C California Style & Culture

ADRIA ARJONA

Sun and games with Hollywood’s new obsession

Summer, while a season, is more a state of mind. From lazy beach days that turn into nights around a firepit or hikes to waterfalls for an impromptu swim or farmers’ market hauls that transform into the perfect alfresco meal or drives along the coast with music blasting, this time of year creates a vibe I want to live in all year long. Our cover subject, actor and Andor (from the Star Wars universe) star Adria Arjona, encapsulates that feeling. There is just a freedom in the way she speaks, moves, and thinks that is very appealing. It is also evident in our portfolio of the best of beach-ready fashions, where the clothes become Arjona’s second skin and feel just effortless on her.

Also dripping in that easy breezy vibe is our jewelry feature, where the baubles of the season are mixed in with skate culture and the concrete runways of Venice Beach serve as a backdrop. It’s a fun approach to the idea that jewelry doesn’t always have to be taken seriously, and that you can enjoy these gems anywhere and anytime (which is how I justify a splurge).

Editors Picks

This month’s wish list

Sunglasses, $620, alaia.com

GUCCI Hat, $990, gucci.com

Founder’s Note

JIMMY CHOO

Sandals, $1,125, jimmychoo.com

Just as worthy an investment is a work of art — man-made or from Mother Earth. Fresh from last year’s Venice Biennale, ceramicist Stan Bitters’ latest works land at The Future Perfect this month. He has been working in the medium since 1959, and we met him in his Fresno studio, where he is just as prolific many decades later. Always worth a visit are the Filoli Gardens in Woodside, which we photographed as they were getting ready for the summer crowds — they hope to hit a million visitors this year. Because in this season especially, finding yourself surrounded by the beauty of California, immersed in all its myriad treasures, is always the assignment.

JENNIFER SMITH Founder, Editorial Director and CEO

On the Cover

Photography by JACK WATERLOT. Fashion Direction by MARCO MILANI for Petra Flannery Studio. Hair by AMANDA LEE at Highlight Artists. Makeup by EMILY CHENG at The Wall Group. Manicure by GINGER LOPEZ at Opus Beauty. Shot on location at ANNENBERG COMMUNITY BEACH HOUSE. ADRIA ARJONA wearing MIU MIU and TIFFANY & CO.

ALAÏA

29 STATEMENTS

Jacquemus brings playful South of France vibes to West Hollywood

38

A PAINTER OF PRESENCE

A landmark show traces the brief, brilliant career of artist Noah Davis

46

NETFLIX AND THRILL

The streamer is turning the theme park model on its head with its live experiences

50

ADRIA ARJONA UNSCRIPTED

By writing her own lines and driving her own trucks, the Andor star has become Hollywood’s newest obsession

62

FILOLI IN BLOOM

As summer approaches, the horticultural heroes at this Gilded Age estate reveal how they keep the flowerbeds flourishing and the gardens’ legacy alive

72

ROLLING STONES

While this season’s finest gems are polished to perfection, here they find fresh edge in the concrete wilds of California

82

STAN BITTERS’ MOMENT IN THE SUN

With his mighty murals, primal sculptures, and towering totems, the 89-year-old artist helped shape a movement — at last the art world is catching up

91 WEDDINGS

From Hearst Castle opulence to San Francisco City Hall grandeur

113

DISCOVERIES

Must-stays for an odyssey in Southern Europe and your sun care survival kit

THE WATCHMAKER OF WATCHMAKERS

LENNY KRAVITZ

Beverly Hills | South Coast Plaza | The Forum Shops

The

JENNIFER SMITH

Founder, Editorial Director & CEO

JENNY MURRAY Editor & President

Style & Content Director ANDREW BARKER | Creative & Design Director JAMES TIMMINS

Beauty Director

KELLY ATTERTON

Contributing Fashion Editor

REBECCA RUSSELL

Managing Editor

SARAH RUTLEDGE

Senior Editors

GINA TOLLESON

ELIZABETH VARNELL

Photo Editor

LAUREN WHITE

Graphic Designer

DEAN ALARI

Research Editor CAITLIN WHITE

Masthead

Contributing Editors: Caroline Cagney, Elizabeth Khuri Chandler, Kendall Conrad, Kelsey McKinnon, David Nash, Diane Dorrans Saeks, Stephanie Steinman, Nathan Turner, Stephanie Rafanelli

Contributing Writers: Anush J. Benliyan, Max Berlinger, Catherine Bigelow, Samantha Brooks, Alessandra Codinha, Kerstin Czarra, Helena de Bertodano, Richard Godwin, Robert Haskell, Martha Hayes, Rob LeDonne, Christine Lennon, Jessica Ritz, S. Irene Virbila, Chris Wallace

Contributing Photographers: Juan Aldabaldetrecu, Christian Anwander, Guy Aroch, Mark Griffin Champion, Gia Coppola, Roger Davies, Victor Demarchelier, Amanda Demme, Francois Dischinger, Graham Dunn, Sam Frost, Adrian Gaut, Lance Gerber, Alanna Hale, Rainer Hosch, Bjorn Iooss, Danielle Levitt, Blair Getz Mezibov, Dewey Nicks, Frank Ockenfels, David Roemer, Jessica Sample, Jack Waterlot, Ben Weller

Contributing Fashion Directors: Chris Campbell, Cristina Ehrlich, Petra Flannery, Fabio Immediato, Maryam Malakpour, Katie Mossman, Jessica Paster, James Sleaford, Christian Stroble, Samantha Traina

RENEE MARCELLO Publisher

Executive Director, West Coast

SUE CHRISPELL

Director Digital, Sales & Marketing

AMY LIPSON

Sales Development Manager

Information Technology Executive Director

ANNE MARIE PROVENZA Controller LEILA ALLEN

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SANDY HUBBARD

IWC Ingenieur. Form und Technik.

Ingenieur Automatic 42, Ref. 3389

Registering a hardness of around 1300 HV on the Vickers scale, zirconium oxide ceramic is one of the hardest materials on earth. It can be machined only with diamond-tipped tools and is virtually scratchproof. All of which is good news for you, of course, but less so for us. Because machining and manufacturing a watch made entirely of ceramic is unimaginably complex and demanding. The good news, however, is that our engineers have been working with ceramics since 1986. So, you can rest assured that when it comes to the Ingenieur Automatic 42, we leave absolutely nothing to chance. IWC. Engineered.

Boutique · South Coast Plaza

Sarah Rhoads is a photographer, artist, and entrepreneur based in L.A. As one half of the creative studio We Are The Rhoads, her work spans photography, film, and innovative design, always rooted in a desire to explore our shared humanity. For this issue, she shot ceramicist Stan Bitters for “Stan Bitters’ Moment in the Sun” (page 82). MY C SPOTS Trails in Griffith Park for a coffee date with a friend followed by a hike • Ojai Valley Inn for a little getaway with the family • Carpinteria Beach.

The shutterbug behind the images in our feature “Filoli in Bloom” (page 62), Alanna Hale, is based in San Francisco and delighted by new and unexpected experiences. Her work revolves around the things she loves: food, people, and a sense of place. She is a regular contributor to C Magazine, and her work has also been published in the New York Times, Architectural Digest, and Bon Appetit. MY C SPOTS Steep Ravine in Stinson Beach for camping • Griffith Observatory for the best views • Joshua Tree for otherworldly beauty.

Contributors

London-born Rebecca Russell is a fashion editor who styled our summer jewelry portfolio, “Rolling Stones” (page 72), and wrote several additional pieces for this issue. A California resident for more a decade, she has been a fashion editor for C Magazine for nearly as long, and also works as a personal stylist. MY C SPOTS San Clemente on Sundays for the farmers’ market • Palm Springs Surf Club to sit in the hot tub at sunset and watch my husband surf • Companion on Lincoln Boulevard for matcha and GF chocolate banana bread.

Jose Villa, whom several publications have named one of the top wedding photographers in the world, shot two nuptials for this issue: “Talk of the Town” (page 102) and “Everlasting Love” (page 106). He says, “My approach applies fine art photography to the living, breathing, fast-moving phenomenon that is a wedding. For me, it is all about making something beautiful. My goal is to craft vibrant, energetic, fine art images that are as unique as the people in the photographs.” MY C SPOTS Big Sur • San Simeon • Palm Springs.

ALANNA HALE

JOSE VILLA

REBECCA RUSSELL

SARAH RHOADS

A place for the best days.

Embrace a new era of wellness in Carlsbad.

The Omni La Costa Resort & Spa celebrates its 60th anniversary with a breathtaking transformation. Experience timeless charm blended with new features at its award-winning spa. From Himalayan salt rooms to the rejuvenating glow of LightStim LED therapy beds, every detail is designed to restore and inspire.

CONTRIBUTORS

CATHERINE BIGELOW

CAROLINE CAGNEY

KERSTIN CZARRA

DAVID NASH

REBECCA RUSSELL

ELIZABETH VARNELL

S. IRENE VIRBILA

Statements / Opener

ON THE SUNNY SIDE

Jacquemus brings playful ready-to-wear to L.A.

Jacquemus, the cultish French label known equally for surrealist shoes, massive straw hats, credit card–sized purses, and viral fashion shows, has arrived on Melrose Avenue. Women’s collections embrace stripes, fruit patterns, sunny hues, and whimsical proportions inspired by coastal life, and the men’s line is equally laid-back. It’s all instantly eye-catching on social media. Founder Simon Porte Jacquemus, a creative phenom who started his label at age 19, was born in the South of France and taps into his love of seaside retreats for the new space. Olive trees line the entry and sunny yellow linen sofas evoke the golden tones of the Mediterranean coast. There are also nods to nearer bathing spots: Venice’s Muscle Beach inspired a healthdriven capsule including jump ropes and barbells with the line’s instantly recognizable circle and square imagery. And, in addition to a selection of vintage jewelry, home objets, and a new Timberland collaboration yielding a monochromatic butter-colored boat shoe, there’s a Peggy Sirota snap of David Hockney, the master of L.A. pool paintings. 8804 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood, 323-286-0004; jacquemus.com. E.V.

S T A T E M E N T S

Clockwise from left: Draped looks from the cultish designer’s Spring/Summer 2025 collection; yellow tones evoke Provence; a viral banana car at the store opening.

SILK ROUTE

Statements / Style News

A NEW CHAPTER

As TORY BURCH’s style evolution continues, she has reimagined her Rodeo Drive flagship to reflect her changing perspective, tapping Gwenaël Nicolas, cofounder of Tokyo’s Curiosity design studio, for the redesign. A bold, sculptural facade encasing the three-story boutique leads to interiors filled with an eclectic mix of furniture and decor selected by the designer. Amid a modernist marble staircase inspired by Carlo Scarpa, there are French Deco, Swedish mid-century, and Shaker furniture pieces alongside hand-done curved plaster walls with striated surfaces by New York artist collective Art Groove. Rugs in shades of moss, rust, limoncello, and tobacco nod to Burch’s initial Soho shop, which opened more than two decades ago. 366 N. Rodeo Dr., Beverly Hills, 310-274-2394; toryburch.com. E.V.

PLEASE WEAVE Baskets for basking

The golden light of Los Angeles sunsets has drawn painters, novelists, filmmakers, and all manner of creatives to the city, and now Spanish fashion designer ADRIANA IGLESIAS is joining their ranks. Her Spring/Summer 2025 collection of flowing silk dresses, softly structured blazers, high-waisted trousers with matching jackets, and billowing blouses and striking jumpsuits is a love letter to the magnetic energy found on the West Coast. Known for devising looks crafted with Mulberry silk from the Northern Italian city of Como and produced across the Mediterranean in Valencia, Iglesias has been creating her limitededition collections for more than 10 years. Michelle Monaghan, Olivia Munn, Hailey Bieber, and Kiki Layne have worn looks inspired by her Spanish roots, and the sultry pieces in her latest L.A. launch are sure to turn more heads in Hollywood. adrianaiglesias.com. E.V.

1. Stop by TORY BURCH’s redesigned Rodeo Drive Boutique for looks from her Spring/ Summer 25 collection. 2. ADRIANA IGLESIAS offers Italian-inspired California creations for the season.

From left: DIOR, $9,100; ZIMMERMANN, $795; LOEWE, $1,350; VERONICA BEARD, $598. DIOR ZIMMERMANN

MIRROR MIRROR

Never the sort to shy away from a challenge, PRADA ’s co–creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons designed a dress for their Spring/Summer 2025 collection that looks as though it were sculpted from metal. Requiring 24 hours of work in the atelier, the piece relies on a nearly weightless tulle base mechanically embroidered with silver sequins. Next, 144 round mirrors and sparkling crystals in a floral pattern are hand-embroidered, followed by more light-refracting stones that frame the reflective circles, lending depth and dimension. The embellished fabric finally reaches a mannequin to be cut and shaped, hanging in place for four hours to retain proper structure before it is sewn, lined, and reinforced with ribbon tape around the neck, shoulders, and armholes to support the finished look complete with 2,500 crystals. prada.com. E.V.

Shades, Ladies

$450

Pastel-hued frames FERRAGAMO BALENCIAGA

$520

$1,180

Statements / Style News

LOST CHOO

Eight original shoe styles instrumental in establishing the JIMMY CHOO archetype are back on the eve of the house’s 30th anniversary. The Archive: 1997–2001 capsule developed by creative director Sandra Choi, along with fashion designer Conner Ives and fashion journalist Alexander Fury, includes boots, thongs, slides, and even strappy sandals from its first collection. The designs are derived from the first years after the line was established as a ready-to-wear business following its eponymous founder’s foray into bespoke shoes for members of the jet set. Also reissued are an animal print design, a sandal with leather bows, a relaxed mule, a daring boot, and a barely there sandal with an embroidered silken flower. jimmychoo.com E.V.

$375

$430 – R.R.

1. This multifaceted dress from PRADA is created from more than 100 mirrors and 2,500 crystals. 2. Strappy sandals from JIMMY CHOO’s first collection were immortalized when Carrie lost her Choo on Sex and the City.

MATCH POINT

As the days get longer, DIOR is launching a sporty selection of white polo shirts, pleated skirts, and cardigans complete with a racket motif and sporty red-and-blue stripes inspired by the tennis world. The capsule, designed by the house’s creative director, Maria Grazia Chiuri, reflects her vision of alluring sportswear fit for a game with roots among royals. In addition to classic on-court attire, there are tank tops, T-shirts, shorts, briefs, and three-tone sunglasses in blue, white, and red. The French house’s lucky star emblazoned on each piece may just energize players to add spin to their serves and power to their overheads. dior.com. E.V.

DENIM DESIRE

See-through heels

Statements / Style News

ARTISANAL OBJECTS

Swiss jeweler and watchmaker CHOPARD has redesigned its flagship boutique in Costa Mesa, inspired by the landscape and architecture of the region. Earthy tones, natural stone flooring, and open-plan spaces filled with light nod to indoor-outdoor California living. Bespoke hand-crafted Murano glass chandeliers with coffee bean shapes designed by Venetian glassmakers Barovier & Toso nod to coffee cultivated on farms in the state’s southern regions. Inside the 2,275-sq.-ft. shop, jewelry and timepieces join fragrances and accessories amid custom furniture made with Rubelli fabrics. A lounge for haute joaillerie sits near a bridal salon and a gentlemen’s lounge, all showcasing the house’s ethical gold and Lucent Steel designs made with recycled steel. 3333 Bristol St., South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa, 714-432-0963; chopard.com. E.V.

There’s more to fall into at the Gap with the April debut of GAPSTUDIO , an internal fashion incubator where, according to executive vice president and creative director Zac Posen, “Craftsmanship, creativity and culture come together.”

Developed within Gap’s New York headquarters, The Collection 01, designed by Posen, launched

with several accessible wardrobe essentials that showcase the designer’s signature approach to drape, tailoring, and construction. A denim tailored trench coat, double-breasted denim blazer, and high-rise denim sailor pants flaunt new proportions and finishes, and the poplin maxi shirtdress (which sold out upon limited release last spring) is back in new colorways. gap.com. D.N.

1. DIOR serves a tennis capsule. 2. The CHOPARD shop has opened at South Coast Plaza. 3. GAPSTUDIO collection prices start at $78 and are available online and in select U.S. stores and international markets.

OLIVE BRANCH

A PORTRAITIST’S GAZE

DON BACHARDY has always been obsessed with faces. Growing up in 1930s L.A., early exposure to larger-than-life personalities shaped his eye for expression and character — an obsession that would define his career. Don Bachardy: A Life in Portraits at THE HUNTINGTON LIBRARY offers a rare look at his seven-decade oeuvre. The retrospective gathers more than 100 graphite and acrylic works — many never seen — alongside archival materials, letters, and photographs. His subjects range from James Baldwin and Francis Bacon to Bette Davis and Swami Prabhavananda, many of whom were guests at the Santa Monica home he shared with his longtime partner, British writer Christopher Isherwood. His portraits are usually completed in one session of two to six hours, and he often sits very close to his subjects with a fervent gaze. While abstraction dominated contemporary art, he remained faithful to the human face. Through August 4. 1151 Oxford Rd., San Marino; huntington.org. K.C.

Statements / Art + Design News

NO PLACE LIKE HOME

Los Angeles–based designer, author, and entertaining expert NATHAN TURNER never envisioned having another store. After his successful 15-year run, he closed his doors in 2016 to focus on his flourishing interior design business and product collaborations. But Turner has reintroduced his shop, which reflects his evolution as a designer and his unwavering

Since OLIVE ATELIERS opened in 2021, shoppers have flocked there to seek out effortless, oldworld objects that infuse instant patina into a space. Sourcing from nearly a dozen countries, the curation of character-rich pieces is refreshed about every month. Past drops have included rustic ministools, stone planters, and wrought-iron candelabras. The brand’s first in-house outdoor furniture offering, Vestige, is 14 pieces that reimagine classical garden designs and celebrate relaxation, including a slingback chair made of hand-forged iron and linenlike outdoor fabric with a curvy silhouette, and the scallopededge Rendezvous Bistro iron table and Juliet chair, which evoke modern Provence vibes. 1210 Mateo St., L.A.; oliveateliers .com. K.C.

1, 2. BACHARDY’s portraits of Jennifer West (1963) and himself (2018). 3. Don with Marilyn Monroe (1952). 4, 5. OLIVE ATELIERS Evermore Sling-Back Chair, $995, and Garcon Martini Table, $195. 6. NATHAN TURNER in WeHo. 1.

affection for warm, curated interiors. At its heart lies his California Collection, a line of linen fabrics and wallpapers inspired by the sun-drenched hues and nostalgic elegance of West Coast living. Turner also offers custom-upholstered pieces, vintage furniture, and a selection of goods from local artisans — ceramics, hand-painted trays, and other thoughtfully crafted accents. 725 N. La Cienega Blvd.; nathanturner.com. K.C.

ESCAPE IN A MOMENT

Take time to revel in the joy of travel, share magical moments with loved ones, and discover new adventures at Ojai’s beloved 220-acre retreat. Come rejuvenate at our Forbes Five-Star Spa Ojai, delight your palate at The Farmhouse, and find sanctuary in our private villas and fully refreshed guestrooms. Our serene mountain valley welcomes you to escape in a moment with Ojai’s rare spirit.

DUTCH TREAT

YOUTHQUAKE

Statements / Art + Design News

The Netherlands-based luxury brand EICHHOLTZ has landed in L.A. with its first West Coast flagship, a 6,300-sq.ft. townhouse helmed and reimagined by designer Ryan Saghian, who first connected with the company more than a decade ago at Salone del Mobile. Sculptural plaster columns by Belgian artist Katrien Van der Schueren ground the first floor. At the same time, a rotating art curation by Creative Art Partners and a bespoke upholstery program offer high design flexibility. The store’s exclusive shop-in-shop experiences include Dutch flooring house Hakwood, British heritage paint brand Little Greene, and Australian hardware line Lo & Co. Says Saghian, “Eichholtz is rooted in European elegance, but it translates beautifully to the California lifestyle because the designs strike a balance between bold statement and livable luxury.” 464 N. Robertson Blvd.; eichholtzlosangeles.com . K.C.

Long before the Marvel cinematic universe became a global juggernaut, there was JACK KIRBY , a child of Jewish immigrants from Manhattan’s Lower East Side with a pen, a boundless imagination, and a desire to make sense of the world through myth. Over a six-decade career, Kirby helped forge the visual and emotional language of American comics, cocreating a pantheon of

3.

Life as a teen, as depicted in photos, drawings, zines, and more, is the subject of the ORANGE COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART ’s new show, California Biennial 2025: Desperate, Scared, But Social. OCMA chief curator and director of programs Courtenay Finn says the exhibition is a meditation on an uncertain future and an embrace of youth’s creative energy. Juvenilia from Laura Owens, Miranda July, Seth Bogart, Brontez Purnell, and Joey Terrill joins recent work of Deanna Templeton and Heesoo Kwon riffing on their teenage years and childhoods. Griselda Rosas created new textile drawings for the show with her son, and there’s a film by Stanya Kahn, new sculptures by Woody De Othello, and installations by punk rock bands Emily’s Sassy Lime and The Linda Lindas. June 11–Oct. 12. 3333 Avenue of the Arts, Costa Mesa, 714-780-2130; ocma.art. E.V.

5.

1, 2. Shop luxury home goods from the Netherlands at EICHHOLTZ. 3. Cover art for No Obligations by The Linda Lindas, which have an installation at OCMA’s new show. 4. JACK KIRBY’s Captain America Comics #1 , 1940.

heroes — Captain America, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Black Panther, the Incredible Hulk — who would become touchstones of pop culture and emblems of hope. The SKIRBALL CULTURAL CENTER ’s new exhibition, Jack Kirby: Heroes and Humanity, with more than 150 pieces on view, traces the personal and political roots of his work, revealing how a life shaped by war, immigration, and artistic ambition found expression in bold lines and cosmic visions. 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd.; skirball.org K.C.

SUPER MAN

A PAINTER OF PRESENCE

Statements / Art + Design News

A landmark show traces the brief, brilliant career of artist Noah Davis

Artist NOAH DAVIS ’s paintings were always about people — real and imagined, remembered and revisited. Born in Seattle in 1983, Davis found his way to painting early, establishing a studio while still in high school. After a brief stint studying film and art at Cooper Union, he moved to L.A. and immersed himself in the city’s cultural landscape through his work at the Art Catalogues bookstore. His painterly language took shape there, drawing on the legacies of Caspar David Friedrich, Romare Bearden, Mark Rothko, and Kerry James Marshall to forge a style that bridged representation and abstraction. As he once put it, he felt a “responsibility to represent the people around me.”

From top: Noah Davis at work in 2009. Single Mother With Father Out of the Picture, 2007–08. Oil, acrylic, and graphite on canvas. 40 × 30¼ in. Private collection.

Statements / Art + Design News

Davis mined historical and contemporary imagery to portray Black life with majesty, humor, and depth.

Davis mined both historical and contemporary imagery to portray Black life with majesty, humor, and depth, and his canvases offer glimpses into everyday life filtered through a surreal, emotionally charged lens: swimmers suspended mid-dive, lovers entwined in sleep, children gazing at public art. He used an eclectic archive of references — including vintage flea market photos, family snapshots,

Black cinema, classical painting, pop culture, and myth — to build a visual language that was grounded yet otherworldly. With a restless hand and an unorthodox palette, Davis created scenes that pulse with joy and melancholy, fantasy and truth.

HAMMER MUSEUM ’s new exhibition presents the first U.S. survey of the artist whose quietly subversive vision reshaped the contours of contemporary art. Spanning 2007 to 2015 (before his death at age 32) and featuring more than 50 paintings, sculptures, and works on paper, the exhibition also details Davis’s impact as a curator and community builder. In 2012, he cofounded the Underground Museum, transforming storefronts into a cultural hub where art was for everyone.

to feel [Davis’s] impact as an artist and a builder of communities,” says Hammer director Zoë Ryan. June 8 through August 31. 10899 Wilshire Blvd.; hammer.ucla.edu. •

“We are proud to present this retrospective in a city that continues

1975 (8) , 2013. Oil on canvas in artist’s frame. 49½ × 72½ in. Private collection.

The Year of the Coxswain , 2009. Oil on canvas. 48½ × 48½ × 2 in. Studio Museum in Harlem; gift of Martin and Rebecca Eisenberg.

COUTURE CONFECTIONS

Fashionista alert: Don’t miss tea at the posh MAYBOURNE BEVERLY HILLS , which features not only the expected jam-slathered scones and dainty tea sandwiches, but also astonishingly intricate pastries in homage to Hollywood’s red carpet. The Maybourne’s sister hotel in London, The Berkeley, has been famously serving its Prêt-à-Portea tea service based on each season’s couture shows for some two decades. For this first season at the Beverly Hills hotel, executive pastry chef Brooke Martin is channeling iconic red carpet looks like ankle wrap sandals Taylor Swift wore at the 2021 Grammy Awards and Bjork’s Oscars swan dress, which makes its entrance as a pavlova with passion fruit ganache and swan meringue. 225 N. Canon Dr., Beverly Hills, 310-860-7980; maybournebeverlyhills.com. S.I.V.

TYLER TOWN

Statements / Dining News

STRIKE A POZA

To celebrate the 15th anniversary of WAYFARE TAVERN , chef Tyler Florence moved his beloved Financial District restaurant just four blocks away to a 10,000-sq.-ft., two-story space. Built in 1910, this brick-and-beam building received a $7 million updo, with lush interiors created by award-winning designer Jon de la Cruz. The main floor with a marble-veined bar, plush banquettes, a wine room and open kitchen pass, exudes a cozy yet luxuriant Gold Rush-era vibe. Divided into microdining rooms, each is expressed in rich palettes of red and green hues and accented by gorgeous wall treatments, vintage art, and Tavern memorabilia. While Tyler is tweaking his daily menu, the stars remain: a classic burger, ethereal popovers, and his famed fried chicken, now available with a supplement of caviar. 201 Pine St., S.F.; wayfaretavern.com. C.B.

1, 2, 3. Tea at MAYBOURNE

includes treats like Taylor Swift’s sandals as a cookie with royal pink icing. 4. WAYFARE chef Tyler Florence. 5. The rooftop of L’ERMITAGE BEVERLY HILLS is now open to the public.

As part of a dramatic refresh to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the L’ERMITAGE BEVERLY HILLS , the hotel’s rooftop will be open to the public for the first time. The new bar and restaurant concept is called Poza, a morphing of “ponzu” with Ponza, the island off Rome, and pozza , Italian for pool. Enjoy 360-degree views of the neighborhood while noshing on bluefin tuna poke, lobster rolls, housemade chips with guacamole, and more from chef Todd Matthews, previously of Pendry West Hollywood and Mondrian in NYC. As for cocktails, try the 1975, the hotel’s version of a classic Dark & Stormy, or the signature Burton Sunset Spritz, mixed with St. Germain, blood orange, and raspberry boba. 9291 Burton Way, Beverly Hills, 310-278-3344; lermitagebeverlyhills.com S.I.V.

BEVERLY HILLS

True Love Always

TAKING A PLUNGE

San Francisco–based KAMPERETT is applying its minimalist lens to swimwear, inspired by Sea Ranch’s dramatic raw coastline, architecture, pools, and saunas. The result is an edited capsule of self-lined suits designed to hug and support with beautifully clean lines made locally from Italian regenerated nylon-andelastane material. “We mainly use natural fibers, but knew that with swimwear functionality was key, so we sought a fabric with great memory that had a regenerative component to it,” says Anna Chiu, the line’s cofounder. There are elegant one-piece suits and a two-piece style, both balancing cut with function, the culmination of a year of research and refinement. “We chose colors for our swimwear the same way we do with readyto-wear, starting with neutrals that are easy to wear, black, sage, palm, camel, and a few pops of bright colors — coral and chartreuse — that bring a nice kind of energy,” Chiu says. kamperett.com. E.V.

BODY CONSCIOUS

Statements / Style News

Kim Kardashian’s shapewear line has arrived in her hometown, complete with a monochromatic Sunset Boulevard storefront housing a 12-ft. Vanessa Beecroft sculpture. The new SKIMS boutique, designed by Rafael de Cárdenas Ltd., features tonal mannequins, ultrasuede, and Corian decor that reflect the line’s bodyfocused aesthetic, as do the rounded-edge fixtures and color palette attuned to the foundations, underwear, and loungewear for women and men. Collections include Fits Everybody, Cotton, Ultimate Bras, and other staples, plus monthly drops such as NikeSKIMS and more. The line, founded by Kardashian and Jens Grede and known for its stretch, technical construction, and shape, has launched partnerships with the WNBA, NBA, and USA Olympics, not to mention swimwear and bridal lingerie. At the new flagship, a SKIMS loves LA limited-edition line is debuting with proceeds going to the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation. 8569 W. Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood; skims.com. E.V.

$385. 3. The SKIMS shop

West Hollywood. 4.

J.J. Martin, founder of the boldly patterned Milanese fashion and homewares line LA DOUBLEJ , has gone back to her L.A. roots to collaborate with MOTHER on a vibrant new capsule collection of denim and dresses. The maximalist archival ’70s prints that comprise Ciao Mamma! are designed for cross-generational appeal, melding maxi dresses with dolman sleeves awash in bright graphics with denim vests and flared jeans. There’s a silk caftan, baby T-shirts, blouses, a silk scarf, and even a Western denim button-up in LDJ’s dragonfly motif. Also included are sweatshirts, minidresses, maxi skirts, high-waisted jeans, cutoffs covered in vintage-inspired patches, and a rigid denim jacket embroidered with one of five goddesses designed for the “grotta” in LDJ’s Milan store by Romanian artist Aitch. motherdenim.com; ladoublej.com. E.V.

1, 2. KAMPERETT swimsuit,

has landed in

LA DOUBLE J x MOTHER vest, $578, blouse, $590, and jeans, $550.

MODERN PACIFIC COAST

AT EL ENCANTO

Belmond El Encanto

From the moment you arrive at El Encanto, the natural beauty of your surroundings, private garden bungalows and captivating views create a world of enchantment within The American Riviera.® New this season, lunch and dinner on The Terrace pays homage to the Mediterranean with stunning views over the city to the Channel Islands, while garden botanicals and live music are celebrated during Afternoon Tea and Thursday’s Gin & Jazz.

Santa Barbara is the place to be this season with the Summer Solstice Celebration, French Wave Film Festival, Old Spanish Days and so much more. Stay at El Encanto and don’t miss a single moment.

Contact our Reservation Desk at 805-845-5800 today to reserve your private cottage or garden bungalow.

POSTERS THAT POP

BROAD STROKES

CORITA KENT ’s boundary-pushing pastel silkscreen prints addressing labor and civil rights and a range of social justice topics — which are as relevant today as they were in the 1960s — have a new home in L.A.’s Arts District. The work, inspired by Warhol and others, joins a collection of more than 30,000 prints, ephemera, and objects, including her 1985 Love postage stamps, at the newly opened Corita Art Center. The CAC, one of few single-artist spaces devoted to women, is filled with the spiritually informed works on love and tolerance created by Corita, who entered the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart as a nun and went on to run the art department at L.A.’s Immaculate Heart College after studying at Otis, Chouinard (now CalArts), and USC. Her prints fueled her activism, and her prolific output is now on permanent display in her hometown. Free admission, by appointment. 811 Traction Ave., Ste. 3A, L.A., 323-450-4650; corita.org E.V.

For his debut singleartist museum exhibition in Southern California, an adapted version of JEFFREY GIBSON ’s 2024 Venice Biennale presentation at the U.S. Pavilion has been mounted at THE BROAD . Jeffrey Gibson: the space in which to place me highlights the Indigenous artist’s unique fusion of rich color, geometric design, and references to historical 19th- and 20th-century American documents and modern music as critiques of social injustices and equity. As a contemplation on Indigeneity and feeling of belonging, Gibson interprets the idea of multiplicity of identity through 10 paintings, seven sculptures, eight flags, three murals, and a single video installation throughout the museum’s first-floor galleries. May 10–Sept. 28. 221 S. Grand Ave., L.A., 213-232-6200; thebroad.org. D.N.

Statements / Art + Design News

DESIGNER DNA

The daughter of an interior designer and a television producer, Lindsey Colhoun was brought home to a Frank Gehry–designed house. Raised in a world where creativity was second nature and home was both sanctuary and canvas, Colhoun developed an innate sense of space, story, and taste. Now she brings her quietly elegant aesthetic to HAVEN , her new boutique in Agoura Hills created to help others design homes that reflect a distinctly California sensibility: effortless, inviting, and deeply personal. The store features one-of-a-kind vintage pieces, custom furnishings, textiles, and layered objects arranged like elements of a well-loved home, including Japanese candles, vintage French pottery, and eclectic art. 28914 Roadside Dr., Ste. 104, Agoura Hills; @havenbylcd. K.C.

1, 2, 3. CORITA, E eye love, 1968; at a conference in 1967; Chavez , 1969. 4. JEFFREY GIBSON commissioned moccasins for Charles Cary Rumsey’s The Dying Indian, 1900s. 5. Lindsey Colhoun’s shop is a HAVEN for home goods.

3. 5.

NETFLIX AND THRILL

The streamer is turning the theme park model on its head with its live experiences

In one of the most memorable scenes from the first season of Squid Game, the Netflix series about a deadly Korean game show, contestants tiptoed across a glass bridge, not knowing which pane would shatter under their weight and send them plunging to their death. Soon you will be able to play that game with your spouse, children, and friends — without, of course, the fatal consequences.

This year Netflix is set to open its first locations of Netflix House, a mallbased immersive experience that will let

Words by STEVE SANDERS Illustration by MARIA FEDOSEEVA

fans step into scenes from series such as Bridgerton, scarf down show-themed dishes from the likes of Is It Cake?, and grab some Stranger Things merch. Think Planet Hollywood crossed with a pareddown Disneyland-type experience that taps into Netflix’s growing collection of beloved characters and shows.

For the past several years the streaming giant has been focused on keeping viewers planted on our sofas. The company has said that its competition is not, say, Disney or Paramount. It’s any time not spent on Netflix, including “a glass of wine with your partner.” But the pivot to in-person experiences is an outgrowth

like Meghan Markle, whose new line of housewares — coinciding with her new Netflix series, With Love, Meghan — is expected to line the shelves.

The path from the big screen — or in Netflix’s case, the small screen — to in-person experiences is well worn. In 2024, Disney’s amusement parks and cruise division hauled in $34 billion, nearly equal to the $39 billion that Netflix brought in from subscriptions and advertising. Netflix is betting it can match Disney’s knack for transforming characters and shows into a theme park–style operation that will lure the masses.

fers themed dishes, including a Bridgerton Regency Tea.

Netflix’s pivot to real-life experiences may prove well-timed, given surging public concern about the loneliness epidemic among phone-obsessed youth.

A handful of interactive entertainment companies have carved out profitable businesses that are centered on getting people out of the house and interacting with others. These include Meow Wolf, an immersive-art experience in Santa Fe, New Mexico, that has expanded to six other locations, and Two Bit Circus in Santa Monica, which offers virtual reality

Locations will be refreshed as new films and series capture

the zeitgeist.

games and interactive story rooms.

Statements / Long Read

from its decision 13 years ago to release original content.

The company has poured more than $125 billion into original films and series, creating a well it hopes to draw on with up to 25 Netflix House locations across the U.S. The first two locations will be the Galleria Dallas mall and the King of Prussia Mall in Pennsylvania. Former department stores are being transformed into 100,000-square-foot experiential entertainment venues that will be refreshed as new films and series capture the zeitgeist.

Taking a page from Disney’s merchandising business, Netflix House locations will also sell products from celebrities

Netflix has more than 300 million paying subscribers worldwide. As the company has grown, it has more aggressively experimented with new ways to make money, but with middling success. Its foray into video games, included as part of its core streaming offering, has flopped. It’s not clear if a mall-based Netflix experience will work as a stand-alone business.

A family trip to Disneyland, for example, is often an event that involves months of planning and costs thousands of dollars. Single-day entrance to Disneyland for a family of four starts at $500. Netflix has not said how much it will charge for tickets to Netflix House. For it to make financial sense, each location is expected to be a local jaunt that people visit regularly.

The company has experimented with other live experiences, including numerous pop-ups, like a temporary Chef’s Table restaurant in Los Angeles with Curtis Stone and Dominique Crenn from Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend. In 2023, the play Stranger Things: The First Shadow opened at the Phoenix Theatre in London. As of April 22, it’s on Broadway — and its $50 million price tag is more than double the average cost to stage a production. Earlier this year, the company opened Netflix Bites at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, a restaurant that of-

“We’ve launched more than 50 experiences in 25 cities, and Netflix House represents the next generation of our distinctive offerings,” says Marian Lee, the chief marketing officer of Netflix. “The venues will bring our beloved stories to life in new, ever-changing, and unexpected ways.”

Netflix has promised “rotating immersive experiences,” which likely means virtual reality games that can transport people to different places without the immense cost of rebuilding physical spaces. Since 2023, Netflix has been working with Sandbox VR. The company, based in San Mateo, operates 60 virtual reality locations, most of which offer games based on Netflix titles, including Squid Game Virtuals and Rebel Moon: The Descent Steve Zhao, the founder and CEO of Sandbox, says the Squid Game experiences have brought in more than $30 million in ticket sales since 2023. “Our vision is to grow alongside Netflix’s [titles],” he says.

For Netflix House to thrive, the company will, much as it did with streaming, effectively have to create a new industry of mall-based, in-person entertainment. A generation was taught to “Netflix and chill.” The company’s next trick is encouraging people to do the opposite. •

Adria Arjona, Hollywood’s New Obsession p. 50. The Secret to Keeping Filoli Gardens in Bloom p. 62. This Season’s Finest Jewels Go Skating p. 72. Inside the Studio of Artist Stan Bitters p. 82.

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ADRIA ARJONA

By writing her own lines, driving her own trucks, and refusing to play it safe, the Andor star has become Hollywood’s new obsession

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Words by RICHARD GODWIN

Photography by JACK WATERLOT Styling by PETRA FLANNERY STUDIO

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ADRIA ARJONA

Should you encounter a bright orange 1970s Ford F-150 pickup truck driving through your neighborhood making an unseemly noise, don’t be surprised if Adria Arjona is at the wheel. The Puerto Rico–born actor, 33, is “obsessed” with trucks, she tells me, swiping through pictures of pickups on her phone. She has a small collection, including a vintage Chevy and an everyday Tacoma, as well as the F-150 — but not a Cybertruck, she stresses, because it’s not a pickup truck. “I hate it,” she says. “I don’t like any car that’s not a pickup truck.”

Arjona is one of the hottest female talents in Hollywood after a stellar 2024 that included Richard Linklater’s romantic thriller Hit Man and Zoë Kravitz’s feminist comedy-horror movie Blink Twice. This year she returns in Season 2 of Andor, the Star Wars spinoff that everyone agrees is the best thing to happen in that universe in eons. She has also secured modeling contracts with Giorgio Armani and Tiffany and stepped onto the red carpet with her equally in-demand romantic partner, Jason Momoa. In short, Arjona is in a heady spell: Everyone is asking her to do everything all at once, which might explain her attachment to dependable vehicles that can stand the test of time.

“I just feel really powerful when I drive it,” she says. “I like people’s faces when I get out of the car. No one expects me to come out of that thing in a dress and heels. And I like driving it through Beverly Hills with that engine roaring. I like opposites. It makes me giggle.”

We are talking over fresh mint tea at the Corinthia Hotel in London on a beautiful spring afternoon. Arjona is in the U.K. to promote Andor, and she has already prompted a minor flash mob outside the hotel as a group of fans recognize her and swarm her for autographs. “I try to do as much as I possibly can. But I’m human, and I have good days and bad days,” she says. She has a definite presence, even dressed down in a baggy black sweater and a Jeanne Moreau–esque cloth cap that perches just so over her dark curly hair. “I keep looking at your companion,” a New Zealander at a neighboring table says when Arjona gets up. “I keep wondering how her hat stays on her head.”

she going to get better? Or worse?” Or ... evil? “I’m telling you nothing,” she says. “You have to watch the show.”

She does say that the series was a significant acting challenge. The action jumps forward across 12 episodes, a prequel to the 2016 film Rogue One (which itself was an origin story to the critical mission at the climax of George Lucas’s first Star Wars film, in 1977). “It’s easier to jump five years than one year. In five years there are major differences. But how different are you from a year ago? It’s so subtle you can’t pinpoint it. It was pretty fucking hard. Every actor in the season will say the same thing.”

It’s fair to say that Disney has had its share of misses since it bought the Star Wars franchise for $4 billion in 2012. But Andor stands out as a critical and commercial success, much like Rogue One. It has been praised for its overall intelligence (the showrunner is Tony Gilroy of Bourne Identity; the scripts are by Beau Willimon, creator of House of Cards) as much as its technical accomplishments. “They built an entire city,” Arjona says of the enormous soundstage at Pinewood Studios near London, where the series was shot. “You could get lost in it. I could run in any direction and everything was filmable. And then there are these huge set pieces I can’t wait for everyone to watch.”

The actors in these massive franchises often come across as alienated from the process, aware they are tiny cogs in a huge machine. Arjona, on the other hand, seems to love every minute. “It was one of my goals: I must be in Star Wars . I need to be in Star Wars . It’s important for a Latin American woman to be in Star Wars ,” she says. “So to hold that representation as a fan of the franchise is really exciting.”

Feature / Adria

“No one expects me to come out of a truck in a dress and heels.”

ADRIA ARJONA

Her involvement was even sweeter because she had narrowly missed out on being cast for an earlier project in the franchise (she can’t say which). “I walked away thinking it really went my way. You can sense those things a bit. And I left and within four days I was told it wasn’t going my way. And it destroyed me. It shattered me. I went skydiving the next day and I said, ‘I’m leaving all this on the plane.’ ” Hang on, the parachute? “No! I mean I left all that anxiety and desire on the plane,” she says.

There’s that. And she’s also incredibly beautiful and funny. Her line “Who the fuck is Gary?” from Hit Man has been turned into a thousand memes. It occurs as Glen Powell’s character, whom Arjona’s character had assumed was a brave, charismatic hit man called Ron, reveals himself to be an undercover police contractor named Gary. She improvised it in rehearsals: “I’m like, ‘Gary? I’m Puerto Rican. I’ve never heard of anyone called Gary. Who the fuck is Gary?’ Rick [Linklater] started dying laughing and said, ‘Write that down.’ ”

Behind that excellent timing, however, is a steeliness that’s very much to the fore in Andor . Here she plays Bix, a mechanic from a salvaging outpost called Ferrix who is the sort of person who’d drive a Star Wars version of an F-150 pickup. “She’s a ferocious Ferrixian,” Arjona says. “She’s working class. She believes in hard work, family, and loyalty, so when she’s betrayed, it really destroys her.” For most of the first season, she was pretty up against it. “The cool thing about Season 2 is we get to find out how she responds,” she continues. “Is

As a result, she arrived in London for her Andor audition in 2022 primed for disappointment. “I was the only one there,” she says. “I did one scene and Tony Gilroy said, ‘Good job. Let’s go to the other scene.’ I did the other scene once too. It’s usually a bad sign when you do a scene only once, so I’m thinking I really screwed it up. And Tony looks at me and says, ‘Welcome to Star Wars , kid.’ ”

Needless to say, it was exciting news. In fact, Arjona says, it was the moment that everything she’d been working toward came together. “Within 10 minutes, Tony Gilroy changed the trajectory of my life. I don’t think anyone has done that for me,” she says. “It usually takes days — weeks — to hear about an audition. They make you wait. And while you wait, you doubt. You think, ‘I should quit acting. I don’t deserve this.’ But it instills so much confidence in you as an actor when someone has zero doubts about you.”

She is particularly proud that her costar in the title role is the Mexican actor Diego Luna. “There are two Latin leads in Andor , one of the most important Star Wars shows yet. That makes me hopeful,” Arjona

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TORY BURCH bodysuit, $798, and pants, $1,698. Opposite: CHANEL swimsuit, $1,150.

“It was one of my goals. It’s important for a Latin American woman to be in  Star Wars.”

ADRIA ARJONA

says. “We haven’t had that opportunity to play in those roles before. I’ve never watched Star Wars and seen me. That’s why it’s important. I want little girls and teenagers like me to see themselves on screen.”

At this point I wonder how hopeful anyone can be about these things given the wider American political context. But as soon as I mention Donald Trump, she says, “I do not want to go there. It is way too depressing. Ask me something interesting.”

We move on instead to her childhood. Her father, Ricardo Arjona, is a Guatemalan singer-songwriter who is a big deal in the Latin world; his eight million monthly Spotify streams are in the region of Paul Simon or Neil Young. “He’s a big deal at home too,” Arjona says. “Like, in our household. He’s just a very cool and funny guy. He’s so silly and goofy and us kids — all we want to do is be with dad. He’s just a pretty cool dude. He can be a total asshole too. But mostly he’s a pretty cool dude and I like hanging out with him.”

Adria, her brother (also Ricardo), and their Puerto Rican mother, Leslie Torres, spent much of their time on the road while their father toured Central and South America. “We moved from place to place. Our base was Mexico City, but we’d venture out when my dad was on tour. There’s a big joke in my family. We’d say, ‘Wait. Did we go to school?’ My dad would say, ‘I think you did’ and my mum would say, ‘You definitely did.’ But I don’t have that many memories of school. All my memories are from tour.”

Arjona’s first love was dancing — she still takes lessons when she has a spare moment — but she resisted her father’s attempts to shape her into a musician. Her love of acting emerged through play. “I was falling in love with characters and mimicking them. I would play pretend on my own a lot and I thought I was crazy,” she says. “My dad was like, ‘Well, you’ve always been creative. Why don’t you try acting?’ ”

She first moved to the U.S. when she was 16, enrolling at the Miami Actors Studio. “Once I started, I was fascinated,” she says. “It was like a bug that went in my brain, and I could not let it out.” She went on to study at the prestigious Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute in New York (alma mater of Scarlett Johansson, Claire Danes, and Lady Gaga). Then she moved to Los Angeles, where the roles started picking up. Before Andor, she had won a lead role as Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz spinoff Emerald City (2017) and the remake of Father of the Bride (2022). When I ask which actors she looks up to, she cites Salma Hayek and Gena Rowlands, but towering above them is Penélope Cruz. “She’s such a role model for me,” Arjona says. “She’s so effortless and genuine in every single one of her performances. She elevates anything.”

They don’t make them like that anymore. They are two gentlemen,” she says. “I loved every second of making that movie. We had so much fun.” Arjona ended up writing much of her character Madison’s dialogue, which gave her additional confidence. “It’s one of those movies where I’d just love to go back and soak it all in a little more,” she says. “I wish we could do another one.”

Trying to align schedules with her similarly on-fire costar might be difficult, I suggest. “True,” she says, laughing. “It’s so exciting to see your friends succeed at the level that you saw them at. I met Glen and I saw him up here. And the world hadn’t seen him that high up. And it just warms my heart now that they’re catching up.”

He might say the same about her. It’s also a challenge to find time with her partner, Jason Momoa, who is having his own moment thanks to the enormous success of A Minecraft Movie. “Yeah, but we find it — we always find it,” Arjona says. She is not inclined to say much more about their relationship (Momoa’s former long-term partner was Lisa Bonet, the mother of Kravitz, Arjona’s director on Blink Twice), but she is effusive about the Minecraft movie. “I’ve watched it five times. I love it. It’s the best movie this year. It’s killing it. I went to set a bunch. They deserve it all. They put so much love and heart into this movie; they know how much it means to kids. It has destroyed at the box office. It makes me smile.” Her time is a lot more precious now. Is she more protective over it? “It’s harder to say yes to things,” Arjona says. “I believe you only have so many phases as an actor. If you do have a moment, people then want you to do that exact same thing again, right? And I don’t. I just did it. I want to do something else.” Her father’s advice is to follow her gut. “That’s what I always stay true to. I have said no to some wild stuff this year, and people think I’m insane. But my gut is saying no.” She has two more projects due this year that seem set to cement her status. There is the comedy Splitsville, costarring Dakota Johnson and Nicholas Braun (that’s Greg from Succession, folks). “I had so much fun making it. We just found out it’s going to Cannes,” Arjona says. Then there is the movie Onslaught, directed by Adam Wingard. “It’s this cool piece of art that we did. I’m being pretty picky. You only have so many movies you can make in a lifetime, and I want to do work I can be proud of,” she says. In the future, she has her sights on a period drama. “I don’t really think we get to play around in that space a lot. I would love to be in a western. I would love to bring more Latin American stories to life.”

It’s fair to say that the two 2024 releases put Arjona in a different league. Hit Man is a delight — the kind of intelligent, mid-budget, character-driven movie that everyone complains that no one makes anymore in the streaming age. One of its chief delights is the chemistry between Arjona and Powell. “Oh, man,” she says when I mention it. “We’re really good friends. I love him dearly. He’s a really beautiful person.”

They had never met until Linklater threw them together. A 45-minute meeting turned into a five-hour dinner. Dry January resolutions turned into tequilas. “So Rick was like, ‘All right, we’re doing this.’

For now, Arjona is absolutely delighted to be working, working, working‚ living from airport to hotel to set to car. “I grew up on the road, so I have a very different definition of home from a lot of people. I honestly find home in people. If my partner is with me in London, I’m home. If my mom or my friends are with me, I’m home. It really depends on where my people are.”

Her stuff, she clarifies, is in L.A. And part of her heart is too. “California changed my life. The second I came to L.A., everything started flourishing. I owe a lot to L.A.,” Arjona says. “You have everything in California — the ocean, the desert. I’ll always have roots in California. That’ll never change. But I love being a road body. I don’t know any different.” X

Styling by MARCO MILANI for Petra Flannery Studio. Hair by AMANDA LEE at Highlight Artists. Makeup by EMILY CHENG at The Wall Group. Manicure by GINGER LOPEZ using Dior Le Baume at Opus Beauty. Shot on location at ANNENBERG COMMUNITY BEACH HOUSE.

ADRIA ARJONA

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A view of the Sunken Garden and its Reflecting Pool at Filoli, which has been in the hands of the National Trust of Historic Preservation since 1975.

The Secret to a Seasonal Spectacle

As summer approaches, the horticultural heroes at this Gilded Age estate reveal how they keep the flowerbeds flourishing and the gardens’ legacy alive

Words

by DAVID NASH Photography by ALANNA HALE

Like one of the spectacular settings in the celebrated series Downton Abbey, the century-old Filoli estate 25 miles south of San Francisco is a bastion of post–Gilded Age glory in the U.S. But the neo-Georgian style 56-room mansion — and its immaculately maintained gardens, orchards, and woodlands — is more than a 654-acre vestige of the past; it’s also an evolving story. And like an expansive golden-era manor, it takes a full-time team of skilled artisans to keep Filoli looking formidable. A horticulture team of 17 has been transitioning the gardens from spring in preparation for the busy summer season — 600,000 visitors are expected this year. This monumental task involves removing and composting spent bulbs, planting begonias and other perennials, moving pots into and out of storage, calculating water usage, clearing hiking trails, and managing critters that can upend the landscape.

“I tell people it’s like running a city.”

KARA NEWPORT President and CEO

1917. Heir to the Empire Mine company (and the fortune made by his father), Bourn also served as director of the San Francisco Gas Company, was an investor in Napa Valley’s Greystone Cellars (the state’s largest wine cellar before the turn of the 20th century and the first to operate by electricity), and led the merger of electricity and gas supply in San Francisco to form what would later become the Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Filoli, an acronym derived from the first two letters of the key words from his credo, “Fight for a just cause; love your fellow man; live a good life,” would remain the Bourns’ favored residence until their deaths in 1936. The next year, the estate was sold to Matson (the shipping company) heiress Lurline Matson Roth and her husband, William P. Roth, who expanded its Isabella Worn–designed gardens and added the Pool Pavilion — with Worn’s input, so it fit into the garden’s original scheme. Lurline donated the estate to the National Trust in 1975.

Feature / Filoli

Filoli operates as a private nonprofit organization, and in August it celebrates 50 years since the National Trust for Historic Preservation acquired it. The home’s gardens are widely lauded among the country’s best, with British garden designer Penelope Hobhouse calling it “one of the most beautiful formal gardens in America.” But it takes much more than a green thumb to maintain the 16 acres of “garden rooms,” greenhouse operations, and natural lands.

“I tell people it’s like running a city,” says Kara Newport, Filoli’s president and CEO. “A few years ago, we developed a comprehensive site plan and really looked at what the future holds for us and what the opportunities are. What we heard from our community — and those in the national gardens and museums world — is that we have such a unique positioning because, yes, we’re a historic house with a collection and we’re a formal garden, but we also have nature and agriculture.”

The bucolic Woodside country house was designed by San Francisco architect Willis Polk and built for Spring Valley Water Company president William Bowers Bourn II, who moved there with his wife, Agnes, in

That colorfully lush blueprint, brought to life in 1929 after nearly a decade of construction and planning, includes olive, apple, and pear orchards and an array of seamlessly interconnected (but distinct) gardens: the Sunken Garden, with blue penstemons, prickly pear cactus, and Color Guard yucca; the Rose Garden, where fragrant specimens like Carding Mill, Just Joey, and Sally Holmes delight the senses; the Woodland Garden, with many shades of green among the perennials, shrubs, and trees; and the Walled Garden, with its smaller Chartres Cathedral Garden, a four-quadrant bed with pink, rose, and white Bada Boom begonias.

“The beds here were designed after the famous [12th-century Tree of Jesse] stained glass window at Chartres Cathedral just outside Paris,” says Jim Salyards, a 30-year Filoli veteran and the associate director of horticulture initiatives. “And it matches pretty well — for summer we’re planting three different types of begonias to highlight the stained glass effect.” Elsewhere, zinnia, cuphea, and special Megawatt Rose Bronze Leaf begonias will fill seven beds beyond the southern walled garden, and key pollinator beds get a refresh with additional pollinator-friendly plants that attract bees, beetles, butterflies, and birds. (For spring the beds were planted with purple and blue violas and pink and purple foxgloves.) “I’ve done the design of the garden for the past

From top left: Detail of a stone garden urn featuring the mythological Greek figure Silenus; a sun-dappled view of the gardens. Opposite: The property’s gardens are planted with an assortment of colorful flowers, plants, and fruit trees.

Feature / Filoli

Filoli’s second owner, shipping heiress Lurline Matson Roth, expanded the property’s Isabella Worn–designed gardens. In 1946, this pool pavilion was added to incorporate seamlessly into its surroundings.

14 years, and we want to make them different each year with new plants and new ways of laying things out,” Salyards says.

There are also some crowd-pleasing stalwarts dating back at least a century, including a monumental pair of Hinoki cypress. “These are two of our most special trees,” Salyards says. “They were part of the Japanese Pavilion at the 1915 Panama-Pacific [International] Exposition in San Francisco, and subsequently gifted to William Bourn, who was a silent contributor to the exposition.” Another prized specimen, a Camperdown elm, is Salyards’s favorite. “It’s a weeping form of an elm that’s native to a lot of places in Europe. It was found at an estate in Scotland as a tree, planted from seed, that lolled along the ground, but the person who discovered it figured out that if it was grafted up high it would become this big, beautiful umbrella.”

In the spring, the weeping branches are ripe with flowers that give way in summer to a beautiful chartreuse canopy of leaves. “It’s a cool tree to sit under in the summer with its beautiful architecture and funky angles,” he says. Among those on the team that cares for the trees, gardens, and natural lands is horticulturist Taylor Thorson, whose duties include weeding, watering, and hand pruning. “Working here, you really become in tune with the seasons,” she says. “While there’s a multilevel plan and tasks you know need to get done each week, things pop up and your plans can go sideways.” Some of those unexpected things literally pop up, like moles, voles, and gophers, which can create onefoot-wide openings with five-foot-long networks beneath. “Those burrowers that push up mounds and eat the fruit [growing on the property] are pretty standard, but recently we’ve had a huge uptick in ground squirrels,” Thorson says. Although the species is native, their population has exploded. “I think the problem is ecological,” she says. “Something isn’t eating them, so we’re exploring why that secondary predator isn’t around. We know we have a mountain lion roaming — which is an apex predator — so we imagine it’s pushing out the coyotes, foxes, or bobcats that would be managing the squirrels.” The team’s conundrum is how to restore balance. Potential solutions include owl boxes and creating alternate habitats to dissuade the squirrels from burrowing. “You fill the holes, but they don’t have a problem moving back in,” Thorson says. “As you can imagine, for a formal garden it’s not the look we want.”

Given that California summers have become drier and hotter because of climate change, keeping the gardens green is an arduous balancing act. “We have a lot of lawn, and it tells you if it’s dry — it consumes your summer, and you think about water the whole time,” Thorson says. As Newport notes, “Fire and water are big topics [for us], along with impacts of climate overall.” In the summer of 2022, Filoli explored the region’s water history with Blue Gold: The Power and Privilege of Water, an exhibition designed to share its conservation efforts and concerns for the future.

Feature / Filoli

Then there’s the Filoli nature preserve, which lies beyond the box hedges and rose beds. It houses five ecosystems, including chaparral, riparian, redwood stands, and oak-madrone forests, in addition to natural springs, creeks, and cultivated grasslands. Although it’s part of the estate that sees frequent hikers along its mile-long California Trail and half-mile Spring Creek Trail, until now it has been a relatively untapped resource. “As part of our natural lands expansion, the idea is, in the next couple of years, to add three to five more miles of trails,” says Ian Walsh, natural lands and trails manager at Filoli. “There’s a lot of opportunity for cool stuff that nobody has ever seen, from [new] viewpoints to potential canopy walks among our more mature redwoods.” As part of that plan, on June 7, the estate is opening Trolls: Save the Humans, an exhibition of artist Thomas Dambo’s folklore-inspired troll sculptures that will dot the Natural Lands. “In many ways, the trolls are our ambassadors introducing the nature preserves,” Newport says. “Most people who’ve come here for years don’t even know they can get back there.”

“The beds here were designed after a famous stained glass window outside of Paris.”

JIM SALYARDS

Campaigns like this are important for Filoli, which isn’t wholly sustained by donations, endowments, or government support — all of which have inherent risk. “We’re an incredibly unusual nonprofit in that we’re [operating on] 92 percent earned income,” Newport says. “We really depend on ticket sales, membership, and programs.” The contributed income that makes up the remaining 8 percent funds projects and reinvestment, like the overhaul of the working vegetable garden and the construction of a terrace on the north side of the house — both of which were 100 percent donor funded. Says Newport, “Our plan, though, is to build out to see one million [visitors] annually, but that’s all dependent on [raising funds] for our expansion out into nature.” filoli.org. •

From top: One of the greenhouses designed by Oakland architect Arthur Brown Jr. in the 1920s; Jim Salyards, the associate director of horticulture, has been with Filoli for 30 years. Opposite: A rare look inside the main tropical greenhouse.

“Two of our most special trees were part of the Japanese Pavilion at the 1915 Pan-Pacific Expo.”

JIM SALYARDS

The sprawling 654-acre property includes immaculately maintained gardens, orchards, and surrounding woodlands that are maintained by a horticulture team of 17 full-time staff.

ROLLING

While this season’s finest gems are polished to perfection, here they find fresh edge in the concrete wilds of California

Photography by BRAD TORCHIA Styling by REBECCA RUSSELL

Feature / Jewelry

GRAFF Yellow and white gold Fancy Vivid yellow and white diamond earrings, necklace set, bracelet, and ring, all prices upon request. MOTHER tank, $195, and skateboard, $250. RE/DONE shorts, $215. Hat, stylist’s own.

BOUCHERON 18K white gold Wladimir, the Cat ring, $133,000, and Quatre Black Edition and Double White Edition clip earrings, from $3,510. MOTHER hat, $50.

VAN CLEEF & ARPELS 18K yellow and white gold Perlée Diamonds bracelets, from $32,500, and 18K yellow gold and rose gold & white gold Bouton d’Or rings, from $16,600. VANS sneakers, $80. BOMBAS socks, $60 (pack of 4). MOTHER skateboard, $250.

Left: LUGANO 18K yellow gold

Yellow Cushion Cut Diamond & Rubber bracelet and Yellow Oval Diamond Eternity ring, prices

Right: CHOPARD 18K white gold Haute Joaillerie Collection bracelet and 18K yellow gold and white gold ring, prices

IMPALA inline skates, $150. BOMBAS socks, $60

HARRY WINSTON platinum Forget-MeNot pink sapphire and diamond lariat necklace, diamond bracelet, pink sapphire and diamond bracelet, pink sapphire and diamond twin ring set, and sapphire and diamond twin ring set, all prices upon request. HUNZA G swimsuit, $240. MOTHER shorts, $238, and skateboard, $250. VANS sneakers, $75. BOMBAS socks, $14.

Left: CARTIER 18K pink gold Clash de Cartier bracelet with onyx and diamonds, $43,600, pink gold ring with onyx and diamonds, $13,800, and yellow gold ring, $3,450. Right: MIKIMOTO 18K white gold White South Sea bracelet, $76,000. HUNZA G swimsuit, $240. RE/DONE mini dress, $350.

MARCO BICEGO 18K yellow gold

Masai 2 row diamond tennis statement cuff, $23,450, and gold and diamond bracelet, $5,800. FOUNDRAE 18K yellow gold Oversized Strong Hearts Love Link bracelet, $20,000, One of A Kind gemstone ring, $6,900, and earrings, $495. Opposite: POMELLATO 18K rose gold Iconica bracelet, $17,700, and rings, from $7,400. BULGARI 18K rose gold Serpenti Tubogas watch, $34,500. HUNZA G swimsuit, $240. MOTHER shorts, $238. RE/DONE jacket, $295. GRLSWIRL x Carver skateboard, $240.

Hair by ANDRE GUNN at Honey Artists. Makeup by RIKU CAMPO using Coco Chanel at Ray Brown Productions. Manicure by EMI KUDO at A-Frame Agency. Model JADE McDANIEL at Photogenics @realslimjadey.

STAN BITTERS’

With his mighty murals, primal sculptures, and towering totems, the 89-year-old artist helped shape a movement — at last the art world is catching up Words by HEATHER

Feature / Stan Bitters

Stan Bitters stands inside his Fresno studio between two large murals that feature his signature relief work he creates by pounding raw clay with a paddle.

Stan Bitters is a man of few words. For more than six decades, the 89-year-old sculptor has been slinging and pounding clay into massive textural murals, fountains, totems, and pots in the relative solitude and anonymity of his Fresno studio. He’s a quiet hulk of a man, his strong hands gripping a two-by-four paddle. He’s using it to beat texture into the surface of a clay mural — destined for an entry to a Beverly Hills home — that is sprawling across his studio floor.

His large-scale work is instantly recognizable: the two-story tile fireplaces at the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs, the 20-foot garden wall at the Shoreham Towers in West Hollywood, the relief of an exterior wall at the United California Bank in Brentwood, a low relief at the Sheraton Suites Chicago O’Hare, and the 31-foothigh sculptures at Westfield Century City. Not to mention his other work for private homes in Malibu, Beverly Hills, Carmel, and beyond. Among fellow artists, he is credited as defining the organic modernist movement of the 1960s, which merged the functionality of modernist architecture with natural elements and materials.

er, was draining, and Bitters has spent the last year trying to catch up, working on commissions, producing smaller-scale items, such as pots, light fixtures, and tiles. “Things are just now working out,” he says.

He sits at a table under the shade of a wisteria vine at his home, where he says 200 butterflies visited last spring. His garden is a living laboratory, where colorful totems,

“Considering the installations I’ve seen him working on and how much of his work goes internationally, I think Stan is an American great, and in some capacity underrecognized,” says Laura Young, the managing director of The Future Perfect’s gallery at Goldwyn House in Hollywood Hills, where Bitters’ work from the Biennale is on display through summer.

Feature / Stan Bitters

In California, Bitters’ prolific body of work is a familiar and fundamental aesthetic, his large-scale structural forms made from native clay are raw yet in harmony with their environment. But until his Humpies installation in Marinaressa Gardens at the 2024 Venice Biennale — four white freestanding ceramic sculptures (36 to 38 inches tall and two feet wide), primal and echoing the signature protrusions and high relief work seen in his murals — Bitters’ work was largely unrecognized internationally.

“Last year, I got invited to Venice Biennale. René Rietmeijer, the founder of the European Cultural Centre, said I was getting old, and that there wasn’t much more time to be part of this,” Bitters says. “He said, ‘I want you.’ ” The financial burden of participating, howev-

earthy medallions, and fountains from the 1960s keep company with a muted palette of succulents and California native plants. Nearby, his screen of ceramic wind chimes strung together with copper wire cast a bamboo-like pattern on the earth. “I’m not known for sculpture,” he says. “And I always wanted to go big with sculpture, but it was never going to sell. That’s the reality. I needed money. So I’ve been busy all these years with murals.”

Young met Bitters when she curated a 2019 group show titled Mess: Expressionism and Experimentation in Contemporary Ceramics . “The show was a presentation of ceramics when ceramics were the hottest thing. Stan made me three of these totemic wrap sculptures, which we put in the show, and then we didn’t hear from him again,” she says, laughing. After last year’s Venice Biennale, Bitters asked Young about bringing those works back to L.A. “I took the pieces before I even knew what they looked like,” she says. Bitters says going to the Biennale was one of the few times he has left the country, and the experience was draining. (“Too many people.”) In fact, with the exceptions of the odd trip to New York or Dallas for a show, he rarely leaves the state: “I got as far as Arkansas once with a girlfriend driving cross-country,” he admits. He and his two cats shuffle between his unassuming pale yellow ranch house, surrounded by chainlink and bamboo fencing, and a windowless box of a studio a few blocks away. Both are in an industrial park in Fresno where rows of unglazed thumb pots and sculptures sit in a dusty yard, awaiting their turn in an imposing walkin kiln. “Our kiln is getting old,” Bitters says. Every day, he still mixes 50-pound bags of clay in the same Champion dough mixer he bought secondhand at a bakery-supply store in the 1960s.

For the past year, his studio floor has resembled a plywood skate park. It has a curved surface, built by a crew of three, that held two enormous concave ceramic mural walls

Bitters behind one of his sculptural hand-thrown fountains in the front garden of his Fresno home, where he has planted a textural variety of succulents and trees.

“I wanted to go big with sculpture, but it was never going to sell.”

Feature / Stan Bitters

Feature / Stan Bitters

“The finishes have an earthy feeling inspired by California.”

From top: The brightly glazed Haniwa sculptures are scaled-down offshoots of the massive unglazed pieces Bitters created in the 1960s. In his backyard, Bitters installed a series of colorful totemic sculptures.

(to be installed on both sides of an entrance to a Trousdale Estates home). “The crew can handle the weight,” Bitters says. “I do the surface stuff, and they lay it out.” He can no longer work on the floor, so he creates atop a makeshift design table. Tom Bryan and Dave Salmu have helped Bitters for more than a decade. They measure the murals and fabricate the steel frames that support the heavier pieces.

Designing large-scale murals with tiles requires some math: Bitters has to account for each tile’s shrinking as it dries outside the kiln, so the mural can be reassembled and aligned. “We used to account for 10 percent an inch of shrinkage,” he says. “The kiln doesn’t get as hot as it used to, so now it’s closer to 9.1 percent.” The calculations and creative design choices required to bring these massive murals to life is staggering.

Bitters experiments with glazes at a table in the corner of the studio, and he says the samples are only an indication of how the final product will emerge from the kiln. Each glaze is unique and, he says, nearly impossible to duplicate. “The finishes have a very earthy feeling that’s inspired by California landscapes,” he says. “It’s open country here, and nature is predominant.”

tural design firms, and his influence is apparent in ceramists such as Ben Medansky, Peter Lane, Bari Ziperstein, and Sofia Londoño.

“Almost every project I did early on had a piece of Stan’s work in it,” says Pamela Shamshiri, the principal designer for Shamshiri Studios. “We just installed another fireplace two weeks ago.” She met Bitters when she was a partner at Commune Design and commissioned him to create the fireplaces for the Ace Hotel, Palm Springs’s new hot spot.

“When you really need a slice of raw nature, Stan’s pieces are so architectural and organic. They change any space they’re in. It’s almost like putting a tree in a room.”

“The architects really embraced his work from early on,” says Scott Nadeau, a cofounder

dent John Baldessari, whom he followed to study at Otis. It was there that Bitters met legendary abstract expressionist Peter Voulkos, the head of the school’s new ceramics department. “I wasn’t in his class, but I liked to go to the basement during lunch hour when he was there working,” Bitters says. “I was awestruck. He was throwing this shit around like crazy.” Bitters says with his own painting at school, he felt like he was going through the motions. “But when I saw this activity in the basement with clay, I was emotionally involved with the motion. I kept coming back every day.”

Voulkos’s radical methods with clay left their mark on Bitters’ work, but the sheer scale sets the two apart. “Peter Voulkos was a dynamo of energy and a beast of that brutalist approach to ceramics,” Nadeau says. “Stan as a young man channeled this and is still doing it today. But when you look at the scale, his whole thing was pushing it to see how far he could go.”

Feature / Stan Bitters

Commissions such as the Duncan project and the touristy Nut Tree installations use kaleidoscope colors, but Bitters’ original work integrates earthier tones — dusty browns, muted greens, sky blue, rust, and ocher, hues that define the Central Valley landscape.

For the past year, painter Goku McAfee has helped with production full time. Occasionally they pull in a fourth helping hand, but the crew is lean. “We are in survival mode,” Bitters says.

Today, McAfee, whose paintings Bitters discovered in a Fresno gallery several years ago, is on hand to help carry the heavy pieces to the kiln once the design is complete. McAfee says there’s a “tough honesty” that comes from working as an artist in the Central Valley. “It has something to do with the dirt,” McAfee says, as he inspects one of Bitters’ massive fireplace and panel commissions that he’s laid out in an adjacent space. Bitters is a frequent collaborator on commissions from Studio Shamshiri, Jamie Bush, Commune Design, and other notable interior and architec -

of furniture-design company Ten10 and Bitters’ agent for 23 years. Nadeau and his wife, Joanna, met Bitters when they sold his work at their vintage design store in Silver Lake. Since then they’ve collaborated with him on close to 60 commissions. “I’ve always felt his relevance,” Nadeau says. “Growing up in L.A., the feeling was always there. It’s in your DNA.”

The work is as physical today as it was in 1957, when he discovered the freedom of working with clay as a student at Otis Art Institute. At the time, Bitters was an aspiring painter; as a teen, he had painted signs for businesses. At San Diego State he was inspired by fellow stu-

Bitters completed his undergraduate work at UCLA in 1959 with a degree in painting. He then returned to Fresno, where landed a job in nearby Madera as an artist in residence at Hans Sumpf Company, then the largest producer of adobe brick. He was given 20 pounds of clay “to play around with” and tasked with creating sellable objects. First came the birdhouses. “The birdhouse has nothing to do with birds,” he says. “But I envisioned the shapes hanging from olive trees besides the adobes. It was a functional architectural detail.” Next came Bitters’ hand-coiled pots, earthy and organic in appearance and function. “The thumb pots took off like crazy,” Bitters says. “The pots were inspired by elementary school projects with clay, and kids poking holes in things, but on a larger scale.” Today a 15-inch thumbprint pot starts at $2,200, while vintage pieces can fetch considerably more. He struck out on his own in 1963, when he began larger-scale sculptures and commissions, such as the towering bronze doors at the Saroyan Theater that feature his signature rondelle details.

“Los Angeles and San Francisco were not ready for this kind of stuff. They were still in the bathroom tile era,” Bitters says. But Fresno was more experimental and open to inno -

The “Humpies” sculptures that traveled to the Venice Biennale 2024 are now on display in Los Angeles at The Future Perfect.

vation. Next came 20-by-25-foot exterior and interior murals defined by Bitters’ inimitable textural relief patterns at the Savings and Loan and a cluster of pipe fountains, or what Bitters calls “Dancing Waters,” at the Fulton Mall, which originally spouted water pulsating as high as 14 feet.

Feature / Stan Bitters

Medallions have become a central motif in Bitters’ work, but initially he envisioned them as oversize lollipops; like the thumb pots, they were inspired by the nature of wonderment experienced in childhood. “Then I imagined the form was a bubble — it was floating,” Bitters says. He chromed the leg of the pole bearing the weight of the medallion. “I wanted to free the visual weight.” He installed several medallions, five to six feet tall, in the front yard of his Fresno farmhouse, which brothers Bob and Dick Duncan passed on their way to golf. “They asked if they could buy the murals for their new building,” Bitters says. “The buildings were completely overwhelming, and the scale of the medallions needed to be much larger.” He was obligated to use Duncan Ceramic Arts’s saturated glazes for the 10-foot medallions adorning a 300-foot relief and given a Herculean deadline of six months to complete the project. “That color zone — the bright, shiny colors — was a challenge,” he adds. A custom-built walk-in kiln was required to complete it. He uses the same one today.

Continued on page 121

The artist outside his studio between two freestanding sculptures: a stacked totem formation with experimental glazes and an unglazed organic form.

I Do With AView

From Hearst Castle opulence to San Francisco City Hall grandeur

FLOWER POWER

Weddings / News

TRANQUIL TONES

DANIELLE FRANKEL, an L.A. native known for the meticulously crafted gowns she creates in her New York atelier, is bringing her eye for design to her hometown with a new West Coast boutique. The by-appointment space created by interior designer Augusta Hoffman offers privacy and a harmonious neutral palette to give brides a slow-paced environment in which to view the craftsmanship and details of readyto-wear or custom gowns. Vintage furniture is locally sourced, as is the art. Visitors will get a first look at the boned bodices and hand-painted silks of Frankel’s latest Collection X, inspired by Russian-French artist Erté. Layered designs in silk wool twill, linen organza, crinkle chiffon, and tulle all add to the elegant theatricality of the looks on view. 8475 Melrose Pl., L.A., 323-533-7241; daniellefrankelstudio.com E.V.

The LOUIS VUITTON monogram flower, first envisioned in 1896 by Georges-Louis Vuitton, is blossoming in a new assortment of colorful variations that expand on the house’s Color Blossom fine jewelry collection. White or pink mother-ofpearl or stones, including vibrant carnelian and striking green malachite, are polished to perfection and set with rose gold. Yellow gold is paired with deep onyx or bluegreen amazonite in a wide variety of shapes and sizes of sautoirs, pendants, earrings, rings, and bracelets. The collection, first launched in 2015, is now more colorful, stackable, and personal, with shapes and blooms to suit the showers and flowers in the months ahead. louisvuitton.com E.V.

1. West Coast brides can now visit DANIELLE FRANKEL’s shop locally. 2. LOUIS VUITTON has expanded on its Color Blossom fine jewelry collection.

THE GREAT ESCAPE

Staying at SAN YSIDRO RANCH — the impossibly dreamy hideaway tucked away in the lush foothills of Santa Barbara — has long been the stuff of legend: Katharine Hepburn witnessed Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier exchange vows in a secret midnight ceremony, and in 1953 John and Jackie Kennedy honeymooned in the vine-covered cottage that now bears their name. Spread across the 550-acre property are 38 cottages, each outfitted in elegant, country-home decor, with its own gated entrance, and private patio and garden. Take a morning stroll or bike ride under a canopy of sycamores and gnarled oaks. After recharging with a couple’s massage featuring lavender, rosemary, and lemon oils, enjoy a candlelit dinner of local fare like divercaught sea urchin before retiring to your patio to stargaze or cozy up by a roaring fire. 900 San Ysidro Ln., Santa Barbara, 800-368-6788; sanysidroranch.com C.C.

GAIA TALK

PERFECT PAIRING

Weddings / News

CULT GAIA , the L.A.-based brand responsible for striking social media gold with its vintage-inspired accessories and cutout dresses, has entered the bridal space with a collection of everything from a strapless silk gown with ostrich feather accents to a column dress with raffia fringe to a pearlized acrylic clutch. “Each piece is thoughtfully created to captivate, inspire, and evoke pure emotion on your most special days,” says founder Jasmin Larian Hekmat, adding that her goal was to offer a range of looks that can be worn time and time again. Other standouts include a a crown adorned with delicate silk flowers — a fullcircle moment for the brand, which began with flower crowns as its initial product category. cultgaia.com. C.C.

SWEET TOOTH

Melbourne-born founder and creative director of luxury brand Z.d.G., ZOË DE GIVENCHY , dreams up the most exquisite pieces, and her new table collection, NÉNUPHAR , a collaboration with American ready-to-wear designer ADAM LIPPES , is no different. The selection includes lace-like charger plates, hand-painted dinner plates, French silver, and hand-embroidered linens from France and jacquards from Italy. The launch also marks de Givenchy’s foray into glassware with wine tumblers and bowls hand painted in Austria by the famed glassmaker Lobmeyr. The delicate weddingappropriate designs are informed by 18th-century Japanese obi jacquards featuring trailing white jasmine and water lilies. “[Adam’s] clean aesthetic, American ease and eye for beauty, feels at home alongside my own,” she says. Sounds like an ideal marriage. zdgofficial .com; adamlippes.com. C.C.

What began as a cupcake project for an event at Talula Dempsey’s sorority at George Washington University quickly grew into a small-scale catering operation out of her Malibu home called TALULA’S KITCHEN . Dempsey sought out advice from her parents, actor Patrick Dempsey and makeup artist Jillian Dempsey: “[They always said] the best way to gain experience is to go out and do the actual job, so I did and never looked back,” she says. Friends began putting in shipping requests for her chocolate chip cookies, so she formulated a mix with step-by-step instructions before finding herself catering larger events. Among her most requested items for wedding receptions is a spread of both large and individual-size pastries, such as cinnamon swirl brioches, cupcakes, and her famous organic mixedberry crumble. talulaskitchen.com C.C.

1. SAN YSIDRO RANCH is the ideal spot for an intimate honeymoon. 2. NÉNUPHAR wine tumbler, $300. 3. CULT GAIA dress, $898. 4. Chocolate chip cookie mix from TALULA’S KITCHEN makes a perfect wedding favor.

A stay at the Four Seasons Lana’i feels like falling in love all over again

Ptwo-bedroom suite includes a formal living room, a separate dining room for six, a media room, a double Japanese soaking tub, a double walk-in shower, and a large private lanai. Other wellappointed escapes include the Kapihaa and Suite Holopoe Presidential Suites, and all three options come with a dedicated Lana’i Ambassador, daily personalized amenities, complimentary spa treatments, golf lessons, movies, and car rental.

Weddings / Travel

icturesque doesn’t even begin to describe the southeastern coastline of Lana’i — or the 90,000-acre Four Seasons Resort Lana’i tucked away in virtual seclusion on the island’s immaculate shore and just beyond. So where better to celebrate a few of life’s memorable

moments? Situated just steps from Hulopo’e Bay — where green sea turtles and tropical reef fish swim and Spinner dolphins play — this unfettered island resort offers guests a unique experience with lagoon-style and oceanfront pools, direct beach access, sunset sails, miles of trails to explore on horseback and lush botanical gardens to stroll, as well as its signature Hawanawana Spa, the renowned cliffside Manele Golf Course, and world-class cuisine. Book yourself into one of the resort’s most sumptuous accommodations, like the lavish Alii Royal Suite. Perched on the second floor with panoramic views of the Pacific and the Hulopo’e Bay marine sanctuary, the spacious

The ideal destination for weddings, honeymoons, or vow renewals, Four Seasons Resort Lana’i offers several breathtaking spaces that include oceanfront views, private garden patios and grand ballrooms. Enjoy all the resort amenities and bespoke services like sound bath meditations, romantic catamaran tours or a guided Pu’upehe hike and indulge in the resort’s many dining concepts, from Chef Nobu Matsuhisa’s delicate creations to organic dishes from Malibu Farm. fourseasons.com/lanai.

A lagoon-style pool just steps away from Hulopo’e Bay. 2. Signature spa services include the ultra-hydrating Marine Moisture Facial. 3. The luxurious two-bedroom Alii Royal Suite offers prime oceanfront views.

www.foundrae.com

ON THE LIST

Wedding gifts guaranteed to please

Weddings / Registry

Edited by REBECCA RUSSELL

Clockwise from top left: RH MODERN lamp, $1,750; CHRISTOFLE 7-piece breakfast duo set, $795; GINORI 1735 vase, $850; THE IMPOSSIBLE COLLECTION OF CHAMPAGNE (Assouline), $1,400; KELLY WEARSTLER FOR GIOBAGNARA bar accessory set, $3,900; ANNA NEW YORK napkin rings, $140, and salt and pepper shakers, $105; LOUIS VUITTON chair, price upon request; DWR vessels, from $195; AUTUMN SONATA towel set, $313; FLAMINGO ESTATE personalized olive oil, $78; HANNAH POLSKIN menorah, $1,500.

A SHORE THING

In 2016, Australian-born designer Marina Cortbawi launched her Brooklyn-based atelier MERLETTE intending to refine shapes and textures, creating “a sense of empowered femininity” through airy, elegant designs. Nearly a decade later, she opened her first brick-and-mortar shop in Montecito, and now she’s launched a Spring/Summer bridal capsule showcasing laid-back, understated dresses, some of which are designed using existing silhouettes reworked in ivory or white. The collection includes dresses that are versatile enough for a chill beachside ceremony or an elegant rehearsal dinner. Details, including intricate hand-smocking and trademark balloon ruffles, flatter all shapes and float with the coastal wind. 1805 E. Cabrillo Blvd., Ste. D., Santa Barbara; merlettenyc.com.

FINDERS KEEPS

PETAL METAL

Weddings / News

The ever-fixèd mark of love is the subject of FOUNDRAE ’s United in Love collection, designed to celebrate the freedom to love as people, lovers, soulmates, partners, or friends. Yellow gold Commitment Medallions and pendants are complete with pierces around an outer border in a nod to the ancient Roman god Cupid, whose arrows strike mortal hearts. Customizable Four Heart Clover pendants with the phrase “Will you marry me?” can include two pavé diamond initials and two pear-shaped stones for the lucky pair. There are also engagement rings, customizable cigar bands with cream or black ceramic, stackable rings, and bracelets and vow renewal gifts. 8405 Melrose Pl., L.A., 323-424-4304; foundrae.com E.V.

GREEN IS THE COLOR

Fresh florals are one of the most defining elements of wedding day design, and many brides are gravitating toward more herbaceous, green-heavy compositions. “I have been seeing brides embrace the use of green or greenery as a primary element in their design rather than an accent to it, which has been really fun for me,” says SoCal floral designer JENN SANCHEZ , who pulls from her own garden, abandoned fields, or farmers’ markets for edible accompaniments to centerpieces. Sanchez, who has worked with everyone from Jenni Kayne to Jimmy Choo, emphasizes how important it is for brides to step out of their comfort zone to ensure “the day feels dynamic and true to your personality.” jennchez.com C.C.

Victoire de Castellane, the artistic director for DIOR Joaillerie for more than two decades, explains that the Rose des Vents high jewelry collection is a “metaphor for creation.” The everexpanding creations — including necklaces, bracelets, rings, earrings, brooches, and belts in a range of twinkling floral and stellate pendants and medallions — is now celebrating 10 years of novel interpretations. The inspiration was taken from Christian Dior’s childhood home on the Normandy cliffs in France and a mosaic compass rose known as the “Rose des vents” found in his garden. “To create is to seek, to turn in circles, and then to find one’s cardinal reference point and set off on a journey,” says de Castellane. “Creation is the imprint of an immobile journey.” 309 North Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, 310859-4700; dior.com. R.R.

1. MERLETTE dress, $1,495. 2. Explore the galaxy of DIOR Rose des Vents. 3. FOUNDRAE celebrates all kinds of love with its new collection. 4. JENN SANCHEZ delivers wedding florals that focus on greenery.

AISLE STYLE Altar-ready gowns

Ethereal

Coats

High Neck

Weddings / Runway Report

Edited by REBECCA RUSSELL

Talk of the Town

Tenney Hearst Espy and Joseph Siringo Jr. tie the knot with an opulent black-tie affair

Words by ANUSH J. BENLIYAN

Photography by JOSE VILLA

Newlyweds Joseph Siringo Jr., in a Michael Andrews Bespoke tuxedo, and Tenney Hearst Espy, wearing an Elie Saab gown and a vintage Verdura pearl necklace that her late grandfather had gifted to her mother.

JWeddings Feature / Hearst

oseph Siringo Jr. first professed his love to Tenney Hearst Espy at her family’s wooded Northern California estate, the place nearest and dearest to her heart. In that moment, they knew they were meant for each other. Just over a year later, in the same spot, Joey proposed with an unboxed ring he pulled from his swim trunk pocket. “I was in a cover-up and Birkenstocks,” Tenney says. “It was so perfectly simple and beautiful and a moment I will never forget.”

For their October 2024 nuptials, the New York City–based couple tapped designer and planner Gregory Blake Sams Events and went in a decidedly grander direction, opting for a spectacular multiday affair at Hearst Castle in San Simeon, in honor of Tenney’s heritage. “I have always felt incredibly proud of my family’s history and legacy,” says Tenney, whose great-great-grandfather was newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst. “I wanted everyone to experience the beauty of the coast, the rustic nature of

the ranch, and the beautiful castle.”

The festivities kicked off at the beachfront stucco warehouse — designed by Julia Morgan, Hearst Castle’s trailblazing architect — where the pair’s celestial-themed candlelit rehearsal dinner was coincidentally graced with a supermoon. Next on the itinerary was a Western-chic welcome party at the Hearst Ranch dairy barn, where Tenney paired a crystal-embroidered Oscar de la Renta dress with her favorite Lucchese cowboy boots.

The wedding day began with a picturesque black-tie ceremony on the castle grounds overlooking the coastline. Tenney’s father and stepfather walked her down the aisle. As her brother, Jack Espy, officiated, a gospel choir surprised the 200 guests with a cover of Whitney Houston’s “Higher Love.” After the vows, the newlyweds and their crowd proceeded to the Neptune Pool, where cocktails were served amid the colonnades and Italian relief sculptures and synchronized swimmers performed in the Vermont marble–lined pool.

PLANNING AND DESIGN Gregory Blake Sams Events • PHOTOGRAPHY Jose Villa • CATERING Paula LeDuc Fine Catering • FLORAL AND DESIGN Kathleen Deery Design • VIDEOGRAPHY Storybox Cinema • STATIONERY Yonder Design • ENTERTAINMENT Élan Artists • BEAUTY Team Hair & Makeup • RENTALS Hensley Event Resources, Theoni Collection, Found Rental Co., BBJ La Tavola • CUSTOM FABRICATION TTS Studios • LAMPSHADES Sorella Glenn • LIGHTING Technical Event Company

Dinner was served down some steps from the landmark mansion, followed by dancing in front of the castle. Through it all, Old Hollywood glamour was rich in the air.

“I wanted it to feel like we were at one of William Randolph’s incredible parties back in the ’20s,” Tenney says. “We truly felt his presence.” •

a Rami Al Ali dress, a Norma Kamali swimsuit, and a sequin-and-feather Oscar de la Renta frock.

The wedding party enjoyed a dip in Hearst Castle’s Neptune Pool before the festivities began. Opposite: Aside from her wedding gown, the bride donned

Weddings Feature / Hearst

Hayley Sullivan in her custom Dior haute couture wedding gown.

Everlasting Love

Hayley Sullivan and Deven Marrero mark their forever with a fete at San Francisco City Hall

Words by CAROLINE CAGNEY Photography by JOSE VILLA

Weddings Feature / SF

The first time Hayley Sullivan and Deven Marrero laid eyes on each other was while serving as bridesmaid and groomsman at a mutual friend’s New Year’s Eve wedding in 2021. “The morning of the wedding, I was enjoying breakfast with my dog, Finn,” says Hayley, the founder of Styled by Collective. “Across from us, Deven offered Finn a piece of bacon — a simple gesture, but one that spoke volumes. The world seemed to narrow to just us three. [Deven] told his friends that day that he would someday marry me.”

Fast-forward to their first date in New York, where a walk in Central Park led to a trip to the emergency vet when Finn got sick. “Deven sat with me on the veterinary floor for seven hours while we waited for an update. It wasn’t the first date I had imagined, but it told me everything I needed to know about him,” she says of the former

professional baseball player. “The next day I changed his name in my phone to ‘Deven ∞.’ ” In December 2023, Deven took Hayley to an Infinity sculpture in Napa Valley and asked her to spend forever with him.

The couple wed on January 25, 2025, before friends and family at San Francisco City Hall. To toe a careful balance between grand and intimate, wedding planner Shannon Leahy softened the striking stone walls and marble staircase with dark greenery and cream florals to bring warmth and romance to the palatial space. After the pair exchanged vows, guests moved to the Mayor’s Balcony for cocktail hour and then to a candlelit dinner, where they listened to music by Rhythm Collective from Élan Artists.

The wedding date was also carefully considered. “On our wedding night, a rare celestial event unfolded: a planetary parade, where every planet in our solar system aligned in a single line,” Hayley says. This cosmic phenomenon inspired the pair to weave astrological motifs into the details, including personalized zodiac plates for each guest and arranging the dinner tables to represent the sun with surrounding planets in orbit.

For the after-party, guests were led to the North Light Court, which was draped in burgundy to reconstruct the couple’s favorite lounge at Hôtel Costes in Paris. “We wanted a space that felt like the world’s chicest bar,” says Hayley, who changed out of her custom Dior Haute Couture gown into a beaded dress from the Dior Cruise 2025 collection.

“[The evening] truly felt like a dream — beautiful, magical, and deeply personal,” she says. The couple’s home had burned down just two weeks earlier in the Pacific Palisades fire, so the celebration was particularly emotional.

“Our wedding came at a time of personal loss,” Hayley says. “But the memories with our family and friends are the shining light that we will always have.” •

Weddings Feature / SF

Shimmer & Stain, Barker Decor Service

VALET Soirée Valet

The newlyweds share a moment on the dance floor. Opposite, clockwise from top left: The grand San Francisco City Hall; a post-ceremony kiss on the greenery-draped staircase; actor and model Olivia Culpo; the celestially arranged reception tables.

Home Grown

Corinne Foxx and Joe Hooten throw an alfresco affair at her family’s estate overlooking the Santa Monica mountains

For actor-writer-producer Corinne Foxx, everything became crystal clear during her first date with Joseph Hooten on his sailboat in Marina del Rey. “We sat on the water for hours talking about what kind of life we hoped to build one day,” she says. Corinne initially met Joe, who is a TV executive and producer, at a homecoming party while both were students at USC. Years later, they reconnected on social media. When the date ended that evening, Corinne immediately called her best friend: “I literally said, ‘I just met my husband.’ ”

Five years later, Corinne and Joe spent the summer of 2023 in Chicago, where Corinne’s father — actor, comedian, and singer Jamie Foxx — was recovering from a serious health scare. Joe popped the question at a park under a cherry blossom tree. “What made it even more special was that he had FaceTimed my dad so he could witness the proposal in real time,” Corinne says.

Weddings Feature / Fox

the newlyweds opened the floor with their first dance. At the after-party inside the main house, guests reveled into the early morning hours. “At one point, I had to grab the mic and announce, ‘We’re leaving! You guys can stay, but we won’t be here,’ ” Corinne says. •

The L.A.-based couple wed on September 21, 2024, at Corinne’s father’s home in Thousand Oaks. The bride, wearing a highlow Monique Lhuillier gown, walked down the aisle with her dad to a strings version of “Georgia on My Mind” by Ray Charles. “I was with my dad when he won the Oscar for his portrayal of [Ray] in 2005, so that song holds so much emotional significance for us,” Corinne says. After the ceremony and cocktail hour, their 300 guests gathered under a greenery-filled tent resembling something out of a fairy tale with candlelight, pastel floral arrangements, and white climbing roses. “We wanted the wedding to feel like you were walking into a secret garden, something intimate, enchanting, and full of life,” says Corinne, who enlisted Debbie Geller and Paige Blatt at Geller Events to execute their vision.

After enjoying a sit-down dinner of crusted sea bass and creamy miso polenta,

Words by CAROLINE CAGNEY Photography by VICTORIA GOLD

Clockwise from top: The ceremony; cake by Butterend Cakery; Jamie Foxx with his younger daughter, Anelise. Opposite: The bride in Monique Lhuillier.

LUXURY

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MEDITERRANEAN STATE OF MIND

Four must-stays for an odyssey through Southern Europe

Words by LESLEY M c KENZIE

I S C O

V E R I E S

The pool at KALESMA MYKONOS.

Discoveries / Travel

Kalesma Mykonos

Just a mile from the beach and tucked on a secluded peninsula near Ornos, KALESMA MYKONOS rises from the hillside: a vision of sun-bleached stone and stark white walls, with unfettered views of the Aegean. Although its footprint resembles a classic Mykonian village, what lies within is a thoughtful ode to modern Greek design.

Crafted by K-Studio and Studio Bonarchi, every detail feels considered and organic. Earthy textures, sculptural forms, and natural materials anchor the 25 suites, 15 villas, and an outpost of Athenian Riviera dining hotspot Pere Ubu in their surroundings. Inside, hand-cut marble sinks, woven rope light fixtures, and bridle-inspired headboards reflect the island’s heritage, while Californian-Parisian designer Rick Owens’ furniture makes a scene-stealing appearance in the lobby — Kalesma Mykonos is, notably, the only hotel in the world to feature his work.

Just in time for this summer, Kalesma, which opened its doors in 2021, enters

its next act, nearly doubling in size through renovations that include 21 additional rooms and suites, a new pool, and a traditional all-day taverna serving dolmades, dakos, and saganaki under the stars. kalesmamykonos.com.

1. A view of the Aegean from KALESMA MYKONOS. 2. Pere Ubu leans into local ingredients. 3. Whitewashed structures dot the hillside. 4. The property’s stylish boutique.

CYCLADES / GREECE

Hotel

Corazón

Set between the villages of Deià and Sóller on Mallorca’s rugged west coast, HOTEL CORAZÓN is fast becoming the island’s most compelling creative retreat. Located in a renovated 18th-century finca surrounded by citrus groves and the Serra de Tramuntana mountains, the 15-room bohemian escape is part hotel, part working farm and art space made for the free-spirited.

Founded by photographer Kate Bellm and artist Edgar Lopez, both first-time hoteliers, Corazón trades polished, traditional opulence for barefoot luxury. Interiors by Mallorca’s Moredesign studio emphasize sculptural curves, lime-washed textures, and a fluid movement between indoor and outdoor spaces. Each room (with names like Sage and Smoked Cedar) is individually conceived, free of televisions, and oriented toward mountain, garden, or sea views.

Discoveries / Travel

In the 50-seat restaurant, newly reimagined for 2025, chef Eliza Parchanska turns to the on-site farm for inspiration, offering seasonal plates such as charred peaches with burrata and a lavender vinaigrette. A new farmer-in-residence program, launched in collaboration with Los Angeles–based Flamingo Estate, highlights the property’s regenerative approach to farming and dining.

Throughout the grounds, guests move between sound baths under palms, reiki sessions, yoga on the outdoor deck, and slow afternoons by the cactus-lined pool, with vintage loungers in hues of sun-faded terra-cotta. With an artist-inresidence offering and a regular rotation of exhibitions, Corazón operates as much as a creative hub as it does a hotel.

hotelcorazon.com

Hotel Corazón trades

1. The Baba Royale room at HOTEL CORAZÓN. 2. The exterior. 3. Dishes feature ingredients harvested from the hotel’s farm. 4. A view of the Serra de Tramuntana. 5. The pool looks over the Mediterranean Sea.

MALLORCA / SPAIN

Caruso

Perched high above the Amalfi Coast, CARUSO, A BELMOND HOTEL is a restored 11th-century palace where timeless grandeur meets modern Italian elegance. Set on the cliff’s edge in Ravello, the property — which debuted as a hotel in 1893 — appears to

hover between sea and sky, framed by terraced lemon groves and centuries-old olive trees.

All 50 rooms and suites blend historic architectural details such as vaulted ceilings with hand-picked antiques and four-poster beds. Most open onto private terraces with sweeping views of the Tyrrhenian Sea, and many with secluded gardens. For those craving more privacy, Villa Margherita is a two-suite guesthouse with its own chef and butler.

swims in the heated infinity pool — home to Amalfi Coast’s newly debuted private luxury pool club, La Piscina, and two new exclusive cabanas — followed by spa treatments. End the day with a meal at one of the property’s two restaurants — think Neapolitan pizzas at the casual Caruso Grill or classic Campania flavors such as sea bass filet in an acqua pazza reduction at Ristorante Belvedere. belmond.com.

Discoveries / Travel

Days at Caruso unfold with cliffside

Timeless grandeur meets modern Italian elegance.

RAVELLO / ITALY

1. CARUSO, A BELMOND HOTEL was an 11thcentury palace. 2. Rooms feature a selection of antiques. 3. A view of the Amalfi Coast.

Hôtel du Couvent

What do you get when you combine the serenity of a convent built by nuns with the spoiling service of a high-end getaway? HÔTEL DU COUVENT , a newly debuted 88-key property set amid two and a half acres of terraced gardens in Nice’s old town that places a premium on peace and tranquility.

Four centuries since its inception, the sanctuary’s three historic buildings have been meticulously restored in a decade-long effort led by Perseus founder Valéry Grégo, with contributions from Studio Mumbai, Studio Méditerranée, and Festen Architecture. A fourth

The buildings have been meticulously restored.

Discoveries / Travel

newly constructed structure, crafted from wood, hemp, and lime, nods to the property’s original aesthetic.

Paying homage to the Roman ruins of Cimiez, Hôtel du Couvent’s thermal circuit leads guests through a series of baths, culminating in the unctuarium: an anointment room offering treatments that marry ancient rituals with modern practices. The hotel also features a lap pool tucked into the garden, a plunge

pool, and the Movement Studio—a sunlit space for dance, yoga, and grounded, intentional movement.

Meanwhile, Le Restaurant du Covent, one of a handful of onsite dining options, offers a thoughtful take on Mediterranean tradition; dishes are crafted with ingredients from the hotel’s own farm, bakery, and garden, emphasizing simplicity, seasonality, and sustainability. hotelducouvent.com.

1. HÔTEL DU COUVENT is housed in a 17thcentury convent. 2. Le Restaurant du Couvent. 3. Breakfast from the onsite bakery. 4. The Movement Studio.

HELPING HANDS

CHANCE ENCOUNTER

Clockwise from top left: TRUE BOTANICALS hand cream, $48, credobeauty.com ; HABELO serum and gloves, $148, habelobeauty.com ; OMNILUX glove, $345, omniluxled.com ; CLAUDENT gloves, $70, claudent.com ; KNESKO hand mask, $65, knesko.com ; LYMA laser, $5,995, lyma.life

Discoveries / Beauty

Skincare has always played favorites. The face, naturally, gets the spotlight: the serums, the lasers, the creams that come with footnotes. Hands? At best, they got a bit of lotion. At worst, they were forgotten — until they betrayed you. But hands have been promoted not just to maintenance, but to enhancement. Dermatologists and plastic surgeons now offer an impressive menu: lasers for spots, fillers for volume, exosomes for collagen. Facialists are giving hand facials. Product shelves are suddenly filled with hand-specific retinols, peptide masks, SPF gloves, and barrier-repair creams that speak in the language of serums, not scents. That’s not a trend; it’s a shift. The spotlight is partly the result of hygiene — we’ve washed our hands raw in recent years — and partly vanity: your hands, like your neck, tend to reveal what your concealer won’t. The new approach is simple: Treat your hands like your face. Or don’t — and let them do the talking. We’ve rounded up the best products to keep them quiet. •

CHANEL expands its Chance collection this season with Chance Eau Splendide, a new fruityfloral fragrance created by in-house perfumer Olivier Polge. “Each Chance fragrance expresses a feeling that’s lively and direct,” Polge says. “Eau Splendide is luminous, spontaneous, and slightly unexpected.” The scent opens with a crisp raspberry accord, layered with notes of rose and violet for a bright, sparkling effect. At the heart, rose geranium sourced partly from Chanel’s fields in Grasse adds a fresh floral dimension. A blend of cedar, powdery iris, and white musk grounds the composition, giving it both softness and staying power. The fragrance also introduces a new color to the Chance palette: a noble purple, chosen for its energy, mystery, and sophistication. chanel.com.

A FRENCH TAKE ON COASTAL CALM

GUERLAIN has arrived in Santa Monica, unveiling its first West Coast spa at the new Regent hotel. The 10,000-sq.-ft. spa — a calm, sunlit space devoted to restoration — offers treatments rooted in precision and care. From sound bowl facials to radiofrequency sculpting and custom scent meditations, the experience feels tailored, but not overly fussy. This summer, guests can book Spa Soirées, intimate gatherings that combine yoga, Champagne, and curated enhancements for groups of six or more. “It’s a sanctuary,” says spa director Kristin Sartore. “Not just for travelers, but for locals looking to reset.” 1700 Ocean Ave., Santa Monica; santamonica.regenthotels.com.

1. CHANEL’s Chance Eau Splendid starts at $176. 2. GUERLAIN has opened its first West Coast spa at the Regent in Santa Monica.

A NEW LOOK FOR THE OC

Dior’s beauty flagship arrives on the West Coast

Discoveries / Beauty

DIOR BEAUTY has unveiled its new U.S. flagship at South Coast Plaza, a boutique shaped by Parisian heritage and rendered in marble, luminous fabrics, and just enough gilded metal to remind you this is luxury, not minimalism. Inspired by 30 Avenue Montaigne, the sleek space layers Dior’s signature elegance into every surface — and service.

At its heart is La Collection Privée, housed in a fragrance salon designed by Dior perfume creation director Francis Kurkdjian. Clients can build a fragrance wardrobe or commission custom trunks and cases —

because at Dior, perfume isn’t just worn, it’s curated. Throughout the space, Dior’s Exceptional Pieces — reinterpretations of the House’s iconic designs, created in collaboration with artists and artisans — are displayed like objets d’art. Dior’s skincare, including L’Or de Vie and Dior Prestige, are showcased in a dedicated alcove, where personalized consultations and high-tech skin analyses are offered.

Summer captures the spotlight in a palette of sunwashed color, Riviera spirit, and easy California radiance. Peter Philips, creative and image director for Dior Makeup, frames the seasonal collection as “a solar beauty in every sense of the word... a true escapade that celebrates everything one expects from a Dior summer.”

The Pink Riviera and Coral Riviera palettes conjure the carefree spirit of the season with shades that feel kissed by sun and salt air, equally suited to Cannes or Costa Mesa. Bronzing powders embossed with Toile de Jouy, along with lip oils and glosses in shades like Splash and Red D-Sire, complete the look. In the color space, a playful makeup bar with a screen streaming Dior runway shows captures the energy of the catwalk and the excitement of backstage. 3333 Bristol St., Ste. 1424, Costa Mesa, 714-927-7141; dior.com/en_us/beauty . •

STAN BITTERS’ MOMENT IN THE SUN

Continued from page 89

In 2014, Bitters’ work was displayed at the Heath Ceramics Boiler Room. A collaboration with Heath tile followed, drawing national attention. More recently, he has been the subject of the documentary short film Stan Bitters Modern Primitive , which screened at the Palm Springs Modernism Week last year to a sold-out crowd. Francesca Di Amico, one of the film’s producers, says she and Claudia Unger of Minx Films are expanding the film to feature length. “A deep bond grew between us when we were filming, and we’ve kept up our relationship,” she says. The duo filmed Bitters at the Venice Biennale, and Di Amico says she appreciates his impact even more. “As we expand our piece, we continue to understand how to articulate the California-ness of his work and how it echoes,” she says. “It’s in Malibu. It’s in Fresno. It’s a way of breathing in California.”

“When you need a slice of raw nature, Stan’s pieces change any space they’re in... it’s like putting a tree in a room.”

PAMELA SHAMSHIRI, Shamshiri Studios

BOB / Runover

Bitters says he’s still a work in progress. After he finishes the fireplace commission, he wants to return to painting. “When I’ve finished and I have the freedom to experiment,” he says, “why not take these murals in a more painterly direction, instead of on a canvas on a hard surface?”

Bitters turns, passing yellow Cotula blooms around a stacked slab fountain and a fivefoot medallion (signed by Bitters in 1965). He walks back into the house. A fireplace is unfinished, which Bitters says he will complete “someday,” and the only furniture in the room is a tableful of acrylic paints and rags and a director’s chair sitting in front of Bitters’ latest work. A painting on canvas. •

From top: A colorful tile mural in a quiet corner of Bitters’ garden. Nearby at his studio, the artist uses a two-by-four paddle to imprint textures into a large-scale mural.

Helene Henderson

The Malibu Farm founder’s self-care routine

WHERE DO YOU LIVE?

Point Dume, Malibu.

FAVORITE HEALTH FOOD?

Is coffee a healthy food? One cup per day is how I stay sane. As far as food, I do adhere to a primarily plant-based diet with some dairy and animal protein occasionally. I prefer casual places like Gjusta and Tartine. I am definitely a morning person and more likely to venture out early in the day. My late-night dinners are few and far between. I will meet you at 10 a.m. rather than 10 p.m.

DO YOU FOLLOW A DIET?

I do not follow a diet, but I do follow the rule of eating what makes me sleep well. In order to have a good night’s sleep I usually avoid alcohol and sweets after 7 p.m. I believe digestion is very important, and I prioritize ingredients.

FAVORITE BEVERAGE?

My daily latte with our customblend beans from Caffe Luxxe.

FAVORITE WORKOUT?

CrossFit in Malibu is always a good choice. I like Oak Park in Santa Monica, and I used to go there before the fires.

BOB / Zen Moment

FAVORITE HAIR PRODUCTS?

Curly hair can be a challenge, and I use the Bed Head by Tigi Resurrection Shampoo and Conditioner. I use Pantene Soft Curls Shaping Mousse to contain my hair. I’ve been going gray for some time now, thanks to genetics, and although I think silver hair is beyond cool and chic, I may sometimes use a L’Oreal Magic Root to cover my gray roots.

FAVORITE FLOWERS?

Whatever grows in the yard is what I like most. In the winter I do love poinsettias. They hold for such a long time. And even though they have no scent, they give you a sense of holidays, family, and celebrations. I also love roses and hydrangeas.

WHERE DO YOU FEEL MOST ZEN?

In bed with the cat.

FAVORITE HIKE?

Point Dume headlands, down to Westward Beach, up Birdview, and circle the point. It’s a great hike that’s full of beauty, but it also has some hills, so it’s a decent workout.

FAVORITE BEACH?

I am not that much of a beach person, but I do love the beach at Lana’i, Hawaii, because it is a sheltered cove and I have seen pods of dolphins come so close to shore it is crazy. Watching the sunrise there is amazing.

FAVORITE RELAXING GETAWAY?

Day trip to San Diego taking the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner train. I wish it would keep going forever.

WHAT’S YOUR MANTRA?

Nothing makes you fatter than eating fat-free. Eat the real thing or nothing at all.

FAVORITE CRYSTAL? Salt.

WHAT’S YOUR INSPIRATION?

The sun, the ocean, the moon, and the stars. Takes your breath away every time. malibu-farm.com •

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