AIR Magazine - Empire Aviation - November'21

NOVEMBER 2021

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Contents

AIR

Credit: Versace Resort 22

NOVEMBER 2021: ISSUE 122

FEATURES Forty

Forty Six

Fifty Two

Ana de Armas left home with just €200 in her pocket. Now she’s starring in the biggest film of the year.

Fashion’s great survivor Donatella Versace on recovery, teaming up with Fendi, and killer heels.

Will Hodgkinson on what really caused the breakup of The Beatles.

To Die For

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All Heel The Queen

The Beginning of the End

Contents

NOVEMBER 2021: ISSUE 122

REGULARS Fourteen

Radar

Sixteen

Objects of Desire Eighteen

Critique Twenty

Art & Design Thirty

Timepieces Thirty Four

Jewellery

EDITORIAL

Fifty Eight

Chief Creative Officer

Motoring

John Thatcher john@hotmedia.me

AIR

SIxty Six

Journeys

by Jet

ART Art Director

Kerri Bennett

Sixty Eight

What I Know Now

Illustration

Leona Beth

COMMERCIAL Managing Director

Victoria Thatcher General Manager

David Wade

david@hotmedia.me

PRODUCTION Digital Media Manager

Muthu Kumar Sixty Two

Gastronomy What’s the future of food?

Experimental design duo Bompas & Parr are serving it up at Expo 2020.

Tel: 00971 4 364 2876 Fax: 00971 4 369 7494 Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission from HOT Media is strictly prohibited.

HOT Media does not accept liability for any omissions or errors in AIR.

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Service and Detail that Shape your Journey.

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Each 624sqm suite features two separate bedrooms with two separate living rooms.

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JW Marriott® Marquis® Hotel Dubai marriott.com/DXBJW Sheikh Zayed Road, Business Bay, PO Box 121000, Dubai, UAE | T +971.4.414.0000 | jwmarriottmarquisdubai.com

HAPPY DIAMONDS – HAPPY ME - Handcrafted in Ethical Gold -

Empire Aviation Group NOVEMBER 2021:ISSUE 122

Welcome to this special edition of AIR — our private aviation lifestyle magazine for aircraft owners and charter clients. Wherever you are reading this, we hope you enjoy the issue, especially as it contains some ground-breaking news about Empire Aviation.

We are delighted to announce that Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation — one of the world's leading and most recognised and respected business aviation brands — has appointed Empire Aviation as the International Sales Representative for India. This means that we will be responsible for aircraft transactions and representing and supporting Gulfstream in one of the most exciting markets in the world for private aviation and with enormous potential.

Welcome Onboard ISSUE ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY TWO

It's a very exciting development for us and a testament to the tremendous work of the entire team at Empire Aviation over many years. You can read more about the Gulfstream news in this issue.

In India, the business aviation market is increasingly active as more companies expand their operations domestically and internationally.

A significant part of our charter business comes from this market and there is also a growing interest in aircraft acquisitions and management services. We will be introducing our new Gulfstream service elements to new and existing clients in India and we believe the future for the business aviation sector looks very positive.

In this issue, we also feature a profile of our comprehensive range of private aviation services. It's not just the breadth of what we offer that sets us apart but also the depth and quality of what we do — which is to integrate and tailor the appropriate mix of services for the individual and collective benefit of our aircraft owners and charter clients, and those who we represent when transacting. It really is a people business.

Enjoy this special issue.

Paras P. Dhamecha Founder and Managing Director Empire Aviation Group

Contact Details: Cover: Ferrari Roma

info@empire.aero empireaviation.com

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THE ONE-STOP SHOP FOR BUSINESS AVIATION SERVICES Empire Aviation offers a comprehensive range of integrated services, including aircraft sales and acquisitions, aircraft management, charter and CAMO.

DUBAI I INDIA I SAN MARINO I USA I NIGERIA I EGYPT I INDONESIA

E: info@empire.aero T: +971 4 299 8444 I F: +971 4 299 8445 WWW.EMPIREAVIATION.COM

Empire Aviation Group

Credit: gulfstream.com

NOVEMBER 2021:ISSUE 122

Gulfstream Aerospace Appoints Empire Aviation Group as International Sales Representative for India Move meets demand for Gulfstream aircraft in India Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation has appointed Empire Aviation Group — the Dubai, UAE based integrated private aviation specialist — as the authorised International Sales Representative (ISR) for Gulfstream business aircraft sales activities in India.

Under the agreement, Empire Aviation Group will be responsible for promoting and supporting Gulfstream with customers and prospects throughout India. The company has provided aircraft sales, aircraft management and charter management services to private aircraft owners worldwide, including India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), since launching in 2007.

"As interest in the Gulfstream family of aircraft grows throughout India, we wanted to ensure we have local representation that not only possesses significant experience dealing with Gulfstream aircraft, but can also deliver a personal approach befitting of the number one brand in business aviation," said Scott Neal, senior vice president of worldwide sales at Gulfstream. "Empire Aviation Group will provide Gulfstream

with both as we continue to expand our presence in this important market."

Paras P. Dhamecha, Founder and Managing Director of Empire Aviation Group, comments: "Empire Aviation is honoured to have been selected

by Gulfstream, which offers the pinnacle of advanced business jet design, manufacturing and customer service, to represent its interests in India. We have been doing business in India since our inception and we continue to be very optimistic about the unique opportunities for private aviation in the Sub-continent.

"There's a growing interest in aircraft acquisition and we are already working on prospective transactions in India, where we act as a trusted advisor to owners and potential buyers with a highly personalised approach. We will use our local presence, customer reach, experience and expertise to support Gulfstream's success in India."

About Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation Inspired by the belief that aviation

could fuel business growth, Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. invented the first purpose-built business aircraft, the Gulfstream I, which first flew in 1958.

Today, more than 2,900 aircraft are in service around the world. Together with parent company General Dynamics, Gulfstream consistently invests in the future, dedicating resources to researching and developing innovative new aircraft, technologies and services. With a fleet that includes the super-midsize Gulfstream G280, the high-performing Gulfstream G650 and Gulfstream G650ER, and a next-generation family of aircraft including the all-new Gulfstream G400, the award-winning Gulfstream G500 and Gulfstream G600, the flagship Gulfstream G700 and the ultralong-range Gulfstream G800, Gulfstream offers an aircraft for every mission. All are backed

by Gulfstream's Customer Support network and its worldwide team.

Visit the website at gulfstream. com. More information about General Dynamics is available at generaldynamics.com.

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Empire Aviation Group NOVEMBER 2021:ISSUE 122

Personalised Service How Empire Aviation Group tailors its range of private aviation services for owners and clients

Since launching in Dubai UAE in 2007, Empire Aviation Group has developed into a global private aviation business integrating a comprehensive range of services, based on a distinctive asset management approach and personalised service, ensuring aircraft owners and charter clients enjoy all the privacy, safety, comfort and convenience of private aviation.

Empire Aviation operates one of the Middle East's largest managed fleets of business jets, with aircraft based in global locations. The company operates in the key regions for private aviation, covering the USA, Europe, India, Africa and the Far East, in addition to the Middle East. The Empire Aviation team comprises 120 aviation specialists across the globe 12

with branch offices located in India and San Marino and aircraft sales representatives based in the US. Today, Empire Aviation holds AOCs (Air Operator Certificates) in the UAE and San Marino and an NSOP in India, as well as private operations, approved in the Cayman Islands.

The Empire Aviation team provides all the major services associated with private aviation – aircraft management, flight operations and charter, as well as aircraft sales and CAMO. It's the integration of these comprehensive services and the expertise and experience of the team that enables Empire Aviation to provide a high degree of personalised services.

The company manages private jets on behalf of owners and Empire Aviation's

asset management approach means that each aircraft owner has a unique business model and a set of highly personalised services. Several of the managed private jets on the fleet are available to the charter market and comprise aircraft of different types and cabin configurations.

Empire Aviation is also a charter broker and can arrange aircraft charter anywhere in the world for business or leisure. Working in partnership with some of the world's leading providers of luxury travel services and experiences, Empire Aviation and its partners can combine end-to-end luxury and privacy on the ground and at the destination empireaviation.com

Credit: Mélanie Laurent, courtesy of Cartier

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AIR

Radar NOVEMBER 2021: ISSUE 122

Credit: © Selected Works - the collector’s edition - by Vincent Peters, published by teNeues, www.teneues.com Amy Adams, Los Angeles, Photo © Vincent Peters. All rights reserved

The portrait photographs of Vincent Peters have been elevated above the pages of the fashion magazines they graced to stand alone as works of art. A new collection of them, entitled Selected Works: The Collector’s Edition, has been published by teNeues, showcasing his signature style (black and white, beautifully lit) across 190 examples, each one personally selected for publishing by Peters. They include shots of Scarlett Johansson, Amy Adams (left), and John Malkovich, among many other stars of the silver screen. teneues.com

Vincent Peters Selected Works — The Collector’s Edition teNeues 15

OB JECTS OF DESIRE

This month we shine a spotlight on the runways at the latest Fashion Weeks

OBJECTS OF DESIRE

OB JECTS OF DESIRE

B U R B E R RY

SPRING/SUMMER 2022 WOMEN with oversized sleeves but without a In a collection he dedicated to his collar. Boxy-fit blazers have also been mother and new possibilities, Burberry reworked in sleeveless and backless cuts, CCO Riccardo Tisci explored the notion of freedom, allowing for striking, while further nods to freedom can be daring experiments. They include the found in thigh-high splits. Juxtaposed to reworking of the brand’s signature that are figure-hugging pieces, including trench coat - deconstructed and rebuilt a bodysuit in crystal net and tulle.

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OB JECTS OF DESIRE

CHANEL

SPRING/SUMMER 2022 RT W In her show notes, Virginie Viard reminisced Freedom ’90 to the soundtrack. This time it of runway shows from the Eighties, when was photography duo Inez van Lamsweerde the ‘supers’ strutted and bulbs flashed and Vinoodh Matadin who snapped the to capture their every turn. “I wanted fun-loving models, who paraded a collection to recapture that emotion,” she said. A that while referencing the past, also spoke good start, then, was the addition of a of the present and a feeling of optimism contemporary cover of George Michael’s post-pandemic.

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OB JECTS OF DESIRE

DOLCE&GABBANA

SPRING/SUMMER 2022 Dolce&Gabbana’s coming out party (from from the era was mined and reworked in the darkness cast by the pandemic and contemporary styles, modern textures, into the light) was a dazzling celebration, colours, and fabrics. One particularly not least the venue itself — it featured a pleasing nod to the present was upcycling mirrored runway and some 75 spotlights.

— in one example. the discarded bottom In an ode to the vibe of the year 2000, half of cargo pants chopped at the knees Dolce&Gabbana’s rich body of work were patchworked onto boots.

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OB JECTS OF DESIRE

GIORGIO A R M A N I

SPRING/SUMMER 2022 WOMEN Returning to Via Borgonuovo 21 for the first time in 20 years to debut a collection (not that he had to travel far – it’s his own palazzo), Giorgio Armani was in a colourful mood: blue, white, and lively touches of red, purple and pink were paraded on smiling (styled

so) models sporting flowing separates and cinched-waist sylph dresses; knotted scarves and open-toe flats, bringing an air of sea and sun to the evening – a fact underpinned by the accompanying soundtrack of Italian maritime classics.

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OB JECTS OF DESIRE

HERMÈS

SPRING 2022 RT W As always with Hermès, superior levels of craftmanship were abundantly clear in this collection, as were nods to tradition - bags with horse bit handles, for one. And in striking a balance between the modern-day need for practically and comfort and the codes

of the house, Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski’s collection pulls off with aplomb what she intended – “I think it’s about making an effort, but also the ability to move within your clothes.” Nothing encapsulates this idea better than her lux take on the crop top and baggy pants.

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OB JECTS OF DESIRE

M A G D A B U T RY M

PRE-SPRING 2022 Polish designer Magda Butrym – who cut her teeth on high-end Polish labels Portofino and La Mania – has blazed a trail for the country’s designers by going solo and championing its artisans, scouring the land for talent to enrich her pieces with handcrafted

elements. “I don’t want to define women. I want to empower them,” she says of her style, and it’s a mantra that shines through in her Pre-Spring 22 collection, with bold colours, sharp tailoring and fitted pieces embodying confidence.

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OB JECTS OF DESIRE

S A LVAT O R E F E R R A G A M O

SPRING 2022 RT W It was to Ferragamo’s rich archives that T-shirt, for which he had French artist designer Guillaume Meilland turned Julien Colombier embroider a repurposed as he dovetailed his role as menswear 1970s Ferragamo floral motif. Cotton designer with that of womenswear for and silk, wool, linen, and hemp made for the first time. Staying on safe, stable textured pieces that spoke of freedom ground, Meilland was able to add touches billowy caftans, roomy apron dresses and of flair, not least on a square-cut boxy wide-legged pants.

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OB JECTS OF DESIRE

S C H I A PA R E L L I

SPRING/SUMMER 2022 RT W In putting this collection together, creative director Daniel Roseberry looked once more to Elsa Schiaparelli for inspiration, imagining her first as ‘Elsa in the city’ and again as ‘Elsa on holiday.’ For the former, Roseberry married the codes of the house to twists on classic ‘70s-era

French ready-to-wear. While for the latter, the pieces were designed to reflect an escape, from both the everyday and reality – ‘fantasy’ swimwear includes a belted caftan made of tropical silk viscose, which playfully bears the redand-white stripes of a beach umbrella.

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OBJECTS OF DESIRE

Critique NOVEMBER 2021 : ISSUE 122

Film Spencer Dir. Pablo Larraín Kristen Stewart takes on the role of the late Princess Diana to tell the imagined story of strained Christmas festivities at the Queen’s Sandringham Estate.

AT BEST: ‘Stewart’s finest hour and an hypnotically immersive experience.’ — Joey Magidson, Awards Radar AT WORST: ‘Absolutely defiant of reality with no subtlety whatsoever.’ — Jordan Ruimy, World of Reel

The Power of the Dog AIR

Dir. Jane Campion A rancher finds himself tormented by the possibility of love when his brother brings his new wife home to their ranch.

AT BEST: ’Campion is absolutely masterful in dissecting these characters subtlety.’ — Filipe Freitas, Always Good Movies AT WORST: ‘Lacking in the verve and spontaneity that I cherish in movies.’ — Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal

The Starling Dir. Theodore Melfi A woman dealing with loss contends with a feisty bird that’s taken over her garden — and a husband who has struggles of his own.

AT BEST: ‘Takes a very practical approach to exploring the process of readjustment.’ — Jennie Kermode, Eye for Film AT WORST: ‘Everything in this film is a symbol... It feels like a waste.’

— Amy Nicholson, FilmWeek

Last Night in Soho Dir. Edgar Wright A psychological thriller in which an aspiring fashion designer is mysteriously able to enter the 1960s where she encounters a dazzling wannabe singer.

AT BEST: ‘Visually stunning and incredibly stylish.’ — Nathaniel Muir, AIPT AT WORST: ‘Never finds the right balance between compassion and leering.’ — Richard Lawson, Vanity Fair 18

Critique NOVEMBER 2021 : ISSUE 122

Books I

Black Lane, a girl in peril, who lives during a time of pagan traditions in Iron Age Britain, must save her family and community from the military might of the Roman army, which arrives at their settlement. “[Cathy Marie] Buchanan has crafted an engrossing novel awash in historical atmosphere. From religious beliefs to culture clashes to social stratification and the activities of daily life, Buchanan immerses readers in Roman Britain in this beautifully emotive tale of family, community, and love,” says Booklist. “Immersive,” reckons Publishers Weekly. “Buchanan’s descriptions of pagan rituals are fully realized and provide a haunting, engaging backdrop…Fans of thoughtful, inventive historical fiction will enjoy this transporting novel.” Author Christina Baker Kline also heralds Buchanan’s ability to fully immerse the reader. “In this evocative, meticulously researched novel, Cathy Marie Buchanan creates a world of dark magic and haunting

mystery, brutality, and beauty.

History comes to life on every page.”

Already billed as one of the year’s best books by multiple magazines and newspapers, Known and Strange Things compiles fifty of Teju Cole’s essays, which span subjects such as politics, photography, travel, history, and literature. “Cole has fulfilled the dazzling promise of his novels Every Day Is for the Thief and Open City. He ranges over his interests with voracious keenness, laser-sharp prose, an open heart and a clear eye,” says The Guardian. “Remarkably probing essays...Cole is one of only a very few lavishing his focused attention on that most approachable (and perhaps therefore most overlooked) art form, photograph,” says the Chicago Tribune. Heralding Cole’s book as “essential”, Claudia Rankine, writing for The New York Times Book Review, further suggests that “on every level of engagement and critique, Known and Strange Things is a scintillating journey.”

Credit: Penguin Random House

nvisible Child follows eight dramatic years in the life of a Brooklyn girl, who must guide her siblings through a city riddled by hunger, violence, drug addiction, homelessness, and the monitoring of child protection services. “Stunning . . . a remarkable achievement that speaks to the heart and conscience of a nation,” enthuses Publishers Weekly. Fellow author Ariel Levy was similarly impressed. “Elliott’s book is a triumph of in-depth reporting and storytelling. It is a visceral blow-byblow depiction of what ‘structural racism’ has meant in the lives of generations of one family. But above all else it is a celebration of a little girl — an unforgettable heroine whose frustration, elation, exhaustion, and intelligence will haunt your heart.”

The New York Times, meanwhile, highlighted the book’s depiction of the tear in the country’s cultural fabric, calling it, “A vivid and devastating story of American inequality.”

In the historical novel Daughter of

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Art & Design NOVEMBER 2021: ISSUE 122

The Watercolour That Ate the Art World How the abstract American artist Helen Frankenthaler revolutionised painting — and why her peers hated her for it

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n 1952, with the first chill of autumn in the air, Helen Frankenthaler knelt on the floor of her New York studio and began pouring paint.

Thinned with turpentine, it sloshed and pooled on the canvas beneath her. Overcome “with impatience, laziness,” as she later put it, she hadn’t bothered to seal the surface of the canvas, so her colours sank into its fibres, then bloomed into soft shapes that looked as if they had risen from a watery underworld.

I wonder if Frankenthaler truly knew, in that moment, that she had discovered a new way of painting, but I like to think she did. Ever since abstract expressionism had blasted on to the scene in 1947, people had been speculating about the source of the next breakthrough; few expected it would be a woman, let alone a 23-year-old greenhorn.

Even so, Mountains and Sea, as Frankenthaler

titled her picture (inspired by the landscapes of Nova Scotia), is today considered a milestone in the evolution of American art. In the first few years after she invented the ‘soak-stain’ technique, as her new approach came to be known, so many other artists imitated it that the critic Robert Hughes declared Mountains and Sea to be “the watercolour that ate the art world”.

Of course, pouring paint was nothing new: Jackson Pollock had been making his drip paintings for about five years and Frankenthaler always said her decision to try it “came from him, no doubt”.

But in her hands, the procedure lost its vigorously intense, brawny quality to become something altogether more ethereal, radiant and serendipitous.

During a 60-year career, Frankenthaler, who died in 2011, never lost her appetite for risk. She sought 21

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Helen was always daring. Anything could spark her imagination.

It was wonderful

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colours. “Part of me knows the agony that helped make it get born,” she later said. “But there’s another part of me that feels between me and Tyler and the paper and everything else, there was a magic.”

The key to Frankenthaler’s ‘magic’ was that, instead of trying to recreate her paintings in print form, she was looking to be surprised by what she could create.

This freed her up to adapt; to create a new visual language.

“Helen was always daring,” says Fine.

“Anything could spark her imagination.

It was wonderful: you would send her a postcard and the next day, she would have made something based on it.”

Fine first met Frankenthaler in the early 1960s, when the artist gave a seminar at the University of Pennsylvania. As the only female in her class, Fine sat rapt as Frankenthaler “made it clear that if you were a woman, you had to be as serious about your work as a man would be”.

Frankenthaler loathed any mention of “women artists”. In a 1989 interview, she listed it as one of three subjects she most hated to discuss, along with “what I think of my contemporaries” and “my former marriage”. Between 1958 and 1971, Frankenthaler was the wife of abstract expressionist painter Robert Motherwell and stepmother to his two daughters. For a while they became a kind of golden couple — the Burton and Taylor of the art world.

Really, though, Frankenthaler only ever wanted to stand on her own two feet. “It’s only now we are realising just how difficult that must have been for her,” says Fine. Indeed, Frankenthaler’s rapid ascension (she won first prize at the Biennale de Paris in 1959, represented the US in the 33rd Venice

Biennale in 1966 and had her first major museum exhibition in 1960) caused no little resentment among her abstract expressionist cohort. Barnett Newman, for one, wrote her a spiteful letter saying that her methods were “faded” and “limp”, adding: “It is time that you learned that cunning is not yet art.”

The women were hardly kinder: Joan Mitchell compared Frankenthaler’s paintings to sanitary towels, while her friend Hartigan once said they looked as if they had been made “between cocktails and dinner”. She particularly took issue with the fact that, unlike the “steady, endless poverty” in which most of them lived, Frankenthaler was a Park Avenue princess, with a maid and weekly hair appointments at Maclevy’s salon.

Frankenthaler grew up on Park Avenue itself, in a comfortable, highly cultured home. Her father, Alfred, was a judge in the New York Supreme Court, and while he doted on all three of his daughters, he often claimed Helen, his youngest, was “special”.

“I think because her parents had high expectations of her, she grew up with the highest expectations of herself,” says Fine. “And by that I mean she felt she had to demonstrate how she was special, in whatever she did. She dressed specially, ate specially. She was always challenging what she was doing in relation to what she had done before.”

In person, Frankenthaler “could certainly be distant”, says Fine, “and she didn’t suffer fools gladly at all. You didn’t want to have Helen Frankenthaler annoyed with you, that’s for sure. But she was also warm and wry; she loved to laugh.”

In the final years of her life, Frankenthaler succumbed to an unspecified illness and was confined to a wheelchair, “which I knew had made life very difficult for her,” says Fine. Even so, Frankenthaler “didn’t complain.”

Fine continued to visit the artist when she moved from New York to Connecticut in 1994 until her death in 2011. “Was she despairing? I don’t know. But I do know that even if she felt like a glasshalf-empty person at times, she always projected the glass-half-full version.

Whatever she did, she did with vigour and with emphasis.”

Helen Frankenthaler: Radical Beauty is at Dulwich Picture Gallery, London until April 18

Credit: ©© Lucy Davies / Telegraph Media Group Limited 2021

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out and delighted in the “productive clumsiness”, as she called it, that is inherent in learning anything new, admitting that she would “rather risk an ugly surprise than rely on things I know I can do”.

In no case is this truer than with her prints, a relatively little-known but significant chapter of her work that features in a current exhibition in London.

Printmaking, a medium that is particularly fickle, furnished Frankenthaler with ample opportunity to flout the rules. “She would take something basic, or established, and she would say, ‘What if I did this?

And then what if I did that?’” explains Frankenthaler’s close friend Ruth Fine, who recently retired as curator of modern art at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. Frankenthaler was reluctant to try her hand at prints. For her, each painting was a foray into a new world, and the repetitive nature of printmaking did not hold the same allure. Fortuitously, though, in the 1960s and 1970s a number of groundbreaking print workshops were established in America, spurring a new interest in the medium.

Two of Frankenthaler’s friends — the artists Larry Rivers and Grace Hartigan — persisted in coaxing her to give it a go.

“They were so insistent and said, ‘Just come for fun one day and look around,’” Frankenthaler recalled. “And of course, I was hooked.”

With the help of master printers, who found ways to bend the medium to her requirements, she began to innovate.

In the case of a woodcut, for instance, she used a cheese scraper to scratch the surface of the block and created texture by applying paper pulp with a comb and even a turkey baster.

Though each piece looks as if it has been created in an inspired instant (she spoke often of wanting them to look as if they had been “born at once”), Frankenthaler’s exacting standards meant that her prints often required several dozen proofs to achieve the desired effect. For the Tales of Genji series (1998), for example, Frankenthaler and master printer Kenneth Tyler took three years to find the most suitable paper for the six prints. Madame Butterfly (2000), involved 46 separate woodblocks and an incredible 102

Opening pages, from left to right: Helen Frankenthaler, Freefall, 1993. Twelve color woodcut on hand-dyed paper in 15 colors © 2021 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc. / ARS, NY and DACS, London / Tyler Graphics Ltd., Mount Kisco, NY; Helen Frankenthaler marks up proofs for ‘Valentine for Mr Wonderful’ in 1955. Photo by Marabeth CohenTyler, 1995. Gift of Kenneth Tyler 2002. Courtesy: National Gallery of Australia

This page, clockwise from top left: Helen Frankenthaler, Essence Mulberry, Trial Proof 19, 1977. Woodcut proof © 2021 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc. / ARS, NY and DACS, London / Tyler Graphics Ltd., Bedford Village, NY; Helen Frankenthaler, Tales of Genji III, 1998. Fiftythree color woodcut © 2021 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc. / ARS, NY and DACS, London / Tyler Graphic Ltd., Mount Kisco, NY; Photo by Marabeth Cohen-Tyler, 1997. Gift of Kenneth Tyler 2002.

Courtesy: National Gallery of Australia; Photo by Steven Sloman, 1992. Gift of Kenneth Tyler 2002.

Courtesy: National Gallery of Australia.

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AIR X GIVENCHY

This Season’s Statement Bag

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Givenchy unveils special editions of its signature 4G bag for FW21

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arrying Hubert de Givenchy’s love of symmetry and the elegance he embraced to the edgy artistry of Matthew M Williams that has come to define the bold, modern face of the storied house, Givenchy debuts two new 4G bag formats this season — both strikingly structured to make the ultimate style statement.

A genderless mini crossbody flap bag and medium chain shoulder bag bring Williams’ unique aesthetic to the fore. Both are crafted from the finest leathers, with one of many versions padded to reflect the allure of biker bombers and Fifties-era car seats — an effect achieved through an intricate process of high frequency wave techniques and electro welding. It’s available in either matte black, patent leather or leather and canvas, adding to a multitude of colour options and finishes across both bags, including a debossed 4G monogram on patent leather, silver 4G embossed leather, shiny python, and 4G suede with a shearling flap.

The emblem it takes its name from is already an icon; the 4G bag is primed to follow suit.

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WORDS: JOHN THATCHER

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Timepieces

NOVEMBER 2021: ISSUE 122

Timeless Appeal It may be a 1930s icon, but Jaeger-LeCoultre’s pioneering Reverso has always moved with the times — and still turning heads at 90

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It is not only an icon of deco style ‘and elegance, it is also the perfect canvas for personalisation ’ and the like, Jaeger-LeCoultre also showcased its artistic savoir-faire in high-jewellery Reversos, the first of which launched in 1995.

“The Reverso is a timepiece with an incredible identity and heritage,” says brand CEO Catherine Rénier.

“It is not only an icon of deco style and elegance, it is also the perfect canvas for personalisation. We’ve been able to play with its design, but its aesthetic codes — the size, the shape, the purity and the angles — are always highly respected by the design team, whether they are working on a high complication or a métiers d’art piece.”

90 years since the Reverso’s inception, Jaeger-LeCoultre has celebrated the watch with new models that demonstrate both its haute horlogerie accomplishments and high-jewellery prowess.

Limited to just 10 pieces and six long years in the making, the Reverso Hybris Mechanica is the most complicated Reverso to date and is the first watch to feature four functional faces, thanks to a doublefaced case and cradle. Powered by the in-house Calibre 185, which syncs to update the displays on the stroke of midnight, the watch holds 12 patents and encompasses 11 complications.

These complications include a flying

tourbillon and perpetual calendar on the recto face, a minute repeater on the verso face, and two displays of sidereal time (based on the Earth’s position in relation to the stars rather than the sun) within the carriage. Through three indications of lunar information, it can predict solar and lunar eclipses, plus rare phenomena such as supermoons.

Its technical wizardry is matched by the sublime artistry of three new jewellery pieces inspired by 1920s vanity cases. The casebacks of the limited-edition Reverso One Precious Flowers are decorated with white lilies, and pink or blue arums, combining grand-feu enamelling with gem-setting and hand-engraving: a dazzling display of the rare handcrafts that are among the 180 skills practised within Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Vallée de Joux manufacture.

In the blue arum model, the enamelling and diamond-setting curve around the side of the case to frame the recto face with blooms: a feat that made the artisans’ craft all the more complex.

By launching these two iterations of the Reverso in tandem, JaegerLeCoultre highlighted the extremes of its capacity for both technical mastery and artistic excellence – we can’t wait to see what’s in store for the centenary celebration...

Credit: © Sarah Royce-Greensill/Telegraph Media Group 2021

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he origin of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Reverso is well established in watchmaking lore. The story goes that British army officers in India challenged Swiss businessman César de Trey to devise a solution to stop their wristwatches from being smashed during polo matches. On his return to Switzerland, de Trey approached his friend, movement manufacturer Jacques-David LeCoultre, for help.

LeCoultre then appointed the firm Jaeger S.A. to create a case and, in turn, Edmond Jaeger enlisted engineer René-Alfred Chauvot, whose patent for a ‘wristwatch which can slide on its base and flip over on itself’, was filed on 4 March, 1931. After several successful collaborations, Jaeger and LeCoultre joined forces to become Jaeger-LeCoultre in 1937. While other houses used similar swivelling designs — notably Hamilton in its Otis and, in tiny quantities, Patek Philippe — it is the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso that remains an icon, 90 years later.

Soon realising the creative possibilities afforded by the Reverso’s solid caseback, Jaeger-LeCoultre began engraving or enamelling it with initials, messages and family crests. Marketed as a watch ‘for town and sport’, with its distinctive triple gadroons and neat case dimensions, the Reverso epitomised the geometric elegance of art deco.

Women’s models quickly followed; the scaled-down Reverso Cordonnet on a cord bracelet launched in 1936.

After gradually disappearing from Jaeger-LeCoultre’s catalogue, the Reverso made a reappearance in the 1970s and officially relaunched in 1983 for Jaeger S.A.’s 150th anniversary.

Complications were added during the 1990s, and the Duoface, with two dials powered by a single movement, in 1994.

For the Reverso’s 75th anniversary in 2006, the house introduced the Grande Complication à Triptyque, featuring a third dial set into the base of the cradle that holds the swivelling case.

Multi-axis gyrotourbillons became part of the Reverso’s playbook in 2004 — the latest, the Reverso Tribute Gyrotourbillon, debuted in 2016. Alongside the multitude of models fitted with minute repeaters, chronographs, perpetual calendars

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Jewellery NOVEMBER 2021 : ISSUE 122

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The Price of Love She was divisive and power hungry, so why do collectors still covet Wallis Simpson's jewels?

WORDS: MELISSA TWIGG

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n the late 1930s, an upper-class diarist remarked upon the fact that the Duchess of Windsor’s stylish but severe outfits were often ruined by her taste for flashy, overthe-top costume jewellery. The diarist had to quickly be put right — the stones were, in fact, real, and part of a priceless collection being built by the former king for his beloved wife.

The Windsors’ marriage has long been a source of fascination. In America, the couple are often seen as embodying an idealised version of passion — the king who gave up his kingdom for love and all that. In Britain, they are usually portrayed in a less flattering light — not least because of their association with Germany in the 1930s — and Wallis Simpson in particular can be depicted as a power-hungry divorcee who heaped scandal on the royal family.

Whether you see them as victims or villains, there is something fairytalelike about the pair. Not least, the way

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they were all but exiled from the palace and famously wounded by the enforced removal of his — and therefore her — HRH status after the abdication.

As a result, it feels somewhat fitting that the jewellery collection they built together has become known as ‘the alternative Crown Jewels’ — pieces that are highly valued for their beauty, their unique and avant garde designs, and their extraordinary stones.

And, of course, the fact they are physical reminders of one of history’s most era-defining love affairs.

“She was the queen of elegance — sorry I shouldn’t have said the word queen,” says Marie-Cécile Cisamolo, a jewellery expert from Christie’s Geneva, with a chuckle. “But she was so chic and elegant and always got tongues wagging — she loved jewellery and he loved to have it made for her, and together they made these extraordinary purchases.”

On November 9, one of them will

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Opening pages, from left to right: Cartier bangle, estiamte CHF1-2 million; Duke and Duchess of WIndsor at the Chateau de Cande, France, on their wedding day, 1937 Right: Duchess of Windsor wearing her Cartier emerald engagement ring and a sapphire and diamond bracelet

go on sale at Christie’s Geneva. It is a diamond and ruby bracelet made

by Cartier with a reserve of nearly £2m ($2.7m). The Duke gave it to the Duchess in 1938 on their first wedding anniversary in June — the order for the gift had been placed with Cartier Paris earlier that year and delivered to the former king ahead of the couple leaving town to spend the summer in the south of France. According to records at the time, the Duke chose rubies because they represent love, passion, good fortune, courage and prosperity.

“The rubies are massive,” says Cisamolo. “Both are 35 carats, from Burma, and neither have been treated.

They are surrounded by 25 carats worth of diamonds and from research we know that the clusters were previously on a Cartier necklace and were later mounted on a bracelet, no doubt at the request of the Duke of Windsor, because he knew she would prefer that.

She was very avant garde, you know; you would think this piece was from the 1950s, but this is 1938, which is so early to have such a geometric design.”

Any jewels that once belonged to the Duchess of Windsor usually sell for far beyond their initial asking price. In 1987 — the year after her death — her jewellery collection brought in £30m ($40.6m) during a famously cutthroat auction at Sotheby’s. The final tally was six times higher than the expected figure.

In the sale were two other spectacular Cartier pieces — one is a 1952 panther bracelet, made out of pavé diamonds and onyx. It sold for £4.5m ($6m), 36

reportedly to Madonna, and became the most expensive bracelet ever bought at auction. Another memorable piece was a flamingo brooch made out of emeralds, rubies and sapphires, which sold for £1.7m ($2.3m).

This ruby bracelet was also bought by its current, unnamed owner during the renowned Sotheby’s auction — an event that has even shaped the way certain jewellery designers were seen by the public.

“This auction was spectacular,” says Cisamolo. “They had such highquality pieces from Van Cleef & Arpels and from Cartier. But it also brought forward smaller designers that have gained enormous value because of their association with the Duchess.

Suzanne Belperron was virtually unheard of before the auction, but after 1987 all that changed.”

Prices were record-breaking — the pearl necklace, ruby necklace, and yellow diamond necklace on sale quickly became the most expensive in the world. Many of these figures were only surpassed this century when Elizabeth Taylor’s collection was auctioned in 2011. Interestingly, one of the first valuable pieces of jewellery Taylor ever bought for herself was from the 1987 Windsor sale: a diamond brooch moulded to look like the Prince of Wales’s feathers.

Over 30 years on, and Christie’s is expecting almost as much media attention at the upcoming Geneva auction, not least because the bracelet is being sold alongside pieces that once belonged to Marie Antoinette.

“There are very few women who can hold the limelight next to Marie Antoinette. Wallis Simpson is one of them,” says Cisamolo. “But of course having a memento of theirs feels like having a piece of history, at a time when people have never been more fascinated by the royal family. There are definite parallels being drawn with modern royals.”

She is referring, of course, to Harry and Meghan and the similarities between aspects of their story and that of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, but also to The Crown and the way in which the Netflix show has brought the complex subject of the exiled royal pair to light for a new generation.

Millions of people from around the world learned about the Duke’s devotion to his wife for the first time, and the enormous sacrifice he made to marry her, which in turn put such pressure on their love story to endure. Equally, they were educated on the couple's upsetting associations with Nazi Germany, and the cold eye they turned on the country of his birth from their French retreat.

“They were controversial for sure,” says Cisamolo, “but the jewellery also stands alone. The Duchess of Windsor was — in terms of style — a woman who looked far beyond her time. You could see this piece on Gigi Hadid at the Met Gala next year and it would fit right in.”

She may not have become queen, but Wallis Simpson's reputation certainly lives on.

Magnificent Jewels. Christie's Geneva, November 9

Credit: © Melissa Twigg/Telegraph Media Group 2021

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was the queen of elegance — sorry I ‘ She shouldn’t have said the word queen ’

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RO M A N H O L I D AY Hit the road with the Ferrari Roma, the ultimate grand tourer ART DIRECTOR: KERRI BENNETT PHOTOGRAPHER: AUSRA OSIPAVICIUTE LOCATION: PARK HYATT DUBAI

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weekend getaway to indulge in la dolce vita calls for the ultimate luxury grand tourer, a stylistically beautiful coupé that marries power, agility, and sleek, sporty lines to a refined, elegant design that evokes the glamour and of Rome in the 50s and 60s, when it was unquestionably the coolest city on Earth. This is the Ferrari Roma.

To achieve best-in-class performance whilst still retaining the stylistic purity of its lineage, Ferrari’s engineers developed several leading-edge technologies. They include a mobile spoiler, integrated into the car’s rear screen and designed to retain its elegance when retracted, while simultaneously guaranteeing the downforce essential for the Ferrari Roma’s dynamic performance by automatically deploying at high speeds, which top out at 320 km/h.

It sounds terrific too – new bypass valves have been added and the silencers removed as part of a complete design overhaul of the exhaust system.

Further enhancements include a new, lighter 8-speed dual-clutch gearbox that ensures shifts are faster, smoother and reduces fuel consumption and emissions while ensuring this iteration of the car is even more responsive on the open road.

It’s inside that the Ferrari Roma displays its finest features: a dual cockpit concept is employed with two separate cells, one each for driver and passenger, who also benefits from their own display; a new steering wheel - part of a complete redesign of the HMI - on which the car’s main commands can be actioned so that the driver doesn’t have to move their hands from the wheel; and a central touch screen display, fully loaded with functions. Sculpted by the finest craftsman, it’s an interior that brings

driver and passenger together in perfect harmony.

Available in the UAE from Al Tayer Motors and Premier Motors, Ferrari’s unparalleled quality standards and increasing focus on client service underpin the extended seven-year maintenance programme offered with all Ferrari cars.

This scheduled maintenance programme for the car is an exclusive service that allows clients the certainty that their car is being kept at peak performance and safety over the years.

The Genuine Maintenance programme broadens the range of after-sales services offered by Ferrari to satisfy clients wishing to preserve the performance and excellence that are the signatures of all cars built in Maranello, which itself has long been synonymous with leading-edge technology and sportiness.

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Al Tayer Motors Sheikh Zayed Road Al Manara Dubai United Arab Emirates +971 4 4012900 Premier Motors L.L.C. 35660 Sheikh Zayed the First St Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates, +971 2 4935000

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The rise to superstardom wasn’t straightforward for Ana de Armas, who left home as a teenager with just €200 in her pocket. Now she’s starring in the biggest film of the year in a role written specifically for her INTERVIEW: JENNY DAVIS ADDITIONAL WORDS: NICK WATKINS

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‘ The best thing I have is that nobody’s me ’

e all know that Daniel Craig currently dons his Tom Ford suit for the final time on the big screen as the curtain comes down on his life as James Bond, a role he’s had since Casino Royale premiered in 2006. Yet despite this being Craig’s last hurrah as 007 he’s not the only one making headlines. Ana de Armas, for whom a role in the film was specifically written, steals the spotlight.

Born in Cuba, the road to success has been far from straightforward for 33-year-old de Armas. It took a bold move to Europe to kickstart her career, where she landed her first real acting role in Spain, having moved there with just €200 in her pocket. “When I was 18 and I graduated from school, it just came to my mind — I want to go to Spain and just try. Audition for something and see what happens. I bought a ticket, and I told my Mum, ‘When I run out of money, I’ll come back.’ So I went and I was lucky enough to meet a big casting director a week after I got there. He cast

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me for one of the biggest TV series ever made in Spain. And I never came back.”

It was a gutsy move, one that was inspired by a dream and a desire to make use of her Spanish passport, which was gathering dust in her draw. For the teenager it was also a fresh start and a challenge she enjoyed meeting on her own. “Family means everything, but at the same time I like to do my thing alone and in Spain I had that freedom.”

Ironically, it was her independence that allowed de Armas to begin to look after her family, something she’s always wanted to do. “In Cuba, you really grow very fast; emotionally, mentally, and physically, everything happens very fast. You’re an adult way sooner than you probably are in any other country. So that was the only thing that I was missing. I was already a woman, but still in my parents’ house. Not having the opportunity to be independent.

So when I moved to Spain, that was a great feeling. Finally, I am really a woman.

Also, I always wanted to take care of my family, and that made it possible.”

Despite the offers beginning to come in, de Armas had to wait longer than expected for the right roles to come along.

Partly due to an economic crisis slowing the production of movies, but also due in part to her becoming typecast. “The TV show [El Internado] helped me a lot,” de Armas recalls. “It was about a boarding school. It was a kind of thriller. It was very successful and one of the best things that ever happened in my career, because that changed my life. But it also affected me. I was wearing a school uniform for three years so it was hard to get rid of that. The movies I wanted, playing a woman, I wasn’t getting because they still looked at me like the schoolgirl.

So I was very frustrated at the time.”

She would, however, take on the role of a schoolgirl in Hands of Stone (2016) — the story of Panamanian boxing great Roberto Duran — only this time her character developed into an adult on-screen. It was a dream role for the actress, who decided it was time to take her career to the next level — by moving to America, despite not

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speaking any English. “What the f— am I doing here?” she asked herself. In this new life in a new city [L.A.] with few friends, de Armas knew doors were going to be hard to open, especially without her speaking the language. “It was like I was learning a new superpower,” she remembers, and to begin with it was a disaster. “Nobody understood me. Even I had no clue what I was saying, but I knew emotionally what the scene was about, so my feelings were in the right place. I guess that made directors like Todd Phillips change their minds.”

It’s not just the language barrier that de Armas had to tackle when finding work in Tinseltown. In Spain, if the director decides you’re right for the part, you’ve got the job. In Hollywood, things aren’t so straightforward. “Sometimes they’ve already made a decision before you even get there,” she says about the audition process in L.A. “And when you do get there, there’s another step that’s like, ‘You don’t look how I imagined,’ because some of them don’t even bother to Google your picture. Then there’s the next step, 44

getting the chance to be in the room for the audition. Then you can try to do your best and convince them that maybe that part that was not written for someone with an accent, or Latina. It’s a puzzle.

There are so many things. I’m learning a lot about the industry too, and how it works, and how many people there are behind a project, and so many opinions.

Who’s the other actor? They have to make it work. I guess in Cuba or Spain, it’s just different. The director wants you, you’re here. There’s more freedom in terms of choosing who you want for the part.”

Outside of work, life in L.A. proved tough at first. It can be lonely living in a city with few friends and not able to properly communicate with people.

Thankfully for de Armas, she did find a group of good friends, while frequent trips home to Cuba reminded her of who she is. “The best thing I have is that nobody’s me,” she says confidently. “Nobody’s like me. And everybody’s the same. That’s what you have to realise. You don’t have to try to fit. You have to just be yourself and do what you have to do. Just do your

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job and you’ll fit. They need diversity.

They need different people. Why would you want to be someone else that already exists? You can’t. That’s not special anymore. It’s taken. Be you.”

Aware that bigger roles beget bigger responsibility, de Armas is more than happy to shoulder it. As well as starring alongside Daniel Craig in No Time To Die, she also shares the big screen with her ex-boyfriend Ben Affleck in the psychological thriller Deep Water, due for release early next year. Both roles have made her more determined to play a female lead. “Until now, I’ve always been the wife or the girlfriend of the lead actor in a movie. I’ve learned a lot from it, and I really enjoyed, but there’s more than that,” she says. “There are great female roles that are not only reacting or creating the situation for him to be the hero. I want to show how strong and smart women are. We go through so much. We need to see that on screen. Those female parts are not many, but they are out there, and I have to find some. I want that chance.”

Interview: The Interview People. Jewellery: Ana de Armas wears Chopard’s Happy Hearts – Golden Hearts pieces

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I want to show how strong and smart woman are

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All heel

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THE QUEEN Donatella Versace, fashion’s great survivor, on recovery, recognition and killer heels WORDS: ANNA MURPHY

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“I

need to find another word for sexy,” says Donatella Versace, perched on a white leather sofa at Versace HQ in Milan, not a totemically platinum hair out of place, her eye orbits glamorously bruised with dark green make-up.

Why? “It’s been used for a long time.

And many people think it is vulgar. But it is not that. Sexy equals powerful.”

She should know. That is what brand Versace has always been about. And she has always been brand Versace.

She helped to build it. She gave it her name and her all just as much as did her brother Gianni, who founded the label in 1978 and was murdered in 1997.

Today she is wearing a gold-buttoned black miniskirt, a fitted logo T-shirt, gargantuan black patent platform boots and — this is a shock to me, I must admit — black opaque tights.

Apparently this is what defines sexy 2021 as opposed to sexy 1991, as trademarked by Gianni. “In 1991 it was about showing the skin. Now you don’t really see the skin. It’s about the shape.” At 66 her mantra, she tells me, is “to grow up, not grow old”.

How would she sum up the Versace aesthetic to someone recently arrived from Mars? Because, let’s face it, that’s probably how far you would have to go to manage to find someone who had missed J-Lo in that jungle dress (in 2000, and again in 2020) or Elizabeth Hurley in that safetypin dress (in 1994). Then there was the 1991 show that turned the so-called supers — Cindy, Naomi et al — properly super once and for all, not to mention the 2017 reunion line-up (in gold chainmail), which was one of the most memorable fashion moments of recent years.

“I would say, ‘Go back to Mars.

It is too much to explain to you,’ but I would change his look. ‘Now you can go back to Mars. See how they react to THAT! Then maybe come back and we will talk.’”

She didn’t let her own standards slip during lockdown, you will be relieved to hear. “Every day I got dressed. Because I was so depressed for the world. So I would think, ‘I will look exceptional.’ So I would get dressed properly. Do my hair, my make-up. Every day. Alone with my dogs. I could not lose my spirits.”

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all happen because I am blonde. ‘ It doesn’t It’s because I listen to everything ’

Fashion, she continues, is “a mood lift.” And the Versace label has always been the ultimate manifestation of fashion fluoxetine. She expresses stupefaction at the monochrome minimalism that followed in the wake of Versace maximalism after her brother’s death. “Why buy an outfit that nobody notices? Why buy clothes that don’t change your mood?”

Why indeed? What’s her theory? “I think it was a period when everyone was depressed. The world was going through a lot of change. It became more corporate. There was this belief that you have to wear a grey suit, something very masculine and simple, in order to be believable as an intelligent woman.”

Luckily for Donatella — who is herself proof positive that a predilection for body-con can coexist with a whip-sharp mind — Versace’s moment came around again. One of the younger designers who grew up admiring Versace excess is Kim Jones, the British designer who now heads Fendi. “I loved the safetypin dresses, the mesh dresses, so much Versace from the 1990s,” he told me.

In September, the pair offered up

what Versace describes to me as a “swap”, a cross-fertilisation of her so-called house codes (the Barocco print, the Medusa head, short and tight everything) with the more chic — some might say straitlaced — house of Fendi.

“I wanted to make Fendi a bit sexier, younger,” Versace says. “Kim is very into beige. It’s very sophisticated. I like something to be a bit off. I am not criticising Kim, but you can’t be perfect because it’s boring.”

The results, in which safety pins and double Fs exist cheek by jowl, were presented in suitably starstudded fashion at the Versace palazzo in Milan, with everyone in attendance from Dua Lipa, the face of the brand, to Demi Moore.

What’s next? “Are you asking about my retirement?” she shoots back. “It’s not going to be me for ever. I know that. It’s a lot of work. It doesn’t all happen because I am blonde. It’s because I listen to everything.”

It is an incredible 55 years since Donatella became, well, Donatella. She was 11 when Gianni, then in his early twenties, transformed her overnight

These pages, clockwise from left: Donatella Versace; Versace by Fendi

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There was this belief that you have to wear something very masculine and simple, in order to be believable as an intelligent woman

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Gianni was the “genius”, she proffers, but she had a different kind of genius.

“I was always the one looking for something new.” She was the first to harness the power of celebrity, as wielded by the supermodels whom she helped to mint. “Gianni just wanted a perfect body so that the clothes fitted perfectly, but I said to him, ‘It’s about personality, it’s about different girls.’” She was also the first to hook up the worlds of fashion and music, her first foray with Madonna for an advertising campaign in 1995.

She was involved in the clothes side of things too, though, and not just as her brother’s muse. Take, for example, the high heels with which the house is synonymous. “We always fight about the heels. Gianni says, ‘Let’s try this heel.’” She holds two fingers a few centimetres apart. What? Surely not a kitten heel? “Yes,” she spits. “I say, ‘No. I would rather [go] barefoot than that.’”

Then there were the short skirts, another signature. “One show, he wants below the knee.” A grimace. “I decide not to fight. I decide to trick him. I say, ‘Go to sleep, go to sleep.’

He says, ‘I look tired?’ I say, ‘No. Just relax before the show tomorrow.’ Then I called the tailor. And the collection became mini. He never said anything to me. He pretended that he hadn’t noticed, but he liked it better.” Would Versace without Donatella have been a world of all-day heels and sensible skirts? Perish the thought.

Just one of the problems Donatella faced when she was left in charge of the brand after her brother’s death was that she had no Donatella figure; no one willing to speak truth to power. “I was 100 per cent insecure. It was one thing to be the ‘agghh’ to Gianni, to make him mad. Without him it was something else.” So she employed her own “agghh” provider. “I hired a stylist just to confront me. He had totally different taste. He was always saying no.”

There was also the small matter of her burgeoning cocaine addiction. “I knew that people wouldn’t trust me to run the company if I was using, but I thought, ‘It’s OK. Let’s do it a little more.’” It took Elton John to call her out on that one, at her daughter’s 18th birthday party. (Versace has two children and two ex-husbands.)

“It was a huge party. I went to the bathroom in a long, embroidered dress, diamonds everywhere. I left the bathroom. I saw this group of people.

Elton said, ‘You are leaving tonight.’

‘What?’ ‘It’s time for you to stop.’

The first thing I thought was, ‘Do you have the number of this place?’” She’s talking about the addiction clinic. “I just wanted to know what we would be eating. I didn’t want anything greasy.

So I rang them up. ‘I don’t eat fried food.’ And they said, ‘Fine. Come.’”

There is no greater, nor more visible survivor in fashion today than Donatella. Does she like being so very famous, so very recognisable? “Sometimes yes, sometimes no, but in general, yes.”

She laughs. “Let’s be real.”

Credit: Anna Murphy/The Times/News Licensing

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from the brunette little girl her tailor mother — “the best in Reggio Calabria” — garbed in pretty dresses into a blonde in a yellow patent miniskirt, jacket and boots. “When we left the house the next morning my mother was running after us, shouting at my brother, ‘My Donatella? That wild child? What are you doing? She is 11!’ She almost had a heart attack.”

Right from the start it was a two-way street between her and her brother. He was not the boss. Take the time they tried to get into a disco on the beach.

“I was 12. He didn’t have the money to buy us tickets. So I got in through the fence. I said, ‘I am looking for my brother. He left for a cigarette.’ I was the little child, looking for my brother.

So they opened the door and let him in.” How did she get through the fence? “I went over the top.” Of course she did. “In a miniskirt and boots.”

She tells me that “one side of me is always a little girl. I never lost her.”

By the time she was a student in Florence in the 1970s, her brother was working for an offshoot of the label Genny. “He was always calling.

‘What do you think about this?’ He was always sending me Polaroids.

“It was a time when everyone was against everything, and I loved it. We would do all-night sit-ins.” Donatella at a sit-in? Now that’s an incongruous image if ever there was one. What did she wear? “I was very gypsy. I wore this big, long skirt, but very tight at the waist. Tight, tight, tight. I was obsessed with the waist. And cowboy boots.

Gypsy here,” she gestures towards her bottom half, “Versace there,” cinching her tiny waist with her hands.

So of course when Gianni launched his own brand in 1978, she became his wingwoman, all 5ft 2in of her.

“There were always discussions.

We never agreed on anything.”

Discussions or fights? “Also fights,” she says, laughing. “We fight a lot,” she adds, slipping poignantly into the present tense. “We fight like crazy.

I say, ‘I am leaving!’ He says, ‘It’s about time you leave!’ Two minutes later . . . ‘Donatella! Donatella!’”

These pages, clockwise from left: Donatella and Gianni Versace; Fendi by Versace

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Peter Jackson’s film Get Back and Giles Martin’s remastered version of Let It Be will shed new light on The Beatles’ final year together

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t’s every boy’s, or rather, middle-aged man in a state of arrested development’s dream: to play with the Beatles during their final concert on the rooftop of 3 Savile Row, London. I have even replicated John Lennon’s outfit of a black polo neck, black cords and dirty white plimsolls for the occasion. OK, he had an Epiphone Casino guitar and I’ve got an old Hohner with the strings the wrong way round because my left-handed son has been using it. OK, Paul, George, Ringo, the real John and any discernible musical talent are nowhere to be found.

But apart from that... it’s almost like being there.

The Beatles’ 42-minute rooftop concert of January 30, 1969, which was brought to a halt by a young and embarrassed policeman who told them to stop after complaints from neighbouring offices, forms the centrepiece of The Beatles: Get Back, Peter Jackson’s three-part, six-hour documentary on the making of Let It Be. This is the 1970 album that, as popular history has it, destroyed the greatest band of all time. Financial disagreements, George Harrison’s increasing frustrations at not having his songs recorded, the growing influence of Yoko Ono on Lennon and the basic reality of four teenage friends growing up and moving on are an inarguable part of the story. However, on the eve of a new version of the album, remastered by Giles Martin (son of George), an accompanying book featuring the transcripts from the sessions and Jackson’s film, a very real possibility has arisen. We have all got it completely wrong.

“I had always thought the original Let It Be film was pretty sad as it dealt with the break-up of our band,” says Paul McCartney, whose idea it was to have the film as a document of the Beatles’ return to live performance. “But the new film shows the camaraderie and love the four of us had between us. It also shows the wonderful times we had together. It’s how I want to remember the Beatles.”

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Michael Lindsay-Hogg, the American director of the original 1970 documentary, gave Jackson more than 55 hours of footage to shape into the new film. “What I like about the rooftop concert is the surprising degree of pleasure showing on their faces,” Lindsay-Hogg says. “They loved it, right up to the moment of John saying, ‘I hope we’ve passed the audition.’

The making of Let It Be was actually a happy experience. The problem was that by the time it came out the Beatles had broken up. As Peter Jackson says, my film was an orphan. It wasn’t even allowed to have a nice pair of sandals.”

The story began in November 1968, when Lindsay-Hogg got a call from McCartney. In September the director had shot a promotional film for Hey Jude, the Beatles enjoyed the experience, and now McCartney wanted to know if Lindsay-Hogg would be interested in shooting a television special on the band.

That goes to the heart of Beatles lore: whether or not McCartney’s leadership proved overbearing for the other band members.

“Paul was certainly the driver of the bus, but the others didn’t show any signs of wanting to jump off,” LindsayHogg says. “He suggested that I shoot some documentary footage of the band rehearsing at Twickenham studios, to make a little trailer before the TV special. What could be better?”

The engineer and producer Glyn Johns also got a call from McCartney about recording rehearsals for a live concert and television show of all-new material. His previously unreleased 1969 mix of the album is included in the forthcoming new edition. “The Beatles were four blokes who were subject to the same emotional shit as everybody else,” Johns says. “They were much like every other band I’ve worked with in that way. But they certainly weren’t falling out. For most of the time they were in very good spirits.”

At the beginning of 1969 LindsayHogg started filming the rehearsals, including a famously terse conversation between McCartney and Harrison on January 6 during a run-through of Two of Us in which the former said, “I always hear myself annoying you.” McCartney thought the TV 54

it on Let It ‘Be,I put listened to the

first eight bars, and thought: what a load of rubbish

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Opening pages: The Beatles playing their final gig on the rooftop at Savile Row Right: The Beatles at their Twickenham studio

special could be shot in the Beatles’ old stomping ground of the Cavern in Liverpool. Lindsay-Hogg said it was too small. Another suggestion was to play in a field. During rehearsals on January 6 Yoko Ono offered the Royal Albert Hall, either with no audience or as “something completely formal, you know, kings and queens coming to see it”.

Lindsay-Hogg had seen a magazine feature about an amphitheatre in Libya and envisioned the Beatles playing at the site at sunrise, with men, women and children of all creeds and colours walking across the desert and into the amphitheatre as the day wore on. He thought the band could travel there by ship, alongside a few hundred fans, but Harrison did not relish the prospect of, as he put it, being “stuck with a bloody big boatload of people for two weeks”. Then, during a session on January 9, Harrison mumbled: “I think I’ll be . . . I’m leaving.”

Everyone stops playing. To Lennon’s “What?”, he replies: “The band now.”

He came back of course, even after Lennon suggested replacing him with Eric Clapton, but it is generally viewed as the point where it all went wrong.

Johns dismisses the incident as a storm in a teacup — “Somebody went off in a huff and got over it” — but Harrison had come back from hanging out with Bob Dylan and the Band in upstate New York, they thought he was great, and he was smarting at being the perennial kid brother to the two songwriting geniuses he had grown up with.

“Neil Aspinall, who used to drive the Beatles’ van before becoming the director of Apple, said that when they

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“I had a sense that if there was a problem it would come from the fabric company, which is exactly what happened,” he says. “The rock’n’roll musicians were children of World War Two. These were men who actually fought in it. They called the police and said that this rock music is all very well in its place but it was upsetting the customers, and in the event a young bobby came up on to the roof and stopped it. I kept thinking about what he was going to tell his wife when he got home that night.”

The impromptu gig captured the Beatles at their best: a raw rock’n’roll band, fired up by playing dynamic new songs like I’ve Got a Feeling and Get Back — and in the case of One After 909, one Lennon had written when he was 15. “They were rehearsing to play live, not to compete

with the extraordinary avenues of production they had broken the rules of previously,” Glyn Johns says of the Let It Be era. “I was there to capture the sound of them playing. What gave me the idea for my version of the album was to be a fly on the wall to the most successful musicians in the world as they behaved like normal people, took the p*** out of each other and played brilliantly as a group.”

Johns also remembers the January rooftop gig being extremely cold, with Lennon and Ringo Starr borrowing fur coats from their wives just to get through it. “Thank God it was only half an hour,” he says.

It was during the rollout of Let It Be when things went seriously wrong. In April 1969 Johns suggested releasing the recordings he had made in a similar spirit to Bob Dylan and the

Right: George Harisson Below: Yoko Ono and John Lennon

Credit: Will Hodgkinson / The Times / News Licensing

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were teenagers John and Paul would walk down the street discussing their great plans while George would be a few feet behind, carrying their guitar cases,” Lindsay-Hogg says. “George was a particularly sensitive man and he felt he wasn’t getting a fair shake creatively and financially, but he was not the guy who screwed things up.

He did leave the group for three or four days, but he came back — on the condition that we all stopped talking about the TV special.”

This is where history has misled us.

Once Harrison returned the band left the cold, wintry mornings of rehearsal sessions at Twickenham for the far more conducive environment of the basement studio at Apple’s Savile Row building. Billy Preston, Ray Charles’s former keyboard player, came on board and a period of real harmony and creativity ensued.

“When you have someone else at the dinner table the family tends to be less argumentative,” Lindsay-Hogg says of the effect Preston joining rehearsals had on the Beatles. With plans for the television special abandoned, they were now concentrating on recording an album that would reconnect with their rock’n’roll roots. It left LindsayHogg without a focus for his film until he came up with a brainwave.

“We were having lunch one day when I said, ‘Why don’t we do it on the roof?’ And John said, ‘Do what on the roof?’ ” Lindsay-Hogg remembers. “I had the idea that if I could get them to go two floors up from their Apple offices at Savile Row, I could salvage the documentary I was making.”

Lindsay-Hogg set up a shoot with 11 cameras, including three in the street and one inside a two-way mirror in the lobby to film the police should they arrive (which they did). The ensuing footage captures the generation gap at the end of the 1960s, with hippy royalty on the roof and working stiffs on the street below, wondering where this strange sound is coming from. Aware that next door to Apple was a tweed and fabric distribution company run by men in bowler hats and Crombie coats, paranoid that as an American without a proper work permit an altercation with the police could end in deportation, Lindsay-Hogg tried to prepare for any potential showdown as best he could.

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George was a particularly sensitive man and he felt he wasn’t getting a fair shake creatively and financially, but he was not the guy who screwed things up

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Band’s The Basement Tapes: a rough, vital capturing of the rehearsals and the concert (Let It Be’s I’ve Got A Feeling and Dig a Pony are rooftop recordings) with no production at all and mistakes included. Unfortunately the Beatles had already moved on to Abbey Road and had their mind on other things. “John and Paul told me to just get on with it on my own,” Johns says. “That’s how interested they were in the whole thing. They didn’t even want to be there when I did it.”

As for the film, there was a screening on July 20, 1969, the day of the moon landings, after which Lindsay-Hogg was told there was too much footage of John and Yoko. Then Let It Be had its official premiere in London in December 1969. “None of the Beatles showed up for it,” Lindsay-Hogg remembers. “It felt that nobody was looking after the film except me.” By the time it came out in America in

May 1970, the Beatles were no more.

In early 1970 Lennon sent the recordings for Let It Be to Phil Spector, much to the dismay of McCartney, who objected in particular to his simple piano ballad The Long and Winding Road being smothered in the American producer’s trademark syrupy orchestration. It proved to be the final nail in the coffin.

“I don’t remember being told about it,” Johns says of Spector’s intervention. “We were waiting for the film to be edited and my version of the album was meant to be coming out with that. Then they started work on Abbey Road, George Martin took over, and I went off to America and didn’t think much more about it. I do remember being sent the finished album. I put it on, listened to the first eight bars, and thought: what a load of rubbish. I haven’t played it since.”

All of this has led up to Jackson

making the film, Giles (son of George) Martin remastering the album, and the real story of Let It Be coming out half a century later.

Giles Martin, who has remixed 50th anniversary editions of Sgt Pepper, the White Album and Abbey Road, insists his life does not actually revolve around the Beatles. It is just it is the only thing he ends up being interviewed about.

“Working on it I realised they were making the album because the marriage wasn’t working and they were looking to rediscover the magic,” Martin says. “That was very much John and Paul. They put huge pressure on themselves: you know, we’ll spend three weeks writing and rehearsing new songs, then we’ll do a gig and we’ll film it too. It was that Beatles thing of ‘we can do anything’.”

Martin says he remembers his father talking about how much more protective Harrison was of his songs than were Lennon and McCartney. “John used to say, ‘Is Harrisongs here?’ But that’s understandable when you consider that George was trying to compete with the two behemoths of popular music. Still, it is hard to understand why George’s All Things Must Pass wasn’t on Let It Be when [the jokey folk song] Maggie Mae was.”

Going through the hours of footage, Martin was surprised at the lack of rancour. “My dad always said that they had outgrown each other. The White Album was arduous — nobody wanted to do 76 takes of Sexy Sadie — and Brian Epstein dying, no touring and a lack of discipline was taking its toll. And they were knackered: 213 songs in seven years is a big outlay. It was certainly fractious at Twickenham, but when they went to Apple things changed and Let It Be was not the break-up of the Beatles. They were singing harmonies together on Two of Us, which you don’t do if you are at each other’s throats.”

Glyn Johns sums up the appeal of Let It Be. “This band started off by writing great songs,” he says. “They went on to reinvent the wheel with Sgt Pepper. The only place left to go was back to the beginning.”

The sheer joy of the rooftop concert proved that Let It Be did not cause the break-up of the Beatles. Instead it marked their brief, late career return to what they started out as: a fantastic rock’n’roll band. We’re still waiting for a better one to come along.

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Motoring NOVEMBER 2021 : ISSUE 122

The Centurion Mercedes celebrates 100 years of Maybach by launching Edition 100

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WORDS: RICH JENKINS

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ight from the start, Wilhelm and Karl Maybach were doing something nobody else was.

A century ago, when the rest of the carmaking world was still figuring out mass production, in Karlsruhe, Germany, the byword for automotive luxury was about to be written.

Wilhelm’s automotive career took off when he was a close companion of Gottlieb Daimler during his time working for Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft.

Among his many innovations, he can lay claim to designing what would become the first Mercedes — which would dominate the early years of motor racing. His pioneering work, along with input from son Karl, combined ravenous progress with stunning form, as they aimed to create ‘the best of the best’.

In September 1921, at the motor show in Berlin, they achieved it. This was the debut of something resembling a work of art more than a motor car, which were starting to become more and more popular among the well-heeled German classes. The Maybach W3 was the first German production car with four-wheel brakes, epicyclic gear system and an

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A century ago, the byword for automotive luxury was about to be written by Wilhelm and Karl Maybach

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interior crafted from the finest materials.

Visitors to the show were stunned at the five-metre-long behemoth, capable of speeds up to 110kmh, and the fledgling automotive company had arrived in a serious way — never to be dislodged.

As the roaring 20s continued, so did the Maybach pair’s innovation, turning out bespoke, custom-made luxury the likes of which were unparalleled in Europe or the USA. Kings, industrialists and artists were chauffeured in the stately limousines and majestic Pullman saloons, and travelled the world in chic coupés, cabriolets and roadsters.

Just under a century later and the marque — now under the aegis of Mercedes-Benz, since 2014 — is still

producing grand designs with no equal.

To celebrate their centennial, the brand is launching two new state-of-the-art ‘Edition 100’ updates to the beloved current S-Class and GLS models. Limited to just 100 examples of each, the S-Class luxury saloon and GLS SUV each contain characteristic Maybach hallmarks, such as the impressive radiator grille bearing the brand emblem. Both models are handpainted in the same two distinctive tones of high-tech silver and nautical blue, and contain a host of subtle details no other car will be able to replicate. Compared to the long-wheelbase version of the S-Class, the new model has an 18 centimetre longer wheelbase and is equipped with all-wheel drive for the first time.

A car cover with the iconic double M, as well as a fine handmade case made of soft crystal white or black leather in file size — made to store keys and papers — further underline the exclusivity of the edition. And in keeping with the anniversary edition, MercedesMaybach’s long-standing partners are also designing strictly limited special series: Licensing partner Maybach Icons of Luxury, for example, offers a

diamond-studded fountain pen from the Maybach the Peak collection; the silver and yacht manufacturer Robbe & Berking offers a champagne flute with a specially created engraving. As well as this, matching lifestyle accessories such as exclusive travel bags, leather goods, clothing, home and eyewear all exist to boost the Maybach lifestyle — beyond the car. Maybach Icons of Luxury further develops the collections with the mythical brand emblem. Sustainably selected materials are used, such as natural horn, precious woods, titanium, cashmere or leather types that meet the highest environmental standards.

The artfully staged understatement of the products aims to convey the ‘fascination of the brand’ and fulfil the desire for personal expression.

The Edition 100 variants will be available at dealers in the first markets from the beginning of 2022, with other markets following in the course of the year. Orders for the limited special series will be accepted from the fourth quarter of 2021.

All this comes hot on the heels of Mercedes-Maybach’s stunning S 680 saloon, which has just hit the market.

The fearsome 6.0-litre V12 produces 604bhp and 663lb ft of torque, all in the understated glamour of Maybach’s saloon body. Despite weighing in at more than two tons, the S 680 can reach 62mph in 4.5 seconds while your body is pushed back into the creamy soft nappa leather interior.

With a storied past and unparalleled present, Mercedes-Maybach is also boldly looking to the future. At the IAA Mobility Motor Show 2021 in Munich, the marque presented the ‘Concept EQS’ and gave a preview of the first fully electric series model from 2023. The SUV will be based on the modular architecture for luxury and premium-class electric vehicles from the Mercedes-Benz lineup.

From the outside, the first fullyelectric Mercedes-Maybach looks as you’d expect. Swooping SUV curves, the expected two-tone paintwork, and that aggressive stance instantly mark it out. And while embellishments such as the pronounced wheel wells or the pinstripe, chrome-plated, filigree louvres may not make it to the final production model, it’s plain to see the brand has plenty left in the tank to take hold of the next century, the way it did the last.

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Gastronomy NOVEMBER 2021: ISSUE 122

Anyone Fancy a Space Tube of Mutabal?

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Sam Bompas serves up his multi-sensory banquet of tomorrow’s food WORDS: JOHN THATCHER

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ow best to neatly pigeonhole the profession of Bompas & Parr?

It’s a task many journalists have faced when writing of duo Sam Bompas and Harry Parr, who head their eponymous creative studio in London. The problem lies in the fact that their projects are so varied, the skillsets of the specialists in their team so disparate, and the influences that inform their work so, well, imaginary — “The creative possibilities that present themselves when plants combine with computers”; “Gene hacking”; and “Mermen bartenders fixing drinks as they swim through the hot oceans,” have all been mentioned by Bompas in previous interviews as inspirations. The connector that runs throughout the bulk of their bulging CV of work is, however, food and drink, and more specifically, how it engages with our senses as we consume it. And so, their story began, as all the best ones do, with jelly. “We wanted to do something fun with jelly at London’s Borough Market,” said Parr, “but we couldn’t afford any moulds, so we decided to make our own.”

They were soon creating glow-in-the-dark varieties and edible, wobbling skylines, “operating in the space between food and architecture”.

Since then, working with the likes of Coca-Cola, Mercedes, LVMH and cultural institutions such as The Barbican and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Bompas & Parr have developed ambitious projects, artworks and exhibitions across the globe. They include Coffee In Space, for which the studio obtained a Civil Aviation Licence to launch a helium weather balloon loaded with coffee beans some 37km into the stratosphere (roughly the same distance from which skydiver Felix Baumgartner jumped). When the balloon popped, the beans fell to Earth and were ground to make a cup of coffee to determine how the high altitude, low atmospheric pressure

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and exposure to cosmic rays would influence its taste. They’ve cooked with lava, heading to New York to meet Professor Robert Wysocki, who makes man-made lava for artistic and scientific purposes but never, until the intervention of Bompas & Parr, for cooking. On went a 10oz ribeye. They’ve successfully set Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s SS Great Britain steamship in 55,000 litres of lime jelly, and built the Definitely Blue Café, at which guests could drink only blue juice, eat blue food, and experience the smell, sound and sights of the colour blue.

Which, then, has done the most to stir their creative juices? “In partnership with the Mayor of London we created the world’s first multisensory firework display for London’s New Year’s Eve,” says Bompas. “Visitors watching London’s fireworks between Westminster Bridge and Hungerford Bridge got to experience a total sensory assault with the different coloured fireworks matched to fruity flavours.

So as red pyrotechnics exploded in the sky, the city was engulfed in a strawberry flavoured cloud. Though strictly speaking all fireworks are ‘multi-sensory’ this was the first time in the history of mankind that specific flavours have been choreographed to match the pyrotechnics.”

And the most challenging? “One of the studio’s greatest technical challenges was the Truvia Voyage of Discovery hosted on Selfridges roof in 2011,” recalls Bompas. ‘We flooded part of Selfridges’ rooftop to create a crystal island and boating lake in celebration of the of Truvia calorie-free sweetener, from the stevia leaf. The project encompassed an emerald-green boating lake, thousands of stevia plants, 12 rowing boats, a gushing waterfall, and a Crystal Island — all six storeys above London’s busiest shopping street.”

They are then, as Bompas describes, “Architects of Taste: Feeding Minds and Stomachs,” which brings us nicely to Dubai and to their latest project: The Future of Food: Epochal Banquet.

“The full Epochal Banquet menu is designed to entertain and inspire, while exploring important themes involving the future of food, including how humans and artificial intelligence can combine to sustainably feed a growing global population and tackle 64

food waste, as well as the implications for future nutrition,” outlines Bompas.

“For it, we collaborated with leading scientists, designers and creative technologists to deliver never-beforeseen edible creations that glow in the dark; flavour-changing desserts; ultrarare ingredients, including new-to-theplate plants; and much more. Diners will have the opportunity to sample the world’s lightest meringue formed using the technical process of supercritical drying — the same technique that NASA uses to collect comet dust.

Aerogel is a remarkable material. The world’s lightest solid, derived from a gel, it’s comprised of 98% air and feels like you are holding a fragment of sky.”

It’s a Willy Wonka-esque world of pure imagination, a culinary odyssey bursting with narratives developed through interviews with world-renowned scientists, designers and creative technologists. From vegan collagen and herbs from the year 2220, each collaborator has delivered stories in the form of never-before-seen innovations.

The inspiration for it was the ‘Novacene’, an era hypothesised by scientist and inventor James Lovelock.

The new age, he prophesised, will take over the ‘Anthropocene’ era in which humans have been able to make large-scale changes to the planetary environment, and introduce a future where artificial intelligence and robots will rule. Doesn’t that sound frightening, I venture? “There pervades an innate optimism for a future in which AI will rule, however difficult the challenges we face as humans, not least in the fate of our food chain,” suggests Bompas. “With the rise of hyperintelligence comes a new spirit of innovation and a verdancy of ultra-nature resulting in an abundance of all manner of foods, maximal combinations of ingredients, flavours, textures and colours and newly discovered, re-introduced and genetically modified plants and animals — all earthly delights on a plate.”

You can get a taste for it at the Epochal Banquet.

The Future of Food: Epochal Banquet is held daily at Expo 2020 until March 31 2021. Tickets can be booked at expo2020dubai.com

Opening pages: Sam Bompas and Harry Parr These pages: dishes from the Epochal Banquet

It’s comprised of 98% air and feels ‘ like you are holding a fragment of sky ’

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JOURNEYS BY JET

Mandarin Oriental Ritz, Madrid Spain

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Travel NOVEMBER 2021: ISSUE 122

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lthough every hotel reopening has been celebrated as the pandemic eases across the globe, few merited the anticipation formed by the Mandarin Oriental Ritz, Madrid. This magnificent hotel has played a leading role in Spanish high society for over a century, when at the behest of King Alfonso XIII — who sought a suitable venue for his lavish wedding — César Ritz was summoned to build a hotel.

Fast forward to the turn of this century and the grande dame was showing her age — her décor tired, her spirit significantly dimmed. Riding to the rescue came Mandarin Oriental, who three years ago set about returning the Ritz to her former glory at a reported cost of $115 million. It was money well spent.

While careful to preserve the building’s character, architect Rafael de La-Hoz and designers Gilles & Boissier have enhanced it, drawing inspiration from the past to deliver a thoroughly modern take on luxury, with Spanish artists to

the fore. You see this as soon as you step inside. Each Mandarin Oriental hotel displays its own regionalised version of the brand’s trademark fan — here it’s a striking brushed-brass sculpture, its fluid lines referencing a flamenco dancer. In the lobby, where once dangled a chandelier, there’s a hanging, ceiling-wide sculpture of brass and nickel leaves, its myriad elements inspired by nearby Buen Retiro Park. Adjacent to the hotel is the Museo Nacional del Prado, whose picture galleries have been replicated in the stunning Picture Bar, its walls filled with goldframed photographs of subjects shaping the Spanish arts — writers, musicians, dancers — each person dressed and posing to mimic Old Masters’ portraits.

Rooms too, have been given an artistic touch; the two-bedroom Royal Suite chockful of portraiture that draws on the Golden Age, objects that fuse the contemporary to the traditional, and a ceiling mural by Madrid-based painter

Laura Rios in the manner of Goya’s works for the Real Fabrica de Tapices. Like all the suites here, it’s beautifully laid out across abundant space.

Artistry of a different flavour can be found in the kitchen, overseen by three Michelinstarred chef Quique Dacosta, whose signature skill extends to five dining concepts across the hotel. Chief among them is Deesaa. Housed in the charming Alfonso XIII dining room, which looks out to the Ritz’s glorious garden, Spain’s most inventive chef offers up a choice of two degustation menus imbued with his unique flair. It will surprise no one if Dacosta’s culinary wizardry conjures Deesaa its own star or two within its first year. Bookend your seating here with a visit to the label-loaded Champagne Bar. Too early to talk of the Mandarin Oriental Ritz, Madrid being the world’s best hotel?

Probably. But it won’t be long.

Land your jet at Madrid Barajas International Airport, before a prearranged limousine transfer to the hotel.

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What I Know Now

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NOVEMBER 2021: ISSUE 122

Robert Rabensteiner FASHION EDITOR AND STYLIST The best piece of advice I’ve ever received is to be yourself and own your decisions. I truly believe in this with all my essence.

study Ashtanga. It was a special moment and I have kept this in my routine since that moment, no matter where I am in the world.

Success is subjective. I love nature, I love dreaming and the power that this gives to my work. I feel successful when I am connecting to myself and what I love.

Being able to express myself in every single way through my work and my personal life is what I would define as personal success.

Like many people, I said yes to everything. I really had to try very hard to reinforce the idea that it’s ok to say no. Through knowing myself better, I am now able to do it.

My values are love, friendship and a commitment to my work.

Nature, movies, books — they inspire me, always. I also draw inspiration from travel and experiencing new cultures and traditions, which allow me to dream more vividly.

One thing I do every day is yoga and meditation. I started practicing yoga 15 years ago when I travelled to India to

I never want to stop being inspired. I’d like to do a movie, or a book. I’ve done these things for others but never for

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myself, so this is finally the time. I will also open a school for deaf children.

I am a mountain boy, and during the pandemic I was living day-to-day in the mountains, spending more consistent time there than ever before.

What would I tell my younger self? I am grateful for what God and the universe have given me. I feel very lucky and well balanced. So if I had to tell my younger self something, it would be to be yourself, work hard, and believe in your own value.

Robert Rabenstainer has teamed up with Bally to produce Bally Hike, a hiking-inspired capsule collection that’s avilable to buy now.