Luxist

Leaders, Learning and Luxury: World Leaders Travel Partners with Foreign Affairs Magazine

by Jonathon Ramsey (RSS feed) — Feb 9th 2010 3:01PM

For a side dish of substance with your 5-star, World Leaders Travel has partnered with Foreign Affairs magazine on a trip to the Middle East established as the inaugural "World Leaders Forum," called "The Much Too Promised Land: Israel & the Palestinian Authority."

The 13-day event will have Foreign Affairs' editor James Hoge joined by 42-year ABC News veteran Sam Donaldson, Aaron David Miller, author and former Middle East Advisor to the State Department, and Senior Fellow Walter Russell Mead from the Council on Foreign Relations. From your base in Jerusalem you'll get insider access to sites in Israel and Palestinian territories, including Haifa, the Sea of Galilee region, the Golan Heights, the and the West Bank. Peppered in among all of that will be panels, cultural events and sit-downs with people making decisions that are affecting the entire world.

Trip extensions to Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan are available as well. The $11,990-journey lasts from May 1-13, 2010, and Aaron David Miller will tell you all about it himself in the video at the link below. If your quest for time with world leaders isn't sated afterward, then you can always check out Foreign Affairs' other partnered trip, "Global Challenges in a Post-Perestroika World," which will be a Black Sea cruise with Condoleezza Rice, William Perry, and Mikhail Gorbachev – because Glasnost goes perfectly with luxury sailing ships.

Tags: foreign affairs, ForeignAffairs, world leaders forum, world leaders travel, WorldLeadersForum, WorldLeadersTravel

Hermes Opens First Men's Store

by Carrie Coolidge (RSS feed) — Feb 9th 2010 2:36PM

Tomorrow, Hermès will open its first men's store entirely dedicated to men's ready-to-wear, accessories and art of living. Called Hermès Man, the boutique is located at 690 Madison Avenue in New York at East 62nd Street and stands directly across the street from the U.S. flagship store.

"We felt there was a tremendous opportunity to really showcase all these wonderful products for men that Hermès makes," said Robert Chavez, President and CEO of Hermès USA during an exclusive interview with Luxist. "These products tended to be overshadowed or almost hidden among the other categories across the street. This store will raise the awareness level of our current and potential male clients in this market who might not have realized before that Hermès had all of these products, from our enamel cuff links to the made-to-measure program."

The store will also feature exclusive products that were made specifically for the new Hermes boutique. Exclusive items include a selection of silk ties---one with the Statue of Liberty next to the Eiffel Tower on the front---while another has an apple motif and comes in four different colors. On the reverse of the ties, "Hermès Homme" appears, which is a signature for the new line.

Another signature product that is exclusive for Hermès Man is a handcrafted leather baseball glove, which retails for $8,200. "The baseball glove is a new product," says Chavez. "It has never been made before by Hermes. We thought if we are opening our very first Hermès boutique for men in the world and it is going happen in the United States and in New York City, then we need to make to make a baseball glove. When you think about it---with the leather and the stitching, it is a natural fit for us. When we first saw the glove, we were all taken aback by how beautiful it is. And as fate would have it, as we knew this date was approaching, the New York Yankees won the World Series."

Gallery: More from Hermes Man

Tags: awards-main, hermes, luxist-awards, madison avenue, MadisonAvenue, patrick thomas, PatrickThomas, rene dumas, ReneDumas, robert chavez, RobertChavez, shoes, ties

Valentine's Day Packages and More

by Ariston Anderson (RSS feed) — Feb 9th 2010 2:02PM

If Valentine's Day baffles you as much as 90% of the rest of the country, sometimes it's best to just pony up and let the professionals handle the day. That way, if your date goes sour, you always have someone else to blame. Here are a few ideas we're confident will guarantee you a night to remember.

2 Nights 2 Legends at the Carlye

The Carlyle, a Rosewood Hotel, in Manhattan's Upper East Side has always been a symbol of decadence and refinement. This year, they're offering 2 Nights, 2 Legends to share with your loved one. The package includes a romantic suite for the 14th and 15th, nightly legendary cabaret entertainment (Sunday features Broadway best Christine Ebersole) a candle-lit dinner for two with Carlyle Syrah wine both nights, and to top it off, a couples massage at in-house spa, Sense. If you're flying in to New York for the occasion, this package is sure to give you the best uptown has to offer.

Package begins at $1395. To book, head to The Carlyle.

Tags: new york city, new york city valentine, NewYorkCity, NewYorkCityValentine, soho house, SohoHouse, spice market, SpiceMarket, the carlyle, TheCarlyle, valentines day ideas, valentines day reservations, ValentinesDayIdeas, ValentinesDayReservations

Grape Leaf Inn, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) — Feb 9th 2010 1:01PM

Should you purchase today's estate please let your friends at Luxist know, we'd love to come visit. The Grape Leaf Inn in the lovely wine country town of Healdsburg, California. The 13-room bed and breakfast which has been voted as best B&B in the area by a local news station. The inn is a restored Queen Anne Victorian with stained glass and original wood details. Wide porches face tranquil gardens. Currently all the rooms are named after wine varietals and each has its own theme. Many rooms have fireplaces and spa tubs. There is also a wine cellar which is currently used to hold tastings. This property is listed at $4.4 million.

Gallery: Grape Leaf Inn

Tags: california real estate, CaliforniaRealEstate, estate of the day, EstateOfTheDay, grape leaf inn, GrapeLeafInn, healdsburg

DeWitt Twenty-8-Eight Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) — Feb 9th 2010 12:01PM

Poor DeWitt. They haven't been having a good last couple of years. For a while they were making some of the most interesting and beautiful luxury watches from an indy Swiss watch maker. Now they are struggling to hold on. One of their main allures was the release of very complex watches. Plus I always liked their "castle rimmed" bezels (as I liked to call them). So for this year one of their new models departs from that, and is sort of a bore if you ask me. DeWitt, without the "DeWitt," is barely... DeWitt. While the watch looks like a down market version of their typically stately looking watches, it isn't. The watch is 43mm wide in all 18k rose gold and a complex to make guilloche engraved dial. Despite the standard columns on the side of the case and the intricately made dial, I am just not wowed. A bit problem is the lack of soul. It doesn't really have a theme in my opinion. DeWitt comments that it is part of their brand evolution - which if that is true, doesn't feel like a good thing. It is true that they need less expensive watches to stay around, but I am just not sure their core clientele is going to like this watch.

By the way, the hands are way too short. What is up with that DeWitt?Inside the watch is their caliber DWT8AU automatic movement - not sure who makes that, but it isn't them most likely. The watch will be part of a limited edition of 500 pieces. I don't mean to pan the watch so badly, but in a year from now no one will even remember it. Even though it is not unattractive per se, it just has a forgettable and hard to love style. Again, it lacks soul. Maybe they will have something more exciting to show off at Basel.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: 2010, basel, DeWit, gold, Twenty-8-Eight, watch

Sweet Treats to Send Your Sweetheart on Valentine's Day

by Deb West (RSS feed) — Feb 9th 2010 11:01AM

For those of you who want to send a delicious delicacy to the one you love on Valentine's Day there are some great mail order options. Whether you like cookies or chocolates there is something for everyone.

We write about Dean & Deluca a lot here on Luxist in part because they consistently offer quality products for the discerning gourmand from various manufacturers around the world. Their offerings for Valentine's Day are no exception:

From Valerie Confections an artisinal confectioner in Los Angeles, come chocolates designated as Pour Elle and Pour Homme. Each box contains 3 large chocolate hearts and 8 small hearts with the "For Her" gift box having traces of edible rose petals and the "For Him" gift box is completed with caramel and toffee filled chocolates. Each set of 11 pieces retails for $30.00 a box.
Chocolat Moderne in New York city is represented with a red box filled with 12 hand painted chocolate hearts. The $36.00 box contains two each of six different flavors.
For those who like their sweets from France, the Pyramide des Tropiques from Francois Pralus, is a great choice for serious chocolate lovers who are more interested in the chocolate itself than cute Valentine wrapping. A stack of 10 individual bars each made with beans from a different part of the world and a 75% cocoa content for $12.00.
Eleni's specializes in selling hand iced cookies. There is an adorable box of pink and purple XO shaped cookies 18 for $50.00 If you go to Eleni's web-site there are just under 20 different designs from which you can pick the perfect option for your sweetie.

All of these purveyors have their own web-sites and it is up to you to decide whether you'd like to comparison shop quickly through Dean & Deluca or take your time and order individually from the different stores. Either way you will come away "smelling like roses" but "tasting like chocolate" a perfect combination for Valentine's Day.

Gallery: Sweet Treats For Valentine's Day

Tags: chocolates, cookies, Dean Deluca, DeanDeluca, elenis, heart, valentines day, ValentinesDay

Drew Estate: A Cigar Company's Take on Corporate Social Responsibility

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) — Feb 9th 2010 10:02AM

When you think about corporate social responsibility – i.e., good corporate citizenship – the cigar industry probably isn't the first that comes to mind. The cigar business is small and only appeals to a handful of customers. Though I've been a cigar smoker for close to 15 years and was a consumer business strategist for a major consulting firm, I'd never thought about the possibility of corporate social responsibility in the cigar world – it jest never occurred to me.

While I was walking the Drew Estate factory in Esteli, Nicaragua, though, I began to hear the cues that signal an effort to be a valuable member of the community. The company – which produces the Acid and Java cigar lines, along with newer products such as the T9 and T52 – pays twice the region's prevailing wage for its positions. There are healthcare facilities on the premises. Wood for cigar boxes comes only from approved sources with environmentally friendly practices, and the company makes it a point to hire people with disabilities.

Jonathan Drew, one of the company's owners, spoke with me at length about Drew Estate's commitment to the surrounding community, which involves several measures intended to benefit not just the factory's employees but the people of Esteli.

While the holiday celebrations that involve the entire neighborhood, healthcare for employees and pregnancy leave are prominent aspects of Drew's informal philosophy of corporate social responsibility, I was struck by two rather unusual aspects: food and art.

Gallery: Drew Estate Cigar Factory

Cigar Safari: the resort section of Drew Estate

Tags: acid, cigar, cigars, Corporate Social Responsibility, CorporateSocialResponsibility, drew estate, DrewEstate, esteli, healtcare, nicaragua, NicaraguanCigars

Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club members Choose their Favorite Home

by Susan Kime (RSS feed) — Feb 9th 2010 9:01AM

The shared ownership industry has made huge strides since timeshares first hit the scene in the 1970s. Besides the market's continued growth even during last year, called fittingly the annus horribilis by many, there has been a noticeable shift in quality and design aesthetics of purchased residences.. Gone are the basic ski chalets with cuckoo clocks, and plastic fern-festooned condos of the early years, and in their place are exceptional high-end residences where every element, both inside and out, is designed with painstaking detail.

One reason for this re-emergence of design relevance is a growing awareness that design is found everywhere -- not only in objects, but also in a vacation experience. If an object is badly designed, no matter how much it costs, it will corrode or fail in some way. If a person has a badly designed vacation experience, the memory created will corrode, and be forgotten. Exceptional design, both with objects purchased and in the vacations experienced, fuses the practical with the aesthetic, the visceral with the cognitive, and has the ability to create a positive memorable experience, anyone's definition of a luxury legacy.

This awareness is quite apparent in the high end hospitality industry, where branded and boutique hotels, private residence and destination clubs, villa residence enclaves, and elite tour operators all strive to make the member, the owner, the guest, and the visitor simply -- happy with the vacation design experience both inside and outside the residence.

In September of 2008, Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club was launched, a new equity based, debt- free residence club with an already established brand. Abercrombie & Kent has been a luxury tour operator since 1962 and is well established worldwide as one of the few great brands in adventure travel. And, the residence club expanded the brand, offering unique travel and lodging experiences in a multiplicity of unusual and traditional destinations. Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club is an equity- based club, where members are the owners, and the club runs in a debt free mode.

Tags: Abercrombie Kent Residence Club, AbercrombieAndKent, Destination Clubs, DestinationClubs, equity-based, Hawaii, Mauna Lani resort, MaunaLaniResort, Residence Clubs, vacation designs, VacationDesigns

The $10 Million Race to be Held at The New $2 Billion Meydan Track

by Deb West (RSS feed) — Feb 9th 2010 8:02AM

The $10 million Dubai World Cup, the world's richest horse race, is slated to be held on March 27, 2010 at the new Meydan Racetrack in Dubai. The complex however is open and the first races of the season took place the last week in January at the start of the Dubai International Racing Carnival.

The new complex cost $2 billion to build and is quite unlike anything else in the horse racing world. In part this is due to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum the ruler of Dubai and the driving force behind the racing region. In something out of another era, he had a special route built to the venue just so he can avoid traffic and arrive by boat. The complex and the Dubai creek are now linked by a 4 kilometer canal so the ruler can travel with ease and avoid any log jams that build up in the falcon shaped parking lot which has a capacity for 10,000 cars.

Tags: dubai, horseracing, Meydan, racetrack, world cup, WorldCup

Cartier Captures Snow Polo World Cup in St. Moritz

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) — Feb 9th 2010 7:01AM

The team fielded by famed French jeweler Cartier beat back rivals Brioni, Maserati and Swiss banking house Julius Baer to capture the 26th World Polo Cup on Snow in St. Moritz the other day. 15,000 well-heeled spectators cheered on during the four-day event, culminating in a nail-biting finale where Cartier and Julius Baer were tied 3 - 3 up until the very last minute when Cartier won a penalty shot with only 8 seconds remaining on the clock. A team of seven well-known Swiss star chefs with a combined total of 118 Gault-Millau points catered to the guests on the chic resort's frozen lake where the matches are staged. In snow polo the ponies are shod with special cleated shoes to provide better traction, and the ball is larger, lighter, and painted bright red to accommodate winter conditions.

Tags: Cartier, equestrian, Maserati, polo, snow polo, SnowPolo, sporting, St. Moritz, St.Moritz, Switzerland, winter sports, WinterSports

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#	Blogger	Posts	Cmts
1	Deidre Woollard	158	2
2	Rigel Celeste	59	2
3	Carrie Coolidge	54	0
4	Jared Paul Stern	52	0
5	Ariel Adams	47	0
6	Noah Joseph	42	0
7	Annie Scott	22	1
8	Tom Johansmeyer	21	0
9	Jeremy Korzeniewski	21	0
10	Deb West	20	0
11	Lisa Palladino	13	0
12	Jonathon Ramsey	10	0
13	Carrie N. Culpepper	6	0
14	Brendan Cleary	5	0
15	Alison Wellner	4	0
16	Ariston Anderson	4	0
17	Kristin Young	4	0
18	Laura Malesich	4	0
19	Sam Abuelsamid	4	0
20	Susan Kime	2	0