Brummell Magazine 0913

September 2013

The little black book for the City

Boardroom style 30 Inspirational Women on Boards 2013 – the annual list of guiding lights • Men’s made-to-measure special Exciting new watches • Essential technology • Vibrant jewellery • Perfect penthouses • Adventure travel

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Welcome to Brummell In this issue – along with an expert’s guide to the best tech products out this season; a walk in Sweden’s arctic north; a green-eyed look at verdant-hued jewellery; and a 24-page menswear special showcasing customisable style – we celebrate some of the most inspiring women on boards, with a City focus. Brummell gathered together a distinguished panel of City women to champion 30 others they reckon not only fit the description, but serve on charity boards as well, or give back in mentoring roles and more. An influential and inspiring City figure in her own right, Kate Grussing expertly guided the panel. Below she writes about the challenges she and fellow judges faced selecting a number of highly impressive guiding lights from an ever-expanding source.

Joanne Glasbey, editor

Inspired choices

The five esteemed judges and I had a tough job choosing the women for our list of 30 Inspirational Women on Boards. Not because of any lack of suitable candidates – on the contrary, we had an abundance of impressive, successful and committed women with compelling corporate board roles from which to choose. What’s more, many of those we have highlighted have been serving on boards for over a decade, long before the recent focus on increasing their representation.

But we purposely decided to raise the proverbial bar and seek out those who were going above and beyond the call of duty by offering their services to charities or finding meaningful ways to give back to the City as well as helping to pull up the ladder those women coming up behind them.

My fellow judges and I were in awe of the range of extracurricular commitments made by so many of those shortlisted – undertaken on top of their day jobs and board roles. Don’t believe any media reports you read that suggest that the number of women at the top is small or that they don’t bend over backwards to help others when they get there.

Senior women often have to limit their plc board involvement when they are in executive roles due to potential conflicts of interest. But they more than make up for it with what they give back beyond the walls of their firms and the limits of the City.

Our list of 30 women, beginning on page 67, is but the best of a truly excellent field. Those following in their footsteps should study their diverse backgrounds, find inspiration in their myriad paths and take heart, knowing that there are many roads to success being walked by those up ahead – and that they are absolutely intent on bringing more of us along with them. The momentum they are gaining and the manifold impact they are having on the City has never been greater.

The recently published Lean In: Women,Work and the Will to Lead by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg has been a clarion call for ambitious women in business. Our 30 honorees have been leaning in for a long time. They highlight how those at the top of the City continue to inspire and make a difference for so many, men and women alike.

Kate Grussing

©T&CO. 2013 0800 160 1837

TIFFANY.COM

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v i e w t h e f i l m at w w w. G i e v e S a N D h a w K e S. C O m

Contents • Brummell

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by Neil Webb Show Media Brummell editorial 020 3222 0101 — Editor Joanne Glasbey Art Director Dominic Bell Managing Editor Lucy Teasdale Chief Copy Editor Chris Madigan Deputy Chief Copy Editor Gill Wing Staff Writer Charlie Teasdale Designer Jo Murray Picture Director Juliette Hedoin Copy Editor Sarah Evans Style Director Tamara Fulton Intern Lisa Aichhorn Creative Director Ian Pendleton Managing Director Peter Howarth — Advertising & Events Director Duncan McRae duncan@flyingcoloursmarketing.com 07816 218059 — showmedia.net brummell@showmedia.net — Visit Brummell’s website for more tailor-made content: brummellmagazine.net

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Foreword Columnist David Charters welcomes the growing number of women at the top of City firms but asks, have they got there too late?

Money no object Move over, Bentley Boys: the luxury car marque’s craftsmanship and elegant design is now appplied to handbags BEAUMONDE News Weekend bags, a tent for all seasons and fungi foraging in the Dolomites; plus jewellery from the new Diana biopic Materials Italian brand Stone Island might be most recognisable for its button-on label, but it should be known for its hi-tech materials Outerwear Steve McQueen might have been a very American king of cool, but to keep warm and dry, he wore Barbour Technology The likes of Apple love to talk about game-changing gadgets, but often the evolutions of tech are more functional Property What makes an apartment a luxury property these days is not flashy décor, but hidden equipment, extensive service and views After the City When headhunter Rupert Beeley discovered a neglected cinnamon plantation in Sri Lanka, he left London to be a spice merchant

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Colour reproduction by Fresh Media Group, groupfmg.com Printed by Ancient House Press, ancienthouse.co.uk Brummell is published by Show Media Ltd. All material © Show Media Ltd. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited.

While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, no responsibility can be accepted for any errors or omissions.

The information contained in this publication is correct at the time of going to press. £5 (where sold). Reader offers are the responsibility of the organisation making the offer – Show Media accepts no liability regarding offers.

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MEN’S STYLE News Personalised menswear and accessories from Savile Row and beyond Customisation Paul Smith on how he loves to add his twist to products including bicycles and books Shoes Bally, Berluti and JM Weston offer beautiful footwear that fits you and you alone The trench Burberry’s iconic coat may be rooted in World War I, but its online customisation service is pure 21st century Tailoring Armani’s made-to-measure suits are the choice of Hollywood’s red-carpet regulars Fabrics Ermenegildo Zegna’s cloth is so good, other designers buy them for their suits Watches This year’s new faces are launched – and they’re more innovative than ever Made to measure Express your style with made-to-measure suits, shirts, shoes and accessories Field sports Holland & Holland’s new tweed collection is as fully customisable as its guns FEATURES Brummell’s 30 Inspirational Women, 2013 Our annual list of women on the boards of City and other firms who inspire and impress Travel Northern Sweden’s Kungsleden translates as the ‘king’s road’ but, at 450km, it’s a little more epic than a stroll through Chelsea Women’s watches Dainty little round-faced fashion accessories?

Not any more. Today, watchmakers cater for women who know their horology Cigars The ladies will now refuse to repair to the drawing rom while the gentlemen smoke, because they fancy a Cohiba themselves Jewellery Without emeralds, jade or other verdant gems, you may end up green with, well…

By George A look at IWC’s new tourbillon, influenced by the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team

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a sporting life

Nick Compton, English National Cricketer 2 S av i l e R o w, L o n d o n 8 1 6 M a d i s o n Av e n u e , N e w Y o r k k e n ta n d c u r w e n . u s . c o m

Chasing rainbows

Foreword • Brum mell

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Have women in the City finally reached the top, asks David Charters, only to find that the pot of gold has run out?

Words: David Charters Illustration: Brett Ryder

After years of struggling for control of the wheel, it would be a sad irony if the arrival of high-achieving women in the driving seat of City firms coincided with the imposition of speed limits that made driving a lot less fun.

There was a time, not so long ago, when the only female faces around the boardroom table would have belonged to those taking the minutes or serving the tea. ‘Progress’ came with the appointment of a female head of HR, or some other area perceived as soft and cuddly – marketing, for example – while all the red-meat eaters from the revenue-generating areas were men, just as men headed up every firm in the City.

Competition changed the rules of the Old Boys’ Club. Big Bang and the arrival of the Americans meant talent and hard work became more important than wearing the right tie or having good connections.

Hard times are having an equally important effect.

Just as wars are traditionally good for military promotion, so a financial crisis can open up the field in the world of finance. Tough decisions are taken about dead wood, shortcomings among senior management become cruelly apparent, senior people are taken out and shot, and there is a premium on achievement rather than politics.

In other words, the shoddiness with which many financial institutions were run in the good times becomes a luxury too far when times are tough.

This is a climate in which characteristics generally associated with women in the City shine. Careful, conscientious preparation sees off back-slapping bluster. Quiet, measured presentation sees off Big Verbal Presence (of the loud, over-6ft-tall American football-playing ‘jock’ variety) and facts matter more than bold assertion.

At the same time, the banks are more imageconscious. Waves of dull, middle-aged men have been ritually fed to the Treasury Select Committee and its even more savage counterparts in the US, and the penny is finally dropping: one-dimensional financial stormtroopers leading privileged lives cut off from the real world, are unpersuasive witnesses for their industry – all the more so when everyone is

Generations of senior men have developed a sense of entitlement. Any position a woman has achieved in the City is on merit

seeking scapegoats. Generations of senior men have developed a sense of entitlement about both the rewards they are due and the limited accountability they should carry. Women are different. No one owes them a living; any position a woman has achieved in the City is on merit.

So, why do we not see more women fielded as representatives of their firms, if only to challenge public stereotypes? Ironically, an industry that has long epitomised the triumph of form over substance has got its presentation desperately wrong.

Anyone thinking I am a frustrated feminist should think again. I want the best for the City and, by extension, the UK and other nations that depend in varying degrees on the services and expertise provided by the City. You don’t get that by fishing in half the talent pool, and when you look at the mess that has emerged over the past five years, we clearly failed to harness the people we should have.

A hard lesson learnt? Possibly – but are we about to undo the good that might otherwise emerge? As a result of the crisis, we are changing the way people are paid in the City. It made sense to politicians and the green-eyed media commentariat to try to cap bankers’ bonuses. But what actually happened?

Higher base salaries – in some cases much higher, raising the fixed costs of the industry, which are paid for by customers and shareholders.

It made sense to pay bonuses over several years, allowing for claw-back possibilities and stopping people moving on before their errors were uncovered. The actual effect? Senior bankers have moved from the high-risk, high-reward culture of the past to what is arguably a more comfortable,

high-salaried environment where annuity-like annual receipts come through in instalments from previous years’ bonuses and there is less incentive to aspire to exceptional achievement. Overall, their pay may be down, but the pressures are also not there as they once were – yet, by comparison with most people they are still doing phenomenally well.

Paying bankers large chunks of bonus money in equity should create an alignment of interests with outside shareholders. But all I can say is: ask Lehman Brothers if that worked for them.

Widespread equity ownership among employees is not a substitute for effective risk management.

If we apply the law of unintended consequences to these changes to the pay regime in the Square Mile, we get a bunch of senior bankers who are locked into their current firms because of the rapidly accumulating backlog of previous years’ payments or vestings of shares, and are on high base salaries. They have a reduced incentive to risk a move elsewhere unless they are bought out of what has already been awarded to them and given a ‘welcome aboard’ sign-on arrangement. So they become expensive to hire and reluctant to be hired.

Job mobility suffers and, with it, the ability to shuffle the deck and allow fresh talent the chance to succeed. And who will be among the biggest losers? Women in the City, for whom prospects ought now to be better than ever before.

There was a time when I briefly thought banking, and in particular investment banking, might become genuinely blind to gender, race, religion, disability, sexual orientation – all the ancient prejudices that could stand in the way of optimising performance. Not because as an industry it was kind or enlightened or socially visionary, but because of relentless competitive pressure to achieve optimal performance every day. I still believe we have a better chance of getting there than almost any other industry. But it might take a while yet. l The Ego’s Nest, by David Charters, the fifth novel in the series about City anti-hero Dave Hart, is published by Elliott & Thompson, £6.99

“I love the way Victoria is changing. There are so many hidden gems in the area, the new architecture is wonderful and all the new developments feature public art.”

NATHALIE HAMBRO Artist, art consultant for Phillips auction house, Howick Place, and a Victoria resident for many years

At Land Securities, we believe a place is defined by its people.

Together we are creating a vibrant new destination for Londoners to enjoy, people from across the world to visit and somewhere that businesses and individuals are proud to call home.

To watch interviews with the creative people in our list of eminent ‘New Victorians’, visit our website.

Brummell

With the launch of its luxury bags, Bentley is luring women to share the spirit of the brand

Words: Joanne Glasbey

Bentley is renowned for its elegant design aesthetic, highly skilled craftsmanship, attention to detail and dynamic performance. This functional luxury and expertise has been translated into a new lifestyle venture: women with a passion for exclusivity can now wear a Bentley, as the company has recently launched a limited-edition handbag collection, comprising two designs, with only 80 pieces of each available globally. The Continental, shown here, is named for one of the marque’s famed lines, used

on Grand Tourers since 1962. The Barnato takes its name from Diana Barnato, the daring and glamorous daughter of Woolf Barnato, one of the original ‘Bentley Boys’. Both bags feature a feminine intepretation of Bentley’s design concepts, creating a strong link with some key elements of the cars, expressed in exterior and interior detailing. Once they own the handbag, Bentley Girls will clearly need the car, just to accessorise. bentley.com

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“What I like about Victoria is its vibrancy and architectural variety: it provides a context that will allow great design to flourish in the future. The fusion of different spaces and people is creating one compelling destination.”

LUKE SCHUBERTH Architect Luke Schuberth is the Managing Director of Aukett Fitzroy Robinson, and oversaw the regeneration of 123 Victoria Street

At Land Securities, we believe a place is defined by its people.

Together we are creating a vibrant new destination for Londoners to enjoy, people from across the world to visit and somewhere that businesses and individuals are proud to call home.

To watch interviews with the creative people in our list of eminent ‘New Victorians’, visit our website.

Beaumonde

An autumnal rural idyll in the Dolomites; weekend luggage by Mulberry and Hackett; rainproof French style from Aigle

Mountain high ↑ Discovering a shared love of life in the mountains of northern Italy, Stefano and Giorgia Barbini gave up life in the fashion world (he had a senior role at Escada; her grandfather founded Brioni) to restore a 16th-century hunting lodge.

They created a home where guests can enjoy contemplating architectural details, such as antique iron door locks, as much as gazing at the Dolomite peaks from the outdoor spa bath, while sipping prosecco by a nearby winemaker.

A helipad allows sightseeing flights or a hop to championship golf courses.

But the Lodge has its own par-three ‘course’: an entertaining collection of artificial greens and tees on the mountainside. San Lorenzo is open year round (there is skiing at nearby Plan de Corones or in the Sella Ronda), but is arguably at its most magical in autumn, when you can join Stefano on winebuying excursions or foraging in the woods for fungi, before joining Giorgia in the kitchen to cook them. For the full story, visit brummellmagazine.net; sanlorenzomountainlodge.com

Fabric of time ↑

Carry on ↑

In celebration of its 160th anniversary, French

This season, Hackett’s new menswear range

company Aigle has created a collection

explores the many facets of the well-dressed

inspired by pieces from its extensive archive.

British gent. The collection plays on guises of

The designs, each produced in limited editions

Brit including the academic, the eccentric

of 160, are made in France using fabrics such

artist, the military man and the racing driver,

as Ventile cotton – a waterproof cloth first

and fuses the traditional and the modern.

used in the Thirties to protect RAF pilots.

Bright Argyle patterns, felted wool duffel

The design of this women’s Sable Safari jacket

coats, flamboyant waistcoats, cashmere

dates back to 1960. Light, airy and waterproof,

polo shirts, fedoras, flat caps and this, the

it was originally intended for use in the

Maguire Briefcase – one of a series of eye-

African bush, but these days it would look

catching luggage pieces, along with holdalls,

at home on the streets of the urban jungle.

weekend and messenger bags and satchels.

Aigle Sable Safari Jacket, £500; aigle.com

Hackett Maguire Briefcase, £540; hackett.com

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Beaumonde • News

Case in point ↑ Sleek enough to take into a boardroom but sturdy enough to withstand the rigours of overhead bins, the Matthew 24-hour bag by Mulberry is a great option for the aesthetically minded business traveller. The bag, made from soft oak micrograin calf leather, offers impressive capacity with two large zipped compartments, a space for a laptop and an external iPad pocket. And the detachable luggage tag and webbing shoulder strap help to make the transition from departure lounge to window seat all the more fluid.

Mulberry Matthew 24-hour bag, £1,600; mulberry.com

Only connect A new book walks in the shoes of a woman who is, Troglodyte delight ↑ Camping can be enjoyable, weather permitting and provided you have the right equipment. The Cave Tent by German company Heimplanet was first conceived ten years ago by two friends on a surfing trip to Portugal. They wanted something that could be pitched easily in any conditions, even at night.

Taking inspiration from the molecular structure of a diamond, the Cave Tent is formed of an inflatable geodesic frame from which the waterproof inner tent hangs. It takes less than a minute to erect: take it out of the bag, pump it up and climb in. There are no parts to assemble, no slot A to affix to widget B and there’s no need for guy ropes – although they are supplied in case a particularly beefy patch of weather sets in.

Cave Tent, €549; heimplanet.com

according to the Evening Standard, ‘one of the best connected women in the Square Mile’. Vanessa Vallely, a networking expert and sought-after motivational speaker, began working in Fit for a princess ↑ As an official partner of the Cannes Film Festival, Chopard is no stranger to the red carpet and now the house has provided jewellery for a new film, Diana.

Caroline Scheufele, Chopard co-president and artistic director, worked closely with the film’s costume designer, Julian Day, to provide glamorous and romantic pieces from its collections which the Princess of Wales – played by Naomi Watts – might have chosen to wear.

They include the iconic earrings Diana apparently particularly liked to wear because they suited her hairstyle. chopard.com

the City at just 15 and speedily achieved everything she thought she’d ever wanted, albeit at personal cost. Heels of Steel provides extremely useful tips for facing career challenges and achieving life balance. heelsofsteel.co.uk

Materials • Beaumonde

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Pocket science

Thanks to a tireless dedication to research and development, Stone Island is ahead of the field in combining design and technical fabrics

Words: Charlie Teasdale

When you think of Italian style, you think of moody, handsome men in finely cut suits and women in colourful, figure-accentuating dresses.

High-end sportswear doesn’t necessarily spring to mind. However, Stone Island, a company founded in Bologna in 1982, has slowly but surely gathered a worldwide following of practically minded fashion enthusiasts who understand that technically brilliant casualwear needn’t leave you looking like a PE teacher.

Like many of fashion’s success stories, Stone Island was founded more by luck than judgment. Massimo Osti, its founder, was conducting extensive research into the functional characteristics of different fabrics during the mid-Seventies. One material that caught his eye was a thick truck tarpaulin resin-treated in red on one side,and blue on the other. The fabric was far too stiff to be of any sartorial use, so it was given a heavy pumice wash to break down the fibres to a more pliable level. The resulting cloth was so good (substantial, soft, appealingly unusual) that Osti decided to make a collection – seven jackets in six colours – called Tela Stella.

Osti also needed a name for his company.

‘Stone Island’ evokes the spirit of adventure and conjures notions of exhilarating maritime pursuits – the feel he wanted to capture. However, less prosaically, the moniker was ultimately chosen because the words ‘stone’ and ‘island’ are two of the most frequently used in the works of Heart of Darkness writer Joseph Conrad.

In 1983, Osti decided that his personal focus would shift to the creative side of things and that the company would benefit from the structure offered by a larger firm. Stone Island was taken over by Gruppo Finanziario Tessile. But the ethos of the brand wasn’t lost – Carlo Rivetti, a shareholder in the group, became enamoured with the range of products and made sure the extensive R&D work was maintained. His passion was such that, 10 years later, he bought out the entire firm with his sister and, five years ago, took over as creative director.

Many of Stone Island’s fabrics seem to have come from Star Trek – or at least Tomorrow’s World.

Jackets constructed from nylon monofilament, the technology used in water filtration; polyester cloths coated with a stainless-steel film, a process most commonly associated with aviation technology; Kevlar; rhomboidal polyester; polyurethane…

Lab report Clockwise from above: Dyes in Stone Island’s R&D facility; Reflex Mat jacket, £575; Ice Jacket J, £725; an archive piece from Tela Stella, Stone Island’s first collection

Monofilament, microspheres, rhomboidal polyester... The list of super-science terms illustrates the depth of Stone Island’s exploration

The list of terms plucked from the super-science industry is almost endless, but illustrates the depth of exploration the company undertakes.

For autumn/winter 2013, Stone Island has a performance-driven collection that takes inspiration from the military, as well as Massimo Osti’s endless investigation into shape and function. Highlights include the Mesh Reflective, a water- and windproof jacket coated in thousands of glass microspheres, giving it a unique shimmering aesthetic. The Ice Jacket J is made from polyurethane film embedded with micro-encapsulated pigments, which change colour in different temperatures – it’s perhaps the first time the concept of pathetic fallacy has been considered in the composition of outerwear.

For over 30 years, Stone Island has maintained its dedication to researching new fabrics, consistently producing innovatively designed clothing with functionality at its core. The terms used in product descriptions may be a touch baffling, but at the core of it, behind all the glistening composite hybrids and smart fabrics, Stone Island makes outstanding clothing that will not only protect you from the elements, but do it while wrapping you in a modern interpretation of timeless Italian style. l stoneisland.com

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Beaumonde • Style Steve McQueen™ licenced by Chadwick McQueen and the Terry McQueen Testamentary Trust, represented by Green Light. Images courtesy of François Gragnon

McQueen & country Steve McQueen may have been the daddy of American cool, but when it came to motorbikes, he rode – and wore – British

Words: Charlie Teasdale

Barbour’s wax jackets have, justifiably, been revered for more than 100 years as a staple of British life.

But recent collaborations with the likes of Paul Smith and Norton & Sons have proved that the company does not have a one-track mind when it comes to exceptional outerwear.

The Steve McQueen collection was launched in 2011. The American ‘King of Cool’ might seem an odd figure to represent such a quintessentially English brand, but McQueen was closely bonded with the South Shields company. His relationship with Barbour began in East Germany in 1964, when he wore one of the brand’s iconic wax jackets to compete in the International Six-Day Trial (ISDT) – a fearsome annual off-road motorcycle endurance team event.

However, it would seem McQueen’s sartorial ethos was one of function over form – his son Chad revealed recently that his father never considered his look and would simply throw on whatever was at hand. Again, it might seem odd that a clothing company would lionise a man so unconcerned with what he wore, but that’s where the affinity lies – the star of Bullitt and The Great Escape wanted clothes that were well made, reliable and unassuming, and that’s exactly what you get with Barbour.

McQueen’s relationship with Barbour began in 1964, when he wore one of its wax jackets to compete in a motorcycle trial event

For autumn/winter 2013, the brand has reshaped its Steve McQueen collection, with the spirit of competition as its main inspiration. The stand-out piece is the Casual Thunder Jacket, a military-style design that makes reference to those ISDT races via flag patches of two of the regularly competing teams, the US and UK, on the breast. In addition, McQueen’s choice, the Original International Jacket, has been reworked in a quilted style.

But the new collection includes more than just robust outerwear. There are T-shirts, printed with exclusive pictures of McQueen competing in the ISDT, and relaxed chinos reminiscent of the style the actor wore off set. Also included are the Archers Tarras Bag and Arcadia Holdall – two pieces of luggage that offer the same robust toughness as Barbour apparel.

The collection, along with the Lifestyle, Classic and International ranges, is available at the new Barbour store in Leadenhall Market. The 2,000 sq ft establishment has been open for a few months and stocks the full complement of the brand’s classic apparel for both men and women.

When it comes to Barbour’s Steve McQueen collection, well, whenever there is an opportunity to channel the style of the blue-eyed bandito, it should be grabbed with both hands, like the handlebars of a stolen Wehrmacht motorbike.

But it should come as a relief that you don’t have to leap a barbed-wire fence to have the freedom to buy such well-made clothing. l Barbour, 31 Leadenhall Market, EC3V 1LR; barbour.com

In the saddle Top and left: McQueen photographed wearing a Barbour waxed jacket in East Germany for the 1964 International Six-Day Trial.

Above: Barbour Steve McQueen collection Casual Thunder Jacket, £269

www. brummell magazine. net Launching soon, the refreshed Brummell website brummellmagazine.net is an essential resource: your edited selection of the very best in style, culture, food, drink, technology and motoring. With an elegant new design and featuring exclusive interviews, videos and reportage, it’s the indispensable daily dose of the little black book for the City.

Technology • Beaumonde

TV: Sony X9 4K Ultra HD If the 3D TV ‘revolution’ taught us anything, it’s that a nascent audiovisual format is likely to fail without sufficient content to support it. Thus, when 4K TVs finally went on sale this year, they were met with a degree of trepidation.

The technology itself is sound: the ultra-high-definition picture quality is mesmerisingly detailed – to the point of distraction. But what are we expected to watch? The answer is anything and everything, as Sony’s glorious X9 screen contains two processors: one to upgrade a regular TV signal into full HD, and a second to convert that into 4K (or four times the resolution of full HD). £4,000; sony.co.uk

Step change

To date, it has been an entertaining year for technological innovation: we’ve been tantalised by the dawn of the smartwatch, witnessed LG’s curved OLED TV screen and debated the ethics of Google’s attempt to turn us into walking webcams with its ridiculous-looking Glass headgear.

While it is debatable how radically those creations, as they stand, are likely to change our lives, there are certainly plenty of emerging gadgets that – rather than seeking to reinvent the wheel – are building on past experience to improve the way we interact with the world around us. Here are eight paragons of electronic evolution.

Words: Henry Farrar-Hockley

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Health: Withings Pulse ↓ The vogue for fitness trackers is in rude health, with a glut of new wearable monitors already released this year.

By far the most promising of these is the Pulse – a minute, pretty device that wirelessly transmits a doctor’s bagful of important data to your smartphone, including steps paced, calories burned, sleep patterns, elevation and your resting heart rate. The backlit blue touchscreen allows instant access to, say, your marathon stats, while daily progress is automatically uploaded to a secure online account. The 8g gadget also has a two-week battery life. £90; withings.com

Computing: Acer Aspire R7 As the diversity of mobile computing solutions continues to broaden, so too does the prospect of novel forms such as that of the chameleon-like Aspire R7.

Courtesy of its Ezel hinge, this Intel dual-core i7 PC is able to convert seamlessly from desktop workhorse to conventional laptop to fully-featured

Home Cinema: Loewe Orchestra 3D IS → This innocuous design solves an age-old gripe of home cinema: namely, inflexible speaker placement. The clever part is a pair of vertical drivers inside the 31cm-tall cylinder, each one aimed at a specially-shaped cone that ensures the sound is dispersed in a perfect circle. This means an end to positioning your speakers in a conventional layout and searching for that elusive ‘sweet spot’ in which to sit. Wherever you are in the room, you will enjoy the same accurate performance. It is also wireless, so there are no unsightly cables trailing along the walls either.

From £1,500; loewe.tv

tablet. Its 15.6in touchscreen brings the best out of Windows 8, and four Dolby Home Theatre-driven speakers add sufficient clout to film and music. While not perfect (it weighs 2.5kg and the trackpad position is nonsensical) it is surely the shape of things to come. £900; acer.co.uk

Audio: Meridian Director ↓ Demand for digital-to-analogue converters (DACs) is on the rise due to our collective penchant for digital music. These unobtrusive boxes promise an audiophile-quality link between digital sources (your PC, for instance) and an analogue audio system (that expensive hi-fi you invested in prior to the era of MP3).

Unlike rival DACs, the Director is able to call on the R&D derived from some of Meridian’s flagship components and will breathe new life – and a wealth of forgotten detail – into the contents of your iTunes library. £450; meridian-audio.com

Technology • Beaumonde

Gaming: PlayStation 4 ↓ The next-generation console vying with Microsoft’s Xbox One to be on every Christmas list, the PS4 is a huge improvement on its forebear, thanks largely to a raft of features designed to improve collaborative gaming. These include significant tweaks such as a ‘share’ button on the controller that allows users to upload snippets of gameplay instantly to a dedicated social platform, and the ability to use the handheld PS Vita console to join the fun remotely. All of which means powerful console gaming is no longer limited to the living room – progress indeed. £350; uk.playstation.com

Communication: Thuraya SatSleeve For anyone who frequently finds themselves outside the reach of a conventional mobile phone signal, the SatSleeve should prove a godsend.

Resembling an oversized iPhone case, the device adds satellite calls and SMS messaging to your Apple handset via a retractable aerial that taps into a network

Photography: Samsung Galaxy NX → While many camera manufacturers have dabbled with WiFi to simplify the process of backing up and sharing photos, most have been beset by issues of unreliable connection. Thankfully, the NX offers not just WiFi but 3G/4G connectivity as well, ensuring you can upload photos and video anywhere with a decent phone signal. It is powered by the latest Android OS, so you can download photo apps and edit pictures on the go, via the 4.77in touchscreen. Image quality is stellar, with a 20.3MP APS-C CMOS sensor, improved autofocusing and a swathe of Samsung lenses to choose from.

From £1,299; samsung.com/uk

covering over 140 countries. Compatible with the iPhone 4, 4S or 5, it uses Bluetooth to access your contacts book, and also acts as an additional battery for your phone. And for peace of mind in the back of beyond, a red emergencycall button is built into the chassis. £450; thuraya.com

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Property • Beaumonde

Hidden assets

Today’s luxury-apartment owners are rejecting ostentation in favour of discreet technology, subtle detail, impeccable service and, above all, stunning views

Words: Catherine Moye

Yesteryear’s swanky pads flaunted a brash blend of gizmos and furnishings from super-sized stereo bins to shag-pile carpeting with all the subtlety of a Big Fat Gypsy Wedding. How things have changed. Today, the hallmark of an upmarket apartment is that its gadgets will be well hidden.

Peter Allen, marketing and branding manager at luxury property developer Londonewcastle (londonewcastle.com) explains, ‘What’s cool now is the very opposite of having it all on show.

Even if you did just spend a fortune on the latest Gaggenau steam oven, you’d still want it to be concealed behind a panel.’

Smart technologies in particular – lights, display screens, docking devices, climate control, and even the flat screen television (if not in a dedicated cinema room) – are as well hidden as a Péringuey’s adder in a sand dune. Often, only the true cognoscenti would know that a state-of-the-art bathroom mirror, for example, is ‘steam-free’ as opposed to regular glass.

According to Andrew Dunn of property design company Finchatton (finchatton.co.uk), the same level of understated sophistication extends to the décor and interior design. Unlike the swanky pads of yore, what makes today’s classy home stand out is not the features but the detailing.

A display cabinet’s carpentry is considered as admirable as the objects on show. ‘[We go] to extraordinary lengths to ensure the most minute details are delivered to perfection, whether that is hand-stitched embroidery or bespoke shelving cabinetry,’ says Dunn.

Things such as the quality of wallpaper matters as much as its design, as does the provenance of

37

the stone flooring: Marron Laurent marble, for example. ‘Our clients are global citizens who have developed a very discerning style over recent years,’ says Dunn. ‘They no longer seek show homes with luxury interiors for the sake of luxury, but instead look for homes of an exceptional quality that are very “liveable”.’

And Dunn clearly knows his market. In early 2013 Finchatton sold all six apartments at The Lansbury, opposite Harrods in Knightsbridge, within weeks of the launch, despite asking prices of £3.6 to £12.5m – almost double the Knightsbridge average per square foot at the time. Finchatton is now embarking upon its most ambitious project: a scheme of 26 private residential apartments and five staff apartments at 20 Grosvenor Square, for which the company reportedly paid £250m.

Part of The Lansbury’s appeal to buyers was its partnership with The Capital on Basil Street, which meant that all owners benefited from the hotel’s five-star services. In fact, access to full concierge and hotel services – rather than just a bloke in an ill-fitting uniform at the front desk – is the true definition of an upscale home today.

At Stratford, in east London, Harry Handelsman’s Manhattan Loft Corporation is currently building Manhattan Loft Gardens (manhattanloftgardens.co.uk) – a double-cantilevered 42-storey tower with open-air gardens carved out of the building’s form. It will also include an upscale hotel. Only here, the residential and hotel aspects – from entrance to lobby, gardens to cafes – will fuse into one.

Handelsman believes that the luxury apartment of tomorrow will be defined by what happens

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Beaumonde • Property

beyond as much as within its fabric-lined walls.

‘I want to create a community of a building; an environment that is entertaining and amusing, where people will feel “this is where I belong” and “I can show it off to my friends”.’ His aim at Manhattan Loft Gardens is for ‘a social nexus where ideas can be exchanged: a catalyst for the government’s vision of a Tech City in Stratford.’

If Handelsman has yet to come up with a fresh term for his hotel meets residential community of visionaries, it can’t be long before someone coins one. These days no one lives in a flat but in an apartment or, if it’s a studio, then the term is now suite (as in a five-star hotel). As for selling an apartment with an upstairs and downstairs, that would be a duplex or a triplex, and open plan has long since morphed into lateral living.

Some things never change though, and that is the ultimate in swanky pads: a penthouse apartment with panoramic views. A recent report by property specialists CBRE found that penthouses in prime central London typically sell for a 60 per cent premium over the rest of a development.

Anyone in the market for a truly commanding vista right now might want to look at NEO Bankside, close to Tate Modern (from £7.5m to £22.5m; neobankside.com), and The Heron Tower (herontower.com) in the Barbican, where penthouses are scheduled to be released from late September, or the Bézier development at Old Street, available now (£5.75m; bezierlondon.com).

Foxtons (foxtons.co.uk) has a penthouse on the market at Imperial Wharf in Fulham at £24m, and an ultra-luxurious Candy & Candy-designed penthouse at Cheval Place in Knightsbridge

High life Previous page: Panoramic views from a corner apartment at The Heron Tower This page, from top: The detailrich design of the penthouse apartment at 1-3 Arlington Street; the feel of a luxury yacht in the heart of London, at the Bézier

is available through Knight Frank (price on application; knightfrank.co.uk).

Perhaps the ultimate penthouse, available now, is the Candy & Candy-designed apartment on the fifth and sixth floors of the Grade II-listed building that houses The Wolseley restaurant, at 1-3 Arlington Street in St James’s (candyand candy.com). The design team’s vision for the duplex – which was originally used as servants’ quarters – conceived every piece of architectural moulding, architrave and cornicing, creating a light-filled, lavishly decorated, five-bedroom residence with an extensive roof terrace and 360° views over central London’s topography. In the neighbourhood of royalty, this expansive apartment is fit for a king. l

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40

Beaumonde • After the City

Cinnamon is believed to improve memory and concentration. And a recent study even found it’s an aphrodisiac!

Spice of life City headhunter Rupert Beeley found a neglected Sri Lankan plantation while looking for a holiday property and decided to become a cinnamon merchant

Words: Charlotte Metcalf Illsutration: Katy Wakefield

‘Have you been there?’ is how Rupert Beeley responds when I ask him why he left a lucrative career as a headhunter in the City for a cinnamon plantation in Sri Lanka. ‘It’s simply the most beautiful place in the world,’ he continues, showing me the plans for the new house he is building.

Beeley and his wife, Charlotta, bought a piece of land in Sri Lanka a few years ago, after looking for somewhere warm in which to spend their winters. The land had been a cinnamon plantation, long neglected, and they decided to restore it and sell the spice as a way of making the land pay for itself. They soon noted the big difference between fresh cinnamon and the old, stale variety usually sold in supermarkets. ‘It’s like comparing freshly ground coffee to instant,’ says Beeley.

He decided to sell cinnamon online rather than via shops where he’d be unable to control how long it lay around. He had discovered that it tastes best grated but there was no satisfactory grater on the market. Looking into inventing one that would work, he realised that the amount of time it would need meant he was going to have to make a choice between cinnamon and the City.

Beeley originally worked as a banker at Morgan Grenfell and then Lehman Brothers. In 1995, he

set up Beeley & Company, a headhunting firm specialising in asset management. ‘I enjoyed meeting so many people during our searches,’ he says. ‘City people can be very difficult – particularly the more successful they are – but they are rarely boring.’

When he started to become interested in cinnamon, he had already shrunk his business in the wake of the financial crisis. Headhunting in asset management was under pressure at the same time as he was finalising designs for his grater.

In early 2012, he paid off all his bills, handed his office keys back to his landlord and gave the furniture and computers away to a school. He left his database to his research team (which now operates independently) and a list of headhunting rules on the Beeley & Company website, which are still there and have become a legendary introduction to headhunting in the City.

At the beginning of this year, the couple launched Cinnamon Hill. ‘It’s very different from headhunting,’ Beeley admits. ‘As a headhunter, all you need is knowledge and a phone and you build from there. In an online retail business, it’s vital to get everything right before you start: product, multicurrency e-commerce platform, order fulfilment, packaging, distribution and so on.’

Having spent years feeling he had to sell himself as a way of landing clients for his headhunting business, Beeley enjoys the anonymity of selling a product that has very little to do with him personally. He also relishes working with people outside the City for the first time. ‘It’s great fun dealing with e-commerce wizards in London, designers in Bristol, manufacturers in Lancashire and suppliers in Colombo and Hanoi. City people take everything so seriously and, outside it, everyone laughs at themselves much more easily.’

He sources his cinnamon in Vietnam as well as Sri Lanka. The graters are made in Lancashire from FSC-certified European crown-cut oak, meaning each one is unique, and the ceramic pots in which they sit are handmade in Staffordshire.

He’s certain that the graters, with two or three cinnamon sticks in their pots, will soon grace every kitchen table in Europe and America. ‘Cinnamon is delicious grated over everything, both savoury and sweet – coffee, fruit, cereal, pancakes, even casseroles… and, what’s more, it has huge health benefits. It’s said to improve the memory and enhance concentration, and a recent study has found it’s an aphrodisiac – so the City boys are going to love it! Besides, the grater looks really cool – it’s a gadget that no one’s seen before and we all love novelty.’

‘Always take that long shot,’ is one of Beeley’s headhunting tips, still on the Beeley & Company website. He’s certainly playing by his own rules. l cinnamonhill.com

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Men’s Style • Brummell

43

Menswear special — Individual style It’s a fact that very few people are a stock size: you may comfortably fill a 42in jacket but always find the sleeves are too short – or maybe you prefer your shirts with a particular collar that isn’t often on offer. Brummell is here to help.

Over the following 24 pages, we explore how to achieve a personalised wardrobe, avoiding the limitations of offthe-peg garments, with suggestions of customised services from made-to-measure suiting to shoes fit for purpose…

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Brummell • Men’s Style

Rake’s progress ↑ As Clive Darby, the man behind Rake menswear points out, the word luxury overpopulates the vocabulary of retail, and is regularly used to describe such positively un-luxurious things as toilet paper and baked beans. In his eyes, true luxury comes in the form of an object that has a rarity, a story and a soul – and it’s this belief that forms the ethos of the brand’s eveningwear collection, Rake Lounge. Darby himself often rummages around fabric mills, hoping to find a roll of something beautiful. When he does, Rake will create a few pieces.

And once they’re gone, they’re gone.

The few who buy them will possess a garment that is beautiful, well made and incredibly rare. To learn more about Darby’s illustrious career, the other Rake collections and the new Mayfair store, visit brummellmagazine.net and read the full interview. rakestyle.com Decisions, decisions ↑ Eton, a Swedish company that just opened its first flagship store on Mayfair’s South Molton Street, is perhaps not your first port of call for made-to-measure shirts but, arguably, it should be. The options are near inexhaustible. First choose between slim, contemporary or classic body fits, although all can be altered to suit you better later. Then it’s on to the fabric – standard cloths are offered in 46 styles, with each discontinued after a year, but there are also always 21 limitededition fabrics on sale for just six months. Differing collar styles come in abundance – there are 18 in total, and you can even embroider your initials onto one of the two cuff options.

The completed shirt will be delivered in a mere four weeks – just enough time to grow a meaty beard similar to that of the man pictured, although that’s very much your choice. etonshirts.co.uk

Fabric of time The longer you spend at your desk, the less time you have to sculpt your sartorial identity. Private Tailoring at Gieves & Hawkes allows you to create an impressive wardrobe with just one series of measurements and fittings with an experienced Savile Row tailor.

Your records are then filed and any new suits, blazers, trousers, shirts and even slippers can be delivered in six weeks, without further fuss. gievesandhawkes.com

Tooth and claw ↑ Alexander McQueen opened its flagship menswear store on Savile Row less than a year ago and it’s already a mainstay of the street. At first glance, it seems just like any other high-end establishment, but a closer look reveals gothic McQueen touches, such as skulls on the walls, animal claws in the furniture and spinal cords as clothes rails. This year, the brand launched its bespoke and made-to-measure services. McQueen clothing reveals its true nature through unusual details, so, for clothing with a tad more narrative, look no further. alexandermcqueen.com

Bigger boys ↑ In the wake of yet another successful London Collections: Men series, it is becoming more and more apparent that menswear is rapidly catching up with its female counterpart. Testament to this is the recent expansion of the Louis Vuitton concession at Harrods.

The augmentation allows for a more extensive range of men’s travel goods and cases, and even includes a hot-stamping service, allowing customers to personalise bags, belts, wallets, card holders and any other LV leather goods that may be at hand. louisvuitton.co.uk

Old sport ↓ After a brief hiatus in the UK market, Kent & Curwen is on the cusp of a triumphant return, as a new store in Savile Row is set for an October opening. The ‘modern haberdashery’ will feature a dedicated tailoring department where clients can order suits in such styles as bead stripe and Prince of Wales check. There’ll even be Loro Piana fabrics available. Fans of the brand’s collegiate style will be pleased to hear that the full range of ready-towear pieces will also be on offer, including its famous cricket jumpers. kentandcurwen.co.uk

Private property ↑ It’s taken just 35 years for Pal Zileri to garner a reputation for creating fine, unmistakably Italian menswear. Abito Privato, its made-to-measure service, lets you enjoy a personalised product unlike anything else. Choose between a series of all-natural fabrics, including camel hair, natural cotton or Biella wool, then start the personalisation process – which, for a suit, would involve an average of 180 steps and adjustments.

Aside from fitting like a dream, the creation will feature a series of hand-stitched details, as well as that unmistakeable Italian stilo. palzileri.com

Bring it back ↑ When James Bond first appeared on the big screen in 1962, he was wearing a Turnbull & Asser shirt, so it comes as no surprise the craftsmen that dressed the man who saved the world are still thriving today. The bespoke shirt service is not just a case of measure, make and deliver – Turnbull & Asser asks that you return your shirt after wearing and laundering it three times, so it may be finally adjusted to a second-skin like state. There aren’t many brands left that will take the time to do that for you, that’s for sure. turnbullandasser.co.uk

46

Brummell • Men’s Style

Custom house Paul Smith likes nothing better than to take the familiar and give it his famous design twist.

The latest customisation? His new shop

Words: Peter Howarth

The new Paul Smith store at 9 Albermarle Street, London W1, has a highly unusual façade.

Designed by a team of young architects called 6A, it is made from textured cast iron from a foundry in Essex that normally makes the nosing for stairs on the Underground, and manhole covers.

‘I wanted something different to everything else in the area,’ says Sir Paul Smith from his cluttered office in Covent Garden, which is piled high with books, model robots, fabric swatches and paraphernalia that denotes a curious mind.

‘It had been rebuilt in the Eighties in a mock Georgian style, which was perfectly nice,’ he says of the building that houses his latest store, ‘but I wanted to play with a new idea. All the stores around it have big minimal glass windows, while I have these half -circle windows reminiscent of Burlington Arcade down the road, sitting in slightly rusty iron. Then to personalise it, I’ve done these simple little drawings of a cat, bird and boot that have each been cast into the panels. I have this idea that someone might walk past with their son or daughter and discover these – like a little secret.’

This, along with other idiosyncratic design details in the store – a bridge that runs between

two buildings through a courtyard, floorboards that on closer examination reveal they have been fitted together like a jigsaw, and a room lined with 26,000 dominoes – stands as a testament to Paul Smith’s love of personalisation.

‘What’s the point of every fashion store in the world looking the same? Or even every store for the same brand looking identical wherever you are in the world? That’s so boring. I want each of my stores to have its own character. And ideally, a character that reflects its setting in some way.”

So, in Los Angeles, Paul Smith’s store is a large pink concrete box that, when set against the blue sky, looks like something from David Hockney’s palette – architecturally, it is reminiscent of a movie set. In Melbourne, he has a shop in a renovated lawyers’ chambers built in 1908, and, in Nottingham, a five-storey Grade II listed 18th-century townhouse built in 1738 as a home home for a wealthy bachelor, the Honourable Rothwell Willoughby.

The latest venture at 9 Albermarle Street, which is situated in the heart of Mayfair’s art quarter, is suitably dedicated to ‘curiosities’, he says. Here you’ll find furniture from the Fifties,

Sixties and Seventies. It has been restored and customised (re-covered in contemporary fabrics)

by Paul Smith. There are also reframed old prints and unusual objets, including pieces in multiple colours of Murano glass from Venice. Then, across the bridge, Sir Paul plans to curate elements of his clothing and accessories collections, but with an eye to exploring particular looks and items as the whim takes him. ‘For a while, I might put in only navy blue and grey suits in about 10 different fabrics. Or one style of brogue in 10 colours.

Everything will have a point of view.’

Smith explains that what he is doing with his stores is no different to what he has always done with his collections. He is, he explains, someone who believes in design through the combination of ideas. In this sense, he is the arch customiser.

Sure, you can buy a fully bespoke suit from him at his store in Notting Hill (Westbourne House – a Kensington townhouse), and this will be uniquely made for you. But customisation lies at the heart of everything the designer does.

‘Because I never trained and followed the traditional route to becoming a designer, it’s always been about taking things that already exist and

Reinventing the feel Opposite, clockwise from far left: John Lobb shoes; the Leica X2; an edition of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, published

by Hodder & Stoughton; Paul Smith No.9 Albermarle Street.

This page, clockwise from right: re-covered Arne Jacobsen Swan chair; John Lobb shoes; Mercian bicycle; Paul Smith Los Angeles

changing them,’ he explains. ‘For example, a simple white shirt is transformed by introducing a coloured button hole, or the way you cut the sleeve, or the softness of the collar.

‘It’s about little secrets. I’m not interested in making clothes that are too attention-seeking or showy.’ Smith indicates his own shirt: ‘Take this white shirt I’m wearing today – it’s in cotton poplin, but the inside of the cuff is in a textured cotton piqué. You can’t even see it, but I know it’s there.’

He explains how this principle of subverting traditional conventions is what Paul Smith is based on. A jacket for next spring, for example, is constructed from a herringbone cloth that is woven at two different scales. Part of it is in a small pattern, part in a large one, to create an unusual optical effect. ‘Or I’ll take a stripe and put pinpricks of colour in it,’ he continues. ‘So you have a suit that’s still acceptable for business, but that has a point of difference.’

Even when he has collaborated with other brands on special-edition projects, such as creating bicycles with Mercian, a Mini car, or a Leica camera, he still sees his role as that of a stylist, bringing a custom-design approach rather than

tearing up the rulebook. ‘When I worked with John Lobb to create a range of special-edition shoes, I didn’t want to redesign John Lobb’s styles, but instead wanted to give my take on its wonderful shoemaking craft – adapting a model they have been producing for 80 years.’

So what did he do?

‘I took an antique leather that the craftsmen there had only ever done in black or brown and we did it in colours like racing green and blue – something they would never have dared do.’

Equally, when he designed a bottle for Evian, he didn’t want to change the shape. ‘The idea was that this should be a bottle that could sit proudly on a table in its own right as a decorative item,

Because I never trained, it’s always been about taking things that already exist and changing them

instead of the water being served decanted, in a jug. So I put a playful colour around the top.

It was inspired by the idea of one of those party poppers, imaging that a streamer had fallen on the bottle. It was a little playful touch.’

Smith has a few new customisation projects in the pipeline with other brands, but says he can’t talk about them yet. Instead, he just wants people to check out the new Albermarle Street store.

‘You know, it’s about starting conversations,’ he says. ‘In the early Eighties, when I opened in Covent Garden, people were surprised to find a clothes shop selling matt black Braun calculators designed

by Dieter Rams in a space furnished with mahogany shelves and cabinets from an old chemist’s and chocolate shop in Nottingham. But that’s what I wanted to do: challenge people, surprise them.’

In an echo of those days, one of the first things he will bring to his new store is an exhibition of some of Dieter Rams’ iconic designs for Braun from that time. Customers of Mr Smith, prepare to be surprised and challenged all over again. l Paul Smith’s new store is at 9 Albermarle Street, London W1S 4BL; paulsmith.co.uk

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Brummell • Men’s Style

Fit for purpose Shoes handmade to your personal requirements are a true expression of luxury – and your feet will thank you

Words: Charlie Teasdale Illustration: Isaac Bonan

Elsewhere in this issue, Clive Darby, the owner of Rake Menswear, claims that for something to be luxurious it ‘must have a narrative, a soul and a unique rarity’. A pair of shoes for example, could be cast from the finest, most covetable leather, but if the same model is worn the world over by whole leagues of professional footballers, then where’s the luxury?

Perhaps the best method of acquiring a pair of truly exceptional shoes is to design them yourself.

Bally, the Swiss leather-goods house, now offers a digital service that allows the customer to create his own pair of classic Scribes, either online or via a dedicated app. The step-by-step process includes the choice of style, material, colour, sole and fit variation – there’s even the option to share your creation on various social networks. Once the design is finalised, your shoes will be handmade by the craftsmen at the Bally Swiss Centre of Excellence and finished off with that inimitable metal crest in the centre of the sole.

If you don’t trust yourself to design your own, then opt for something a little more classic and

invest in a pair of JM Weston shoes. Enquire about the ‘Special Orders’ service, available in its Jermyn Street store, and you will be guided through style, colour and material options by the manager.

Maintenance of a beautiful pair of brogues is just as important and, thankfully, the chaps at JM Weston are there for you in an aftercare capacity.

A professional polishing service is offered at any store; soles can be replaced with the minimum of fuss, thanks to the composition of its shoes; and you can even send them back for a restorative pampering session, in which they’ll be disassembled, rejuvenated and expertly put back together.

At the Jermyn Street store, you will be guided through style, colour and material options by the manager

Fans of Berluti’s elegantly elongated shoes will be pleased to hear that the brand has just opened its first ‘Maison’ in London. Located in a three-storey Victorian townhouse on Conduit Street, it has a dedicated bespoke department to which clients can bring their shoes for repair or at which they can commission a brand-new creation. Aside from the choice of four construction methods – Goodyear, Blake, Norwegian and non-welted – customers will have access to the house’s famous range of patinas, such as ‘Tobacco Brown’ or ‘Saint-Emilion Red’, which are hand-finished onto the Venezia leather by Berluti’s expert colourists.

So there you have it. Three solid opportunities to personally create a pair of shoes that not only look amazing and fit like a sock, but permit you to crow gleefully about their very conception. And they would certainly pass Mr Darby’s rigorous standards for luxury status. l Bally, 116 New Bond St, W1S 1EN; bally.com Berluti, 43 Conduit St, W1S 2YJ; berluti.com JM Weston, 60 Jermyn St, SW1Y 6LX, jmweston.com

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50

Brummell • Men’s Style Collar option Burberry Bespoke olive double-breasted trench coat with mink collar, from £2,000, depending on other personalisation options

Unique boutique

WIth eight million options available via the online Burberry Bespoke service, you can create a completely individual version of the iconic trench

Words: Peter Howarth Photography: Phill Taylor

In 1914, the War Office commissioned Burberry to adapt its officer’s coat to the demands of contemporary warfare. The result was the trench coat, which, after the war, became popular with civilians, and has remained so to this day. Many versions of this classic style – from Burberry and others – have featured details that recall its history on the battlefield, including epaulettes, storm flaps and D-rings on the belt, originally used for attaching equipment.

According to Burberry’s chief executive Angela Ahrendts, one of the most significant decisions she made when she took over the helm of the company in 2006 was to build the business around this one garment. Together with chief creative officer Christopher Bailey, she determined to make the trench coat the piece that defines Burberry.

‘We are the only brand born from a coat,’ explains Ahrendts. The trench has therefore led the charge for the new Burberry, connecting the heritage to the future ambitions of the company: ‘The trench has to be at the front and centre of everything we do,’ she explains. ‘At every fashion show, the first

outfit is a trench, and it’s no coincidence that the model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley is wearing a satin trench coat in our Body fragrance campaign or that our first social-media project was the “Art of the Trench” [a photographic homage by blogger The Sartorialist].’

The Burberry trench is now a contemporary fashion statement – it continually evolves according to Bailey’s vision: season by season, it comes in different styles, lengths, fabrics, colours and with new buttons and accessories. But it is also a constant reminder of Burberry’s Britishness.

Indeed, the company has a real commitment to its national roots: all the models in its ad campaigns are British, as is the music it champions online and at its shows. Its cashmere is woven in Elgin, Scotland. And, in a significant move, Burberry has moved its fashion shows for women and men from Milan back to London.

This is also a clever piece of positioning in marketing terms, and certainly accounts for some of the brand’s growing popularity in emerging markets, especially China. However, it is also a genuinely felt point of difference within the company. For example, the old factory up in Castleford still makes the iconic trench, and the possibilities available when you have a small, skilled production team have spawned an innovative personalisation programme, allowing you to design your own trench coat and have it made in Yorkshire to your own specifications.

‘Burberry Bespoke’ is a digital offer that allows you to create your own garment to include an incredible eight million different options, including crocodile epaulettes, a mink lining and studs under the collar. Specifically, personalisation options include changes to length, style, epaulette, cuffs, lining, warmer, under-collar, buttons, embroidery and belt.

And while Burberry Bespoke lives mainly online, you can also access it at the brand’s global flagship store at 121 Regent Street, where you can have a consultation with a sales assistant and create your own trench coat using an iPad. This one piece of activity could stand as a case study of how, under Ahrendts and Bailey, Burberry has combined tradition with modernity, and customer service and British craftsmanship with digital media. Online, the user is able to style and personalise the House’s hero garment, and can view his model from multiple angles, with the option to virtually button-up his creation and lift the collar up or down. ‘Christopher said from the outset that he wanted to take the brand younger,’ says Ahrendts. ‘And if you’re going young, you really have to go digital.’ l Prices for a bespoke trench coat start at £1,095.

Delivery for core styles can be arranged within four weeks, while leather and shearling take eight weeks and longer should be allowed for exotic options.

Burberry Bespoke is available at uk.burberry.com

WE SINCERELY HOPE YOU NEVER HAVE TO GO THROUGH EVERYTHING OUR WATCHES GO THROUGH. Making a pilot’s watch is a piece of cake, right?

and a pilot may occasionally have to make a small revision to the flight plan.

Design a few fancy dials. Add some luminous numbers. Photograph it on a male model posed insouciantly against a fighter plane and Bob’s your uncle.

Like ejecting at 500 mph.

It’s passed an arduous fifteen day certification process administered by no less a body than COSC, the official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute.

So we also enlisted the help of MartinBaker, the pioneers of the ejector seat.

As a result, it’s 99.998% accurate.

(We’re working on the other 0.002%.)

Our thinking is this: a true pilot’s watch should be able to endure everything the pilot does.

At their testing facility in Denham, our watch was put on the wrist of a crash test dummy and fired from the cockpit, again and again and again. Enduring forces of up to 30G in the process.

It’s safe to say that most people reading this are unlikely to be asked to fly a mission at 100,000 feet or eject from a stricken fighter.

And we mean everything.

Yet the Bremont lived to tell the time.

We take a different approach.

Our U-2 watch has, as the name suggests, How? been developed for the elite U-2 spy Well, instead of one watch case, we plane squadron at Beale Air Force base build two. in California.

The outer case is solid steel. Seven U-2 planes operate at altitudes as high times thicker than you’ll find in the as 100,000 feet, and at temperatures as average watch. (We bombard it with low as minus 40 degrees. electrons to toughen it up.)

So, with the help of the squadron, we subjected our watch to extensive testing to make sure it could withstand the same extremes.

Inside this is a second case, held in place by a flexible ring that absorbs any shocks and protects the delicate mechanism inside.

Spy planes aren’t always the most welcome of guests in foreign air space,

Delicate it may be, but the mechanism doesn’t get an easy ride either.

But it’s reassuring to know that if you did, your watch wouldn’t let you down.

If you look after a Bremont, it should last you a lifetime.

In fact, as our tests prove, even if you don’t look after it, it should still last a lifetime.

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Signature design Giorgio Armani Made to Measure has graced Hollywood’s finest – now you can experience the service for yourself

Star quality Giorgio Armani Made to Measure wearers Clive Owen (far left) and George Clooney (nearest right) with Julia Roberts and Signor Armani

Words: Peter Howarth

‘Back in 2005, for spring, I celebrated the 30th anniversary of the founding of my company by entering the world of haute couture for the first time. I figured that in these times of big fashion corporations, globalisation and brands run by accountants, it is important to remember where fashion design started – with the desire to make beautiful clothes for people to wear.’ So says Giorgio Armani of his launch of the Giorgio Armani Privé collection, which is now a staple of the Paris haute couture calendar twice a year.

This was a bold decision for an established ready-to-wear designer to take, but Armani thought the time was right to return to the heart of the creative process and produce a collection made entirely by hand, from the finest materials. This has led to a similar conviction with regard to menswear.

‘Tailoring is my first love, and a hand-madeto-measure suit is really the male equivalent of a woman’s couture gown,’ says the designer. ‘I know this from experience: there is great pleasure to be derived from the process of creating a unique garment for yourself, and from the knowledge that you are wearing is a one-of-a-kind piece.’

Since launch, one of the notable things the house has seen is that, just as its female celebrity fans have embraced the Giorgio Armani Privé couture collection for their red carpet appearances,

its male aficionados have opted for Made to Measure.

Matt Damon, George Clooney, Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert Downey Jr, Clive Owen, Samuel L Jackson and Robert De Niro have all made use of the exclusive service.

Giorgio Armani Made to Measure is now available at key stores worldwide, including the one at 37 Sloane Street, London. The designer explains that the idea is to give people something that is personalised, but still has the Armani signature of elegance and comfort; after all, he is credited with redefining the idea of modern tailoring, so wisely his design signature is still all over these specially made garments.

‘Through the service a man gets all the benefits of a tailor-made garment – unique fit, fabric, lining, buttons, details – as well as the Giorgio Armani look. This collection brings the traditional and the modern together, combining the origins of the tailor’s craft with the innovations of a contemporary design studio.’ The fact that the finished garment will still look like an elegant, softly styled Armani designer suit is significant. This is what sets Armani Made to Measure apart from similarly tailor-made offerings from more traditional firms.

The process is based on consultations with skilled assistants in store. You can feel the fabrics, select those you like (the staff can advise which

cloths work best in which styles), choose your own lining and button style, and select a silhouette: there’s a choice of lapels – single- or doublebreasted – and pocket positions, and decide whether to have pleated or non-pleated trousers.

Once you’ve had your first suit made to your satisfaction, the store will keep your details so you can be sent fabric swatches and order new suits by phone, in the confidence that they will fit.

‘What I like as a customer of my own Made to Measure service is that I have been part of a very specific design process, and as a result I have created an exclusive and unique piece; I also know that I will not meet anyone wearing the same suit as I have on.

Each garment even features a personalised label to reinforce this message,’ says Armani.

It’s reassuring to realise that even a man who must have one of the most impressive wardrobes in the world can still get excited about going shopping. l Giorgio Armani Made to Measure is available at 37 Sloane Street, London SW1X 9LP. Prices start at £2,000 for styles in classic fabrics such as simple cottons, linens and virgin wools; delivery time is approximately six weeks and there are two fittings: the first when initial measurements are taken, the second once the garment has been delivered, to allow for final adjustments and alterations; armani.com

210x275 Brummel.qxd:Mise en page 1 22/08/13 12:11 Page1

FRENCH MASTER SHOEMAKER SINCE 1891

S I G N AT U R E L O A F E R 1 8 0 Flame marked petit-point welt stitching, Limoges.

Optional extras

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When it comes to producing suit cloth, Zegna is the choice of designers such as Versace and Armani.

But its own made-to-measure service itself offers enormous scope for personalisation

Words: Josh Sims

Collars and cuffs Left: At Zegna made-to-measure boutiques, the choices of detail are extensive.

Above: Special-edition fabrics – with your name, motto or message on the selvedge

When the cinematic James Bond first broke with tradition in wearing not a British-made suit but an Italian one – first with Brioni, later with Tom Ford (whose suits are also manufactured in Italy) – fans considered it a heresy. But there was good sense here: a franchise looking for ways to reinvent itself perhaps had to reinvent the wardrobe too, retaining the long-standing construction qualities of British made-to-measure suiting, but moving it towards something more obviously contemporary. Certainly, for all that Savile Row may remain a Mecca of the hand-made and personalised, Ford’s suits, in particular, added the gently modern nuances of their manufacturer, Ermenegildo Zegna.

It is with good reason that the 103-year-old Piedmont-based family company has become a go-to manufacturer not just for other brands (it also makes for Gucci, for example) but for private individuals seeking a more personalised, 21st-century suit. Not least is the reassuring fact that it is one of the few luxury giants to specialise in menswear.

Then there is the all-important attention it pays to its fabrics – indeed, the company is as much world-leading textile manufacturer as clothing label, making some 2.3 million metres of top-flight fabric a year for the likes of Versace and Armani.

Few companies can also claim to oversee the production of its woollen cloths from flock to cutting table, such that – as Zegna notes – a single suit and the materials from which it is made will effectively have passed through some 500 different pairs of hands on its journey from sheep’s back to yours.

The company even inaugurated its Vellus Aureum Trophy, an annual competition to develop the finest wool crop capable of producing cloths of 13.9 microns and finer (a human hair, incidentally, is around 50). Even its speed of manufacturing is impressive: being such a giant, Zegna is able to

deliver a fully-customised suit within a month to any of its stores in the world, where the final inspection and fine-tuning of fit is done in house.

Arguably, however, the biggest draw to Zegna’s made-to-measure service for someone looking to give a personal touch to a fundamentally uniform garment, is the sheer variety of options. Closer to the endless variations available through full bespoke than most made-to-measure operations, Zegna’s starts with those distinctively continental cuts, from its Neapolitan classicism – broader shoulders and a longer line, for a touch of the Agnellis – through to its bestselling, more relaxed style, with more lightly constructed shoulders and a shorter jacket, for a Mastroianni mood.

But then it gets down to the nitty gritty of linings, vents, buttonholes and even the shape and material of the buttons themselves.

This is not custom-making for the indecisive, but for the extremely particular (or ‘picky’, as some might less favourably describe them). There are over 500 suiting and 200 shirting fabrics to ponder, along with decisions about cuffs, collars, mother-of-pearl buttons and quite where to put your monogram. For a price, Zegna will even weave you one of a special edition of 30 fabrics, your name woven into its selvedge.

There are over 500 suiting fabrics to ponder, along with decisions about cuffs, collars, buttons and quite where to put your monogram

Anna Zegna, image director of Ermenegildo Zegna, explains that Zegna clients ‘understand that personalisation starts from the very beginning, as an organic process, from the fabric to the lapels to the cuffs – it’s a process for the discerning gentleman who enjoys the privilege of choosing his own fabrics and finishing touches to create some impeccable clothing.’

Of course, some men will not want to stop at their suits: Zegna has recently launched a new ‘Personalisation Project’ out of its Sloane Street store that extends made-to-measure beyond the more standard and popular suits and shirts to casualwear and accessories.

Want a raincoat in a specific colour or a cashmere sweater made to order for a better fit?

No problem. Want a one-inch wide tie in cerise silk shantung? It’s yours, no questions (of taste) asked. It is, says Anna Zegna, an extension of the company’s approach to business: Zegna is vertically integrated, and now its made-to-measure offer is too. ‘It is a service to our clients to allow the brand they love to tailor-make a complete wardrobe, specifically to their desires,’ she says.

Naturally, just in case such a tie was not sufficient enough a statement of your own distinctive style, each personalised item comes with your name embroidered on the label.

That particular addition may be an affectation – after all, traditionally, personalised clothing went nameless, since it went without saying that every man of wealth and rank had his wardrobe made just for him. But it also nods to Zegna’s forward-thinking awareness of the increasingly common consumer philosophy that it is not enough that something is well made – it needs to be well made just for me. l zegna.com

New faces

The latest watches to go on sale this season reveal new looks for their brands. Some have had subtle lifts and tucks. Others have undergone a complete identity change

Photography: Andy Barter Words: Simon de Burton

From left: Speedmaster 57, Omega; Ingenieur Perpetual Calendar, IWC; Classic Fusion Ultra-Thin Skeleton, HUblOT; WWI Regulator, bell & ROSS; Rm 025, RICHaRd mIlle; U-2 blue, bRemOnT. Selection of silk and wool/silk mix handkerchiefs, from ÂŁ19.95, HaRROdS, andeRSOn & SHePPaRd and PenROSe lOndOn

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Omega Speedmaster 57 ↑ Launched in 1957, the Speedmaster chronograph landed in the history books in 1969 when Buzz Aldrin made it the ‘first and only watch to be worn on the moon’ during his Apollo XI lunar excursion.

Since then, the famous ‘Speedy’ has been made in many configurations. One of the newest is the 57, loosely inspired by the original hand-wound model.

This version benefits from the latest super-accurate co-axial movement and a new sub-dial arrangement in which the 12-hour and 60-minute counters are combined. Steel, yellow gold, red gold, titanium or steel and gold cases are available.

From £5,620 (steel); omegawatches.com

IWC Ingenieur Perpetual Calendar ↑ One of a range of nine new Ingenieur watches created to celebrate IWC’s partnership with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One team, the Ingenieur Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month is a truly impressive piece of engineering that uses the brand’s first F1 grade titanium aluminide case.

Inside you’ll find an in-house 89802 perpetualcalendar movement that will not need adjusting until 2100 (assuming the watch is kept running). Five discs make up the digital date display and leap-year indicator, and the flyback chronograph function runs the hour and minute totaliser at 12 o’clock. £34,900; iwc.com

Hublot Classic Fusion Ultra-Thin Skeleton ↑ Having created cult watches with its vast and ostentatious ‘Big Bang’ models, Hublot now revisits its more classical roots with this relatively modest, 42mm-diameter dress watch, which features an uncharacteristically slim case housing a manualwound movement measuring just 2.9mm thick.

To further demonstrate the brand’s horological mastery, the movement is skeletonised and fully exposed. The watch is available in titanium, as shown, or in Hublot’s patented ‘King Gold’, a hardwearing mix of 18ct gold and ceramic. Each is available with a leather strap or matching bracelet. £11,400; hublot.com

Bell & Ross WWI Regulator ↑ Bell & Ross aimed for a classic, military look with this beautifully elegant regulator, which captures a bygone era with its domed crystal, slim wire lugs, silvered dial and blued steel hands. The term ‘regulator’ was originally used to describe highly legible and accurate clocks and pocket watches with a centrally mounted hand to indicate minutes and a smaller sub dial to display hours. Naming this watch after World War I is connected to the upcoming centenary of the start of the war; the first wristwatch with a regulator dial didn’t appear until 1983. Just 99 pink-gold examples will be made. £14,000; bellross.com

Richard Mille RM 025 ↑ Maverick watchmaker Richard Mille likes to fly in the face of convention by incorporating complications traditionally considered suitable only for dress watches into his ultra-durable sports models. For example, he created a tourbillon for Rafael Nadal to wear on the tennis court. While most of Mille’s watches have a distinctive cushion case shape, the RM 025 is equipped with a vast, 50.7mm diameter, 20mm thick red gold one containing a tourbillon and chronograph movement with power reserve, torque and winding indicators. Oh, and it’s also a dive watch designed to work to 300m. £475,500; richardmille.com

Bremont U-2 Blue ↑ As the name suggests, Bremont’s U-2 Blue is a blue-dialled version of the original U-2 chronometer first created in 2010 at the behest of members of the US Air Force’s 9th Reconnaissance Wing, based at Beale, California, who pilot the celebrated U-2 spy planes introduced during the Fifties. Based on Bremont’s ultra-shock-resistant ‘M-B’ watches – designed in conjunction with Buckinghamshirebased aircraft ejection seat-maker Martin-Baker – the ‘Blue’ differs in having a transparent case back and an anodised blue case band to complement the distinctive colouring of the dial. £3,595; bremont.com

Big Bang Unico.

UNICO column-wheel chronograph movement, 72-hour power reserve.

Entirely manufactured in-house by Hublot.

Case crafted in a new red gold alloy: King Gold, with ceramic bezel. Interchangeable strap by a unique attachment.

BOUTIQUE LONDON 31 New Bond Street / Harrods Knightsbridge Tel. 020 3214 9970 • 020 7730 1234 www.hublot.com •

twitter.com/hublot •

facebook.com/hublot

Up close and personal Made-to-measure suits, shoes and accessories make a bold statement and guarantee individual fit and style

Styling: Tamara Fulton Photography: Andy Barter

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‘Made in England’ capsule collection grey chalkstripe wool flannel double-breasted suit (fully canvassed to mould better to the wearer’s body; can be fully altered in store; includes personalised detailing), £2,595; check-pattern shirt with hand-cut collar, £250; grey melange knitted tweed tie, £85; grey polka-dot pocket square, £50, all GiEvEs & HawkEs. ‘1097’ black-on-dark-turtle made-to-measure glasses, from £597, CutlEr and Gross. slate blue leather iPad folio case, £375, MulbErry for sElfridGEs

Men’s Style • Brum mell

Opposite: Tricot striped cashmere knit, £840, and pony (calfskin) leather and cashmere gloves, £1,387, both Brioni. Leather document case (which can be stamped with gold initials, £6.95 each), £1,150, SmyThSon.

‘Tradition’ watch (in a choice of straps and which can be engraved) in platinum, featuring a hand-wound movement with tourbillon and fusée-chain transmission and dial in silvered 18ct gold, £135,600, BregueT

This page: grey ladder-stripe made-to-measure shirt, £95, CheSTer Barrie. Wool, silk and cashmere bow tie, £157, BruneLLo CuCineLLi

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This page: ‘Arca’ personalised leather shoes, from £890, MAison CorthAy. Airport socks, £15, FAlke. Wool trousers, £528, Brunello CuCinelli

Opposite: leather briefcase (plus gold initials, as before), £1,200, sMythson. leather and knitted gloves, £482, Brunello CuCinelli. Prince o f Wales check suit, which can be adjusted to fit, £625, DAks

Model stuart Gee at hired hands Photographer’s assistant Angela Dennis Stylist’s assistants lucy Zondi and lisa Aichhorn Stockists details on page 66

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Field study Clockwise from left: Shooting vest and breeks from the new Holland & Holland collection; silk square; lightweight tweed blazer

Shooting stars

Holland & Holland’s records of clothes worn by its founder and, later, the Duke of Windsor have inspired new collections

Words: Joanne Glasbey

Founded by Harris Holland in 1835, Holland & Holland quickly became one of the best-known and regarded London gun- and rifle-makers. It later acquired, and still owns, its Shooting Grounds for the sporting gun, set in 60 acres of rolling woodland and countryside just outside London.

With its heritage of the high-quality craftsmanship and artistry, the company has, in more recent years, transformed into a luxury-goods brand.

It also offers an exclusive collection of clothing and accessories encompassing a range of traditional but technically advanced outdoor sporting attire, all made from British fabrics, and like its guns, customisable.

Holland & Holland’s signature tweed for men was introduced in 2010, based on the exact material worn by the company’s founder, and the toffeecoloured design is available in a full shooting collection. The khaki-coloured loden shooting outfit is popular as an alternative to tweed. Loden is a soft but hard-wearing wool that achieves its water resistance because the lanolin is not removed; recoil pads and piping are made in leather and fitted to both shoulders to suit all shooting styles.

This season’s new collections for men and women are inspired by the wardrobes of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Following much research, elements of their shooting garments have been reimagined and reconstructed. Following requests from clients, the company has created new pieces

The men’s tweed collection offers a new design of traditional country green with red and blue overcheck

including tweed trousers and a shooting skirt for women, and Nubuck breeks for men.

The men’s tweed collection offers a new design of traditional country green with red and blue overcheck and, like all Holland & Holland fabrics, is made using technology that keeps it showerproof and stain-resistant, while maintaining a soft, luxurious finish. The staple garments for the field – all hand-cut and tailored in England – include a field coat, half-Norfolk jacket, shooting vest and breeks.

The ladies’ collection introduces a new tweed design, in brown with a lilac over-check, which features on ‘hipster’ trousers and a traditional shooting skirt. The range also comprises the field coat, shooting jacket and breeks.

This autumn’s new accessories collection includes some very collectable silk handkerchiefs, silk scarves and cashmere shawls. Inspiration for prints has been taken from the Holland & Holland archive. The ‘signalling men’ design – depicting phrases about shooting, in semaphore – promises to be popular, as do the reworked medieval illustrations of country and woodland animals on silk squares and cashmere shawls. There are also silk ties featuring working dogs – a festive favourite, no doubt. l Holland & Holland is at 33 Bruton Street,W1J 6HH; at the recently opened Holland & Holland boutique in Harrods; hollandandholland.com

Stockists Alexander McQueen 020 7355 0088; alexandermcqueen.com Anderson & Sheppard 020 7287 7300; anderson-sheppard.co.uk Armani 020 7491 8080; armani.com Ball ballwatch.com Bally 020 7491 7062; bally.com Barbour 020 7240 5061; barbour.com Bell & Ross +33 (0)1 73 73 93 00; bellross.com Berluti 020 7823 2300; berluti.com Breguet 0845 273 2400; breguet.com Bremont 020 3394 2680; bremont.com Brioni 020 7491 7700; brioni.com Brunello Cucinelli 020 7730 5207; brunellocucinelli.com Burberry 0800 279 4998; burberry.com Chester Barrie 0207 439 6079; chesterbarrie.co.uk Chopard 020 7409 3140; chopard.com Cutler and Gross 020 7581 2250; cutlerandgross.com DAKS 0800 0288 640; daks.com Ermenegildo Zegna 020 7495 8260; zegna.com Eton 020 7430 1433; etonshirts.co.uk Falke falke.com Gieves & Hawkes 020 7434 2001; gievesandhawkes.com Harrods 020 7730 1234; harrods.com Holland & Holland 020 7499 4411; hollandandholland.com Hublot 020 3214 9970; hublot.com IWC 0845 337 1868; iwc.com J M Weston 020 7629 9494; jmweston.com Kent & Curwen kentandcurwen.co.uk Louis Vuitton 020 3214 9200; louisvuitton.co.uk Maison Corthay 020 7235 5481; corthay.com Omega 020 7491 8113; omegawatches.com Pal Zileri 020 7493 9711; palzileri.com Paul Smith 0800 222 444 55; paulsmith.co.uk Penrose London 020 3176 4328/9; penrose-london.com Rake 020 7629 5257; rakestyle.com Richard Mille 020 7730 1234; richardmille.com Smythson 020 7730 5520; smythson.com Stone island 020 7287 7734; stoneisland.co.uk Turnbull & Asser 020 7808 3000; turnbullandasser.co.uk

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Inspirational Women on Boards The Panel Chairwoman: Kate Grussing Managing director & founder, Sapphire Partners Previously an investment banker and McKinsey consultant, Kate Grussing’s executive-search work at Sapphire is at the cutting edge of promoting senior women in business in executive roles and boards.

Anne Glover CBE Chief executive and co-founder, Amadeus Capital Partners Limited Anne Glover is chief executive and co-founder of Amadeus Capital Partners Limited, with a diverse background as scientist, venture capitalist and operating manager.

Elizabeth Corley CEO, Allianz Global Investors Elizabeth Corley is CEO and co-head of Allianz Global Investors. She is nonexecutive director at the Financial Reporting Council and Euler Hermes, and a member of the Advisory Council of TheCityUK Ltd. She also writes thrillers.

Marisa Drew Co-head, EMEA Investment Banking, Credit Suisse Marisa Drew is co-head of EMEA Investment Banking and global co-head of Global Market Solutions at Credit Suisse. She founded the Competitors’ Diversity Forum and is a member of the Committee of 200.

Noël Harwerth Non-executive director, Alent Plc Noël Harwerth is a nonexecutive director of Alent Plc, and non-executive director at Standard Life and Avocet Mining among others.

She is also a member of the International Women’s Forum and the Committee of 200.

Angela Knight CBE CEO, Energy UK Angela Knight began her career in engineering, followed by politics and most recently trade associations.

Awarded a CBE in 2007, she is the former CEO of APCIMS and the British Bankers Association and is currently CEO of Energy UK.

This issue, Brummell celebrates inspirational women on boards. Our expert panel, all of whom could qualify for the list themselves, selected a range of senior businesswomen in full-time executive roles in financial services companies or firms that are important to the City, or who hold a portfolio of board positions. Many of the nominees also serve on boards outside the City, including charities, international boards and private equity boards. These women are striving to make a difference, and many of them are actively involved in promoting diversity.

Words: Rosie Steer Photography: Philip Sinden Co-ordinator: Duncan McRae

Andrea Wong → President of International, Sony Pictures Entertainment Andrea Wong is regarded as one of the most powerful women in television, known for developing some of America’s most successful programmes in recent years. In 2011, she was appointed international president of Sony Pictures Entertainment and president of international production for Sony Pictures Television. She represents the company abroad and oversees creative teams outside the United States, including 18 production companies. Wong has served as president and CEO of Lifetime Networks and is also former executive vice-president of alternative programming, specials and late night at ABC, where she developed award-winning shows such as Dancing with the Stars. Wong also sits on the board of Liberty Media Corporation and is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute.

Jan Babiak Non-executive director, Royal Mail Group Jan Babiak draws on over 30 years of board level and international management experience, advising in areas including audit, finance, risk, technology, governance, compensation and sustainability. Following a 28-year career with Ernst & Young, where she held managing partner and executive board level roles, Babiak embarked on a full-time portfolio career and has lent her extensive experience to prestigious boards including Logica, Walgreens, Bank of Montreal and Royal Mail Group.

She is a member and past board member of the Committee of 200.

Alison Carnwath Chairman, Land Securities Alison Carnwath was appointed to the board of Land Securities in 2004 and became chairman four years later – the only female chairman in the FTSE 100.

Carnwath held senior positions throughout a 20-year career in investment banking and corporate finance – including as the first female director of J. Henry Schroder Wagg & Co – and went on to pursue a portfolio career. She is a trustee of the British Library, independent director of Paccar and Zurich Insurance Group and chairman of ISIS Equity Partners.

She is also a mentor to a number of individuals.

Inspirational Women • Brummell

Tosin Ajayi Managing director, Commodities, Morgan Stanley Tosin Ajayi leads the Global Commodities Analysis Team at Morgan Stanley. Her background is in the energy sector, with roles at Entergy, Arthur Andersen and Price Waterhouse Coopers. Ajayi is co-chair of Morgan Stanley’s African and Caribbean Business Alliance and co-founder of the firm’s School Outreach Programme.

In 2012, she received Morgan Stanley’s John J Mack Leadership Award and was named EMEA Diversity Officer Role Model of the Year. She founded and funds a scholarship supporting female students studying technical, quantitative or business-related undergraduate degrees at the University of Sussex.

Kay Ellen Consolver Non-executive director, Russian Platinum Plc Kay Ellen Consolver, a non-executive director at Russian Platinum Plc and Mildwaters Consulting, was a senior business, financial and legal executive at Mobil Corporation for 20 years. She then served on the board and as COO at eLawForum, as chairman of the International Women’s Forum UK and on the Forum’s Worldwide Board. She is also a member of the Institute of Directors, the Women Corporate Directors’ Association and Women in Mining.

A keen theatre supporter, she has produced plays in New York and London, and sits on several industry boards.

Noreen Doyle Independent non-executive director, Credit Suisse Noreen Doyle is independent non-executive director at Credit Suisse, where she has been a board member since 2004, and is a member of the Risk Committee. She chairs the boards of two of the group’s UK subsidiaries. Doyle was the first vice-president and head of banking of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. She serves the boards of Newmont Mining Corporation, QinetiQ Group and Macquarie funds, and chairs the board of Marymount International School, Kingston upon Thames. She is patron of Women in Banking and Finance in London.

Dame Amelia Fawcett Chairman of the Hedge Fund Standards Board Dame Amelia Fawcett is chairman of the Hedge Fund Standards Board and a non-executive director of State Street Corporation in Boston and Investment AB Kinnevik in Stockholm. She has been Guardian Media Group chairman since 2009, and steps down from her role at the end of September. Previous roles include vice-chairman and chief operating officer at Morgan Stanley and deputy chairman of the National Portrait Gallery. Fawcett is known for charitable work as chairman of trustees of the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Foundation and trustee of Project Hope UK.

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Anne Richards → Chief investment officer, Aberdeen Asset Management Anne Richards serves as global chief investment officer of Aberdeen Asset Management, a FTSE 100 company.

She also heads up the Europe, Middle East and Africa region and is an executive director at the company.

Prior to this, Richards was chief investment officer and joint managing director of Edinburgh Fund Managers, and worked for JP Morgan and Merrill Lynch Investment Managers.

Richards holds several directorships, serving as director of esure, EveryChild, the University of Edinburgh, the Duchy of Lancaster and Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

She is a keen supporter of the 2020 Women on Boards mission, and sits on the organisation’s Board of Leaders.

Ida Levine ← Director, Capital International Limited Ida Levine is director, senior vicepresident and senior legal counsel at Capital International Limited, part of Capital Group. She oversees its European Corporate Governance function and has a regulatory affairs role. Levine is also co-chair of the International Law Association’s International Securities Regulation Committee. She began her career at Jones Day where, as a partner, she was headhunted as European Counsel for JP Morgan Investment Management.

She is a non-executive trustee of Microloan Foundation, a charity providing loans, training and mentoring for women in Africa. Levine is also a member of the Royal Academy of Dance marketing committee and a Whitechapel Gallery patron.

Jane French Head of compliance, Citi Private Bank, Citigroup Jane French is a managing director at Citigroup and currently head of compliance for Citi Private Bank in EMEA. During her 20-year career at the company she has held roles in investment, corporate, commercial and private banking in both global and emerging markets. French is known for her charitable endeavours: she is ambassador for ACE-Africa, and a trustee of Plan UK, where she also sits on the Audit and Finance Committee, New College (Oxford) Development Committee, and Pilotlight, a UK charity that provides business mentoring and coaching to other charities.

Dame Clara Furse Financial Policy Committee, Bank of England Dame Clara Furse is a non-executive director of Nomura Holdings Inc, Amadeus IT Holding SA and the UK’s Department for Work and Pensions, and serves on the Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee. In 2001, she was appointed chief executive of the London Stock Exchange. Previously, she was CEO of Credit Lyonnais Rouse and worked at UBS. She was chairman of the Lead Expert Group of the Government Office for Science Foresight Project on the future of computer trading in financial markets and is a senior advisor to think tank Chatham House.

Dame Janet Gaymer QC (Hon) Co-chair, Consultation Steering Panel for the Legal Services Education and Training Review Dame Janet Gaymer is widely regarded as one of the most powerful lawyers in the UK. She combines experience in public and private sectors: previous roles include Commissioner for Public Appointments, and senior partner at top City law firm Simmons & Simmons.

Dame Janet is currently one of the independent lay members of the Speaker’s Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority and co-chair of the Consultation Steering Panel for the Legal Services Education and Training Review.

Fleur Bothwick OBE ← EMEIA director of diversity and inclusive leadership, Ernst & Young Fleur Bothwick is director of diversity and inclusive leadership (D&I) for Europe, Middle East, India and Africa at Ernst & Young. In the past decade, she has developed and led D&I programmes across large organisations including Lehman Brothers. Bothwick is passionate about all forms of difference: she developed one of the UK’s first black and minority ethnic leadership programmes, pioneered a Sponsors for Educational Opportunities programme in her sector and piloted a summer graduate scheme for disabled interns. She was recently awarded an OBE for her contribution to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. With the National Autistic Society, Bothwick has won free school funding to open a secondary school in Lambeth for students on the autism spectrum.

Christine Hodgson Executive chairman, Capgemini UK Christine Hodgson is executive chairman of Capgemini UK Plc. She also chairs the firm’s Sustainability Board and the Women’s Business Network.

In 2011, Hodgson was named Woman of the Year at the CWT Everywoman in Technology Awards. During her 15 years with Capgemini, her roles have included CEO, Technology Services North West Europe, and CFO for both Capgemini UK Plc and the Global Outsourcing Division. Hodgson also sits on the board of Ladbrokes Plc, Standard Chartered Plc and two charities: Business in the Community and MacIntyre Care.

Charlotte Hogg COO, Bank of England Charlotte Hogg was appointed as the first-ever chief operating officer of the Bank of England earlier this year.

She joined the Bank in 1992 as a graduate trainee, having studied at Oxford and then Harvard, but left two years later to join McKinsey in Washington.Hogg has held senior roles as managing director at Morgan Stanley, Experian and head of retail operations at Santander. She is a trustee of First Story – a charity that supports and inspires creativity and literacy – and is a former member of the Board of BBC Worldwide.

Claire Ighodaro CBE Non-executive director, Lloyd’s Claire Ighodaro CBE is non-executive director and chair of the Audit Committee at Lloyd’s. She serves the boards of the Open University, the British Council, Merrill Lynch International and the Lending Standards Board, among others. Ighodaro began her career at Otis Elevators, and later joined BT, progressing through the ranks to become vice-president for finance of BTOpenworld. She was the first female president of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. Ighodaro was awarded a CBE in 2008 for services to business, and is a mentor.

Inspirational Women • Brummell

Julia Streets ↓ Founder and chief executive, Streets Consulting Julia Streets runs her business development, marketing and communications consultancy with teams in the UK and US supporting domestic and international financial services and technology firms.

Her career has included tenures in international PR consultancy firms and senior in-house positions at Instinet and NYSE Technologies. Streets is also a writer and comedian performing material drawn from earning her pinstripes in corporate and City life.

She has been featured on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme and in the national and regional press. Her book The Lingua Franca of the Corporate Banker – a witty look at business jargon – was published last year and she is a columnist for the CIMA FM magazine. Streets is also a trustee of the charity Children in Crisis.

Lesley Knox Non-executive chairman, Grosvenor Group Lesley Knox is a trustee of the Grosvenor Estates and non-executive chairman of Grosvenor Group, as well as director of SABMiller and Centrica.

Her background is in law and finance, including a 15-year tenure at Kleinwort Benson as Corporate Finance director, then as chief executive of the asset management business. Knox moved to the British Linen Bank as governor, and was later a founding director of British Linen Advisors. Knox is known for her work with arts and charitable organisations and is currently chairman of the V&A at Dundee.

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Rachel Lomax Board of Directors, HSBC Rachel Lomax sits on the HSBC Board of Directors and is member of the Group Audit and Risk Committees.

She was deputy governor at the Bank of England and permanent secretary at the Department for Transport, Work and Pensions, and the Welsh Office, and vice-president and chief of staff to the president of the World Bank. She is non-executive director of The Scottish American Investment Company, Arcus European Infrastructure Fund and Heathrow Airport Holdings, president of the Institute for Fiscal Studies and chair of the International Regulatory Strategy Group.

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Davida Marston Non-executive director, Bank of Ireland Davida Marston had a 30-year career in international banking, working in the UK, Spain and North and South America, serving, among other roles, as Citigroup’s regional head, UK & Ireland, Banks and Securities Industry.

In the subsequent 10 years she has served as non-executive director for companies in the insurance, banks and corporates sectors. She is currently a director of three listed companies in three countries: Bank of Ireland (ISE.IE) Ireland, Liberbank (IBEX) Spain and Mears Group PLC (FTSE) UK, where she also chairs the Audit Committee.

Diana Noble Chief executive officer, CDC CDC Group Plc is the UK’s Development Finance Institution.CEO Diana Noble has extensive experience in private equity, venture capital and international development as former partner at Schroder Ventures (now Permira), founder and CEO of e-Ventures and founder and managing director of Reed Elsevier Ventures. She was previously executive vice-president, operations at the Clinton Foundation’s Health Access Initiative, where she led teams across 43 countries, overseeing the scale-up of a global programme pioneering equal access for children to the same HIV and AIDS care as adults.

Dame Judith Mayhew Jonas Chairman, London & Partners Lawyer and non-executive director Dame Judith Mayhew Jonas is chairman of London & Partners and serves on numerous boards, educational and cultural institutions. She was the first woman leader of the City of London, and was awarded a DBE in 2002 for services to the City. She was previously chairman of The Royal Opera House and provost of King’s College Cambridge, and is currently trustee of the Imperial War Museum, chairman of the New West End Company and also chair of the London New York Dialogue and the British Dutch Dialogue.

Lynne Peacock Non-executive director, Nationwide Building Society Lynne Peacock has over 25 years’ senior management experience – including 15 years at board level – specialising in brand development, M&A, business transformation and change management. She has been an independent non-executive director of Nationwide Building Society since 2011 and sits on the Audit, Board Risk and Remuneration Committees. Prior to this, she was chief executive of National Australia Bank’s UK business and chief executive of Woolwich, where she began her career in banking.

Lady Susan Rice CBE Managing director, Lloyds Banking Group, Scotland Lady Susan Rice CBE, managing director of Lloyds Banking Group Scotland, holds non-executive positions at Bank of England, SSE, J Sainsbury’s and Big Society Capital. She chairs a new UK-wide initiative, the Chartered Banker: Professional Standards Board, and is president of the Scottish Council for Development and Industry. Lady Rice was previously chairman and chief executive of Lloyds TSB Scotland – the first woman to head a UK clearing bank.

She sits on Scotland’s First Minister’s Council of Economic Advisors, Scotland’s Futures Forum board, and chairs the Edinburgh International Book Festival and Edinburgh’s Festivals Forum.

Clare Spottiswoode CBE Non-executive director, RBC Capital Markets Clare Spottiswoode CBE has more than 20 years’ experience in the public sector, financial services and energy markets, and was recently appointed non-executive director for the European unit of RBC Capital Markets.

Spottiswoode started her career in HM Treasury before setting up her own software company. She went on to become director general of UK gas regulator Ofgas and deputy chairman of British Energy. She is chairman of Gas Strategies Limited, non-executive director of Energy Solutions, G4S and chairman of Magnox. Spottiswoode served in the Independent Commission on Banking.

Rosalyn Wilton → Non-executive director, AXA UK Rosalyn Wilton is a non-executive director at AXA UK and AXA Insurance and chairs the Risk Committee.

She is also a non-executive director of Optos plc and chair of the Remuneration Committee. She has a diverse background in financial services and technology in senior positions including managing director, Reuters Transaction Products, chief executive, Hemscott and chairman of Ipreo. In 1984, she was the first woman to be appointed to the board of any European exchange, joining the Liffe board. Wilton is passionate about education; she is chairman of the governors of Harris Academy Bromley and vice chairman of the Harris Federation Group, which runs 26 primary and secondary academies educating 20,000 children in and around London, with outstanding Ofsted ratings.

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Baroness Josephine Valentine Chief executive, London First Baroness Josephine (Jo) Valentine is a member of the House of Lords and chief executive of London First.

In 1997, she joined the not-for-profit organisation, which aims to make London the best city for business, as managing director. Previously she worked in corporate finance at Barings Bank, where she was the first female manager, and the BOC Group, as well as setting up The Blackburn Partnership in order to stimulate the regeneration of the Lancashire town. She is a board member of the housing charity Peabody Trust and a fellow of St Hugh’s College, Oxford.

Johanna Waterous CBE Senior independent director, Rexam Plc Serial business investor Johanna Waterous CBE has backed and coached businesses founded or led by women and this year was awarded a CBE for services to business growth. She is an operating partner at Duke Street, chairman of Sandpiper CI, nonexecutive director of Morrisons and RSA Insurance, and senior independent director at Rexam Plc. Waterous worked at McKinsey for 22 years, and latterly co-led its Global Marketing Practice. She is a trustee of the Royal Botanic Garden Kew Foundation and non-executive director of the RHS Commercial Board.

Baroness Patience Wheatcroft Non-executive director, Fiat SpA Baroness Patience Wheatcroft is non-executive director at Fiat SpA and St James’s Place Capital, member of Huawei Technologies UK advisory board and serves on the board of the British Museum. She is a former non-executive director of Barclays and Shaftesbury and was editor at The Wall Street Journal Europe, The Sunday Telegraph and Business and City editor at The Times. She was appointed by Mayor Boris Johnson to head a forensic audit of financial management at the London Development Agency and Greater London Authority.

With thanks Brummell’s ‘30 Inspirational Women in the City’ were photographed at 123 Victoria Street – an icon of Seventies design that has been utterly transformed by Land Securities into a gleaming, 11-floor office building. It has already attracted the likes of Jimmy Choo as tenants, joining neighbours such as Burberry and the Gates Foundation in the rapidly changing Victoria district.

123victoriast.com

Hair and make-up: Nikki Palmer. Photographer’s assistant: Chris Bromley. Production assistant: Lisa Aichhorn

Melanie Richards ← Partner and non-executive director, KPMG Melanie Richards is a partner in Corporate Finance, Debt Advisory Services, non-executive director and UK board member of KPMG. She has successfully developed the Debt Advisory practice since joining the firm, a business that advises clients on financings of up to several billion pounds. Richards is a strong supporter of gender diversity through companywide initiatives; she is co-chair of the Women’s Network, plays an active role in mentoring and coaching and hosts Senior Business Women’s Network events. Richards recently received Opportunity Now’s Champion Award, recognising her work as a senior-level gender and diversity ambassador. She is a founding member of the 30% Club Steering Committee. Richards also serves on the boards of the Eve Appeal and Orbis UK.

hotel experience in Mauritius THE ESSENCE OF SHEER LUXURY If you’re looking for a totally indulgent tropical hideaway, where stunning architectural design meets relaxed luxury, Constance Le Prince Maurice is the place to head. Elegant and striking, this place will seduce you from the moment you arrive.

Begin the U-experience: call (230) 402 2772/73 or visit us at www.constancehotels.com

Alamy; Doug McKinlay

Great north way A hike in Sweden’s Arctic Circle offers not only mind-blowing scenery ’neath the midnight sun, but schnapps, saunas and Scandi civility to boot

Words: Ian Belcher

It is criminal underselling. Tourism sabotage. ‘Our main thing is that we have nothing,’ intones the lodge manager with the calm despair of Kurt Wallander. ‘The Kungsleden is less spectacular than Switzerland and Norway – they’re nature pornography – but they’re crowded. Here you can walk for 15 hours and not see anyone or anything.

We offer the luxury of absolutely nothing.’

Nothing, that is, apart from the hiking trail’s 450km smörgåsbord of verdant forest, mindexpanding plains and barrel-like glacial valleys, all overlooked by snow-kissed peaks – the closest European landscape to America’s gloriously empty national parks.

But wilderness – and make no mistake, Sweden’s arctic north is the real deal – needn’t mean savage or uncomfortable. Those functional, no-nonsense Scandinavians have built lodges at convenient intervals: warm wooden cocoons with glowing stoves, stores selling chilled beer and provisions, and, naturally, saunas with alfresco

plunge pools. Forget carrying your own food, bedding or tents, the Kungsleden is arctic-light.

At lower levels, you don’t even get your boots wet. Miles of decking protect the region’s unique flora and fauna, while rivers are crossed by petite suspension bridges, as if Brunel had been unleashed with a Meccano set. In fact, the King’s Trail is so damn civilised, it even has its own brand of beer and a bespoke schnapps distilled from birch leaves: expect woody base notes with a subtle hint of sap and bark.

It’s the perfect tipple to toast my first steps on the walk’s northernmost 105km. Starting next to the platform for the overnight train from Stockholm, it arrows into dense forest alongside the Abiskojakka river. Swollen by snowmelt and squeezed into a narrow gorge, the water boils with dramatic green and white mohicans.

I walk soberly past the point where a Dutch camper slipped off the bank while washing crockery. He waved twice and vanished. His body

was discovered six weeks later: a reminder that, despite the soft edges, I really am entering the wild.

The furious current finally subsides, meandering through a springy carpet of miniscule plants sounding suspiciously like Eurovision nul point entrants: Smörboll, Ripbär, Björnbrodd. The Troufl, a gluey version of the Venus flytrap, devours insects, which, being Swedish and genetically kind to the environment, it composts, like an organic Portaloo.

Green, low-impact tourism is a watchword of the first night’s lodge, in a sun-drenched clearing at the mouth of Abiskojaure Lake. It’s crawling with highly organised Scandinavians and Germans, who cook, speak and clean with quiet efficiency. It’s polite. Easy. Peaceful. It can’t last.

Their hike is ruined at precisely 10pm. Within minutes of joining our 12-man dormitory, my hiking companion emits the rasps, wheezes and grunts of the truly congested. It’s snoring to strip pine from cabins and goodwill from roommates.

The night air simmers with resentment. The

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Space exploration Opposite: The Kungsleden in winter, when cross-country skis are more useful than hiking boots. This page, from above: one of the lodges along the route; in his bunk, our correspondent checks his progress

Kungsleden has a solution. Warden Walter Lehman, an associate professor of anthropology – many professionals run the lodges over the summer – can supply snowmobile earplugs.

Shotguns are sadly unavailable.

As we stock up with chocolate – a perfect digestif for lunches of vacuum-packed reindeer heart – he reveals just 18 Brits have walked the trail in the previous two decades ‘and eight were scouts’.

Egos gently massaged, we press on past World War II pillboxes aiming down the Kama Valley towards then occupied Norway. The gun slits signal the end of the forest and its super-sized mosquitoes – they don’t bite moose; they eat them for breakfast – as we rise 300m into the mountains.

The landscape assumes Valhalla proportions: a wall of Toblerone peaks, frescoed with melting snow, broods over a deep green plain littered with massive boulders dropped by a retreating glacier to resemble Anthony Gormley sculptures. It’s imposing, theatrical, grandiose – and alive with

We see thousands of migrating reindeer, eagles wheeling on thermals and massive arctic hares

wildlife, furiously mating and growing over the four-month spring-summer. Over the coming days, we see thousands of migrating reindeer, eagles wheeling on thermals and massive arctic hares.

And it’s not just the scenery and wildlife that’s ever more spectacular – it’s the Kungsleden saunas.

The second of these grips the edge of a rocky outcrop above an emerald river, offering searing heat, muscle relief and epic widescreen views.

You won’t find that on the Cotswold Way. The hospitality’s equally impressive. At Tjäkta Lodge on night three, after an exhausting grind up a slope of melting snow, we’re greeted at the door

by Monika. She has a honey tan, sparkling molars and a pitcher of homemade lemonade. Bear Grylls wouldn’t approve, but I could weep with joy. It’s like checking into the womb.

Twenty-four hours later and, this time, we’re seduced by hot cardamom buns, freshly baked

by Tina, the warden’s wife at the next lodge. The simple six-man cabin maybe a pinprick in the vast

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Senses working overtime Clockwise from top: Birch trees, viewed from the trail, changing colour in the autumn; Kungsleden’s very own beer; on a boardwalk designed to protect the environment, and on one of the path’s many suspension bridges

Tjäktjavagge Valley, but it’s a superior welcome to that I’ve received at any Park Lane hotel.

We don’t deserve it. My companion’s snoring is growing uglier by the night, while I reek of rancid fish after spilling a can of mackerel into my rucksack. The combination rapidly turns us into Kungsleden lepers, cold-shouldered by other hikers. They arrive, check which room we’re in and sleep elsewhere. A forklift-truck driver from Hamburg camps out in the snow rather than share with the ‘Englanders. They’re so loud.’

How unlucky. This top stretch of the trail is all about serenity. Designated a pilgrimage route in memory of Dag Hammarskjöld, the former UN Secretary-General, it has scenic meditationsplats, with his philosophies etched into boulders: eyries in which to stop, breathe and contemplate. At the first, I tackle my overdraft. At the fourth, gazing at a zen expanse of rock, waterfall and river, the national debt. By the seventh, I devise a strategy for that most intractable problem: Aston Villa’s midfield.

Kungsleden, naturally, doesn’t splutter to an anodyne end. We reach our final lodge beneath Kebnekaise, the Arctic Circle’s highest peak, in 11.30pm daylight – the northerly sun hasn’t set once on our five-day odyssey. A kip, then a furnace of a sauna for once free of blond moustaches, and we exit on the trail’s regular helicopter service. How spectacular. How civilised. How Kungsleden. ● Flights to Stockholm with British Airways, from £148, britishairways.com. Overnight sleeper cabin, Stockholm to Abisko, £165; veolia-transport.se. Mountain cabin pass, £130, svenskaturistforeningen.se

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we weren’t the only ones who spent the evening reflecting on the day’s adventure in the Arctic wilderness.

Face facts

Gone are the days when ‘ladies’ were only offered watches that were small, round and boring. Brands old and new are creating ever more interesting timepieces for women

Photography: Andy Barter Words: Simon de Burton

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From far left: Grande Reverso Lady Ultra Thin Duetto, JaeGeR-LeCoULTRe; The Britain, BURBeRRy; aquaracer Lady, TaG HeUeR; VIII Grand Bal ‘Resille’, DIoR; Ultraplate, BLanCpaIn; Reine de naples, BReGUeT. Selection of silk and silk/satin scarves, from £130, HeRmèS, paUL SmITH and WeSTon

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Brummell • Women’s watches

Jaeger-LeCoultre Grande Reverso Lady Ultra Thin Duetto ↑ The story of how the Reverso was invented during the Thirties for British polo players in India has been oft told: the watch was given a flip-over case which protected the glass during vigorous chukkas.

Numerous Reverso models have been made in the intervening decades, but the Duetto is one of the best. It features a dial on either side of the case, both powered by the same mechanical movement.

That not only means you can have two different dial designs on the same watch, but you can display two different time zones, too. Genius. £12,600; jaeger-lecoultre.com

Burberry The Britain ↑ Burberry has upped the ante with its watch range by combining British design with Swiss craftsmanship to create a range which includes a series of covetable, limited editions and a core collection of nine men’s models and 11 women’s, including The Britain. The version pictured has a convincing-looking steel case plated with 18ct rose gold and a ‘nude’ sunray dial with contrasting alligator strap. The movement is merely a quartz job, so won’t excite serious female horophiles, but you do get a sapphire crystal glass and hands treated with glow-in-the-dark Super-LumiNova. £1,650; burberry.com

TAG Heuer Aquaracer Lady ↑ TAG Heuer has promoted women’s versions of its ultra-popular Aquaracer sports watch with a famous 1979 image of a naked Bo Derek wearing a pre-cursor to the model – given to her on her 22nd birthday by her film director husband John. Which might inspire men to buy it as a gift. More persuasive for women doing their own buying, the latest Aquaracer Lady is a genuine sports watch with TAG’s Calibre 5 self-winding mechanical movement. It is available in a choice of small, 27mm case with a quartz movement or as a 34mm model. The face and matching bracelet combine rose gold with steel.

From £2,550; tagheuer.com

Dior VIII Grand Bal ‘Resille’ ↑ Inspired by the haute couture creations of Christian Dior, this version of the Grand Bal ‘Resille’ features a small, 33mm ceramic case containing a self-winding, mechanical movement with the unusual feature of having its oscillating weight (which winds the mechanism automatically as the wearer moves) on the dial side. Decorated with intricate diamond setting, the weight is designed to emulate the look of a swirling ball gown. Black or white ceramic cases are available, each with matching bracelet. Ceramic is ideal for watch use, being highly scratch-resistant, hypo-allergenic and non-corrosive. £17,600; dior.com

Blancpain Ultraplate ↑ The Blancpain name is a mighty one in the world of horology - it is, in fact, the oldest-surviving watch brand in the world. Dating back to 1735, it was revived in 1982, after a 20-year slumber, by the marketing genius Jean-Claude Biver (who later breathed new life into Hublot). Blancpain’s ethos is to make only high-quality, mechanical watches and the Ultraplate contains its Reference 953 calibre – a remarkably thin and beautifully finished automatic movement.

For versatility, it is supplied with a standard alligator strap, plus five more that are easily interchangeable.

This version has a diamond-set case and dial. £9,330; blancpain.com

Breguet Reine de Naples ↑ Ever wondered who made the first wristwatch?

Probably the great Abraham-Louis Breguet - and he did it for a woman. He delivered the watch to Napoleon Bonaparte’s sister, Caroline Murat, in 1812 (while her brother was busy invading Russia).

It had a strap made from gold thread and an egg-shaped case. It was reprised by the modernday Breguet company in 2002 as the Reine de Naples, after Caroline. The version shown here is 18ct white gold and has a Breguet self-winding, mechanical movement behind its mother-of-pearl dial and a suitably regal bezel set with 117 diamonds. £25,800; breguet.com

Smoke signals

The last bastion of machismo has been breached – no longer mere bystanders, on hand merely to clip and warm, women are now enjoying the pleasures of the cigar room in their own right. And what import does that have for the City?

Words: Charlotte Metcalf Illustrations: Noma Bar

I am drinking champagne in an ancient vault in Blackfriars, now cushioned and spotlit, beneath what was once a prison and latterly a bank. Today, the vaults are part of a bar called Voltaire and I’m with Josa Young, a digital content consultant, and Libertad West, a head-hunter in the oil and gas sector.

Nothing extraordinary about the sight of three hardworking women enjoying a mid-week tipple in the Square Mile – except that we are smoking cigars.

Until October last year, I had never smoked a cigar – I had relegated them to the masculine domain of leathery old clubrooms or billionaires’ yachts. That was before I was invited to Davidoff’s first-ever ladies’ masterclass at the May Fair Hotel, off Piccadilly.

On walking into the May Fair Cigar Room (technically not a room but a ‘cosy outdoor smoking area’), I was taken aback to find myself in what was more of a zen retreat than the dingy gentleman’s club I had been expecting. Draped in steel chainmail curtains and doused in pink and blue light, the sleek, contemporary space, with its louvred walls and canopied day beds, was an inviting (and adequately heated) environment for the 20 women who had gathered, including several City workers, an architect, two actresses, a film producer, the events manager for Prada and a jewellery designer and her daughters.

I was greeted with chilled champagne and a Davidoff Exquisito long-filler cigarillo – the smallest-ever hand-rolled cigar. I was worried about smoking as I gave up cigarettes 18 years ago, but was assured by Davidoff’s international brand ambassador Vincent Kremble, who had flown in from Switzerland for the event, that one does not

smoke a cigar, one ‘enjoys’ it. Rule one when you pick up a cigar: never inhale. Waiters circulated with lychee and rosewater martinis, exquisite canapés and chocolate, before we were invited to take a seat to learn how to select, cut, light and enjoy a cigar.

‘You could make a dress out of it,’ the interior designer next to me enthused, stroking her face with what looked like a piece of brown fabric, before passing the cigar wrapper (the outer layer of tobacco) to me to feel. It was indeed lusciously supple and more akin to satin than a leaf.

After this initiation, I began to notice how many cigar bars are now actively attempting to attract women. And not before time: Eddie Sahakian, who, with his father, Edward, owns the long-established Davidoff’s store on St James’s Street, tells me that, before the ladies’ masterclass, their customer database was 100 per cent male.

He’s now at the forefront of those pioneering merchants who will be delighted if the cigar becomes more accessible to both sexes.

Ironically, it’s thanks to the 2007 smoking-ban legislation that women are now more likely to be found in the capital’s smoking zones. Now that we can no longer smoke in public, hotels have been quietly but vigorously competing to provide the most comfortable, glamorous environments in which to relax, in stark contrast with the grim and grimy anterooms of yore. Claridges has its Thirties’ Lalique-adorned Fumoir, the Lanesborough Garden Room has a cigar sommelier and a pairing menu of complementary cocktails, the May Fair Cigar Room hosts evenings of live music, and the Wellesley Hotel on Knightsbridge claims to have

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Brummell • Cigars

For London’s luxury hotels, a cigar terrace has become almost as de rigueur as a spa would have been 10 years ago

the largest selection of fine cigars in London.

Indeed, for a luxury hotel, the cigar terrace has become almost as de rigueur as a spa would have been 10 years ago.

Over our champagne and cigars at Voltaire, Josa Young tells me that she used to think of cigars as belonging to a world that shut out women.

‘When I was 19, I was an au pair for an elderly Russian aristocrat, who taught me how to prepare his cigars,’ she remembers. ‘Women never entered smoking rooms except to serve their men with clipped and warmed cigars, but now we’re sitting alongside them and enjoying our cigars as equals.’

It was at my second ladies’ masterclass, again at the May Fair, that I met Libertad, who is Mexican.

‘My grandmother used to smoke cigars and I hated them. But then I went to Cuba for a holiday and decided it was something audacious to do,’ says Libertad. ‘I still find them a bit strong, though, so I’m interested in trying the softer cigars that Davidoff is offering. Anywhere I can find a nice, comfortable place to sit and have my cigar, I welcome – and it’s a wonderful way to strike up

a conversation.’ Though she didn’t need a lesson, she had come to the class because she relished the idea of so many women enjoying cigars under one roof. ‘It was fantastic, so well organised,’ she said.

‘Some of us were cigar virgins and others of us loved cigars already, but it was fun for everyone.’

Juliet McDermott, also at the Davidoff class, is operations manager for a mobile-technology company in Moorgate. ‘My industry is really male-dominated and it’s hard to meet people who aren’t in technology and science,’ she says. ‘It’s why I love going to cigar evenings, where I can meet women from all walks of life – not just from my professional world, but marketing, fashion… It’s a great opportunity to widen my network’. Last summer, she began attending women’s cigar tastings at Boisdale Canary Wharf. ‘Men have traditionally done business behind closed doors over cigars, but now during conferences, I have noticed it’s normal for everyone to gather on the cigar terrace.’

What’s so interesting about the way women are infiltrating one of the most traditional male territories is that, by and large, it’s the men who are

inviting us in. Vincent Kremble said he had not enjoyed an event so much for a long time as the last Davidoff masterclass, and it was so popular, there are already plans for more across Europe.

‘There’s nothing so beautiful as a woman’s eyes glimpsed through a blue haze of cigar smoke,’ he told me dreamily. Anthony Lee, general manager of the May Fair, whose wife was a participant in the class, said, ‘I enjoy seeing powerful women breaking down male bastions.’

Whether or not all men welcome newcomers onto the cigar terrace, City women are certainly delighted that the doors are at least open. Looking around at those enjoying cigars in Voltaire’s vaults, Josa Young remarked, ‘This reflects wider social change in the City. It’s very liberating.’ l The next by-invitation-only Ladies’ Masterclass will take place on the rooftop of the Hotel ME ReinaVitoria, Madrid, on 26 September.There will be a London masterclass in 2014, and events are planned for Hong Kong, Moscow and Paris.To be added to the waiting list, email lmc@davidoff.com

Green light

it is Pantone’s colour of the year and a key trend in fashion and interiors. But in jewellery, the vibrant, verdant hues of jade, tourmaline, peridot and, of course, emeralds is timeless

Jewellery styling: Jess Diamond Photography: Laure & Sarah

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Brooch in platinum and yellow gold with rubies, diamonds, enamel, crystal rock, jadette and onyx, price on application, Cartier tradition

This page: ‘Gourmande Grenouille’ ring in yellow gold with diamonds and chrysoprase, £8,400, Dior Joaillerie Opposite: Pendant in platinum with tourmaline and diamonds, £16,300, Tiffany & Co. necklace in white gold with emeralds and diamonds, Poa, Graff

Left to right: Earrings in white gold with tourmalines, sapphires and diamonds, POA, BulgAri. Earrings in white gold with emeralds and diamonds, POA, AdlEr. ‘daria’ earrings in white gold with chrysoprase, turquoise and diamonds, POA, VAn ClEEf & ArPEls. ‘Camélia Marquise’ earrings in white gold with coloured quartz and diamonds, £76,000, ChAnEl finE JEwEllEry

This page: Bangle in brass and white gold with peridots and demantoid garnets, POA, Hemmerle. ring in yellow gold with cabochon cut jade, POA, HArry WinstOn Opposite: earrings in platinum with emeralds and diamonds, POA, BOOdles Stockists details on page 98

Brummell • By George Photopress/IWC

98

Sector time

IWC marks its involvement in F1 team Mercedes by launching a tourbillon watch with a distinct motor racing feel

Words: Eleanor Pryor

At the start of the year, prestigious watch brand IWC became the ‘Official Engineering Partner’ of the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team.

The association is pleasingly natural; like its motor sport companion, IWC incorporates pioneering technologies and materials into its output, as illustrated by the newest Ingenieur model.

The cooperation between IWC and AMG, the sports customisation division of Mercedes, actually dates back to 2004 but the partnership had gone quiet. Now, IWC has decided on an F1 focus to its latest collection and, helpfully, Mercedes returned to the formula as a manufacturer in 2010.

The Ingenieur had humble beginnings. Created in 1955, it was less haute horlogerie, more tool watch, built to withstand all the everyday pressures on a timepiece and more. Equipped with a winding mechanism named after then technical director Albert Pellaton, the bi-directional movement was claimed to be a more efficient alternative to the standard options of the time, and is a system that can still be found in the line to this day. In 1976, the model underwent a complete revamp, courtesy of the legendary Gérald Genta, the man behind Patek Philippe’s Nautilus and Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak, who introduced one of the hallmarks of the collection: five exposed bores on the bezel.

Ever since, iterations of the timepiece have continued to push the boundaries of precision watchmaking. IWC has scooped up the defining features from the Ingenieur’s past and repackaged them into this diverse new collection, all while maintaining a firm eye on the future.

The piece de resistance from this year’s offering is the Constant-Force Tourbillon, the most complicated Ingenieur yet. While a tourbillon

is a technical feat all of its own – and is exposed to full effect on the dial – the true star of the show is the patented constant-force mechanism integrated within. Ten years in the making, it is IWC’s solution to the age-old problem of regulating the supply of energy to a movement, thus improving the precision of timekeeping. In a conventional movement, the mainspring is under more tension when newly wound, therefore the energy coming from the spring can vary as it unwinds. In this watch, the Calibre 94800’s constant-force mechanism allows the escapement to be disconnected from the gear train, ensuring that the flow of power remains consistent.

This system also has an interesting effect that carries through to the dial. While the watch is in constant-force mode, its hands move in one-second increments but, after 48 hours, it switches back to normal mode, with the hands advancing in the smooth, sweeping motion more typical of mechanical watches. Of course, the Ingenieur Constant-Force Tourbillon is decked out with the high-tech look to match its precision mechanics. The case is constructed from platinum and ceramic, with three indications stylistically protruding into the bezel, inspired by the design of dashboard instruments found in F1 cars – the tourbillon, a 96-hour power reserve counter and a special, ultra-realistic northern and southern hemisphere moon phase complication that makes its debut in this timepiece. You can look under the bonnet via the sapphire glass caseback.

The watch, which retails for £205,000, is only available on special request from IWC retailers, meaning that this timepiece is sure to join the ranks as one of those ‘Holy Grail’ pieces. ● iwc.com

Engineering precision From top: Intermeshing gears and satin-finished surfaces are found in both Lewis Hamilton’s F1 car and engineering partner IWC’s Ingenieur watches

Stockists Adler 020 7409 2237; adler.ch Alexander McQueen 020 7355 0088; alexandermcqueen.com Blancpain 0845 273 2500; blancpain.com Boodles 020 7437 5050; boodles.com Breguet 0845 273 2400; breguet.com Bulgari 020 7872 9969; bulgari.com Burberry 0800 279 4998; burberry.com Cartier 020 7408 5700; cartier.co.uk Chanel 020 7499 0005; chanel.com Chopard 020 7409 3140; chopard.com Dior 020 7172 0172; dior.com Graff 020 7584 8571; graffdiamonds.com Harry Winston 020 7907 8899; harrywinston.com Hemmerle +49 89 24 22 600; hemmerle.com Hermès 020 7098 1888; uk.hermes.com Jaeger-LeCoultre 020 3107 1833; jaeger-lecoultre.com Moncrief London 020 7629 0729; moncrieflondon.com Mulberry 020 7838 1411; mulberry.com Omega 020 7491 8113; omegawatches.com Paul Smith 0800 222 444 55; paulsmith.co.uk TAG Heuer 020 8735 4070; tagheuer.co.uk Tiffany 020 7409 2790; tiffany.co.uk Van Cleef & Arpels 020 7493 0400; vancleefarpels.com Weston 01372 457271; westonearthimages.com

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