Spring Fashion

Some people experience epiphanies when they marry or when they become parents. But Mark Levin’s life was changed by a wooden bench. To Levin’s chagrin, he lost track of that bench, but he vividly recalls the day in 1972 when he presented it in front of his Ohio University architecture class. Following the professor’s instructions […]

Before closing their London antiques shop more than two decades ago, Michael and Lucy Vaughan had learned something significant about the demand for vintage lighting: that quality lamps and light fixtures will sell as quickly as they arrive on the sales floor.   “I think there was a tremendous gap in the market for good […]

In opening its first store, the Kohler Co. has created an environment where consumers can get their hands, if not their feet, wet. The 133-year-old kitchen and bath products manufacturer headquartered in Kohler, Wis., has built a 7,000-square-foot space in Chicago’s Merchandise Mart where you can try out the company’s latest wares, some replete with […]

When a Southern California couple purchased land on a hillside in the Santa Monica Mountains, they acquired a virgin canvas upon which to fashion their masterwork. “We had the entire range of possibilities open to us. It wasn’t like we were in a neighborhood where we all had to conform to one thing,” the husband […]

As much as Jack Smith appreciates the Indigo Island stewards’ ability to provide the resort’s guests with absolute seclusion (“Deep Blue Secret,” page 112), he believes it would be impossible for most high-profile figures to evade detection indefinitely. “Even Robert Vesco couldn’t hide out on the island forever,” notes Smith, referring to Indigo’s former owner, […]

Barbuda is not overtly glamorous, which is exactly why some people favor this mostly barren, 64-square-mile island north of Antigua in the Caribbean. Opened last year on a 90-acre parcel of pristine Barbuda coastline, the Beach House hotel (888.776.0333, http://www.thebeachhousebarbuda.com) reflects the island’s unassuming spirit, welcoming those who want to disconnect from their always-wired lives in […]

Views of Santa Monica Bay and the Southern California coastline from Shutters on the Beach (310.458.0030, http://www.shuttersonthebeach.com) are much, if not exactly, as they were two years ago, but the interior of the beach house-style hotel has seen considerable change. Renovations to the Santa Monica, Calif., property, which Los Angeles interior designer Michael Smith began […]

From a helicopter, the sea surrounding the Exuma island chain resembles a giant jigsaw puzzle: all bright green swirls and crescents interlocking with pieces of grayish blue. The light patches reveal mid-ocean shallows where you can dock your boat, jump out, and stand with the water reaching barely to your chin. The sea turns dark […]

Slicing the neck of a suckling pig immediately after removing it from the oven indeed will ensure that the animal’s skin is crispy when served. The practice, which dates to at least the early 19th century, was proved scientifically valid by Hervé This, a French physical chemist and pioneer of molecular gastronomy, which he has described […]

Powdered tobacco, or snuff, became a favorite indulgence when it arrived in China in 1644, but because Chinese men of that era typically kept their fingernails long, they never adopted the snuffbox, a fancy container from which Europeans would take a pinch of powder and inhale it directly from their fingers. The Chinese invented an […]

A simple glass container would not suffice for the Macallan’s (www.themacallan.com) most recent special release, a single malt aged for 50 years in Spanish sherry barrels. To ensure that the elixir had a worthy home, the distillery enlisted French firm Lalique to design a crystal decanter that resembles the casks in which the Scotch rested […]

  THE EDGE COROJORejecting a trend can produce failure or, alternatively, it can create a new trend. The makers of the Edge, a smoke from Indian Tabac Cigar Co. that eschews elaborate bands, boxes, and branding, likely will achieve the latter. Available only in a roughly finished box of 100, the Edge Corojo is an […]

The promotional posters for Joël Robuchon at the Mansion (702.891.7925, http://www.mgmgrand.com), one of two restaurants the French chef opened at the MGM Grand last October, are overwrought even by Las Vegas standards. On a backdrop of black above a ribbon of royal purple, gold letters proclaim, “Every meal you’ve ever eaten was simply in preparation […]

  MARCHESI DE’ FRESCOBALDI BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO CASTELGIOCONDO 2000The history of Italy’s great wines is a family history, and few families can claim to have lived through more of it than the Frescobaldis, a Florentine clan who have been making wine since 1300. In recent decades, the Frescobaldis also have proved to be one of […]

The cigar seems a rather diffident luxury item when compared to a 300-foot yacht, a 12-cylinder sports car, or a cognac blended from 100-year-old eaux-de-vie. But if you enhance the cigar’s flavor with such rare spirits, as the makers of the His Majesty Reserve (HMR) Gurkha did when they used an entire bottle of Louis […]

After a seven-course, five-wine feast, Tony May leans back in his seat outside I Tre Merli on the Genoa waterfront, examines the ash of his Cuban cigar, and smiles. “That,” he sighs, “was a meal.” May’s declaration carries considerable weight here in Italy, with his fellow travelers, and with his hosts. He is the owner […]

Stored among the Mischief and Mayhem Burgundies in the wine racks at Moto, chef Homaro Cantu’s restaurant in Chicago’s stockyard district, is a shiny tank of liquid nitrogen. “This is dangerous stuff. It could freeze your hand off,” says Cantu, explaining that the tank holds 442 liters, or enough to meet the restaurant’s needs for […]

Grant Achatz, Homaro Cantu, and Wylie Dufresne are the leading proponents of molecular gastronomy cuisine in the United States, but long before these three opened their restaurants, European chefs Ferran Adrià and Heston Blumenthal were experimenting with this form of chemistry in their kitchens. Adrià, 43, is the reigning king of molecular gastronomy, which he […]

Aalejandro Fernández is a myth in Spanish winemaking. Clive Coates has written that the finest wines display the same personality as the winemakers who make them. Fernández, a proud, straightforward, self-made man, was a successful agricultural engineer who designed farm machinery. At 17, he drove plow mules and helped prune vines with his parents. At […]

The rugged terrain exudes a beauty born of extremes: Spain’s glistening, serpentine Duero River winds its way through a baked landscape of red brown soil rich in iron, gypsum, chalk, and other trace minerals. Only the tractors hauling loads of grapes through Ribera del Duero’s sleepy farming towns hint that one is traveling through red-wine […]

A Porsche Cayenne picks you up at the Birmingham, Ala., airport and whisks you to the new Renaissance Ross Bridge Golf Resort & Spa (800.593.6419, http://www.rossbridgeresort.com) for two kinds of driving. The resort, which opened last August, offers classroom training and track time in a 911 through its partnership with the nearby Porsche Driving Experience, […]

Netherlands-based vehicle builders Koga-Miyata (www.koga.com) and Spyker Cars (www.spykercars.com) have paired to produce a two-wheeled treat: the Aeroblade, a titanium-frame sport bicycle modeled after Spyker’s C8 Spyder GT2R racecar. Koga, which has crafted performance bikes at its factory in Heerenveen for more than 30 years, based the Aeroblade’s design and color scheme on those of […]

“Pull!” I bark, but before I can draw a bead on the target, it plummets into the scrub oak, and my shot sails toward the heavens. Scoring a hit seems a remote possibility, for I apparently lack the necessary intuition and panache that skeet shooting demands. But this realization fails to diminish the fun of trying […]

The 2006 Ryder Cup teams will play on a meticulously manicured course that is punctuated by 11 artificial lakes and ponds, and stands of Douglas firs, redwoods, and other trees native to the western United States. But despite its characteristically American landscaping—and its American creator—the layout will not offer home-field advantage to the U.S. team: […]

As dozens of its peers proffer ultramodern interpretations of the complicated wristwatch, Bovet Fleurier has returned its focus to the decidedly old-fashioned pocket watch. These timepieces, however, have a novel twist. The company recently completed the second piece in its Edouard Bovet Collection of made-to-order complicated pocket watches, each of which easily converts to a […]

Shirtmaker Ignatious Joseph once phoned a client of his every Monday for three weeks, seeking feedback on an orange-and-light-blue Egyptian cotton shirt that he had made for him. “Does it fit well? Have you had any problems with the collar? Do you like the color or would you prefer something else?” Joseph would ask, determined […]

Even a piece as voluptuous as the diamond-covered butterfly brooch that Lina Fanourakis recently sculpted manages to exhibit the understated character that defines her work. The gold from which Fanourakis formed the brooch is a muted gray, and the rose-cut diamonds radiate a soft glow instead of the intense sparkle that modern multifaceted stones project. […]

Sometimes the difference indeed is in the details. With clothing, features that might go unnoticed—the lining, the stitching, the buttons—can also be those that place it among the finest. The same might be said of the yacht Attessa, which served as the setting for this spring’s fashion spread featuring refined, yachting-inspired designs.   Flight Deck […]

Gucci has updated its woven GG insignia for its La Pelle Guccissima collection; like a cattle brand, the GG logo now is burned into handbags, shoes, luggage, small leather goods, and gift items with hot stamps and then colored in a variety of shades. The mark should prove longer-lasting than Gucci’s cachet of the 1970s. […]

Like a well-built running shoe, the Lotus Elise is snug, light, and—because it is a convertible—low-cut. Now Lotus has added one for the other foot, the Lotus Exige, which fits just as snugly but runs with less effort and exhibits better balance than its predecessor. Bearing a name loosely derived from the French verb exiger […]

En route from Málaga to Marbella along the scenic expressway in southern Spain, I search in vain for a flight attendant call button. Finding none, I abandon the fantasy and accept that this is the backseat of a fast-moving, chauffeur-driven Maybach 62 limousine and not the first-class cabin of a Boeing 747. Better yet, with […]

It is best, you decide, to look at this car slowly and alone and in a mood set by the soft half-light of a Sicilian courtyard. This painter’s gloom allows shadows to enhance the design elements that hint at the purpose of this sports car, which—let there be no debate—is like no other. Do not […]

These are good times for Maserati, a company that a dozen years ago was only a few signatures short of bankruptcy and oblivion. Maserati sold almost 6,000 cars last year, which is about 20 percent more than it sold in 2004. The Maserati Quattroporte, a fast, luxurious $100,000 four-door, has become the world’s best-selling sedan […]

The year 1980 was an extraordinary, historic, and humbling annus horribilis for Bentley. The company did not sell a single car in North America. There is little wonder that the marque performed so poorly. The then-current Bentley T II was the automotive equivalent of a neglected stepchild. Only its radiator shell and badge distinguished it […]

Audemars Piguet’s latest Royal Oak Offshore model, the Alinghi Polaris chronograph, is a compelling piece because, like many of Audemars’ recent releases, it contains a unique feature: a regatta countdown mechanism, which is the company’s homage to Alinghi, the America’s Cup winner that it sponsored. The watch also includes a new caliber. More significantly from […]

A. Lange & Söhne’s new Lange 1 Time Zone is an impressive watch. Its simple masculine case houses an original mechanism that practically and efficiently executes its world time function, indicating all 24 time zones, while also tracking a second time zone with a subdial at 5 o’clock. However, the watch’s superior finishing and the […]

The Bonneville stands as a symbol of the greatness that would have been lost if Triumph Motorcycles had succumbed forever to the debacle it suffered in the 1970s. A brand-new “Bonnie” is a sleek machine that is modern in every respect except appearance. The bike still bears a resemblance to the original Bonneville of 1959. […]

Sit down in the new F-18E Super Hornet Micro Simulator from Clark’s Precision Machine and Tool (817.444.2533, http://www.clarksmachine.com), shove the throttle forward, and pull back on the control stick, and suddenly you are hurtling through the sky in a fighter jet at 500 mph. At least you appear to be, thanks to the realistic images […]

We are 2,800 feet above the northern Idaho backcountry on this cool, clear October morning and descending toward the grass strip at Cavanaugh Bay, on the eastern edge of Priest Lake. The tamaracks paint splashes of gold in the forest that surrounds the lake, and the glasslike surface of the water below mirrors the clouds, […]

A story that features the confrontation of adversity, perseverance through downfalls, and ultimately the reclamation of glory is going to be a compelling one—and no less so if that tale is about a boat and not a person. Consider the history of the vessel that serves as the backdrop for the fashions in “Ship Shape” (page […]

With the art of the Trench, a new custom service from Burberry, you can design your own made-to-measure trench coat by selecting the fabric, style, color, and a detachable lining. The program, which includes prices reaching as high as $7,500 for a man’s coat, illustrates how far the brand has progressed since World War I. […]