A proud partner of Issuu, NZ Polo Open, House On Third U.S. Polo Assn., The Impression and Mixam
INANDA POLO CLUB
Nedbank International Polo Cup
Inanda Patrons Cup
Africa Polo Open
MIAMI BEACH
Miami Beach World Championship
TRIPLE CROWN ARGENTINA
Abierto de Hurlingham
Abierto de Tortugas
Abierto de Argentina
ASPEN VALLEY POLO CLUB
St. Regis Snow Polo World Cup
ST. MORITZ
Snow Polo World Championship
KITZBUHEL
Bendura Bank Snow Polo World Cup
GAUNTLET OF POLO
C.V. Whitney Cup
The USPA Gold Cup
The U.S. Open Polo Championship
The U.S. Open Women's Polo
AUCKLAND POLO CLUB
NZ Polo Open 2025
SCOREBOARDS & COCKTAILS
OPEN DE FRANCE BARNES
POLO LIFESTYLES EDITORS & CONTRIBUTORS
Steps to take now to delay dementia later, page 88
Who will lead LVMH into the future? page 62
Take a Coolcation instead of a Vacation, page 76
Decanting wine has never been this sexy, page 198
THE TIME DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PARIS AND SAN FRANCISCO IS NINE HOURS, SO WHEN VALENTINO SHOWED TODAY AT 3 P.M., IT WAS 6 A.M. AT OUR DESIGN OFFICE. ON A SUNDAY. THE NESPRESSO MAKER WAS WORKING OVERTIME AND SO WAS THE TEAM, ASSEMBLING THE LAST PHOTOS, CRITIQUES AND BACK-STAGE, BEHINDTHE-SCENES PERSPECTIVES.
Every year as we close the Fashion Issue, I’m reminded of a time when I wasn’t certain of the exact pronunciation of Loewe or Schiaparelli. Polo Lifestyles has been my introduction and education on women’s haute couture and pret-a-porter fashion at lightening speed in the early years. I was an interested student, suddenly presented with an opportunity to learn about a fascinating world and mechanism that makes the wheels of fashion truly spin.
And spin they have this season, from NYC to London, Milan and now (as I type this), Paris. The shows are grander and bigger, the collections are colorful and playful for spring. The fog of the pandemic has lifted (finally) and the designers of the world’s best and brightest fashion houses came to play.
With 70 pages devoted to the Spring-Summer 2025 collections, this is our largest installment of the Fashion Issue yet (and several powerhouses have yet to present as of press deadline). We’ll update pololifestyles.com with Givenchy, Chanel and Louis Vuitton SS25 collections, but now, go to press we must! A deadline is still a deadline in the world of printing and magazines.
Enjoy this deep dive into the looks that will take us into the spring and summer polo season of 2025.
Holidays in St-Barths are just better than anywhere else in the world
domaindechantilly
The 2024 Open de France Barnes saw nonstop action at Domaine de Chantilly
The annual Wine and Chile Festival in Santa Fe welcome 13,000 visitors over the weekend
Nothing says fall like a Pumpkin Spice Latte, especially when served in the stunning Riedel Laudon Tumbler
Immerse yourself in paradise
@jademountainstlucia with its cliffside sanctuaries, pools, and panoramic views
hookpolo
Mondays are for organizing… Hanging up the old boots as the season comes to a close
sothebys
One of the rarest diamond necklaces to ever come to auction, this late 18th century weighs approximately 300-carats
The prized Todd Brothers Ranch Zin came in this morning and looks stellar
Playful mornings and sweet dreams —Tryst Hotel rooms set the perfect scene
dashecellars
riedel
Click and comment on our choices... Tag @pololifestyles . We will share noteworthy comments with you next month.
Summoning autumn as we transition from summer and fall wardrobe selects and layers for warm days and chilly nights
jarviscomm
Coming from a middle-class background, the presidential nominee lays out her plan to help more American families
Flying from Los Angeles to Napa has never been easier— thanks to @aero’s new fall route!
Blush and dusty rose shades for a sunset celebration… Made with love and purpose #haircouture
Camel polo takes center stage in the United Arab Emirates for a fun break for the polo ponies
Ralph Lauren showed his SS25 Collection at The Hamptons
The 2024 harvest has begun at Domaine de Taittinger No it's not a disco ball - it's the moon
baccarat
The Louxor decanter glimmers in the light, casting amber reflections that shimmer like water.
nasa
kamalaharris
OPEN DE FRANCE FEMININE
OPEN DE FRANCE FEMININE 2024
OPEN DE FRANCE
IT MAY NOT HAVE BEEN THE MOST BEAUTIFUL MATCH OF THE WEEK, BUT WHEN THE FINAL IS ON THE LINE THE ONLY APPEALING RESULT IS A WIN.
Hublot’s 2024 Gold Cup was a sport of strategy, combat, and patience: and Britain’s Max Charlton proved to be the strongest at this game. All the talent of Raul Laplacette could do nothing about it, despite being named best player of the match.
It was a defensive final which, naturally, concluded with a low score of 6-5. It was unbearable suspense until the end, with each team returning goals blow for
blow. With only two minutes left on the clock, a remarkable individual play by Raul Laplacette leveled the score once again, and with mere seconds to go, Max Charlton took advantage of another 60yard penalty. It was the goal that ultimately determined the match.
“Yes, it was a tough fight played out on penalties,” the Briton admitted. “We won today because we were a little bit luckier than Gstaad Palace since both teams were on equal footing. But I’m particularly pleased to have won here, for Phillipp [Müller, his captain]. It’s amazing!”
The opening match, the final for third place, was clinched by French captain François Okala’s team, donning the distinctive J.Safra Sarasin colors, after an ac-
tion-packed second chukker. Argentinian handicap 6 Horacio Fernandez Llorente led the charge, capturing four goals. The “blues” dominated the match from start to finish, after measuring up the pitch they only discovered a few days prior.
“Actually…not quite,” Tete Fanelli was keen to point out. “This is the third time I’ve played here. I’ve been a finalist twice before but lost on both occasions. I thought this would be my year, so I’m not completely satisfied with third place. That doesn’t stop me from enjoying this tournament enormously—the organization, the environment, the atmosphere. So I’m looking forward to coming back here and leaving with the watch!”
OPEN DE FRANCE MIXTE
OPEN DE FRANCE MIXTE
ARGENTINE SEASON 2024
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KATERINA MORGAN / POLO LIFESTYLES
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KATERINA MORGAN / POLO LIFESTYLES
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KATERINA MORGAN / POLO LIFESTYLES
High-Stakes Succession: Who Will Lead LVMH Next?
Bernard Arnault sizes up his heirs apparent
BERNARD ARNAULT LIKES TO DESCRIBE LOUIS VUITTON MOËT HENNESSY (LVMH) AS UNE AFFAIRE DE FAMILLE. THE WORLD’S RICHEST MAN CALLING THE €400 BILLION ($425 BILLION) LUXURY EMPIRE, OF WHICH HE IS CHIEF EXECUTIVE, CHAIRMAN AND CONTROLLING SHAREHOLDER, “A FAMILY BUSINESS” IS BOTH A HUMBLEBRAG AND TRUE.
All five of his children work for him. And at LVMH’s annual general meeting, after publication, two of his sons (Alexandre and Frédéric) are poised to join Delphine and Antoine, his eldest offspring from his first marriage, on its board. Only 26-year-
old Jean, the youngest, does not have a board seat (yet).
What no one debates is that Mr. Arnault understood, before almost anyone else, luxury’s potential as a generator of profit — that creating beautiful things is about aspiration and belonging.
The question now is who can keep desirability at the heart of LVMH in an age of protests and global economic uncertainty.
Last year, Mr. Arnault tinkered with the corporate structure of his empire, concentrating decision-making with his five children. Each has a 20 percent stake, and they cannot sell their shares for 30 years without unanimous board approval.
His heirs “have been schooled by the best player in the world: All of them know the business,” said Sidney Toledano, head of
the LVMH fashion group and one of Mr. Arnault’s longest-serving executives. “Are they going to be the pilots? Maybe.”
If the next chief executive is not named Arnault, the children say they are OK with that. After all, Alexandre said, “There’s the risk that none of us is able to run the business as well as he has.”
The siblings are beginning to discuss how they can raise their own children with the same sense of duty that was instilled in them, Delphine said. Mr. Arnault has begun taking her elementary-school-age daughter on his weekend rounds of stores.
But Alexandre added: “By the time they reach ages where they can have responsibilities, my father will still probably be C.E.O. of LVMH. He’ll be 110 years old.”
WE ALL KNOW THAT LIFTING WEIGHTS CAN BUILD UP OUR MUSCLES. BUT BY CHANGING THE INNER WORKINGS OF CELLS, WEIGHT TRAINING MAY ALSO SHRINK FAT, ACCORDING TO AN ENLIGHTENING NEW STUDY OF THE MOLECULAR UNDERPINNINGS OF RESISTANCE EXERCISE.
The study, which involved mice and people, found that after weight training,
muscles create and release little bubbles of genetic material that can flow to fat cells, jump-starting processes there related to fat burning.
The results add to mounting scientific evidence that resistance exercise has unique benefits for fat loss. They also underscore how extensive and interconnected the internal effects of exercise can be.
Many of us pigeonhole resistance training as muscle building, and with good reason. Lifting weights — or working against our body weight as we bob through push-ups, squats or chair dips
— will noticeably boost our muscles’ size and strength. But a growing number of studies suggest weight training also reshapes our metabolisms and waistlines. In recent experiments, weight workouts goosed energy expenditure and fat burning for at least 24 hours afterward in young women, overweight men and athletes. People who occasionally lift weights are far less likely to become obese than those who never lifted.
But how weight training revamps body fat remains murky. Part of the effect occurs because muscle is metabolically active and burns calories, so adding
LIFTING WEIGHTS? Have a word with your fat cells
muscle mass by lifting should increase energy expenditure and resting metabolic rates. After six months of heavy lifting, for example, muscles will burn more calories just because they are larger. But that doesn’t fully explain the effect, because adding muscle mass requires time and repetition, while some of the metabolic effects of weight training on fat stores seem to occur immediately after exercise.
Perhaps, then, something happens at a molecular level right after resistance workouts that targets fat cells, a hypothesis that a group of scientists at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and other institutions recently decided to investigate. The researchers had been studying muscle health for years, but had grown increasingly interested in other tissues, especially fat. Maybe, they speculated, muscles and fat chatted together amiably after a workout.
In the past decade, the idea that cells and tissues communicate across the expanse of our bodies has become widely accepted, though the complexity of the interactions remains boggling. Sophisticated experiments show that muscles, for instance, release a cascade of hormones and other proteins after exercise that enter the bloodstream, course along to various organs and trigger biochemical reactions there, in a process known as cellular crosstalk.
Our tissues also may pump out tiny bubbles, known as vesicles, during crosstalk. Once considered microscopic trash bags, stuffed with cellular debris, vesicles now are known to contain active, healthy genetic material and other substances. Released into the bloodstream, they relay this biological matter from one tissue to another, like minuscule messages in bottles.
Intriguingly, some experiments indicate that aerobic exercise prompts muscles to release such vesicles, conveying a variety of messages. But few studies had looked into whether resistance exercise might also result in vesicle formation and inter-tissue chatter.
So, for the new study, which was published in May in The FASEB Journal, from the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, the researchers decided to examine the cells of bodybuilding mice. They first experimentally incapacitated several of the leg muscles in healthy adult mice, leaving a single muscle to carry all the physical demands of movement. That muscle swiftly hypertrophied, or bulked up, providing an accelerated version of resistance training. Before and after that process, the researchers drew blood, biopsied tissues, centrifuged fluids and microscopically searched for vesicles and other molecular changes in the tissues.
They noted plenty. Before their improvised weight training, the rodents’ leg muscles had teemed with a particular snippet of genetic material, known as miR-1, that modulates muscle growth. In normal, untrained muscles, miR-1, one of a group of tiny strands of genetic material known as microRNA, keeps a brake on muscle building.
After the rodents’ resistance exercise, which consisted of walking around, though, the animals’ leg muscles appeared depleted of miR-1. At the same time, the vesicles in their bloodstream now thronged with the stuff, as did nearby fat tissue. It seems, the scientists concluded, that the animals’ muscle cells somehow packed those bits of microRNA that retard hypertrophy into vesicles and posted them to neighboring fat cells, which then allowed the muscles immediately to grow.
But what was the miR-1 doing to the fat once it arrived, the scientist wondered? To find out, they marked vesicles from weight-trained mice with a fluorescent dye, injected them into untrained animals, and tracked the glowing bubbles’ paths. The vesicles homed in on fat, the scientists saw, then dissolved and deposited their miR-1 cargo there.
Soon after, some of the genes in the fat cells went into overdrive. These genes help direct the breakdown of fat into fatty acids, which other cells then can use as fuel, reducing fat stores. In effect, weight training was shrinking fat in mice by creating vesicles in muscles that, through genetic signals, told the fat it was time to break itself apart.
“The process was just remarkable,” said John J. McCarthy, a professor of physiology at the University of Kentucky, who was an author of the study with his then graduate student Ivan J. Vechetti Jr. and other colleagues.
Mice are not people, though. So, as a final facet of the study, the scientists gathered blood and tissue from healthy men and women who had performed a single, fatiguing lower-body weight workout and confirmed that, as in mice, miR-1 levels in the volunteers’ muscles dropped after their lifting, while the quantity of miR-1-containing vesicles in their bloodstreams soared.
Of course, the study mostly involved mice and was not designed to tell us how often or intensely we should lift to maximize vesicle output and fat burn. But, even so, the results serve as a bracing reminder that “muscle mass is vitally important for metabolic health,” Dr. McCarthy said, and that we start building that mass and getting our tissues talking every time we hoist a weight.
The Dawn of the Silicon Valley SUPER BABY
IN THE HEART OF SILICON VALLEY, WHERE INNOVATION DRIVES THE FUTURE AND AMBITION KNOWS NO BOUNDS, A NEW FRONTIER IS EMERGING: THE QUEST FOR THE SILICON VALLEY SUPERBABY.
Fueled by advancements in fertility technology, genetic screening, and the visionary aspirations of tech moguls, this movement promises to reshape the very fabric of human reproduction. Yet, it also raises profound ethical questions and societal implications that cannot be ignored.
THE RISE OF FERTILITY TECHNOLOGY
Silicon Valley has long been synonymous with cutting-edge technology and disruptive innovation. Now, this ethos is extending to the realm of human reproduction. Fertility technology, particularly in vitro fertilization (IVF), is becoming increasingly popular among the tech elite. What was once a solution primarily for couples struggling with infertility is now being embraced by those seeking to maximize their reproductive potential.
IVF allows for the fertilization of eggs outside the body, providing a controlled environment where multiple embryos
can be created and screened for genetic abnormalities. This screening process, known as preimplantation genetic testing (PGT), enables parents to select embryos with the best chances of leading to a healthy pregnancy. For many in Silicon Valley, this is just the beginning.
THE PROMISE OF GENETIC SCREENING AND ENGINEERING
Genetic screening has rapidly evolved, offering insights into an embryo’s genetic makeup once unimaginable. Prospective parents can screen for a wide range of hereditary diseases, reducing the risk of passing genetic disorders. However, the potential applications of this technology extend far beyond disease prevention.
The concept of ‘designer babies’ — children genetically engineered to possess specific traits — is no longer confined to science fiction. While the technology to precisely edit human genes is still in its infancy, the implications are profound. Traits such as intelligence, physical appearance, and even predisposition to certain talents could theoretically be selected, ushering in an era where human potential is sculpted by technology.
ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS AND SOCIETAL IMPLICATIONS
The rise of fertility technology and genetic engineering is not without its ethical dilemmas. Critics argue that the ability to select for desirable traits edges dangerously close to eugenics, the discredited movement aimed at improving the genetic quality of the human population. The prospect of creating ‘superbabies’ raises concerns about a new form of inequality, where only the wealthy can afford to enhance their offspring.
Furthermore, the long-term societal impacts are uncertain. Will genetically enhanced individuals have unfair advantages in education, career, and social standing? Could this lead to a new class divide, exacerbating existing inequalities? These questions underscore the need for careful consideration and regulation as these technologies advance.
SILICON VALLEY’S ROLE IN SHAPING THE FUTURE
Prominent figures in the tech industry are not just passive observers but active participants in this reproductive revolution. Venture capitalists and tech entrepreneurs are investing heavily in startups focused on fertility and genetic technologies. For example, Jack Abraham, a notable venture capitalist, has publicly shared his involvement and personal experiences with these technologies, highlighting their growing acceptance among the tech elite.
SUPER BABY
These leaders see the potential not just to improve individual outcomes but to drive humanity forward. Their investments and advocacy are propelling research and development, accelerating the pace at which these technologies are becoming accessible and sophisticated.
LOOKING AHEAD: THE FUTURE OF HUMAN REPRODUCTION
As we stand on the brink of this new era, the future of human reproduction promises to be as complex as it is exciting. The integration of technology into the most fundamental aspects of life challenges us to rethink our values and societal structures. Legal frameworks will need to evolve to address the ethical and practical implications of genetic engineering and enhanced reproduction.
In conclusion, the dawn of the Silicon Valley Superbaby represents both a remarkable technological achievement and a profound ethical challenge. As fertility and genetic technologies continue to advance, they hold the potential to transform human reproduction in ways that are both promising and perilous. It is incumbent upon us to navigate this landscape with caution, ensuring that the benefits of these innovations are balanced with a deep respect for the intrinsic value of human life and equality.
The future is being written in the labs and boardrooms of Silicon Valley, where the next generation may be born not just of biology but of technology.
ARE " COOLCATIONS " THE FUTURE OF TRAVEL?
The Quest for Glacial Temps
BY JULIA ESKINS / SPECIAL TO POLO LIFESTYLES
IT’S THE END OF AUGUST AND I’M HIKING IN GSTAAD, SWITZERLAND, LISTENING TO THE CHIMES OF COWBELLS FAINTLY ECHO IN THE COOL MOUNTAIN AIR.
While I’d typically be on a beach in the Mediterranean this time of year, 2024’s record-breaking heat waves have marked a turning point for the planet—and summer vacations. July saw not one, but three of the hottest days ever observed worldwide. These sweltering temperatures across Southern Europe and beyond, have brought upon the rise of “coolcations”—the trend of traveling to destinations that offer a reprieve from stifling weather.
“While weather has always been a factor for travel—winter storms during the holidays, hurricanes in the summer—the heat wave across Europe last summer followed by the wildfires in Greece and Maui had a profound effect,” says Misty Belles, vice president of global public relations at travel agency network Virtuoso.
While Italy and Greece are perennial favorites, more travelers are shifting the timing of their Southern European vacations—or abandoning them altogether. This year, Virtuoso saw a significant increase of 44% in travel to cooler destinations like Canada, Finland, and Iceland in June, July, and August, while warmer destinations only saw a slight 0.5% decrease, says Belles.
In the Swiss Alpine region of Gstaad, long a magnet for the international jet-set, the population swells from 8,000 to 20,000 every ski season. Over the past three years, however, summer has become an equally popular time to visit. I quickly discovered why: cool mornings, followed by highs in the mid-70s and crisp evenings created the perfect conditions for hiking to alpine dairy farms, sparkling lakes, and viewpoints overlooking verdant slopes dotted with wooden chalets.
Late summer also offers travelers a deeper look into the well-preserved culture of the Bernese Oberland region. Stick around for the end of August and you’ll
likely catch the annual Gstaad Züglete tradition, when farmers lead their cows (adorned with flowers and artisan-crafted bells) down from the mountains and into the five valleys. And with multiple glaciers including Glacier 3000, home to the world’s first suspension bridge connecting two mountain peaks, cooling down is just a matter of going up.
But with glaciers shrinking at an alarming rate, there’s also more of a need for travelers to make responsible choices—whether that be embracing train travel or opting to stay at eco-minded hotels. At The Alpina Gstaad, a 56-room luxury boutique hotel perched on a hill overlooking the Gstaad village, sustainability has been artfully woven into the sleek mountain retreat—the first in Switzerland to be awarded a Gold certification by sustainability benchmarking group EarthCheck. Alongside its interiors clad with reclaimed barn wood and local stone, you’ll find a lavish Six Senses Spa and plastic-free amenities including cozy felt slippers that guests are encouraged to take home.
Taking a coolcation need not mean forgoing the beach completely, however. Scandinavian destinations near water, such as Skåne in southern Sweden— which boasts nearly 250 miles of coastline, long sunny days, and abundant swimming opportunities—have also reported an increase in overnight stays. Meanwhile, the Danish Riviera is having a moment, with towns like Tisvilde boasting reinvigorated seaside hotels and restaurants.
On Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada, with an average summer temperature of 70 degrees, a coolcation comes with opportunities to responsibly interact with the wild splendor of the Pacific Ocean, mountains, and old-growth rainforests. Travelers can book a carbon-neutral orca whale-watching experience in Victoria with the Prince of Whales or embark on a glamping experience at Clayoquot Wilderness Lodge near Tofino, which boasts 25 tent-
ed suites, a restaurant, and a spa almost entirely powered by solar energy—no air conditioning necessary.
In a world of now-sweltering destinations, it’s likely coolcations will become even more popular in 2025 and beyond. And hopefully, with more travelers realizing the importance of protecting the world’s icy corners, there’s also the opportunity to preserve what we have left.
HOW A GENERIC DRUG BECAME A DARLING OF LONGEVITY ENTHUSIASTS
RAPAMYCIN, A DRUG FOR TRANSPLANT PATIENTS, HAS EXTENDED THE LIVES OF ANIMALS BUT IS UNPROVEN IN PEOPLE
To keep himself healthy into his eighth decade, David Sandler recently decided to go beyond his regular workouts and try something experimental: taking rapamycin, an unproven but increasingly popular drug to promote longevity.
The medication has gained a large following thanks to longevity researchers
and celebrity doctors who, citing animal studies, contend that rapamycin could be a game changer in the quest to fend off age-related diseases. The drug is going mainstream as an anti-aging treatment, even though rapamycin’s regulatory approval is for treating transplant patients. There is no evidence that it can extend human life.
Sandler initially dismissed the idea of rapamycin as a longevity drug, but as he read up online, he decided there might be something to it and ordered a year’s supply for about $200 from a supplier in India.
“If I was younger, I would hold off,” said Sandler, a 77-year-old retired accountant who lives in Bergen County, N.J. “But at this age, I’m making myself part of the experiment,” he said.
Researchers have found that rapamycin can modify a kind of cellular communications system that gives cells certain directions — to grow when the body has plenty of food and to slow down when nutrients are scarce. The drug can dial down the signal to grow, causing cells to clear out accumulated junk and allowing them to run more efficiently.
BY ROSA RAHIMI / SPECIAL TO POLO LIFESTYLES
Despite the buzz surrounding the drug, it is unlikely that the Food and Drug Administration will ever approve it for longevity. The agency doesn’t consider aging to be a disease, and rapamycin’s generic status means there’s little financial incentive to run expensive clinical trials to test it on age-related afflictions. So doctors and entrepreneurs are increasingly marketing rapamycin beyond the scope of its regulatory label, believing a potentially life-extending drug is effectively hiding in plain sight.
More than two dozen medical practices prescribe rapamycin as an anti-aging treatment, according to a Washington Post review, and telehealth companies are bringing it to thousands of patients nationally. Prices vary widely, but some online purveyors offer a typical dose for about $10 a week or less. Alan Green, a physician in Little Neck, N.Y., says he has personally treated nearly 1,500 patients with rapamycin since 2017 and has called it “the most important drug in the history of medicine.”
Rapamycin’s promise as a longevity drug, however, remains divisive among scientists and longevity influencers.
The enthusiasm for the drug’s anti-aging properties comes from studies that repeatedly have shown benefits in animals across multiple species, including yeast, worms and mice. Some physicians and researchers believe that if taken intermittently and in low doses, rapamycin can increase human life span the way it has in animal trials. But doctors also caution that no one knows what the optimal dose might be for humans, and taking certain quantities of rapamycin can lead to reproductive harm and insulin resistance as well as making the body more susceptible to infection.
“Mice may be a little different from humans when it comes to drug tolerance, diseases and reactions,” said Elena Volpi, a professor and longevity expert at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
“It is a drug that I think can be taken safely under certain conditions but has enough of a side effect profile that I’m not interested in taking it for sake of increasing life span at this time,” Andrew Huberman, a neuroscientist with a large social media following, said on a podcast in October.
Brad Rosen, a doctor in Los Angeles, says he believes rapamycin’s potential is compelling enough for him to try.
“At 60, I don’t have the luxury of expecting studies to be completed that can validate the benefits of a longevity drug prior to my own steeper decline,” said Rosen, who also has prescribed the drug to about 250 patients. The promising animal studies, combined with rapamycin’s long history as an immune-suppressing drug, he said, makes it “one of few agents where taking a calculated risk can absolutely make sense.”
A DRUG FROM THE ENDS OF THE EARTH
Rapamycin’s growing popularity mirrors the rise of longevity medicine. Altos Labs, which raised $3 billion, is aiming to reverse diseases of aging by rejuvenating cells — inspired by research that won the 2012 Nobel Prize. The Saudibased Hevolution Foundation is pledging to spend up to $1 billion a year to accelerate research on aging. Longevity medicine practitioners like Peter Attia have amassed large followings on social
media — and kindled excitement about rapamycin.
Rapamycin was collected by a scientific expedition in the 1960s from the soil of Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui, one of the most remote inhabited places on earth. The FDA approved it in 1999 to help transplant patients tolerate their new organs. But scientists kept exploring how the drug worked and ultimately set the field of longevity medicine abuzz.
“It was uncanny,” Attia writes in his best-selling book, “Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity.” “This exotic molecule, found only on an isolated scrap of land in the middle of the ocean, acts almost like a switch that inhibits a very specific cellular mechanism that exists in nearly everything that lives.” He added that “this fact still blows my mind every time I think about it.”
A bombshell study in 2009 found that rapamycin extended the lives of elderly mice by as much as 14 percent, the first time a drug had been shown to help a mammal live longer. Then in 2014, researchers had a revelation: Older adults who took a rapamycin-like drug had a more robust response to the flu vaccine, upending the widely held notion that rapamycin weakened the immune system.
A decade later, a low, intermittent dose used in the 2014 study — 5 milligrams a week — has remained popular for people taking rapamycin for longevity.
In a recent survey of 333 people who used rapamycin off-label, researchers found that they generally reported better quality of life since starting the drug. Compared with a cohort that didn’t take the drug, the only side effect among rapamycin users that was statistically different was mouth sores.
“I would say that rapamycin is the current best-in-class for a longevity drug that we have,” said Matt Kaeberlein, a professor the University of Washington who has researched rapamycin for two decades and is studying its anti-aging effects in dogs. He credited rapamycin’s anti-inflammatory properties with healing his persistent shoulder pain.
TAKING RAPAMYCIN MAINSTREAM
Joan Mannick is aware of what she calls “a gold rush” in longevity medicine. As the researcher who led the 2014 study, she doesn’t exactly embrace how her work has become the basis for rapamycin dosing in people.
“I don’t know yet what’s the right dose, what’s the right duration, what are the risks, what are the benefits,” said Mannick. Now chief executive of Tornado Therapeutics, she is aiming to develop a rapamycin-like compound that could be even more effective — and patentable. “I think we’ll be able to get there, but we aren’t there yet.”
Others are not inclined to wait. “Get Rapamycin online,” AgelessRx, a longevity-focused telehealth firm, advertises on Google.
Healthspan, a telehealth service whose main offering is rapamycin, markets it predominantly for longevity but also cosmetic use, touting “the only skin cream scientifically proven to reverse skin aging at the molecular level.” On Tuesday, the company announced a new rapamycin product to stimulate hair growth.
Daniel Tawfik launched Healthspan — a term that refers to the portion of life when people are healthy — in 2022 after trying to help his wife battle cancer and observing a “chasm between what’s happening in the research community and the clinical world.”
Tawfik said more than 2,000 patients have subscribed to its rapamycin service, which includes the drug and regular testing (Healthspan doesn’t prescribe the drug to between 15 and 20 percent of prospective patients, he said).
For longevity dosing, Healthspan relies on studies led by Mannick as well as research on dogs. For its skin cream, Tawfik cited a small study by Drexel University researchers and a rapamycin-like gel approved by the FDA in 2022 to treat benign facial tumors. For the hair treatment, the company highlighted a 2019 study on mice.
“The potential is enormous for patients to be able to extend their health span and quality of life as they age,” Tawfik said, adding that his firm’s experience “shows that rapamycin can be prescribed safely” with few side effects.
Attia, who has a medical practice focused on helping people live longer and healthier, dedicates a chapter of his 2023 book to rapamycin and has said he takes the drug himself. With more than 600,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel, Attia has become one of the most influential voices in longevity medicine, and many doctors say patients learn about rapamycin from him.
Bryan Johnson, who founded and sold mobile-payments firm Braintree, has also emerged as a high-profile user of rapamycin in his current project: developing a protocol to reverse the aging process.
After his team surveyed scientific literature on what can improve longevity and ranked various strategies, Johnson said rapamycin — in combination with diabetes drug metformin — “is the 10th best-performing of all time.” Johnson — whose videos of his extensive regimen have been viewed millions of times — sees his exploration of longevity on a grand historical scale, like Magellan circumnavigating the globe. He’s actively adjusting his dose of rapamycin.
“I don’t think we have any conclusive observations yet,” he said.
Eric Verdin, chief executive of the Buck Institute on Aging, says there’s a strong case to be made for rapamycin as an anti-aging drug but hastens to add: “We should not as a field recommend use on people.” He and many other doctors say rapamycin is no substitute for exercise and a healthy diet.
“People going on it, using it as a substitute for a healthy lifestyle, it’s a bridge too far for me,” Verdin said. Then he offered a disclosure: He takes rapamycin.
“I’m doing everything I can to try to maximize my longevity,” said Verdin, who is 66. Of rapamycin, he said, “I haven’t felt any difference one way or the other.”
IT'S NOT YOU; IT'S THEM WHY SOME PEOPLE TAKE SO LONG TO REPLY TO TEXTS
Waiting for people to reply can be frustrating
THE DEFINING FEATURE OF CONVERSATION IS THE EXPECTATION OF A RESPONSE. IT WOULD JUST BE A MONOLOGUE WITHOUT ONE. IN PERSON, OR ON THE PHONE, THOSE RESPONSES COME ASTOUNDINGLY QUICKLY: AFTER ONE PERSON HAS SPOKEN, THE OTHER REPLIES IN AN AVERAGE OF JUST 200 MILLISECONDS.
In recent decades, written communication has caught up—or at least come as close as it’s likely to get to mimicking the speed of regular conversation (until they implant thought-to-text microchips in our brains). It takes more than 200 milliseconds to compose a text, but it’s not called “instant” messaging for nothing: There is an understanding that any message you send can be replied to more or less immediately.
Sometimes, I think we were all better off before we were quite so connected.
Sure, the Internet is revolutionary and it’s lovely having all of the information the world can give right at my fingertips – but I also know when somebody has seen my message, and how many hours they’ve spent online since I sent it. Which isn’t ideal.
This kind of expectancy that many of us are guilty of putting on our loved ones is only natural, though, when the information is right there for the taking. Last online, time they received the message, time they read the message, the Instagram stories they’ve posted since...
The list goes on.
However, according to one psychologist, the last thing you should do when somebody isn’t replying to your texts quickly is take it personally.
Why do some people take so long to reply to texts
Of course, we know realistically that people are just sometimes very busy and don’t have time to be yapping with us but, practicalities aside, there is some psychology that could be behind us being left on read.
Psychologist Dr. Christian Jarrett said, “You might fear that you’re being ignored, but another possibility is that the other person is struggling to find the right way to answer.
“People with perfectionist tendencies, in particular, can find it difficult to respond – they want their reply to be just right, to be sufficiently witty, polite, supportive or entertaining (depending on the context). Far from not liking you, it could be that it’s the pressure they’re putting on themselves to respond in the right way that leads them to delay.”
Jarrett also pointed out that sometimes, people compose a text in their minds and think that they’ve sent it when they haven’t, which I definitely know I’m guilty of.
BY SARAH-LOUISE KELLY / SPECIAL TO POLO LIFESTYLES
DELAYING DEMENTIA
DEMENTIA AFFECTS NEARLY ONE IN 10 ADULTS OVER AGE 65. WHILE THE CAUSES OF DIFFERENT DEMENTIAS VARY, A 2024 REPORT FROM A LANCET COMMISSION IDENTIFIED SEVERAL MODIFIABLE RISK FACTORS THAT TOGETHER ACCOUNT FOR AROUND 40% OF DEMENTIA WORLDWIDE. IT’S THE FIRST UPDATE ON THE ISSUE SINCE THE 2020 LANCET COMMISSION ON THE SAME TOPIC.
This means that many dementia cases might be prevented or delayed by living a healthy lifestyle, said Judith Heidebrink,
M.D., a neurologist at University of Michigan Health and co-leader of the Michigan Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center’s Clinical Core.
With the Lancet report as an anchor, here are some tips for how you can reduce your risk for dementia and maintain a healthy brain throughout your life. Keep reading for comments from Heidebrink, fellow neurologist and center director Henry Paulson, M.D., and two U-M experts whose research is cited in the new report: ophthalmologist Joshua Ehrlich, M.D., M.P.H., and general internist Ken Langa, M.D., Ph.D.
1. KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE
Heidebrink: Aim for a systolic blood pressure of 130 mm Hg or lower in mid-
life (from around age 40). Research has shown that better control of blood pressure during midlife not only reduces the risk of cognitive impairment and dementia but also of heart attack and stroke.
2. PROTECT YOUR HEARING
Paulson: Be sure to wear ear protection when you’re around excessive noise exposure to reduce your risk of hearing loss. Also, use hearing aids when needed.
Langa: It’s exciting to see that the new Lancet Commission report cites work by a U-M team, led by Elham Mahmoudi, Ph.D., that found that older adults who get a hearing aid for newly diagnosed hearing loss have a lower risk of dementia in the following three years.
3. SUPPORT EFFORTS TO REDUCE AIR POLLUTION
Heidebrink: There is growing evidence linking air pollution, such as the gases and small particles emitted by cars and factories, to cognitive decline and dementia. Encouragingly, sustained improvements in air quality appear to reduce the risk of dementia.
4. PREVENT HEAD INJURY
Paulson: Physical damage to the brain, including traumatic brain injury, can disrupt normal brain function. Be sure to wear proper protective equipment when playing contact sports or riding a bike, wear a seat belt in cars and see a physician right away if you have concerns about a concussion or TBI.
5. LIMIT ALCOHOL USE AND AVOID SMOKING
Heidebrink: It has long been known that alcohol misuse is associated with damage to the brain and an increased risk of dementia. Limiting alcohol consumption to 1 drink per day appears safest. Smoking tobacco also increases the risk of dementia. Stopping smoking, even later in life, can help reduce the risk.
6. STAY COGNITIVELY ENGAGED
Paulson: People with more years of formal education are at lower risk of dementia than those with fewer years of formal education. This is because keeping your brain cognitively engaged, helps maintain your brain health. Staying cognitively engaged can mean taking a class at a local college or online, or challenging your mind with puzzles, games or a new hobby. Socializing with others also engages your brain, so keeping up with friends and family is helpful.
7. FOLLOW A HEART HEALTHY DIET AND MAINTAIN REGULAR EXERCISE THROUGHOUT LIFE
Paulson: A good rule of thumb is, “If it’s good for your heart, it’s also good for your brain.” Eating a well-rounded diet full of fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats (such as the Mediterranean diet) can help maintain a healthy weight and mitigate the risk of obesity, high blood pressure,
high cholesterol and diabetes, which are known to contribute to dementia in later life.
Note: The new Lancet Commission report specifically adds LDL cholesterol levels as a key risk factor for dementia, based on recent evidence.
Maintaining a regular exercise routine — 150 minutes of moderate to intense physical activity throughout your week — helps to maintain good cardiovascular health to ward off dementia.
People often forget how important simple aerobic exercise is for the brain. A brisk walk, or a stint on a stationary bike, three times a week helps your brain work better. And it’s good for your body, too.
8. MAINTAIN HEALTHY SLEEP PATTERNS
Heidebrink: Sleep benefits the mind in many ways. It gives the brain a chance to lock in memories and enhances the ability to learn new skills. Current research suggests that sleep disturbances like sleep apnea may be linked to a greater risk of developing dementia. Getting enough quality sleep could help reduce your risk.
SEE ALSO: Is everything you know about Alzheimer’s wrong? (uofmhealth.org)
9. STAY SOCIALLY ENGAGED
Paulson: Studies suggest that remaining socially active throughout life may support brain health and possibly reduce the risk of dementia. Schedule regular social outings to stay socially connected with friends and family, or choose a social activity that is meaningful to you, such as volunteering or participating in community groups.
10. TAKE CARE OF YOUR MENTAL HEALTH
Heidebrink: Some studies have linked a history of depression to dementia in later life. Maintaining social activities and hobbies can help ward off depression, and physical activity can help reduce stress. If you experience signs of depression, anxiety, or another mental health concern, be sure to discuss these with your health care provider.
11. GET YOUR VISION CHECKED AND CORRECTED IF NEEDED
Ehrlich: Growing research, including some here at Michigan, has shown the important influence of vision loss on late-life cognitive health and dementia. The inclusion of vision loss in the Lancet Commission’s model is likely to bring greater attention to this important and highly modifiable dementia risk factor.
In our team’s research, dementia risk was higher even when someone had poor vision while wearing their current glasses or contact lenses. So not only is it important to get your vision checked regularly and invest in glasses or contacts if you need them, it’s also important to get new lenses if your prescription changes. And if your eye exam suggests a need for surgery, such as for cataracts, or other follow-up, be sure to make an appointment to get the care that you need.
THE BOTTOM LINE
“As the new Lancet Commission report states, it’s very optimistic news that the risk of dementia can be significantly reduced when individuals focus on a living a healthy lifestyle,” Langa said.
“All the preventive lifestyle interventions identified in the new report are attractive because they are low-cost, don’t have negative side-effects and have wide-ranging positive effects on healthy quality of life.”
He adds, “That makes them quite different than new medications for Alzheimer’s disease which are quite costly and come with rare but dangerous side effects.”
It’s important to note that many dementia risk factors disproportionately affect minority ethnic groups.
“In addition to taking steps as individuals to decrease our own dementia risk, we should take steps as a society to ensure that everyone has equitable access to an environment and resources that promote brain health,” Heidebrink said..
TRICK YOUR BRAIN TO TRULY ENJOY EXERCISE
TRUTH: THEY WOKE UP LIKE THIS. SOME PEOPLE REALLY ARE MORE INCLINED TO FIND JOY IN EXERCISE. BUT! YOU CAN REWIRE YOUR BRAIN TO JOIN THAT ‘LOVE IT’ GROUP, RESEARCH SHOWS.
When experts measured the electrical connectivity in the brains of people who are recreationally active, they found that those who perceive themselves as being highly tolerant of physical effort had greater levels of ‘remembered pleasure’ afterward, according to the new study by Florida International University. Meanwhile, those who said they were not as tolerant had a certain amount of ‘anticipatory dread,’ or negative feelings, before the work even started.
The good news is that you can teach yourself to be more accepting, physically and mentally, of movement, which will help you feel excited about exercise in general and crave it more often. By trying some (or all!) of these tactics, you’ll likely notice benefits immediately, says study lead Marcelo Bigliassi, PhD. To extend the effect, keep efforts ongoing, so subtle changes compound over time. Onward!
Meet the experts: Marcelo Bigliassi, PhD, is an assistant professor of neuroscience and psychophysiology at Florida International University. Diogo Teixeira, PhD, is a professor on the physical education and sport faculty at Lusófona University in Lisbon, Portugal.
1. ADD APPEAL TO THE FLAVOUR OF EXERCISE YOU ALREADY LIKE.
Let’s say you don’t mind weight lifting but definitely don’t have the can’t-wait feels leading up to a workout. You can create artificial motivation and enjoyment by listening to music or a podcast while you sweat, using virtual reality, or even just engaging in positive self-talk, Bigliassi says. Or perhaps lifting with a group or a friend is the missing ingredient for you.
‘You’re creating outside signals that can help you push a little bit harder and a little bit faster.’ The goal is to foster positive experiences with your sweat sessions. Gradually, the emotion will become second nature without these external cues.
Not sure where to start with finding your best-match activity? Think back to your recent past, and even to your childhood, says Bigliassi. ‘There are usually clues.’
For example, if you used to love swimming at your neighborhood pool, maybe
that could translate to swimming laps at your local gym. Or perhaps you were a dancer at one point in your life. Taking a virtual or IRL dance fitness class could spark passion.
2. CHALLENGE YOURSELF *JUST* ENOUGH.
No matter what you’re doing, the activity needs to be tough enough that you’ll have a feeling of accomplishment that makes you want to repeat it. But it should also be within your capabilities, in order to protect your sense of self-efficacy (that is, your belief in your abilities), says Bigliassi. When people experience an exercise intensity that’s not aligned with their preference or tolerance, they exercise less in the future, research shows.
Take this thinking a step further: By choosing, say, a running pace you consider pleasurable (read: not all-out), you
may find running more enjoyable—and more easily repeatable in the future. This ‘autonomy promotion’ also applies to resistance training, says researcher Diogo Teixeira, PhD. So if resting longer between sets makes you feel better, do it. (It’ll create those positive associations in your brain.) ‘More is not always better, and a pleasurable activity will be more easily sustained over time,’ Teixeira says.
Monitoring with a tracker can also allow you to see the work you’re putting in, which improves mindset around fitness and, therefore, happiness pertaining to exercise, found a study in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.
3.
SEND YOUR MIND A MOTIVATIONAL SIGN.
Humans are wired to save as much energy and store as much fat as possible. So, sometimes—and especially when ex-
ercise gets intense—you need to remind yourself why you’re going through this perceived insanity. ‘It’s difficult for some parts of our brain to make sense of exercise,’ Bigliassi says.
For example, recalling that cardio is important for both heart health and cognitive function can act as a motivational signal. That helps you feel more positive in the moment and be more consistent with exercise down the road; you now associate the activity with purpose and appealing health outcomes. Surprisingly, negative thoughts can also act as positive signals (e.g., envisioning your energy and mood tanking from not moving that day can be incredibly powerful). Consider this your sign to go for a walk or gear up for a workout right about…now.
FASHION & STYLE
AN ICONIC EVENING IN THE HAMPTONS FOR RALPH LAUREN'S AMERICANA
RALPH LAUREN
“I’M THE YEAR OF THE HORSE,” SAID 1978BABY USHER, ONE OF THE FIRST PEOPLE I MET AT RALPH LAUREN’S LATEST ELABORATELY PRODUCED, CELEBRITY-FILLED RUNWAY SHOW ON A THURSDAY NIGHT IN SEPTEMBER IN THE HAMPTONS.
We’re talking horses on the grounds of Khalily Stables, a 19-acre “equestrian sanctuary” in Bridgehampton, the kind of ultrarich vacation destination where you imagine Ralph Lauren models spend their summers. (It’s currently on sale for $15,250,000.) For one night, these pristine stables were transformed into an interactive Ralph-land, with trotting equestrians, antique sports cars, and a temporary Polo Bar — re-created with painstaking detail, down to the horse paintings crowding every surface of the walls and the plush leather booth seats.
This is what we’ve come to expect from
a Ralph Lauren fashion show: a notable destination where the brand puts on its show and rewards its guests with a Polo Bar–style dinner; dozens of A-list movie stars who rarely go to fashion shows who have been helicoptered in; several supermodel special guests; and a runway collection that remixes the brand’s classic take on all-American sportswear without ever varying the core formula. The models are traditionally beautiful and happy, oozing success and ease. By the end of the evening, the idea of wearing all the colors of a sailing flag at the same time seems not only natural but necessary.
Thursday night in Bridgehampton was no exception. The first thing I saw when I arrived, before a staff member helpfully pointed to me a high-end porta-potty (did I mention the drive from the city took four hours?), was a pristine whitepicket-fence-lined field. Half a dozen equestrians were putting on their own little show for us, warming up their horses and trotting around. They kept it going throughout the cocktail hour, held outside between the estate’s main barns.
Nearby Jude Law and Justin Theroux greeted each other with a hug while Tom Hiddleston asked First Lady Jill Biden, “Do you ride?” (She responded she does not.) NBA player Kevin Love strolled by with his wife, Kate, looking for the bar. Kacey Musgraves got a last-minute spritz of hair spray from her stylist before following Naomi Watts onto the “red carpet,” which was really just a photo line in front of one of the walls of the barns. Lauren’s extensive family milled about, including his son David, who stood out in a pair of garish lime-green trousers. “Of all the shows to go to,” actress Phoebe Tonkin tells me during the pre-show cocktail hour, “this is the one to be at.”
She’s not wrong. Ralph Lauren is one of the few shows left on the calendar that give the international press a reason — and sometimes budget — to attend New York Fashion Week, at least for a few days. And these lavish fashion shows have helped reinvigorate Ralph Lauren’s business in recent years, just as the TikTok set discovered the allure of Polo
Bar (impossible reservations and juicy hamburgers).
And what about the clothes? The runway featured Hamptons-ready options for the whole family: men, women, preteens, and some of the cutest child models you’ve ever seen. The spring 2025 collection leaned summery and covered everything from flow-y long linen separates to pin-striped suits, American-flag sweaters worn with crochet micro-shorts, wedged heels and chunky silver concho belts, blue paisley summer dresses, and monogrammed robes (one, naturally, with a matching pair of monogrammed smoking shoes). Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington closed the show, walking down the runway holding hands — Campbell in a white satin bomber and ankle-length skirt and Turlington in
ripped jeans and a cropped white tuxedo jacket.
After Ralph came out for his bow (wearing an Olympics-style USA jacket in red, white, and blue) with his wife, Ricky, we all dutifully followed him into another tent structure, where the one-night-only Hamptons Polo Bar was waiting. “I loved the explosion of color at the end,” said Theroux to a friend asking about the collection as Hiddleston and Colman Domingo got stopped by some cameramen for a quick interview. Later I caught up with Lucky Blue Smith, who had just walked the runway, and his TikTokfamous wife, Nara, as they kicked off a busy fashion month. They have been married for almost five years, but this was the first time she had ever seen him walk the runway in person. Would we see the
whole Smith family walking down the runway together soon? “It’s going to happen one day,” Nara said. “But it has to be a special moment.” For now, though, their schedules are busy enough. Nara is hosting a pop-up with Hourglass Cosmetics this week, then the couple will be “all over Europe for the next little bit.”
Behind us, the First Lady was settling in for dinner in the seat of honor next to Ralph, surrounded by framed photos of horses and saddles and equestrians of yore, and I’m left wondering how they will top this all again next year or next season. Personally, I think the answer is obvious. My vote is for a fashion show at his famous Double RL Ranch in Colorado. I promise no one will complain about the travel.
RALPH LAUREN
KHAITE
KHAITE
KHAITE
RALPH LAUREN
MICHAEL KORS
LONDON FASHION WEEK
The world premiere of new super sports car at Monterey Car Week 2024
This year in London marked both a cause for celebration and a time to reflect and renew: the 40th anniversary of London Fashion Week arrived during a difficult financial landscape for established and emerging brands alike.
The British fashion capital delivered on both fronts. Perhaps what was most exciting is that many of the week’s best
collections came from independent designers who launched their own brands within the last two decades, and often –as in the case of Nensi Dojaka and S.S. Daley – much more recently.
The city’s international, multicultural side was on display as well, while hometown classic Burberry continued to find its footing in the Daniel Lee era as he played
with the proportions and structures of classic outerwear.
But JW Anderson takes home the top spot with a collection that found new levels of ingenuity within the designer’s penchant for a surreal rewriting of fashion vocabulary.
FASHION WEEK WITH POLO LIFESTYLES
BALMAIN
BOTTEGA VENETA
BOTTEGA VENETA
CRISTIAN SIRIANO
MILAND&G FASHION WEEK
DIOR
FENDI
FERRAGAMO
GERMANIER
GUCCI
ETRO
HERMES
LOEWE
MERUERT TOLEGEN
TOM FORD
MUGLER
MCQUEEN
RABANNE
TOD'S
VALENTINO
VALENTINO
VERSACE
SAINT LAURENT
CURATED BY CHRISTINA
YOUR BEST FALL WARDROBE EVER
AH, FALL—MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE TIME OF YEAR IN NEW YORK CITY. THE STREETS ARE BUZZING WITH PEOPLE FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD, CONVERGING ON THIS TINY ISLAND, AND YOU CAN FEEL THE EXCITEMENT AND ENERGY PULSING THROUGH EVERY CORNER, RIGHT INTO YOUR VEINS.
These streets have taught me so much about dressing—they soothe my sweet, luxurious soul. Don’t get me wrong, I love summer and all its beachy vibes, but fall attire? That’s where the real magic happens. The cooler temps give me a chance to truly play with my wardrobe. And let’s be honest, layering as the evenings get chillier? That’s when style comes alive.
As we hurdle through fashion month, here are a few trends you’re bound to see on the streets of NYC, London, Paris and Milan.
A MOMENT FOR MIU MIU
Miuccia Prada keeps us on our toes yet again with Miu Miu’s latest collection, blending timeless elegance with a modern edge. Think cropped leather bombers, vintage fur coats, and the ultimate peacoat—all nodding to the brand’s heritage while signaling the future of fashion.
CHLOE’S WINTER WONDERLAND
Chloe’s Winter 2024 collection is giving major bohemian renaissance vibes, with
ethereal elegance woven through every piece. Picture sheer, flowy gowns mixed with moody accessories that scream chic. Redefining boho babe, it’s all about chunky clogs, rose-colored aviators, and delicate floral lace. Sienna Miller was spotted in the front row—enough said.
GUCCI’S RESURGENCE: MILAN’S LATEST MARVEL
Gucci is officially back. And by back, I mean they’re reaching into their roots,
CHRISTINE ALBINA / POLO LIFESTYLES
channeling Tom Ford’s iconic, sultry glam. Thigh-high riding boots with the signature horse-bit detail? Yes, please. Picture rich blues, deep maroons, and earthy mosses wrapped up in luxurious oversized outerwear, glittering with just a hint of crystal embellishment. It’s the bold, statement fashion we’ve been craving. And those black thigh-highs? Get ready to live in them this fall.
THE ESSENTIALS YOU NEED THIS FALL
MAXI SKIRTS
Whether it’s denim, silk, or suede, maxi skirts are still having a moment. I’m especially obsessed with suede—it just screams fall.
SQUARE TOE BOOTS
Khaite brought the heat with square toe boots, and they’re a must. Perfect for adding a bit of edge to any look.
ZEBRA PRINT
Get wild! Zebra print is everywhere, from statement coats to chic accessories, and I’m all for it.
OVERSIZED TRENCHES
Oversized trenches are the layer of the season. The Row has a lightweight version that’s perfect for those transitional days. Throw it over denim and loafers or stirrup leggings and ballet flats. Pro tip: as the temperature drops, add an oversized cashmere sweater and finish with riding or western boots for that effortlessly chic vibe.
RIDING BOOTS
Let’s be real—riding boots are non-negotiable. Whether you’re leaning into Stuart Weitzman, Hermès, Celine, or Gucci, it’s time to pick your poison.
OVERSIZED BLAZERS
We’re still in oversized blazer territory, but this season? Cinch that waist and pair it with skinny jeans or Wolford leggings. Riding boots + Lulu ribbed align leggings = chef’s kiss.
VELVET
BALLET FLATS & LOAFERS
Velvet ballet flats and loafers are a whole vibe. Bonus points if you pair them with knee socks this season.
SKINNY JEANS ARE BACK
I’ve always been a fan of skinny jeans, and now they’re making a comeback in a big way. Just one thing—skip the ripped styles this season for a more polished look. If skinny jeans aren’t quite your vibe, no worries— boot cuts are still trending, and Elsa Hosk is offering plenty of inspiration on how to style them beautifully.
As we dive headfirst into fashion month, keep an eye out for these trends on the streets of NYC, London, Paris, or Milan. This fall is all about striking that perfect balance between effortless chic and bold statements, so get ready to make your wardrobe runway-ready.
Curated by Christina Summer @BlazeMilano
Trench: @hoskelsa
Styled for You : @Prada Black Monochrome: @vogue
$29,000,000
MANSION OF THE MONTH
ROOFTOP RENDEZVOUS
GRAND-SCALE, PACIFIC HEIGHTS RESIDENCE
OCCUPYING THE HIGHEST FULL FLOOR ATOP 2006 WASHINGTON, THIS UNFORGETTABLE APARTMENT UNDERWENT A MASTERFUL, MULTI-YEAR REDESIGN & RENOVATION UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF THE AWARD-WINNING TEAM OF ARCHITECT ANDREW SKURMAN, INTERIOR DESIGNER SUZANNE TUCKER, AND MOROSO CONSTRUCTION.
With window after window revealing a full panorama that encompasses icons from the Golden Gate past Alcatraz and Coit Tower to the Transamerica Pyramid and beyond, the aerie reclaims magnificent architectural details while sensitively
incorporating a globally curated collection of materials and design elements. Every space and amenity has been thoughtfully adapted for today’s technologically-oriented sensibility.
The beguiling Beaux-Arts building at 2006 Washington Street rivals other distinguished structures in cities around the world. Over the century since its design and construction in 1924 by Conrad A. Meussdorffer, it has garnered a reputation as a legendary landmark, a storied locale whose presence feels larger than life. Tech founders, as well as leaders of finance and industry have called this building their home, and it continues to be admired as one of the most luxurious and powerful collections of residences in its city.
Spanning a remarkable 5,700 square feet, this unparalleled home is the crown jewel of Pacific Heights apartments, destined for spectacular living and entertaining, with
majestic, strikingly detailed entertaining spaces that open to a dazzling wraparound terrace.
The passenger elevator opens to a vestibule and then an elegant octagonal domed entry hall with a floor of intricately patterned quartzite and marble. Ornamental plaster ceilings by Foster Reeve transcend time and add eye-catching drama to the aesthetic. The scale is grand yet inviting.
Soaring ceilings contribute to a lofty ambiance in the bespoke living room, which features custom-dyed silk-upholstered walls, a fireplace with an 18th-century Italian mantel, and serene, walnut parquet floors. The dining alcove’s mirrored wall allows views to be appreciated at every seat. Contributing to the welcoming air in the family room are Baltic pine paneling with built-ins, a custom-carved marble fireplace, a concealed projector and theater screen, and a stone-clad dry bar.
BEDROOMS 3 | BATHROOMS 3 FULL AND 2 PARTIAL | INTERIOR 5,700 SQ FT
A spacious family kitchen with a quartzite-topped Baltic pine island and striking hand-glazed blue cabinetry occupies the western side of the residence and opens through arched Palladian-style doors to the terrace with picture-perfect vistas of the Golden Gate. A full catering kitchen adjoins the formal dining area and is accessed via a hidden doorway.
Each of the two primary bedroom suites is equally luxurious, opens through French
doors to terraces, and is accompanied by a generous dressing room and a lavish marble-clad bath. Completing the secluded southern wing is a thoughtfully appointed guest suite. The laundry room offers desirable storage, and the floor plan includes two powder baths, substantial storage and a service elevator.
As the city’s foremost cooperative, 2006 Washington provides residents with an array of amenities. Its handsome brick drive
circles a vibrant, meticulously landscaped garden with a fountain, culminating at a regal porte cochère. The lobby is attended full-time and year-round, and ownership conveys parking for two vehicles in a private garage, storage, security, and the knowledge that one’s home is perched high atop one of the most revered buildings in the city, at what is surely its most coveted address.
MANSION OF THE MONTH
• Main House: 9,789 sqft, 3BD-6BA
• Guest House: 1,466 sqft, 2BD-2BA
Timeless Equestrian Estate For Sale on the Old Santa Fe Trail
5200 Old Santa Fe Trail
Santa Fe, New Mexico, 87505
• Caretaker’s House: 1,071 sqft, 2BD-2BA 34+/- Acres, two parcels
• 10 Minute drive to Canyon Road, Santa Fe Plaza, restaurants, museums and other downtown attractions
• Gated entry and Savant Pro Smart System (security surveillance)
• Private well
• Auxiliary spaces include: Theater, gym, craft, office and library
• State-of-the-art equine facilities and amenities including: 8-stall stable, riding arenas, well-equipped tack room, wash stall, paddocks, feed storage, developed bridle paths, and pastures.
• Outdoor in-ground pool, spa, and cabana
• 9-bay detached garage
Luxurious interior finishes include: Diamond plaster walls, wrought iron hardware, Italian stone tile flooring, ceramic tile, marble, and hardwoods including hickory and quarter-sawn oak. Various ceiling treatments throughout.
• Sweeping Jemez Mountain and sunset views
• Private
MANSION OF THE MONTH
VILLA NEO ST-JEAN ST-BARTHÉLEMY
ST-BARTHÉLEMY
EMBRACE THE VIBE OF ST-JEAN BEACH
SET HIGH ABOVE THE ICONIC ST. JEAN BEACH, VILLA NEO IS AN AWARD-WINNING SIX-BEDROOM ESTATE OFFERING PANORAMIC VISTAS AND UNPARALLELED LUXURY. IDEAL FOR EXTENDED FAMILIES OR GATHERINGS OF FRIENDS, THIS TWO-LEVEL MASTERPIECE SHOWCASES AN EXPANSIVE MAIN-LEVEL DECK BOASTING OUTDOOR LIVING SPACES, A MOVIE SCREEN, AND ONE OF THE
ISLAND'S LARGEST POOLS—A SPRAWLING 108-FOOT OASIS, COMPLETE WITH AN OVERFLOWING JACUZZI.
Villa Neo is fully air-conditioned and thoughtfully designed. The first floor hosts two kitchens, one of which is a chef's dream, a spacious living room, a media room, and a dazzling entertainment room. Two bedrooms, including one of the premiere suites, open onto the deck, while a third enjoys a tranquil garden view. An elegant glass staircase leads to the upper level, home to an office, an additional premier suite and two connecting guest bedrooms with ocean views and private
terraces. Each of the six bedrooms boasts a beautifully appointed en-suite bath, with soaking tubs and generous dressing rooms in the premier suites.
Additional features include a fitness room, hammam, ample parking, and an elevator servicing both floors. Enjoy state-of-theart technology, including Home Assistant control via iPad.
This incredible villa is conveniently located just minutes from the beach, shopping and restaurants and can only truly be appreciated in person. Villa Neo is your gateway to a lifestyle of sophistication and serenity, offering the epitome of luxury living in the heart of St. Barthélemy's paradise.
PRICE 47,000,000 €
BEDROOMS 6 / BATHROOMS 6 FULL / 2 HALF
EXTERIOR 0.63 ACRES
Listed by Sothebys International Realty (SIR) St-Barths +590
LOS ANGELES LUXE
An extraordinary estate perched atop Bel Air, it redefines luxury living with unparalleled sophistication and breathtaking views of Los Angeles and Century City. This meticulously crafted residence, which took over five years to complete, epitomizes opulence with 12 bedrooms and 17 baths.
Every corner of La Fin exudes extravagance, from its grand glass-walled entryway and a majestic 44-foot crystal chandelier to a sprawling formal living room adorned with shimmering chandeliers and hand-carved stone latticework around a monumental fireplace.
The estate’s lower level dedicated to entertainment and wellness, featuring a state-
of-the-art wine cellar with a stunning Murano glass installation, a climate-controlled cigar lounge, and a sleek vodka tasting room. A fully equipped fitness center includes a climbing wall, Peloton bikes, steam room, and a spa, while a sound-proof cinema with motorized Belgian leather seating promises cinematic indulgence.
Upstairs, the private quarters offer respite with a lavish primary suite boasting floor-to-ceiling lacquered Italian oak walls, a Portuguese marble fireplace, and boutique-worthy walk-in closets. The spalike bathroom showcases bookmatched Calacatta gold marble, and a soaking tub carved from a single block of stone.
Outdoors, La Fin transforms into an oasis of relaxation and entertainment with motorized Fleetwood pocket doors blurring the line between interior and exterior spaces. The infinity-edge pool overlooks a 23-foot retractable LED screen and an outdoor bar with swing seats, while a fire pit lounge provides warmth and ambiance.
On the rooftop, a deck with built-in seating, a fire pit, and a spa offers panoramic views, ensuring every moment is a celebration of luxury and privacy. Security features such as fingerprint technology, an on-site caretaker residence, and a dedicated security command center provide peace of mind in this unparalleled retreat in the heart of Bel Air.
In Search of
Why Decanting
Has Never Been Sexier
MUST-HAVE WINE DECANTERS
IWILLIAM SMITH @willismith_2000 COPY EDITOR & CONTRIBUTOR
N RESEARCHING THIS MONTH’S FEATURE ON DECANTING WINE, I ENDEAVORED TO READ AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE ABOUT WHAT HAS BEEN WRITTEN ON THE SUBJECT. TIME AND AGAIN, THE SAME NARRATIVE EMERGED FROM WRITER AFTER WRITER, EXPERT AFTER EXPERT – NAMELY THAT THERE ARE TWO REASONS FOR DECANTING WINE.
The first, decanting wine helps ensure that any sediment in the wine does not end up in the glass. True enough. With some preparation and the patience of a slow pour, this is a reliable way of removing any solids that may have built up over time and as the wine has aged in the bottle.
And the second, more complicated rationale, is that decanting allows the wine to have some time exposed to air, creating an opportunity for the wine’s profiles to evolve and open up. However, there are many caveats, including that decanting certain wines can have the opposite effect and obliterate the nuances of a more delicate bottling. Quelle horreur! For the less knowledgeable, it’s intimidating as hell and no doubt contributes to the prevailing infrequency of decanting wine as a matter of course.
Beyond these two functional purposes, what one does not find in the vast amount that has been written on the subject is what I would argue is the most excellent reason for regularly decanting wine – it’s sexy.
By all means, if you have a rare bottle, consult an expert or your own knowledge to determine if its condition is appropriate for decanting. Otherwise, ditch the intimidating pretense and think of a decanter as yet another way of accentuating your aesthetic enjoyment of wine – much like we think about varied stemware.
I asked Maximilian Riedel, President and CEO of Riedel, his thoughts on decanting. “Decanting for me is a very essential part of wine enjoyment. For many years we have emphasized the importance of decanting for all wines and champagnes.” Yes, even champagne, which remains a robust discussion in the wine world.
On the aesthetics of it all, Maximilan beamed: It’s about celebrating the wine by pouring it out of a decanter. It gives you the perfect opportunity to entertain your guests, to talk about the wines and it beautifully supports the pouring of wine into glasses across the table. Last but not least – decanters are a beautiful addition to any table setting.
To that end, this month we’re profiling several functional and sexy decanters at different price points that will raise your enjoyment and presentation of wine – whatever it is that you might be pouring. I went with a relatively young (2019) California red blend that I have previously written about and love, Paydirt’s “Going for Broke.” A tremendous value for what it delivers, it’s a big,
In Search of Solace Fashionable Decanting
jammy, fruit-forward red that I know – from experience – needs some time to open up and benefits immensely from decanting.
WINE ENTHUSIAST FLAME DECANTER
The go-to for all things wine, last year they merged their e-commerce site with the wine-content driven media content of the magazine (where you can find great articles on the do’s and don’ts of decanting). Current decanter offerings on the website are over a dozen and include Wine Enthusiast’s own line, as well as names like Zalto and Riedel.
The Flame decanter, part of their own Artist Series line, is aptly named, with the wine bursting in its ample base, intermingling with oxygen, while the two apertures are beautifully bursting upward. This is an artistic and substantial statement piece, reaching nearly 19 inches in height. Handblown from lightweight, lead-free crystal, the balance in your hands when pouring is eminently comfortable. The design provides both beauty and function with ample opportunities for aeration.
Current retail: $79.99 at www.wineenthusiast.com
JOSEPHINENHÜTTE BRILLIANT DECANTER
When groundbreaking glassmaker Kurt Josef Zalto left his eponymous enterprise, he joined Josephinen in 2019. Since then, the producer, which dates to the early 19th century, has been creating the most exquisite and refined crystalware. Their delicate, thin-walled stemware is the source of envy, and their decanters are the perfect complement for serving with impeccable style.
Jospehinen’s Brilliant Decanter, while diminutive in size at just 7.5 inches tall, is flawless in its artistry. Sleek vertical angles create a large surface area inside the vessel for ideal aeration and aesthetically, appreciation for the color of a wine. Josephenin comments that the decanter is, “Perfect for young, complex, full bodied-red wines or premium, young white and rosé wines that become more harmonious as they breathe.” My own red pour testified to the truth in their marketing.
I also love the conical shape that emerges from the bottom of the decanter. It felt like a marriage between the elegance of mouth-blown crystal and an homage to the punt of wine bottles. Josephinen comments that this, “Defining design element ensures a spiral-shaped swirl that rapidly enriches wine with oxygen as soon as it is poured. The depth of the cone creates an unprecedented ease of control and stability when pouring.”
The entire Josephinen line is created from mouth-blown, lead-free crystal. The Brilliant Decanter is also available in an impressive larger size for magnum format wines.
Current Retail: $210 at us.josephinen. com/
BACCARAT PASSION WINE DECANTER
Setting aside the functional rationales for decanting and considering it solely as an aesthetic enterprise, one must include the legendary Baccarat. Founded in 1764, Baccarat’s artisans continue to create some of the world’s most exquisite works of art set to crystal. Among these
WINE ENTHUSIAST FLAME DECANTER
JOSEPHINENHÜTTE BRILLIANT DECANTER
gems, are a lineup of wine decanters that match the many different collections of Baccarat, including historic collections like Harcourt 1841, Mille Nuits, and Masséna.
Now, incorporating the functional elements of decanting back into the mix as well, Baccarat turned to famed vintner Jean-Charles Boisset to design the Passion Collection. It is both classic and contemporary at once – perhaps an oxymoron, but the styling, from the classic decanter shape to the more contemporary elements of the angular and erupting top of the vessel’s stopper, is beautifully unique and compelling. It is Baccarat, after all.
The more traditional design limits the amount of aeration that might be achieved by other decanters with more extensive surface area exposure, an issue easily overcome by earlier decanting if aeration is the purpose for decanting. The aesthetics of decanting in the Passion design is superb. The weight of the piece is significant and the incorporation of vertical ribbing into the body of the decanter creates visual interest and luminosity. This decanter instinctually elevates whatever one chooses to decant into it.
The Passion design is also available as a champagne decanter, with a rounder vessel profile that “exalts the finesse of the bubbles and reveals the depth of the aromas.”
Current Retail: $990 at www.baccarat. com/en_us
RIEDEL AMADEO DECANTER
Founded in 1756 in Bohemia, Riedel has become a household name the world over for creating the highest quality glassware and pioneering the production of grape-varietal stemware. An extensive product line offering options at nearly every price point, Riedel is still family owned and operated. Among my own cherished and extensive collection of crystal stemware, Riedel figures prominently and their universal stem glass is my everyday go-to at home. Reidel embodies the marriage of form and function, a necessity for the contemporary wine consumer.
When I had the opportunity to engage Maximilian Riedel for this feature, I wondered which of Riedel’s decanters he would send my way. I was overjoyed to receive and test the Amadeo Decanter. Created in 2006 to celebrate the company’s 250th anniversary, it is a contem-
porary, refined, and sinuous vessel that far surpasses both the functional and aesthetic reasons for decanting. Their limited release versions of the Amadeo incorporate an array of colors that joyfully dance along the bends of the decanter.
At nearly 14 inches tall, 8 ½ inches wide, and designed for decanting 750ml bottles, the Amadeo is a statement piece on any table. Shaped like a lyre, its two openings maximize the surface area for oxygen exposure and creates wonderful aesthetics for appreciating color, weight, and luminescence. Well balanced in the hand, pouring from the Amadeo occurs from the small opening, well, it’s just plain joyful.
Current Retail: $650 at www.riedel.com/ en-us
Decanters come in innumerable shapes, sizes, and styles. And as I always recommend with learning to appreciate wine, individual preference perhaps matters most and requires simply exploring and having fun in the journey. Decanting is no different. Explore.
Readers of this column may nary need a rationale for enjoying and celebrating wine, but more generally, the facts themselves around wine consumption speak for themselves: we are in a slump.
Last year, wine consumption slipped 2.6 percent and to the lowest level since 1996. The causes for this trend are many, but a few wine industry veterans are launching a new effort to bolster our collective vinified spirits.
Dubbed Come Over October, the national advocacy campaign was created by wine journalist Karen MacNeil, communications and branding veteran Kimberly Noelle Charles, and Gino Colangelo, President and Founder of the powerhouse agency Colangelo & Partners. The trio created the mission-driven company, Come Together – A Community for Wine Inc, under whose umbrella the campaign is supported. As described, the campaign “encourages friends, family, and colleagues to ‘come over’ during the month of October” and focus “on sharing wine, celebrate friendship and in-person connection.”
“There is so much anxiety in the wine world right now about consumer trends in consumption and climate change, just to name two,” Colangelo shared with Polo Lifestyles. “We need a more positive narrative about
what we love about wine and this campaign is about bringing people together to give new energy to that narrative,” he continued.
In many ways, Come Over October is about reframing wine in the rich social and cultural contexts in which it has persisted for millennia. Part of the campaign’s website (www. comeoveroctober.com), which was adapted from MacNeil’s seminal work The Wine Bible, focuses on this rich tradition and is wonderfully replete with examples of wine figuring prominently throughout history.
The campaign is self-organizing in that the website contains “Tools & Tips” for those seeking to be part of creating celebrations and gatherings in October. The fact that industry pros are behind this effort becomes clear when you see the extensive amount of thoughtful, well-executed promotional materials that are made available on the site. From “Entertaining Tools & Tips” to dozens of collateral pieces like shelf tags (for stores), posters, and videos, to “key messages” about wine and its place in human history and interaction, it’s an empowering launch for what is intended to be an annual event.
Colangelo shared the key messages of the campaign when we spoke and true to form, he was wholly on mes-
sage – these same “Key Messages” appear on the website. I can imagine that they will serve as wonderful prompts for discussions throughout the month. Among the list of seven, two speak powerfully to me and how I see the role of wine in our lives:
Wine is social: Religious gatherings, family celebrations and romance the world over are all celebrated with wine. Wine is part of our social fabric; wine brings people together.
Wine is discovery: Virtually or literally, you can travel the world in a glass of wine, learning about different cultures, topographies, cuisines and cultures. From Patagonia to Porto, from Sicily to Santorini, the world of wine is diverse, enriching and beautiful.
Yes, Come Over October is about wine. But at its core, it’s really about a celebration of living and human connection.
This Come Over October, plan a gathering with friends, acquaintances, neighbors, or even strangers. Ask them to come over and share a bottle or two of wine together. TV off. Phones silenced and away. And of course, check out the website for ideas to further elevate your time together.
As Always, Salud!
ASCENSION
HEAL YOURSELF AND HEAL THE WORLD
The Celestial Mandate for a Radical Transformation in Devotional Living
“It is indeed needed that at the End of this World, Heaven and Earth shall meet and come home.”
– Hermes Trismegistus-
DOLPHINS & ORPHANS: AN EXPECTED COMMONALITY
UPHOLDING THE SPIRITUAL RIGHTS OF FUTURE GENERATIONS
RENEWAL COMMUNITY SUPPORT EXPLORATION · ENERGY
“Recognizing that the United Nations has, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in the International Covenants on Human Rights, proclaimed and agreed that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth therein, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status,
Recalling that, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations has proclaimed that childhood is entitled to special care and assistance,
Convinced that the family, as the fundamental group of society and the natural environment for the growth and well-being of all its members and particularly children, should be afforded the necessary protection and assistance so that it can fully assume its responsibilities within the community,
Recognizing that the child, for the full and harmonious development of his or her personality, should grow up in a family environment, in an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding,
Considering that the child should be fully prepared to live an individual life in society, and brought up in the spirit of the ideals proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, and in particular in the spirit of peace, dignity, tolerance, freedom, equality and solidarity…”
United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of a Child
AMRITLAL अमृत ASCENSION
CONTRIBUTOR
@monarch_visionary
IN A HISTORIC MOVE ON DECEMBER 18, 2019, ALL 193 MEMBER STATES OF THE UNITED NATIONS FORMALLY RECOGNIZED THAT ORPHANAGES DO NOT PROTECT CHILDREN; RATHER, THEY HARM THEM. THE MEASURE FURTHER CALLED FOR THE PROGRESSIVE ELIMINATION OF INSTITUTIONAL CARE, GLOBALLY.
Recognizing that most children who live in orphanages have living family, the United Nations urges that all children should be reunited with or supported to remain with their families.
Over 25 years ago, Kidsave International was established with the intention of rescuing the ‘forgotten ones’ from institutionalized, dehumanizing care by instituting a mission of helping older kids under state care find meaningful, lasting connections with adults and families and re-integrate into their communities.
Monarch Visionaries are those who cure the pain of the collective heart by realizing the inner power to actualize their spiritual purpose upon the Earth in service of the will of Divine Mother Universe. This month, we spotlight humanitarian and child welfare activist, Randi Thompson, CEO, President and co-founder of Kidsave International, as
we discover how deeply our love and sense of duty can penetrate the depths of consciousness to illuminate a path of empowerment that awakens our dormant spiritual abilities to weather all storms in attunement with the guiding force of a higher power.
THE POWER OF THE POD
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has.” - Margaret Mead
Ancient creatures of the Earth’s shimmering blue oceans and seas, dolphins are a profoundly magical spiritual animal whose tribal consciousness is a powerful reminder of the innate, dormant potential laden within humanity that is to be restored as we evolve in our collective pursuit of Unity and Harmony. Representing the divine qualities of peace, freedom and unconditional love, the attributes of the dolphin’s spiritual essence inspire us to evolve with our natural systems as we heal the world with grace and truth.
Embodying the playful and harmonious joy that is to be found through a balanced coexistence with the natural elements, dolphins play a pivotal role in the delicate ecosystem of the seas, which denotes them as a “keynote” species, meaning that their presence or absence significantly effects the entire ecosystem. Dolphins inspire us to welcome the light of our children’s hearts, establishing a foundation where they receive the unconditional love, sense of safety, nourishment and inner peace that they deserve.
Dolphins live in complex social struc-
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HEAL YOURSELF AND HEAL THE WORLD
SPIRITUALITY FAITH QUESTIONS GROWTH · FOCUS
tures, known as pods, which typically include between 40 to 60 dolphins. This group dynamic endows dolphins a major advantage in hunting prey and hiding from predators. Within these pods, dolphins develop complex social relationships with each other, teaching each other new behaviors and passing them upon their lineages.
Scientifically acknowledged for their heightened empathy and superior intelligence, dolphins have greater cognitive abilities than great apes and rival human cognitive abilities in many aspects, in particular their bio-sonar abilities that include echolocation and electroreception.
While dolphin brains are similar in size to humans in relation to their body mass, their neocortex is thinner with much more area and is more folded, meaning that they have much more surface area for greater connections. The degree to which the cerebral cortex is folded is a measure of intelligence. The more folded the cortex, the more room within the brain to house additional neurons to perform processing of information.
Relative to humans, who have between
12,000 -18,000 million neurons in the neocortex, dolphins are estimated to have approximately 48,000 million neurons. This allows dolphins to process complex sensory stimulus and cognitive functions much faster and more robustly than humans.
Based off years of research to confirm that dolphins and whales have a human-like level of self-awareness, the motion was made at the 2010 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Vancouver, the world’s largest scientific conference, for a Declaration of Rights for Cetaceans, respecting the spiritual liberties of such majestic creatures.
THE PAIN OF ENSLAVEMENT
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” – Lord Jesus Christ
Around 300,000 whales, dolphins, and porpoises are brutally killed each year, some for food, such as the annual killing of thousands of dolphins and small whales in Taiji, Japan, or even to prove the manhood of those killing them, such as the massacre of Calderon dolphins at Faroe Island, in Denmark, which totaled 1,448 on September 12, 2021 – possibly
the largest slaughter ever recorded.
As spotlighted in the 2009 groundbreaking documentary, “The Cove”, every year, in Taiji, hundreds of dolphins, of nine different species, are chased into the notorious Cove and kept behind a series of nets where they are violently separated from their family pods and slaughtered on-site for their flesh, or sent to captive dolphin entertainment venues for a lifetime of enslaved performances. Occasionally, some of the remaining traumatized, motherless calves will be herded out of the Cove and back into the sea.
While meat from a dolphin will bring only around $600 for the dolphin hunters, live trained dolphins can go for up to $150,000 or more on the world market. Tourism is the main source of profit for these dolphin hunts, subsidizing the meat market, with 107 dolphin entertainment venues across 17 countries having ties to Taiji’s dolphin hunts.
While a pod of wild dolphins can travel up to 100 kilometers a day in the open ocean, captive dolphins may spend up to 50 years living in misery as a captive dolphin’s tank is nearly 200,000 times smaller than a dolphin’s natural range. As dolphins are highly emotional and social creatures, being deprived of complex societal behaviors leads to a lifetime of stress, depression and PTSD. Dolphins have been witnessed to commit suicide both during captivity and hunting practices by holding their breath under water.
In 2010, the Helsinki Group issued the Declaration of Cretacean Rights to specifically grant dolphins and whales the right of life, liberty and wellbeing, and to inspire protection under international legislation from hunters, aquariums, and
RENEWAL
marine parks. Since the declaration, many countries have followed suit in some variation, including: India, South Korea, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, India, Luxembourg, Nicaragua, Norway, Slovenia, South Korea, and Russia.
CURING THE PAIN IN YOUR HEART
“Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward.” – Psalm 127:3 (ESV)
Imagine growing up without the love and support of family to guide you through life. This is the stark reality for over 391,000 children in foster care in the U.S. and over 8 million children worldwide. Children who, through no fault of their own, awaken each day in a system that is built to fall short. Children who have had opportunities and the shot at a real future taken away from them by the actions of others.
In 1993, Terry Baugh traveled to Russia to adopt a child. She was not prepared for what she saw. The orphanage was a huge, cold institution with an insufficient number of caregivers for all the children. Children with shaved heads were sitting in playpens with no toys, and certainly no human emotional stimulation. The caregivers meant well, but there were so few of them for so many children. Terry could not get their faces out of her mind, and soon shared her experiences with business partner, Randi Thompson.
During her next business trip to Kazakhstan, Randi, who at the time had two adopted children aged 8 and 11, visited an orphanage that housed older children. “I saw these kids who had no hope. They had the oldest eyes
you’d ever seen, and they were eyes just completely devoid of hope. The terms the former Soviet system used to classify them, instead of the strength of the child, were centered on their disabilities and developmental delays. The terms used were oligophrenic, debile, imbecile and idiot. The trajectory for
these children was so bad, they would go from being warehoused to having absolutely nothing.”
Randi continues, “I just had to do something about this, knowing that this existed. In my world, people wanted children. As an adopted parent, I wanted my children so badly, and you
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HEAL YOURSELF AND HEAL THE WORLD
SPIRITUALITY FAITH QUESTIONS GROWTH · FOCUS
jump through hoops to make that happen. And, yet, here is a world, where kids were just languishing with no one. How is this possible? Once you know that, how can you go back? Once, you know that this exists in the world, it is such an imbalance, you must act.”
Upon extensive research, Randi and Terry realized that the neglect caused by orphanage living creates brain damage, psychological problems and slows development. They found no organization was exclusively focused on permanent family care for these children who had been left and forgotten, who were no longer the desired little babies, and who truly needed champions to advocate for their future fulfillment.
Randi and Terry believed these children deserved a voice, families and community. They deserved the right to thrive. These children deserved a miracle. They would be their champion.
HONORING OUR CHILDREN’S RIGHT TO BE LOVED
“I may not be able to change the trajectory of an election, but I can certainly change the trajectory of young lives.” –Randi Thompson
Kidsave International was founded on October 16, 1997, with a profound vision: “We wanted to end this harmful institutionalization. We did not want children to grow up without parents; the government makes a terrible parent, and it was truly our duty to help to save these kids who did not have anybody to advocate for them. Given our past social marketing background and training, we felt that we could bring them out of the shadows and into the light.
Really it was shining a light on these kids so that people knew that they existed, to give them an opportunity to be seen, to be heard, so that they could thrive. We made it easier for people who want to do something by bringing children back into the community where people can meet them and then allow for the organic connections to occur.”
Through its first Summer Miracles program, Kidsave gave 177 older children living in orphanages summer vacations in the U.S. with American families and 97 percent were adopted. It was a miracle for these children and for Terry and Randi it provided the basis for creating Kidsave’s Family Visit Model, a program that has now been successfully tested in Russia, Kazakhstan, Colombia, Ukraine
and the U.S. to help older children in orphanages and foster care find parents and committed mentors.
Kidsave has positively impacted the lives of nearly 600,000 children since 1999.
ANGELS OF HOPE
“In times of crisis, in moments of despair, it is the unified will of the sacred heart that dispels all darkness as the emergence of spirit purifies the air.”
In 2016, Kidsave International began working in Ukraine at the request of the Ukrainian government to contribute to child welfare reform and assist in connecting children in orphanages and institutions with families. In 2018, Kidsave launched two programs in Ukraine: Family Visits (Weekend Miracles) and Corporate Mentoring (Pathway to Success).
Randi shares, “We are always looking to find our ‘dolphins,’ those you can swim with, work together with, and we’ve always found them somehow. As we go into a new city, a new region, a new country, or we go into a city, we look for and find those people that want to collaborate, want to work together, want to really create change for children. We
RENEWAL COMMUNITY SUPPORT EXPLORATION · ENERGY
seek those same dolphin characteristics in our team. We want collaborators and have no room for sharks. There are too many sharks around, and they do not get you anywhere.”
On the day the Russia-Ukraine War initiated, on February 24, 2022, Russian troops marched into Kherson on their way to capture Mykolaiv. These were two cities where kids and families in Kidsave’s pilot programs lived. At this point in time, Kidsave had placed 117 kids with families, and were inspired to deliver these families to safety.
Immediately, Kidsave pivoted its operations from training, mentoring, and family-finding to emergency evacuation and rescue. The brave team in Ukraine, which started with only three Kidsave team members, gradually grew to include over 300 selfless volunteers and a fleet of 60 vehicles. These heroes, known as “Angels of Hope” in Ukraine, risked their lives daily to evacuate women, children, and families out of active combat zones and into safety.
“We were able to make the decision to pivot, rapidly, and then the resources came for us to execute. Our goal has always been to get children to families, and, in this case, our goal was to get people to safety, just so there would be another day for them to be alive,” Randi recalls.
After delivering the 117 children and their families to safety in nearby cities and neighboring countries, Kidsave expanded its scope to 1,000 children and their families. Guided by their humanitarian initiative, Kidsave was in a position to get resources deeply into where they were needed as well as get people out of danger. Due to the team’s ability to develop a response very quickly, they
were able to rescue a total of 32,000 people out of active war zones, and into neighboring countries that were willing to help.
KIDSAVE continues its humanitarian efforts in 20 different villages where people are unable to leave. Meanwhile, in Western Ukraine, Kidsave recently opened the Miracles Center, a place to provide orphaned children with respite and trauma therapies. The Center will also host adults looking to meet and connect with kids, in alignment with Kidsave’s core mission of helping move children out of institutions and into families.
EMBODY YOUR DOLPHIN SPIRIT
“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand” – Lord Jesus Christ
A dolphin’s brain is heavily infused with fast acting neurons that allow it to be swift, nimble, and powerfully aware of its environment. Humans also have the potential to amplify the charge of our existence by transforming the darkness of our soul into the brilliance of hope that guides us, united, through the darkest moments of our lives as we resurrect our Inner Christ to serve valiantly as we are called to rise. By taking a stand to support all sentient life in realizing its highest fulfillment, we partake in the blessings of genetic activations that allow us to experience life more fully. The pain in our hearts is our calling to live life truly.
MAKE EVERY STEP COUNT
”For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them” –Lord Jesus Christ
When we come together with a common vision, the unified fire of our hearts clears a path for the holy spirit to ignite our senses with the power to take affirmative action.
As we ground and connect with Mother Earth, and the telluric fields of the Natural Kingdoms, with open and empathetic hearts, we receive the blessings of the planetary lifeforce energies to vitalize our cells and ease the stress upon our minds – as scientifically demonstrated by the 2019 HeartMath Institute Heart-Lock study.
The cure we seek to society’s collective ills lies within our very vessels, only to be activated by the choices we make that develop the convictions that drive the meaning of our existence into fruition. We are a garden of hope, and it is through the radiance that we emit, as faithfully pour forth, that we awaken the meek to realize their potential for freedom – no soul is ever alone.
On Saturday, November 9, 2024, Kidsave will be holding its annual HIKE WITH YOUR HEART events in four cities to raise funds and awareness for older kids in foster care. These community events will gather individuals with a vision of service to the youth of the world.
The hikes will be held in the Bay Area, Houston, Los Angeles, and Washington D.C. and more information can be found at kidsave.org/hike
Additional ways to make a difference in the lives of older children who need families can be found at www.kidsave. com
MOLD YOUR MIND
"THE MENTAL BREAK-DOWN" PODCAST IS NOW ON ALL STREAMING PLATFORMS
ONE OF THE MOST FRUSTRATING, YET MOST SATISFYING THINGS THAT I DO IS GOLF. THERE IS NO GREATER FEELING THAN HITTING A PURE 9-IRON FROM 150 YARDS OUT TO WITHIN 10 FEET OF THE GREEN.
However, golf causes me an equal amount of frustration. The slightest one-degree shift of the placement of your club could be the difference between the middle of the fairway and being out of bounds. Over the last six to eight months, I have put in a lot of time both at the driving range and on the golf course – more time than I ever have - and it has definitely paid off, as I have seen my golf handicap drop about eight strokes.
However, the last few times I have gone to play I have not gone so great. Whereas I was shooting low-mid 80s
during a round of 18 holes, I started shooting closer 100. I began questioning myself, “What’s going on? Why am I getting worse?” and, “This is so dumb; why even play?”
Has this situation ever happened to you: things are going well, you are showing improvement, then suddenly, you fall back to your original baseline or you start to under-perform? It happens to the best of us and, often times, we view ourselves as not good enough. While it is frustrating not to perform well, if the goal is to maintain progress and continue development, you must learn how to interpret these setbacks effectively and reflect on the overall growth that has taken place.
THE BRAIN’S DEFAULT MODE
Let’s say I were to either give you $200 right now or take $200 from you right now, which one do you think you are more likely to remember a week from now? If you said taking $200 from you, you would be correct, but why? The fact is that negative experiences, such as losing something, sting more and are more intense; therefore, that memory is more likely to stick.
Negative experiences are also more noticeable. If you look back at grade
school, when you received a good grade on a test, you usually get the “Nice job” remark on your paper. If you did poorly on a test, that paper is littered with comments and remarks about why you were wrong and how to fix it.
But how does this impact your thinking? It starts with how the brain is set up. If you think of any type of technology (phone, laptop, television), it comes set up with its default settings, which you then adjust based on your needs and preferences.
Well, your brain works the same way, and has what is called the default mode network. Researchers did a memory task with participants, and they noticed that when doing the task, brain regions related to motivation and information processing were highly active. However, when the brain was at rest, the brain regions in charge of memory and emotion were highly active. When asking the participants what was going on, they described as having more self-directed thoughts. Also interesting was that this same region was active when participants made a mistake.
What this research shows is that it is natural for us to be hard on ourselves. However, for a lot of people, this sort of
THOUGHTS MATTER
thinking does not set you up for future success. Therefore, you must train your brain into adjusting what its default mode network is.
HOW TO: MAKING THE MINDSET SHIFT
Restructuring the default thinking pattern of your brain will not happen overnight, but there are a few things that you can do that will help create a new default. First, you can always start by taking a few deep breaths.
This does two things: activates the rest-and-digest portion of your stress response and focuses on something happening in the present moment. Often times, self-focused thoughts may raise your heart rate, so your breath can lower it, or at the very least, manage it effectively. With stress, the mind tends to live in the future or in the past, so your breath can get you back to the present moment and what is happening right now.
Another strategy is to reflect on how you view these setbacks. Theory tells us how you view your successes and failures matters and impacts long-term
confidence, effort, and motivation. Explanatory styles look at the degree to which you attribute an event to internal or external sources: are the characteristics considered to be stable or unstable over time, and the global versus specific impact.
Those who associate failures and setbacks as a direct reflection to them as a person, as something that will continue to happen, and that they are going to fail in other domains are less likely to make the necessary changes to improve than someone who views the situation is just the opposite.
Instead, view these failures and setbacks not as a true representation of who you are, as a one-time thing, and that it only impacts this one event and you will be much better off.
You can also practice acceptance. Acceptance is often misunderstood as it is believed that accepting failure means that you are okay with performing at a substandard level. This is not the case because acceptance does not mean being happy about failure, but being able to accept those situations for what
they are, which allows you to move on more effectively to whatever is next. You cannot change the past, and you cannot predict the future, but you can identify what you need to do in the moment to improve your skills.
Finally, remind yourself of where you started and the progress you have made up at this point. Failure is not fun, there is no denying that, but just because you failed does not take away all the progress you have made. This may help you maintain a level of confidence to push forward, may spark some positive emotion, and may lead to a more optimistic approach so that things can get better.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Not everything is going to go as planned. Not everything is going to be perfect. You are going to face struggles and setbacks along your journey to mastery. While experiencing any type of setback can be frustrating, it does not have to mean that you have lost everything. Use these moments as a learning experience, acknowledge that you can do better, then redirect your focus on doing just that: getting better.
