The Top Toys of Summer

In the world of fashion, the word cult is often thrown around, but never has the term been more appropriately applied than to men’s shoemaker Berluti. With a creation myth that describes founder Alessandro Berluti crafting shoes for a troupe of wandering acrobats before settling in Paris and opening a shop in 1895; a client […]

Except for the rows of unusual bottles arranged on pedestals throughout the ballroom, the large gathering in April at the Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong, could have been a reception for a trade conference or a diplomatic summit. People from around the globe mingled, as servers circulated silver trays of wine and colorful delicacies, such as […]

The good life lives on in the Caribbean, despite the fact that some of the region’s grandest real estate projects stalled or completely fell through during the recent housing-market crash. Amid the latest signs of recovery in the tropics are three vacation-home communities notable for their mix of well-appointed residences and resort-style conveniences.   The […]

Opened in 1961 in Toronto’s Yorkville district, the first-ever Four Seasons hotel has long been a source of pride for the city’s residents. But the former flagship of the now-legendary luxury brand has also long been considered the worst hotel in the 86-property chain. This fall, more than a half century after its debut, the […]

Quercus Alba, the North Amer­ican white oak, which can live to be as old as 600 years, played its small part in U.S. history by furnishing the raw material for the hull of the USS Constitution, the world’s oldest commissioned naval ship, launched in 1797. Yet, despite its longevity and notable associations, this tree is […]

“I felt a strong need to come by here today,” yogini and healer Diana Bourel announces as she enters the spa at the Hotel Guanahani on St. Barts. “Now I know why.”   Bourel and I met years ago on Anguilla, but I did not contact her when I arrived on St. Barts. The trade […]

The kill happens suddenly with a pounce and a hare’s tail dangling from one of our dogs’ mouths. Our group sits on horseback in an open field, with the jagged peaks of the Andes rising all around us. Fifteen minutes ago, we were speeding across Lago Azul on a 420 hp jet boat, on water […]

Bill Evans’s 1913 Isotta Fraschini Tipo IM fared better in the Alps this spring than it did in Indianapolis 99 years ago. Isotta Fraschini, an Italian manufacturer that produced automobiles in the first half of the last century, built three Tipo IMs to compete in the 1913 Indy 500, including the one that now belongs […]

Dick Coen hunted ducks before he hunted antique duck decoys. Boyhood memories of shooting excursions with his father led him to collect the carved and painted wood sculptures that are designed—usually—to lure game birds toward hunters’ blinds. Now 78, Coen owns one of the finest decoy collections in America. It includes a circa-1860 red-breasted merganser […]

It is a brilliant, sun-swept afternoon at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, site of today’s Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and for the beautiful people of the Persian Gulf this is the place to be. Soon the stadium will fill with the heady aroma of high-octane exhaust and the earsplitting din of […]

The debut of the lavish Emirates Palace hotel (+971.2.690.9000, http://www.kempinski.com) in 2005 launched a luxury-hospitality boom in Abu Dhabi that is showing few signs of slowing down. In addition to Emirates Palace, the following are a few of our favorite places to stay and play in Abu Dhabi: Set just a few minutes from downtown […]

Ten years ago, Sang Yoon rose to fame with a glorious hamburger—his complex Father’s Office burger, named best in America by multiple critics—and his notorious refusal to serve ketchup with it, no matter who asked. His Father’s Office pubs are well suited to laid-back Southern California, but the French-trained chef also recently returned to fine […]

It is another gray afternoon in London, but the atmosphere on Savile Row is anything but gloomy. On the contrary, the world’s most distinguished avenue of fine tailoring is nearly pulsating with shoppers. A quartet of well-dressed men strides by, wearing fitted windowpane-plaid topcoats like those made here for centuries. Inside Gieves & Hawkes, the […]

If the gentlemen of Gilded Age Newport had as their toys of summer splendid yachts, the latest motorcars, and stables of Thoroughbreds, then their coddled wives had their court jesters—single young men with no occupation other than to relieve these pampered matrons’ ennui during the brief interludes between fêtes champêtres, teas, and balls. Of these […]