Robb Reportの March 2020 の目次

Benjo Arwas A photographer and director who lives in Los Angeles and often travels to New York, Arwas has contributed to L’Officiel Hommes México, Elle México and Vogue Taiwan. For Robb Report, he captured the season’s best earth-toned fabrics against a Southern California desert backdrop in “Rock Show” (p. 100). “We shot over two days in freezing, 30- to 40-degree weather—the winds reached up to 20 miles per hour!” he says. “It was challenging—we ended up hiking to elevations of over 3,000 feet to get some of the shots—but it was one of my favorite assignments.” Hannah Seligson Seligson is a regular contributor to The New York Times, among other publications. For Robb Report, she unpacked how one might travel sans suitcase in “The Harrowing Joy of the No-Luggage Vacation”…

As the new Aston Martin DBX rolls into the valet at the Shangri-La Barr Al Jissah Resort & Spa, in Oman, its auspicious entrance causes a stir for a couple of reasons. Sure, this is Aston’s first SUV and, as such, certainly stands out against the Arab nation’s predominance of taxis and workaday utes. But the sticker-clad example I’m in happens to be tattooed with Jackson Pollock–like splats of mud, defying the Omani law that cars must be clean. The opportunity to be among the first to get the DBX dirty, however, is worth the risk. Aston Martin has endured no shortage of tumult throughout its 107-year history, not the least of which has been staying solvent during an age when more generously funded carmakers thrive by selling oodles of…

Arksen 85 An 86-foot hybrid, long-range explorer scheduled to launch in 2021. FRACTIONAL MODEL: Syndicate ownership where members buy shares. A CEO manages the day-to-day operation, including the four-year global itinerary. COST: From $4,568 per month for two weeks aboard per year (all management and operating costs included) NUMBER OF OWNERS: Maximum of eight LOCATION: Global itinerary with European homeport Dream K43 A 141-foot ice-class explorer that’s expected to begin its 24-month construction process shortly. FRACTIONAL MODEL: Time-share, which gives clients access to the yacht for 36 days per year COST: From $285,000 per year, plus a one-off introductory fee NUMBER OF OWNERS: Seven LOCATION: Homeport to be determined by majority of owners Njord A 925-foot polar class vessel scheduled to launch in 2024/25. FRACTIONAL MODEL: Private residences allowing for…

If a word can ever be said to sum up a nation’s character, the concept of gaman defines Japan. Consider the range of meanings it conveys: patience, silent suffering, perseverance, toleration of hardship, self-sacrifice, a fortifying sense of collective strength, solidarity with fellow sufferers. It’s what got the country through centuries of feudalism, World War II and earthquakes and, today, continues to shore up the populace as they endure tsunamis, rush-hour trains and drug-free childbirth. If you’re following the Olympic flame to Tokyo this summer, you’ll need plenty of gaman. The Japanese capital will be abysmally crowded and hot, it will be peak mosquito season and good luck getting a restaurant booking. Your dream of sushi in a charming local izakaya stands a high chance of being ruined by beery…

The Serial Entrepreneur  CLOCKWISE FROM BOTTOM: Apple Watch Edition Series 5 (apple.com); Roberto Coin men’s bangle in 18-karat yellow gold and steel (robertocoin.com ); Luis Morais beaded bracelets in hematite, tiger’s eye, and turquoise cabochon and onyx (luismorais.com); Celine sunglasses (celine.com); Hermès stainless-steel key ring (hermes.com); Comme des Garçons leather wallet (shop.doverstreetmarket.com) with Tesla key card (tesla.com ); Bottega Veneta leather AirPods case (bottegaveneta.com) with Apple AirPods (apple.com); L’Objet crocodile tray in porcelain (l-objet.com). The M&A King CLOCKWISE FROM BOTTOM LEFT: Rolex GMT-Master II watch in Oystersteel and Everose gold (rolex.com); Brioni sunglasses (brioni.com); Berluti neutral-color wax (berluti.com); Hermès alligator wallet (hermes.com ); Tiffany & Co. 18-karat gold tie bar (tiffany.com); Chopard stainless-steel cuff links with rose-gold finish (chopard.com); Ferrari key fob (ferrari.com); L’Objet square tray in porcelain (l-objet.com). The…

INVESTING IN OLDER wines always involves a gamble: Aged wines are likely to come with a price premium, and you can never be sure they were stored properly. And many drinkers are especially leery—whether due to a new-world inferiority complex or a (misguided) reputation for artlessness—of aged California wines. Don’t listen to that bad rap. The group of wines known as the California Classics are some of the most sophisticated bottlings anywhere, and great vintages are now in the full flower of maturity. (Many insiders agree that the higher-acid, lower-alcohol Napa and Sonoma wines made before the late ’90s are more age-worthy than those made since.) These bottles are afforded the same reverence as older French wines, and stunning pre-1995 Cabernet Sauvignons are more available than ever to bring collectors…

IN PREPARATION FOR its new, $650 million building by Pritzker Prizewinning architect Peter Zumthor, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) secured government and private funding, promised to open satellite locations to serve a broader audience and, this winter, began to ready four of its campus buildings from the 1960s and ’80s for demolition—but not before artist Vera Lutter spent nearly two years memorializing those structures and the collections they housed. Lutter relied on her signature technique: the centuries-old technology of a camera obscura—in this case a makeshift plywood room, completely darkened save for a tiny hole that allowed just enough light to project an image, upside down and backward, on the opposite wall, captured with photosensitive paper. Her black-and-white photographs of the museum’s facades, galleries, old master paintings…

It’s official: We are now living in a renaissance for sport bikes, the likes of which haven’t been seen since the heady days of the 1980s, when Tom Cruise ripped down the runway in Top Gun on a black-and-red Kawasaki GPZ900R. For the last decade in particular, the motorcycle industry’s attention drifted away from these track-focused creations and toward other niches like adventure touring, which has surged in popularity. But high-end performance never goes out of style, and racier models are coming, with more technology, charisma and outright quickness than ever before. As proof, two very different machines from the category recently debuted: the barnstorming Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP and the svelte and stylish Aprilia RS 660. At one end, Honda’s latest is a 215 hp (European version) missile with…

IN 1989, carpenter Dennis Amodeo won a sweepstakes from music television network VH1. The prize was 36 Corvettes, one example from each year of production. Psychedelic Pop artist Peter Max eventually purchased the entire assemblage from Amodeoat a price of $610,000—for an art project. But much like the ’83 Corvette, which never made it to market due to build problems, that venture failed to see the light of day. The infamously neglected Peter Max collection ended up being stored in various New York City parking garages, with the cars gathering dust and rust for 25 years. In 2014, however, Corvette Heroes came to the rescue. The aptly named group, made up of a few New York real-estate professionals and Gotham Comedy Club cofounder Chris Mazzilli, procured them all for an…

Although last fall brought the expected end of daylight savings and shorter days of sunlight, millions of Californians experienced more darkness than the rest of the country, losing power due to intentional shutoffs imposed by energy companies trying to prevent wildfires. How do you keep the basics running at home in the face of blackouts and storms? High-quality generators, like the ones from industry leader Generac, can be viable options, but that company’s $30,000 unit is still only as good as the amount of fuel available. For this reason, an increasing number of luxury homes are being fitted with top-tier solar, but even many of these systems are tied into the electrical grid and will lose power unless equipped with long-lasting battery backup. Cue brands like Goal Zero (goalzero.com ),…

Clothes generally serve a purpose (besides the basics of warmth and covering the old birthday suit, that is). A sharp jacket and tie for your C-suite business meeting. For a flight, sportswear’s relaxed layers will keep you cool and comfortable while on the move. For a workout, shorts and a tee in breathable fabrics allow you to pivot or sprint without restriction. What, though, should you do on the weekends when there’s no one to impress, no pickup game and zero specific objectives on the docket? There’s no easy answer. A man’s casual wardrobe is the toughest to get right, because it’s entirely self-reflective. It has to be comfortable, express who you are and ensure you look reasonably well put-together all at the same time. With this trio of goals…

When Jason Rubin, 50, decided to build his dream house in Beverly Hills, he made sure his daily drive home would be as thrilling as anything you’d find in a video game. After turning his matte-gray Lamborghini onto the winding, narrow streets above Sunset Boulevard, he climbs steadily higher to a dead-end, passes through a metal gate, slips into his parking spot and, with the press of a button, descends into a glass-walled underground garage. Game over. Rubin, a video-game pioneer, VR trailblazer and vice president of special gaming initiatives at Facebook, has built an impressive career on the strength of his imagination. He published his first game, Ski Crazed, while still a teenager. A game he designed in his 20s, Crash Bandicoot, was a kingpin at Sony in the…

It’s six o’clock on a Friday night in Santa Monica, and Blake Johnson is right where you’d expect him to be. The young serial entrepreneur, who has founded companies ranging from fintech to orthodontics, has tucked into his table at Mason with his wife and kids. He was at the dark, wood-ensconced midcentury restaurant the night before too, but that meal was for business. On both occasions Johnson didn’t have to wait to be seated, and the staff all knew him. On this night he skipped the wedge salad, Dover sole and steak frites to order something not on the menu, because anytime he’d done that before the chef made a delicious rendition of exactly what he was craving. “I’ve been looking for a restaurant that has high-quality food and…

You’d be forgiven for thinking the European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF) Maastricht is stuck in its ways. Over the course of its 32-year history, the Netherlands-based fair has established itself as a mecca for those hunting old masters and antiques, all while largely ignoring both the modern and contemporary crowds. But that trajectory has shifted, slightly but significantly, in recent years. “There’s been a great effort to strengthen our contemporary section, but not to the extent that we want to compete with Basel,” says CEO Patrick van Maris. “We just want to be strong in every category.” TEFAF’s design gallery lineup, a still-growing sector launched in 2009, best appeals to current tastes with a mix of pieces from the last century. Want to be part of TEFAF’s slow-but-steady revolution? Here…

As the boundaries between work, leisure and travel gradually erode, the formerly distinct categories of hotel, restaurant, retail, members’ club, home and office blend and blur. No one understands this better than Sharan Pasricha, the 39-year-old founder of hospitality group Ennismore, which owns the urban-chic Hoxton hotel chain, the tartan-luxe Gleneagles golf resort, a clutch of London restaurants, a brace of co-working spaces and NoCo, a new foray into budget hotels. Pasricha lives the lifestyle of his brand, constantly shuttling around his growing empire, which stretches from Paris to Portland, Oregon. The Indian-born British entrepreneur purchased the original Hoxton hotel in London in 2012 and has turned it into a global enterprise, recently opening its ninth location, in Los Angeles. His next project is to transform the grandiose Bank of…

NOT SINCE THE mid-1960s Corvette Stingray split-window coupe, known to fans as the C2, has Chevrolet stirred the ranks of car enthusiasts as much as with the model’s eighth iteration—the 2020 Corvette Stingray, or the C8. Starting at $60,000, the latest version of “America’s sports car”—a distinction the Corvette has earned from the beginning—takes a wild turn from its front-engined forebears by changing to a mid-engine layout, a configuration that places the car squarely in the company of Europe’s most capable machines. Texas-based Hennessey Performance Engineering (HPE), however, wants to put the C8 in pole position. “We are very excited about the new Corvette,” says John Hennessey, founder and owner of HPE. “In stock form, with 495 hp, it totally disrupts the global sports-car market.” Hennessey’s team plans to offer…

Business aviation’s efforts to have jets fly farther while reducing their carbon footprint has been given a lift with the new Airbus ACJ320neo. The “neo” differentiator stands for “new engine option” and gives clients a choice between next-generation CFM LEAP-1A or Pratt & Whitney PW1100G engines. London-based Acropolis Aviation took delivery of the first ACJ320neo and, as of press time, planned to enter it in service in February. The charter company selected LEAP-1A engines due to their sustainability—they offer a 15 percent improvement in fuel efficiency and cut CO₂ emissions by the same percentage, all while being quieter than the previous generation. The heightened efficiency of the engines extends the ACJ320neo’s range by 1,700 nautical miles, giving it a full distance of 6,000 nautical miles. This allows the jet to…

WHILE IT SEEMS like it might be dreamy, yacht ownership comes with a particular set of headaches. The sun and salt water do their damage. Fuel costs, maintenance, updates and crew management are other hurdles that need navigating by time-challenged owners who may spend only two or three weeks on board each year. Fractional ownership (where multiple parties share costs in exchange for access) can start to look appealing, especially because yacht management is often included in the price. But what you gain in cost efficiency, you lose in freedom of choice, such as preference in travel dates, personalized design and even itinerary. For those who remain averse to the idea of sharing, Ocean Residences may have the answer—118 private apartments on board the future 925-foot Njord. “Fractional ownership has…

WE’RE PROBABLY STILL a decade or so away from the robot chefs and flying taxis unveiled at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, but one trend that’s landing in homes right now is the 8K TV. With four times more detail than traditional 4K and 16 times higher resolution (7,680 x 4,320 pixels) than HD, the latest 8K sets promise crisper, more true-to-life images, larger displays, available voice control and powerful processors that deliver longer-life performance and a wider color palette. Expected to reach the market this year priced at four to five figures, these are the models to watch for. LG SIGNATURE OLED 88ZX TV Already at the forefront of the OLED (organic light emitting diode) TV space, LG was the first to have an 8K OLED…

On the way into Benu, chef Corey Lee’s impeccable shrine to fine dining in San Francisco, you notice a few dozen knee-high onggi, earthen jars in which he ages his astonishing soy sauce. At Atelier Crenn, across town, the menu isn’t a menu so much as a poem, composed just for your meal: You don’t order from it; you merely try to decode the prophecy as you go. At New York City’s Masa, the sushi counter is a solid piece of Japanese cypress, which is sanded daily for the correct tactile experience. At Alinea, in Chicago, dessert might be a piece of pumpkin pie as clear as museum glass or an edible helium balloon, string-guided through the dining room like an ill-fated zeppelin. What do all of these restaurants have…