Table of contents for September 2022 in Robb Report

IN MEMORIAM JUST DAYS BEFORE the previous issue of this magazine went to press, all at Robb Report were devastated to learn that Sandra Ramani, our digital travel editor, had succumbed to cancer. Sandra joined us on staff in 2021 but began writing for Robb Report back in 2013, becoming a regular contributor a few years later. As it turned out, her final piece opened the August issue, a vivid description of a discreetly chic Mexico City neighborhood and the local hotel developer who was launching a characterful boutique hotel there. The story was vintage Sandra: well-informed, deeply reported and elegantly written, displaying a curiosity about the world that never flagged. Indeed, Sandra was widely traveled and, in addition to the US, had lived in England, France and Italy. But…

BEGINNING EARLY next year, Greubel Forsey will offer owners an unprecedented opportunity to reimagine aesthetic and even technical elements of their existing watches. Known as Renaissance d'une montre, the program allows clients to request changes both big and small, from altering simple features such as bezels and lugs to adding complications, including a second time zone. “You can give another life to your watch,” says Calce, comparing the initiative to the automotive-aftermarket industry's ability to retrofit vehicles with new-and improved engines. Owners of a Greubel Forsey Balancier Contemporain could, for example, replace the model's balance wheel with a tourbillon, while those in possession of the Tourbillon 24 Secondes Vision might add a moon-phase display or a small-seconds disc at 4 o'clock. (Citing the bespoke nature of the program, the brand…

Domaine Zind-Humbrecht 2019 Riesling Rangen De Thann Clos Saint Urbain $115 From a walled single vineyard within Alsace's most southerly grand-cru appellation, this bone-dry Riesling is brimming with vivid acidity. It offers complex peach and apricot flavors and strong minerality and salinity that will only improve after 20 years. Oremus 2017 Petracs $116 Just 6,000 bottles of this inaugural-vintage dry Tokaji were produced. Furmint from 60-year-old vines is aged in oak barrels for eight months, adding soft notes of toast and espresso bean to flavors of lemon, pineapple and white flowers, creating a wine that can be aged for up to 15 years. Bouchard Aîné & Fils 2019 Meursault Premier Cru “Le Porusot” $110 From a premier-cru site named for its rocky soil, this Chardonnay was barrel-fermented before being aged in oak for…

Imagine if your entire wine cellar could be delivered to you anywhere, whether you're shuttling between homes or heading to an office overseas. Sign up for the new service from New York–based start-up Baxus, and your prized bottles are just a few clicks away. The company will store your favorite vintages in one of its temperature-controlled vaults—and create a metaverse-based counterpart for each. Plug in an NFT-enabled digital frame from Baxus's partner Metasill and you can summon a 3-D, highly detailed image of your last bottle of 2000 Petrus. Or swipe to view your 1997 Screaming Eagle instead. The frame allows you to show off your cellar anywhere—and minting your own NFTs certifies authenticity and ownership. You can also view your collection, at smaller scale, through the Baxus web app…

While the Italian brands that bounced back quickly this year turned to deconstructed suiting and sportswear, Edward Sexton has prospered in London by staying true to its roots. Known for structured, architectural designs and bold fabrications, the British label is growing fast thanks to its charismatic take on menswear. Sexton's ready-to-wear-collection sales are four to five times what they were in 2019, says creative director Dominic Sebag-Montefiore. “Whereas a lot of Savile Row relies on selling classic navy and gray suits, we've gone more punchy—we're more about statement pieces.” From grapefruit-pink suits to double-breasted greatcoats in turmeric-colored cashmere and sensuous silk shirts in black or ivory, Sexton's creations are nothing if not dramatic. “We were doing this before the pandemic, but we're pushing this harder now, because for us the…

Hemlines would rise and descend like elevators, shoulder pads would come in and out and in again, and handbags would do all manner of peculiar things, and still many of us guys would be wearing exactly the same stuff we did 10 years before. And then everything changed. Covid revolutionized the way we dress. Whether your wardrobe mantra now is “I refuse to be less than supremely comfortable ever again” or “To hell with it—I'm dressing up just to leave the house!” few of us are approaching style as we did pre-2020. This was on my mind recently as I took in the new collections for spring 2023 in Florence and Milan. Many of the traditional Italian tailoring houses had modified their offerings to deliver what their stylish clients were…

When Frieze alights in Seoul this month for the first time, the hip international art fair's imprimatur will officially anoint the buzzy Asian city as the next great global art center. But the cognoscenti have been onto Seoul for a while. Gallery Hyundai, the country's oldest contemporary-art specialist, has been operating since 1970, while South Korea's own Gwangju Biennale has risen above other upstart festivals since its 1995 debut. Western galleries, including Lehmann Maupin, Perrotin and Pace, began opening in Seoul five or six years ago, but in the lead-up to Frieze's debut, the scene has exploded: Thaddaeus Ropac, Gladstone and König all moved in over the past year or so; Pace expanded from two floors to three last spring and is adding a sculpture courtyard and teahouse in time…

Fresh off the sold-out success of Bin 149, a global blend of Cabernet Sauvignons from both Napa and South Australia, Penfolds has finally unveiled the details of its Bordeaux project nearly a decade after it kicked off. The venture is composed of two vintages: Penfolds II 2019 ($350), created with Dourthe, the esteemed centuriesold Médoc winery; and FWT 585 2019 ($80), an entirely French wine (“FWT” stands for “French Wine Trial”) made in Bordeaux but imbued with Australian sensibility. Penfolds II combines the polished structure of Dourthe's Bordeaux Cabernet and Merlot grapes—vinified in France and shipped, via custom-made stainless-steel tanks, to Australia—with Penfolds’ plush Barossa Valley Shiraz. The final wine, only 50 cases of which have been allocated to the US market, is an arresting composition of dark-red fruit and silky…

Van cleef & arpels is no stranger to monumental stones. From the 90 brilliant-cut diamonds, totaling 115 carats, set in a necklace for Princess Fawzia of Egypt in the late 1930s to the 34.64-carat pink “Princie” diamond (said to have once been owned by the ruling nizams of Hyderabad) acquired by the house in 1960, the company's history is full of headline-grabbing jewels. Now, meet the newest: a mammoth 910-carat Type IIA D-Color white diamond rough from South Africa's Letšeng mine, dubbed the Lesotho Legend, which served as the building block for the Parisian jeweler's latest highjewelry collection. Purchased in 2018 for $40 million through diamond dealer Jean-Jacques Taché, the Legend is the fifth-largest gem-quality diamond ever mined. The resulting finished stones range in size from 25.06 to 79.35 carats;…

Traditional publishing has gone the way of the leisure suit. Modern professionals deserve a service tailored to their specific needs and desired outcomes. Italian billionaire, fashion designer, and businesswoman Miuccia Prada once said, “What you wear is how you present yourself to the world, especially today when human contacts are so quick. Fashion is instant language.” When attention spans seem to get shorter every day, how you dress is often the only opportunity you get to make an impression. But, there's another way to ensure the world hears what you have to say. Write your book. BECOMING AN AUTHOR HAS NEVER BEEN MORE IMPORTANT. Amid turbulent markets and ever-changing trends, the world needs your wisdom and expertise more than ever. By sharing your knowledge, you create a bridge to something…

WHEN JULIEN LAGUESTE recalls his childhood growing up in the French city of La Trinité-sur-Mer, a memory firmly fixed in his mind are the summers his family would spend by the sea. He was entranced by the Mediterranean landscape, so it's not by chance that the designer's work evokes the shore—the paleness of the sand, the organic shape of eroded stone, the reflections and blue hue of the water. Using wood and epoxy resin to mesmerizing effect, Lagueste's experimental series of coffee and side tables creates the illusion of looking at the cerulean-colored ocean itself. It was for his 2016 graduate thesis at the Cread Institut in Lyon that Lagueste, 33, conceptualized the theme for his first collection, Souvenirs des îles. “I drew the first three pieces of furniture for…

GENIUS AT WORK Since its founding in 1895, Parisian shoemaker Berluti has been known for balancing classical craftsmanship with an irreverent streak. Alessandro Berluti, the brand's founder, made his name with a sleekly sculpted whole-cut oxford featuring minimal stitching—a strikingly modern design for the late 19th century. Almost 100 years later, his descendants bucked tradition by developing a leather-dyeing method that yields vibrant colors and painterly patinas, creating shoes that stand out in a sea of sober browns and blacks. Now the brand has channeled that rebellious spirit into a design that defies cordwaining convention: a sneaker that employs all the technical know-how used for its dress shoes. Dubbed the Play-Off, the high-top takes its cues from kicks built for the basketball court, and while this isn't Berluti's first sneaker,…

Lürssen Ahpo The 378-foot Ahpo, delivered to its Jamaican owner earlier this year, promises to be the most colorful gigayacht at Monaco, with a mosaic spa at the heart of its outstanding wellness area, four pools of various sizes and a standout beach club. Designer Nuvolari Lenard also created a dedicated space catering to the multigenerational family, with a split-level suite for the owners, adjoining cabins for their children and parents and total accommodations for up to 16 guests. The interior features Asian-influenced designs, including silk wallpaper, hand embroidery and elaborate inlays of flying flamingoes, ginkgo leaves and red maple trees. Even the onboard IMAX Dolby cinema has twinkling LED stars in the ceiling. Heesen Lusine This 197-footer, with an exterior by Omega Architects and interior by Sinot, is one of…

The last Friday in June began like a normal summer day in sunny Orlando, Fla.: The weather was hot and sticky; obedient crowds filed into Disney World as if on a spiritual pilgrimage. At the Orlando Museum of Art (OMA), a much-hyped exhibition was in its final days. Billed as a stash of previously unseen pieces by the late '80s star Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose neoexpressionist paintings sell for tens of millions of dollars, the Heroes and Monsters show of 25 artworks was to be a splashy coup for the museum, a quiet regional institution unaccustomed to the national spotlight. After all, Basquiat's paintings are not only highly coveted, but his subversive start as a graffiti artist, his crossover appeal—Madonna dated him; Jay-Z rapped about owning his doodle-like work—and his death…

One museum heist, or perhaps the publicity surrounding it, is credited with making a priceless masterpiece of a painting that had been celebrated by aficionados but virtually unknown to the public: the Mona Lisa. One August morning in 1911, three thieves secreted the small Leonardo da Vinci out of the Louvre and onto a train at the Quai d'Orsay (ironically now the site of another beloved museum). It took more than a day for anyone to notice the empty picture hooks. But once word was out, newspapers around the world ran with the sensational story. Suspicion fell on everyone from playwright Guillaume Apollinaire and Pablo Picasso, both of whom were interrogated, to magnate J. P. Morgan and the German kaiser. Gawkers came to visit the vacant spot on the Louvre's…

Louis vuitton VS. Ralph Lauren THE RESTAURANT Located in the garden of the White 1921 hotel in the heart of Saint-Tropez, Mory Sacko at Louis Vuitton keeps things simple, with manicured green hedges, elegant couches and chairs and hanging leather lanterns ($9,350 each) from the brand's elite Objets Nomades collection. With its dark wood, leather booths and so many equestrian photos and paintings that you might want to be careful where you step, the Polo Bar transports you from Manhattan's Fifth Avenue to a private clubhouse. But it's a friendly aristocracy—make yourself at home. THE CHEF With a Michelin star and his own television show, Mory Sacko is one of the hottest young chefs in Paris, known for combining French cuisine with African and Japanese influences. Um, chef? The Polo…

STYLE PLEATS, PLEASE If you've sworn off pleated pants, it's time to reconsider the objectively comfy design detail. Teamed with a turtleneck and suede jacket, the roomy cut looks decidedly streamlined. KING-SIZED Wider legs lend themselves to proportion play, such as this ensemble combining an oversized overshirt and boots with hefty Vibram soles with a bantamweight bag and knit cap. GET WAISTED The volume of wide-legged trousers is best balanced by a well-defined waist, which makes a good belt essential. From braided to brass-buckled, here are some of the best this season. SILVER FOX Channel 1940s stars such as Gary Cooper by pairing roomy flannel trousers with a tucked-in sweater—a classically elegant silhouette made modern in tonal shades of gray. To Knot, or Not to Knot? Yet again, rumors of…

Can the Catskills finally claim some cachet? A host of new openings suggests that the quiet, sylvan areas north of Manhattan are on the upswing. Take the much-delayed 11-room Chatwal Lodge, which at long last debuted earlier this summer as an all-inclusive camp with a design that nods to the classic Adirondack estates of the Gilded Age. Room rates at the Sullivan County resort, starting at $1,200 per couple, include meals and outdoor activities—such as boating, canoeing and paddleboarding—around the 100-acre site. This hotel will soon be joined by the first New York state location from Auberge Resorts, Wildflower Farms, in nearby Ulster County (double rooms from $1,000). Its 140 acres are dotted with 65 freestanding cabins—the largest is 980 square feet—and is heavy on year-round countrified details (think both…

Plyn Duo Big Vase, Faina Ukrainian architect Victoria Yakusha, who established her furniture line, Faina, in 2014, considers Plyn vases to be portraits of water fashioned from glass. The Big Duo (second from left), one of five forms in the decor series, features two necks that evoke merging bodies of water. The smoky glass, which ranges from translucent to opaque, is crafted using an ancient Ukrainian technique called gutnytstvo; it's blown and shaped manually rather than with molds, so every vessel is unique. Around $760 Egg Anniversary Edition, Fritz Hansen To commemorate its 150th anniversary, Danish furniture manufacturer Fritz Hansen dug into its archive to re-issue select iconic designs, which it imbued with of-the-moment detailing. Unsurprisingly, Arne Jacobsen's Egg chair is among them. The curvy, big-backed seat features a black,…