Polo Lifestyles August 2025: It's a Polo Summer

VOLUME IX / ISSUE VIII / AUGUST 2025

LA SAISON FRANCAISE: TROPHEE DU COQUETIER D 'OR · SOTOGRANDE'S COPA DE BRONCE · THE BRITISH OPEN POLO CHAMPIONSHIP

E.U. EXPORTS

TO BUY NOW BEFORE PRICES GO UP, UP, UP

PLANES OF THE FUTURE NO PILOT, NO CREW AND NO FUEL

PARIS 2025 COUTURE SIZZLES E-BIKES THAT RECHARGE IN 15 MINUTES SLOW DOWN AGING

ACTIVATE THESE ENZYMES

SEA NO EVIL

TOP NOR-CAL SAUVIGNON BLANCS YOU'LL BUY AGAIN & AGAIN REPATRIATED ARTWORKS FROM PICASSO & BASQUIAT GO UP FOR SALE

MARITIME SECRETS TO GET INVITED BACK ON A YACHT

ALL THE WAYS I LOST MY BEST FRIEND

DENTAL FLOSS THAT DOUBLES AS A FLU SHOT

THE JOURNEY TO CLEARING THE PATHWAY FOR SUCCESS

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Ambassador Claude-Alix Bertrand Publisher

Joshua Jakobitz Editor-in-Chief

Dr. Michael J. Snell

Lifestyles & Luxury Automobile Contributor

William Smith

Copy Editor & Wine Contributor

Claire Barrett

Joey Velez Wellness Contributor

Christina Albina

Head of Photography

Style Contributor

Dana Romita

Raphael K. Dapaah

Luxury Real Estate Contributor

Art Contributor

Brand Representatives

Amritlal अमृत

Ascension Contributor

Dr. Michael J. Snell - NYC Miriam P. Owens - NYC

Tom Landry

Design Contributor Polo Photographers

Katerina Morgan Justine Jacquemot Irina Kazaridi Helen Cruden Pascal Renauldon Kathrin Gralla

Contributing Photographers

Xavier Merchet-Thau Aubrey Chandler Eric Carré Eva Espresso Rob Miskowitch Margarita Crotto

Polo Lifestyles is a publication of HT Polo Publishing Co. 995 Detroit Avenue, Suite A Concord, CA 94518 Cover photo of Santiago Llavallol (Five Goaler) Photograph by Johnny Pensiero At Greenwich Polo Club Content Copyright © Polo Lifestyles 2025 All Rights Reserved.

For information or to advertise Contact marketing@pololifestyles.com Read online at www.pololifestyles.com On Instagram & Facebook @pololifestyles A proud partner of Issuu, NZ Polo Open, House On Third U.S. Polo Assn., The Impression and Mixam

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WWW.PO LO WW W. P O L O L ILFIFES E S TTYYLES L E S ..COM COM

PLETTENBURG POLO CLUB Plett Polo Festival SA Open Ladies Polo POLO CLUB DE CHANTILLY Polo Nations Cup Inaugural Women's Polo Nations Cup Arena Polo World Championships French Women's Open Barnes French Open COWDRAY PARK POLO CLUB British Ladies Open Championship Challenge Cup WIMBLEDON SANTA BARBARA POLO & RACQUET CLUB Silver Cup Robert Skene Trophy America Cup Pacific Coast Open

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SCOREBOARDS & COCKTAILS

THE BRITISH OPEN POLO CHAMPIONSHIP

FOR THE COWDRAY GOLD CUP Page 48

POLO LIFESTYLES EDITORS & CONTRIBUTORS

Ambassador Claude-Alix Bertrand Publisher Polo Lifestyles @haiti_polo_captain

Eric Carré

Photographer EC Photography @ti_carre

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Josh Jakobitz

Editor-in-Chief Polo Lifestyles @joshuajakobitz

Claire Barrett

Copy Editor & Contributor

@clairebarrettphoto

@willismith_2000

Claire Barrett Photography May & Stanley Smith Charitable Trust

Eva Espresso Photographer

Eva Espresso Photography

@Eva.espresso

William Smith

Head of Photography

Katerina Morgan

Polo Photographer Horse Polo Art Gallery @horsepoloartgallery

Raphael K. Dapaah Art Contributor Dapaah Gallery @dapaahgallery

Amritlal अमृत

Ascension Contributor Monarch Visionary @monarch_visionary

Michael J. Snell

Lifestyles & Luxury Automobiles Contributor @agnello_1

Joey Velez

Wellness Columnist

Velez Mental Performance

@velezmentalhealth

Dana Romita

Real Estate Contributor Douglas Elliman @danaromita

Tom Landry

Design Contributor House on Third @tomlandry2

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Repairing enzymes that could stop aging, page 68

Looks for fall, spring and more, page 110

What to buy now before prices explode, page 97

A pilot-less, crew-less, fuel-less plane, page 94

COUTURE SIZZLES PAGE 120

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T

HE SIGN ON THE FRONT OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL NEAR MY HOUSE SAID, FIRST DAY OF CLASSES JULY 29, AND I KNEW, FROM THOSE FIVE WORDS AND TWO DIGITS, THAT SUMMER WAS WINDING DOWN.

Do you remember when you were a kid and adults said, “Time flies when you’re having fun”? I can now say, beyond a shadow of a doubt, truer words have never been spoken.

And if the antithetical of, “Time flies when you’re having fun,” would be, “The days drag on when you’re bored,” then I guess that, in spite of time not being on my side in a very general sense, I would choose the flies-fun combo any day.

We do have a lot of fun at the Polo Lifestyles office; maybe too much fun some days. Don’t get me wrong, we get a lot of work done in a fast-paced, deadline-focused atmosphere, but it also seems like we were just coming back from holiday break yesterday.

This month, I had the pleasure of introducing our spiritual contributor, Amritlal, to Ray Hippolyte, someone I’ve known for nearly a decade. They are both incredibly intentional and grounded spiritual gurus. The result is a fantastic profile-interview piece we’re featuring this month in Polo Lifestyles.

That, along with a host of other stories about technology, health and lifestyle, complement extended coverage of the summer polo from Greenwich to Chantilly and Sotogrande to Cowdray. Bill Smith sampled no fewer than seven Sauvignon Blancs from Northern California wine makers for his wine story this month, so uncork something cold and refreshing and enjoy the curation of the August issue.

Josh Jakobitz Editor-in-Chief josh@pololifestyles.com

VOLUME IX / ISSUE VIII / AUGUST 2025

marrakech.polo.club The Marrakech Polo Club team hosted the Royal Moroccan Gendarmerie Polo Club team in their first official competition

brandinquirer Range Rover has unveiled its first-ever logomark in over 50 years — a pair of vertically stacked, mirrored “R”s

guardspoloclub On Finals day Sunday 10th August, Aston Martin, the iconic, luxury British sportscar brand, will make its debut at polo

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champagnlaurentperrier Pink summer mode activated with Champagne Laurent Perrier

sail French icon Lacoste chose Monte Carlo’s dreamlike backdrop to unveil its very first Café Lacoste

balmain An ode to crystal chandeliers and imperial splendor, where heritage meets fearless modernity

alessandrasemeoni What would you choose? Diamonds or dessert? Why can't it be both?

hampoloclub Celebrating 150 years of British Polo during International Day and the prestigious Coronation Cup

baccarathotels Bathed in natural light, the Petit Salon comes alive as @baccarat crystal shimmers with quiet splendor

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Click and comment on our choices... Tag @pololifestyles.

We will share noteworthy comments with you next month.

tatlerindonesia Prince William hit the polo field once again for one of his summer staples, the Royal Charity Polo Cup

richandthirsty

Just a little something to take the edge off

clinecellars As seen in Polo Lifestyles, Gust Wine's 2023 Chardonnay was just awarded 92 points from Wine Spectator

hotelcaladivolpe Soft cotton beach towels, hand-painted vases, custom inflatables, and decorated cabanas

porterartguild Nothing says summer more than a table full of fresh blooms and a friendly pony coming in to join

uspoloassnnzl Cozy essentials for enjoying winter skies in New Zealand

nadineadbelaziz Truer words have never been spoken - at least after the rosé has been opened

italyexplores These dogs have seen more of Italy than most people

christofle From Babylone porcelain with its signature braided edge to Iriana crystal that catches every glint of light, and the timeless Albi pitcher that brings legacy to every pour

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TROPHEE DU COQUETIER D'OR POLO CLUB DU DOMAINE DE CHANTILLY

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PHOTOGRAPHS BY JUSTINE JACQUEMOT

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A surprising scenario for the last 12-goal final of the season: it took until the third chukker for Octogone Polo Team to open the score, with two penalty shots and a field goal by Come Dubois.

Two more beautiful goals from captain Alexis Morange, along with another penalty converted by Nacho Kennedy, sealed the win. Final score: 6–1 against Tédélou (penalty scored by Simon Zavaleta).

Progression Octogone Polo Team : 0-0 / 0-0 / 3-0 / 5-0 / 6-1.

Octogone Polo Team : Alexis Morange, Come Dubois, Nacho Kennedy et Nicolas Corti Maderna.

Tédélou : Isabelle Larenaudie, Elouan Badarello, Ramiro et Simon Zavaleta.

BPP de la Finale : Esquina de Nacho Kennedy (Octogone Polo Team) BPP AACCP : Meta Viciosa, jouée par Elouan Badarello et appartenant à Simon Zavaleta.

MVP : Nacho Kennedy (Octogone Polo Team) PA G E 27

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LA SAISON FRANCAISE

TROPHEE DU COQUETIER D'OR PAGE 28

SUMMARY AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY JUSTINE JACQUEMOT

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SUMMARY AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY JUSTINE JACQUEMOT

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LA SAISON FRANCAISE

TROPHEE DU COQUETIER D'OR

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GREENWICH POLO SEASON

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P H OTO G R A P HY BY J O H N N Y P E N S I E R O / G R E E N W I C H P O LO C LU B

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GREENWICH POLO SEASON THE SUMMERTIME EAST COAST POLO DESTINATION

La Fe Polo (Louis Devaleix, Lucio Fernandez, Lucas Diaz Alberdi (HG), and Roberto Bilbao) goes back-to-back in the 16-goal tournaments at the Greenwich

Polo Club, claiming both the East Coast Silver Cup and the Interactive Brokers East Coast Gold Cup. PA G E 35

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GREENWICH POLO SEASON

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P H OTO G R A P HY BY J O H N N Y P E N S I E R O / G R E E N W I C H P O LO C LU B

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GREENWICH POLO SEASON

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P H OTO G R A P HY BY J O H N N Y P E N S I E R O / G R E E N W I C H P O LO C LU B

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GREENWICH POLO SEASON

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P H OTO G R A P HY BY J O H N N Y P E N S I E R O / G R E E N W I C H P O LO C LU B

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GREENWICH POLO SEASON

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P H OTO G R A P HY BY J O H N N Y P E N S I E R O / G R E E N W I C H P O LO C LU B

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THE BRITISH OPEN POLO CHAMPIONSHIP PAGE 46

P H O T O S C O U RT E S Y G L O B A L P O L O

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THE BRITISH OPEN POLO CHAMPIONSHIP FOR THE COWDRAY GOLD CUP

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P H O T O S C O U RT E S Y G L O B A L P O L O

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THE BRITISH OPEN POLO CHAMPIONSHIP FOR THE COWDRAY GOLD CUP

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P H O T O S C O U RT E S Y G L O B A L P O L O

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SOTOGRANDE LA COPA BRONCE PAGE 54

P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y K AT E R I N A M O R G A N / P O L O L I F E S T Y L E S

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LA COPA BRONCE SOTOGRANDE AYALA POLO CLUB

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P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y K AT E R I N A M O R G A N / P O L O L I F E S T Y L E S

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LA COPA BRONCE SOTOGRANDE AYALA POLO CLUB

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P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y K AT E R I N A M O R G A N / P O L O L I F E S T Y L E S

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HIGH SOCIETY: SOUTHAMPTON ANIMAL SHELTER FOUNDATION CELEBRATES "SWEET SIXTEEN"

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE GALA RAISES $700K FOR ANIMALS

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HE HAMPTONS HAVE LONG BEEN SYNONYMOUS WITH LUXURY, LEISURE, AND PHILANTHROPY. BUT ON A BALMY SUMMER EVENING IN BRIDGEHAMPTON, N.Y., THE SPOTLIGHT SHIFTED FROM GLAMOR TO GIVING AT THE SOUTHAMPTON ANIMAL SHELTER FOUNDATION’S 16TH ANNUAL UNCONDITIONAL

LOVE GALA — A LANDMARK “SWEET SIXTEEN” CELEBRATION THAT PROVED TO BE THE ORGANIZATION’S MOST POIGNANT AND IMPACTFUL FUNDRAISER TO DATE.

total in the event’s history — the evening was a heartfelt testament to community, compassion, and the unconditional love shared between animals and the humans who advocate for them.

Held at an elegant private estate nestled on Ocean Road, the gala welcomed more than 400 guests in support of the Shelter’s mission to rescue, rehabilitate, and rehome animals in need. With an impressive $700,000 raised — the highest

The red carpet shimmered with the presence of entertainment royalty and philanthropic powerhouses. This year’s gala was co-hosted by dynamic comedic duo Hannah Berner and Des Bishop, who brought laughter and levity to a night rooted in purpose. The evening’s

STAR POWER WITH A PURPOSE

BY MICH AEL SNELL, PHD. / LUXURY CONTRIBUTOR PHOTOS BY SOCIE T Y ALLURE / ROB RICH

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honorees embodied the spirit of compassion in action.

Actress, director, and lifelong animal advocate Alison Eastwood was honored as the SASF Animal Welfare Honoree. A beacon in the animal rescue community, Eastwood is the founder of the Eastwood Ranch Foundation, a nonprofit that rescues animals from high-kill shelters and provides sanctuary and medical care to those most vulnerable. In her acceptance speech, Eastwood praised SASF’s frontline work and emphasized the importance of grassroots animal advocacy.

In a moment that blended Hollywood prestige with heartfelt recognition, Christie Brinkley — the legendary supermodel and longtime environmental and animal rights advocate — took the stage to present the Compassion to Action Award to Jayni and Chevy Chase. The couple was lauded for their unwavering PAGE 62

commitment to animal welfare and their longstanding support of rescue initiatives. Brinkley’s own devotion to animal rights infused the evening with an emotional gravitas that was both inspiring and galvanizing.

A NIGHT OF CELEBRATION, A FUTURE OF HOPE While the gala has always served as a pillar of summer philanthropy in the Hamptons, this year’s event took on new urgency. The Southampton Animal Shelter is preparing for a temporary closure this fall to embark on a comprehensive renovation project — one that will modernize its facilities, expand its capacity, and elevate its ability to serve both animals and the community at large.

“With our Sweet 16 celebration, we honor not only the lives we’ve saved, but the future we are building for thousands

more,” said Kelly McDermott, Director of Philanthropy at SASF. “This year’s gala is our lifeline — a rallying call to the community to stand with us as we transition into a new era of care.”

Guests were treated to a vibrant set by Soul System Orchestras, featuring Skid Row drummer Rob Affuso, who electrified the night with high-octane rhythm.

The music flowed as seamlessly as the rosé, with candlelight casting a golden hue across tables adorned with elegant floral arrangements and shimmering auction paddles.

The evening’s silent and live auctions featured an array of luxury items and once-in-a-lifetime experiences — from art and fine jewelry to exclusive travel packages and elite dining experiences.

One standout item was a coveted Rolex GMT Master II “Bruce Wayne” edition wristwatch, a symbol of rare luxury and

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SOUTHAMPTON ANIMAL SHELTER FOUNDATIONAL 16TH ANNUAL UNCONDITIONAL LOVE GALA timeless craftsmanship. All proceeds went directly to the Shelter’s operational fund, fueling vital programs such as medical treatment, behavioral rehabilitation, and adoption services.

ABOUT THE SOUTHAMPTON ANIMAL SHELTER FOUNDATION Located in the heart of the Hamptons, the Southampton Animal Shelter Foundation (SASF) is one of Long Island’s most respected and effective nokill shelters. Since its founding, SASF has served as a sanctuary for the abandoned, the mistreated, and the forgotten — providing not only refuge, but rehabilitation, medical treatment, and ultimately, forever homes.

As the only open intake shelter in the Town of Southampton, SASF takes in approximately 5,000 animals annually — from dogs and cats to farm animals and exotic rescues. The shelter offers a robust

menu of services including low-cost veterinary care, spay and neuter clinics, behavioral training, humane education, and community outreach programs.

Its staff, volunteers, and board are driven by a simple yet profound philosophy: every animal deserves a second chance at life, love, and home.

COMMUNITY THAT CARES What made this gala more than just a glittering Hamptons soirée was the palpable energy of unity. Attendees weren’t just there to be seen — they were there to make a difference. From legacy donors to first-time supporters, the crowd represented a microcosm of what the Shelter stands for: compassion across all walks of life.

“This is a movement,” said SASF Board President Jonathan McCann. “Tonight,

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we celebrate not only our 16th year, but every adopter, every volunteer, and every supporter who has carried us forward.

We are the voice for those who cannot speak — and this event ensures that voice never goes unheard.”

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A VISION FORWARD As the Shelter enters a season of transition, the success of the Unconditional Love Gala serves as a powerful reminder: love — especially the unconditional kind

— is what drives true change. Whether it’s a Hollywood icon lending their voice or a local family adopting their first pet, each act of kindness creates a ripple, building a future where no animal is left behind.

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Explore the details of a new Bentley now

Visit your local Bentley dealer today and drive off in a new Bentley

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Explore the details of the new Continental GTC Azure now

Visit your local Bentley dealer today and drive off in a new Bentley

VOLUME IX / ISSUE VIII / AUGUST 2025

SLOW DOWN AGING NOW ACTIVATE THIS ENZYME

A

An enzyme long-known for folding other proteins may also help cells repair DNA damage - and key driver of aging

RECENT STUDY PUBLISHED IN "AGING CELL" REVEALS THAT AN ENZYME LONG KNOWN FOR FOLDING OTHER PROTEINS MAY ALSO HELP CELLS REPAIR DNA DAMAGE — A KEY DRIVER OF AGING. The enzyme, protein disulfide isomerase (PDI), has been shown to step into an unexpected role: repairing double-strand DNA breaks through a redox-dependent mechanism, ZME Science explained.

In doing so, it may offer a new lever for slowing the aging process itself.

DNA Damage and Aging As many readers know, cells are bombarded by DNA-damaging forces on a daily basis; from UV radiation and pollution to internal stressors like oxidative byproducts of metabolism. Over time, unrepaired DNA damage builds up.

“Just like a cut on your skin needs to heal, the DNA in our cells needs constant repair,” explained Sina Shadfar, Ph.D., lead author on the study, in an interview with ZME Science. “But as we age, these repair mechanisms weaken, allowing damage to build up.”

This accumulation is now considered a central hallmark of aging, particularly in brain cells, where damage is permanent and contributes to cognitive decline and neurodegeneration, the source reported.

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PDI ‘Glues’ Broken DNA Back Together PDI has long been known for helping other proteins fold properly. While primarily localized in the endoplasmic reticulum, researchers from Macquarie and La Trobe universities discovered it can also relocate to the cell nucleus, where it helps to repair double-strand DNA breaks — one of the most severe forms of genetic damage.

“Until now, we didn’t know why PDI sometimes appeared in the nucleus,” Shadfar explained to ZME Science. “For the first time, we’ve shown it acts like a glue or catalyst, helping to repair broken DNA in both dividing and non-dividing cells.”

The team found that: •

When PDI was removed from mouse and human cells, DNA repair was impaired.

•

When reintroduced, DNA repair resumed — but only if PDI’s redox activity was intact.

•

A redox-inactive mutant of PDI, lacking two key cysteine residues, failed to support repair.

•

In live zebrafish, PDI provided in vivo protection against age-related DNA damage in the whole organism.

The findings show that PDI’s redox function — the same chemistry it uses to fold proteins — is essential for its role

in non-homologous end joining (NHEJ), the primary DNA repair pathway available in neurons.

A New Target for Age-related Diseases?

This discovery could have far-reaching implications especially for aging biology and age-related diseases. For example, unlike other tissues, neurons do not divide and cannot easily dilute out damage through cell turnover. Enhancing DNA repair in these cells — without introducing mutations — has been a major unsolved challenge, according to ZME Science.

This study redefines PDI as more than just a protein folder; it’s a key player in genomic maintenance. And because DNA repair declines with age, targeting redox-active proteins like PDI could help protect neurons, slow functional decline and extend healthy lifespan.

The research highlights the importance of redox biology in aging and identifies PDI’s catalytic cysteines as potential drug targets, per the research article. While much work remains to be done, in the search for longevity, PDI is now squarely in the spotlight.

Longevity in the Beautyscape As longevity becomes a central focus in beauty and skin care innovation, these new findings on PDI’s role in DNA repair could inform next-generation products designed to support skin health at the cellular level.

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YOU ALREADY KNOW FLOSSING IS GOOD FOR YOUR TEETH

NOW IT MIGHT ALSO PREVENT THE FLU

F

“I had honestly never thought of using floss as a vaccination strategy,” says Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist at Yale University who was not involved in the work. “The results are quite impressive.”

In an unorthodox approach to needle-free vaccines, researchers have developed a special kind of floss that can deliver proteins and inactive viruses to mice’s gumlines and trigger immune responses that protect against infectious disease, they report today in Nature Biomedical Engineering.

For many years, scientists have tried to develop alternatives to delivering vaccines via syringes by turning to the moist areas in your mouth and nose where most viruses enter. But it’s tough to develop an effective vaccine that can be administered through those entry points because they have naturally tough defenses against foreign molecules, says Vanderbilt University immunologist

LOSSING MAY BE GOOD FOR MORE THAN GETTING YOUR DENTIST OFF YOUR BACK—ONE DAY, IT MAY ALSO PROTECT YOU FROM THE FLU.

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James Crowe, who was not involved in the work.

The new approach could circumvent these defenses. Years ago, Harvinder Gill, an engineer at North Carolina State University who specializes in nanomedicine, was reading about gum disease when he stumbled across a paper that said the gingival sulcus—the pockets of gum between the sides of your teeth— could absorb molecules extremely well.

“That sort of struck a spark,” says Gill, the new study’s senior author. “If it is highly permeable, could we not use it for vaccination?”

BY J E S S I C A I. M O R A L E S/S P E C I A L TO P O LO L I F E S T Y L E S

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To test this idea, Gill and Rohan Ingrole, first author of the paper and a chemical engineer at Texas Tech University, had to do something no scientist had done before: Try to floss a mouse. It was a “quite difficult” two-person job, Gill says: One scientist gently pulled the mouse’s jaw down with the metal ring from a keychain while the other administered the floss.

During a test run, the team found that when researchers coated floss with a fluorescently labeled protein, 75% of the protein was successfully delivered to the mouse’s gums. And even 2 months after flossing, the mice had elevated levels of antibodies in their lungs, noses, feces, and spleens, suggesting a robust immune response to the protein.

Next, the engineers added an inactive flu virus—a common vaccine component—to the floss, which in theory could teach the mouse’s body to build up immunity to the flu. Over a 28-day period, the researchers flossed 50 mice with the coated floss every 2 weeks.

Then, 4 weeks after the final dose, they infected those mice with the real flu virus. All the mice that were flossed three times survived, whereas all the unvaccinated mice died.

They then surveyed the participants on what they thought of the approach.

Most said they were open to trying a floss-based vaccine and would prefer it to a shot.

The flossed mice also had a more systemic immune response: Not only were flu antibodies present in their feces and saliva, but the mice had more T cells— the directors of the body’s immune response—in their lungs and spleens, as well as larger lymph nodes. What’s more, the team found flu antibodies in the mice’s bone marrow, signaling that their immune systems were “fully engaged” by the inactive flu virus, Gill says. Overall, the immune response to the floss resembled the response to vaccines that are sprayed into the nose, such as FluMist.

The approach is “clever,” says William Giannobile, a periodontics researcher at the Harvard University School of Dental Medicine who was not involved in the work. But he was surprised to see such a systemic immune response in mice. In humans, he would like to see how the technique fares in volunteers with more variation in gum health, to see whether the 40% of American adults with gum disease could also use the product.

And Crowe says clinical trial testing is needed to definitively say whether this proof-of-concept approach is viable.

To gauge whether the method could work in humans, the researchers asked 27 healthy volunteers to floss with dental picks coated with colored food dye. On average, roughly 60% of the dye was delivered to the participants’ gums.

Gill and his team hope to continue to refine the technology—and Giannobile, for one, is curious to see how their work unfolds. “You could imagine going to the dentist,” he says, “and your provider administers one of these vaccines during your visit.”

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SEA NO EVIL T H E M A R I T I M E S E C R E T S TO G E T T I N G

INVITED BACK ON A YACHT

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B Y J U S T I N R AV I T Z / S P E C I A L T O P O L O L I F E S T Y L E S

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“I

’D RATHER BE IN A MOTEL 6 IN SECAUCUS, NEW JERSEY, THAN ON SOMEONE ELSE’S PROGRAM,” BETHENNY FRANKEL SAID EARLIER THIS SUMMER. The reality star and self-made mogul was explaining her decision to rent a yacht for a trip to the South of France—a big step considering she’d long been a guest on boats belonging to other people. “I’ve always been the guest on the boat,” she said, citing previously “terrible” experiences. “You’re always a guest of someone and it’s their program.”

Frankel, it seemed, had reached her limit—and she isn’t alone.

Sure, it sounds great to be invited for an island-hopping Caribbean odyssey or a cruise of the Adriatic on a 200-footer owned by a friendly billionaire, but the reality of boarding someone else’s boat is that there’s only one truly important passenger on board—and it isn’t you.

A ship’s owner or the primary always sets the agenda and the schedule. “Their boat, their rules,” Frankel tells T&C. Tim Langmead, Managing Director at Fraser Yachts UK, agrees. “The owner comes first,” he says.

So, what is the etiquette of being invited along for a cruise? The first hurdle is getting on that guest list—and staying there. In some cases, an invite really is based on a genuine relationship. “My wife and I are close friends with our host and see her in New York regularly,” says one Manhattan-based interior designer, who has been part of a core group of guests of a seafaring host for several years, venturing to St. Barth and Mustique in the winter and Greece and Italy in the summer. “We are usually invited to save the date about six months in advance. We always say yes.”

Frankel, by contrast, has never had much advance notice to hit the water.

She says she’s accepted around 10 “im-

promptu” invites to be “a guest on some of the world’s largest boats.” Her hosts have been “people who have changed the world as we know it,” and “most of the time I haven’t known them that well.”

Quickie invites aren’t unusual.

“Sometimes someone bails, and you’re the next best thing. You can choose to take that as an insult—or an opportunity,” explains Evan Osnos, author of the recent book The Haves and Have Yachts: Dispatches on the Ultra Rich.

He adds that being asked to fly to Nice on 24-hours notice is a power move.

“Spontaneity is a luxury. Invitations often come last minute because the host assumes you, too, can drop everything.”

Don’t get too comfortable once onboard, though. Passengers should take heed that “you’re not really there strictly for recreation—you are there partly to be entertaining and interesting and energetic,” says Osnos. “If you’re coming from Hollywood, show up with stories nobody else has read in the papers.

From Wall Street? Bring intel better than anything available on land.”

Next, there’s the quagmire of gift-giving. You likely can’t compete with the access of someone who owns a yacht, so consider something personal—and possibly custom. Langmead has seen guests give Rolexes, oversized coffee table books about trip destinations, and even a chrome lobster sculpture. During excursions for meals on land, Langmead suggests picking up the tab. “It often goes unnoticed at first,” he says, “but people do appreciate it.”

As for the rules onboard? Most are unspoken, but still very real. “An owner sets the tone or the vibe, rather than stringent rules,” says Langmead, though he notes that on chartered vessels, the captain starts the trip by going over safety protocols, “who does what, and what not to do.”

Some basics do apply everywhere: take off your shoes, participate in planned

activities, and always respect the boat and the crew. (“The stewardesses are not part of the package,” warns Langmead.)

The captain and crew’s perspective, of course, birthed a reality TV juggernaut in Bravo’s Below Deck franchise, which amplifies bad guest behavior, plus crew hookups and infighting, to millions of viewers, in five different iterations.

“This one woman got so wasted…she started doing cartwheels in the salon,” recalls star Aesha Scott, a longtime Chief Stewardess on Below Deck Down Under and Below Deck Med. “And as she did a cartwheel, she [wet] herself midair.”

Scott’s pre-Bravo experiences as a stew on private vessels were more subdued.

“Billionaires are businesspeople,” she says. “They’re used to maintaining a professional air. They keep to themselves. One woman wouldn’t even look at me—she just held out her hand for a drink. That’s easier, honestly.”

But Frankel, who signed NDAs for some of her voyages, observed plenty of hijinks aboard mega-yachts. “The greatest checkers move was someone sleeping with the captain when they were dating the owner,” she reveals. “It’s like Downton Abbey—upstairs/downstairs—but everyone spills the tea.”

Osnos spoke to one crewmember who complained of an incident that sounds like the best Below Deck episode ever: “Guests did so much cocaine they had no appetite for the amazing buffet the chef had laid out.”

On a less drug-fueled note, the NYCbased interior designer recalls one needy couple onboard whose “physical and health issues made it so that the staff was preoccupied with their mishigas.”

Lo and behold, that couple have not been invited back.

What should you do? “Go with the flow,” urges the designer. “Be respectful and really imagine having the crew’s stress and job,” adds Frankel.

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And, just like dining with the king or queen, don’t get up until they do. “You’re captive [during a meal] until the host decides to go take a siesta,” says Osnos.

“You’re not going paddleboarding— you’re at the table.” And, of course, flattery is essential. “You’re expected to tell the host what an extraordinary boat they own. And God forbid you mention another boat that was a few feet longer.”

and rendered mute,” Osnos cautions.

“Most of the billionaires who own these boats tend to be a little socially awkward.”

That ego-stroking must be done deftly, however. In other words, don’t gawk.

“You’re supposed to be impressed and grateful—but not paralyzed by splendor

“I try to tip better than any of the other guests,” says the interior designer. Above all else, never yacht and tell. “Discretion is key,” Osnos says. “As Oprah said: What happens on the boat, stays on the boat.”

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As for the matter of tipping the crew, that practice is reserved only for guests on chartered vessels, not private boats. “It’s like going to a restaurant versus eating at someone’s house,” Langmead explains.

Frankel is ultimately glad she chose to be the captain of her own ship, so to speak. After opting to charter her own four-bedroom boat for a post-Cannes Lions cruise with her teenaged daughter, she already has plans to do it again. “The best part of a boat isn’t luxury or a flex,” she says. “The point is doing exactly what you want when you want and feeling the water beneath you. I’m a water sign. I want privacy, freedom, and the water. I’m oddly very simple in ways.”

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REPATRIATED ARTWORKS FROM

PICASSO, BASQUIAT AND ARBUS

F

UP FOR GRABS IN ONLINE AUCTION

OUR ARTWORKS BY PABLO PICASSO, JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT AND DIANE ARBUS SURRENDERED TO THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE IN CONNECTION WITH THE 1MALAYSIA DEVELOPMENT BERHAD (1MDB) SCANDAL ARE NOW BEING AUCTIONED ONLINE BY THE U.S. MARSHALS SERVICE. Gaston and Sheehan, an auction house in Pflugerville, Texas, has been contracted by the U.S. government to sell Jean Michel Basquiat’s Self Portrait (1982) and collage Red Man One (1982), Pablo Picasso’s Tête de taureau et broc (1939), and Diane Arbus’s Child with a Toy Hand Grenade. The online-only auction began on July 16 and closes on September 4.

Notably, there is no buyer’s premium on any of the artworks.

Art advisors and experts told ARTnews the works are high caliber and have “crazy” starting bids relative to their actual value based on previous auction records and sales information.

However, the simple auction website and association with an international fugitive may deter potential bidders in an already sluggish art market.

“It’s not the sexiest place to buy, but it could present the right opportunity for a savvy buyer,” Art advisor Dane Jensen told ARTnews, noting the lack of condition report and information about where the works have been stored, likely requiring an in-person inspection by any serious potential bidders.

“Most of my clients would not be interested in sitting on this website and PAGE 82

bidding on it just because the website is so terrible,” art advisor Arushi Kapoor said. “If someone sent me this website, I would probably be like, ‘Someone’s trying to scam me’.”

Documents filed by the Justice Department in July 2020 state Basquiat’s Self Portrait was surrendered to the U.S. government by Christopher Joey McFarland, who co-founded Red

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Granite Pictures with Riza Shahriz Bin Abdul Aziz, the stepson of the former Malaysian prime minister. McFarland and Aziz also produced the 2013 movie The Wolf of Wall Street.

The other three artworks were purchased by Malaysian businessman and fugitive Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, between 2012 and 2014 and gifted to actor and art collector Leonardo DiCaprio, who also starred and produced The Wolf of Wall Street. Documents filed by the Justice Department state DiCaprio surrendered all three artworks to the U.S. government after the Picasso and Basquiat were located in Switzerland in 2017.

Low is currently wanted in several countries, including by Interpol, for his key role in the 1MDB scandal. The US Justice Department believes more than $4.5 billion was stolen from Malaysia’s sovereign investment development fund between 2009 and 2015 “by high-level officials of 1MDB and their associates, and Low Taek Jho (aka Jho

Low), through a criminal scheme involving international money laundering and embezzlement.”

Basquiat’s Red Man One (1982) sold for $3.5 million with fees at Sotheby’s Contemporary evening sale in New York in May 2009. Documents filed by the Justice Department state the Basquiat collage was purchased for $9.4 million from the Helly Nahmad Gallery in New York “in or around November 2012”, using diverted proceeds for a bond sale for 1MDB. The starting bid for Red Man One on the U.S. Marshalls Art Auction website was $2.975 million.

Documents filed by the Justice Department in June 2016 state the Picasso painting Tête de taureau et broc (1939), also known as Nature morte au crâne, was acquired on January 2, 2014, using $3.28 million in funds from a diverted bond sale in 2013. The painting was gifted to DiCaprio the same month with a handwritten note that said “Happy belated

Birthday! This gift is for you,” and signed, “TKL”, Low’s initials.

The starting bid for both Basquiat’s Self Portrait and Picasso’s Tête de taureau et broc on the U.S. Marshalls Art Auction was $850,000.

Documents filed by the US Justice Department also stated the gelatin silver print Child with a Toy Hand Grenade (1962) by Arbus was purchased from the art and movie memorabilia company Cinema Archives for $750,000. The starting bid for Child with a Toy Hand Grenade on the U.S. Marshalls Art Auction was $4,400.

While proceeds from federal seizures typically go to the Treasury Department, funds from the sale of assets connected to the 1MDB case will benefit people who were harmed by the corruption in Malaysia, a Justice Department spokesperson told NPR in 2019. A press release from the Justice Department published last June stated it had repatriated approximately $1.4 billion.

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WHAT DOES

MADE IN U.S.A. EVEN MEAN?

A

THE RULES GOVERNING AMERICAN-MADE CLOTHING ARE KNOTTY. HERE’S WHAT IT TAKES TO EARN THE VAUNTED LABEL.

T A GLANCE, THE AMERICAN TRENCH RETRO STRIPE LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE WHAT IT IS: THE KIND OF CALF-HUGGING COTTON SPORT SOCK THAT’S BEEN A UBIQUITOUS PART OF THE AMERICAN WARDROBE SINCE KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR MADE THEM COOL IN THE ’70S. An American Trench sock, however, is fundamentally different from the kind you’d buy in a multi-pack on Prime Day (and not just because of its jazzy color palette). That’s because the Retro Stripe, unlike most athletic socks bought in the United States, can legally be labeled “Made in USA.” Earning the right to put that label on a piece of clothing, however, isn’t just a matter of choosing to make it in a factory in Maine or New Jersey instead of China or Honduras.

And thanks to new tariffs, a Federal Trade Commission stacked with MAGA Republicans, and a growing demand for American-made products of all kinds, the distinction has never been more political.

According to the FTC, the agency responsible for consumer protection, “a product may be advertised as “Made in the USA” if “all or virtually all” of the labor and materials in the product are doPAGE 86

mestic.” What constitutes “virtually all” is somewhat open to interpretation and varies state-to-state (in California, for example, it’s up to 10 percent of the final wholesale value), but it essentially means that in order to stick a Made in USA label on a pair of socks, they need to be manufactured in the US from American-made materials. “The cotton is grown in North and South Carolina, it gets ginned locally, and then it gets sent to a yarn spinner,” explains Jacob Hurwitz, the founder of Philadelphia-based American Trench, tracing the journey of a Retro Stripe from the cotton field to your mailbox. “Then the yarn is sent to the sock factory that knits the socks and dyes them. The entire product from start to finish is made in the USA.” While the United States has a relatively solid infrastructure for turning domestically grown cotton into socks, that’s not the case with a lot of other things in your wardrobe. Sixty years ago, most of the clothing Americans bought was made in America, but thanks to free trade deals, globalization, and apparel brands’ perennial pursuit of ever-lower labor costs, most of it is now imported. The result is a fashion landscape where Americans buy far more clothing than they ever had before, pay much less for it, and throw it in the garbage by the truckload. It also means that the once-thriving American textile industry is now a shadow of its former self. “The real issue for brands that want to create an entirely made in USA product, from yarn to end-

state manufacturing, is that the supply chain has been hollowed out,” explains Hurwitz. “There are just many things that you can’t get here.” Further complicating matters, many of the suppliers that do exist are scaled to cater to much larger buyers than American Trench, making it difficult for indie brands to source the materials they need in the quantities they require.

For most people who care about such things, whether or not a piece of clothing that was cut and sewn in an American factory probably matters more than whether the fabric was also made here (except if that fabric is selvedge denim).

For a brand looking to tout its Americanmade credentials, however, labeling a flannel shirt “Made in USA” when in fact it’s cut from Italian-made fabric is an increasingly risky proposition. Last year, the FTC sent $140,000 worth of refunds to customers of several New England-based brands that had falsely claimed that their products were made in America. Earlier this month, the FTC sent warning letters to Amazon and Walmart regarding third-party sellers making false Made in America claims on their marketplaces.

Companies making clothes in the USA from imported cloth (say, an NYC tailor using Italian fabric to make a suit) can stay within the letter of the law by “qualifying” their Made in the USA claim, i.e., disclosing that the suit is made in the US with foreign materials, but not

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everyone does. For one thing, “Made in the USA From Imported Materials” doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, and for another, it hasn’t always been a big deal. “Most people completely ignore the law because, depending on which administration is in office, it may not be a priority. It’s a very political statute,” explains Shawn Collins, a lawyer based in Newport Beach, California, specializing in consumer litigation and enforcement.

“Now we have a president who’s using the office of the presidency to effectively encourage—and sometimes bully— Americans into buying American-made products. The FTC has been given a mandate to push his America-first agenda, and they’re going to use this statute

that’s been there for a long time but hasn’t really been utilized very much.”

Made in the USA label, you’re technically in violation of the law.”

While most reputable apparel brands probably wouldn’t risk fraudulently labeling clothes produced in Vietnam or Honduras as Made in USA, the somewhat subjective nature of the law, combined with previously lax enforcement, could give the FTC plenty of potential targets in the coming years. “People tend to focus on the label because that’s typically where you see the Made in the USA claim, but most people do their shopping online,” says Collins. “So, where is that consumer most likely to engage with your label or product? If your digital ads are not disclosing a truthful and accurate

The FTC’s roster of recent lawsuits and warnings might motivate some bad actors to change their labeling or seek legitimate US suppliers, but given the fractured supply chains and slimmer margins inherent in making clothes domestically, it’s easier said than done. For American Trench and many other small brands, however, staying on the right side of the FTC’s complex labeling regulations is just one of the many hurdles involved in earning the right to label something Made in USA.

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ALL THE WAYS I LOST MY BEST FRIEND

FRIENDSHIP BREAKUPS DON’T HAVE TO BE BIG AND DRAMATIC. SOMETIMES, THEY ARE A SLOW PROCESS OF COMING APART OVER TIME.

W

HEN I FOUND OUT I WAS PREGNANT THE SAME WEEK MY FRIEND E. GAVE BIRTH TO HER FIRST CHILD, I PICTURED OUR CHILDREN GROWING UP SIDE BY SIDE.

We lived five stops apart on the same subway line in Brooklyn and had known each other for more than a decade. Over the years, our friendship had spanned moves across three continents (mine), survived a broken engagement (hers), and endured a mutual ex-friend who was hellbent on destroying us both. We had been constants in each other’s lives, even as the shape of those lives changed.

I imagined a future of park dates and playground mornings, our children

forging a friendship as naturally as we had.

But life didn’t follow the script I had envisioned.

We met up occasionally in the park, or for coffee in the rare windows when neither of us was working and both babies were awake. She had Mondays off, when I was buried in work. I was free on weekends, when she was often hosting openings or out of town. Even when our schedules aligned, our children’s naps rarely did. Fitting time together became a feat of logistical acrobatics.

It wasn’t that we didn’t try. I visited E. the weekend her daughter was born, and she came to see me when my son arrived, bringing pastries and coffee to

my bedside. I showed up to her gallery openings; she was by my side when the play I produced premiered. She took me out for my birthday; I sat with her when her mother died. But gradually, we drifted to the margins of each other’s lives.

I watched, in that toxic, self-destructive way the internet allows, as her life filled with other people - new “mom friends” who had the flexibility to drop by her gallery in the middle of the day, wives of her husband’s friends with whom she went away on weekends. For years I wrestled internally with the contradiction: that E. and I still cared deeply for each other, yet we no longer occupied central space in each other’s worlds.

Often, I blamed this state of affairs on her husband, whom I had never fully

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connected with. Other times, I wondered if in blaming him, I was letting E. off too easily. Surely, she had a say in who they hung out with on weekends, too. At times, I wondered if I was delusional about the state of our friendship, imagining a closeness between us that was no longer there. Other times still, I felt ashamed of my pettiness and greed: that what E. and I had, as much as it was, wasn’t enough for me. All of these things were probably true, to some degree. But over time, I came to realize that there was something else at play, too - something that went far beyond the particulars of E.’s and my friendship.

In my late teens and early twenties, my friendships had been intense and explosive, burning bright but often flaming out in a few years. As I grew older and wiser, better at navigating the inevitable small conflicts that come with truly knowing another person - and better at choosing friends in the first place - this pattern gradually petered out, and the friendships that survived my twenties solidified as the most cherished relationships in my life.

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What I didn’t understand then was that the next stage of life would come with its own threats and vulnerabilities: lack of time, shifting priorities, and the challenge of maintaining relationships with people you care for deeply, but who no longer easily fit into your life.

I did not understand that friendships could die not only because of impassioned fights and mutually unforgivable trespasses, but because of shifts in circumstance, waning effort, and the cumulative weight of small hurts.

The drift between E. and I didn’t start with motherhood. In our 20s and early 30s, we were both scrappy artists trying to cobble together careers in competitive and poorly paid fields. But by our mid-30s, our lives had begun to diverge.

Her world became members-only dining clubs, luxury hotels, weekends in the Hamptons. Mine was bookstore readings, political debates, and dinner parties in my apartment, surrounded by artists, writers, and activists. I found her new friends superficial; she thought mine were boring.

At first, I pushed against our growing distance. I felt sad and unsettled that she had a whole new life I wasn’t - and couldn’t - be a part of. But when I tried to bring her into my world, things felt just as misaligned. It was only when we were alone that our friendship still made sense. In the presence of others - be they our friends, our spouses, or the new people who had begun to fill the spaces we had once filled for each other - we no longer quite clicked.

Then, during the pandemic, E. moved to Los Angeles. We still spoke occasionally, but the scaffolding that had once held our friendship - weekday lunches, gallery openings, a shared city - was gone. Without proximity, the cracks we’d both been papering over became more difficult to ignore.

E. would call in the middle of a workday, and I wouldn’t always pick up. When we did talk, it felt effortful, more like performing closeness than inhabiting it. She visited New York without telling me; I’d find out only through Instagram Stories. I was hurt, and also complicit.

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For my 40th birthday, I planned a trip with friends but didn’t invite her until the last minute. We were holding onto the shell of a friendship, not the living thing it had once been.

Eventually, the quiet ache became too much. After another trip to New York where she didn’t reach out, I sent a long, emotional email - trying, maybe clumsily, to articulate the sadness I’d been carrying. I told her I loved her, but I didn’t know how to keep pretending things were the same. That I needed some space - from the sadness, from the performance, from a friendship that no longer made room for who we’d become.

Almost immediately, I regretted it. The message felt adolescent, overdramatic - a return to a version of myself I thought I’d outgrown. And I think it struck her that way, too. But when we spoke a few days later, we were both kind. E. was surprised - I don’t think she had realized how far we’d drifted. I apologized for dropping an emotional bomb on her and told her that I hadn’t known another way to bring up what I was feeling.

I hadn’t wanted to just suddenly stop

returning her calls. I needed space, and she understood. She told me she loved me, and that she’d still be there.

We never officially broke up. But something shifted. The air cleared.

It’s tempting to frame what happened between E. and me as just the inevitable drift of midlife - careers, families, and the sheer exhaustion of daily life pulling us in different directions. But that would be too simple. If we had truly wanted to stay close, we would have made different choices. She could have invited me on one of those weekend trips instead of always choosing her new friends. I could have picked up her calls in the middle of the day instead of letting them go to voicemail.

And yet, even as we drifted apart, we never truly disappeared from each other’s lives. When my mother died, E. wasn’t there in person, but she was there digitally - watching the funeral online, sending messages that were exactly what I needed to hear. Later, when I returned to New York, she sent flowers with a note saying my mother would have been

proud of me. It was the type of kindness that comes from history - the kind of friendship where you don’t need constant contact to be there when it matters.

Last year, I saw on Instagram that E. was back in New York, celebrating the birthday of one of the friends who had been able to hang out in the gallery during the day back in those early years of motherhood. This time, I didn’t feel upset. I finally felt at peace with the way our friendship had evolved.

Friendships aren’t necessarily meant to last forever in the ways we first imagine. They change because we change.

I used to think I was past the point of friendships ending. But no friendship is entirely safe from change. And while we might mourn what’s lost, it doesn’t erase what once was - or what still is. E. and I may no longer be best friends. But our friendship still lives - ​smaller, quieter, softened by time - ​and still, somehow, full of love.

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AIRPLANES OF THE FUTURE

THIS PLANE IS BIGGER THAN A 747 AND CAN FLY FOR MONTHS ON ITS OWN POWERED BY 17,000 SOLAR CELLS, THE SKYDWELLER IS AN AUTONOMOUS DRONE CAPABLE OF CARRYING OUT LONG-DURATION MISSIONS OVERSEAS AND CONFLICT ZONES. Decarbonizing various forms of human transportation has been a relatively straightforward process. Lithiumion batteries packed inside electric cars deliver mileage per charge similar to gasoline-powered cars, and electric trains have been around for nearly 150 years. Flying, on the other hand, has been a bit more difficult. Turns out you need a lot of energy to keep things running in mid-air, and that can be quite the engineering challenge.

It’s a difficulty that’s been thoroughly explored by solar-powered electric planes like Solar Impulse, which completed a piloted round-the-world flight PAGE 94

back in 2016. And now, a new kind of a solar plane—called the Skydweller— is following in its footsteps.

Although more of a drone than a plane (since it’s designed to be autonomous), the Skydweller—built by the U.S. tech startup Skydweller Aero—contains 17,000 individual solar cells placed across its gargantuan 236-foot wingspan, which is wider than a Boeing 747 tip-to-tip. Of course, seeing as it has no human cargo, it’s also 160 times lighter (thanks to its carbon fiber construction), and can carry only 2.5 metric tons at max capacity.

In April 2024, Skydweller successful performed its first unmanned test flight at Stennis International Airport in Mississippi.

“This is a true, world-changing first in the aerospace industry,” Skydweller Aero CEO Robert Miller said in a press statement at the time. “We are applying cutting-edge, 21st-century materials science, artificial intelligence, and software development to an industry that has spent more than 100 years building piloted, combustion-based aircraft.”

While it sounds a bit like the main character from some schlocky Star

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Wars ripoff, the name is an apt one, as Skydweller isn’t designed with human passengers in mind. Instead, Skydweller Aero sees its aircraft primarily as a surveillance machine, circling the sky and providing much-needed eyes over conflict zones or other areas of interest. Powered by the Sun, the company estimates that it can stay airborne for at least three months at a time—if not longer.

To survive those long nights when the sun isn’t shining, the aircraft is equipped with 1,400 pounds of batteries, and it also drops to lower elevations, descending from its typical operating range of between 25,000 and

35,000 feet down to between 5,000 and 10,000 feet.

Of course, power is only part of the issue—the Skydweller’s aviation software also has to continuously run without error. According to Skydweller’s website, the aircraft’s vehicle management system maintains quadruple redundancy by using “advanced self-healing algorithms within the VMS” to autonomously shut down, fix, and resurrect while the drone is in flight.

The U.S. military has invested in a variety of surveillance balloons and blimps in the recent past. The Joint

Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System (JLENS), first requested in the late 90s, was meant to fulfill a similar role, but was effectively canceled in 2017.

Recently, the U.S. Army has worked with the private company Aerostar to develop spy balloons capable of staying aloft for a month (and were last seen not over a warzone, but instead the city of Tucson, Arizona near the U.S.-Mexico border).

No doubt the Skydweller would add another tool to that surveillance arsenal. Whether that’s a good or bad thing remains to be seen.

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EU EXPORTS TO BUY NOW BEFORE PRICES GO UP, UP, UP CARS, FRENCH PERFUMES, AND MORE E.U. GOODS WILL BE SUBJECT TO A 15% TARIFF

T

HE EUROPEAN UNION AND UNITED STATES HAVE LANDED ON A DEAL.

to life in Italy—and who also will raise the prices of some of its models by 10 percent to offset the levies.

After months of seesawing tariffs announcements on the E.U., the two groups have preliminarily agreed upon a 15 percent tax on goods from the European Union entering the U.S, The New York Times reported.

That 15 percent benchmark is lower that the initial 25 percent levy that the White House placed on foreign cars back in April; and it’s the same tax that’s been placed on Japanese exporters.

Brands that will feel the impact include Audi, which makes all its creations in Ingolstadt, Germany; Bugatti, which builds its hypercars in Molsheim, France; and Ferrari, which brings its cars

Germany as a whole will be largely impacted by the new tax: The nation is one of the top E.U. exporters of autos to U.S. soil, according to the publication.

Germany is also a leader of the pack when it comes to exporting steel stateside. The 50 percent tariff that the White House placed on steel globally was not a part of the deal, a senior U.S. official said.

Production in the E.U., says Julian Hinz, an economist at the Keil Institute for the World Economy, is predicted to fall by .11 percent under the new tariff compared to the levy of old, The New York Times reported. Another category that will see changes is French beauty.

Perfumes and other cosmetics from the nation, like Dior and Sisley, currently face no tariffs upon entering the U.S. Now, in the wake of that 15 percent levy, prices will go up, posing a “significant threat” to the industry, Emmanuel Guichard, head of a French trade group called the Federation of Beauty Companies, told the publication; the move may also impact jobs in the sector, he said.

As for wine and spirits—which the U.S. had announced a 200 percent tariff on imports in the category earlier this year—there’s not yet an update on whether the industry will be exempt from the new tariff. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said the topic will be “sorted out in the next days,” according to NYT.

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THIS SLEEK NEW E-BIKE CAN FULLY RECHARGE IN 15 MINUTES

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ORELLE WANTS TO MAKE THE E-BIKE EXPERIENCE EVEN MORE CONVENIENT. The California startup is currently working on what it claims is the world’s fastest charging, battery-powered bicycle. Whereas most electric two-wheelers take hours to fully recharge, Morelle says the battery on its debut model can be topped up in just 15 minutes.

Morelle’s currently eponymous e-bike, which is being developed by a team that includes legendary mountain biker Gary Fisher, gets its juice from a 350-Wh down-tube-integrated battery.

What’s special about the pack is its chemistry, including a silicon anode which has 10 times the energy capacity of graphite, according to New Atlas. Up until now, companies have tended to

avoid using silicon in their batteries because it can expand and contract during operation, hastening degradation, but that’s no longer a concern thanks to new engineering advances.

Because of this, Morelle says its battery cells will perform at a high level for up to 1,000 charging cycles. Since most e-bike batteries charge at a rate between 100 and 300 watts, it takes between three to six hours to reach full capacity. Morelle’s battery can charge at 1,000 to 1,200 watts, allowing it to reach full capacity in a quarter of an hour. The company is also looking into building out a fast-charging network for its two-wheeler by adding micromobility hardware to existing EV charging locations.

Morelle isn’t just focused on reducing charging times, though. It’s also hoping

to appeal to riders with a lightweight build. Although we’ll have to wait for a full spec sheet, the company says it’s targeting a weight of around 30 pounds while still offering pedal-assisted speeds of up to 28 mph. That would make the bike much more attractive to riders who lug it up and down stairs on a daily basis. It’s also hard to tell it is even an e-bike since its electric hardware is hidden away in its downtube. The bike has a sleek, city-style design that lacks the aggressive bulk of so many of its peers.

Morelle plans to start selling its bike during the first quarter of 2026 at a starting price of $3,000. If you’re worried about stock running out quickly, you can reserve one now through the company’s website for $50 or $100 if you want one of the very first units.

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CLEARING PATHWAYS

FOR SUCCESS

“The kingdom of heaven is like electricity. You don’t see it. It is within you. Just think of any negativity that comes at you as a raindrop falling into the ocean of your bliss. Whatever we put our attention on will grow stronger in our life.”

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N THIS MONTH’S ASCENSION CONTRIBUTION, RAY HIPPOLYTE, INTERNATIONALLY KNOWN, LEADING LIFE AND RELATIONSHIP ARCHITECT, GUIDES US ON HOW TO BECOME OUR BEST SELVES SO WE CAN CO-CREATE THE LIFE AND RELATIONSHIPS OF OUR DREAMS. Hippolyte provides his insights and practices for guiding individuals through their becoming process, sharing the common pitfalls and struggles that challenge us all, and his tested methods for unlocking joy. Hippolyte shares from his own inner transformational journey, as we discuss how the power of sacred breathwork can become our most valuable tool in reshaping our thoughts, moods and behaviors; as well, the scientific and neurological benefits that give us an invaluable edge as executive leaders in a heavily rattled and emotionally suppressed world.

Describe how your own path to self-transformation initiated.

– Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

HIPPOLYTE: “My path began with pain - deep, invisible pain. I grew up in a culture that rejected my identity before I even understood it myself. Being raised in a homophobic, traditional environment left me carrying a shame that was never mine to begin with. Coming out to my family was a necessary act of truth, but it came at the cost of losing the approval of the person who mattered most to me at the time: my mother.

“Then came my HIV diagnosis, which shook me to my core, stripping away any illusion of safety. It cracked open everything I had built to hide my fear, guilt, and grief. That pain followed the loss of my sister Nadim, a brilliant light in our family, whose assassination left an indelible mark on my heart.

That loss was soul-wrenching, and I made a vow to live fully and purposefully, not just for myself, but to honor her. I became certified in Co-Active Coaching and Leadership at The Coaches Training Institute (CTI) in California to honor her life and confront my own limitations.

professionals, a marriage to a successful man, a beautiful home where I hosted retreats, and a radiant daughter. But inside, I wasn’t whole. Just one month after my daughter’s birth, my marriage collapsed into a bitter divorce. I found myself in a new city, fighting for custody in a small conservative and racist town, battling for stability and my sanity. That crisis became my crucible.

“From the outside, it looked like I had made it—a thriving career in diabetes care, leading a team of healthcare

“I had to rebuild from scratch.

Through the chaos, I made a vow: to show up for my daughter not as a shell of a

A M R I T L A L अम ृ त A S C E N S I O N C O N T R I B U T O R

man pretending to be whole, but as a joyful, grounded, loving father. That required a radical surrender of the ego and a full-on spiritual excavation of all the guilt, grief, fear, and pride I had buried.

“True transformation didn’t come from fixing myself- it came from freeing myself. I no longer wanted to survive.

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bered who they truly are.

“They also redefine success, not by the standards of a culture addicted to performance and consumption, but by values rooted in health, purpose, and presence.

“This is the heart of my motto: ‘YOU, Better.’ I’m not here to change people, I’m here to help them uncover who they truly are underneath the pressure, pain, and programming. My work is about amplifying your essence, not fixing your flaws.”

How long do results typically take?

into an addiction to joy. According to Dr. David Hawkins’ work on consciousness, joy is a state of effortless flow and inner radiance that arises when the ego is transcended, and we align with the energy of unconditional love and surrender.”

How do you work with your clients to reveal their blockages and get out of their own way?

HIPPOLYTE: “We begin by slowing down. I guide clients into radical honesty about what they’re truly feeling beneath the surface without judgment.

Everything just is.” We use tools like muscle testing to bypass the analytical mind, breathwork to release trapped emotions, and laughter therapy to rewire the nervous system for joy.

“I weave in spiritual teachings drawn from ancient wisdom traditions like Kabbalah, The Law of One, and Dr. Hawkins’ studies of consciousness, to help clients reconnect with their authentic selves and ignite their deeper purpose.

I also facilitate energy healing and chakra alignment to restore coherence in the body’s energetic field. These aren’t just techniques, they’re portals back to truth.

“David Hawkins reminds us that consciousness is hierarchical. My aim is to help clients rise out of the dense frequencies of shame, guilt, fear, and anger and into the elevated energies of courage, acceptance, joy, and peace. We don’t PAGE 104

resist anything; we welcome everything.

Because when we stop resisting our experience, what needs to be healed naturally reveals itself.

“The deeper we go, the lighter we become. And the higher we vibrate, the more authentic and joyful we feel. This emotional and spiritual clarity doesn’t just transform our inner world; it reshapes our relationships, our work, and our sense of purpose. It’s not about doing more. It’s about letting go of what’s in the way.”

What type of results do your initiates experience when working with you?

HIPPOLYTE: “They begin to feel again, fully. Clients laugh, cry, breathe deeper, and reconnect with the parts of themselves they had abandoned. One called it a “soul exhale.” Many are high-achieving individuals who appear successful but feel disconnected. They often carry generational trauma masked by an addiction to productivity, status, or wealth.

“Through our work, they experience more harmonious relationships, rediscover joy, clarify their purpose, and often make bold life pivots from career shifts to family healing. They stop outsourcing their worth. They stop performing and start living. They become better leaders, more present parents, and more loving partners, not because they learned to “act” better, but because they remem-

HIPPOLYTE: “Transformation isn’t linear, it’s layered and cyclical. Some shifts happen instantly. Many clients feel lighter and more aligned after just one session because they’ve finally been given permission to be real. But deep, sustainable change unfolds over time.

“I’ve seen life-altering transformations in six months. For others, it takes longer, depending on the depth of trauma, the weight of their conditioning, their level of consciousness, and their willingness to surrender. This isn’t about speed - it’s about integrity. It’s not about fixing - it’s about aligning with truth.

“Those who are coachable and committed experience the most rapid evolution.

But no matter the pace, every step is sacred.”

FROM SUFFERING INTO GENIUS THROUGH SACRED CONNECTION

We all experience suffering within our lives. When the suffering is at our own hands, that is, as we realize the pain we create is within us, we can master our paradigm to elevate our own thoughts and habits, and focus our inner radiance on burning through the heaviness of our own painstaking realities. Through the fire of our pursuit, it is the connections and values forged that compel us forward.

According to research by the Columbia University Department of Surgery, approximately 40,000 neurons comprise the human heart’s intrinsic cardiac nervous system, also known as the “heart brain.”

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Through sacred breathwork, we can directly impact both the heart and the brain, and how they communicate with one another to ease the natural unfoldment of our inner power.

The effects of breathwork include regulating heart rate and blood pressure, vagus nerve stimulation, heart rate variability, and improved cardiovascular function. Experienced results range from: emotional regulation, neuroplasticity, brainwave regulation, reduced stress and cortisol levels, cognitive improvement, and mindful heart-based awareness.

Please share your insights on communication with the outside world and tools for reshaping our expression during transformation.

HIPPOLYTE: “How we communicate mirrors how safe we feel being ourselves.

Most people are stuck performing, managing perceptions, or reacting from old wounds. I teach clients to pause. To breathe. To ask, ‘What am I really feeling right now?’ or, ‘Why is this in my movie?’ That one-second pause can change everything.

“We use tools like the Inner Awesome Peace Process to dissolve negative emotions before expressing ourselves.

I help clients shift from reactive habits to intentional responses, grounded in clarity, compassion, and courage.

Communication becomes less about defense and more about curiosity.

Less about winning and more about connection.

“We move from competition to collaboration. Vulnerability becomes a strength, not a liability. And our relationships at home, at work, in community, transform from battlegrounds into sacred spaces for truth and growth.”

Describe your passion for food and how your approach revitalizes connection to the Earth.

HIPPOLYTE: “Food is more than nourishment, it’s a sacrament. A sensory gateway to presence, pleasure, and gratitude.

I used to use food to numb my emotions.

Now, I use it to awaken them.

“Cooking and eating mindfully brings us back into harmony with the Earth, our bodies, and each other. Raised in Haiti and shaped by life in cities like D.C., San Francisco, and NYC, my culinary style is a vibrant fusion of Caribbean, French, Indian, Thai, and Mediterranean influences. I cook with color, texture, spice, and soul.

“When we eat with reverence honoring the land, the farmers, the ingredients, and the act of creation, food becomes a healing ritual. It grounds us. It energizes us. And most importantly, it invites us into a joyful, embodied relationship with the present moment.”

How do you employ food to build sacred relationships in modern life?

HIPPOLYTE: “The way we eat reflects how we relate to ourselves, to others, and to life. Do you eat mindlessly? Binge when anxious? Restrict when you feel unworthy? Those patterns show up in your relationships too.

“At Maison Victoria, I use food as a ceremonial tool. Intuitive cooking classes, laughter-infused kitchens, and communal meals create spaces of presence and connection. We break bread not just to feed our bodies, but to nourish community, gratitude, and joy.

“It’s not just what you eat—it’s how you eat. And who you become in the process.

Savor. Laugh. Grow. That’s our motto.

“Cooking is spiritual ritual for me. It reminds me of life. To be a great chef at home is to be a great chef of life. I use food to teach life lessons, and I often speak in metaphors when I cook. It’s a fun and powerful way to inspire growth: •

Everything in life is a relationship how you relate to time, heat, flavor, yourself, and even the mess.

•

Every ingredient has a purpose just like every person and every experience.

•

You can’t rush good flavor - just like you can’t rush healing.

•

Bitter and bland things, like difficult

emotions, can be essential to a beautiful final creation.

•

Balance is key just like in life - too much sweetness or salt, like too much control or over-giving, throws everything off.

“Cooking with presence is alchemy. I don’t just cook food, I stir joy, intention, and love into life itself.”

THE INTELLIGENT POWER OF PAIN

Pain is a universal mechanism for delivering us the self-reward of higher sense perceptions, greater magnetism and charge and overall subtle energy conductivity through our inner blossoming connection to the creative forces of creation. It is well quoted that as we become more conscious, consciousness evolves, through us and before us. Honoring our sacred breath we can transform our outcomes; rather than becoming enslaved by our perceived threats and burdened by the act of living, the very presence of our enlightened embodiment serves for harmonization of chaos into peace. We exist to breathe.

At rest, the average human produces around 100 watts of electricity, and can comfortably sustain 300-400 watts over a few minutes; in the case of very short bursts of energy such as sprinting, some people can output more than 2,000 watts.

The keys to unlocking the intelligence of this innate Universal power is revealed through the alchemical process of transforming emotional pain into our inner brilliance. As our very own beliefs typically are the source of the pain that we both feed and hold, going inwards to marry breath and awareness, we dissolve our chains at their source.

Embracing our pain through sacred breathwork techniques for emotional alchemy, we become more intuitive, more focused and long-term oriented with our journey’s macro view to enhance our leadership competencies and influential abilities to shepherd beings upon a common path for success. As all aspects of our life come into alignment with our personal growth and spiritual expansion, PA G E 105

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we can find strength in authenticity and excite innovative boldness as we live on the edge of our reality.

What is your view on the connection between empathy, authenticity, and bold leadership?

How has your calling to serve others enhanced your own transformation?

HIPPOLYTE: “Empathy is intelligence in action. Authentic leadership begins with self-awareness - the courage to meet your own shadow, hold space for discomfort, and lead from the heart. Empathy builds trust. And trust is the foundation of all meaningful connection.

HIPPOLYTE: “Serving others is how I remember who I am. It humbles me, heals me, and expands me. Every time I support someone in releasing shame, fear, guilt, or grief - whether through coaching, breathwork, Reiki, or surrender practices, I’m also healing a part of myself.

“My mission isn’t to fix anyone. It’s to help them remember their wholeness by embracing and integrating their shadow. That act of remembrance, again and again, deepens my own. Service is reciprocal. And as I guide others through the liberation of generational trauma, I continue to do the same for myself and my daughter.”

“The leaders we need now are whole.

They balance masculine and feminine energies. They lead with strength and softness, vision and vulnerability. They don’t command, they connect. They don’t control, they co-create.

“Empathy isn’t weakness. It’s magnetism.

It’s what makes a leader unforgettable.”

How do you deliver empathy and help clients uncover their potential?

HIPPOLYTE: “I meet clients with presence, not performance. I see them before they fully see themselves. My training in co-active coaching and energy work allows me to listen with my whole being, to feel their energy, honor their pain, and reflect their greatness back to them.

“When someone feels seen without judgment, something sacred happens.

They soften. They trust. They open.

That’s when transformation begins. Their boundaries strengthen. Their relationships improve. Their joy returns. Not because they became someone else, but because they remembered who they’ve always been.

“And as they rise, everything in their life rises with them: their relationships, their purpose, their peace.”

AN INVITATION TO EXPERIENCE “YOU, BETTER” When you light a match, to excite the invocation of the divine flame, the fire does not originate from the match, the spark initiates an ancient and honored process of transfiguration – a balance of primordial elements in a sacred dance of creative destruction. The fire shall always be, charged in the flowing heat of life’s great mysteries. We all hold the potential to be reborn lessons held within the decomposition of our held limitations. Alignment with our sacred breath is critical to the liberation of the flow of consciousness, and the emergence of our higher self.

In partnership with Ray Hippolyte, Monarch Visionary is inviting 12 awakening executives into a sacred container of transformation: SACRED EMERGENCE: THE RADIANT LEADER MASTERMIND

A 12-month initiation for leaders ready to heal, evolve, and embody the

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next level of success, from the inside out.

This is not about improving performance through hustle. This is about remembering who you truly are.

The leader that leads with heart. The presence that heals rooms. The power that arises from truth, not pretense.

Connection to an emotional intelligence that delivers innovation.

This immersive mastermind weaves trauma healing, spiritual embodiment, intuitive leadership, and sacred relationship work — in service of activating the radiant leader within you.

You’ll move beyond insecurity, fear, and false identity… into clarity, purpose, depth, and embodied success.

The kind of success that liberates, not depletes. Are you ready to awaken the fire of your existence? Are you called to heal, not just yourself, but your business, your team, your lineage?

Are you a leader prepared to deepen your empathy, awaken intuitive intelligence, and build a new reality that reflects your soul’s truth?

There is no more hiding from the source of your genius. The convergence is already happening. The only power that remains now is LOVE. Apply for Sacred Emergence: The Radiant Leader Mastermind Share your name, intention, and a brief note about your spiritual path to: Amritlal@MonarchVisionary.com or Become@RayHippolyte.com with the subject line: “I Am Ready for Sacred Emergence.”

This is not a program you join. It’s a soul agreement you feel. Only 12 seats.

The fire has been lit. Step forward. www.rayhippolyte.com | www. monarchvisionary.com

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FASHION & STYLE

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E

AST DIALOGUED WITH WEST THIS SEASON AT

BY FANG COUTURE, AN ELEGANT INDIE LABEL THAT STAGED ITS FIRST SHOW ON A TERRACE FACING THE EIFFEL TOWER.

Created by China-born Fang Yang, a graduate of noted Paris fashion college Esmod, By Fang is all about blending great European fabrics and silhouettes with clever Chinese techniques.

The collection’s key idea was using Zhezhi, the Chinese art of paper folding, a little like their version of origami, which ranged from handkerchiefs folded into wee flowers to some beguiling dresses made of dexterously folded duchess satin. The result was a very refined series of folded lattice dresses, such as a ruby red sheath finished with tiny buds of jade beads. By Fang also showed breastplate tops made in puckered black organza finished with crystals, or a pair of beautiful chiffon lattice bustier dresses decorated with tiny amethysts – in red or beige.

“I wanted to work with silk and other fabrics the way I had worked with paper.

It’s a homage to my heritage and also to my idea of Parisian elegance,” explained Yang in a pre-show preview.

As the sun descended, Yang staged her show, the refined delicacy of the clothes happily contrasted by the raw power of the tower across the Seine. East rather at ease with the West, just like this collection.

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CHANEL COUTURE

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The invitation for Chanel’s haute couture show this season came with a hefty addon: an advance edition of “Chanel Haute Couture,” a gold-covered coffee table book edited by Sofia Coppola to commemorate the 110th anniversary of the house’s bespoke division.

To emphasize its heritage, the brand transformed an upper gallery of the Grand Palais, which recently completed the final stage of its spectacular renovation, into a replica of its historic haute couture salon on Rue Cambon, complete with beige banquettes and mirrored panels inspired by its famed Art Deco staircase.

Floor-to-ceiling curtains and a deep pile carpet evoked the hushed ambiance

of private fittings at Chanel HQ. The collection, by contrast, propelled the audience into the great outdoors, with chunky outerwear, thigh-high boots and a palette of forest hues.

Ahead of creative director Matthieu Blazy’s official debut in October, it was once again designed by a studio team, though you could sense a shift was afoot.

It’s been a while since the brand had this much fun with texture, from the hulking feathered shoulders on a nubby ivory tweed cape, to the ragged fringe edging tweed tunics or a fluffy black big bird coat — a mix of tweed, feathers and chiffon — tossed over a slinky ivory evening gown.

The lineup was inspired by founder Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel’s love of Scotland, where she discovered her signature fabric, tweed. It was worked into suits with long fishtail skirts, split jackets with military-style pockets, and a long buttoned vest and double-layered pants in burnished gold, echoing the gilded wheat sheafs left on each seat.

Looks were rife with trompe-l’oeil effects, from the raindrop sequins on a glossy black greatcoat worn with a tiered skirt in lacquered lace, to the frothy white collar on a black bouclé wool column coat, flecked with wool and silk tufts the color of fresh snow.

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IRIS VAN HERPEN

COUTURE 2025 PARIS SHOW

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RIS VAN HERPEN HAS TAKEN HER HAUTE COUTURE R&D TO ANOTHER ASTONISHING FRONTIER, CREATING A “LIVING LOOK” INCORPORATING 125 MILLION BIOLUMINESCENT ALGAE THAT SHE SAID REQUIRE EIGHT HOURS OF REST, EIGHT HOURS OF LIGHT — AND A CALM, COOL ENVIRONMENT IN ORDER TO THRIVE.

Sounds a lot like us, huh?

“When it’s happy, it responds to the movement of the person who’s wearing it,” Van Herpen told a visitor, his jaw on the floor, during a preview of her fall 2025 show, which combined light sculptures, stirring music, gossamer fabrics and choreography to pack an emotional punch akin to David Attenborough’s new ocean film — but with the visual poetry unique to the Dutch designer.

A million questions occur about the algae dress, such as, “How long will it live?”

“We don’t know. No one knows. It’s one big pioneering process,” Van Herpen said. “But I don’t think this will be possible to deliver to a client yet. It’s more of a museum piece because it really needs to be taken care of every day.”

Van Herpen fished out a photo on her phone of the squishy garment housed in its steel and glass temperature-controlled chamber, mist accumulating at the bottom. It’s as strangely beautiful as it is mysterious, achieved thanks to a collaboration with engineer and “bio designer” PA G E 121

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Chris Bellamy, who found a way to keep the algae alive in a nutrient gel.

Each of Van Herpen’s 18 looks felt like an ecosystem unto itself: here a kinetic dress in collaboration with artist Casey Curran, undulating like some alien skeleton; there Japanese “air” fabric suspended on wires and drifting like a jellyfish in invisible

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currents, or a cutting-edge “brewed protein” material from Spiber, somehow resembling the suckers of an octopus — or a few cans of Pringles — spilled over a fishtail dress.

The designer combined all that science with haute artistry, also taking inspiration from Loïe Fuller, a pioneer of mod-

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ern dance, and equipping a performer with winged appendages that interacted with the laser beams of Nick Verstand in mesmerizing ways. Van Herpen called that show opener a metaphor for “how we have drained the life out of our oceans.”

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LEVER COUTURE

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MAISON MARGIELA AFTER JOHN GALLIANO

“To do a show after John [Galliano] is not easy, we are all working very hard,” Renzo Rosso said before Glenn Martens’ debut at Maison Margiela on Wednesday night.

This Artisanal show came roughly 18 months after Galliano’s triumphant swan song and tilted the Paris house in a dark, daring and DIY direction, with some of the clothes looking like they had been buried for some time, the antique wallpaper florals faded, soiled and crackled.

Face coverings were an invention of founder Martin Margiela, a conceptual designer with Greta Garbo-like ways who covered models’ faces partly to keep attention focused on the clothes.

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STEPHANE ROLLAND COUTURE SHOW

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Find a Home that Suits your Lifestyle

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MANSION OF THE MONTH

34 WEST 12TH ST GREENWICH VILLAGE NEW YORK CITY 10011

$35,000,000 USD BEDROOMS 5 | BATHROOMS 5 FULL AND 3 PARTIAL | INTERIOR 7,373 SQ FT.

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OCATED ON ONE OF GREENWICH VILLAGE’S MOST BUCOLIC TREELINED STREETS, THIS STUNNING 21 FOOT WIDE 6-STORY TOWNHOUSE IS NOTEWORTHY FOR ITS ELITE GOLD-COAST LOCATION, PAINSTAKING THREE-YEAR RENOVATION, PRIVATE ELEVATOR, GRACIOUS SCALE AND

COVETED SOUTH FACING GARDEN. Behind the fully restored 1860 Italianate façade, awaits a triple mint 7373 square foot house with nearly 2000 square feet of manicured gardens and terraces. This one-of-a-kind home, designed by Studio SC, is matchless in attention to detail and quality of finish.

Enter the Parlor Floor through a double door entry with mosaic marble tiling

and custom Walnut lined coat closets into the grand public spaces which are distinguished by 11’5” soaring ceilings, Spanish white oak floors in chevron pattern throughout and a surround of custom clay and wood paneled walls.

Designed for entertaining, one can easily lounge in the grand living room anchored by a Calacutta Rubino marble mantle, custom built wet bar, and a southern facing rear wall of three oversized glass double doors that open to a terrace overlooking the beautifully

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landscaped gardens below. Stroll down the hall to access the private elevator, elegant powder room and serene dining room with picturesque views of West 12th Street.

Descend the gracious staircase to the outstanding eat-in Kitchen – distinguished by superb walnut lined cabinetry, Breccia Capraia polished marble slabs, top of the line appliances including range, hood and two sinks by L’Atelier Paris, along with ample storage and

pantry space. The accordion rear glass wall creates the ultimate indoor/outdoor experience, opening to a stylish bi-level landscaped garden with outdoor kitchen, irrigation, lighting and sound. The Garden floor also offers a powder room and media room lined with custom made, walnut lined closets.

The owner’s suite occupies the entire fourth floor and incorporates a Caldia Verde marble mantle, Ornare walnut walk-in closets, and a luxurious bath-

room clad in Nordic Grey Honed Marble with a second Caldia Verde mantel, Waterworks fixtures and Duravit soaking tub.

There are four additional bedrooms, all with en-suite baths. Atop the home sits an expansive, fully appointed rooftop terrace. The finished basement offers a gym/playroom, wine-cellar, family room, powder room and laundry room (one of two in the house).

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This smart home is replete with Lutron lighting and a Savant smart home system governing the 14-zone CAC, radiant heated floors throughout, lighting, AV, blinds and security systems.

The South side of 12th Street between 5th and 6th Avenue is known for its undisturbed row of over 20 original town homes dating back to the 1840’s. Taken from the Greenwich Village Historic District report: “Many of the most handsome AngloItalianate houses in New York, with entrances at street level, enhance the south side of West 12th Street. Together they form one of the most distinguished examples of street architecture of the mid-Nineteenth Century.”

jeremy.stein@sothebys.realty

jeremy.stein@sothebys.realty

LISTING TEAM The Stein Team Real Estate Professionals O: +1 212.431.2427 M: +1 917.854.4411 jeremy.stein@Sothebys.Realty Sotheby's International Realty Downtown Manhattan Brokerage 149 Fifth Avenue, 4th Floor New York, New York, 10010

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MANSION OF THE MONTH

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MANSION OF THE MONTH

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2680 TRADER ROAD JACKSON, WYOMING, 83001 UNITED STATES $23,000,000 USD BEDROOMS 6 | BATHROOMS 6 FULL AND 2 PARTIAL | INTERIOR 7,234 SQ FT. | EXTERIOR 11.59 ACRES Located in the gated Gros Ventre North subdivision, in the heart of Jackson, Wyoming, is this newly constructed architectural masterpiece. Boasting exquisite craftsmanship and attention to detail, this home offers an unparalleled living experience amidst the breathtaking backdrop of the Teton Range.

Floor-to-ceiling windows and telescoping doors flood this room with natural light and provide seamless access to the expansive deck, complete with a covered outdoor dining area, a built-in grill, and an outdoor fireplace, perfect for entertaining against the backdrop of Wyoming’s natural splendor.

At the heart of the main level is the expansive Great Room adorned with vaulted ceilings and exposed steel beams. Gather around the floor-to-ceiling stone fireplace or express your culinary creativity in the chef ’s kitchen, outfitted with top-of-theline appliances, tailor-made finishes, and a butler’s pantry.

Step into opulence as you enter the spacious Primary Suite. Featuring his and her walk-in closets and a spa-like bathroom complete with a double vanity, double showers, a freestanding bathtub, and an outdoor shower, this retreat boasts privacy and comfort.

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Relax and unwind on the private deck, offering a sweeping panorama of the Teton Range, or enjoy the warmth and comfort of the double-sided fireplace perfectly situated in front of a built-in reading nook.

There is a private office located between the Primary Suite and the Great Room, designed for productivity and inspiration. With a private covered deck offering sweeping views of the surrounding mountains, this office becomes a private retreat within the expansive home.

Adjacent to the office is the mudroom, a transitional space crafted with custom millwork and thoughtful design elements.

Here, gear, jackets, and shoes find a styl-

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ish home, keeping the main living area pristine and clutter-free. Adjacent to the mudroom, is the upstairs laundry room and an additional coat closet to meet all your storage and cleaning needs. At the center of the home where the main level and lower level meet is a causeway flanked by expansive two-story windows which saturate the home with natural light while providing endless views of the surrounding wilderness.

Located on the lower level is the entertainment and media room. Unwind in the sprawling Media Room, equipped with a full-sized wet bar featuring a wine fridge, ice machine, and dishwasher.

Built-in shelves offer ample space for entertainment, books, and art. Indulge in recreation and relaxation within the gym and sauna, with seamless outdoor access to the meticulously landscaped backyard and built-in hot tub, creating an oasis of luxury and relaxation.

Additionally, attached to the Media Room is a spare Flex Room with an en-suite bathroom that is perfect for supplementary accommodations for guests. The south wing of the lower level is the dedicated guest wing, with four en-suite bedrooms, each offering incredible wilderness and mountain views.

The garage is a haven for recreation enthusiasts, with expansive storage solutions ensuring that every vehicle, tool, recreational equipment, or seasonal gear finds its designated place. This six car garage bay designed to provide maximum utility and with over 1,500 square feet this space can easily house all of your standard and recreational vehicles.

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PARISIAN DREAM APPARTEMENT À PARIS 8ÈME PLACE BEAUVAU

In a high-end building, on the second floor, this reception apartment boasts a floor area of 320 sqm (3,444 sq ft) and has undergone exceptional renovation.

with walk-in closets and bathrooms, a third children’s bedroom with an en-suite bathroom, an eat-in kitchen, a second professional kitchen, and a laundry room.

It comprises an entrance gallery, a spacious living room with a continuous balcony offering breathtaking views of the Elysée Palace, complemented by a bar, a corner office, a dining room, two suites

This offering is further enhanced by a 20 sqm (215 sq ft) service studio, a storage room and a parking space. Secure, fully air-conditioned, and equipped with a home automation system.

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Features highly luxurious amenities.

Virginie de SAINT LEGER Victor Hugo Agency Director +33 7 55 56 11 12

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Polo Lifestyles Vine Finds In Search of Solace

TOP NORCAL SAUVIGNON BLANCS YOU'LL BUY AGAIN & AGAIN WILLIAM SMITH

D

@willismith_2000 COPY EDITOR & CONTRIBUTOR

ESPITE A FAIR AMOUNT OF GLOOM ABOUT DECLINING WINE CONSUMPTION

BY CONSUMERS ACROSS THE GLOBE, THERE ARE BRIGHT SPOTS WHEN YOU DIG DEEPER INTO THE DATA – NAMELY, WHITE WINE CONSUMPTION IS ACTUALLY ON THE RISE.

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Last year, white wine sales increased by three percent globally, and in the U.S. market, white wine consumption exceeded red wine consumption for the first time ever.

Among the many reasons for this trend are producers responding to consumer demand and increasingly investing in crafting exceptional and diverse white wines.

In Northern California, where Chardonnay has reigned supreme as the most planted grape variety for as long as anyone can remember, there are so many other white varietal wines being W I L L I A M S M I T H / P O LO L I F E S T Y L E S

made – including fruity, thirst-quenching, and complex Sauvignon Blanc wines.

I tasted more than 40 different Sauvignon Blancs from Northern California over the past few months and the fruits of that labor are the seven wines I highlight below in this month’s Vine Finds.

I hope, like me, some of these fabulous and interesting wines find their way to your summer tables and gatherings with friends.

As Always, Salud!

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In Vine Finds, we bring to Polo Lifestyle’s readers select wines that have recently struck a harmonious cord and imminently impressed us. In a world of innumerable wine producers, we seek to cut through the cacophony and curate wines suitable for both everyday enjoyment and for those special occasions.

Last year, white wine sales increased by three percent globally, and in the U.S. market, white wine consumption exceeded red wine consumption for the first time ever.

Rombauer Sauvignon Blanc 2024 Rombauer’s Chardonnay has achieved an iconic status in many ways, but their other white is close on its tail. The 2024 Rombauer Sauvignon Blanc was just recently released, and it follows previous vintages closely in terms of its profile – one reason why it is the producer’s fastest-growing wines in terms of sales.

Another reason is that it is delicious.

The color is almost a radiating, luminescent lime in the glass. On the nose, notes of melon rind, lime, and white flowers emerge. On the palate, a vibrant acidity and citrus, kiwi, and melon flavors create a bold, fruit forward experience. The mouthfeel also has some surprisingly additional weight to it, with some of the juice aged in neutral oak.

This bottling is also higher in alcohol at 14.5 percent and the vast majority of the fruit was sourced from Sonoma County sites, with 15 percent sourced from Napa County.

Fine enjoyed on its own, this is also a wine that is elevated by being served

alongside a meal. Consider something with some spice and heat, such as seared sea bass with a spicy curry sauce. You may continue to find the 2023 vintage on local merchant shelves, but again, fear not as we tasted both and they vary almost imperceptibly. $28 Retail

Beaulieu Vineyard BV Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2023 Having built their reputation on killer Cabs with telltale Rutherford dust, Beaulieu also produces both Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. This bottling is Beaulieu’s inaugural vintage of this particular Sauvignon Blanc with grapes from both the Rutherford and Oakville AVAs, with much of it being estate-grown fruit from the former.

The first aroma that emerges is oak, and indeed a portion of the wine was fermented and aged in new French oak barrels. Additional lemon citrus notes also emerge alongside grilled pineapple and peaches. On the palate, aging on the lees is immediately apparent in a rich and complex mouthfeel. Flavors of

citrus and spice are vibrant but overall balanced, and the wine has a long and mouthwatering finish.

This is a more serious and complex bottling of Sauvignon Blanc and I thought it benefited from being decanted in advance to let some of the oaky nose dissipate. It’s also a wine that calls for food. It would be a perfect complement to a simple chicken roasted with herbes de Provence, broken down and served cold with simply dressed vinegary greens. $40 Retail

Wente Family Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc Limited Release 2023 I spent significant time this summer tooling around California’s Livermore Valley, including time at the historic Wente Vineyards, the largest producer in the valley. Wente is still family-owned and its offerings expansive, but I gravitated to estate-grown fruit in this oldest of the state’s wine regions.

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certified sustainable estate. The nose is full of tropical fruit aromas like guava and passion fruit. On the palate, the fruit remains up front, but evolves with bright acidity to include citrus notes and slight hints of spice.

Neutral oak barrels were used for fermentation and aging, and the latter was done on the lees, which lends to the lush and elegant mouthfeel. It’s a deft use of barrels in the end product. Just over 200 cases were produced and is likely only to be found online at Wente’s website.

Execute a killer charcuterie board and serve it with this great expression from one of Northern California’s lesser appreciated regions.$35 Retail

Brasswood Cellars Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2024 If you’ve never been to Brasswood Cellars in Napa’s St. Helena, you’re missing out. Led by winemaker Angelina Mondavi, their wines are emerging as PAGE 152

some of the region’s best (their Cabernet Franc from the Brassrock Vineyard is dizzyingly marvelous), but the property itself is a destination for not just tastings, but incredible culinary offerings from their on-site restaurant and bakery, as well as periodic winemaker dinners.

Brasswood’s 2024 Sauvignon Blanc is made entirely from estate-grown fruit from the Crystal Springs Vineyard in St. Helena. The winemaker described this as, “Sunshine in a glass,” and she’s spot on. Lively aromas of lemon, lime, and honeysuckle unfold on the palate with bright acidity and lovely undertones of butterscotch and chamomile. After my first taste, I uttered, “Wow.” This is the perfect stand-alone wine for a summer evening of long porch talking.

But if you’re inclined to serve with food, go light – a niçoise salad or jerked and grilled chicken breast over a white wine vinaigrette-dressed mixed green salad. $58 Retail

Charles Krug Limited Release Sauvignon Blanc 2023 Napa Valley’s oldest winery continues to produce some of California’s most outstanding wines. A trip to the estate and their historic tasting is both a throwback to another time and yet also stylishly current. Their wines… inimitable. Their Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is my own personal “house red” and even their lower priced, more mass-produced wines, far surpass producers in that same space.

Their line of Limited Release wines is exclusively derived from estate-grown fruit, with the Sauvignon Blanc that makes up their 2023 Limited Release coming from estate vineyards in St. Helena. Seven months of aging on the lees in both stainless and concrete create a bold and complex bottling. Aromatics of both tropical fruits (think passion fruit and mango) and herbal notes (basil

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and mint) rise from the glass and on the palate, it’s fruit forward on the front end with lingering layers of grapefruit and verbena. The finish is long and wonderfully intriguing.

Founded in 1997, winemaker Heidi Von Der Mehden took the reins of the vineyard when Merry Edwards, a trailblazer for women and wine production, retired in 2020.

Only 500 cases of this wine were made and it is most easily accessed either at the estate itself or via their website. If you are inclined to a more straightforward Sauvignon Blanc, their Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc is more widely available and at a lower price point, just above $20 retail. The Limited Release is very food-friendly and can stand up to a heartier dish – the classic roasted chicken with forty cloves of garlic comes to mind. $40 Retail

Merry Edwards first started making their Russian River Valley Sauvignon Blanc in 2001 and in a style that the winery describes as an attempt "to tame the grape’s innate green characteristics."

That style creates a wine with incredible aromatics and nary a hint of the heavy grass and feline characteristics that many associate with Sauvignon Blanc.

Attentive techniques in the vineyard and the cellar, including aging on the lees for five months and a judicious use of both new and neutral French oak barrels, result in an exceptional representation of the grape from Sonoma County.

Merry Edwards Russian River Valley Sauvignon Blanc and Meredith Estate Sauvignon Blanc 2023 While there are many exceptional Sauvignon Blancs from Northern California, perhaps no producer has excelled and perfected their craft with the variety than has Merry Edwards Winery.

The 2023 vintage has an abundance of tropical fruit on the nose, and on the palate, a bright and beautiful explosion of grapefruit and honeydew, with a bit of salinity and oak. Everything is in balance in this wine and the sensory experience from the nose to the

palate is unified, seamless, and utterly compelling.

You have to love the overachiever who, having established the standard against which others are compared, reaches still higher. This is the case with Merry Edwards’ first ever single-vineyard Sauvignon Blanc derived from two select blocks in their flagship vineyard, the 2023 Meredith Estate Sauvignon Blanc.

Here, amphora aging is used for about 1/3 of the juice, the remainder goes into neutral oak. The result is a sublime wine, lush, well-balanced, and crisp with aromas of honeysuckle and citrus.

These wines are profoundly quaffable on their own and to that end, make sure to enjoy a glass or two on their own without food. You’ll thank me later. But if a meal follows, still choose something light that lets this wine shine, like baked cod with an orange beurre blanc and fresh, crisp string beans. $48 Retail- Russian River Valley 2023; $80 Meredith Estate 2023

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HEAL YOURSELF AND HEAL THE WORLD

SPIRITUALITY · FAITH · QUESTIONS · GROWTH · FOCUS

THE TEMPLE OF HATHOR: INVOKING THE POWER OF THE DIVINE FEMININE In the heart of ancient Egypt, nestled amidst the fertile Nile Valley, rests a testament to the enduring, mystical power of the divine feminine: the Temple of Hathor at Dendera. This magnificent complex, dedicated to the goddess Hathor, which is included in UNESCO’s Tentative List, invokes an awe-inspiring sense into the rich tapestry of Egyptian mythology, religion, art and cultural perseverance.

Hathor, the “House of Horus,” was a multifaceted deity, embodying all-encompassing motherhood, love, beauty, music, dance, fertility, and healing. She was revered as a protector of women and children, and her association with the celestial cow and the sky further deepened her significance. As a central hub for the worship of Hathor, the temple attracted initiates from across the ancient world, as this great cosmic mother goddess provided passage for the immortal soul’s sacred journey through the deathly trials of earthly life for spiritual evolution through the celestial heavens, depicted in the famous Zodiac of Dendera.

The temple’s construction spans centuries, reflecting the evolving nature of Egyptian culture. While its origins can be traced back to the Old Kingdom, the main structure dates to the Ptolemaic and Roman periods. This blend of architectural styles and artistic influences adds to the temple’s allure, showcasing the continuity and transformation

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of Egyptian civilization, with ancient Greek and Roman influences. The Temple of Dendera stands as a testament to the enduring power of Hathor’s legacy, offering a glimpse into the vibrant tapestry of ancient Egyptian culture and its resounding impact upon the consciousness of ancient civilizations.

Entering into the womb of the temple, you are bathed with a symphony of stone and symbolism that mesmerizes the senses to naturally enlighten one’s spirit. The temple’s energetic template testifies to the mastery of wisdom attuned by ancient Egyptian architects in harnessing the Earth’s electromagnetic fields, birthing initiates across space and time into higher realms of thought and imagination. The monumental entrance leads into a series of courtyards, sanctuaries, and chapels, each dedicated to specific deities or aspects of Hathor’s multifaceted nature. The temple’s design reflects a deep understanding of the cosmos, with its alignment to the stars and celestial bodies reflecting the ancient Egyptian belief in the interconnectedness of the earthly and heavenly realms, and the will to bridge the divine feminine to humanity.

The temple’s walls are adorned with intricate carvings and decorations, each telling a story or conveying a message. The vibrant colors and meticulous details bring the ancient myths and rituals to life, inviting visitors to delve into the world of

A M R I T L A L अमृत / P O L O L I F E S T Y L E S

Hathor and her divine court. Among the most striking features are the iconic Hathor columns, which are topped with the heads of cows, symbolizing the goddess’ connection to the celestial cow and her nurturing power. These columns, arranged in rows, create a sense of awe and wonder, reminding visitors of Hathor’s presence and her enduring influence.

Initiates in the ancient ways traveled to temple’s sanatorium, similar to a Roman bathhouse, to merge with the consciousness of the sacred waters and spend the night to invoke blessings from the goddess through sacred healing dreams.

Encasing its sides were benches where the sick rested while waiting for cures from priests. An inscription on a statue base found in this location suggests that water was poured over magical texts on the statues, causing it to become holy and to cure all sorts of diseases and illnesses.

As modern-day humanity awakens to our dormant potential for the flow of cosmic consciousness, through transformational energy work, we can imaginatively co-create our lives through connection to the divine feminine. Reclaiming our ancestral magick, we can empower our perspectives and strengthen our mental clarity, as we align with protection and guidance upon our sacred journeys.

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T he Celestial Mandate for a Radical Transformation in Devotional Living

R E N E WA L · C O M M U N I T Y · S U P P O RT · E X P LO R AT I O N · E N E R G Y

THE FUTURE SPEAKS: IT'S TIME TO SHED

YOU WERE BORN TO LEAD “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower” Steve Jobs AMRITLAL अमृत ASCENSION

H

CONTRIBUTOR @monarch_visionary

OW OFTEN DO YOU SLOW DOWN TO SENSE IN FULLNESS OF ABSORPTION: “WHAT MAKES YOU, YOU?”

Not only what brings peace to your heart, but to seriously consider what it will take to reap the most of your sacred creator gift. Within every fleeting moment and with every beating breath of life, there is an opportunity for self-discovery. How much time and energy do you invest in the cultivation of your own pursuits?

Are you simply being what you must, because you are unaware of who you are meant to become? Have you lost touch with the magical sense of self that once fueled your genius potential, and inspired your natural leadership credential? Pressure is paralyzing.

Are you pushing so hard to attain a state that you hope is better, that, in this moment, you are powerless in effort?

Do you recognize your own emptiness as the source of your curse, as you sense the infection within all those around as your own pretentious distractions weigh you down?

It’s terrifying to realize how self-drained and annihilated you’ve become – still, only by facing the truth will your awareness of your higher self-awareness pierce through. Face your perceived problems, and, through introspection, your sense will burn through them all. The power is in the NOW. The future speaks: “It’s time to shed. You were born to lead.”

Passion is the source of your power.

Spiritual fire will deliver you higher.

Divine Kundalini Shakti magnetism will empower your senses to receive in abundance as you expand into your heart’s fullest radiance. You live to deliver, and now you remember the gift in service.

The question is: “Why does this matter so much, now?” Perhaps, it is because you are beginning to feel how it could be, to be true to your journey. Thus far, you’ve been drawn so low that there’s nowhere else to go except higher than

you ever thought imaginable. Do you sense the pull?

Now, the Earth speaks; she calls you home to receive grace and blessings.

Could it be so easy?

These words resonate when you choose to rise and accept what it takes to accomplish a vision true only to the blossoming of your spiritual eye – your cosmic source of power – your universal beacon of protection and guidance.

You awaken as you realize that YOU were born to experience more. When you prioritize your own spiritual evolution, life slows to heed notice. As magick pours from every pore of your divine existence, unseen subtle energies empower you upon the journey.

In this Ascension column, Monarch Visionary takes you upon an educational journey to discover the hidden network of power, streams of consciousness, that can be harnessed to transform critical life outcomes and establish a divine connection to empower you to true leadership. Inspired by the Egyptian goddess Hathor, we explore how embodying our sacred connection and practicing PA G E 157

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HEAL YOURSELF AND HEAL THE WORLD

SPIRITUALITY · FAITH · QUESTIONS · GROWTH · FOCUS

soul-cultivation rituals can support our transcendence out of the norm, and into the paranormal, out of collective hypnosis and into the abundant flow of radiant thoughtforms.

As a special gift, present code CHAKRAS at Healogy5.com for 5% off your purchase of sacred healing oil infused products, designed to purify your consciousness for the secretion of the sacred nectar, Amrit.

EDUCATION ON CONNECTION: NATURE’S HORMONAL NETWORK

Did you know that there is a complex and widely underappreciated interaction between plant-derived compounds and the human neuroendocrine system? In ancient Greece, “phyton” referred to a PAGE 158

plant as a whole, a living organism rooted in the Earth, and was often used in contexts related to agriculture, botany, and the natural world.

Orchestrating life’s symphony in nature and humans, phytohormones, also known as plant hormones, are fascinating signaling molecules that regulate virtually every aspect of plant life, from germination and growth to flowering and fruiting. These intricate chemical messengers act as intermediaries, allowing plants to respond to a wide array of internal and external stimuli, including light, temperature, moisture, and stress conditions.

Beyond their vital role in the plant kingdom, emerging research suggests a profound and often overlooked connec-

tion between phytohormones and human health, particularly in the realm of the human neuroendocrine system. This relationship, termed the phytoneuroendocrine system, highlights a fascinating interplay between the natural world and our internal biological orchestra.

Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese medicine have historically emphasized the interconnectedness of organ systems and the holistic nature of the body as integral components of their frameworks. In contrast, allopathic medicine and the scientific lineage have tended to adopt a divergent approach, focusing on increased categorization and description of organ systems, often examining phenomena at the cellular level to deepen understanding. Over time, there

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T he Celestial Mandate for a Radical Transformation in Devotional Living

R E N E WA L · C O M M U N I T Y · S U P P O RT · E X P LO R AT I O N · E N E R G Y has been a notable integration between traditional medical philosophies and modern scientific methodologies.

The phytoneuroendocrine system refers to the complex network of interactions between phytochemicals found in plants and the human neuroendocrine system, influencing neurotransmitter production, hormone regulation, and overall neuroendocrine function. It embodies the bidirectional communication pathways between plants and humans, highlighting the therapeutic potential of plant-based interventions in modulating human health and well-being.

Scientific classification of the phytoneuroendocrine system validates what the ancients founded their civilizations and lives upon, which is a hormonal-based, conscious connection to the celestial life force energies that permeate and communicate throughout the Earth. When this connection is honored, it nourishes our consciousness; when it is severed, we lose sight of our potential.

In the tapestry of ancient Egyptian civilization, the concept of Heka served as a foundational cosmic force that permeated all aspects of existence. Far from being a separate realm of superstition, Heka was intricately interwoven with religion, medicine, and daily life, acting as the very essence that enabled creation, maintained cosmic order, and empowered both deities and humans.

Heka was the primordial power of creation, the divine utterance that brought order from chaos. It has been likened to an, “All pervading coercive power— comparable to the laws of nature in its coerciveness and all pervadingness - by which in the beginning the world was made, by which it is daily maintained

and by which mankind is ruled.” - Jan Assman, Magic and Theology in Ancient Egypt, 3.

Ancient pyramid and temple sites, such as the Dendera temple complex, leveraged the sophistication of ancient wisdom to harness the natural piezoelectric currents of the Earth to amplify and hone the natural occurring electromagnetic fields for the intention of restoring our connection to the cosmic intention for the evolution of consciousness, the will of the Goddess. While our ancestral memories may have been suppressed over the centuries, the technologies remain standing for us to leverage as we remember our sacred journeys.

YOU RESONATE WITH THE ENERGY YOU CULTIVATE

“As the world you sense transforms, opportunity presents herself in every form” - अमृत Your deepest lows are your greatest opportunities for growth. When we are

faced with our own individual extinction, we evolve our behaviors to focus on self-preservation. It is our mood that determines our communication with the naturally flowing forces of empowerment, healing and higher intelligence.

In fact, it is the fire of our heart that calls for them.

There is no shortage of resources, as we become a vessel for transformation.

The Earth shines with guidance, love and nourishment. Connecting with these energies requires that we clear the blockages, torch the trauma, and restore the flow of our conscious connection to the Cosmos. Emotions are not only contagious, but carry information, in the form of radiance, that affect others psychically – through a similar mechanism that we are in communication with the natural forces of the Earth. Owning your gifts as you begin to shift into leadership supports you in mastering your ability to inspire positive action while honoring the sacred relationships that you attract into your emerging field of healed PA G E 159

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consciousness. Love is an undeniably attractive force.

The moment you ask, you receive. The question is, “What are you asking for?”

We ask through energy. When our minds become bogged down with external stimulation, we don’t even realize that our thoughts are both contradictory and self-destructive. Sacred rituals and practices that honor our connection to the Earth transform the vibrational magnetism of the thoughts that form from our consciousness.

By cultivating our spiritual health through alignment with our sacred vision, our life becomes our devotional gift, or homage to the Goddess, she who delivered the Cosmos into existence.

Nature has her own purification system, in which we serve an intimate role. The ancient Vedic philosophy recognized this cosmic fire of regeneration and purification as Kundalini Shakti, the energy of the Goddess, which determines the health and evolution of our nervous system to magnetize our perceptions in alignment with our pursuits. Where can our dreams deliver us?

MASTER THE ETHERIC, MANIFEST IN THE MATERIAL

“The sacred path sparks the fire of your divine creation.” - अमृत The Dendera Zodiac features the 12 zodiac signs interwoven with Egyptian deities and symbols, creating a unique synthesis of astronomy, astrology, and mythology. This fusion of Egyptian cosmology with Hellenistic sky-lore offers insights into the Egyptians’ profound understanding of celestial cycles and their deep reverence for the stars. The presence of both zodiacal constellations and Egyptian deities allows for a rich interplay of symbolism, linking the movements of the heavens to the actions of the gods and the rhythms of life on Earth.

Many theories on the zodiac’s potential for inspiring dreams, cosmic revelation, and personal transformation, include:

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Unlocking ancient wisdom: Some believe that studying the Dendera Zodiac can help unlock ancient Egyptian wisdom encoded within its symbolism and astronomical observations - potentially sparking personal insights and a feeling of connection to a deeper, more profound reality.

Stimulating the subconscious: The intricate details and rich symbolism of the zodiac could, some suggest, serve as a visual aid for meditation or visualization practices. Focusing on the zodiac’s imagery might stimulate the subconscious mind, leading to vivid dreams, intuitive breakthroughs, or a feeling of enhanced awareness and spiritual awakening.

Connecting with the collective unconscious: Building on Carl Jung’s concept of the collective unconscious, it’s theorized that the Dendera Zodiac, as a representation of universal archetypes and celestial patterns, could tap into a shared human heritage of cosmic understanding. Exploring the zodiac might activate these archetypal symbols within an individual, leading to profound experiences of cosmic revelation and inspiration.

Astral travel and altered states of consciousness: Some esoteric traditions suggest that the Dendera Zodiac might serve as a focal point or a “map” for exploring altered states of consciousness, including out-of-body experiences or lucid dreaming. This perspective views the zodiac not merely as an observatory record but as a tool for navigating the subtle realms and gaining direct experience of the cosmos.

Whether approached from an academic, spiritual, or personal perspective, this celestial marvel continues to inspire introspection, provoke questions about our origins and destiny, and ignite the human desire to explore the vast mysteries of the cosmos.

Once we have tapped in, how do we begin to process the vast of cosmic revelation that downloads into our consciousness: Receive and integrate, reap and harvest until our alignment with

flow manifests in the lives we’ve always dreamt of.

ALIGNMENT IN EMBODIMENT

“To naturally rise, you must be willing to love deeply, and never compromise your value system.” - अमृत Every choice you make has a profound, cascading impact upon our collective reality. You matter, and the love you cultivate is charged to deliver you higher.

Listening to our bodies, as we develop our senses, is crucial to ensuring that we take the proper steps to deliver our message to the world. Connecting with our bodies, particularly through ancient practices, some as simple as self-massage, indicates to our cells that we are listening and that we are ready to heed the guidance as it flows. Leaders never bend, unless to deliver a helping hand.

As our budding gifts welcome us into roles of leadership, empathy for the emotional impact our choices have upon those we influence and direct is crucial for the long-lasting impact that we wish to deliver and adherence to the path that we have been called to embark upon. While kindness will open doors, apathy and ignorance will dismantle our natural connection to genius, necessary to maintain respect as leaders.

We must remember that the goal is never material, the treasure is hidden within the experiential. Embedded within depth of every sense is the potential for magick to unfold; for the forces that bless us opportunities to shine, are conspiring to deliver us into an evolved, empowered, harmonious co-existence.

Finding alignment within our lives start from within, by marrying ourselves to the practices that liberate our blockages, enhance our adaptability, and charge our senses to attune with our future selves’ intended direction.

Visit MonarchVisionary.com and sign up for our newsletter to receive regular guidance and insights to support the realization and integration of your spiritual mission, as you transform your trauma into leadership potential.

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VOLUME IX / ISSUE VIII / AUGUST 2025

MOLD YOUR MIND " T H E M E N TA L B R E A K- D O W N " P O D C A S T I S N O W O N A L L S T R E A M I N G P L AT F O R M S

LIVING WITH FEAR

& BEING BRAVE IN THE FACE OF IT

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J O E Y V E L E Z / P O LO L I F E S T Y L E S

W W W. P O L O L I F E S T Y L E S . C O M

THOUGHTS MATTER COACH JOEY VELEZ

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MENTAL WELLNESS CONTRIBUTOR @velezmentalperformance

NE OF MY FAVORITE MOVIES OF ALL TIME IS “BRAVEHEART,” STARRING MEL GIBSON.

The storyline itself is great and is filled with amazing quotes, such as the speech he gives right before the first battle against the English. Sir William Wallace (Gibson’s character) was regarded as one of the bravest individuals alive at the time, and that is why people follow him.

But what is bravery? Is it something you can build and learn?

On a technical level, bravery is having or showing mental or moral strength to face danger, fear, or difficulty. One thing that is interesting with this definition is that it includes the word fear. Often, you hear individuals say they were able to overcome adversity because they had “no fear” or that you should not be afraid if you want to be successful.

As a society, we contradict ourselves when discussing bravery and fear because we tend to value bravery, but condemn fear.

However, one cannot exist without the other. For example, you are a parent watching your child play on a playground. You watch as they begin to climb the ladder up to the slide, and your immediate reaction is to run over and say “be careful” as if you are afraid they will fall.

Why does the parent respond this way?

The parent in this situation is equivalent to your stress response and it is there to protect you from perceived danger. But

yet, you allow the child to continue their climb without obstruction.

When it comes to these types of situations, you have a choice in how you respond. You can either let the fear cause you to freeze and stay put, potentially limiting your ability to get to the next level, or you can learn to walk side by side and fully display what it means to be brave.

BEING BRAVE The first thing is to change your relationship with fear, danger, and anxiety.

Like with the playground example, when those danger signals go off, that is your brain trying to protect you from what may come next. Too often we treat these signals as forgone conclusions and choose to react as opposed to acknowledging the brain is trying to tell me something and identifying what I want to do about it. Therefore, in order to change your relationship with fear, you have to first understand that this is a natural function of how the brain works and that you have control over what you do with that information.

The purpose of mindfulness and breathing is not to become more relaxed, although that may be a potential outcome when focusing in the breath. But the intent is more to identify what one is currently experiencing without judgment and then making a more effective decision on how to handle the situation moving forward.

FINAL THOUGHTS Eliminating fear is impossible, but it is also something you should not strive for because those emotions and experiences can protect you and help you act accordingly.

Those emotions also signal to you what you value and what is important to you, therefore, they hold a valuable place in your life. If you truly want to show your bravery, then learn to live with fear so that you can continue to thrive no matter the situation.

Another way to handle fear is a more mindfulness-based approach.

Mindfulness is paying attention to the present moment in a curious, nonjudgmental way that allows you to fully experience your current situation.

An aspect of mindfulness is utilizing your breath to ground you in the present. So, when fear begins to amplify, start by taking slow, controlled breaths to grab control of your breathing, your physiological reaction from the fear, and your thinking so that you can more effectively decide how you want to handle the situation.

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