To celebrate its 250th anniversary, Breguet has unveiled a timepiece that honours the ingenuity of its founding father.
EDITORIAL
Editor-in-Chief & Co-owner John Thatcher john@hotmedia.me
COMMERCIAL
Managing Director & Co-owner Victoria Thatcher victoria@hotmedia.me
PRODUCTION
Digital Media Manager Muthu Kumar muthu@hotmedia.me
Exquisite Island Celebrations
A private island of great natural beau , the Ummahat archipelago brings a rare environment to The St. Regis Red Sea Resort, where conscious indulgence sets the stage for captivating moments. A glamorous hideaway, it offers a secluded retreat where intimate gatherings, landmark anniversaries and romantic weddings can be celebrated. Cra ed to exacting preferences, the team are on hand to arrange every detail, down to the minutia, to ensure a celebration of singular experience and cherished memories.
For reservations, or more information please email reservation.redsea@stregis.com Ummahat Island 1, Red Sea, Saudi Arabia t. +966 14 504 0000 stregisredsearesort.com
Welcome Onboard
JULY/AUGUST 2025
As summer unfolds, we are reminded that travel is more than just movement. It is a state of mind, the anticipation of discovery, the joy of reconnecting, and the rare luxury of time well spent.
At Jetex, summer is one of our favourite seasons. Not just because of where our clients go, but how they get there. Whether you are escaping to the cool calm of the Alps, the secluded beaches of the Indian Ocean, or the vibrant energy of Mediterranean coastlines, we take pride in making every journey seamless, safe, and unforgettable.
This season, we are seeing a return to the kind of meaningful travel that prioritises privacy, personalisation and comfort. Our global network of private terminals and exceptional service teams are all focused on one mission: ensuring your experience with Jetex is flawless from takeoff to landing.
As travel continues to evolve, so do we. From enhanced on-ground amenities to expanded destination support, Jetex remains committed to setting the highest standards in private aviation.
Wherever this summer takes you – whether it is a family retreat, a spontaneous getaway, or simply a well-earned pause – we are here to elevate the journey every step of the way.
As always, thank you for choosing Jetex for your global private jet travels. All of us look forward to taking you higher in utmost comfort and luxury – and with complete peace of mind.
Adel Mardini Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Cover : Bryce Dallas Howard by Victoria Stevens/AUGUST
Where the Runway Ends, Summer Begins
Why flying private is your passport to discovery
‘ Flying private is not just about skipping the chaos, it is about unlocking places that still feel undiscovered ’
For most, summer travel follows a familiar script: carry-ons, crowds and queues. Yet for a discerning few, there is another version that is calmer, quieter and far from the usual airport shuffle.
Welcome to the world of private aviation. More than just luxury, it is a passport to an entirely different destination - one inaccessible to commercial airlines. Think islands without ferry terminals, or mountain villages untouched by train tracks.
Take Mustique, the private Caribbean island known for its hush-hush celebrity villas and turquoise seclusion. With no commercial flights available, travellers arrive via private jet to Barbados or St. Lucia, followed by a charter or helicopter transfer. The reward? Pure privacy and a total departure from reality.
Nestled in the Swiss Alps, Samedan Airport
– the highest-altitude airport in Europe –welcomes only private jets. No terminals, no queues, just direct access to the serenity of St. Moritz and its five-star alpine charm. Or consider Pantelleria, a wild volcanic isle between Sicily and Tunisia. Known for dammusi stone villas and natural hot springs, it avoids the crowds thanks to its remote setting and limited seasonal service. For many, private aviation is the smoothest route in. Flying private is not just about skipping the chaos, it is about unlocking places that still feel undiscovered. Whether it is the vast savannahs of South Africa’s Tswalu Kalahari or the buzz of Ibiza without the bottlenecks, the journey becomes part of the luxury. Because sometimes, the destination is not a place. It is the privilege of arriving entirely on your own terms.
You don’t need an additional reason to visit the pristine, postage stamp-sized island of The Nautilus Maldives – one of the country’s very best resorts, thanks in part to its highly bespoke approach to dining –but here’s a great one should you seek next-level restoration.
From August 11–18, The Nautilus will host two ‘masters’ from the world-renowned Ananda in the Himalayas for an exclusive residency that features a pioneering programme of therapies. A sublime summer pick-me-up.
Ananda Wellness Residency, The Nautilus Maldives, August 11–18
OBJECTS OF DESIRE
Master craftsmanship, effortless style and timeless appeal; this month’s must-haves and collectibles
VIRTUOSITY HIGH JEWELLERY COLLECTION
110 one-of-a-kind pieces spanning 12 themes, Louis Vuitton‘s latest high jewellery collection is a beguiling mix of spectacular stones and exceptional craftsmanship, with Vuitton’s design codes never far from the surface. The LV Monogram flower forms the cornerstone
of the Aura set, for which a spectacular transformable necklace – set with radiant tourmalines totalling 48.06cts and featuring a 2.54ct LV Monogram Flower cut diamond – is the standout piece. It’s a set that, for the first time, also features a belt that can transform into a brooch.
LOUIS VUITTON
MB&F
HM8 MARK 2 PURPLE
Maximilian Büsser, founder of MB&F, once fancied himself as a car designer – the automotive world’s loss undoubtedly the watch world’s gain. Yet, every once in a while, his twin passions combine, perhaps most notably in the guise of the HM5, which paid homage to the design-driven supercars of the 1970s. In the same spirit, the HM8 Mark 2, which launched in 2023, positions itself as ‘a true supercar for the wrist’ and is now issued as a limited edition of 33 pieces with purple body panels, the hue derived from metallic pigments of mineral origin, like those used in automotive paints.
OBJECTS OF DESIRE 2
OBJECTS OF DESIRE
For the past eight years, Hublot has signalled the start of summer by issuing a colourful iteration of its Big Bang Unico. This year’s piece comes crafted in Hublot’s signature ceramic, coloured both orange – to reference the golden hour of the day – and a striking sky
blue. To mix it up still further, the watch comes with three interchangeable straps – sky blue, dark blue, and orange, all three fitted with white-lined rubber – which can be rotated in a matter of seconds through Hublot’s patented oneclick strap system.
HUBLOT BIG BANG UNICO SUMMER 2025
OBJECTS OF DESIRE
HERMÈS WOMEN’S FW25
With Hermès making a very rare trip outside of its homeland to stage a show – only the second time it has done so in its long history – it’s no surprise that its destination, the vibrant metropolis of Shanghai, reflects in Nadège Vanhée’s second chapter of FW ready-to-wear
looks. As such, designs demonstrated a considered melding of heritage and innovation, the natural and the urban, beauty and function. Tying the looks together was the braid. Inspired by equestrian plaits, it decorated the hair of models and added nuance to garments.
Inspired by his travels through Japan, Lippes’ latest Resort collection comprises a creative meeting point between American and Japanese traditions. Case in point is the use of a diamond hishi motif that’s typical of Japanese quilting, along with heritage plaids and
stripes reminiscent of vintage American workwear. Lippes talks of how texture plays a leading role in the collection: brushed mohair, crinkled metallic silk, and double-face cashmere adding depth and contrast, with over one third of the fabrics sourced directly from Japan.
ADAM LIPPES RESORT 2026
OBJECTS
A new ready-to-wear brand birthed by creative directors Nina Khosla and Talia Shuvalov, OSSOU leans into durability and longevity as its core principles. Then there’s the denim: “Growing up in San Francisco, the birthplace of the jean, created a sense of curiosity for denim, a
fabric so intertwined with the heritage of the American West,” said Khosla. “I wanted to explore denim as a premium luxury material, make it more artful and considered, and showcase how it can become the backbone of a refined wardrobe.”
OSSOU RTW
The world’s first true divers’ watch when it debuted in 1953, Blancpain’s Fifty Fathoms has a storied history. Now it has a new chapter. For the first time, this iconic model has been issued with a 38mm case, its slimmer size the defining feature of two new Automatique pieces designed
for women in tribute to their adventurous spirit; one pink with a brushed titanium case, the other black with 18ct red gold case, both with beautiful mother of pearl dials. The watches are powered by the inhouse automatic movement calibre 1153, with a power reserve of 100 hours.
BLANCPAIN FIFTY FATHOMS AUTOMATIQUE
OBJECTS OF DESIRE
Private Eyes
Sibling visionaries Rami and Tala Fustok evoke the glamour of 1970s Hollywood with their design of an exclusive new members’ club
WORDS: CARU SANDERS
When Rami Fustok sought to realise his creative vision for a different kind of hotel, there was only one person to whom he turned: his sister, Tala. The result was The Mandrake, a fantastical 33-room boutique hotel in London’s Fitzrovia, where it surrounds a central courtyard replete with hanging jasmine and passionflower. A mere moment from Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road, yet also a world away.
From the very beginning, Tala intuitively grasped Rami’s purpose, recognising that The Mandrake was never meant to be ordinary.
“Rami had a clear vision for what The Mandrake should become.”
Moody and atmospheric, The Mandrake opened in 2017 and continues to enchant guests. Which is why when Rami wanted to add CoOc, an exclusive new members’ club, to the hotel’s offering, he knew exactly who would design it.
“The inspiration came from Rami,” says Tala, whose impressive design canon includes aspects of Hôtel de Crillon in Paris and several beautiful pied-à-terres in London, New York and Paris.
“He came armed with fashion magazine tear sheets for CoOc, as he did when he first decided to open The Mandrake. I grew up with him, so I feel
like we have an innate understanding that helps me to translate his vision really well. He is the micro and I’m the macro. He has the concept and then we creatively assemble it all together.”
Not that the process always runs as smoothly as it sounds.
“We’re very opinionated,” says Rami, an entrepreneur and art collector who was born in Lebanon and mostly raised in London. “Our personal relationship adds another layer. It often leads to friction that spills over into the personal.”
Despite these clashes, Rami and Tala ultimately find common ground. And that, perhaps, is the greatest advantage of working with a sibling: no matter the conflict, you know they’ve always got your back.
Once the doors of The Mandrake opened, Rami drew inspiration from one of his idols, Ian Schrager – co-founder of the legendary Studio 54 and the man credited with founding the boutique hotel concept – to host unforgettable parties that embodied the spirit of London’s famed nightlife, producing events that pulsed with creativity, energy and the inherent glamour and hedonism at the heart of The Mandrake’s identity.
A space dedicated to these legendary nights was always part of Rami’s original master plan and since opening its doors in March, the ultra-luxe CoOc has swiftly become a magnet for radical
Opening pages, from left to right: CoOc bar; Rami Fustok
This page, from top to bottom: The Mandrake; Tala Fustok Opposite page, clockwise from bottom left: bedroom at The Mandrake; bathroom suite at The Mandrake; CoOc bathroom; Rami Fustok
‘ Even the bathroom is carpeted and I used pink fur on the speakers ’
tastemakers and avant-garde creatives, blending high-end sophistication with the edge of a concept club.
Filled with tactile details and unexpected touches, Rami and Tala have conceptualised a strikingly nostalgic setting that feels like entering a luxurious living room – an epic space reminiscent of something photographer Slim Aarons might have immortalised.
“For The Mandrake, Rami wanted something that was dark and eccentric, with a nighttime party vibe,” outlines Tala. “Everything emerges from the original story, which is like entering a portal – you don’t really know if it’s day or night when you enter the dark tunnel of the hotel.
“CoOc called for a different direction. For CoOc, the reception is red, then you step down into the private members’ club and it’s decorated with luxurious carpets, sleek low-slung furniture, rich velvets, soft furs, and striking geometric patterns evoking the opulent glamour of 1970s Hollywood. When you look at the individual touches, it’s fun and really tactile. Even the bathroom is carpeted, and I used pink fur on the speakers.”
It won’t, however, show up on your Instagram. As with many private members’ clubs, CoOc has a strict no-photo policy to protect the privacy of its guests.
Music and art are central to CoOc’s overarching appeal. Members can expect everything from immersive art activations and thought-provoking panel discussions to live performances and DJ sets of house, techno, disco, electronica, funk and soul. Its art programme, overseen by Rami and curator Kate Fenterstock, brings in international pieces usually reserved for world-class galleries, private collections and museums to club members: sculpture by beloved neon artist Chris Bracey; works by the groundbreaking Glaswegian ceramicist Becky Tucker; the vibrant portraiture of emerging Kenyan star Thandiwe Muriu; icons such as Andy Warhol and Marilyn Minter; the hedonistic photography of Damien Frost, hidden in bathroom cubicles; and playful works from internationally celebrated photographic talents like Ellen Von Unwerth.
The name CoOc was coined by Rami as a playful twist on the word ‘kooky’, a fitting nod to the venue’s wild spirit and eclectic energy. It fuels a schedule packed with weekly revelry, extravagant happenings and hidden surprises, inviting discovery at every turn.
“The Mandrake is all about finding hidden secrets, which is part of a journey that now feels complete with CoOc,” says Tala, whose own design journey is, excitingly, very much ongoing.
Summer Fruits
Jessica McCormack gets fresh for summer
Opposite page: ruby apple & diamond gypset hoop earrings; ruby button back necklace
This page: emerald prickly pear & diamond single gypset hoop earring; polished emerald pear & diamond pendant
“Iwanted this collection to be light-hearted and fun, but also beautifully crafted,” says London-based designer Jessica McCormack, the fruits of her labour joyfully obvious in the eye-popping 17-piece Fruit Salad collection, an uplifting ode to the season comprising earrings, pendants and delightful necklaces.
“The whole collection is so pretty.”
Inspired by thoughts and vivid memories of long, hot, lazy summers spent in the countryside, the orchards heavy with ripened fruit, McCormack
has crafted peaches, pears, apples, cherries and lemons from her usual mix of stellar stones, the likes of emeralds, sapphires and rubies, all meticulously pavé set to capture the tonal shading of the fruits. “The result is that each piece looks good enough to eat.” Or, indeed, to wear far beyond the summer season. But this wouldn’t be Jessica McCormack without the sparkle of diamonds – as Zendaya’s engagement ring beguilingly illustrates – and some pieces from Fruit Salad dazzle more than others, not least the remarkable
polished emerald pear & diamond pendant. This stunning singular piece features a one-of-a-kind 20.25 carat cabochon emerald, which has been hand-carved and painstakingly polished into the shape of a pear.
“The polished pear emerald is one of the most courageous coloured stone pieces we have ever created,” says Jessica, who will spend this summer settling into her brand’s inaugural New York boutique on Madison Avenue. “Sourcing and cutting the emerald was a meticulous process, but the final piece is perfection.’
Opposite page: ruby cherries & diamond single gypset hoop earring; sapphire button back necklace; peachy sapphire pendant
This page: peachy sapphire & diamond single gypset hoop earring; sapphire button back necklace; emerald prickly pear pendant
Timepieces
Celebration Time
When Abraham-Louis Breguet set up a workshop in Paris in 1775, it’s unlikely he envisioned the brand that bears his name would be still be making watches 250 years later. But that’s not to say that he wasn’t a visionary. Indeed, the master watchmaker, whose myriad achievements include inventing the tourbillon and the first automatic watch, was well ahead of the game when it came to commercialising his talent.
To make a watch was an expensive task and sales were not guaranteed.
To reduce the risk, Breguet devised a means by which buyers would pay a quarter of the price upfront, with the remainder due on delivery of the timepiece, thereby covering the cost of production before it began. This process became known,
as it is today, as subscription, and the first watch created via this process adopted the same name.
Presented in 1796 – its buyers encouraged via the watch appearing in the period version of a brochure, a piece of marketing material also devised by Breguet – the Souscription (Subscription) was remarkable for being the first watch with a single hand, which moved gracefully around a large enamel dial. It proved as popular as it was reliable, with 700 sold.
Now the Souscription is at the ticking heart of Breguet’s anniversary celebrations, the Classique Souscription 2025 launched as a harmonious marriage of Breguet’s tradition and modern know-how.
“This watch is the link between what we wish to share of the history
of Breguet and our desire to perpetuate this history going forward,” said Breguet CEO, Gregory Kissling.
We wanted to surprise people by presenting not a grand complication, as some might have expected, but a single-hand watch,” said Kissling, reflecting on the choice of the timepiece to mark the brand’s anniversary.
“We added a great deal of richness to this apparently simple watch, particularly in the architecture of its movement, inspired by that of the tact watch. Through this model, we wanted to tell a story, our story.”
In keeping with the simplicity of the original, the face of the Souscription 2025 model is a snow-white, grand feu enamel dial, the single hand sweeping past numbers and minute markers in black, petit feu enamel.
To celebrate its 250th anniversary, Breguet has unveiled a timepiece that honours the ingenuity of its founding father
‘ This watch is the link between what we wish to share of the history of Breguet and our desire to perpetuate this history going forward ’
“The hand, which seems simple on the surface, is in fact complex in its design, because it is made the old-fashioned way, refined by hand and flame-blued, in the purest watchmaking tradition.”
It represents the first time in its long history that Breguet has adapted a pocket watch to fit a wristwatch format.
“We have reduced the diameter from 60mm to 40mm, while maintaining a display accuracy of around one to two minutes, which is remarkable for a single hand,” outlines Kissling. “We have done away with the straight lugs in favour of curved lugs. For the case middle, we opted for a satin finish rather than fluting, as Abraham-Louis Breguet’s Souscription watch was not fluted. In addition, we incorporated a chevé glass, and the incredible thing is that we recently discovered that this form of crystal, which everyone uses today to refine the aesthetic of the case middle, was invented by Abraham-Louis Breguet.
“We naturally decided to decorate the case back with the new exclusive Quai de l’Horloge guilloché motif. The ratchet wheel, on which we engraved part of Breguet’s words [taken from his advertising brochure] explaining the design of the Souscription movement, continues the theme of paying homage to our founder.”
An additional nod to AbrahamLouis Breguet’s innovation comes in the form of a gold alloy, Breguet gold, conceived and developed in Breguet’s workshops specifically for this timepiece, its subtle pink hue comprised of 75% gold enriched
with silver, copper and palladium. To accompany this celebratory timepiece, Breguet has produced an iteration of the type of presentation box that was commonly used by Abraham-Louis Breguet. Crafted from lightly grained calf leather and resplendent in red, it’s embossed with the words ‘Breguet 250 Years.’
Should Breguet tick on through the centuries to come, its doubtless the Classique Souscription 2025 will feature in its museum, where it will join numerous other fine examples of subscription watches.
“Breguet has had the privilege of enriching its collections with several historic Souscription watches,
acquired over the years at auction,” says Emmanuel Breguet, the brand’s Head of Patrimony. “The Breguet museum has various models, in silver and gold, and in different sizes. They illustrate this chapter in Breguet’s history. Among these treasures are the remarkably well-preserved No. 246, No. 324, No. 383, No. 1576 and No. 3424 watches. They bear striking witness to the vision of their creator and the singular place this model occupies in the history of watchmaking. Each of these pieces, in its own way, tells the story of Breguet’s bold modernity, design genius and commercial imagination.” And that’s always worth celebrating.
A CLASS APART
Across 55 years, the Range Rover has established itself as a bona fide megastar of motoring. The original luxury SUV and still the best, while others imitate, it innovates, a captivating mix of opulence and understatement in a league of its own
In the world of luxury vehicles, the Range Rover has always stood apart as peerless and enduring
Professor Gerry McGovern OBE, Chief Creative Officer, Jaguar Land Rover
1970
The first-generation Range Rover launches on June 17, realising Charles Spencer King’s ambition by marrying refinement to ruggedness
1971
So coveted was the design of the inaugural Range Rover that it was displayed at The Louvre
“More than ever the Range Rover can legitimately claim to be not just the definitive luxury SUV, but the definitive luxury car ”
BBC Top Gear
1985
The dieselpowered Range Rover ‘Bullet’ breaks 27 speed records, including averaging more than 100mph for 24 hours
1981 Range Rover produces its first limited-edition model, the ‘In Vogue’
1999
A statement of pure luxury, Range Rover produces just 10 examples of the Lord Lindleyinspired Linley
2001
The unique Terrain Response system is introduced with the launch of the third-generation Range Rover, a system with an intuitive understanding of the driver’s needs
2010
Range Rover debuts the Evoque, a stylish compact SUV
2005
The dynamic Range Rover Sport line is introduced, delivering thrills in abundance
1994
The second-generation model is launched, showcasing enhanced performance capabilities and a new level of refinement aided by the likes of electronic air suspension
2017
The beautifully designed Velar becomes the third member of the Range Rover family in the same year that Range Rover introduces PHEV vehicles
2022
While proudly showcasing its design heritage, the fifth and latest iteration of the Range Rover epitomises modern luxury, with sustainability driving its future
2025
The all-electric Range Rover is made available to order ahead of deliveries in 2026
THE EVOLUTION OF AN ICON
2012
Launched at London’s Royal Ballet School in a nod to its lightness, the fourth-generation Range Rover is the world’s first all-aluminium SUV
Driven To Be The Best
How one man’s ambition created the definitive luxury SUV
In keeping with its status as the world’s pre-eminent museum, the Louvre in Paris employs a rigorous selection process, the artworks and objects it showcases often subject to approval by committee. Such is the way when it comes to sharing space with the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo. Which is why it’s telling that the first ever car to be displayed there was the Range Rover, recognised by experts as an exemplary work of industrial design and hence worthy of such acclaim. The year was 1971, just twelve months after its launch in June 1970 marked the realisation of engineer Charles Spencer King’s dream to combine the off-road performance of a Land Rover with
the on-road comfort of the Rover saloon, a car that would be equally at home in town or country. ‘A car for all seasons’, as it was marketed. What King actually created now accounts for an entire sector, the ubiquitous luxury sport-utility vehicle (SUV). 55 years on, the Range Rover remains the SUV against which all others are judged. The original. The best. “It just keeps giving buyers what they want, staying relevant while cherishing its heritage. The more it’s imitated, the greater its original kudos,” states Giles Chapman, seasoned motoring authority and author of the book The Range Rover Story. And it’s some story.
‘ The more it’s imitated, the greater its original kudos ’
As a measure of its unique, almost oppositional qualities — refinement and ruggedness — not long after its clean design lines were heralded inside the Louvre’s gilded walls did the Range Rover become the first vehicle to cross the length of the Americas, from Anchorage in Alaska to Tierra del Fuego in Argentina, eating up the treacherous Darién Gap on its way, a 250mile stretch of roadless jungle.
Launched initially as a 2-door model, the first-generation Range Rover was a car of many firsts: the first SUV to feature a permanent 4WD system, the first to be fitted with anti-lock brakes, and the first to include electronic traction control and automatic electronic air suspension, the latter a nod to its burgeoning luxury.
“The thinking that the Range Rover was an overtly luxury product only started in 1980, ten years after
the original debuted, but that aspect has gradually come to dominate ever since,” says Chapman, who cites this period as having the biggest impact on the luxury SUV segment.
“Undoubtedly,” he says, assuredly. “The 1980-90 era of the firstgeneration Range Rover was definitive, especially after features such as four doors (1981), automatic transmission and the ‘Vogue’ luxury package were added.”
The Vogue package was particularly groundbreaking, the result of a prototype vehicle that was produced bespoke to feature in a Vogue magazine photoshoot — door panels embellished with varnished wood, a carpeted boot and personalised picnic basket — which proved so popular with the magazine’s readers that a limited ‘In Vogue’ series of Range Rovers went on sale at the end of 1981 with a production run of just 1,000 models.
Subsequently, the Vogue trim was offered to denote a high level of luxury and features, a practice that continues to this day, with the SV trim now the pinnacle when it comes to looks, features, and horsepower.
“With each upgrade, sales expanded as the Range Rover unlocked an ever-increasing market,” says Chapman. “The key thing is that Range Rover has actually become a brand in itself.”
The second-generation Range Rover was unveiled in 1994, its exterior instantly recognisable but its performance capabilities and interior styling greatly enhanced. By the time of Range Rover’s third iteration ((2001-2012), its luxury credentials were well and truly established, its interiors inspired by yachts, fine furniture and firstclass airline seats, with wood and leather prominent materials. So that when the fourth generation
(2012-2022) arrived the innovations were directed elsewhere — an all-aluminium monocoque body made it lighter yet stronger, while a PHEV model debuted in 2018.
Along the way, Range Rover has birthed a family: the dynamic Range Rover Sport, the more compact Range Rover Evoque, and the elegant Range Rover Velar, winner of the prestigious Car Design of the Year award in 2018.
Now in its fifth design cycle, the Range Rover’s visual pillars remain in place — the falling roofline, that pronounced waistline, rising sill, clamshell bonnet and
floating roof — ensuring that as it heads for an electric future, with the much-anticipated all-electric Range Rover on the road next year, it remains familiar yet new. “Range Rover should seamlessly combine capability and refinement.
Delivering both in an electric vehicle in a way that doesn’t diminish the vehicle in other areas is incredibly challenging,” says Matt Becker, Jaguar Land Rover’s Vehicle Engineering Director. “By increasing its torsional stiffness and improving its responses, we’ve been able to maintain a customary Range Rover driving experience that
feels familiar. We have delivered on this promise by marrying all the essential Range Rover elements with new and advanced technologies.”
Fifty-five years on from the realisation of Charles Spencer King’s dream, the reality is that Range Rover is now the definitive luxury SUV, a car fit for royalty — it was a firm favourite of Queen Elizabeth II’s — and worthy of gracing any museum.
Previous pages: Range Rover Electric prototype Left: Range Rover Classic This page, clockwise from top: Range Rover Sport; Range Rover Velar; Range Rover Evoque
Bryce Dallas Howard on her famous father, the hyper-fame that never materialised for her, and why her storytelling mantra is simple
WORDS: ADAM WHITE
Bryce Dallas Howard has leapt to her feet, laughing wildly. “Whenever I’m on set, I’m just obsessed with danger.” She throws her arms from side to side. “I want danger! I want people impaled! I want a high body count!”
A chorus of her assistants and colleagues, sitting with us in a London hotel suite, hoot in recognition. “I want bodies on the wall!” Howard exclaims, “I want dismemberment!” Remember the Darksaber scene in The Mandalorian, she asks. I don’t! (She doesn’t hear me.) “It was so important to me that we saw it slice a body in half. No cutaways. No shadows. You had to see it. Because in storytelling, peril is powerful.” Howard smooths out her jacket and returns to her seat, point made. “Oh God, I can already see the headline,” she says. “‘Bryce Dallas Howard is a sick f***’. Hahahaha!”
I could never get away with that. But it’d at least be more succinct than ‘Bryce Dallas Howard, M Night Shyamalan muse turned Jurassic World boffin turned director behind a whole bunch of Star Wars TV shows, is actually far more delightfully kooky than you might imagine’ That’s too much of a mouthful. But, as proven by a bit of time in her company, it is largely true.
A little like her father Ron, the director behind a vast and eclectic catalogue of modern classics including Splash, Apollo 13 and Frost/Nixon, Howard has typically been defined by her sturdiness: always dependable, never unwelcome, a true-blue, gold-star Hollywood worker-bee. But that reputation feels limiting and does her a disservice as an actor. Glance over her 20 years of credits and you’ll be reminded of the ethereal terror she brought to Shyamalan’s The Village, the comic mania of her work in the Black Mirror episode ‘Nosedive’, or the very English disappointment she embodied so powerfully in the Elton John biopic Rocketman
Is it a surprise to learn that she’s also a big advocate for on-screen carnage and wrote a school paper on man’s inclination towards violence at the age of 12? Yes! But really it’s our fault for not discovering it sooner.
At the end of a day of press for her new comedy Deep Cover, Howard’s enthusiasm doesn’t seem to be flagging. She careens between incredibly animated excitability – hand gesticulations, laughter, impressions – and more sober business-speak, and while I’m sure I’ve read somewhere that people with red hair age far better than anyone else, I’m struck by the fact that Howard still looks about 25. She’s actually 44, and I’m slightly floored when she casually mentions that her son – she has two children, Theo and Beatrice, with the actor Seth Gabel – graduated from high school just a few days earlier.
We’re talking about violence because Deep Cover is unexpectedly full of it. It revolves around three struggling, London-based improv comedians (Howard, Ted Lasso’s Nick Mohammed and a revelatory Orlando Bloom) who are recruited by Sean Bean’s police detective to go undercover and bust low-stakes criminal operations –apparently, actual coppers aren’t too great with on-the-spot ad-libbing. The restless trio hesitantly say yes, only for the operations to become increasingly bloody and labyrinthian, the group ending up in a tangle with kingpins played by Ian McShane and Paddy Considine. It’s entirely ridiculous, but also very funny and full of slightly Gervaisian cringe comedy and elaborate comic set pieces involving corpses and brain splatter. As if she hadn’t driven it home enough already, Howard absolutely loves the morbid.
“When I was growing up, I had a lot of difficulties learning and communicating,” she remembers. “I was always very happy and smiley, but not extremely verbal. It was unclear what intelligence was there, and how much I was really processing.” Her parents took her to a psychologist, who later sat them down to talk about their findings. “Can we talk about the dead babies?” the therapist would ask. “Because Bryce talks a lot about dead babies.” Howard erupts into laughter. It wasn’t as bad as it sounded, she insists. She just loved a bit of dystopian fiction, some Handmaid’s Tale, 1984 and Shirley Jackson – anything vaguely macabre she had to get her hands on. “I was such a messed up kid – I would walk around the Disney
‘ I want to make things that are intense but also provide uplift ’
lot reading about euthanasia. But I also wasn’t dark. There was just a sort of intensity to my feelings and the stories I was curious about.”
Inevitably, Howard had a very different childhood to you or me. Through her father, she grew up on film sets. She was always told to stay away from the actors so as to not disturb them, so would instead set up shop with the camera department, the first assistant directors and the sound guys, soaking up every corner of movie-making. It wasn’t until she was in high school that she even entertained the prospect of acting herself.
One of the main threads for Kat, Howard’s character in Deep Cover, is how often she is told to give up on her dreams – they provide some of the film’s funniest moments, Howard wincing her way through pass-agg interactions with a parade of smug mums. Howard says she never experienced that sort of thing herself when she was starting out, but that her parents made it clear that she
needed to train, learn her craft and support herself through work. “I felt very lucky because I never had it in my head that if I wasn’t making a living from acting, I was then failing,” she says. But she also always knew that her circumstances were exceptional.
“I’m a third-generation performer,” she says (her grandparents were the actors Rance and Jean Speegle Howard). “The layers of privilege that I’ve experienced means that there’s a lot that I’m aware of [about the industry], and there’s a lot that I will never be able to understand because of that.”
Howard was just 22 when Shyamalan, based solely off the performance she gave as Rosalind in a Broadway production of As You Like It, offered her the starring role in The Village. He’d say he was struck by her innocence, her “American purity”, presumably unaware of all the euthanasia stuff. She played a blind teenager living in an odd, 19th-century (ahem) community menaced by creatures in the woods, and the film –
This page: still from Deep Cover (2025) Opposite page: still from The Village (2004)
arriving at the tail end of Shyamalan’s largely bulletproof early run of twisty thrillers – propelled her to instant fame. She says now that she found it an incredibly stressful time, and that she once hid under the bed covers in her hotel room during the press tour due to sheer overstimulation. “I remember being, like, ‘I can’t handle the light!’” She cringes. “It was ridiculous.”
She came back down to earth the week of the film’s release, which happened to coincide with her husband’s big break – while she starred in The Village, Gabel had just begun a recurring role as an incestuous sociopath on the plastic surgery drama Nip/Tuck. Howard remembers dressing up to the nines to go to the supermarket with him. “I’m in heels in this grocery store, looking really cute and walking incredibly aware of myself. Seth’s just in his pyjamas. And then there’s this guy who comes up to us who is hugely excited. I’m entirely ready to be fawned over, and he says to Seth, ‘Oh
‘ I was such a messed-up kid – I would walk around the Disney lot reading about euthanasia ’
my God, were you on Nip/Tuck this week?’ It happened two more times right after in this same store, and not a soul said anything to me.” She shakes her head, clasping her hands to her face. “It was such an absurd moment – literally, what I was thinking?”
It was weirder, she says, because she didn’t even covet fame. But she assumed that her regular life was about to drastically change – ultimately, though, it didn’t. “The reality is that I hardly ever get recognised to this day,” she says. “I live a totally normal life – partly because I’m a shut-in and don’t leave the house that much, but I’ve also just been incredibly lucky. I was never followed around by photographers. My kids were never stalked. I was never interesting enough.
I would not sell enough magazines.”
In Howard’s filmography, there is a period right after The Village that seems a lot darker and more experimental than the work she’d principally end up doing – she’s haunting in Lars von Trier’s Dogville sequel Manderlay, and delightfully vindictive as a Southern belle in the Tennessee Williams adaptation The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond. But then the franchises started to dominate – she was Gwen Stacy in the maligned SpiderMan 3 and played supporting roles in a Terminator movie and a Twilight film. Everything got a little PG. “I love feelgood,” she says. “But now I very much want a mix of it all – I want to make things that are intense but also provide uplift. I think I realise now that you can do both of those things at once. I don’t want to make movies about miserable people living miserable lives in Miserable-town, USA. I’ll watch those movies, sure, but I can’t make them.” Her choices over the years also
reflect her reluctance to properly lead a movie, she says. “Growing up as a ‘kid-of’, I’m very used to being around a flurry but not being at the centre of it. Like, everybody’s getting very excited about someone here… and that someone is Ron Howard.” She lets out a big, machine-gun of a laugh. “That someone is not little, redheaded Bryce, you know? So I’m very comfortable stepping to the side and letting other people do their thing.”
It also means she’s able to divorce her emotions from projects that don’t do so well. Last year’s Argylle, for instance, was an incredibly expensive action film for Apple TV+ in which Howard played a novelist drawn into a world of espionage – it cratered at the box office. Similarly, Shyamalan followed up The Village with the infamous Lady in the Water, in which Howard played a water nymph who washes up in an apartment swimming pool. Critics weren’t kind. “You can always see it coming while you’re making it,” Howard says. “I’ve
never been shocked when something doesn’t work. But I’m just an actor – you’re there to serve a director’s vision. If a movie doesn’t turn out the way that you envisioned, you can barely feel disappointed because it’s not yours. You’re not the person who’s building the thing.” Her dad, she adds, has always – and understandably –taken on the emotional burden when one of his films doesn’t do well. “It blows him away that I don’t do that.”
She remembers seeing his heartbreak when his Tom Cruise/Nicole Kidman period drama Far and Away bombed in 1992 (Howard was 11), and how he turned to Clint Eastwood – a man who has experienced incredible creative highs and contrasting lows in his career – for advice. “He said, ‘Ronnie – a career is like a season of television. You’ve got 24 episodes, some of the episodes are going to be bad, some are going to be serviceable, maybe a little forgettable, and maybe five of those episodes are going
to be really strong and last’.”
It’s an ethos she carries with her today, but she admits that it’ll probably become harder to embrace once she starts directing feature films herself. There, the buck really will stop with her. If Howard has acted less in the last few years, it’s because she’s spending more time behind the camera – she’s directed episodes of The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, as well as the Apple TV+ documentary Dads. But she still feels a little green.
“When I ultimately direct a narrative feature, I’m gonna want to work with a director of photography who’s really experienced, because I don’t want to be the most experienced person on a set,” she says. “I really shouldn’t be.” It’s why she’s grateful for the Star Wars work. “I’m shown so much respect and I’m given a lot of freedom, but also there are guardrails because it’s such a big franchise. And at this point, I definitely still need those.”
And the blood and guts, of course.
These pages, from left to right: still from As You Like It (2006); still from Lady in the Water (2006)
CODE
RED
A new book by Taschen compiles the thoughts of some of fashion’s biggest names to form a fitting tribute to Valentino’s enduring genius
WORDS: JOHN THATCHER
Like Ferrari, another titan of Italian style, think of Valentino and you immediately see red. Yet the collection that thrust Valentino into the spotlight was assembled in neutral shades of white, ivory and beige: the ‘no colour’ collection, as history has it.
The year was 1967 and Valentino’s looks were in stark contrast to those popular at the time — all bold patterns and bright colours in recognition of the psychedelic era. The collection, which also marked the debut of his now signature V logo, spoke less of Valentino as an outlier and more of a man of impeccable taste. A man who never veered from his signature style, despite the constant flux of fashion.
The mark of a truly great designer.
A new book, Valentino. A Grand Italian Epic , published by Taschen, traces Valentino's storied career, which began in earnest when he left his home in small town Italy to study at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and ended with a lavish couture show in Rome, bringing the curtain down on a 45-year career but establishing his legacy as one of the 20th century’s last great couturiers, a cultural icon whose influence continues to resonate through fashion.
“What did Valentino invent in fashion?” ponders Suzy Menkes in the foreword to the book. “The answer is a modern glamour that has travelled from the jet set to the private plane era. And at its beating heart is an atelier in Rome, where exquisite dresses are made to traditional standards and presented like a sumptuous cake, as the seamstress unveils her creation for the maestro’s approval.
“Valentino is now the last link in a chain of high-fashion history –the only couturier who has been apprenticed to the past and is still in absolute creative control of a house that he himself founded.”
As much as red is Valentino’s calling card, it was the exquisite gowns he designed for some of the world’s leading ladies that were his trademark. “I came to see Elizabeth Taylor with one of my first collections,” he recounts in the book. “I had arrived in Rome just two years before I met her and she ordered several things, and she said to me, ‘I would love to have a beautiful evening gown for a big party. I have to mention to you that I have another
‘ Valentino is now the last link in a chain of high-fashion history’
dress ready. But if your dress is like what I think, I am going to wear it, of course.’ And I made several outfits, plus that dress, and of course, she loved it. This was the beginning of my career with all the silver-screen movie stars.”
It was a column dress worn by Julia Roberts at the 2001 Academy Awards, with white striping and a sheer black tulle, that Valentino cites as the high point of his whole career. Yet it’s Jackie Kennedy whom he credits with delivering his greatest gift.
As First Lady, Kennedy was instructed to only wear clothes designed by American designers when in public. In private, however, she indulged her love of European designs, and on her husband’s death set about refreshing her wardrobe. “In September 1964 I showed my collection at the Waldorf-Astoria. I had been in touch with Jackie; she wanted to see the clothes. So my lady, with a model, went to Fifth Avenue where Jackie used to live and they showed her part of the collection. And I’ll always
‘ To be able to wear Valentino is every woman’s or girl’s dream come true’
remember – this was the biggest gift of my life. They came back and they said, ‘Mrs Kennedy, she ordered all black and white, lots of black and white.’”
Four years later, Valentino designed Kennedy’s wedding dress when she married the Greek shipping magnate, Aristotle Onassis. An ivory-coloured lace mini dress that helped cement his position as designer to the elite.
Valentino’s skills were honed in Paris, the cradle of couture. First under the tutelage of Jean Dessès, best known for his beautiful Grecian gowns, who taught Valentino the art of fluid draping, and then Guy Laroche, the French couturier, from whom he gleaned a deep understanding of tailoring and structure.
It was then time for Valentino to return home and build his own Roman Empire, opening his atelier
in 1959 on the city’s Via Condotti. From there, Valentino crafted his uniquely Italian brand of glamour.
“Valentino makes, probably, the most beautiful evening dresses in the world, making clothes that women want to wear to be well-dressed and feminine,” says John Fairchild in the book, the late publisher and editor of WWD. “He never strays over the border to the odd. They’re not conservative, but they’re just flattering. With Valentino you would never come out of a collection and say, ‘Oh, my God! That is really odd and strange, and trashy and this or that.’ You’d come out saying, ‘Oh, my God – those are clothes that women want to wear.’” Indeed they were.
“To be able to wear Valentino is every woman’s or girl’s dream come true,” enthuses Claudia Schiffer.
‘ His work, like his life, is a fusion of rigour and grandeur’
“Because they are the most glamorous, feminine and elegant dresses that you can possibly have. You can recognise a Valentino dress from afar. And there’s only one red that only he has and no one can ever copy. It is just amazing – when you wear one of his dresses, someone will immediately say, ‘You don’t have to say what it is, I know [it’s Valentino].’”
Valentino’s private life perfectly reflects the glamour of his fashion: he has owned multiple yachts and art- and antique-filled residences in Rome, New York, London and Gstaad, along with a 17th-century chateau near Paris. It’s a topic the book devotes a whole chapter to.
“I’m obsessed with the scope and scale of Valentino’s life,” says Tom Ford. “I mean, how he manages to have that level of perfection in all of his houses –and in his boat and in every single part of his world – is really incredible. It shows, really, a visual obsession, which of course he has. But it’s also the skill of knowing what’s good and knowing how to put things together, and then it’s the drive, the perseverance and the work that it takes to maintain that. That’s always been incredibly impressive.”
Now aged 93, the fashion house that carries his name remains true to his style.
“If fashion designers mostly divide into the romantic and the classic, Valentino fits into both categories. His work, like his life, is a fusion of rigour and grandeur,” hails Suzy Menkes.
It’s a life that Taschen’s book wonderfully illustrates. Valentino. A Grand Italian Epic, is out now, published by Taschen
Coco Chanel’s passion for Coromandel lacquerware was the starting point for Lesage’s beguiling contribution to Chanel’s Métiers d’Art collection
WORDS: SASHA SLATER
Amirrored staircase leads from the Chanel showroom in rue Cambon, Paris, to Coco Chanel’s private quarters, which have been kept exactly as they were when the designer died, in 1971. The small apartment has no bedroom – she never slept here, retreating to her suite at The Ritz every night – but it is lavish in every other way. Leather-bound books line the rooms, chandeliers decorated with her symbolic number 5 light the space, and almost life-size bronze deer stand to attention in the study. But it’s the Coromandel screens flanking the walls that make the greatest impression.
“I’ve loved Chinese screens ever since I was 18 years old,” she once said. “I nearly fainted with joy when, entering a Chinese shop, I saw a Coromandel for the first time.” They were the first artworks she bought, and it is thought she owned 32 of the heavy black lacquer screens, decorated with dragons, birds, flowers, figures and boats. These screens were the starting point for the Chanel Métiers d’Art show (the clothes from which now in boutiques) staged as night fell over the West Lake in Hangzhou, China, in December. The setting was like a scene from one of her screens, and the fashion on the runway, built over the water, riffed on the colours and textures of the 18thcentury panels, not in paint but in sequins, silk flowers, tweeds and lace.
Reimagining antique furniture as 21st-century high fashion is an intricate process, and some of the standout looks in the show were created by Maison Lesage, which has been specialising in embroidery for 101 years. The Lesage atelier is now housed in 19M, a hi-tech creative hub on a ring road just north of Paris, but the techniques that it champions are as old as anything in the Chanel apartment.
Look 58, a slim column dress entirely encrusted with sequins, was a particular challenge, says Hubert Barrère, artistic director of Lesage since 2011. Barrère is the conduit between the creative team at Chanel and his own artisans. He describes his role as “an interpreter who will give life to the designer’s ideas. I have to be a minister, an éminence grise, a psychiatrist, a priest. And I love the role, I have to say.”
A month before the show, the Chanel design team told him their theme, and
‘ I like seeing someone wearing a dress, because then it’s living. We aren’t in an art gallery ’
Barrère took the embroiderers and designers of the Lesage studio to see the screens in the apartment. The other side of his role is as the in-house Mr Veto. At a big meeting where all the artisans showed their ideas, he said “oui, non, oui, non” to their proposals. Barrère didn’t want Lesage to take the screens too literally as inspiration. “We didn’t want to make a copy of them,” he says. “That would be boring à mort. And Karl [Lagerfeld, Chanel’s illustrious late creative director] has already done the côté figuratif.” Indeed he has, in a famous haute couture collection in 1996. Instead, Barrère and his team dreamt up “an abstraction of the Coromandel. The crackles, the colours, that can be evocative.” He took all the drawings his designers supplied and “jumbled them together, like spillikins, a little bit of chaos. Flowers, waves, branches, like a puzzle. That was our story of the
screens, and then I said, ‘Just do it.’” It sounds straightforward, but the process of turning that creative chaos into a sequin-encrusted dress is anything but. The garment itself is made in the Chanel atelier, but it is Lesage that does all the embroidery, on organza panels to be sewn on to a silk base. First they show sketches and samples of embroidery to the Chanel team, and when these are approved, the designers come up with a full-size paper version of the design. More to-and-fro between the ateliers to tweak the shape and then, in Lesage’s light-flooded studios, the design is reinterpreted as flat strips of paper that show exactly which texture, size and colour of sequins will go where on the dress. Look 58 has several different kinds of black sequin, to give the effect of crackles in the lacquer, so those are shown as pink, blue or yellow patches on a strip of paper that
Previous page: Look 58 from 2024/25 Métiers d'art collection
Above: Gabrielle Chanel admiring a Coromandel screen in her Paris apartment
corresponds to a panel of fabric. It’s like a particularly obscure Ordnance Survey map complete with key, or légende. Then this pattern is transferred to the fabric by the ‘prick and pounce’ technique. The embroidery designer first smooths the paper with soap to reduce friction, then uses a mechanical piqueuse to punch tiny pricks in tracing paper that correspond to the shape of each swirl and swoop of embroidery. In another studio, on huge tables covered with white cotton cloths, the black gauzy fabric that will hold the sequins is ironed flat, then the perforated tracing paper is placed on top and weighted down. The designer takes a felt pad (the poncette) laden with chalky white dust (the poncif) and gently rubs it in a circular motion over the tracing paper, so the ghostly pattern comes through on the fabric beneath in a series of tiny white dots. “And now the embroiderer knows exactly what she’s doing,” says one of the designers. “She has the drawing, she has the colours, she has the material and she has the design.”
Anne-Marie Ramos sits by a floorto-ceiling window with a bright strip light over her large wooden embroidery frame, on which a strip of the black organza is stretched. She’s bending over a rectangular panel about 30cm by 15cm that will take her 40 hours to entirely cover with sequins in exactly the right colours and textures. No one else could do it any quicker – Ramos has been working at Lesage for 38 years. Using a minute Lunéville crochet hook, she catches the thread, then takes a sequin and attaches it. Over and over again. What’s more, she’s working blind – the sequins are underneath, so she sees the finished result only when she turns it over. “It’s lots of touching, you work with your hands,” she explains. With some designs, she has to crush each individual sequin with a hammer, or fold it with pincers. It’s painstaking, intense work. “But I never get sick of it,’” she says. “You’re always learning.” If there’s a rush on, two women will work on the same small square of cloth to get it finished for a catwalk show, or bride in a hurry. On occasion, six embroiderers will be bent over the same strip; and, says Ramos, there have been times when, crammed round a frame, “I’ve sat on a
‘ We didn’t want to make a copy of the screens. That would be boring à mort ’
friend’s lap to finish a job when it was very urgent.” Listening to music, or novels on Audible, keeps them going. Look 58 was just such a rush job. “They asked for it in three or four days,” says Barrère. “It was a challenge de dingue.” He had 32 of his team working in shifts on the embroidery for the dress, which took a total of 660 hours to make. Hardly surprising when you consider it is covered with more than 192,000 sequins and 3,443 pierced crystal shards. “And then people say it’s expensive. It’s not expensive, it’s the work of these ladies.”
The prototype of the dress is on a mannequin in the archive room, and this is the first time Barrère has seen the finished article. ‘Pas mal,’ he says, looking at the creation, with sequins
scattered all over it in explosions of white on dark burgundy and black, a wearable Jackson Pollock. “There are no repeats,” he observes proudly. “t’s all different. You could imagine here’s a pattern, here’s a little wave, a firework… I like seeing someone wearing a dress, because then it’s living. We aren’t in an art gallery. And the ateliers are amazing at dressing normal women who aren’t shaped like haricots verts, who have curves.”
Barrère loves the tension between creating a dream dress, “with savoirfaire, that will become something exceptional, but at the same time it has to live on someone.” This is what he calls the Lesage Wonderland: exceptional skill and wild imagination, tethered to the fleeting demands of fashion.
Leader Of The Pack
Expert engineering and abundant luxuries set the Range Rover Sport SV apart
WORDS: JOHN THATCHER
Ican’t say for certain, but I’d wager a hefty sum that the person responsible for there being a ClearSight rear-view mirror in the Range Rover Sport SV I’m testing is the parent of at least two children. I say this not as someone with psychic ability but as the father of two girls who tend to spend the duration of our family car journeys engaged in an ear-splitting squabble. Not only do I hear them, but having to glance in my mirror – typically to confirm that the driver of the white Nissan Patrol behind does indeed intend to drive over or through us – means I also have to see them.
The Range Rover’s safety-inspired technology – for which a rear-mounted camera displays a wide-angle view of what’s behind you onto your rear-view mirror – means I can’t see them at all. And, as they say, out of sight, out of mind.
It’s one of the many things that make driving this best-in-class Range Rover Sport SV so pleasurable: a hugely impressive feat of engineering, clever design, and full-on thrills.
So let’s start with those frills.
Powered by a 4.4-litre twin-turbo MHEV V8 petrol engine, it shrugs off its size to speed from 0-100km/h in as little as 3.6 seconds, topping out just below 290km/h. To dial up the exhilaration another notch, there is the option of pressing the SV Mode button on the steering wheel, engaging a level beyond Range Rover Sport’s Dynamic mode.
Press it – the temptation to do so is constant, given where it’s positioned – and the car’s instruments and illuminated elements on the steering wheel switch
‘Switching to SV Mode appears to make the car angry ’
from a soft white to a fiery red. It’s as though you’ve made the car angry. Or, in Star Wars speak, have switched from the light side of the Force to the dark side, which we all know is far cooler.
What you’ve actually done is awaken a beast.
You’ll know you’ve done so because it growls at you, the SV mode opening valves to create a more aggressive – and noticeably louder – sound from the exhaust. The car also drops by 15mm onto the car’s suspension, bringing you closer to the road and a whole 25mm lower in total than other Range Rover Sport models. Also optimised to a more thrilling degree are the steering, which encourages you to take a firmer grip, the eight-speed automatic gearbox and the throttle response. It’s a firmer, sportier ride that’s fully engaging.
To help you stay in control of this wilder ride there’s a specially developed (in collaboration with the world leader in brake technology, Brembo) highperformance braking system. But more impressive still is what the boffins at JLR have developed: 6D Dynamics, a world-first suspension system of
cross-linked hydraulic dampers which means that no matter how hard you drive it, the car will stay even. This type of chassis tech puts the Range Rover Sport SV in a league of its own when compared to other luxury SUVs.
“We set ourselves incredibly challenging dynamics targets, and we hit every single one. It’s a vehicle we’re hugely proud of,” stated Ross Restell, JLR’s Vehicle Dynamics Manager. And well may they be. But let’s row back a second, because there’s plenty to admire outside before you accept the invitation from the automatic deployment of the door handles and side steps to get inside. Clad in carbon bronze, it looks almost regal, an appearance underpinned by its supremely confident stance. Naturally, it’s also keen to reveal its sporty side, with design elements at both ends of the car shaped to optimise air intake, and 23-inch wheels – including a carbon fibre option – granted due attention by the presence of distinctive yellow brake callipers. Once inside, it’s immediately apparent that you’re safely cocooned in the lap of luxury.
With most of the controls confined to the 13.1-inch touchscreen, there’s an uncluttered feel to your surrounds, yet you’ll soon discover that this car simply doesn’t do minimalism. Take the Body and Soul seats, which have been engineered (over a reported three years) to immerse you in both sound and wellness and have gone through biometric testing to ensure that they are of genuine benefit to your wellbeing. Fitted with two haptic amplifiers and four transducers, the seats connect with the car’s exceptional sound system (29 speakers in all) so that they vibrate in line with your choice of music – particularly engaging when you opt for some bass-heavy hip hop. Though for something a little calmer, JLR has developed its own soundtrack of six pieces which have been proven to calm passengers – no doubt another addition from a parent. Then there are the multiple wellness modes you can activate on the touchscreen, from ‘calm’ to ‘invigorating’, which means you can be delicately eased or firmly kneaded into sublime comfort. The most dynamic Range Rover there’s ever been. It’s also the most impressive.
Grandma Knows Best
Why, after spending years in some of the world’s greatest kitchens, Chet Sharma turned to his grandmothers to inspire his acclaimed restaurant
As patron-chef of Mayfair’s perennially buzzy BiBi, Chet Sharma is used to spinning multiple plates at once. “There are so many moving parts in a restaurant, from stocking to reservations to staffing…” But not so long ago he was also adept at spinning discs of a different kind, working a residency at London’s legendary nightclub Ministry of Sound and rubbing shoulders with the likes of Kanye West and 50 Cent. “I grew up with music always on in the background – if not my dad playing his Motown collection or ghazals (traditional Indian folk songs) then my mum listening to Abba and Bollywood music. And we were always encouraged to play instruments; for me it was the piano throughout my childhood and teens. Being a DJ just let me be around music all the time.”
While his parents informed his love of music, it was his grandmothers who instilled Sharma’s passion for food.
“It might be odd to say that the most influential moments of my career don’t come from a professional kitchen, but the time I spent with my grandmothers as a child influenced me massively,” he says, despite having spent time in some of the world’s most celebrated kitchens, the likes of Mugaritz, under the tutelage of Andoni Aduriz, and Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons with Raymond Blanc. “Both of my grandmothers were fantastic cooks, in different ways, and their flavours and techniques have shaped what I do at BiBi. After all, I named the restaurant after them.” (BiBi being an affectionate Urdu term for grandmother).
If that suggests that BiBi is a traditional Indian restaurant the truth is it’s much more nuanced, winning Michelin acclaim for exacting dishes that are as progressive as they are a celebration of Sharma’s richly flavoured heritage. “If an Indian grandmother ate one of our dishes, she might not recognise it in the way we present it, but it should taste innately ‘Indian’, whatever that means. Our Hamachi nimbu pani is a great example – amazing Hamachi and Kentish cherries, dressed with kaji lemons from the northeast of India. It’s a ceviche, really, but tastes so distinctly like Indian lemonade.”
For a dish to feature on one of
Sharma’s award-winning menus, its ingredients must first undergo a rigorous examination to adhere to BiBi’s ethos. “It has to be about great produce,” he says, detailing how he’s devoted many years of research to sourcing the right ingredients, both in India and the UK, with traceability and ethics immovable parameters.
“On the British side, we use cheese from Somerset, buffalo milk from Lancashire, hand-dived scallops from Devon and lamb from Yorkshire. From India, we choose rice that’s curated from non-hybrid, heritage varietals, and spices that are single-sourced and don’t use any pesticides. I also like to focus on the health benefits that our ingredients can bring. For example, the paigambari wheat we use for our rotis has a low glycemic index rating and high levels of folic acid, minerals and protein. One of the innovative aspects of BiBi is that we challenge the preconception that Indian food is heavy. Here, it’s not.”
It is, however, big on taste. That aforementioned lamb derives from sheep that were allowed to forage across large swathes of wild land, accounting for a darker meat full of flavour.
“Authenticity is a difficult thing to achieve when you’re talking about
Indian food because it’s such a big country, so my version of authenticity will be different to someone else’s. I’m authentic to my own memories of foods I’ve eaten on the subcontinent, and then the innovation comes from trying to reproduce those flavours and textures with the British produce I have around me and the ingredients we bring in from India.”
I ngredients are so important that nothing of use is left to waste. When in season, the ripened flesh of mangoes is used in desserts but also preserved for entrées and pureed in butter for bread. Additionally, its stone is cracked to release its oil and its green skin salted and dried to produce a seasoning. This meticulous approach stems from Sharma’s scientific studies, which yielded two master’s degrees – one in neurology from University College London and another in physics from Oxford University –plus a doctorate in condensed matter physics. “My scientific background gave me a mindset that’s all about research and precision. That precision comes in handy when managing the restaurant. But I never really wanted to be an academic, even though I did a fair few degrees, of course. They were opportunities that came
up and I took them. I always loved cooking, from when I was little.”
Born into a world shaped by two cultures – Indian on his mother’s side, English on his father’s – Sharma’s most ingrained childhood memory of food remains vivid. “The one that stands out the most to me is from when I was on holiday at the age of six, visiting our family farm near New Delhi. When we arrived, it must have been 2am and I was so hungry. My uncle had made us malai kofta to welcome us, which is a very labour-intensive recipe. He’d even made the paneer, and I remember it tasting extraordinarily good.”
W hile studying at university, Sharma fed his hunger for learning more about food by doing a total of 16 stages (unpaid work experience). “I was hooked.”
S o how does he maintain his thirst for further knowledge? “I think it helps that a lot of the things I like to do in my spare time are very nourishing for my creativity. I read, often while listening to my wife playing the piano. Lots of ideas for dishes spark while I’m doing that. I also make sure to keep eating out and not stay cloistered in my own restaurant.”
T he exact opposite of what enthralled guests of BiBi would choose to do.
‘ My scientific background gave me a mindset that’s all about research and precision ’
Karim-Christian Haririan
MANAGING DIRECTOR, BMW GROUP MIDDLE EAST
I believe that advice is not inherently good or bad; it’s about how we perceive, embrace and grow from it. Genuine advice from people who truly care about your development can shape our lives significantly. I’ve received many impactful pieces of advice throughout my career, such as: ‘Adversity shapes us; don’t fear mistakes. Instead, regret not trying to push your boundaries and challenge yourself.’ This mindset has been crucial in my journey.
It’s challenging to pinpoint just one achievement as my greatest after over 30 years with BMW Group. Together with my teams we have accomplished so much, and I take immense pride in what we have achieved for the brand, whether in Greece, Egypt, Poland or here in the Middle East. I am particularly proud to be surrounded by a highly talented team and dedicated partners who share the same vision and commitment.
One of the hardest lessons I learnt was the importance of resilience. Early in my career, I faced significant setbacks that tested my resolve. I realised that uncertainty is not the end; rather, it’s an opportunity to learn and grow. Embracing challenges and maintaining a positive outlook has been essential in overcoming obstacles and achieving success.
I have a basic understanding of Arabic, having learnt it during my time in Egypt, but I would love to be fluent in the language. I find the language beautiful and rich in culture, and I am currently pursuing professional language training to enhance my skills.
I would like to find a way to slow down. I tend to operate at full speed, always ready to chase the next challenge. While I thrive on this energy, I recognise the importance of taking a step back to
appreciate the journey and the moments that matter.
My idea of perfect happiness is family – it is always my number one priority. Professionally, my idea of perfect happiness is the sheer joy of driving a BMW. The driving experience embodies our values of sheer driving pleasure and joy, which resonate deeply with me.
I would tell my younger self to keep learning, challenge your skills, and explore your full potential. Embrace every opportunity for growth and never shy away from stepping outside of your comfort zone.
I have a deep appreciation for the arts and extraordinary talents. I admire individuals who are not only extremely talented but also humble. Their ability to remain grounded despite their achievements is something I find truly inspiring
