Porsche’s 2014 Executive Panamera

The folklore and religious figures depicted in the Lüftlmalerei, the murals that decorate the facades of houses throughout Bavaria, seemed to enviously scrutinize the Porsche Panamera Turbo Executive as it passed by them. Yes, the fisherman balancing on the gunwales of his rowboat while holding up a large trout for all to see appeared to […]

Striking shades, sumptuous silk embroidery, and intricate chinoiserie-style patterns introduce elements of intrigue and urbanity to  the men’s collections this fall. 1. Versace wool jacquard coat, $2,795; Ralph Lauren cashmere turtleneck, $1,095; Kiton wool pants, $1,170; Ermenegildo Zegna leather boots, $725; Falke socks, $24; Cartier Tank Anglaise 18-karat-rose-gold watch, $33,900. 2. Miharayasuhiro cotton jacket, $2,000, […]

A New Custom Diego Della Valle, president and CEO of Tod’s leather goods, speaks with boyish enthusiasm about the brand’s new project, called JP Tod’s Sartorial. It represents the first time Tod’s has dedicated an entire floor to custom shoes and bags, which are designed, Della Valle says, to showcase the brand’s artisanal “secrets,” such […]

One of the latest launches from Italy’s CRN Yachts includes all of the amenities—lavish sleeping accommodations for 10 guests, an expansive saloon with floor-to-ceiling windows, iPad-controlled lighting and entertainment systems, a sundeck with a hot tub and gym—one would expect of a 200-foot custom megayacht. But of all the vessels in its rarefied class, J’ade, […]

Though neither ever won a championship at the pro level, baseball’s Ted Williams and football’s Dan Marino played brilliantly enough during their careers to become legendary figures in their respective sports. However, in the collectibles market they do not enjoy equal status. Williams’s game-worn jerseys in good condition can fetch six-figure sums. The helmet that […]

In 2009, Anya Fernald was presented with 10,000 acres of dry land below Northern California’s Mount Shasta and issued a challenge by the owner: Make it productive and profitable. The soil was too poor to cultivate, but Fernald—at the time a business consultant who had worked with the Slow Food organization and artisanal-food producers around […]

A woman must be confident to wear jewelry by Silvia Furmanovich, whose audacious concepts seldom fail to attract attention. This daring designer might adorn a diamond bracelet with a bright-blue, walnut-size Paraíba tourmaline or carve a 119-carat aquamarine into a scarab and set it amid sapphires and diamonds. But then, confidence is precisely the quality […]

With the lowering of the Union Jack and the raising of its own red-white-and-black flag on August 31, 1962, the twin-island nation of Trinidad and Tobago signaled its independence from the United Kingdom and officially became a republic. Fifty years later, the golden anniversary of this momentous occasion has been appropriately recognized with the release […]

I am standing in the shadows of the 11,000-foot-high Tête du Ruitor, staring down a spectacular powder ribbon along the French Alps’ Invernet Glacier. No one has skied this slope—a whopping 9-mile-long descent that drops 7,800 vertical feet to a quiet mountain village—all winter, and Jean-Noël Gaidet, a guide for Eleven Experience, has elected me […]

“From the very beginning, we wanted to create a watch on our own, without relying on another brand,” says Peter Thum, a socially concerned entrepreneur whose 4-year-old enterprise, Fonderie 47, creates fine jewelry—and now timepieces—to fund a reduction in the number of assault rifles present and used in conflicts throughout Africa. “The hard part was […]

Late last year, after signing a landmark licensing agreement with Warner Bros., the Sunnyvale, Calif.–based Kaleidescape announced that it would sell the film studio’s content through a new online service. Fully launched this May, the Kaleidescape Store offers users the ability to purchase and download the nearly 3,000 movies and more than 8,000 TV shows […]

The year was 1974, and a small party of safari goers led by the flamboyant Geoffrey Kent had just crossed the moonlit border from Kenya into what is now South Sudan. Kent was the chairman and CEO of Abercrombie & Kent, a young outfitter gaining renown for its luxury safaris. His client was a friend, […]

Audiophiles can also be slaves to fashion, and one seeking a music system to complement a postwar modern interior will find that most contemporary components are jarringly out of sync with the classic furnishings of Eames, Nelson, Noguchi, and other midcentury designers. So what’s a hepcat hi-fi enthusiast to do? JBL and Luxman may provide […]

Sartorial styles, for better or worse, connect cultures—bridge east and west, link north and south—through the common bond of taste (see “Orient Expressions”). Throughout Europe’s history, shared standards of dress and deportment contributed in their small way to the commingling of royal bloodlines that resulted in the continent’s elaborate network of pedigrees. Today, however, the […]

Discovered as a teenager in Italy by Rudolf Nureyev, Roberto Bolle is a principal dancer at both La Scala in Milan and the American Ballet Theatre in New York. His athletic, 6-foot-2-inch frame has helped make him a powerful presence on stage as well as in the fashion world—as a model for Salvatore Ferragamo and […]

The American whiskey boom of recent years has prompted a good deal of experimentation. Lincoln Henderson, who spent 40 years as Brown-Forman’s master distiller, placed himself at the forefront of this movement with the 2011 introduction of his Angel’s Envy label, whose inaugural release was a bourbon finished in port barrels. With Angel’s Envy Rye, […]

Driving enthusiasts long have questioned BMW’s lack of an M variant of the 7 Series sedan—a high-performance version of the flagship to rival the Mercedes-Benz AMG S-Class. Drivers who wanted such a machine were directed to Alpina, an independent tuner of BMW models. Albert Biermann, the head of product development for BMW’s M division, says […]