALONE NAUTICO DI GENOVA
THE GENOA BOAT SHOW AIMS TO BE THE MOST-PRESTIGIOUS IN THE WORLD
T
HE 63RD GENOA INTERNATIONAL BOAT SHOW CONCLUDED WITH A RECORD-BREAKING 118,269 VISITORS, MARKING A 13.9 PERCENT INCREASE FROM THE PREVIOUS YEAR. THE EVENT FEATURED 1,043 BRANDS, OVER 1,000 BOATS, AND 184 PREMIERES AND NEW DESIGNS.
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Additionally, 120 conferences and workshops were held, attracting 1,316 accredited journalists
and over 11 hours of television coverage. The show received notable attention from government authorities and institutions, including Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and other ministers. The show also benefited from international participation through a delegation of foreign journalists and buyers from 35 countries. The success of this year’s show exceeded expectations and marked significant growth in the yachting industry. The 64th edition is scheduled for September 19 to 24, 2024, with ambitious plans to make it the world’s leading industry event.
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SALONE NAUTICO DI GENOVA
THE GENOA BOAT SHOW
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WHY THE MOST SUCCESSFUL MARRIAGES ARE START-UPS, NOT MERGERS THE BUSINESS WORLD TURNS OUT TO HAVE A VERY U S E F U L M E TA P H O R F O R P E O P L E T H I N K I N G A B O U T H O W T O F I N D H A P P I N E S S I N A R O M A N T I C P A R T N E R S H I P.
R
EALITY TV IS NOT GENERALLY KNOWN FOR ITS WHOLESOME CONTENT. AN EXCEPTION MIGHT BE A NEW SHOW CALLED THE GOLDEN BACHELOR.
A variation on the popular original, in which a single young man is courted by several attractive, eligible women, The Golden Bachelor features a retired restaurateur named Gerry Turner, who is considering marriage to one of 22 aspiring women 60 or over (he is an athletic, tanned 72, and hasn’t lost a single hair). The show creates a spectacle because, despite the fact that more Americans are getting married later in life, this potential match is much older than what is typical. But this raises a question I commonly hear from my 20-something students, as well as from anxious parents (closer to my age) of single adult children: What is the ideal age to wed, in order to achieve happiness and marital success? Philosophers have weighed in on this. In his Politics, for example, Aristotle offered this advice: “It is fitting for the women to be married at about the age of eighteen and the men at thirty-seven or a little before.” Social scientists see it differently. A researcher at the Institute for Family Studies offered a more social-scientific estimate of the optimal age for getting hitched: 28 to 32 for both 64
partners. This is the “sweet spot,” where divorce within the first five years of marriage is lowest. Naturally, this finding might provoke angst among those who would like to be married but have passed the “ideal” window. But it shouldn’t. By looking at why the 28-to-32 bracket appears to work best, we might be able to re-create those conditions for almost any age— even 72. he average age of marriage in the United States has been rising for years. In 1980, the average meant that a man married at 25, a woman at 22. Today, those numbers are 30 and 28, respectively. There are still outliers on the low end—two of my kids married in their early 20s—but I meet many more young people on the other side of today’s averages, who say they have no plans to marry before their mid-30s or even later. Is this aging trend good or bad for marital happiness? The raw data are not very encouraging: Marital satisfaction is falling as marriage age rises, according to statistics collected over the past half century by the General Social Survey that I analyzed. Following a gradual but significant downward trajectory, the percentage of married Americans who say they’re “very happy” with their union has fallen from more than 67 percent in the early 1970s to about 60 percent today.
But the analysis of data from the National Survey of Family Growth that examine age at marriage and likelihood of divorce reveals a more complicated story: The failure rate falls as people marry later in their 20s, but then it starts to rise again. After the 28-to-32 sweet spot, the odds of divorce increase by 5 percent each year. (In case you are wondering, the IFS researcher’s excellent analysis of data from 2011 to 2013 controls for demographic variables such as education, religion, and sexual history.) The average age of marriage happens to be optimal, although this almost certainly won’t remain the case as the average age continues to rise. Surprisingly little research has looked at exactly why marriages tend to struggle when they start earlier or later, so I looked at indirectly associated studies to find clues. One helpful line of research comes, believe it or not, from the success rate for different kinds of business formation. Consider start-ups. According to a study published in 2006 in the journal Strategic Organization, one factor predictive of success is the level of experience—a feature of maturity—of the founders. Having taught social entrepreneurship and worked with nonprofit start-ups for many years, I can confirm that when founders are green, they are enthusiastic but tend to make errors that people with a little more experience would probably avoid.
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Consider start-ups: according to a study published in 2006 in the journal Strategic Organization, one factor predictive of success is the level of experience—a feature of maturity—of the founders. So it is with marriages, I suspect: A bit of experience with life and relationships may increase the chances of success for the co-founders of a marriage start-up. Notably, such experience might not include cohabitation before marriage: The sociologists Lyman Stone and W. Bradford Wilcox have shown that living together actually predicts longer-term lower marital success in the United States. On the other side of the age sweet spot, we find adults who might have a little too much experience, or who are entrenched in the ways of single life, making a shared life difficult. This risk sounds quite similar to the problems seen with a different kind of corporate arrangement: mergers, which usually seem logical but are rarely successful. A 2011 article in Harvard Business Review reported that 70 to 90 percent of mergers and acquisitions failed to live up to financial expectations. This was because long-standing corporate cultures are very hard to integrate, with the result that productivity and morale fall off after a merger. One company might have a warm, convivial culture, whereas the other is formal and hierarchical, for example. Mixing them can be difficult to impossible. This could be analogous to two independent 30-somethings—with established habits, tastes, beliefs, and careers—trying to become a single married unit. The sweet spot for a durable romantic partnership, then, is a new venture between two mature co-founders who are not so set in their ways that they act like entrenched corporations. Although this typically implies a particular age band, it doesn’t have to. Even people who have passed the 28-to-32 window can benefit by resisting the characteristics of a merger.
Here are three practices they might keep in mind.
1. BANK ON THE PARTNERSHIP.
In a corporate merger, there must be financial integration. The same goes for a marriage: Maintaining separate finances lowers the chances of success. Keeping money apart might seem sensible in order to avoid unnecessary disagreements, especially when both partners are established earners. But research shows that when couples pool their funds and learn to work together on saving and spending, they have higher relationship satisfaction and are less likely to split up. Even if you don’t start out this way and have to move gradually, financial integration should be your objective.
2. FORGET 50–50.
A merger—as opposed to a takeover— suggests a “50–50” relationship between the companies. But this is rarely the case, because the partner firms have different strengths and weaknesses. The same is true for relationship partners. I have heard older couples say that they plan to split responsibilities and financial obligations equally; this might sound good in theory, but it’s not a realistic aspiration. Worse, splitting things equally militates against one of the most important elements of love: generosity—a willingness to give more than your share in a spirit of abundance, because giving to someone you care for is pleasurable in itself. Researchers have found that men and women who show the highest generosity toward their partner are most likely to say that they’re “very happy” in their marriage. Of course, generosity isn't a one-way street. Even the most bountiful spouse will come to resent someone who is a taker; a “100–0” marriage is surely even worse than the “50–50” one. The solution is to defy math: Make it 100–100.
3. TAKE A RISK.
A common insurance policy in merger marriages is the prenuptial agreement—a contract to protect one or both parties’ assets in the case of divorce. It’s a popular measure: The percentage of couples with a “prenup” has increased fivefold since 2010. A prenup might sound like simple prudence, but it is worth considering the asymmetric economic power dynamic that it can wire into the marriage. As one divorce attorney noted in a 2012 interview, “a prenup is an important thing for the ‘monied’ future spouse if a marriage dissolves.” Some scholars have argued that this bodes ill for the partnership’s success, much as asymmetric economic power between two companies makes a merger difficult. To have a successful romantic partnership at any age, the trick is to act like a mature start-up, not like a merger. Being a business-school professor, I did consider some other corporate models as I thought about other ways to succeed in love. In truth, though, I couldn’t find any that seemed promising. Acquisition? That sounds weirdly transactional. And I have never had someone tell me, “I lured my spouse with money, and we lived happily ever after.” Hostile takeover? I haven’t found reliable data on the success of marriages that start out as extramarital affairs, but the premise seems pretty improbable. Whether you are 22 or 72, the best approach to a successful love start-up is one in which co-founders see each other as equals and walk confidently into the future together in a spirit of generous, golden collaboration. page 65
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HIGH SOC
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ICED-OUT CELEBRITY TIMEPIECES 68
CIETY O
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J AY- Z ' S C U S T O M J A C O B & C O. R A I S E S $ 1. 5 M AT A U C T I O N
N OCTOBER 2, A STAR-STUDDED GROUP GATHERED IN ATLANTIC CITY FOR A CASINO AND AUCTION NIGHT IN HONOR OF REFORM ALLIANCE, A CHARITY FOUNDED IN 2019 THAT AIMS TO CHANGE PROBATION AND PAROLE LAWS AND PREVENT WRONGFUL IMPRISONMENT. Jay-Z, one of the foundation’s founding partners, auctioned off his personal Jacob & Co Caviar Tourbillon World Timer, where it hammered for an eye-watering $1.5M.
for those who are counting.) Powered by a hand-wound movement, it features a host of impressive complications, including a tourbillon—a device that negates the effects of gravity on a watch movement’s escapement—and three world time displays. Jacob & Co, founded by jeweler Jacob Arabo in NYC in 1986, has had an outsized hand in popularizing iced-out watches and jewelry for men—especially in the hip hop world, with clients including Diddy, Jay-Z, Drake, 50 Cent, and more. The brand’s quartz-powered Five Time Zone set the stage in 2002 for a collection of pieces that display mul-
tiple time zones, which includes the Caviar Tourbillon World Timer. Created for A-list stars such as Jay, it’s the perfect watch for someone with a jet-setting lifestyle — and plenty of cash to spare. If the Caviar’s movement wasn’t impressive enough, the savoir faire required to craft its stunning dial certainly is: If you look closely, you’ll notice there’s no gold visible between the baguette diamonds, creating a shimmering effect that conveys the image of a seamless, reflective surface. Whoever forked over the $1.5M can rest assured that they
In case you’re unfamiliar with this particular timepiece, it is—ahem—not subtle. Measuring 47.5mm and housed in an 18-karat white gold case, it’s simply dripping diamonds, with some 294 baguettes inset into the lugs, bezel, crown, and midcase, and a further 204 set within the dial. (Approximately 30.5 carats’ worth,
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nabbed themselves a timepiece that competes artfully in both the horological and jewelry spheres—even if a Jacob & Co. watch is largely a love-it-or-hate-it affair in the collecting world. Of course, the watch isn’t really the point here. The charity auction—which included a who’s-who list of celebs such as Matthew McConaughey, Lil Kim, and Meek Mill—managed to raise a whopping $24M for Reform Alliance. Not a bad take for an evening!
KEVIN HART’S PATEK PHILIPPE REF. 5004P Also in attendance at the Reform Alliance casino and auction night was none other than noted watch collector Kevin Hart, who chose a Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar Split Seconds Chronograph 5004P for the occasion. A serious “watch guy’s watch,” the 5004P takes a perpet-
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ual calendar and combines it not with a standard chronograph—which would be impressive enough—but with a split-seconds chronograph that can measure two events simultaneously. Though its movement is based on a third-party Lemania caliber, the watch is so complicated to produce that Patek was only able to make 12 of them per year. Hart’s “P” version, set in a platinum case, is a stunning piece of horological art.
course, smaller watches are coming back around. Housed in an 18-karat yellow gold case with a matching, integrated bracelet, the 15550BA features a dial cut from a piece of turquoise that measures just 0.75mm thick; applied, yellow gold indices; gold hands; and a date window at 3 o’clock. Released in March of 2023, it’s considered a midsize Royal Oak, and clearly wears beautifully on both men’s and women’s wrists.
JOHN MAYER’S AUDEMARS PIGUET ROYAL OAK REF. 15550BA
BAD BUNNY’S AUDEMARS PIGUET ROYAL OAK CHRONOGRAPH 25978BC
There’s nothing quite like a solid-gold Royal Oak to spruce up an otherwise casual look. Super-collector John Mayer wore a turquoise-dial ref. 15550BA on Jimmy Fallon this week—a surprising pick given its 37mm diameter and Mayer’s 6’3” frame, though of
If Jay-Z’s iced-out Jacob & Co didn’t quite do it for you, what do you say to this bad boy as worn by Bad Bunny? The Puerto Rican rapper and singer rocked the shiniest Royal Oak in the land—a reference 25978BC—at the 2023 Billboard Latin Music Awards in Coral
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CELEBRITIES & THEIR TIMEPIECES O N E O F J AY-Z'S WAT C H E S S O L D F O R $1.5 M I L L I O N AT A U CT I O N
Gables, Fla. Measuring 39mm in white gold, it’s by no means the company’s largest Royal Oak, though the 892 brilliant-cut diamonds set into every conceivable surface certainly make it wear, well, larger. (The pavé-diamond dial, inset with mother of pearl chronograph totalizers and eight brilliant-cut ruby indices, does indeed make it look like the sister watch to the Caviar Tourbillon World Timer.) Now here’s something you don’t see every day (and props to Dimepiece for spotting it first): YouTuber and influencer
Emma Chamberlain wearing a Cartier Baignoire as a choker at the Miu Miu show this week. The Baignoire, an elegant ladies watch released in 1958, is available in a wide array of configurations, but the Mini model in gold, clocking in at just 18.7mm wide, fit right around Chamberlain’s neck. Furthering an innovative trend and presumably rendering it nigh impossible to tell the time without a mirror, this is a move that should only ever be tried by a fashionable woman with a Cartier—or, in Rhianna’s case, with a Jacob & Co.
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THE VIRAL THREAT ALMOST NO ONE IS THINKING ABOUT
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Flu viruses and coronavirus started the last few pandemics. Could the next one be a paramyxovirus?
HETHER IT BEGINS NEXT WEEK, NEXT YEAR, OR NEXT DECADE, ANOTHER PANDEMIC IS ON ITS WAY. RESEARCHERS CAN’T PREDICT PRECISELY WHEN OR HOW THE OUTBREAK MIGHT BEGIN. 74
Some 1.6 million viruses are estimated to lurk in the world’s mammalian and avian wildlife, up to half of which could spill into humans; an untold number are attempting exactly that, at this very moment, bumping up against the people hunting, eating, and encroaching on those creatures. (And that’s just viruses: Parasites, fungi, and bacteria represent
major infectious dangers too.) The only true certainty in the pandemic forecast is that the next threat will be here sooner than anyone would like. But scientists can at least make an educated guess about what might catalyze the next Big One. Three main families of viruses, more than most others, keep scientists up at night: flu viruses, corona-
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WHAT IS A PARAMYXOVIRUS? THEY SPREAD THROUGH THE AIR, ARE FOUND IN ANIMALS, AND EASILY SPREADS FROM ANIMALS TO HUMANS viruses, and paramyxoviruses, in descending order of threat. Together, those groups make up “the trifecta of respiratory death,” Sara Cherry, a virologist at the University of Pennsylvania, told me. Flu and coronavirus have a recent track record of trouble: Since 1918, flu viruses have sparked four pandemics, all the while continuing to pester us on a seasonal basis; some scientists worry that another major human outbreak may be brewing now, as multiple H5 flu viruses continue to spread from birds to mammals. The past two decades have also featured three major and deadly coronavirus outbreaks: the original SARS epidemic that began in late 2002; MERS, which spilled into humans—likely from camels—in 2012; and SARS-CoV-2, the pandemic pathogen that’s been plaguing us since the end of 2019. Commoncold-causing coronaviruses, too, remain a fixture of daily living—likely relics of ancient animal-to-human spillovers that we kept transmitting amongst ourselves. Paramyxoviruses, meanwhile, have mostly been “simmering in the background,” says Raina Plowright, a disease ecologist at Cornell. Unlike flu viruses and coronaviruses, which have already clearly “proven themselves” as tier-one outbreak risks, paramyxoviruses haven’t yet been caught causing a bona fide pandemic. But they seem poised to do so, and they likely have managed the feat in the past. Like flu viruses and coronaviruses, paramyxoviruses can spread through the air, sometimes very rapidly. That’s certainly been the case with measles, a paramyxovirus that is “literally the most transmissible human virus on the planet,” says Paul Duprex, a virologist at the University of Pittsburgh. And, like flu viruses and coronaviruses, paramyxoviruses are found in a wide range of animals; more are being discovered wherever researchers look. Consider canine distemper virus, which has been found in, yes, canines, but also in raccoons, skunks, ferrets, otters, bad-
gers, tigers, and seals. Paramyxoviruses, like flu viruses and coronaviruses, have also repeatedly shown their potential to hopscotch from those wild creatures into us. Since 1994, Hendra virus has caused multiple highly lethal outbreaks in horses, killing four humans along the way; the closely related Nipah virus has, since 1998, spread repeatedly among both pigs and people, carrying fatality rates that can soar upwards of 50 percent. The human versions of those past few outbreaks have petered out. But that may not always be the case—for Nipah, or for another paramyxovirus that’s yet to emerge. It’s entirely possible, Plowright told me, that the world may soon encounter a new paramyxovirus that’s both highly transmissible and ultra deadly—an “absolutely catastrophic” scenario, she said, that could dwarf the death toll of any epidemic in recent memory. (In the past four years, COVID-19, a disease with a fatality rate well below Nipah’s, has killed an estimated 7 million people.) All that said, though, paramyxoviruses are a third-place contender for several good reasons. Whereas flu viruses and coronaviruses are speedy shape-shifters— they frequently tweak their own genomes and exchange genetic material with others of their own kind—paramyxoviruses have historically been a bit more reluctant to change. “That takes them down a level,” says Danielle Anderson, a virologist at the Doherty Institute, in Melbourne. For one, these viruses’ sluggishness could make it much tougher for them to acquire transmission-boosting traits or adapt rapidly to spread among new hosts. Nipah virus, for instance, can spread among people via respiratory droplets at close contact. But even though it’s had many chances to do so, “it still hasn’t gotten very good at transmitting among humans,” Patricia Thibault, a biologist at the University of Saskatchewan who studied paramyxoviruses for years, told me. The genetic stability of paramyxoviruses
can also make them straightforward to vaccinate against. Our flu and coronavirus shots need regular updates—as often as annually—to keep our immune system apace with viral evolution. But we’ve been using essentially the same measles vaccine for more than half a century, Duprex told me, and immunity to the virus seems to last for decades. Strong, durable vaccines are one of the main reasons that several countries have managed to eliminate measles—and why a paramyxovirus called rinderpest, once a major scourge of cattle, is one of the only infectious diseases we’ve ever managed to eradicate. In both cases, it helped that the paramyxovirus at play wasn’t great at infecting a ton of different animals: Measles is almost exclusive to us; rinderpest primarily troubled cows and their close kin. Most flu viruses and SARS-CoV-2, meanwhile, can spread widely across the tree of animal life; “I don’t know how you can eradicate that,” Anderson told me. The problem with all of these trends, though, is that they represent only what researchers know of the paramyxoviruses they’ve studied—which is, inevitably, a paltry subset of what exists, says Benhur Lee, a virologist at Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine. “The devil we don’t know can be just as frightening,” if not more, Lee told me. A pattern-defying paramyxovirus may already be readying itself to jump. The next pandemic won’t necessarily be a paramyxovirus, or even a flu virus or a coronavirus. But it has an excellent chance of starting as so many other known pandemics have—with a spillover from animals, in parts of the world where we’ve invaded wild habitats. We may not be able to predict which pathogen or creature might be involved in our next big outbreak, but the common denominator will always be us. page 75
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WHAT HAPPENED TO EMPATHY?
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HOW HAVE WE BECOME INURED TO HUMAN SUFFERING?
AN FRANCISCO, I REALIZED DURING A VISIT TO THE CITY THIS SPRING, HAS A PEOPLE PROBLEM. NOT A HOMELESS-PEOPLE PROBLEM, OR A TECH-PEOPLE PROBLEM, BUT A LACK-OFPEOPLE PROBLEM.
As I walked from my hotel in SoMa to the Embarcadero on a sunny afternoon, the emptiness of the streets felt nearly apocalyptic. Passing other humans—a fundamental circumstance of urban life elsewhere—here was so rare, it felt oddly menacing. I did pass some people who looked unwell, or dirty from living on the streets, but that’s not why I felt the way I did. The volume and density of humanity are what make cities feel safe. The pleasure and pain of a city is that we are never alone, even when we desperately want to be. That wasn’t the case in San Francisco. So I was bewildered when I read recently of the city’s experiment with driverless taxicabs. During that visit, I stepped over two people who appeared to be high on Fentanyl, stepped past too many boarded-up storefronts to count, and literally stepped into human excrement. Engaging with my living, breathing (and sometimes chatty) taxi and Uber drivers was absolutely the least of my troubles in San Francisco. Why did a city of such terrible solitude need driverless taxis? For whom were taxi drivers such a horrific nuisance 78
that it was worth eradicating an entire profession of working-class people that has existed since the earliest days of the automobile? When did we decide that engagement with our fellow man was a bug and not a feature of our short and limited lives? I was about to turn 24 and just settling into my adult life in New York City when the planes went into the Twin Towers on that perfectly crisp September day. I huddled in tears with my co-workers before I walked home and huddled in tears with my roommate. Not out of fear as much as pure shock and deep empathy. Nearly 3,000 people killed, while they were just trying to do their jobs. My friends and I didn’t know any of them, but they all felt very knowable: the busser at Windows on the World, the secretary from Staten Island, the trader who’d gone to your college, the fireman from Sunset Park. We were afraid to get on the subway, but we’d walk or drive or ride on buses to sit around one another’s houses and apartments. Anything to not be alone while mourning people who were strangers but not strangers at all. When it was time to “go back to normal,” no one was sure how; it all felt too soon. No memorial, no light display was enough to allay the pain. And yet, we tried. We needed to at least try. Twenty years later, another disaster. It didn’t come as suddenly as the crash of a commandeered plane, but it was fast for a plague. And it took with it not thousands of American lives, but more than 1
million—and 7 million lives worldwide. Unlike with 9/11, most everyone knows personally someone who has suffered a COVID loss. And yet, this time there has been no real attempt at a moment of national mourning. We not only didn’t grieve; we seemed to resent missing even a beat of our attempt to get back to normal. We can blame government or capitalism or any number of things, but it’s hard not to see this as reflective of a social shift—a collective reduction in empathy. This shouldn’t be surprising. Empathy is cultivated through interactions with people we don’t know well, those glimpses into other interior worlds. We have, over the past two decades—slowly and then quickly—“optimized” other people out of our lives. One app at a time, we’ve greatly reduced our need to casually engage with anyone we don’t know—or even to meaningfully engage with those we do. I sometimes consider all of the people I might have engaged with on a typical day just five years ago. I would head to work on the subway, grab a coffee and chat with the barista or bodeguero, get to the office and gossip with my co-workers about their lives. At lunch, I might make small talk while waiting for my salad, then pop into my favorite clothing or shoe store and trade some banter or get some inspiration from the shop clerks. After work, I might stop at the bookstore and pick up a novel, then have a drink at my local bar while I waited for my take-
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out to be ready. At home, I’d call a friend before bed. On the weekends, I’d drop my laundry at my wash-and-fold and ask how the owners’ kids were doing. I’d see the same people at my weekly yoga class, meet a friend at the movies, or browse the flea market. At night, we’d go to a bar and flirt with the bartender; one of us might go home with him. Everywhere I went there was small talk, and often random weird interactions, and sometimes long and meaningful ones. I won’t run through every app that has changed this, but suffice it to say, no one needs to go to an office to chitchat anymore when you can just Zoom all day long. Someone can pick up and drop off our laundry or our takeout or our books or our new clothing purchases without
us ever even seeing the person doing it, let alone speaking to them. We can stream our workouts and movies. Oneand two-night stands seem quaint or even tedious compared with being able to sext someone after nothing more than a swipe to the right. I have friendships that solely exist now on social media, voices I hear only when I call and the voicemail kicks in. Someone recently described the act of making a phone call to me as “aggressive.” Dozens upon dozens of human touch points have been erased from each and every day of our lives. And we have accepted this erasure without ever asking whether it was a good thing. Without ever examining, not just how the jobs lost by humans to algorithms might affect the economy, but
how those lost interactions might affect our humanity. We are a people made miserable. This is an opinion that isn’t. Americans have fewer friends than we used to. Women are drinking more, and men are lonelier. Our kids are sad too. We are pessimistic about our country and about the state of the world. Maybe only our pets are happy. We are well informed about the ways in which our spirits are struggling, and somewhat informed as to the reasons why. Americans who frequently use social media have been found to display reduced empathy and increased narcissism; depression has been linked to the use of dating apps and binging TV alone. What if our suffering is not just internal, but social? What if the human race has deteriorated? And what if we’ve deteriopage 79
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rated because we’ve begun to resent not only human interactions, but humans period? More and more, we’re inured to suffering and death. Many think pieces have been written about why Americans won’t act to stop endless mass shootings and overdoses and the killings of Black people by cops. What if inertia is the result of us simply no longer valuing human life the way we once did? This is a dark premise, yet one that— scrolling through social media since this weekend’s terrorist attack on Israeli civilians—I’ve had to seriously entertain. How else to explain the process by which someone can watch videos of slaughtered human beings and then post messages of casual cruelty? Instead of praying for the victims and empathizing with their loved ones—in Israel, and in Gaza for that matter—people are raising a virtual middle finger at their pain. Because of politics! Because of “revolution”! 80
This is hardly the first time I’ve questioned American empathy. I feel this way each time someone says “All lives matter” after an innocent Black American is shot by a cop. I feel this way whenever I see people cheering legislation that makes trans youth fear using a bathroom or just trying to be comfortable in who they are. I question our empathy every time someone starts talking about the Second Amendment within hours of a shooting at a school or mall or grocery store. I feel this way whenever I see elected officials wishing ill health or death on their political enemies. How emotionally healthy are we, as a people, when, in moments of profound and painful tragedy, we feel compelled to insert our political opinions or policy positions? Can we not, just for a moment, feel for the victims?
Despite how divided we are politically, and how abhorrent I find some of the views espoused in this nation, I don’t believe that America has a people problem. We, like San Francisco, have a lack-ofpeople problem. We have manicured out of our lives and our feeds and our day-to-day existence the need for any and all interactions with anyone who has not been hand-picked by us, who is not of the same class or race or political position. We have found more and more ways to avoid engaging with others of our species. And in doing so, we have eroded our empathy.
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AMERICA HAS A DRINKING F
PROBLEM Americans are consuming alcohol at an alarming rate
EW THINGS ARE MORE AMERICAN THAN DRINKING HEAVILY. BUT WORRYING ABOUT HOW HEAVILY OTHER AMERICANS ARE DRINKING IS ONE OF THEM. The Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock because, the crew feared, the Pilgrims were going through the beer too quickly. The ship had been headed for the mouth of the Hudson River, until its sailors (who, like most Europeans of that time, preferred beer to water) panicked at the possibility of running out before they got home, and threatened mutiny. And so the Pilgrims were kicked ashore, short of their intended destination and beerless. William Bradford complained bitterly about the latter in his diary that winter, which is really saying something when you consider what trouble the group was in. (Barely half would survive until spring.) Before long, they
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were not only making their own beer but also importing wine and liquor. Still, within a couple of generations, Puritans like Cotton Mather were warning that a “flood of RUM” could “overwhelm all good Order among us.”
to 2.15 gallons in 1995, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. If 2.5 gallons in a year sounds low, consider that the figure covers only alcohol, not water and other ingredients in an alcoholic drink.
Today, the average American drinks 60 percent more hard liquor than in the mid-1990s, an unheralded surge in spirit consumption that signals changing tastes in alcohol.
In America’s embrace of adult beverages, the big loser is beer. Beer
Americans are drinking more wine, too: 50 percent more per person since 1995. Overall, the average American consumed 2.51 gallons of ethanol, the alcohol in wine, beer and spirits, in 2021, compared
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consumption is down about 15 percent since the mid-1990s. Alcohol consumption has risen and fallen dramatically across the decades. The average person drank 2.5 gallons of alcohol in 1860, at the brink of the Civil War; 1 gallon in 1934, at the repeal of prohibition; 2.3 gallons in 1945, at the close of World War II; and 2.8 gallons in 1980, when modern-day drinking reached a historic peak. A national campaign against drunken driving and underage drinking pushed alcohol consumption to a historic low around 1995. In the decades since, the figure has crept quietly back up. In historical terms, we drink as much liquor now as in the Civil War days. The culture, demographics and economics of American drinking, however, could not be more different. Women may hold the key to rising liquor consumption. Women are quickly closing the gender gap in drinking and problem drinking, categories formerly dominated by men. Men once outnumbered women 3 to 1 in drinking and binge drinking. Today, the genders are approaching parity.
women and men to drink. “It’s infiltrated our daily activities that didn’t typically involve alcohol, like sporting events, or a 5K: there’s a beer tent at the end.”
Television programs such as Sex and the City helped to spawn a 1990s cocktail culture that thrived and spread in the 2000s, celebrating high-priced bar drinks.
Wine yoga. A beer fridge at work. Office happy hours. Cocktails at movie theaters. Bike-and-brew cycling trips. Winesoaked book clubs. All of those modern conventions push alcohol to the center of social life, especially for women.
Around the same time, hard-liquor manufacturers began advertising heavily on television, ending a decades-long, self-imposed ban that averted potential government restrictions.
“The story is women,” said Susan Stewart, a sociologist and demographer at Iowa State University. “Wines are marketed to women: the fancy labels with the flowers on them and the pretty colors.”
“We have the whole idea of ‘wine moms,’ women who have a glass of wine after a long day of looking after the kids,” said Rod Phillips, a professor of history at Carleton University and author of the book Alcohol: A History.
Stewart tracks “a normalization of alcohol in our daily lives” that is encouraging
Cultural forces and relentless marketing have transformed attitudes toward spirits.
“There was a huge change in spirits marketing beginning around the turn of the century,” said David Jernigan, a professor of health law, policy and management at Boston University. “The spirits companies realized in the late ‘90s that they were getting their clocks cleaned by beer,” an industry that advertised freely on television. “There was a
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huge increase in spirits ads on TV,” from roughly 2,000 ads in 2001 to 63,000 ads in 2009. Public policy toward alcohol, too, has shifted over the years. At the height of U.S. alcohol consumption, in the 1980s, government and social activists collaborated to limit the nation’s intake. Many states lowered the drinking age to 86
18 in the 1970s in response to the 26th Amendment, which lowered the voting age. A surge in drunken-driving deaths followed. In 1984, Congress set 21 as the national drinking age, capping a campaign by the nonprofit Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Since then, researchers say, public policy has favored the alcohol industry. The federal government last raised its
excise tax on alcohol in 1991. Excise taxes are based on volume, rather than price, so they have eroded in value over years of inflation. State taxes, too, have remained relatively flat. One 2020 study found excise taxes declined in value by more than 70 percent between 1970 and 2018. “The industry talks about fighting for stomach share” against dairies and soft
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drink companies, Jernigan said. “The declining effective tax rate makes their products more competitive with all the other liquids.” The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a fresh round of policy aimed at making liquor more accessible. When the pandemic hit, most states declared that liquor stores were essential businesses. That decision came partly to aid people with alcohol use disorder who otherwise might have gone into withdrawal, and partly to keep casual drinkers happy. “It became a heck of a lot easier to get alcohol. We introduced home delivery and carryout cocktails,” Jernigan said. “Now, you have DoorDash, Grubhub, Uber: Anybody can deliver alcohol to your door.” Researchers feared the new rules made it too easy to get alcohol. They tested the delivery services in Massachusetts. “One of my colleagues,” Jernigan said, “Delivered alcohol to her 10-year-old.” Ramped-up marketing efforts, increased affordability, the COVID pandemic and
changing norms for women all help explain why alcohol consumption is rising — at a time when waves of research suggest drinking causes more harm than good. A series of influential meta-studies in recent years have established that even moderate drinking raises the odds of illness and premature death. The research community is divided, and the health risks from moderate drinking are small. But anyone who follows the news has absorbed the oft-stated maxim, “No amount of alcohol is good for you.” And yet, Americans continue to drink more liquor, year after year. Researchers theorize that drinkers have made peace with the mild health risks of alcohol, just as they have weighed the pleasures and perils of consuming a ribeye steak or a pint of Ben & Jerry’s. “They think of it more like desserts they eat or meat,” said William Kerr, senior scientist at the nonprofit Alcohol Research Group. “And it’s kind of true. It has kind of similar long-term risks.”
increase in alcohol consumption to the generation that includes both Ben and Jerry. Baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, came of age in an era of rising alcohol consumption. And they “are continuing to drink into older ages,” Kerr said. About 63 percent of all Americans drink, according to Gallup polling. The figure has fluctuated between 55 percent and 71 percent since the late 1930s. Wealthy and college-educated people are far more likely to drink than less affluent, less educated Americans. Churchgoers are less likely to drink than nonreligious people. White people are more likely to drink than Black or Hispanic people. Underage drinking has declined precipitously in recent years, a public-health victory that gives researchers hope for a less alcoholic future. “Alcohol drinking in adolescents has gone down consistently since the 1980s,” said Andrea King, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Chicago. “We’re getting more binge drinking, but we’re getting a lot more students abstaining.”
In fact, researchers ascribe some of the page 87
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Introducing
LE HAUT DONUT Forget the Cronut. A new generation of Parisian bakers is giving the donut an Haute Twist. The City of Light embraces deep-fried dough on its own terms.
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PARIS GOES (DO)NUTS
F
OR A DONUT SHOP, MOMZI IS SURPRISINGLY DARK AND BARE. BUT FOR A HIGH-END GOURMET DONUT SHOP IN PARIS WHOSE TARGET CLIENTELE IS THE PARIS WEEK FASHION JET-SET, MOMZI’S MINIMALIST LBD-CONCEPT IS ON BRAND. FROM THE QUIET PARISIAN PASSAGEWAY RUE CHERUBINI IN THE SECOND ARRONDISSEMENT, ITS BLACK FAÇADE AND UNUSUALLY EMPTY INTERIOR OFFER FEW HINTS ABOUT THE BUSINESS AND CAN EASILY CAUSE CONFUSION AMONG PASSERS-BY. And American-born chef Raamin Samiyi likes it that way. “People really have to know about us to come because we’re not on a street where there’s a lot of pedestrian traffic,” he told Robb Report. “A lot of people actually don’t even walk in because they’re kind of scared. They don’t know what it is. But I like that because it sparks curiosity.” The notion of exclusivity and luxury underpin the vision at Momzi, where the humble, all-American donut is reinvented into gem-like pastries that rival some of the most luxurious pâtisseries in Paris: plump, pillowy rounds of brioche are bejeweled in paper-thin slivers of figs and studded with nigella seeds, or topped with pale pecan shavings that evoke the fluffy softness of winter’s first snowfall. Momzi is one of several gourmet donut shops that have taken up permanent residence in Paris over the years and accepted as a legitimate pâtisserie by some of the world’s most discerning pastry palates: Parisians. At Nonette Banh Mi and Donuts, opened in 2021 by the same team behind the pop-
ular southeast Asian canteen the Hood across the street, the specialty is pork floss donuts, a sweet and salty version of the Chinese rousong bun. Other flavors include durian and soya ondeh, a riff of the Singaporean dessert ondeh ondeh, made with gula melaka or palm sugar, soy sauce, and grated coconut.
who had worked in fine dining kitchens in Ireland for eight years churning out French pastries, no French bank would loan her the money she needed to turn her 2015 donut pop-up into a brick-andmortar shop.
Ponpon Café was the first to introduce Paris to mochi donuts in 2022, with gourmet flavors like pink ruby chocolate, crème brulée, and black sesame. And there’s also the French Donuts, billed as “donuts à la française” with flavors like Paris Brest and Café Liégois; Besties Bakery, a pink flower-framed shop where customers go for salted caramel, or mojito donuts; and Mamiche, where flavors change seasonally and can include apricot-verbena, strawberry-rhubarb, maple syrup, and coconut.
“This is not going to fly.”
But many of these donut shops owe some of their success to Amanda Bankert of Boneshaker, widely accepted as the trailblazer in Paris who dared to bring donuts—up to then better known as the junk food fuel of Homer Simpson—to the fussy French capital back in 2015. “I actually didn’t realize that there was a preconceived notion about donuts being the worst of all American food,” Bankert said at the shop in the 2nd arrondissement. “The way I looked at it was that every culture has their version of a fried dough dessert, like beignets in France. And who doesn’t love a donut?”
“Absolutely not.”
“French people are not going to go for a donut,” she was told repeatedly. So Bankert and her then husband and business partner Louis Scott used up their own savings and borrowed from friends and family to open a small takeout counter in 2016, where she negotiated three home fryers to make her handmade donuts. Five years later they were able to open a sit-down donut shop across the street, proving to her naysayers that donuts have become more than a passing trend. Case in point: Krispy Kreme has announced plans to open their first shop in Paris by the end of the year. Along with open-
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ing a new sit-down location, Boneshaker quietly pivoted to become an all-vegan shop in 2019, swapping out eggs and butter for aquafaba or chickpea water, oil, and margarine. In August, Bankert published Voilà Vegan, her first cookbook featuring plant-based desserts. Back at Momzi, Samiyi, 34, also breaks with tradition and fries his donuts in organic coconut oil rather than vegetable oil, which studies have shown can produce toxic compounds in high temperatures. The coconut oil also leaves a cleaner, smoother finish in the mouth, he added. The boutique concept reflects Samiyi’s multi-layered background: a California native of Iranian and Azerbaijan descent, who studied pharmacology (which is perhaps why he uses little sugar in his donuts) and piano before switching gears to study pâtisserie and becoming head pastry chef at the Michelin-starred restaurant Pilgrim in Paris. Named after the term of endearment he uses to call his mother, Momzi also pays tribute to the matriarchs in his family, with names like Mother of Fig, an homage to his grandmother’s 92
Persian koloocheh fig cake, or Mother of Dragons, made with three types of pistachios. With his friend and business partner Thomas Bellego, a well-connected fashion and jewelry designer, the pair aimed to create an haute couture version of donuts. To mimic luxury fashion boutiques where scarcity translates to exclusivity, only six donuts, three on each side of the 130-square boutique, appear floating against infinity mirrors to create the illusion of plenty. The slick, stylized photos on Momzi’s Instagram page are shot by high-end fashion photographers who work with Chanel and Dior and are overseen by Bellego who acts as artistic director. Within just a year of opening in 2022, Samiyi has done luxury collaborations with Balenciaga, Saint Laurent, and LVMH-owned luxury department store La Samaritaine and created a new citrus Christmas donut for Vogue France, which dedicated a spread to Momzi last year. It’s the kind of buzz that would be the envy of many long-established pastry chefs in Paris.
With his friend and business partner Thomas Bellego, a well-connected fashion and jewelry designer, the pair aimed to create an haute couture version of donuts. To mimic luxury fashion boutiques where scarcity translates to exclusivity, only six donuts, three on each side of the 130-square boutique, appear floating against infinity mirrors to create the illusion of plenty. The slick, stylized photos on Momzi’s Instagram page are shot by high-end fashion photographers who work with Chanel and Dior and are overseen by Bellego who acts as artistic director. Within just a year of opening in 2022, Samiyi has done luxury collaborations with Balenciaga, Saint Laurent, and LVMH-owned luxury department store La Samaritaine and created a new citrus Christmas donut for Vogue France, which dedicated a spread to Momzi last year. It’s the kind of buzz that would be the envy of many long-established pastry chefs in Paris. “It’s my goal, I really want to go to the U.S.,” he said. “But at this point it’s more like a five-year plan.”
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AN AMAZING VACCINE BREAKTHROUGH HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT The COVID shots—and new ones for RSV—herald a new era for designing vaccines.
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VERY FALL, WHEN THE AIR TURNS CHILLY AND THE LEAVES RED, PEDIATRIC ICUS BEGIN PREPARING FOR THE ONSLAUGHT OF THE VIRUS KNOWN AS RSV. Not flu, not COVID, but RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, is the No. 1 reason babies are hospitalized, year after year. Their tiny airways can become inflamed, and the sickest ones struggle to breathe. RSV is deadly on the other end of the age spectrum too, killing 6,000 to 10,000 elderly Americans every year. For decades though, there was no way to stop the virus’s seasonal tide. The quest for a vaccine always came up short. And then suddenly, the vaccines started working. This year, doctors have not just one but multiple new shots to prevent RSV. Three gained FDA approval in rapid succession in recent months: an antibody shot for infants called nirsevimab, a form of passive immunization for babies too young to get proper vaccines; a vaccine from Pfizer for both adults over 60 and pregnant mothers, who can pass the immunity on to their babies; and finally, a vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline also aimed at adults older than 60. Together, these herald a new era for RSV. 94
That these three new RSV shots are coming out at once is no coincidence. They succeed where others failed because they all target a specific weak spot in the virus, first identified in 2013. This strategy of finding a virus’s most vulnerable points applies to other pathogens too, and experts say it can revolutionize the design of vaccines for other diseases. In fact, it was quietly used to make the COVID vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna. Scientists had originally perfected the idea with RSV, only to re-purpose it for the COVID vaccine, which raced ahead, given the urgency of the pandemic. This year, though, the shots are coming for RSV. “We’re in a really good position, finally, after more than 65 years,” says Asunción Mejías, an infectious-diseases doctor at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. For RSV, this fall and winter will be a test of how well the shots fare in the real world. As the adage goes, vaccines don’t save lives; vaccinations do. Falsey, the University of Rochester doctor, specializes in studying RSV in the elderly, and she worries that too few Americans over 60 will get the new vaccines this year. A CDC advisory panel decided that elderly Americans can get the vaccines through “shared clinical decision-making” with their doctors but did not go as
far as to fully recommend vaccination, which would have triggered private insurers to cover the shots under the Affordable Care Act. Out of pocket, they can cost more than $300. The shots are poised to have a bigger impact for infants though. The same CDC panel today endorsed Pfizer’s vaccine for pregnant women, and it had already previously recommended the antibody shot, nirsevimab, for newborns. (Most babies will need just one or the other.) Nirsevimab replaces an existing RSVantibody shot called palivizumab, which is not widely used. Palivizumab targets a less potent site that is on both the pre- and postfusion F, and it needs to be administered up to five times a season (compared with once for nirsevimab), at a cost of some $1,500 a dose. For these reasons, it’s been reserved for the highest-risk babies, such as preemies with underdeveloped lungs. But most babies who end up hospitalized were healthy to begin with, says St. Jude’s Mejías, so the older shot didn’t put much of a dent in overall hospitalizations. Nirsevimab is meant to be more widely used: The shot is approved for all infants in their first RSV season. “It’s going to change the way we manage and treat RSV,” Mejías told me. And if all goes according to plan, pediatric ICUs could be a little quieter this winter.
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A Porteño's
Little Black Book to Buenos Aires
Experience Argentina's bustling capital city like a local
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A Porteño's
Little Black Book to Buenos Aires
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IRIN A W ID U C Z YN SKI / SPE C IA L TO PO LO L IFE STYL E S
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’VE LIVED IN BUENOS AIRES FOR MY ENTIRE LIFE AND SPENT THE LAST FIVE YEARS WRITING ABOUT ITS DYNAMIC FOOD SCENE. TO ME, THE CITY OFFERS EVERYTHING YOU COULD WANT: WELCOMING PEOPLE, STRIKING ARCHITECTURE, A RICH AND DIVERSE CULTURAL SCENE, BUZZING NIGHTLIFE, AND INCREDIBLE FOOD AND WINE.
all of this has enriched the city’s cultural and gastronomic offerings. You’ll come across French-influenced architecture, Italian gelaterias, and Spanish-inspired restaurants — all with their own local twist. Here are a few restaurants, hotels, and places not to be missed.
WHERE TO EAT OLI CAFÉ CASUAL, ALL-DAY CAFE WITH NOSTALGIC BITES COSTA RICA 6020, C1414 CABA
But the city’s best feature is its people. Shortly after arriving, you might find yourself having coffee with a total stranger or a meaningful philosophical conversation with your taxi driver because that›s how porteños (the residents of Buenos Aires) are.
Since opening in November of 2021, Oli Café hasn’t had a quiet day. Located in the Palermo neighborhood, the restaurant features offerings inspired by owner Olivia Saal’s childhood. The all-day menu showcases simple, fresh foods with a focus on fruits, vegetables, and international influences.
Buenos Aires is incredibly culturally diverse; many of its citizens are descended from immigrants from Italy, Spain, and France. There’s also a large population from neighboring countries, such as Bolivia, Paraguay, and Venezuela — and
Grab a bagel with trout gravlax, sample the fish of the day with a fresh salad and noisette potatoes, or indulge in a sweet and fluffy medialuna: the staple pastry of Argentina and Saal’s specialty long before she opened her restaurant.
PARRILLA PEÑA CLASSIC FARE IN A TRADITIONAL TAVERN RODRÍGUEZ PEÑA 682, C1020 CABA
Located on a quiet street downtown, Parrilla Peña is where to go if you’re looking for quality meat in an authentic setting. In business for over 40 years, it’s one of the few remaining local bodegones, old-school taverns serving comfort food. Start with fried beef empanadas and chorizo, then move on to bife de chorizo (rump steak) with a side of French fries a la Provenzal (with garlic and parsley). Dessert is also a must. Go for the cream and dulce de leche flan mixto — the perfect ending to a traditional meal. ANCHOÍTA CAVA CUSTOM CHEESE BOARDS AND FRIENDLY SOMMELIERS| JUAN RAMÍREZ DE VELASCO 1456, C1414 CABA, ARGENTINA
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for wine, cheese, and charcuterie. The menu showcases more than 50 wines by the glass and almost double that by the bottle — with the majority sourced from Argentina, as the friendly sommeliers reveal. Here, you can create your own custom cheeseboard with more than 115 selections from all over the country. I recommend cheeses from Ventimiglia, sweetbread pâté with pickled raspberries, and house-made ham from acornfed pigs. MENGANO MODERN TAKES ON TRADITIONAL DISHES JOSÉ A. CABRERA 5172, C1414 CABA
Facundo Kelemen was studying to be a lawyer when a semester abroad in Valencia illuminated his true passion: cooking. In 2018, after working in some of the best kitchens in New York City and Buenos Aires, he opened Mengano, where an industrial style is tempered by family photographs. Kelemen further blends past and present by offering creative reinterpretations of traditional 100
dishes that are among my favorite in the city. Sit at the bar and enjoy the juicy beef empanadas, lamb tartare with torta frita (fried dough), and an incredible version of a Milanesa sandwich: a breaded beef steak with a dash of sea salt. MN SANTA INÉS SEASONAL COMFORT FOOD IN A STORIED SPACE
ÁVALOS 360, C1427 CABA, ARGENTINA
This restaurant is a hidden gem. It’s not easy to take over a space with more than 100 years of history, but Jazmin Marturet managed to preserve everything that made this former neighborhood bakery special while adding her own personal touch. What I like most about Santa Inés is that the food feels homemade, yet sophisticated. Marturet uses techniques and ingredients from all over the world to create seasonal comfort food, including (my favorite) pakora, a dish with roots in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh that consists of fried vegetables in chickpea flour — crispy, delicate, and perfectly seasoned.
WHERE TO STAY PALACIO DUHAU, PARK HYATT BUENOS AIRES BELLE ÉPOQUE-STYLE LUXURY AV. ALVEAR 1661, C1014AAD CABA
Located on Alvear Avenue, Palacio Duhau is among the most stunning buildings in Buenos Aires. Completed in 1934, the Belle Époque-style mansion is like a time machine, with marble columns, imposing chandeliers, and a perfectly manicured garden. I recommend booking a room in the palace, visiting the marvelous spa, enjoying high tea at Piano Nobile, and dining at Gioia, the property’s plant-based restaurant. While you’re here, be sure to cross the road to visit Fueguia 1833, a local perfume shop that showcases luxurious scents inspired by South America. CASASUR PALERMO CURATED ROOMS WITH A SUPERLATIVE LOCATION BUENOS AIRES AR, COSTA RICA 6032, C1414 BTN
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A boutique hotel in the Palermo neighborhood with a recently renovated lobby, CasaSur has an outdoor pool with solarium, spacious and chic guestrooms, a spa, and a modern plant-based restaurant. It’s surrounded by some of my favorite shops and restaurants, including Vietnamese-Thai comfort food mecca Cang Tin (I recommend the grilled squid and the sweet and sour fried pork with rice) and Dorrego Flea Market, with its unique antiques. Explore the rest of the neighborhood on the hotel’s complimentary bikes.
WHERE TO EXPLORE TEATRO COLÓN WORLD-CLASS OPERA IN AN HISTORIC BUILDING CERRITO 628, C1010 CABA
Teatro Colón (Colón Theater) is renowned for its acoustics and is known as one of the most important opera houses in the world. Its grandeur is evident the moment you walk in, thanks to imposing marble columns, velvet stairs, gold detailing, and stained-glass windows. If you’d like to go behind the scenes, book a tour of the Foyer, Bustos Gallery, Golden Hall, and the Main Hall. MUSEO MODERNO ART BY EMERGING ARGENTINE ARTISTS AV. SAN JUAN 350. SAN TELMO. BUENOS AIRES. C1147AAO
Founded in 1956 and housed in the former tobacco factory of Nobleza Piccardo, the immersive Museo Moderno showcases emerging Argentine artists. In addition to its permanent and visiting collections, the museum offers
guided tours, live music, and a variety of kids’ activities. If you’re craving coffee or a small treat during your visit, stop by Clout, the museum cafe. NIMES SUSTAINABLE LEATHER ACCESSORIES GURRUCHAGA 1142, BUENOS AIRES
Clara Bartolomé and Santiago Sellares specialize in small leather goods made by hand, using natural materials. At their shop, Nimes, located in the up-and-coming Villa Crespo neighborhood, there’s a purity to every product. Designs are sustainable, unique, and suited for any occasion — my personal favorites are the basket and weekender bags.
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Season Six of
THE CROWN Returns to Neflix
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ALL EYES ON DIANA
Season six will cover the final days of Princess Diana’s life. Are you ready?
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HE FORTHCOMING SEASON PICKS UP WHERE SEASON FIVE ENDS, COVERING THE PRINCESS OF WALES’ FINAL DAYS BEFORE HER DEATH IN A CAR CRASH THAT ALSO CLAIMED THE LIVES OF DODI AL-FAYED AND THE CAR’S DRIVER, HENRI PAUL. Netflix has confirmed that series will show only events before and after the fatal car crash, with a spokesperson saying “the exact moment of the crash impact will not be shown.” In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Debicki and Dominic West both insisted that The Crown aims to handle the tragic incident and aftermath with sensitivity. The actress told the outlet, “I’ll say that Peter and the entire crew of this job do their utmost to really handle everything with such sensitivity and truth and complexity, as do actors.”
THE SIXTH SEASON WON’T INCLUDE PRESENT-DAY ROYAL MOMENTS Morgan explained that the extra season wouldn’t extend the timeline of The Crown, but would instead dive deeper into the planned story. “To be clear,
Series 6 will not bring us any closer to present-day—it will simply enable us to cover the same period in greater detail,” he said. So don’t expect to see storylines pertaining to Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, on your screen.
Charles. Netflix officially announced that West secured the role for Seasons 5 and 6 in August 2021, with the actor joining the cast opposite Australian Debicki, who took over for Emma Corrin as Princess Diana.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the final two seasons of The Crown will follow the royal family into the 2000s, but that doesn’t mean we’ll get as far as the latest royal weddings or royal babies. (Sorry, Archie!)
The adult versions of Prince William and Kate Middleton will be introduced in season six.
IMELDA STAUNTON WILL CONTINUE AS THE QUEEN Staunton will assume the crown in season five as Queen Elizabeth II. With another confirmed season playing the queen, the Harry Potter alum will follow in the footsteps of Crown stars Olivia Colman and Claire Foy, who previously also portrayed the sovereign over two seasons each. We can also expect Lesley Manville, who took over as Princess Margaret for Helena Bonham Carter in season five, to get more time as the queen’s younger sister in the sixth and final season.
Deadline reported that production has cast three actors to play the teenage and young adult versions of Prince William and Kate Middleton for the show’s sixth season. Two actors have been chosen to play William at different ages, while one actor will play Princess Kate as a young adult. The Crown will be the debut television role for all three actors. Rufus Kampa will play William at age 15, in episodes that will depict the period following the tragic death of his mother, Princess Diana. Ed McVey will step in to play the prince in his late teen and young adult years, including his courtship of Princess Kate, who will be played by Meg Bellamy.
DOMINIC WEST WILL CONTINUE AS PRINCE CHARLES
THE FIRST OFFICIAL LOOK AT WILLIAM & KATE IN SEASON SIX
In October 2020, Variety reported that The Affair’s Dominic West was “in latestage discussions for the role” of Prince
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career at St. Andrew’s. In one picture, the two are photographed holding hands as they walk through campus. William wears a navy blue sweater layered over a light blue collared shirt, while Kate wears a beige knit top tucked into a pair of jeans.
SEASON SIX WAS PART OF THE ORIGINAL PLAN Fans of The Crown were banking on six seasons from the start, given that Netflix’s head of content, Ted Sarandos, said in 2016, “The idea is to do this over six decades, in six seasons presumably, and make the whole show over eight to 10 years.” However, things changed when the streamer announced this past January that The Crown would bow out after five seasons instead. Morgan even said at the time that it felt like “this is the perfect time and place to stop.” Six months later, though, they were back to the original plan.
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THE CROWN
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All eyes are on Princess Diana (Elizabeth Debicki) in the new trailer for the sixth and final season of Netflix’ hit British royal-family drama, The Crown. The trailer, which features scenes from the first four episodes of the season, follows Diana as she attempts to evade the ever-present paparazzi — who slam against her car windows and use boats and long-range lenses to photograph her — after her split from Prince Charles (Dominic West) and during her budding relationship with Dodi Al-Fayed (Khalid Abdalla). As the pressure surrounding her builds, Prince William (Rufus Kampa) can be seen calling his mother while his younger brother, Harry (Fflyn Edwards), sits nearby. “Mommy?” he asks. “You okay?” A teary-eyed Diana can be overheard replying, “I’m okay. It’s just… It has all been a bit mad recently.” She is then seen picking up a foreboding piece of paper that reads, “Paris next week?” A later scene shows the rooms of Balmoral Castle slowly begin to light up in the middle of the night as the phones start to ring, seemingly alluding to the fatal car ride that killed the Princess of Wales and Al-Fayed. The rest of the royal family is then portrayed in various states of shock, with William despondently walking out of his father’s grip and Queen Elizabeth II (Imelda Staunton) quietly watching the news on television. “What do people want from me?” the late monarch asks. To which Charles replies, “For you to be mother to the nation.” Quickly flashing scenes also depict others crying and Diana and Dodi holding hands in a speeding car being chased by motorcyclists. Then, phone in hand, Charles remarks, “This is gonna be the biggest thing that any of us has ever seen.”
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Debicki previously revealed in a press statement that it was a “really unique challenge as an actor” to portray Diana’s final days on screen. “I really just trusted in Peter [Morgan]’s emotional blueprint that he created for us to follow,” she said. “It’s his interpretation and I think it made emotional sense to me, so I clung to that. Because, obviously, it’s devastating and it’s fraught and we can never know.” The first part of the series, which will be released Nov. 16, also stars Jonathan Pryce as Prince Philip, Lesley Manville as Princess Margaret, and Salim Daw as Mohamed Al-Fayed. On September 2, Deadline broke the news that, following an exhaustive casting process, The Crown had cast the roles of Prince William and Kate Middleton for Season 6. Two actors will play the former as he matures from a teenager to a young university student: Rufus Kampa will embody him at 15 as he struggles to cope with the death of his mother, Diana; and Ed McVey will depict his years as a young adult, when he courted the future Duchess of Cambridge after meeting her at St. Andrews in 2001. Meanwhile, newcomer Meg Bellamy will play Middleton. The series will mark the screen debuts of all three actors. As for Prince Harry? Fflyn Edwards will play him as a boy, and Luther Ford as a teenager. The Crown’s fifth season ended in 1997, as Princess Diana was invited to holiday in St. Tropez with Mohamed Al-Fayed (she would perish later that year, in August). Season 6 should pick up where it left off, and stretch to at least 2005, given that the streaming giant has teased that the wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles will feature in the series. Per Variety, Claudia Harrison, who plays Princess Anne in Seasons 5 and 6, has said that the wedding was the final scene the cast shot.
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THE CROWN
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FASHION & STYLE
CHANEL SHOWS IN PARIS THE MOST-GOOGLED BRANDS OF 2023 PARIS STREET STYLE page 113
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CHANEL At Paris Fashion Week
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CHANEL
Bright colors and fabrics breathe life into the Spring-Summer collection Virginie Viard once again dipped into an array of paintbox brights to present a collection which played to the rhythm of youth. Demonstrating that the summer seasons have started to become where the artistic director chooses to test and stretch the house codes. Which will also invariably have the halo effect of appealing to the elusive next generation of customer. The signature silhouettes of the classic skirt suit got a plush makeover, as a tongue-in-cheek reference to a beach towel (what better way to express summer and the promise of a get-away), had a pencil skirt suit variation rendered in toweling cotton. The Chanel
tweed itself was shot through with multi-colored yarns, as grid checks or in graphic monochrome stripes, made up in “dressing gowns”, step-hem skirt suits, and hands-free hooded capes. Wanting to prove that opposites really do attract, there was additional effort placed on bringing together opposing ideas, fabrics, or silhouettes and merging them “in the coolest way possible” according to the show notes. And the best examples of those marriages of conflict were in the looks mixing high-and-low – embellished halter tops paired with a cotton PJ shorts set, and a textured swimsuit with a sheer skirt cover-up acting as the perfect thing
to throw on for those beach-to-bar emergencies. The introduction of a hand-drawn floral print interspersed with the double C logo looked tantalizingly good and is sure to whet the appetite of vintage sellers everywhere, as its vibrancy and distinctiveness is sure to make it a future-classic that will forever be associated with the house and Viard. Quilted Mary Jane ballet flats and flip flops were accessory additions that are set have the tills ringing at retail, as comfort remains king. They are also the perfect footwear option for a Chanel girl who requires her wardrobe – from head-to-toe – to give her freedom. page 117
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2023'S MOST-GOOGLED FASHION BRANDS
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OOGLE TRENDS, A TRUSTED GAUGE OF PUBLIC INTEREST, AFFORDS US A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO GAUGE THE FASHION LANDSCAPE’S HEARTBEAT. LEVERAGING THIS TOOL, WE’VE EXTRACTED VALUABLE INSIGHTS INTO THE BRANDS THAT SEIZED THE LIMELIGHT DURING THE MOST RECENT FASHION WEEK AND THOSE THAT RETAINED THEIR STATUS AS STEADFAST FAVORITES THROUGHOUT THE MONTH.
Our methodology for data analysis followed a dual path. We probed for trends in two distinct categories of searches: Searches using the brand name alone. Searches pairing the brand name with “fashion show.” This approach allowed us to measure both a brand’s intrinsic popularity and the impact of its respective fashion shows. These brands not 122
only generated buzz on their show dates but also sustained considerable interest throughout the month. In the fashion realm, Prada, a venerable presence, maintains its standing in Google searches—a testament to its enduring allure and influential presentations. Another titan of the industry, Chanel, maintains consistent search volume, underscoring its unwavering relevance. Gucci, renowned for its dynamic and eclectic shows, predictably surged on its show date, cementing its reputation as a must-watch every fashion week. The following brands experienced notable spikes in search volume on their respective show dates, signaling successful displays of their collections– Prada, Gucci, Dior, Givenchy, Burberry, Ferragamo, Coach, Khaite, Michael Kors, Diesel, Tom Ford, Marni, Victoria Beckham and Fendi. While global search volume serves as an excellent gauge of popularity, it doesn’t always capture the intricacies of brand impact. These brands may boast comparatively lower overall search volumes,
yet their influence is far from negligible. Their appeal may cater to a specific, discerning audience or exhibit more pronounced localized trends. Some brands gather momentum as the month unfolds, hinting at intriguing developments or late-show surprises. Notably, Victoria Beckham experienced a notable uptick in search activity as the month drew to a close. This surge suggests several intriguing possibilities, such as the emergence of a captivating event that seized the audience’s interest—perhaps the release of a Netflix documentary or the viral circulation of event highlights from the show. Google Trends offers a captivating snapshot of the fluctuations in public interest. While established names like Prada and Chanel consistently command attention, it’s equally vital to acknowledge the influence of brands tailored to niche audiences or those that make unexpected late entrances. After all, the world of fashion is as much about the undercurrents as it is about the prevailing tide.
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PARIS FASHION WEEK STREET STYLE
Recap from the Fashion Capital
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STYLE
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THE LUXURY REAL ESTATE REPORT
ESPOUSING A LIFESTYLE
I AM... A LUXURY REAL ESTATE BROKER
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"The day I sat on the bathroom floor at a rental unit, trying to un-install the tenant’s self-configured bidet, was the day I relinquished my "Selling Sunset" fantasies. As water sprayed me in the face, in my mind's eye, I watched my yellow Urus speed away." DANA ROMITA
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REAL ESTATE CONTRIBUTOR @danaromita
HENEVER I UTTER THOSE WORDS, I'M A LUXURY REAL ESTATE BROKER, THEY ALWAYS ELICIT A REACTION. BUT THE REACTIONS DIFFER: EXCITED CURIOSITY, DESIRE FOR THE SALACIOUS AND TITILLATING, CONDESCENSION AS THEY ENVISION ME THE PERFECT CLICHÉ, AND SO ON AND SO FORTH.
I love this emotionally charged, data-driven, and demanding career path. The daily journeys are exhilarating, challenging, often inspiring, sometimes debilitating but never, ever boring. Achieving success as a Manhattan real estate broker takes more than a snappy suit and a charming smile. You need the hide of a rhinoceros, the energy of a marathon runner, plenty of patience, and the gift of gab that would make a politician blush. And let’s not forget the need for unyielding dedication and resilience, as well as a unique set of skills. The industry is very much image-driven – you, your properties, your office; all of it – but it’s not enough to win the image contest. An agent must continually deliver superlative service – even if they’re already winning at the luxury image and branding game. Why? Because Manhattan is the heart of New York and one of the world’s most competitive and dynamic real estate markets – and the
game and its players – are ever-evolving. But I wouldn’t change a thing. I love it and live it. How do you start? I’ll get to that. But starting is just that, a start, a beginning. It’s all about finishing (deal after deal) and enduring (building a long career). Many, many aspiring brokers “start.” Who actually makes it out of the gate, sporting their Sunday best – and not tripping? Passing the requisite tests is one minuscule step in the journey. You sit through onboarding at your brokerage of choice, and believe you are savvy enough to network with your fellow “new agents,” vowing to study and tour inventory together. Suddenly you’re out in the real world. You send handwritten notes out to everyone you can think of to let them know you’re now a real estate agent in Manhattan, naively awaiting the enthusiastic responses laden with support and referrals. The expected referrals from family and close friends rarely materialize. The weeks start to drag on. You attend every company event, looking to make friends with your fellow agents. You eagerly post other people’s listings on your social media anticipating the buzz they’ll create. Maybe you even pay a photographer to take eye-catching photos of you around town. You post them, only to receive a few polite compliments and some DMs from social deviants asking to buy your worn shoes and commenting on your lovely feet. Gradually, new agents change course, get a “side hustle,” move in other directions – Darwinism in its purest form. The vestiges forge ahead, undeterred, if a touch jaded. We stop watching the glamorous real estate reality shows, except maybe for comic relief, and
relinquish most hope of ever being in our own such show; all new Manhattan agents entertain those thoughts at some point. The day I sat on the floor at a rental unit’s bathroom, trying to un-install the tenant’s self-configured bidet, was the day I relinquished my Selling Sunset fantasies. As the water sprayed me in the face, in my mind's eye, I watched my yellow Urus drive away filled with the Louboutin platforms in which I had envisioned myself marching around beautiful listings. These are the same listings that were going to sell in less than a week for over ask… as they all seemed to do on Netflix. As I sat through open houses alone, eating the bowl of chocolates I had out, listening to my self-curated Oscar Peterson playlist, I stayed hopeful and optimistic. I staged apartments myself, enlisting my daughter and her friends to help me hang pictures, paint trim, clean kitchens. I once spray-painted an entire refrigerator, dishwasher and wall trim in an estate sale white. I did such a good job, that at the first showing, the client said, “what a beautiful white kitchen!”
PERSONAL BRANDING A broker’s ultimate goal is the sale or purchase of a piece of real estate. You are a huge part of the process. In some cases, you’re selling yourself as much as you are that great apartment or townhouse. Closing the deal on a transaction is all about branding, perception, and cultivating a relationship. You’ll charm clients with tales of the best coffee page 137
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shops, trendiest bars, and the hottest yoga studios in town. You’re not just selling a property; you’re espousing a lifestyle. Potential client must sense that you understand, value and possibly even share in their elite lifestyle, or that you embody the lifestyle they are hoping to gain buying that spectacular property you’re about to find for them. Manhattan real estate is as much about emotions as it is about bricks and mortar. An agent must be a confidante, therapist, and sometimes the scapegoat. You’ll need to counsel clients through what is often the most important financial decision they will ever make. You must be the unwavering source of confidence and certainty as they navigate these uncertain and seemingly treacherous waters. You’ll hold their hand and lead them over the finish line at the closing, assuring them that there is always a solution for each little glitch that inevitably presents itself at that conference room table. 138
Behind the scenes, for you, even the simple daily struggles of hoping to be prepared for anything can prove exhausting and humiliating. I recall the day that I slipped a roll of toilet paper into my purse. It was just after that Succession episode where the social media exposure of the “capacious bag” comment led most professional women to force themselves into toting around smaller, more chic bags. I would be at a listing for several hours that afternoon that I knew had no “supplies.” During the morning elevator ride to my office, I reached into my bag to grab my glasses and the roll of toilet paper popped out onto the floor for everyone to see. Mortifying. The pandemic sucked the life force out of many of us, and there were more casualties as people found other callings. Those of stayed the course sought to increase our worth through education and additional licenses. I earned a New Jersey license and insurance license and toiled to keep my social media post fresh
and relevant, though there are only so many places I can pose in my house and backyard without someone catching on that it’s the same place! I mentioned earlier that succeeding in Manhattan real estate requires the hide of a rhinoceros. Let’s examine that statement a bit more. What qualities determine an agent’s staying power and success? To a certain extent: hard work, common sense, fortitude, boundless energy. Then there’s the sizable mental fortitude component. Long-lasting agents possess an inner confidence unshaken by outside forces and the ability to deal with rejection, competition, demanding clients, acts of God, and so much more. I launched into this leg of my career journey armed with the accolades: “You’re so smart, hardworking, well-educated and you have a great personality. You will blow this out of the water.” Industry insiders told me, “It’s a couple of years to get there.” Someone else said,
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“It takes four to five years…” And another agent explained, “Dana, it took me eight years before I was bringing home consistent substantial income.” Here’s the truth: Each agent’s story is different. Some land that lucky break early on and it sets them on the path to success. Others get that early lucky break and never get another one. Manhattan is home to thousands of real estate agents and brokers, all vying for a piece of the potentially lucrative market. That makes the competition fierce, and the fierce competition means brokers must work tirelessly to stand out, build their client base, generate word of mouth, and secure listings year-round, year after year. Networking is non-negotiable. It means night after night of sipping cocktails, engaging numerous people in polite conversations, and kissing cheeks at charity
galas – all the while exercising that sixth sense to determine who actually welcomes which sort of greeting. Manhattan luxury real estate is not just about what you know, but who you know and managing their perception of you. Age, no surprise, can be both an asset and liability in this industry. The wisdom gained over years of transactions and travails is invaluable – and there is no substitute. But we must also stay current when it comes to market trends, data, and technology. The complicated balance to strike boils down to the fact that real estate brokerage is driven by data and interpersonal relationships. Brokers must continuously adapt to changing consumer preferences and technological advances.
prestigious, vibrant and, yes, potentially lucrative, real estate markets on the planet. Success requires exceptional organizational and interpersonal skills, strong communication, a deep knowledge of the market, the ability to provide superlative client service, and a strong work ethic. You must be a confident communicator, at home swirling through varied social circles, and a therapist who continuously raises that sartorial bar just a bit higher with the fortitude and tenacity of Winston Churchill. The stories with which you can regale your family at the holiday dinner table will be priceless, but the greatest reward is your clients’ gratitude and happiness when those transactions close. Manhattan real estate agents are rare birds, and I am proud to be a member of this unique flock.
Manhattan luxury real estate offers the opportunity to work in one of the most page 139
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MANSION OF THE MONTH GREENWICH CONNECTICUT
AN ADIRONDACK GREAT CAMP $24,995,000 USD
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MANSION OF THE MONTH
A GILDED-AGE ESCAPE GREENWICH, CONNECTICUT
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EMINISCENT OF THE ADIRONDACK GREAT CAMPS – LUXURIOUS SUMMER LAKE HOUSES BUILT FOR PROMINENT GILDED AGE FAMILIES – THIS EXQUISITE CONYERS FARM ESTATE ENJOYS BREATHTAKING VISTAS FROM A DRAMATIC SETTING OVERLOOKING THE PICTURESQUE, 140-ACRE CONVERSE LAKE. 144
Classically elegant Shingle-style architecture by Shope Reno Wharton sets the stage for newly renovated interiors by noted designer Sara Story. Abundant natural light streams in from the solarium, banks of west-facing windows and a spectacular conservatory. French doors from most of the formal rooms open to a spacious, lakefront patio. Clad in contemporary designer finishes, the house offers six bedrooms, seven baths, seven fireplaces, and luxurious amenities including an all-floor elevator and magnificent indoor pool.
Bright and airy formal rooms include a living room, dining room, library, and music room. The extensive primary suite upstairs includes a bedroom with fireplace and beautiful water views, a marble bathroom and two walk-in closets. A show-stopping, walk-out lower level features a coffered-ceiling billiards room, mirrored gym, sauna, full bath, indoor/outdoor party room with full bar and a wine cellar. The attached four-car garage has an electric car charger and a staff bedroom and bath above the garage. The sweeping
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PRICE $24,995,000 | BEDROOMS 6 BATHROOMS 7 FULL AND 3 PARTIAL INTERIOR 19,950 SQUARE FEET EXTERIOR 21.9 ACRES
21+ acre grounds include a tennis court and stylishly renovated two-bedroom guest house with two baths, a full kitchen, dining room and attached garage. A lakeside fire pit leads to a floating dock for non-motorized boating and fishing. Private without feeling remote, this gated property surrounded by woodlands receives regular security checks from the 24-hour Conyers Farm guards.
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MANSION OF THE MONTH
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NANTES PAYS DE LA LOIRE 44000 FRANCE
PRICE $29,967,206 USD BEDROOMS 8 / BATHROOMS 2 FULL INTERIOR 10,7639 SQ FT. / EXTERIOR 317.29 ACRES NANTES, PAYS DE LA LOIRE, 44000 FRANCE HUS STUD FARM This exceptional estate comprises not only a historic chateau but also one of France’s biggest equestrian facilities with 152
the capacity to house approximately 400 horses. The castle has been restored and offers 1000 sq. meters of perfectly renovated living space including an indoor pool, a steam room and a gym. The spacious grounds comprise 128 hectares including private access to the River
Erdre, a 30-meter mooring, extensive equestrian training facilities including show jumping and dressage with 200 hectares extra rental. Restored outbuildings, helicopter pad and only 35 kilometers from the international airport. The sale includes 300 horses.
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In Search Holiday Wines of Solace that Wow
MUST-HAVE WINES FOR YOUR HOLIDAY TABLES Sta. Rita Hills & Chilean Winning Pairings
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WILLIAM SMITH @willismith_2000 COPY EDITOR & CONTRIBUTOR
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T’S THAT TIME OF YEAR. THE CRISPNESS OF FALL IS IN THE AIR IN THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE AND VINTNERS ARE BRINGING IN THE LAST OF THE 2023 HARVESTS. I’ve been thrilled to follow so many wine growers and wine makers on social media, sharing their thoughts on when best to pick various varietals in what has been a pretty ideal growing season for many regions. Eager palates await…
It’s also that time of year when many of us begin planning for holiday feasts and gathering with friends and family. In my own planning, I go back and forth between researching and thinking through the diverse array of dishes with the wines to serve alongside them that will create the perfect experience. I also ponder which bottles I may want to purchase a few extras of, the perfect host gift for the autumn-inspired dinner parties to which I am fortunate enough to garner an invitation. With that in mind, it’s also been a pretty busy travel schedule for me. Thankfully, two of those travels involved wines – the annual Santa Barbara Vintners Festival and a grand event hosted on the San Francisco waterfront by Wines of Chile and the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs. And so, I took advantage of my
good fortune, utilizing these two events to help me identify ideal wines for my own holiday tables and celebrations and hopefully, for yours too.
DONNACHADH FAMILY VINEYARDS 2022 STA. RITA HILLS PINOT NOIR I will admit that Pinot Noirs are not my go-to reds. I can and do appreciate the expressions the grape finds in places like the Willamette Valley and in the Santa Lucia Highlands, and of course sometimes the food might lend heavily to a Pinot Noir, but it’s not what I am usually seeking out when heading into my cellar or while shopping. Santa Barbara Pinot Noir is changing my mind. I tasted the 2021 vintage of Donnachadh’s Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir
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In Search Holiday Weines of Solace that Wow
at a local wine tasting near my home and, well, I fell hard. While that vintage is now sold out, I got in touch with the winery in advance of my coming to the Santa Barbara Vintners Festival to ensure they would be there and that they would have the newest vintage. Drew and wife Laurie Duncan, along with winemaker Ernst Storm, have found the right place and the right approach to creating a delectable and complex wine firmly anchored into Santa Barbara’s terroir. This is an interesting and unique wine that, for me, awakened a new appreciation for the varietal in the midst of what have become either predictable or annoyingly overwrought concoctions of West Coast Pinot Noirs. The estate is organically farmed, and this wine consists of six different Pinot Noir clones planted in the clay soils of a north-facing hillside and was aged 10 months in mostly used French oak. Bright garnet in the glass, the nose is dominated by ripe red cherry, black olives, sage, and thyme on the nose. On the palate, a pleasant and restrained acidity and smooth tannins create the perfect context for big, red cherry and juicy raspberry with wonderfully contrasting hints of soil. The finish is pure, unfussy, and long. This wine is glorious, refreshing, and a standout of the varietal in the United States. 158
Pair this incredible quality-to-price wine with a traditional Thanksgiving feast of Roasted Turkey with gravy, bread stuffing with sage and onions, and sautéed green beans with crispy shallots. But frankly, this wine is so versatile and special, I want it whatever is being served. donnachadh.com
DRAGONETTE CELLARS 2021 BLACK LABEL CHARDONNAY I had heard of Dragonette Cellars before I attended the Annual Santa Barbara Vintners Festival, held this year at the vast Vega Vineyard & Farm in bucolic Buellton. One friend shared with me that, “Their Chardonnay changed my life.” Wine reviewer Jeb Dunnuck has also praised many of their bottlings over the years. I loved how accessible the tastings were at the festival and I easily found Dragonette, eventually tasting their delicious 2021 Chardonnay from the Rita’s Crown Vineyard. Unfortunately, they were not pouring their highly regarded Chardonnay Black Label that afternoon, but I was determined to seek it out. The following afternoon, I found myself at their tasting room in the charming downtown area of Los Olivos. There I struck gold, tasting the 2021 vintage of their Black Label Chardonnay. With only 150 cases produced, its artisanal refinement creates a compelling Sta. Rita Hills wine, with lushness and complexity. Eighteen months in French oak imparts a slight wood aroma with additional notes of ripe apricots and flowers on the nose. In the mouth, a full bodied and zippy minerality and racy acidity evolve into ripe and bright fruit, hints of toasted oak, and a refined and lingering finish. I’m always a fan of a lush and rich Chardonnay with roasted fowl. The 2021 Black Label Chardonnay would well-complement an oven-roasted chicken with crispy, herbed skin, roasted rainbow carrots with coriander seeds,
and a wild rice medley with currants and pecans. This is also a wine to impress, so consider taking one as a host gift, encouraging your host to stock it away for next year’s celebrations (or even longer). This bottling will be even more satisfying with a few years of additional aging in the bottle. dragonettecellars.com
STORY OF SOIL 2021 AMPELOS VINEYARD PINOT NOIR While in Los Olivos, I also took the recommendation of a friend-in-the-know and visited the tasting room of Story of Soil, a bespoke and masterful winemaker of fruit sourced from impeccable sites in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties. It’s a rare thing when each and every taste creates both bliss and wonder, but that is the case at Story of Soil. Winemaker Jessica Gasca has some serious magic happening, but you need to be quick in buying once a wine is released or, better yet, join their wine club for regular shipments. For example, between my visit and writing this column – three weeks – the wonderfully unique 2022 Slide Hill Vineyard Grenache had sold out of the 225 cases produced. This is even more reason to immediately get your hands on the 2021 Ampelos Vineyard Pinot Noir. The Ampelos Vineyard sits at the eastern end of the Sta. Rita Hills AVA where cool breezes make it ideally situated for growing Pinot Noir in clay and sandy soil. It is also certified bio-dynamic and organic. This wine is elegant from the start. On
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the nose, ripe fruits and earth pleasantly exude from the glass and on the palate, ripe blueberries, raspberries and lush tannins create a medium-bodied and delicious fruit-forward expression of Santa Barbara Pinot Noir. My mind immediately jumped to how extraordinary of an accompaniment this wine would be to a roasted pork loin with fresh sage leaves and root vegetables, or served alongside delicious canapés of bacon-wrapped dates stuffed with Marcona almonds and puff pastry filled with herbed goat cheese. storyofsoil.com
J. BOUCHON PAIS SALVAJE I have previously written about Chilean reds, praising both the quality and value to be found in the nation’s exploding wine industry (Polo Lifestyles, July 2023). In that column, I included a wine made from the Pais (Mission) grape, the 2020 Santa Cruz de Coya from Roberto Henriquez. Now I am back, recommending another Chilean País, well, because… it’s delicious. In fact, in the same way that Santa Barbara has me questioning my own prejudices about Pinot Noir, Chile has me confronting established prejudices against the humble mission grape. Chilean Producer J. Bouchon’s País Salvaje is a tale of fortitude and minimal human interaction. This is wild wine. Literally and wonderfully. The País grapes for the wine grow wildly on trees next to Bouchon’s vineyards and are harvested from the trees by pickers standing on ladders and using a zaranda (a tool made of sticks) to destem the grape
ATACAMA REGION
CHILE Wine Regions
COPIAPÓ VALLEY
HUASCO VALLEY ATACAMA DESERT
ATACAMA REGION ELQUI VALLEY
LIMARÍ VALLEY
CHOAPA VALLEY
ACONCAGUA REGION ACONCAGUA VALLEY MENDOZA (ARG)
CASABLANCA VALLEY
SAN ANTONIO VALLEY
CENTRAL VALLEY REGION
SANTIAGO
MAIPO VALLEY
LEYDA VALLEY
RAPEL VALLEY
CACHAPOAL VALLEY
COLCHAGUA VALLEY
CURICÓ VALLEY
SOUTH REGION
MAULE VALLEY
ITATA VALLEY
BÍO-BÍO VALLEY
Map Key Capital
MALLECO VALLEY
Highway River
AUSTRAL REGION CAUTIN VALLEY
SANTIAGO AREA ENLARGED
OSORNO VALLEY
clusters in the treetops. Note the artistic interrelation of this on the bottle label. The vines, such as they are, are left to grow wild without irrigation and some are over 200 years old. The fermentation occurs with whole grape clusters with natural yeast and aging is carried out in cement vats, again all in seeking to mitigate factors of human intervention. Finally, bottling occurs without filtering. The result is a bit of cloudiness to a ruby hue in the glass, but the lack of what we might call “refinement” ends there. This is a surprisingly delicate, yet rustic wine with none of the harshness
that too frequently accompanies País bottlings. Floral essences on the nose, it is light- to medium-bodied, bursting with wild red fruits such as strawberries and boysenberries, balanced acid, and a fresh and long finish. This is an example of País at its best. The País Salvaje is a food wine and seemed to me to be perfect with a clove-spiked holiday ham, rich and creamy scalloped potatoes, and green beans almondine. If you’re seeking something a bit more obscure and decidedly unmessed-with, this belongs on your holiday table. bouchonfamilywines.com page 159
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MUST-HAVE WINES FOR YOUR HOLIDAY TABLES 2023'S BEAUJOLAIS NOUVEAU Finally, I’d be remiss in not mentioning that I always have a few bottles of Beaujolais Nouveau on hand during the Thanksgiving season. To be released this year on November 16th, drinking the first wine of the year’s harvest feels very much a celebration of
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wine and of life itself. Producer Georges Duboeuf has shared the following about their soon-to-be-released 2023 vintage, “This Beaujolais Nouveau displays a brilliant garnet color with purple reflections. It offers fresh aromas of black cherries and blackberries, as well as a dense texture, and an admirable
richness. Refreshing, fruity and supple on the palate, this vintage is a perfect expression of Nouveau.” Your local wine shop is likely to carry a couple of bottlings of this year's harvest, so indulge in what you can find. As always… happy holidays!
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ALIGN WITH YO SPIRITUALITY · FAITH · QUESTIONS · GROWTH · FOCUS
T H E C E L E S T I A L M A N D AT E F O R A R A D I C A L T R A N S F O R M AT I O N I N D E V OT I O N A L L I V I N G
BHAKTI
RADICAL TRANSFORMATION “The path of bhakti, karma and love as expounded in the Gita leaves no room for the despising of man by man.” – Mahatma Gandhi
AMRITLAL SINGH SPIRITUALITY CONTRIBUTOR @monarch_visionary
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OW DO WE DEFINE UNCONDITIONAL LOVE? WHAT CAN WE ACHIEVE IF WE TRULY BELIEVE? HOW DO WE ESTABLISH A LIFE FIRM IN CONVICTION OF OUR HIGHEST PURPOSE? HOW DO WE BUILD THE COURAGE TO UPHOLD OUR CALLING WITH UNSHAKABLE BRAVERY? HOW DO WE ESTABLISH A LEGACY OF HONOR AND VIRTUE? PILGRIMAGE TO NON-VIOLENCE In his first book, Stride Toward Freedom, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 164
illustrated his view that, “The Christian doctrine of love operating through the Gandhian method of non-violence is one of the most potent weapons available to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom.” Furthermore, that non-violent resistance is, “A courageous confrontation of evil by the power of love.”
In the August 2012 Time Magazine article, Malcolm Browne: The Story Behind The Burning Monk, the Pulitzer Prizewinning photographer, in witnessing this remarkable act, shared, “He never yelled out in pain. His face seemed to remain fairly calm until it was so blackened by the flames that you couldn’t make it out anymore.”
Born in Vietnam as Lam Van Tuat in 1897, the Buddhist priest Thich Quang Duc self-immolated at the Phan Dinh Phung Square-Le Van Duyet intersection on June 11, 1963, in Saigon, to protest the persecution of Buddhists by the Ngo Dinh Diem regime.
Despite the flames that consumed the flesh of this devoted monk, empowered with the torch of compassion that exuded from his spiritual heart, he was able to overcome the emotional distress of burning himself alive, as peace radiated from his mind.
The event was watched by thousands and its photos, including the one pictured above by Malcolm Browne for the AP, soon made global news, contributing to the end of the Vietnam War and the persecution of Buddhists in Vietnam.
Following his self-immolation, Duc’s body was taken to Xa Loi Pagoda for a funeral. Witnesses claimed that after his body burned to ashes, his heart remained and became as solid as stone. The remnants of the undying heart of Thich Quang Duc are now in storage at the Vietnam National Buddhist Temple.
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OUR PURPOSE IN SY N C W IT H YO UR V IB E
R E N E WA L · C O M M U N I T Y · S U P P O RT · E X P LO R AT I O N · E N E R G Y Mohmand Education Academy, a private school that endowed Kamran full tuition due to his academic promise. Ranking first in his class and sixth within the entire school, Kamran was to receive particularly special honors, yet he tremendously feared the burn of judgment from his peers. Two years earlier, Kamran’s youngest sister was given for adoption as a newborn, as the family could not afford to support her. At the time, Kamran’s father was in Saudi Arabia looking for employment, and the marital strain weighed heavily on the sensitive, hopeless consciousness of young Kamran.
In a 1965 letter to Dr. King, explaining his support of the monks who had set themselves on fire during the war, the renowned Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh, who became famous for his eloquence in advocating for an end to the Vietnam War, wrote that they were not committing suicide as their aim was compassion toward their fellow beings, not self-destruction. “Like the Buddha in one of his former lives - as told in a story of the Jataka who gave himself to a hungry lioness that was about to devour her own cubs, the monk believes he is practicing the doctrine of highest compassion by sacrificing himself in order to call the attention of, and to seek help from, the people of the world,” he concluded.
OVERCOMING FALSE NEEDS How do we discern between right and wrong, just and unjust? How do we alleviate ourselves of the false pressures of society that drain our will to realize freedom? How do we protect ourselves from the endless signals of unworthiness that bombard our collective consciousness? How do we liberate our children of the emotional burden of our ignorance? In April 2012, the Washington Post published the story of 13-year-old Kamran Khan, who set himself on fire due to shame for his level of poverty, as well as the emotional build-up of his family’s struggles. A highly gifted academic, Kamran received a free scholarship to the
Following his self-immolation, Bibi, Kamran’s mother, raced her dying son to two hospitals, which either could not or would not treat him, until finally finding a burn unit equipped military hospital in the distant town of Kharian in Punjab province, which was far beyond her ability to afford. Hopelessly abandoned, Bibi surrendered her attempts at rescue and used her gold earrings to pay for an ambulance to return her son’s body back to their hometown for burial. Recounting Kamran’s life and accomplishments, at his Sunday funeral, she admitted that she, “Should have bought a new uniform for him.” How do we overcome the collective hypnosis that skews our value system to create inner turmoil and feelings of unworthiness across all walks of life? How do we face the fire of judgment and page 165
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T H E C E L E S T I A L M A N D AT E F O R A R A D I C A L T R A N S F O R M AT I O N I N D E V OT I O N A L L I V I N G
BHAKTI
RADICAL TRANSFORMATION
criticism as we learn to lead honorable lives?
FULFILLMENT THROUGH BHAKTI In deep prayer and meditation, as I sought spiritual guidance from our Lord Krishna to the emotional trials of my own life, burdened with the devastations of humanity and the pressure to make a difference, I was gifted with the presence of the Lord’s overwhelming love of the humble and sacred cow. Lord Krishna, also known as Govinda, which means protector of cows, revealed the sacred cow as an example of the highest embodiment of bhakti, unconditional love and self-realized faith through embodied selfless service, surrender to its divine purpose. As we look to the cow, we witness her ability to persevere and provide the highest service with minimal need. The cow, which shares over 80 percent of its DNA with humans, provides milk as nourishment, toils the Earth for generation of crops, secretes dung that fertilizes the Earth and ignites the sacred fire, known as agni that lights the path for our heart’s mission while also providing warmth. A highly intelligent, emotional being, out of her pure intuition, the cow sheds tears when there is a death in the household. A devout servant of humanity and the planetary eco-system, the sacred cow knows only the bliss of service. In fact, happy cows generate oxytocin, the love-molecule within her very saliva, as she churns the Earth’s grass into all that we need to become one with the 166
Atman, the eternal soul within. Studies demonstrate that cow saliva has therapeutic wound healing properties, both subduing inflammation and supporting connective tissue and epidermal regeneration.
Within us all is an electromagnetic blueprint of our fullest expression to serve our species, our planet and our universal kingdom. It is the resonance of our actions that creates the feelings that not only inform us, but also reveal within us our highest potential and activate our potential to address the challenges ahead. We rise to the challenge of each next moment along a universal strand of evolution. Life is perfectly orchestrated for us all to realize the god-self within. By mastering the Universal Laws of Attraction, we realize that we actually do not need anything, for all is always provided, as a lesson, to deliver us into our greatest level of appreciation, gratitude and compassion. Our demons, both within and without, are our friends, for within us all is the unrealized drive for transformation, for evolution – Ascension. Children of the endless pursuit of harmony, through bhakti, the fire generated within our heart’s molten core burns through the distractions that source brain fog and delusion. Through bhakti, we each have a resonant impact on the collective consciousness that allows us to emotionally alchemize the distress and warfare of our brothers and sisters, to ease the tension between the extreme polarities of sentience. As we surrender to the realization of
the power within, through stillness of breath, mind-heart coherence and devotion to our realized purpose, we evolve our psyche through the most profound process of self-transformation ever known. The only limitation to our potential is our willingness to persevere, and such is the faithful pilgrimage of free will that drives a life of conviction in the divine cosmic forces that excite all existence into harmony and evolution. The life we live is our self-activating language of love. How we allow ourselves to be and serve day-by-day generates the heat that unravels the divine code for our highest, holy expression. Our sacred script is written within. Liberating ourselves from the mental constraints of judgment, against others and ourselves, we naturally create systems of equality by learning to channel our sacred energy in alignment with our own spiritual evolution, individually experiencing the magic of our higher awareness as we collectively bridge in purpose to restore Peace to our Kingdom.
THE POWER OF THE BREATH When we feel emotionally devastated by the collapse of our external realities, we can remember the power we hold in this very moment to evolve our perspective based on the new feelings that we can create by transforming our actions and habits. It is through self-mastery in this moment that we bridge our path to our higher reality. We are not our identity, nor our story, but a servant of the light within, the ascension of consciousness that climbs
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the spine to shatter the illusion that has blinded most of humanity. We are each the product of our own spiritual metamorphosis realized through service. It is our embodiment of universal ancient wisdom that becomes our lifetime practice of liberation. In Kriya Yoga, the breathless state, which is highly connected to Samadhi (total self-connectedness in Sanskrit), we can achieve a profound relaxed conscious state in which the pleasure of breathing prana, the cosmic energy, is far more nourishing than regular food or breath. In this state, the body can achieve a level of recovery and transformation beyond that achieved during sleep. It is in such states, that we are elevated above the collective hypnosis, belief matrix, that ensnares our minds and emotional systems, to transcend or delusion of hopelessness and dis-empowered. Through the pursuit of Samadhi, we rise above the net as we gradually dissolve the bars to our mental cages. In Indian philosophy and religion, and
particularly in Hinduism and Buddhism, Samadhi represents the highest state of mental concentration that can be achieved while still bound to the body and which unites them with the highest perceivable reality. According to Indian Hindu monk, Yogananda Parmahansa, in God Talks with Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita, “When by Kriya Yoga mortal breath disappears scientifically from the lungs, the yogi consciously experiences, without dying, the death process by which energy is switched off from the senses (causing the disappearance of the body consciousness and the simultaneous appearance of the soul consciousness). Unlike the ordinary man, the yogi realizes that his life is not conditioned by exhalation and inhalation, but that the steady life force in the brain is continuously reinforced through the medulla from the omnipresent cosmic current. Even mortal man, during the nightly state of sleep, rises psychologically above the consciousness of breath; his life force
then partially becomes still and reveals a glimpse of the soul as the deep joy of sleep. The breathless yogi, however, realizes the state of conscious ‘death’ as a far deeper and more blessed state than that bestowed by the deepest blissful semi-super-conscious sleep. When breath ceases in the Kriya Yogi, he is suffused with an incomparable bliss. He realizes then that it is the storm of human breath that is responsible for the creation of the dream wave of the human body and its sensations; it is breath that causes body consciousness.” We are all constructs of the same universal divine reality, realizing Heaven within, and transforming our environment through the scientifically proven laws of resonance, that radiates cosmic energies from our organ system to liberate our species from the enslavement mechanisms of the negative ego consciousness grid. Our organs are of celestial construct, designed to purify the Earth, as an interconnected cosmic rooting system, bridging Earth and Heaven. Within us each is the potential to elevate our perceived reality, within the present moment, gradually unconditioning ourselves from limiting beliefs and states of depression, anxiety, hopelessness and worthlessness. Through the Ascension process, our inner drive to realize our highest state excites the Laws of Attraction to receive all that we need to achieve our highest bliss state, naturally. The natural Universal Cosmic Laws favor the spiritual evolution of all life, such is our divine birthright.
FACING OUR CHALLENGES WITH HONOR We are what we become, in each and every moment, driven to transform by our own lack of joy. Knowing that all we need is already within us, and experiencing the very magic of reality equips us with the conviction, faith and strength to stand tall with our hearts high as we face the demons within our minds. Illustrating this cosmic balance within page 167
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T H E C E L E S T I A L M A N D AT E F O R A R A D I C A L T R A N S F O R M AT I O N I N D E V OT I O N A L L I V I N G us, Traditional Chinese Medicine and Taoism detail the Hun and Po as the ethereal and corporeal souls, or the formless and tangible consciousness.
current paradigm, how do we manifest our highest contribution to humanity’s Ascension, solving large-scale issues from a higher level of consciousness?
Hun and Po, which are an expression of Yin and Yang, are typically associated with the Five Shen model of the Shangqing lineage of Taoism, which describes the “spirits” residing in each of the five yin organs.
In How Quantum Activism Can Save Civilization, Amit Goswami presents the idea of changing ourselves and our societies in accordance with the principles of quantum physics. Just as the body serves as a bridge between higher and lower states of existence, the Heavenly and Earthly realms, the brain is the God-seed, capable of realizing super-, quantum-consciousness, through radical self-transformation, bhakti.
Within this context, the Hun ethereal soul, is housed within the Liver organ system, as it stores the blood, and is the aspect of consciousness that continues to exist, in more subtle realms, even after the death of the body. The Po corporeal soul, is housed in the Lung organ system, as it stores the breath, and is the aspect of consciousness that dissolves with the elements of the body at the time of death. The Po represent the demons that we are each born into, the unresolved ghosts of our family systems and the darkness of society. These earthly elements are overcome by the Hun, the celestial spirit that we invoke within us to overcome that which we have incarnated upon this Earth to heal. The human body is divinely designed to overcome all of life’s challenges, such is our divine spiritual lesson. Our challenges dissolve as we master our emotions, activating the ancient wisdom of our lineages that is stored within our DNA. Overcoming our spiritual challenges, obstacles and test with honor and righteous, we become one with our celestial spirit, our Heavenly state embodied, transforming the darkness within into the light of our soul.
BRIDGING HIGHER PURPOSE INTO REALITY How do we transcend the constraints of our linguistics and self-perceptions? Once we can perceive beyond our 168
Once a neurological pathway is established within the brain, the channels are further established within the body, and gradually, through a radical transformation in our own expression we can bridge these insights from source into creation. Radiant thinking is a term coined by Tony Buzan, and most fully defined in The Book on Mind Mapping: How to Use Radiant Thinking. Radiant thinking in many ways emulates patterns found in nature. If radiant patterns are natural, then radiant thinking serves as an instinctive way for developing and defining ideas within the mind. Radiant thinking usually begins with the central concept or problem at the center, and various ideas and solutions radiating out from that point. Each new point becomes the center of its own radiant thoughts, eventually generating branch after branch of diverse thought. One advantage to radiant thinking is that it can incorporate all thoughts--even those that do not directly relate to the central problem. The brain works in a non-linear fashion, often making connections to a central concept or idea seemingly at random. These thoughts can “radiate” out from a central concept in dozens of directions.
Methods to describe and enhance this kind of creative thought can be grouped under the term “radiant thinking.” This method is the opposite of linear thinking, which attempts to generate ideas or come to a solution in a linear, or step-bystep process. Because the brain is believed to work in this non-linear, radiant fashion, Buzan also notes that it may be easier to remember and associate ideas when discovered and defined in a radiant fashion. By combining techniques to liberate the mind, establish inner peace, and take righteous action, we can realize our highest state of valiant contribution while forming new networks, alliances and partnerships to build the collective vision that is being broadcasted to humanity by the planetary field, the Planetary Logos – the electromagnetic field that nourishes, directs, and evolves all sentient life forms to their highest evolutionary state. Guided from within by our very environment, as humanity is “turned back on,” our endocrine system, guided by the master pituitary gland, serves to restore the highest function to our divine embodiment. As the emotional planetary strife escalates across the globe, there is a celestial mandate for a radical transformation in devotional living being experienced within the collective consciousness of humanity. As more answer the call, raising the planetary resonance and further activating our collective DNA to higher expressions of our DNA, a profound break-through will be reached that penetrates our own collective sense of our perceived capabilities. The calling is rising, invoking our Ancient Power into being.
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MOLD YOUR MIND T H E
P O W E R
O F
U N L O C K I N G
Y O U R
M I N D
THE ART OF GIVING
FEEDBACK
COACH JOEY VELEZ
MENTAL WELLNESS CONTRIBUTOR @velezmentalperformance
H
AVE YOU EVER WATCHED SOMEONE GIVE A PRESENTATION AND IT WAS JUST AWFUL…BUT THEN THEY ASK YOU FOR FEEDBACK? IF YOU HAVE BEEN IN THAT PREDICAMENT, THEN YOU PROBABLY EXPERIENCED THE SAME EMOTIONS I FELT IN THAT INSTANCE: UNCOMFORTABLE, NERVOUS, AND SCARED AND LIKELY BECAUSE, FOR STARTERS, YOU DIDN’T WANT TO HURT THEIR FEELINGS. Also, have you yourself ever been in a situation where the feedback you received was “nice” or “good job”? Well I have, and it left me feeling confused, unsatisfied, and a need for wanting more details. Whether you have experienced one or both of these situations, giving and accepting feedback can be a challenge. People come to us for aid and we either do not know how to handle it 172
and say the wrong thing, or hold back because we do not want to hurt their feelings or perhaps even our own. Giving effective feedback is a skill and can help aid the learning of other individuals, while also enhancing the connection you have with that person. But getting it right means being purposeful.
IMPACT OF FEEDBACK When I was in my first internship in graduate school, we had to develop and execute a 90-minute lesson at a youth soccer camp that included information followed by an activity applying that information. After this 90-minutes, as the camp continued on with physical drills, our supervisors provided us feedback. Up to this point in my life, I had never really received feedback and in the times that I did, I usually took it personally. As my supervisor began listing off what he saw, my body language changed demonstrably, giving off signals of sadness and of someone who had lost self-confidence. For 10 minutes, my supervisor calmly described everything I did that was ineffective. He noticed my shift in body language and asked, “Are you okay?” to which I responded by saying that it sounded like I did nothing correct. To the contrary, at that point, he began listing all the things I did well and
almost instantaneously my mood began to change in an upward motion. Our ability to give feedback can have great impact. In that moment, I went from feeling disappointed to feeling optimistic about my progression. Things are going to go wrong, things will need to be improved, but there will always be something that you can use as a takeaway to build confidence and optimism. Feedback is not about making someone feel good or feel positive, it is about aiding in learning and development. In that moment, my own development was taking a hit by hearing all the things that needed improvement about the lesson I gave. It turned by hearing some of the good components that gave me that little bit of hope to keep going and keep trying. When it comes to giving effective feedback, there are several things to consider. First, having some combination of what went well and what needs to be improved, regardless of outcome. Discussing the good things in a performance can help build confidence and optimism, while discussing those things needing improvement in a performance can provide the motivation to get better. Second, make sure your feedback is specific to the individual and the per-
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THOUGHTS MATTER
formance itself. Provide actual language they used, real-life examples, clear solutions so that the individual has a very clear picture about what to do the next time. Third, less is more when it comes to the amount of feedback. Sometimes, telling them everything they did good and bad might be overwhelming and they also might become reliant on the feedback itself. Instead, stick to three things that went well and three things they need to be improved upon, because this increases the chance that the individual will make the necessary adjustments and become more efficient at those few things. Finally, prioritize process-based feedback over outcome-based. Individuals are able to self-regulate more effectively when receiving process-based feedback because the outcome itself is often times out of our control.
HOW TO GIVE FEEDBACK When providing feedback, these simple components can help make your feedback more effective and efficient: reflect, discuss, next steps, and summarize. By no means is this a rigid model where you must follow exactly or else all will fail, but more of a starting point and provides
some structure on how to give effective feedback. To reflect, the intent is to provide an opportunity for yourself and the person receiving the feedback to reflect on the experience on their own. This process allows me, as the person providing the feedback, to organize my thoughts and decide what I need to prioritize. In the discussion component, each of the people engaged in the feedback exchange processes what has been said, a back and forth that allows for greater reflection and questioning. The feedback can include an overall tagline (their grade), what went well and how to continue to do those things well, and what needs to be improved and specific ways to go about making those improvements. This is where you may need to gather further understanding from the individual. If there was a mistake made, perhaps ask them about their decision-making process so that you can develop rootcause analysis and know exactly where to direct your efforts with the feedback you provide. For next steps, this is where you can summarize both the good and the bad and then provide some clear solutions on what to do moving forward to make
those changes. An important aspect here is getting the individual involved in the solutions created. This allows the individual to feel more control over their development, which can lead to enhanced motivation in the developmental process. And finally, in the summarize component, this is where you place a proverbial bow on the conversation. You review what you want the individual to take away from the feedback, reminding them of what the next steps are, and assist in developing some sort of follow up (if necessary) to track progress.
FINAL THOUGHTS Giving feedback can be awkward at times, but it can also be challenging. There are many factors that can get in the way of delivering effective feedback. However, the feedback you provide can ultimately aid in the development of those around you. Start by utilizing your resources by having subordinates seek feedback from peers and seeking feedback on the feedback you give, but also remind yourself that the feedback you provide can have a long-lasting impact on that individual. Be a leader, do the right thing, and watch these individuals thrive through your guidance. page 173
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