What’s new from hot brands, designers, artists, writers, and all-round high-flyers
From penthouses at sea to safaris by private jet, Australians’ passion for top-end travel knows no bounds In 2019, at least 30 million people embarked on a cruise, up 6% from 2018. According to the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), 1.34 millon of them were Australians. The 10 most popular cruise destinations last year were…
Bouillabaisse, baguette, Bastille Day … and the Breton stripe. What could be more French? Royalty and the literati have had much to say about Paris. “Paris isn’t a city, it’s a world,” declared King Francois 1 in the 16th century, when it probably was; Ernest Hemingway wrote: “If you are lucky enough to have lived…
A New York hotel celebrates the skill and romance of Britain’s old-time basketweavers One thing the Firmdale Hotels have in common is the intoxicating collision of contemporary art, patterns and textiles. But you can always count on hotelier Kit Kemp to imbue each member of her 10-strong portfolio with a cheeky point of difference. In…
In Johannesburg the past becomes the present in architecture, design and degustation… If Jo’burg had a mantra right now it would be “restore, recycle, revamp”. The City of Gold, settled in 1886, is a shapeshifter whose centre doesn’t always hold. Epitomising the urban renewal push is Victoria Yards, in Lorentzville, a very cool enclave reimagined…
Edgy art, irresistible desserts and a bunch of nice neighbours make the Adelphi Hotel the pit-stop of choice They had me at the upholstered stools that looked like oversized licorice allsorts. And the bowls with all the Chupa Chups, Red Skins, Fantales, Sherbies, and Minties that a sweet-tooth’s heart could desire. The refurbished 34-room Adelphi …
From the vibrant medinas of Marrakech to the riads of Fes and the ochre sands of Erg Chebbi, Morocco’s colour palette is the gift with purchase Colour plays a starring role in the architecture, craftsmanship, food and culture of Morocco. Even taxis play the colour card in this strategically located North African country with the…
The luxury French perfume house, Creed, has opened a boutique in Sydney’s Double Bay. On a November evening in chic Double Bay, the bold and the beautiful are milling about on the footpath outside 36 Cross Street, clinking glasses of Perrier-Jouet to celebrate the opening of the first Sydney stand-alone boutique from the enduring luxury…
A pumping new perfume stumbles into the disco dawn Christopher Chong’s latest exotic perfume for the Oman-based Amouage pays homage to high-voltage 1970s New York — with its celebrities, glamour, energy and artistic daring. The newbie, Imitation (Woman & Man), evokes a time when nightclubs like Studio 54 were heady playgrounds for grown-ups; when Andy…
Premium perfumes no longer owe their cachet to flower power alone. Fragrance is upping the ante with notes borrowed from drugs, French palace floors, and the Three Wise Men, reports Susan Skelly. Niche perfumes are a little like a Scandinavian gourmet pizza – layers of improbable, intriguing combinations of ingredients foraged by a “nose” who’s…
A passion project of billionaire Australian property developer Lang Walker, Fiji’s newest luxury resort epitomises barefoot luxury. Susan Skelly dips a toe in the water… Christopher Kenyon’s beachfront studio might be pumping with Prince’s Little Red Corvette but the canvasses surrounding him reflect every blue of a Derwent pencil set – ultramarine, teal, turquoise, aqua,…