The world’s most gilt-edged stopover? Nowhere is it easier to luxuriate in the good life than in Dubai where food, opulent surroundings and self indulgence are the order of the day. Susan Skelly strikes gold A digital board at the entrance to the gold souk in Dubai’s old Deira district displays the day’s trading price…
Perfume lovers have Nick Smart to thank for retail access to some of the oldest and loveliest fragrances in the world. So how did a property lawyer ended up shrouded in the mists of time? Niche perfume is one of the fastest growing sectors of the multi-billion-dollar fragrance and beauty industry. Of the 2,240 fragrances released last year,…
While waiting to be seated for jewel-like morsels of afternoon tea, there’s a very different menu to check out at the Ritz… There are many things the Ritz Hotel London is renowned for: the world’s best-dressed afternoon tea (five sittings, these days), a tea sommelier, the creamy white Ritz rose bespoke-bred in the Netherlands; acres…
What do Hollywood stars and one of Italy’s most famous luxury brands have in common? As a new exhibition in Melbourne reveals, a knack for being bold, beautiful and bewitching. There’s Naomi Watts on the red carpet at the Academy Awards … Scarlett Johansson at the Venice Film Festival … Jessica Alba at the…
If Anne-Eva Geffroy has one goal in life it is to make her statement pieces of jewellery dance. How does the Graff design director work her gemstone magic? When it comes to a roll call of radiance, Graff diamonds positively dazzle. The Golden Empress, the Paragon, the Graff Pink, the Star of Bombay, the Imperial, the…
Laucala Island, Fiji’s most luxurious tropical island escape, is rolling out the red carpet in readiness for a re-opening, in the wake of Cyclone Winston. If anyone needed an energy drink in recent months it was the glamorous South Pacific island of Laucala, the private paradise on the northern fringe of the Fijian archipelago, introduced…
Why afternoon tea might still be the best chill pill going The Ritz London rolled into Sydney this week, ahead of a national roadshow, with a reminder of just how perfect afternoon tea can be. Flagging the iconic hotel’s 110th birthday celebrations – and a northern summer season of packages that incorporate Ascot, Wimbledon, Highclere Castle…
Sydney Christmas parties are in full swing … some with fund-raising on the side Well heeled, well dressed and well fed … the young and the beautiful who comprise the Silver Committee and their friends decended upon Rose Bay’s waterfront hot spot Regatta for a Christmas lunch to raise funds for the Sydney Children’s Hospital. Paying…
My imagination is bigger than yours! In department store windows around the world, every picture tells a different Christmas story… Wizard of Oz creator L Frank Baum first imagined his tiny, fantastic worlds in the Christmas windows of department stores. Generations later, they continue to enchant. Michael Stahl and Susan Skelly press noses against the…
Hollywood starlet Cyd Charisse was known as “the girl with the million-dollar pins who danced rings around Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire”. So it’s apt that this million-dollar ring by Australian jeweller Mondial Pink Diamond Atelier is named after her (with a happy nod to the colour cerise). The dancer died in 2008, the year…