Tom Ford Says Fashion Will Come Back
The famed designer talks spring 2021, partnering with the Brits, virtual fittings, live shows and fashion’s path back from COVID-19 devastation.
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Tom Ford is out of his comfort zone these days, a card-carrying realist in an alternate-reality world of the most bizarre sort. As it does to most of us, the strangeness of life today unsettles him, and unsettled isn’t a neighbourhood in which he typically lingers. “It’s surreal,” Ford says. “Don’t you sometimes just wake up and think, ‘how is this actually happening?’”
Still, he shifts quickly from dream-sequence musing to practical assessment. “It makes you realise how fragile our world is. We’ve had this false sense of security as a global economy and structure, and we’ve seen it so easily completely upended and disrupted.”
That disruption hits home powerfully this morning. Shortly before our conversation, Ford had a call with his senior management team during which he told them of a salary cut, their second since the COVID-19 lockdown started. It was highly emotional yet the prevailing response was oddly positive. “We’re all like a family, and people know that to survive we all have to sacrifice,” he says. “Our number-one priority is to preserve our staff and prepare for the future.”
Ford, who is now the chair of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) believes firmly in that future, though he predicts that any sense of normalcy is a good year off at least. He’s determined to see his brand through the turmoil, at the end of which he envisions a happy comeback for fashion. No, he’s not being a Pollyanna, merely a pragmatist. “It’s human nature,” he says, “to want to adorn.”
B.F: You think this will go on for a year?
Tom Ford: If you listen to scientists, there’s no way not to conclude that it’s going to last another year. There are places where there’s no social distancing going on, and those people are going onto their communities and potentially spreading the virus. Then you realise that only 5 per cent of the American population has been infected and that to reach a herd immunity you’ve got to get to 60 to 70 per cent. And you imagine flu season rolling around, and a city like New York where if you’re going to work and you have to take the subway. I don’t see how it can not continue. I just don’t see it.
B.F: A lot of people want things to open up.
T.F.: We’re a hopeful creature, humans. When we’re born, we’re hopeful that somehow we’re not going to die, but we do. All sorts of bad things are going to happen to us, but we’re always hopeful.
B.F: New York is starting to open.
T.F.: Based on pressure from our political system. That’s unfortunate. That’s why for our business we’re planning on this lasting a year. I hope it’s only a year because, after this, I think it will take more time for luxury and fashion to recover. I think people will have become used to not dressing, and to not going out.
B.F: That’s for sure. We’re getting maybe a little too accustomed to pyjama pants.
T.F.: Some friends of mine are going to go grey who would never have gone grey. They can’t get to the colourist, and they’re deciding, “You know what? I kind of like this; I look great.” Increasingly, you see people on Zoom with no makeup. They look good; they’re starting to feel comfortable with that. So I think it will take time to recover.
B.F: But they will recover, and go back to makeup and dressing up?
T.F.: It will definitely recover. What happened after the Spanish flu? We had the Roaring Twenties. We had consumption and flappers and makeup and exuberance. It’s human nature to want to adorn; it’s human nature to want to have things other people don’t have, to show off, to express yourself. Pre-civilization people decorated themselves. I believe it ultimately will absolutely come back in full force, but I think it will take a little while.
B.F: A slow recovery.
T.F.: We’re finding in the places that we have been able to reopen in a very limited way that there is not the market right now, there is not the desire right now for fashion. I really feel fashion needs to hibernate.
B.F: And you have to stay fluid while adjusting, right?
T.F.: Look at New York. We were supposed to be able to open June 1, now it’s not till June 15. London, the same thing, June 15. We’ll see. But if there is a spike, will those stores be able to reopen? And our reopening plans — we can only have so many people in the store at the same time. Customers are not allowed to touch the merchandise; only the sales associates can touch things. You can try on a dress and if you [don’t buy it], it has to be quarantined for 48 hours. We steam it, we quarantine it for 48 hours, no one else can try it on. If you want to try on a watch, we wrap your arm in Saran Wrap and then we put the watch on.
B.F: A delightful shopping experience.
T.F.: But If you can’t go to a restaurant, why do you need a new dress and a pair of heels? If you can’t go to an office, why do you need a suit and a tie? Maybe you need some new sneakers. Luckily we make sneakers, we make T-shirts, we make underwear, we make fragrance and cosmetics. But even fragrance and cosmetics have seen a downturn because so much of that business is duty-free, in airport shops all over the world, and no one is travelling. And people are in masks, so do they need as much lipstick? Everyone’s getting used to not adorning themselves.
I don’t mean to be all doom and gloom because, as I said, I believe that ultimately it is human nature to adorn one’s self and express your personality through clothes. So once things really reopen safely, all of this will come back. It will come back fully once it’s really safe to go to a restaurant, a nightclub, an event, a party, a wedding. But to fool ourselves into thinking it’s going to happen [soon] is a mistake in terms of business. The goal is to survive. Maintain your image, survive with the perception of your brand intact, with your key people in place, with as much of your real estate as you can maintain, and just survive. To me, that’s the goal.… I mean, everything is going to shift. It’s all going to have to shift.
Tom Ford RTW Fall 2020 John Salangsang/WWD
B.F: Let’s move onto the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) -British Fashion Council (BFC) joint statement about shows. How did that come about?
T.F.: We have been talking also with the French and the Italians. We’ve had quite a few Zoom calls, all four of us. The businesses are different. The French needed to make their own announcement, which I don’t believe they’ve done yet. The Italians did — Carlo [Capasa] spoke yesterday, or the day before. I understood where Carlo was coming from with the men’s and women’s. Men’s wear is a major industry in Italy, so I understand why he wanted to emphasise the importance of men’s fashion shows. It is a totally different industry, different buyers, different journalists. For America that industry is not as developed. Here, in recommending two shows a year, I think combining men’s and women’s in America makes sense. And America doesn’t have a strongly developed men’s fashion week. So that was a difference.
The British Fashion Council and the CFDA agreed really on almost everything, so we felt we should put out a joint statement, to be as unified as possible. Again, I understand why France and Italy are a bit different because they are also both powerful manufacturing centres and have different needs. But we all agreed on cutting back the number of collections and all of that.
B.F: In the CFDA-BFC statement, you seemed to be really targeting the concept of that globe-trotting, mega-itinerant show. Were you?
T.F.: Yes. I’m just reflecting what I hear from people. I hear from buyers, I hear from journalists, I certainly know what a stress it is from a design standpoint to be creating a show. And they are often cruise shows, preshows.
B.F: The points you made that resonated most were two primary seasons, with finite fashion weeks, and within the four cities?
Increasingly, a fashion show has become the creation of an Instagrammable moment. In order to have that moment, you need the people in the room that other people following you want to see. You need that, if we’re talking physical shows. I hope we will return to physical shows. I think a filmed play doesn’t carry the same weight as sitting in the audience and watching the play. The same is true of a fashion show. I still believe a fashion show is the best way to show clothes. But there should be less of them, and they need to be concentrated. It’d more useful if everyone is doing it at or near the same time and in the same cities and on the same cycle.
B.F: Everyone has been talking sustainability for some time, and now, slower, more thoughtful fashion. Do you think that suddenly the optics will look bad if the legacy brands go back to the itinerant shows?
T.F.: I definitely think the optics look bad…sometimes now optics are almost more important than reality. I think yes, the optics don’t look good. You can’t be talking about sustainability and then be asking everyone to fly somewhere [for a single show].
B.F: Over the past month first we heard from Francesca Bellettini and Anthony Vaccarello at Saint Laurent, and then earlier this week, from Alessandro Michele at Gucci. What is your take on what they had to say about their show plans?
T.F.: I understood where Alessandro was coming from. It was very much what we’ve all been talking about, which is fewer shows and more creativity. But I found his comments a little vague in terms of what he’s actually going to do. I agree with everything he was saying [generally], but he didn’t announce how or what that actually meant. But certainly the sentiment behind it is exactly what our announcement said and what everyone has been saying. Giorgio Armani wrote an open letter about this and expressed the same thing. So it is an industry-wide feeling. What did Anthony Vaccarello say? Was he more concrete?
B.F: The big takeaway was that Saint Laurent will separate from the Paris calendar and do its own thing. That sounds extreme, but I think he was talking about the rest of this year only.
T.F.: Through this year, you have to do your own thing. What else is there to do?
B.F: More generally, if every house were to go its own way, how could that work for retailers, and for anyone who travels to the shows, if we ever go back to physical shows?
T.F.: I don’t think it could work.
B.F: I think you’re right about the fashion weeks. When this is over, they should still exist.
T.F.: Right now, you have to do your own thing. And if something’s virtual, it doesn’t really matter when you release it because no one has to go anywhere. You just open your computer and see what they did.
B.F: That’s now. But it’s not just opening your computer. If long-term people show any time, on a whim, how do retailers plan their orders?
T.F.: They’re not going to, they can’t. And if you wait too long you miss their open-to-buy.
B.F: Do you think people should just skip spring 2021?
T.F.: I thought about it. Then you have to realise that spring ’21 is going to be delivered in spring, and hopefully, things will be better by then. We talked to some retailers, we looked at our own open-to-buy and decided to present a capsule collection, dramatically edited. It will be skewed toward online because online is what’s selling for us. Our numbers have gone way up. We have to be practical. What do people need who are either still in quarantine or just coming out of quarantine? Do they need an exaggerated, Seventies, rhinestone pair of heels? I don’t think so.
B.F: So you’ve committed to spring 2021?
T.F.: I’m having my first fitting this Friday. Everything is arriving. The way we’re doing it is ridiculous. Luckily, I have a very beautiful design assistant and all the clothes are going to her house. All of my design studio is on Zoom. She is going to put on everything, walk for us, blah, blah, blah. Then, 48 hours later, all that stuff is coming to my house so that I can go over every garment in real life and look at every shoe and every bag and then write it all up and send all of my comments back.
We’ve had everyone making things at home. Now, our ateliers are challenged in being able to reopen. Creatively, we can’t get together in a room and say, “let’s see you walk, what if we pull it in here and grab the back of the dress.” It’s very limiting.
Then, doing a look book for it will be challenging. You can’t have hair and makeup touching a model’s face, and people pinning the clothes and dressing her in a normal way for photography. How is that going to happen? And you’ve got the buyers who can’t really see the real clothes. They get to see a virtual representation and a swatch book in their hands. And then, they’re broke, and they’re wondering who’s going to really be shopping for this?
B.F: You said it — the stores are broke. There are so many independent brands that remain almost fully dependent on the wholesale model, and a major shift to direct-to-consumer isn’t realistic. What is the way forward for them?
T.F.: If I were a young designer completely dependent on stores that are going to have no money to buy my collection, I wouldn’t spend the money to make a collection that may not even recoup the cost of the samples. And by the time you produce it, those stores may be in worse shape and unable to pay you, and then you’re sitting on a bunch of merchandise.
I would try to preserve my key people and hang onto my space. Again, I would just sit tight and try to maintain my brand image through posting images of — you’d have to be creative about how to do that, and remain vocal and visible somehow. But suspend production of collections until this is over. Does that sound dramatic?
B.F: What is the official CFDA position on spring 2021 for women and men?
T.F.: We’re sticking to our fashion calendar. Again, we have to talk about this with the board. Everything is virtual so we can release it all at once, like Netflix, and you can binge-watch the shows boom, boom, boom. Or we can try to space it out. But we’re going to try to stick to our usual slot of presenting.
Tom Ford RTW Fall 2020 John Salangsang/WWD/Shutterstock
B.F: Men’s spring 2021?
T.F: Men’s works on a different calendar. My men’s collection is completely developed. Producing the samples was delayed because of the shutdown in Italy, even though we were already on our second or third fittings and our fabrics were already done. Again, it will be a virtual thing. I believe that we’re uploading and selling it in July, through swatches and through a virtual presentation.
B.F: You talked about women not needing a dress or a heel if they can’t go to a restaurant. Are you concerned about men’s tailored clothing?
T.F.: We’ve definitely done less of that. The lucky thing is we’ve made casual clothing for a long time. People have just identified us with suits and with tailoring and with evening clothes because it’s a big part of our collection. We’ve made sweatpants for years, and beautiful knitwear and suede jackets and jeans. Underwear is selling very well from us because it’s one of those great online things, and gifts.
B.F: Gifts?
T.F.: People still need gifts. Everyone has to give a Mother’s Day present, and no one wants to put a lot of thought into it. So I put together three Mother’s Day boxes and put them online on the landing page. One had a satin hat, a bottle of perfume and a pair of sunglasses. There was box number one, box number two and box number three. One was [the fragrance] Rose Pr–k and one was F–king Fabulous or whatever. You picked one, two or three and just like that, it was boxed, wrapped and sent to your mother. It sold out. The same for graduation. You still have to buy a graduation gift, you’ve got to buy a Father’s Day gift, you’re going to have to buy Christmas gifts.
B.F: Let’s go back to fashion shows. You don’t think the live fashion show is dead?
T.F.: Not at all. No. [I loved] my last one. It completely got me excited about shows again because it just worked, I was so happy.
The vibe in the room, the excitement, it worked as a performance and as a way to convey the clothes and to see the clothes move. It made me excited. As I’ve told you before, one of the reasons it worked was that nobody had their phone. I had their attention and you could feel it. It’s distracting when you’re on your phone trying to photograph yourself at a show and not looking at the clothes.
B.F: It used to be an immersive experience. You got lost in a great show.
T.F.: Yes! Nobody goes to a play and pulls out their phone, I mean, it’s almost like a matter of respect. You’re missing the experience.
B.F: Everyone seems in agreement about shifting deliveries to be more in line with the seasons. There’s a bit of conversation as well about giving buy-now-wear-now shows another go. You’ve been there and done that. What are your thoughts about it now?
T.F.: That did not work at all for me. It’s very hard to produce in advance, and to estimate what’s going to be a hit and what’s not going to be a hit so you risk ending up with a lot of merchandise that doesn’t sell. Also, the customer needs time to get used to something. Often you’ll see a show and go, “I don’t think I want that.” And then as time goes by and you see it on Instagram and editorially and on a celebrity, your eye starts to adjust, and you realise you want it. So for many reasons, it didn’t work for me.
B.F: Even in this new world order you don’t think it will work?
T.F.: I don’t think so. I think it hinders creativity.
B.F: Do you ever feel a conflict between Tom Ford, designer principal of the Tom Ford brand, and Tom Ford, chairman of the CFDA?
T.F.: No. I don’t at all. No, no.
B.F: Looking ahead to end of May two years from now, do you have any sense of the health of the American fashion industry and the global industry?
T.F.: It will come back, absolutely. Maybe it will look a little different. Maybe it will be two principal collections a year, and things will stay on the floor longer. I think it will be quieter, I think it will be calmer.
But the thing is, the customer is going to drive this. We can all say we want about two collections a year, but as soon as the customers get to a point where they’re coming back in saying, “you had this two months ago,” and, “don’t you have anything new?” and we start hearing from the stores and the buyers, if one brand does it, it’s all going to come back again. The customer drives it. We can try, but in the end we are at the service of the customer.
B.F: But fashion will be back.
T.F.: It may look different; it will look different. It should look different, it’s a reflection of where we are culturally. Culturally we’re going to be different. Will it be back to the level it was right before? I don’t know, that may take two or three years. It will take an economy that starts to recover, and people starting to have jobs, and a [fading of] the PTSD that everyone is going to have from this. And you’ll have to start feeling comfortable enough again that the world is safe. But as I said at the beginning, the desire to dress and to adorn and to express ourselves through things that we put on our bodies is innate, and part of who we are as humans, as animals. That is not going to go away. It’s a desire to show off.
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This article was originally published on and sourced from WWD.
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Watch of the Week: TAG Heuer Formula 1 | Kith
The legendary sports watch returns, but with an unexpected twist.
Over the last few years, watch pundits have predicted the return of the eccentric TAG Heuer Formula 1, in some shape or form. It was all but confirmed when TAG Heuer’s heritage director, Nicholas Biebuyck, teased a slew of vintage models on his Instagram account in the aftermath of last year’s Watches & Wonders 2023 in Geneva. And when speaking with Frédéric Arnault at last year’s trade fair, the former CEO asked me directly if the brand were to relaunch its legacy Formula 1 collection, loved by collectors globally, how should they go about it?
My answer to the baited entreaty definitely didn’t mention a collaboration with Ronnie Fieg of Kith, one of the world’s biggest streetwear fashion labels. Still, here we are: the TAG Heuer Formula 1 is officially back and as colourful as ever.
As the watch industry enters its hype era—in recent years, we’ve seen MoonSwatches, Scuba Fifty Fathoms, and John Mayer G-Shocks—the new Formula 1 x Kith collaboration might be the coolest yet.
Here’s the lowdown: overnight, TAG Heuer, together with Kith, took to socials to unveil a special, limited-edition collection of Formula 1 timepieces, inspired by the original collection from the 1980s. There are 10 new watches, all limited, with some designed on a stainless steel bracelet and some on an upgraded rubber strap; both options nod to the originals.
Seven are exclusive to Kith and its global stores (New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Hawaii, Tokyo, Toronto, and Paris, to be specific), and are made in an abundance of colours. Two are exclusive to TAG Heuer; and one is “shared” between TAG Heuer and Kith—this is a highlight of the collection, in our opinion. A faithful play on the original composite quartz watch from 1986, this model, limited to just 1,350 pieces globally, features the classic black bezel with red accents, a stainless steel bracelet, and that creamy eggshell dial, in all of its vintage-inspired glory. There’s no doubt that this particular model will present as pure nostalgia for those old enough to remember when the original TAG Heuer Formula 1 made its debut.
Of course, throughout the collection, Fieg’s design cues are punctuated: the “TAG” is replaced with “Kith,” forming a contentious new brand name for this specific release, as well as Kith’s slogan, “Just Us.”
Collectors and purists alike will appreciate the dedication to the original Formula 1 collection: features like the 35mm Arnite cases—sourced from the original 80s-era supplier—the form hour hand, a triangle with a dot inside at 12 o’clock, indices that alternate every quarter between shields and dots, and a contrasting minuterie, are all welcomed design specs that make this collaboration so great.
Every TAG Heuer Formula 1 | Kith timepiece will be presented in an eye-catching box that complements the fun and colour theme of Formula 1 but drives home the premium status of this collaboration. On that note, at $2,200 a piece, this isn’t exactly an approachable quartz watch but reflects the exclusive nature of Fieg’s Kith brand and the pieces he designs (largely limited-edition).
So, what do we think? It’s important not to understate the significance of the arrival of the TAG Heuer Formula 1 in 1986, in what would prove integral in setting up the brand for success throughout the 90’s—it was the very first watch collection to have “TAG Heuer” branding, after all—but also in helping to establish a new generation of watch consumer. Like Fieg, many millennial enthusiasts will recall their sentimental ties with the Formula 1, often their first timepiece in their horological journey.
This is as faithful of a reissue as we’ll get from TAG Heuer right now, and budding watch fans should be pleased with the result. To TAG Heuer’s credit, a great deal of research has gone into perfecting and replicating this iconic collection’s proportions, materials, and aesthetic for the modern-day consumer. Sure, it would have been nice to see a full lume dial, a distinguishing feature on some of the original pieces—why this wasn’t done is lost on me—and perhaps a more approachable price point, but there’s no doubt these will become an instant hit in the days to come.
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The TAG Heuer Formula 1 | Kith collection will be available on Friday, May 3rd, exclusively in-store at select TAG Heuer and Kith locations in Miami, and available starting Monday, May 6th, at select TAG Heuer boutiques, all Kith shops, and online at Kith.com. To see the full collection, visit tagheuer.com
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The British sports car company is most famous as the vehicle of choice for James Bond, but Aston Martin has an interesting history beyond 007.
Aston Martin will forever be associated with James Bond, ever since everyone’s favourite spy took delivery of his signature silver DB5 in the 1964 film Goldfinger. But there’s a lot more to the history of this famed British sports car brand beyond its association with the fictional British Secret Service agent.
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The origin of the Aston Martin name
The company that would become Aston Martin started out as a car dealership. In 1912, Englishmen Robert Bamford and Lionel Martin partnered to sell cars, but soon after they decided to build their own models. Their first prototype debuted in 1915, named in honour of Martin, a racing driver, and his favourite racing venue, Aston Hills. Thus, the name Aston Martin was born.
A speed-demon co-founder banned from driving
Aston Martin co-founder Lionel Martin wasn’t just a keen racing driver—he was an all-out speed demon. As a student, Martin won numerous gruelling bicycle racing records, including riding nearly the full width of England in one 22-hour stretch. He competed in motorcycle and sidecar races and automotive hillclimb competitions. It seems he also brought that need for speed to the public roadways: In 1909, having neglected to pay a previous speeding fine, Martin was caught driving 41.5 km/ph in London and was banned from driving for two years—during which he set yet another cross-country bicycle record.
A tractor company takes over
The years after World War I were tumultuous for Aston Martin, with financial difficulties and numerous takeovers. In 1947, Aston Martin went up for sale and was purchased by David Brown Limited, a company that specialised in farm tractors and industrial gears. Sir David Brown, grandson of the company’s founder, was a lifelong car enthusiast and racer, having built his own competition cars while working as an engineer at the family company. The first car built by Aston Martin after this takeover was called the DB1, named after the tractor company (and the man) that had saved the carmaker.
An indirect connection to Bentley
Around the same time that Sir David Brown took over Aston Martin, he purchased another struggling British carmaker, Lagonda. The company was developing a revolutionary twin-cam six-cylinder engine called the LB6, and Sir David wanted the engine for his new line of Aston Martin sports cars. The Lagonda engine had been designed by none other than W.O. Bentley—the man who co-founded Bentley Motors, who had long since been pushed out of the company bearing his name.
The history of the DB Series
Aston Martin built seven vehicles named in honour of owner Sir David Brown: The DB1, DB2, DB3, DB4, DB5, DB6, and the combo-breaker DBS all bore Sir David’s initials. In 1972, Sir David sold the car company, and the new owners ended the DB series of vehicles, but the name was revived in 1993 with the DB7 in honour of Sir David—who himself was given an honorary position at the company that same year.
Bond, James Bond
Of course, the most famous Aston Martin of them all is the DB5. Just over 1,000 examples were built between 1963 and 1965, but millions worldwide know this as the James Bond car. In the books, author Ian Fleming had specified an earlier Aston Martin DB Mark III as Bond’s car. Still, the DB5 was introduced in the 1964 Bond film Goldfinger, equipped with gadgets including machine guns, smoke screens, oil slicks, an ejector seat, and rotating license plates. Bond has driven several Aston Martin models over the years, including a V8 Vantage, a V12 Vanquish, and two DBS models, but the original DB5 will always be considered the quintessential Bond car.
The angular years
Today, the Aston Martin badge is most closely associated with swooping, evocatively curvy car designs, but in the 1970s the company was obsessed with angular, wedge-shaped designs. The trend began in 1976 with the Aston Martin Lagonda, a shockingly unconventional four-door luxury sedan with “folded-paper” body styling and the world’s first all-digital instrument panel. The Lagonda’s styling was further evolved in 1979 with the Bulldog, a radical concept car with gullwing doors and a sharply pointed nose. The Bulldog was meant to become the fastest road car on earth, but the project was abandoned before production could begin.
For Bond’s eyes only
While most of James Bond’s Aston Martins have been commercially available to anyone who could afford one, the DB10 seen in the 2015 film Spectre was exclusive to 007. As Aston Martin executive Marek Reichman explained to Variety, director Sam Mendes, producer Barbara Broccoli, and Bond star Daniel Craig were touring Aston Martin’s design studios when they saw a concept sketch on the wall. The Bond team insisted that this should be 007’s next car, and Aston Martin spent the next six months furiously working to turn the drawing into a real-world car. The DB10 was unveiled during the launch of the film Spectre, and eight of the 10 examples built were featured in the movie, with the remaining two used for promotional appearances.
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What Venice’s New Tourist Tax Means for Your Next Trip
The Italian city will now charge visitors an entry fee during peak season.
Visiting the Floating City just got a bit more expensive.
Venice is officially the first metropolis in the world to start implementing a day-trip fee in an effort to help the Italian hot spot combat overtourism during peak season, The Associated Press reported. The new program, which went into effect, requires travellers to cough up roughly €5 (about $AUD8.50) per person before they can explore the city’s canals and historic sites. Back in January, Venice also announced that starting in June, it would cap the size of tourist groups to 25 people and prohibit loudspeakers in the city centre and the islands of Murano, Burano, and Torcello.
“We need to find a new balance between the tourists and residents,’ Simone Venturini, the city’s top tourism official, told AP News. “We need to safeguard the spaces of the residents, of course, and we need to discourage the arrival of day-trippers on some particular days.”
During this trial phase, the fee only applies to the 29 days deemed the busiest—between April 25 and July 14—and tickets will remain valid from 8:30 am to 4 pm. Visitors under 14 years of age will be allowed in free of charge in addition to guests with hotel reservations. However, the latter must apply online beforehand to request an exemption. Day-trippers can also pre-pay for tickets online via the city’s official tourism site or snap them up in person at the Santa Lucia train station.
“With courage and great humility, we are introducing this system because we want to give a future to Venice and leave this heritage of humanity to future generations,” Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said in a statement on X (formerly known as Twitter) regarding the city’s much-talked-about entry fee.
Despite the mayor’s backing, it’s apparent that residents weren’t totally pleased with the program. The regulation led to protests and riots outside of the train station, The Independent reported. “We are against this measure because it will do nothing to stop overtourism,” resident Cristina Romieri told the outlet. “Moreover, it is such a complex regulation with so many exceptions that it will also be difficult to enforce it.”
While Venice is the first city to carry out the new day-tripper fee, several other European locales have introduced or raised tourist taxes to fend off large crowds and boost the local economy. Most recently, Barcelona increased its city-wide tourist tax. Similarly, you’ll have to pay an extra “climate crisis resilience” tax if you plan on visiting Greece that will fund the country’s disaster recovery projects.
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Your first look at the new Speedmaster Chronoscope, designed in the colour theme of the Paris Olympics.
The starters are on the blocks, and with less than 100 days to go until the Paris 2024 Olympics, luxury Swiss watchmaker Omega was bound to release something spectacular to mark its bragging rights as the official timekeeper for the Summer Games. Enter the new 43mm Speedmaster Chronoscope, available in new colourways—gold, black, and white—in line with the colour theme of the Olympic Games in Paris this July.
So, what do we get in this nicely-wrapped, Olympics-inspired package? Technically, there are four new podium-worthy iterations of the iconic Speedmaster.
The new versions present handsomely in stainless steel or 18K Moonshine Gold—the brand’s proprietary yellow gold known for its enduring shine. The steel version has an anodised aluminium bezel and a stainless steel bracelet or vintage-inspired perforated leather strap. The Moonshine Gold iteration boasts a ceramic bezel; it will most likely appease Speedy collectors, particularly those with an affinity for Omega’s long-standing role as stewards of the Olympic Games.
Notably, each watch bears an attractive white opaline dial; the background to three dark grey timing scales in a 1940s “snail” design. Of course, this Speedmaster Chronoscope is special in its own right. For the most part, the overall look of the Speedmaster has remained true to its 1957 origins. This Speedmaster, however, adopts Omega’s Chronoscope design from 2021, including the storied tachymeter scale, along with a telemeter, and pulsometer scale—essentially, three different measurements on the wrist.
While the technical nature of this timepiece won’t interest some, others will revel in its theatrics. Turn over each timepiece, and instead of a transparent crystal caseback, there is a stamped medallion featuring a mirror-polished Paris 2024 logo, along with “Paris 2024” and the Olympic Rings—a subtle nod to this year’s games.
Powering this Olympiad offering—and ensuring the greatest level of accuracy—is the Co-Axial Master Chronometer Calibre 9908 and 9909, certified by METAS.
A Speedmaster to commemorate the Olympic Games was as sure a bet as Mondo Deplantis winning gold in the men’s pole vault—especially after Omega revealed its Olympic-edition Seamaster Diver 300m “Paris 2024” last year—but they delivered a great addition to the legacy collection, without gimmickry.
However, the all-gold Speedmaster is 85K at the top end of the scale, which is a lot of money for a watch of this stature. By comparison, the immaculate Speedmaster Moonshine gold with a sun-brushed green PVD “step” dial is 15K cheaper, albeit without the Chronoscope complications.
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The Omega Speedmaster Chronoscope in stainless steel with a leather strap is priced at $15,725; stainless steel with steel bracelet at $16,275; 18k Moonshine Gold on leather strap $54,325; and 18k Moonshine Gold with matching gold bracelet $85,350, available at Omega boutiques now.
Discover the collection here
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We put Armand de Brignac Blanc de Noirs Assemblage No. 4 under the microsope.
In our quest to locate the most exclusive and exciting wines for our readers, we usually ask the question, “How many bottles of this were made?” Often, we get a general response based on an annual average, although many Champagne houses simply respond, “We do not wish to communicate our quantities.” As far as we’re concerned, that’s pretty much like pleading the Fifth on the witness stand; yes, you’re not incriminating yourself, but anyone paying attention knows you’re probably guilty of something. In the case of some Champagne houses, that something is making a whole lot of bottles—millions of them—while creating an illusion of rarity.
We received the exact opposite reply regarding Armand de Brignac Blanc de Noirs Assemblage No. 4. Yasmin Allen, the company’s president and CEO, told us only 7,328 bottles would be released of this Pinot Noir offering. It’s good to know that with a sticker price of around $1,800, it’s highly limited, but it still makes one wonder what’s so exceptional about it.
Known by its nickname, Ace of Spades, for its distinctive and decorative metallic packaging, Armand de Brignac is owned by Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy and Jay-Z and is produced by Champagne Cattier. Each bottle of Assemblage No. 4 is numbered; a small plate on the back reads “Assemblage Four, [X,XXX]/7,328, Disgorged: 20 April, 2023.” Prior to disgorgement, it spent seven years in the bottle on lees after primary fermentation mostly in stainless steel with a small amount in concrete. That’s the longest of the house’s Champagnes spent on the lees, but Allen says the winemaking team tasted along the way and would have disgorged earlier than planned if they’d felt the time was right.
Chef de cave, Alexandre Cattier, says the wine is sourced from some of the best Premier and Grand Cru Pinot Noir–producing villages in the Champagne region, including Chigny-les-Roses, Verzenay, Rilly-la-Montagne, Verzy, Ludes, Mailly-Champagne, and Ville-sur-Arce in the Aube département. This is considered a multi-vintage expression, using wine from a consecutive trio of vintages—2013, 2014, and 2015—to create an “intense and rich” blend. Seventy percent of the offering is from 2015 (hailed as one of the finest vintages in recent memory), with 15 percent each from the other two years.
This precisely crafted Champagne uses only the tête de cuvée juice, a highly selective extraction process. As Allen points out, “the winemakers solely take the first and freshest portion of the gentle cuvée grape press,” which assures that the finished wine will be the highest quality. Armand de Brignac used grapes from various sites and three different vintages so the final product would reflect the house signature style. This is the fourth release in a series that began with Assemblage No. 1. “Testing different levels of intensity of aromas with the balance of red and dark fruits has been a guiding principle between the Blanc de Noirs that followed,” Allen explains.
The CEO recommends allowing the Assemblage No. 4 to linger in your glass for a while, telling us, “Your palette will go on a journey, evolving from one incredible aroma to the next as the wine warms in your glass where it will open up to an extraordinary length.” We found it to have a gorgeous bouquet of raspberry and Mission fig with hints of river rock; as it opened, notes of toasted almond and just-baked brioche became noticeable. With striking acidity and a vein of minerality, it has luscious nectarine, passion fruit, candied orange peel, and red plum flavors with touches of beeswax and a whiff of baking spices on the enduring finish. We enjoyed our bottle with a roast chicken rubbed with butter and herbes de Provence and savored the final, extremely rare sip with a bit of Stilton. Unfortunately, the pairing possibilities are not infinite with this release; there are only 7,327 more ways to enjoy yours.
