Absolute Living

Absolute Living

OCTOBER 2019

DESIGN LUXURY JULIE O'BRIEN AND THE JULIE O'BRIEN DESIGN GROUP

YOUR AUTUMN TRANSITION TO HEALTHY HAIR

MUST–VISIT MUSEUMS THE WORLD OVER

FEMALE BREAST SURGERY

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October/2019

CONTENTS

Photography By Gabrielle Cheikh Noel

18

DESIGN LUXURY Julie O'Brien and the Julie O'Brien Design Group

10

YOUR AUTUMN TRANSITION TO HEALTHY HAIR

25

WOMEN IN BUSINESS

14

FEMALE BREAST SURGERY

36

MUST–VISIT MUSEUMS THE WORLD OVER

Rejuvenate your hair in just a week!

Gain a better understanding of the latest techniques behind the skillful sculpting of the female physique.

Stories and wisdom from seven of the metro region’s most successful women entrepreneurs

It would be impossible to see all the world’s wonders in one lifetime, but here’s a good start.

Volume 13. Issue 10. (#143

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Absolute Living

Publisher / Co-Founder JUSTYNA PEÑA

Editor-in-Chief / Co-Founder EDUARDO PEÑA

Account Executive JUSTYNA PEÑA

Senior Writer MATTHEW HUME

Contributing Writers DEAKIN AXTELL JUSTIN GUILD ROBERT F. JACKSON

Photography GABRIELLE CHEIKH NOEL EDUARDO PEÑA

Art ROGER PEÑA

Marketing Director ISMAEL PEÑA

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Absolute Living Magazine is published monthly by Pena Group, Inc. Copyright by Pena Group, Inc. Absolute Living Magazine is a registered trademark of Pena Group, Inc.

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Your Autumn Transition to Healthy Hair As we approach fall and winter, we encounter colder temperatures, along with dryer and harsher weather. A tip from your local stylist: To keep your hair strong and healthy, shampoo less and make use of the natural, healthy oils produced by your scalp. These oils are produced to protect and care for your scalp, while providing strength and hydration to the hair. The transition from washing the hair daily to once weekly can be a hassle, but in the long run the health of your hair will surpass what any masque or treatment could do. Here are some tips, tricks, styles, and key products from Kevin.Murphy to get you down to fewer washes a week, and on the path to a healthier head of hair.

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Day 1: Clean Hair Cleanse with Balancing.Wash and Angel.Rinse. Rough dry your hair or let it air dry. Embrace your natural texture!

Day 2: Quick and Easy Brush existing oil through the hair and make a simple side braid.

Sleek and professional.

Day 3: Texture and Body Use Fresh.Hair to combat the “dirty look” at the roots, but also to add some body to the ends. Use a 1” curling iron to add some waves, and you look fresh out of the salon.

Day 4: Sleek Pony Grabbing your favorite brush, smooth the healthy oils further down the hair strand. Use the brush to help you slick your hair into a high pony. Use Young.Again Dry Conditioner to make your ends look hydrated and fresh.

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Day 5: Top Knot Apply Fresh.Hair to roots. Separate the hair into 2 sections, above and below the ear, and pull the top section into a cute messy bun.   Day 6: Simple DIY Up-Do Pull the hair into a relaxed ponytail at the back of the head. Tuck one edge of a scarf into the elastic. Braid the ponytail, using your scarf as one of three sections.

Fasten with an elastic. Wrap the braid clockwise, secure with pins.

Day 7: Messy Bun Use Doo.Over in the ends of your hair to add texture and throw your hair into a bun. Simple as that.

With the hectic schedule of today’s working women, life revolves around routine. Not only does this simple, seven-day process revitalize the hair, it gives you a little time out of your busy day to focus on yourself, which is very important. Healthy hair is one of the simplest, most effective ways to practice self-care, and taking care of yourself is the true key to a happy life.

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Female Breast Surgery The female breast in today’s society is important to the psyche of many women. For this reason, breast augmentation is the number one cosmetic surgical procedure performed in the United States today. A youthful, perky, fuller breast is considered sensuous, feminine and healthy.

Sculpting

the Female Physique

The four major surgical interventions on the female breast include breast augmentation, breast reduction, breast lift (mastopexy) and breast reconstruction. In this article, we will discuss the notion of the ideal breast and then examine the procedures above.

The female form is a complement of shape and proportion. Today’s society views a youthful body habitus as desirable, and the female breast contributes to this appearance.

Cosmetic surgeons now have the tools and techniques to restore or enhance the body to bring it close to this ideal. Along with clinical skills, the surgeon needs the artistic aptitude to give the patient the very best results. A clear understanding of anatomy, an eye for beauty, and a knowledge of cultural aesthetics is necessary to obtain the best results. Judgement, creativity and skill elevate the surgeon to the level of an artist.

In females, roundness and perceived softness is considered feminine and attractive, and the nicely formed breast constitutes part of this female mystique.

Breast Augmentation The reasons for this kind of enhancement include loss of volume and change in shape following pregnancy. Others may desire to correct asymmetry, and some women just think their breasts are too small.

There are two types of hypomastia (small breasts): developmental and involutional. Both can be corrected through augmentation.

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The breasts should complement and accentuate the patient’s femininity and remain in balance with her body. The hips and breasts, especially, should have a sense of symmetry. The ideal breast should fall naturally from the clavicle to the peak of the nipple, and there should be a gentle outward curve from the areola to the base of the breast. The nipples should point upward and outward. Lastly, the breasts should subtly accentuate the torso. The patient and her surgeon need to decide if she wants a typically perky, very youthful breast, or the more mature breast that falls slightly. Both can be beautiful.

Patients have the choice of silicone- or saline-filled implants, and both are very safe. Preoperative sizers, photos and in-depth discussion at the consultation will help the patient make her decision for the best postoperative outcome.

Breast Reduction Many patients seek breast reduction for both medical and cosmetic reasons. Back pain, neck pain, chronic rashes under the breasts (intertriginous) and difficultly carrying out normal daily activities are some of the medical reasons patients may seek a breast reduction. With proper documentation of the medical indications and failure of conservative therapy to have an effect, many times this procedure is covered

by insurance. There are also patients who just feel their breasts are too large and seek reduction for cosmetic reasons.

Most breast reductions require an anchor-type scar.

Fortunately, the breast skin heals well, and scars, though they remain, fade and leave a more attractive breast. At your consultation your surgeon can explain the risks and benefits of breast reduction. Our breast reduction patients are some of our happiest patients.

Their back pain is gone, their posture is better, their clothes fit better, and they just have a better selfimage.

Breast Reconstruction One of the most devastating things for our female patients is breast cancer. Fortunately, early detection, genetic screening and rapid, appropriate surgical and medical treatment provides a much better prognosis. Many patients benefit both physically and emotionally by having either immediate or late breast reconstruction. Tissue expanders and mammary implants often can be used today, as opposed to the old extensive flap surgery. With tissue expanders placed at the time of extensive breast surgery, the stigma of awaking from surgery with the deformity of an absent breast is diminished. One of the most rewarding things cosmetic breast surgeons have the

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privilege of being able to offer is a return to a relatively normal preoperative appearance.

And federal law mandates that if you have had breast cancer, reconstruction is a procedure covered by insurance.

Breast Lift Pregnancy, weight loss and age may result in ptosis (sagging) of the breasts. Sometimes augmentation alone will elevate the breasts.

However, some patients do not want augmentation, but only a lift instead. The extent of the scars, the degree of lift, and the expected end result is a conversation the patient and her surgeon need to have at her consultation. Lift alone may not be enough to correct loss of upper pole fullness. There are occasions where a combination of a breast lift

and an augmentation will give superior results.

This is another question to be answered at your consultation.

In the culture we live in, appearance and selfimage are important. The female breast is a part of that healthy lifestyle. Breast surgery can help enhance or restore that self-image.

Choose wisely a surgeon with extensive experience and artistic ability to give you the best outcome.

Robert F. Jackson, MD, FACS, FAACS Hamilton Surgical Arts

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DESIGN LUXURY Julie O'Brien and the Julie O'Brien Design Group

By Matthew Hume | Photography By Gabrielle Cheikh Noel | Artwork By Ismael Peña

Julie O’Brien has always been interested in putting things together. “Even with my Tinkertoys and building blocks as a child, I wanted to figure out how things went together in the most unique way,” she says. On one hand, building whimsical creations from colorful sticks and blocks sounds like an integral part of most childhoods, and today Julie watches her granddaughter build elaborate communities in similar ways.

Still, there was something methodical, more vocationally oriented, in Julie’s approach to her childhood play. “I had dolls that I dressed up in the most creative ways—for years I thought I might go into fashion design. I mean, if it had a design aspect to it, I was thinking about it.” These experiences formed the foundation of a life passionately dedicated to interior design, one that has earned praise from the likes of HGTV, the American Society of Interior Designers, the International Interior Design Association, the New York Home Textiles Show, and Design Times magazine, which named Julie one of 10 international designers to watch in the new millennium.

Now, such kudos could be enough to intimidate some clients—and some writers (guilty, party of one). But Julie doesn’t want to make too big a deal of her accomplishments because, as she tells me, no project is too big or small, and she provides the best possible service to all her clients. As for me, as Julie invited me into her urban highrise sky nest and served up espressos with dollops of whipped cream, I recognized her to be a person solidly in touch with the needs of those around her—whether it be design related, or, in my case, caffeine to help me through a morning interview.

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n talking with Julie, one gets the sense that her entire life has been built around professional interior design, and, in fact, Julie O’Brien Design Group has been meeting client needs for many years now. She tells me, however, that her first degree was in English literature, and that she trained in her younger days to be a dancer.

Truly, there is in Julie a natural-born and, at the same time, a professionally trained artistic nature. “The plan was to go to New York to pursue dance,” she says, “but then I got married. It seems like another lifetime ago now.” With her English background, Julie taught high school writing for three years, but the entire time, that deeply rooted love of design kept pulling. “I was teaching these kids every day, but I’d find myself dabbling with design work during their study periods.” So back to school herself she went, to Butler, to study design.

Hired upon completion of her studies by the professor who was then in charge of the design program, Julie was honored to work for her in the private firm she operated. “After a year or so, the firm broke up because my professor was moving,” Julie tells me, “but that time working with her gave me the pause I needed to realize that there’s so much to know, not to jump directly into my own firm.” Because for a person with such an inborn, entrepreneurial drive, Julie admits it always felt like it was time to get started on her own. “I’m glad I had the wisdom to slow myself down, learn what I could by working for several years in large, local design firms, and then, when the water felt safe, finally jumping on in.”

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A PHILOSOPHY OF ART & SCIENCE What defines Julie as a designer? Well, for starters, Julie makes it clear that there’s no defining style of Julie O’Brien Design. “It’s my clients that have the style,” she says. “Some people find it difficult to realize, but my own style preferences are irrelevant—what I’m doing is meeting my clients’ style needs.” To do this as well as Julie and her designers do requires careful listening “between the lines,” to clients who may not be able to succinctly explain the style they’re after.

“Our goal is to work with clients to suss out the information we need to start from wherever they are, to elevate that, and make the finished product more special and exciting than they could have dreamed it to be.”

In an ideal world, Julie says her team would always be able to enter into the mix at the beginning of new construction projects. “If we can get in at the beginning of a construction project,” she says, “we can really affect the design, creating elements and details, fireplace details, ceiling details, that are much harder to make changes to well into the construction process. Getting that early start, even in

complicated projects, gives us the chance to make beautiful, functional, and unique spaces.” Renovations, too, provide an opportunity for Julie and her team to make a difference, though. “With renovation, we can change the design flow, modify permanent architectural details, and make a space very special,” she says.

As we talked, a preference for more complicated projects seemed to emerge. “Yes, even as a child I liked to create, then think through and solve complicated problems,” Julie smiles. “I still think of interior design as artistic and functional problem solving. It’s an art and a science.”

DAILY INSPIRATION While Julie’s design philosophy revolves around determining the design needs of her clients as opposed to her own preferences, her award-winning inspiration must come from somewhere. And spend one minute in the Meridian-Kessler mid-century high-rise condo that she and her husband, David Stahl, call home, and you’ll see that the pair undoubtedly share a profound sense of personal style. “Over there,

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we have an antique mirror that I brought back from Chile,” Julie tells me, “and you can see a Korean blanket chest just beyond.” The eclectic combination of design elements nevertheless evokes a distinct mid-century modern vibe.

Having moved from a Spanish Colonial on Meridian Street some years back, Julie says the couple kept what they could make work in this decidedly different space. “I had to update some of our decor, but we’ve always collected such an eclectic mix anyway. Maybe this or that piece came from a show, or from the gallery of a friend, but our own style is full of pieces with personal history.”

Julie proceeds to tell me about the couple’s upcoming biennial pilgrimage to Provence. “This is a trip we take every other year with a group of dear friends,” she says. “We rent a house, hang out, cook, drink wine, enjoy the countryside— it’s wonderful.” Returning to that question of inspiration, it’s often her travels that inspire, whether it be the Cote d’Azur or one of America’s coastal cities. “The artistic world inspires me every day,” Julie says. “I’m inspired by the magic in the places I go, and there’s so much design that goes on in music, theater, even in posters on the street. For me, all the cultural aspects of life come together, whether it’s high or low or what have you, to create an interesting fabric for our country, one that always inspires me.” I proceed at this point to call Julie out. “You’re an artist, through and through, with an artist’s spirit,” I say. She agrees, but quickly adds, “I also have this side of me that’s deeply rooted in running a business.” Touché.

LOW-STRESS DESIGN OPTIONS TO THE RESCUE Indeed, it’s an inclination towards continual growth and expansion of services for her clients that has led Julie to her firm’s latest design service offering. “I’ve found, as a designer, that my clients have a broad range of needs,” she says. “Sometimes, though, we have projects where clients may say they want to work with us, but that they don’t want to invest the emotional and financial effort needed for a fullscale design project. We hear that a lot.” Julie says it’s this attitude that can muddy the waters for projects in smaller spaces, vacation getaways, or even corporate apartments and condos. “What we’re doing to fill this need is to launch a new program that offers mostly pre-designed packages,” Julie explains.

Yet to be named, the service will work something like this. For a built-in price, clients will get a personal visit from a designer, who will take a professional look at the space, draw it out, check for fitting, and make adaptations to the pre-designedto-a-certain-point package the client purchased. “Essentially,

it’s one step,” Julie says. “Once we meet with the client and get the feel of what package they’re interested in, we pick the right colors together, go back to our office, put all the documentation together, make it all work in back-of-house, and send it off to them. Then we order the design elements and it all just happens. In one meeting, we take care of everything. We want to eliminate the emotional and financial stress that a full-out design project sometimes entails.” Julie says the pre-designed option will be available online at www. julieobriendesign.com before the 2019 holiday season. As with her group’s other design work, services will be available to anyone, anywhere.

SO MUCH MORE THAN DESIGN It takes a very special skill set to run a business, maintain a skilled eye for challenging design projects, and get on well with clients on a daily basis. But Julie thrives off the relationships she builds with her clients. In fact, she says many of her closest friends today started as clients of the firm.

“I’m not sure that I find working with people a challenge—it works for me,” she says. “I have an identical twin sister, a doctor of psychology. She sees people all day, every day, and listens to their problems and tries to help them move through situations. In a way, I’m doing the same thing. I love design, and I love people.”

Anyone who has embarked upon a design journey understands the heightened emotional stress that can accompany design projects—and couples who take that journey together are especially prone to tension. “I’ll never forget one episode,” Julie starts. “I was meeting with clients, and it was close to dinner time. The wife was in the kitchen, cooking. The husband and I were talking at the kitchen table, and she was listening and chopping at the same time. Whatever we were talking about over the table must not have met her approval, because the more we talked on the subject, the harder she started to come down on that butcher block. She never said a word, but her knife sure did!” Certainly, there is an element of couple’s therapy in design work, and Julie jokes that her sister says she should be arrested for operating without a license.

Julie counts herself very fortunate to have led a successful design firm and countless clients through almost three decades now. And while many of her projects have been recognized by her professional peers, it’s not the accolades that she’s after. “I always feel the pressure to do my best work because I want my clients to be over the moon with the finished project. When a client is fully satisfied, that means the world to me. That’s what I strive for.”

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Absolute Living

WOMEN

IN BUSINESS Absolute Living is dedicating our October issue to the women business owners who bring style, sophistication, and better living to central Indiana through their hard work and passion. Reading through the next few pages, you’ll find that for these women, running a business has very little to do with gender. For them, business is business. But it’s also about building relationships, meeting clients’ emotional needs, staying on top of the latest trends in their industry, and helping their communities to thrive.

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W o m e n i n B usi ness

Tilly’s Tea Room

is a modern-style English tearoom on the third floor of Saks Fifth Avenue in the Fashion Mall at Keystone Crossing. Open from late morning through to afternoon teatime, Tilly’s serves a full lunch menu of soups, salads, sandwiches and paninis, as well as a traditional English afternoon tea. Sharon Moore, Tilly’s owner, should know a thing about tea. After all, she is an Englishwoman. More than that, she’s an Englishwoman who demands the traditional teatime staple of scones with jam and clotted cream for herself and her customers. Considering its scarce availability in the United States, Sharon and her crew began making their own fresh, homemade clotted cream and are in the process of launching a wholesale business.

Tilly’s seats up to 180 people and hosts a variety of events, from baby showers and bridal showers to fashion presentations, wine pairing dinners, and networking and corporate events. And yes, men, too, are welcome and can even enjoy a proper tea.

Sharon feels lucky to work in an environment without obvious gender divisions, surrounded by other encouraging entrepreneurs, building business while they build solid relationships.

TILLY’S TEA ROOM AT SAKS FIFTH AVENUE

317.816.0171 tillystearoom.com

Sharon Moore ABSOLUTELIVING

W o m e n i n B usi ness

T

ransitioning from her previous work in the health care industry to launch Franklin Window & Door was a challenge in some ways for owner Cori Brown, but today she counts herself fortunate to work with the top architects, builders and remodelers in the Indianapolis residential building trades market. In the beginning, she says she experienced some insecurity in being a woman in a male-dominated industry, feeling the need to prove her knowledge of the field. Today, however, she networks with window and door dealers across the country at conventions, and out of them all, only two are female owned.

Gender doesn’t matter, as she says every dealer encounters the same challenges, needs and trade discussions.

Cori’s wish is for all local businesses—women-owned, minority-owned, male-owned—to succeed, strengthen the local economy, and support the communities of which we’re a part. Personally, she derives great satisfaction in helping to bring some of the most beautiful, unique homes in the metro region to perfect fruition.

317.993.3660 franklinwindowanddoor.com

Cori Brown ABSOLUTELIVING

W o m e n i n B usi ness

SPENGA

– Spin, Strength and Yoga – was founded in 2014 by a group of fitness professionals determined to create a highly efficient and effective 60-minute workout built on three main pillars of fitness—cardio, strength and flexibility. When Cherie Palma discovered it, she declared it the best workout ever. And this fall she’s opening Indiana’s first SPENGA location right here in Clay Terrace. With 25+ years of personal training experience, 20+ of spin instruction and 10+ of yoga teaching experience, Cherie had sought after the perfect combination of her three favorite workouts for a very long time. Having found SPENGA, she wanted to share it with everyone.

In terms of women in business, Cherie enjoys partnering with other women-owned businesses to promote each other’s business on social media, share booths at local events, or host in-studio pop-up shops.

317.620.6019 spengacarmel.com

Cherie Palma ABSOLUTELIVING

W o m e n i n B usi ness

C

onnect with beauty+grace and encounter one of Carmel’s finest high-end, luxury apparel boutiques. At the same time, step into the world of owner Amber Rae’s photography studio. beauty+grace offers not only fashion-forward styles from the world’s most sought after designers, but specializes in providing a personal touch to every client experience.

Hosting frequent in-shop events, Amber and her staff style every photography client, as well as providing one-on-one personal styling.

Originally from California, via Amber Lights, MI, Amber brings a solid background in the fashion industry and many years spent styling photography clients. It’s been her passion to showcase the outward manifestation of each woman’s inner beauty for as long as she can remember, and she claims her inspiration is as simple as the roads she’s traveled and the connections made upon them.

Amber understands fashion to be a feeling, and she believes that her clients not only would agree but also appreciate that sentiment.

beauty + grace fashion + photography

317.564.0687 shopbeautyandgrace.com

Amber Rae ABSOLUTELIVING

W o m e n i n B usi ness

N

ancy Homsy was just 13 years old when her parents bought a small bridal shop and named it Nancy’s Bridal Boutique in honor of their daughter. As a teenage girl surrounded by beautiful dresses, Nancy says she was eager to work and learn from the very beginning. When she helped her mom to choose the shop’s best-selling gown of that first year, she had a sneaking suspicion that her destiny was wrapped up in the bridal industry.

In addition to the “business” side of business, Nancy’s priorities lie in being kind, compassionate and understanding, in helping a bride to find the perfect gown, then move her smoothly through the process until she’s ready to walk down that aisle in the most important gown she’ll ever wear.

Having been in the bridal boutique market for years now, Nancy says that continuous education to keep up with changing trends is the key to success. She looks to bridal markets, fashion events and wedding seminars to stay on top of the latest.

Nancy’s Bridal Boutique 317.842.2080 nancysbridalboutique.com

Nancy Homsy ABSOLUTELIVING

W o m e n i n B usi ness

BodysculptRx

is a unique medical spa offering a variety of services and products to help clients reclaim body and health.

Together, Maria Van Dam, RN, BSN— the spa’s co-founder and clinical manager—along with Michele Baker, MS, RDN, LD—staff nutritionist and dietician—create clinically sound health plans designed for clients’ specific goals and needs. They offer an all-natural approach to detox and weight loss with their Shape program, combined with natural supplements including medical formulated CBD. BodysculptRx also offers the premier non-surgical approach to permanent fat removal, Coolsculpting.

In Maria’s opinion, women tend to be more naturally conversational, and she and her team use that natural tendency, along with their solid medical credentials, to build trustworthy and honest relationships with their clients.

She feels it’s important for clients to be able to speak freely about what’s weighing them down in life because she and her team understand the correlation between emotional well-being and overall physical health.

When not changing client lives, Maria participates in Noblesville’s Chamber of Commerce and attends networking events such as Women in Noblesville.

She’s always thinking about ways to network with neighbors and other community businesses.

317.804.2960 bodysculptrx.com

Maria Van Dam ABSOLUTELIVING

W o m e n i n B usi ness

j.nicole jewelry

was founded in 2003 with a mind towards creating edgy and effortless pieces that women felt beautiful wearing. Today, Jennifer Adhlakha says her work is less about trends and more about the pairing of unexpected elements like leather, semi-precious stones, pearls, brass and silver. Jennifer prides herself in demonstrating that there are no rules, and that handmade jewelry can be part of your everyday routine. And every piece of that jewelry continues to be designed and produced by Jennifer in her home studio.

Jennifer finds the business climate of Indianapolis to be friendly toward and to promote women entrepreneurs, and she finds it reassuring and encouraging to work with the myriad other female business owners in the metro area. As for the continued march towards full equality of women in society, Jennifer acknowledges continued underrepresentation in industries such as finance and tech, but she sees better representation in politics, for instance, as a sign that the gender imbalance is finally balancing out.

j.nicole 317.777.9920 shopjnicolejewelry.com

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Must–Visit Museums the World Over

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o matter your artistic preferences or geographic coordinates, there are a handful of museums that everyone should visit in their lifetime. Whether you’re traveling across the globe or simply looking for weekend plans, chances are there’s a nearby museum ready to take your breath away. But by the same token, narrowing down the seemingly endless options can be an equally challenging affair.

LOUVRE MUSEUM, PARIS The Louvre houses masterpiece artworks like Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo sculpture of Aphrodite, and what is considered to be the finest diamond in the world, the Regent. As one of the world’s largest museums, the Louvre houses around 70,000 pieces of art in its 650,000 square feet of gallery space.

Here is our list of some of the world’s must-visit museums!

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THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK The Metropolitan Museum of Art on Fifth Avenue was established in 1870 and has an impressive range of art, sculptures, and paintings across a diverse group of cultures, from Islamic to African. To date, it showcases 5,000 years of art and is the largest art museum in the United States.

THE BRITISH MUSEUM, LONDON Founded in 1753, the British Museum was the first national public museum in the world, and today it is Britain’s most-visited. Entry has always been free at the British Museum. Some of the museum’s most important and sought-after acquisitions include the Rosetta Stone, Parthenon sculptures, and ancient Egyptian structures. The museum is an iconic sight in itself, with the Queen Elizabeth II Great Court, an enclosed inner courtyard completed in 2000.

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DORIA PAMPHILJ, ROME There's no shortage of breathtaking art museums in Rome, though the Doria Pamphilj is unlike any others. For starters, every surface of every wall is covered in art, from the golden hallways to the Italian hall of mirrors, to the main collection—the largest private collection in Rome—which is on display in the museum's state rooms. Even the exterior courtyard alone makes it worth the visit. If you do decide to go, a must-see artwork is the Portrait of Innocent X by Diego Velázquez, which is considered by artists and critics to be the best portrait ever created.

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VUITTON FOUNDATION, PARIS This Frank Gehry-designed museum is the contemporary gem of Paris, with collections as impressive as the exterior architecture, and views that would make even a lousy museum worth the trip. With a permanent collection broken up into four categories—Contemplative, Pop, Expressionist, and Music & Sound—you’re likely to discover new artists you’ve never heard of, plus some of the modern art world’s biggest icons (think Ai Weiwei, Joan Mitchell, Alex Katz, and Takashi Murakami). It’s not the kind of museum you want to cram into the middle of a busy day—the Vuitton Foundation is jam packed with an incredible diversity of art (including a Gehry-designed auditorium, a sophisticated restaurant, and striking outdoor areas) that make it worth taking your sweet time. Especially recommended is a visit to Inside the Horizon, which is like a contemporary, LED version of the Hall of Mirrors.

THE FRICK COLLECTION, NEW YORK Many New Yorkers will tell you the Frick Collection is the best and, certainly, the most beautiful art museum in the city. Housed in the historic Henry Clay Frick House and named after the original owner, whose personal collection remains on display, this Upper East Side landmark, which dates back to 1912, is home to one of the country’s finest collections of old-master paintings. The aestheticism of the museum itself can’t be beat: the West Gallery, lined with intricate, dark wood crown molding and plush moss green carpets, is breathtaking, and the immaculate Garden Court serves as a sanctuary for those looking to escape the bustle of Fifth Avenue.

Parents of young children, take note that those under ten years will be denied entry.

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