Hollywood’s French Duel
For rival billionaire moguls Bernard Arnault and François-Henri Pinault, it’s high noon in the battle to stake a claim in the movie business. Is Tinseltown big enough for both of them?
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Hollywood is famously awash in irony and blood feuds. So perhaps it’s fitting that, after locking horns for decades in Europe over Gucci, Hedi Slimane and the finest Champagnes, Bernard Arnault and François-Henri Pinault have exported their Gallic rivalry across the Atlantic, each billionaire now determined to conquer the epicentre of film and television just as he has vanquished the world of luxury.
The dueling titans are building foundations in Hollywood that could be transformative not only for their many brands, which are chockablock with unplumbed archives, but also for the entertainment business, which knows how to tell a compelling tale. Last September, Pinault, chairman and chief executive of Kering, bought a majority stake in the CAA talent agency for a reported US$2.8 billion (around $4.3 billion) through his family’s private-investment group, Artémis. Kering, a publicly traded company controlled by Pinault, was not directly involved, but the move raised speculation that its brands—which include Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, Gucci, Balenciaga and Boucheron—could benefit from entertainment relationships, particularly among celebrities, who remain the world’s most powerful influencers.
Months later, Arnault, chairman and chief executive of LVMH (also a public company), one-upped Pinault by launching an entirely new entertainment studio in partnership with well-connected Hollywood marketing veterans who, in case the move didn’t sting enough, once worked for CAA. Arnault named the studio 22 Montaigne Entertainment, after his company’s plush address in Paris’s 8th arrondissement, and placed his eldest son, Antoine, in charge.
Fashion designer and musician Pharrell Williams walks the runway during the Louis Vuitton menswear show on Paris’s historic Pont Neuf last June.
Peter White/Getty Images
By the time its formation was announced in February, 22 Montaigne, via its new partners at Superconnector Studios, was reportedly already in talks with potential collaborators, such as Imagine Entertainment, founded by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, and Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine. The latter, known for The Morning Show and Big Little Lies, focuses on stories about women, who happen to be LVMH’s primary consumers. Imagine the dramatic, not to mention comedic, tales buried in the vaults of a company that owns Louis
Vuitton, Christian Dior, Givenchy, Tiffany & Co. and Dom Pérignon, among dozens of other top names. The possibilities for brand-centric film, television, streaming and podcast projects that can bring their archives to life are practically endless.
What we’re seeing in real time is a collapsing of the traditional walls between entertainment and luxury—or, more bluntly, a disintegration of the space between storytelling and advertising. Fashion houses have long made nimble use of respected contemporary artists, enlisting them for merchandise collaborations in order to inject a dose of highbrow imprimatur into their wares. More recently, this fluidity has infiltrated the music industry: Pharrell Williams, the massively successful recording artist and producer, is not a trained fashion designer but last year was named creative director of Louis Vuitton menswear, where he’s churning out vibe-y videos, shutting down Paris streets with fashion shows, and racking up social-media engagement. Fashion is now aiming squarely for your screens.
Adrienne Surprenant/Bloomberg/Getty Images
“The sectors of film and art and fashion have become so intertwined today that there’s no separation,” says Robert Burke, chairman of the consulting firm Robert Burke Associates, who counts several luxury giants among his clients.
In front of the camera, fashion and film have been cosy for decades, trading on celebrities’ fame for advertising campaigns and costuming deals.
Designers have always nurtured close liaisons with stars—think of the symbiotic relationship between Hubert de Givenchy and Audrey Hepburn, or the way Giorgio Armani burst into our collective consciousness (and wardrobes) by outfitting Richard Gere in American Gigolo. The occasional lucky release has also proved beneficial: the film adaptation of The Devil Wears Prada, the plot of which had next to nothing to do with the Italian maison, elevated it to household-name status in the 2000s, and a certain jeweller has been dining out on Breakfast at Tiffany’s for over six decades. “Still today, that movie and the image of Audrey Hepburn drive tremendous traffic to the Tiffany store,” Burke says.
Fashion-centric documentaries, from 1995’s Unzipped to Dior and I in 2014, have proved surprisingly appealing, and competition shows à la Project Runway oddly enduring. Now, top houses are recognising film and TV as more than publicity platforms: They see them as a means to expand the mass appetite for high fashion through entertainment, not just via fragrances and wallets.
One of the curiosities about Pinault’s and Arnault’s forays into Hollywood is how secretive they’ve both been about something so very public. (Both declined to comment for this article or to make any executive available for an on-the-record interview.) In fact, while it’s usually buyers who make announcements of this nature, a press release on the sale of the CAA stake was issued by the seller, TPG, which clearly wanted to trumpet the deal to its investors. Pinault was quoted in TPG’s release, noting that CAA would add “increased diversity, both in terms of geographical footprint and business activities” to Artémis’s $43 billion (around $66 billion) in assets. He has nevertheless declined every interview request. His longtime spokesman at Kering says that CAA is a private family-investment matter.
Week in February. Jacopo Raul/Getty Images.
LVMH made its own announcement about 22 Montaigne’s launch, sending out a three-page press release from Paris and serving up a few interviews in the business media with its North American chief executive, Anish Melwani, who will manage the operations of the studio along with Antoine Arnault, head of LVMH image and environment. Melwani’s interviews appear to have been seen within the company as a rare misstep. When the news made global headlines—from the Financial Times to Fortune to Fast Company—LVMH and its partners at Superconnector Studios retreated, halting all interviews. “It took them by surprise that this got the amount of attention it got,” a person close to LVMH tells Robb Report, calling the coverage “overblown”.
Arnault and Pinault are not pioneering the alignment between Hollywood and consumer brands. Nike’s Waffle Iron Entertainment, launched in 2021, already has a first-look deal with Apple TV+ and produced The Day Sports Stood Still for HBO, as well as Apple TV’s Ja Morant docuseries Promiseland, merging sports-oriented content with Nike’s athletic products. In fact, one of 22 Montaigne’s partners at Superconnector, a Hollywood marketer named Jae Goodman, helped create Waffle Iron Entertainment. And last year, Authentic Brands, which owns the intellectual property for dozens of marques, from Barneys New York to Elvis Presley to David Beckham, launched Authentic Studios to build films, television shows and other entertainment around its brands.
CAA headquarters in L.A.
CAA headquarters in L.A.
AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images
The approaches taken by the two Frenchmen—the mirthful François-Henri Pinault, known by friends as FHP, and the meticulous Bernard Arnault, affectionately called Monsieur Arnault—reflect how they run their respective corporate empires. In some ways they’re mirror images, each building businesses from luxury goods and related playthings of the rich and famous. Their private family offices even neighbour each other across a quiet plaza in Paris not far from the Grand Palais, with Arnault’s Financière Agache located at 11 rue François Premier, and Financière Pinault just down the rue at number 12.
LVMH dwarfs Kering by many measures. Its 75 brands are deep with heritage, often centuries old, and generated revenues of over $93 billion (around $143 billion) in 2023, while Kering’s dozen or so are younger and produced over $21 billion (around $32 billion) in revenues last year. The conglomerates have been fierce rivals for decades, competing with each other not only for retail sales but also for companies and talent. Their struggle for control of Gucci in the late 1990s, when Tom Ford was arguably the most influential designer on the scene (and Pinault’s father, François, faced off against Arnault), was epic, and top names have often bounced between the two camps, most notably Hedi Slimane, who jumped from LVMH (Dior Homme) to Kering (YSL) and back (Celine). Taking notes, screenwriters?
Martin Bureau/AFP/Getty Images
While Arnault is an efficient planner who keeps things centrally organised—opening a Hollywood studio to serve all of LVMH fits his profile perfectly—Pinault can be more capricious and prefers to leave details up to brands and their managers. Arnault’s Hollywood manoeuvring appears coolly calculated, while Pinault’s multibillion-dollar investment for 56 percent of CAA has proved something of a head-scratcher to observers from both industries. “If you would have asked me who would come along to acquire CAA, it certainly wouldn’t have been a company that was rooted in fashion and luxury,” says Keith Baptista, cofounder of Prodject, which forged early connections between fashion and entertainment with shows such as Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty special on Prime Video.
Still, in an age when celebrities are the most valuable influencers (think Anya Taylor-Joy’s gushy Instagram post thanking Dior, Tiffany and Jaeger-LeCoultre for her Oscars ensemble in March, which has garnered 2.8 million likes from her 10.6 million followers as of press time, or Taylor Swift’s 284 million Instagram followers, which make her a one-woman media empire) and when creative direction is more about cultural access than apparel design, Pinault now has one of the most potent contact lists on the planet.
CAA represents thousands of actors, directors, models, musical artists, athletes, coaches and other stars. Its agents are some of the world’s most adroit dealmakers. The firm, whose stone-and-glass headquarters looms over Century City, California, boasts that it pioneered talent agencies’ incursions into the sports business, investment banking, venture funds and brand-marketing services, not to mention developing a business arm in China, which is every luxury executive’s fervent dream market.
Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images
Hollywood observers suggest the real winners of the deal are the co-chairmen of CAA—Bryan Lourd, Richard Lovett, and Kevin Huvane—who have an opportunity to unload part of their own stakes for as much as $200 million (around $310 million), according to a Financial Times report last September. Then there’s former majority owner TPG, the financial-services firm that sold its shares to Artémis. TPG, which first bought a piece of CAA in 2010, had been looking to cash out of the long-held investment and realise its gains without having to invest more in the agency’s future growth. Few clear options emerged until Pinault happened along.
“Do I think it’s good for Richard, Kevin and the management team? Yes,” says an executive at a rival agency, who suggests that CAA is a trophy acquisition for the Pinaults. In addition to the family’s stake in Kering, CAA will sit alongside a billionaire’s playground of other assets: Christie’s auction house, Artémis Domaines estates, French soccer team Stade Rennais FC, several media and tech investments that include a stake in TikTok-owner ByteDance, and a substantial private art collection.
This executive questions, however, whether the family is prepared to invest the additional money required to expand CAA as its rivals, including United Talent Agency and William Morris Endeavor, push into new fields, and as revenue streams morph. “Do I think it’s good for CAA in the long run? No.”
Barry King/Alamy
But from CAA’s perspective, according to an insider there, Pinault represents a smart, hands-off owner much like TPG was, and not just a private-equity investor with a short-term outlook. It’s expected that board seats will be taken by either Pinault or his Artémis deputy chief executives, Héloïse Temple-Boyer, who sits on Kering’s board, and Alban Gréget.
“We’re not part of his company. We’re just another investment,” this insider says of Pinault. “He knows what he knows. He knows what he doesn’t know. He lets people manage. TPG was the same way.”
But CAA also apparently believes that Pinault has something to offer the agency other than cash. “He has a familiarity in businesses driven by talent. That’s something that he has that normal private equity doesn’t,” the insider says. “We’re just at the beginning stages of figuring out what those opportunities are.”
Adding to the trophy speculation is the presence of Pinault’s wife, the 57-year-old Oscar-nominated actress Salma Hayek, the mother of his youngest child. (Another of his four children is just a year older and is the son of supermodel Linda Evangelista.) Pinault, who is 61, is often photographed standing behind Hayek, unidentified by paparazzi but holding her coat and bag while she signs autographs.
Hayek is represented by CAA, which now answers to her husband. A person who has worked under Pinault for years notes that the actress is close with several of CAA’s principals. “If you want my opinion,” they say, “I think the whole thing is kind of strange. I think it’s Salma-inspired.”
Several Hollywood executives, none of whom would speak on the record, challenged initial speculation that Pinault’s control of CAA will help Kering recruit talent to wear or advertise its labels. Proposing such alliances might instead raise suspicions that they are more for the benefit of Kering and CAA corporately.
“You can’t just jam people in. The agents are going to ask for the richest deal,” says another agency rival, who cites the fiduciary responsibility that agents have for their clients’ best interests. What’s more, the rival adds, “The people who run fashion houses don’t give a shit about the corporate synergies. You can’t tell them they have to use Tom Cruise.”
Like LVMH, Kering is also backing at least one filmmaking venture in support of its brands’ entertainment ambitions. Saint Laurent made a splash at Cannes last year, not just on the red car- pet but also by producing a short cowboy movie by acclaimed Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, starring Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal, called Strange Way of Life.
The title is the first from Saint Laurent Productions, a film-production company the label launched last year, led by its creative director, Anthony Vaccarello. The designer has more projects in the works by Oscar-winning director Paolo Sorrentino and heavyweights David Cronenberg, Abel Ferrara, Wong Kar-wai, Jim Jarmusch and Gaspar Noé.
Vaccarello designed the costumes for Strange Way of Life, so it’s a safe bet that he’ll do the same for future films. People close to the label say the venture began because Vaccarello, a film lover, pressed for the new creative outlet. (He’s not the first designer to catch the movie bug: Tom Ford directed two acclaimed—and, naturally, stylish—features before selling his eponymous brand to Estée Lauder last year; he now focuses full-time on moviemaking.) At the Saint Laurent Productions launch in April 2023, Vaccarello told Variety that filmmaking gives him “the opportunity to expand the vision I have for Saint Laurent through a medium that has more permanence than clothes”.
“You can still see a film in 10 or 30 years, if it’s good,” the designer said. “In some ways, making a film can be more impactful than a seasonal collection. For me it’s a natural extension to another field of creativity that perhaps is more general and popular.”
One more thing promises to be new and fascinatingly strange about these luxury conglomerates’ invasion of the Hollywood jungle: their investments will certainly make odd bedfellows, albeit indirectly, of Pinault and Arnault.
Alamy
There is every likelihood that Arnault’s 22 Montaigne will soon be dealmaking with Pinault’s CAA to lock in directors, writers and stars. Scarlett Johansson is both a CAA client and a Louis Vuitton brand ambassador. Natalie Portman, also repped by CAA, is a leading face for Arnault’s pet label, Dior, which is the first luxury house he bought when building LVMH.
Such crossovers aren’t unusual in Hollywood, where individuals are accustomed to working for rival studios or networks. Unheard of, though, is Arnault’s paying Pinault, via CAA, for the privilege—and here’s our elevator pitch—of signing Ryan Gosling to a Netflix drama, directed by Steven Spielberg, that tells the story of a 17th-century Benedictine monk who perfected the making of Champagne. Dom Pérignon: the Movie, coming soon?
Illustration by SAM GREEN
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Forget a Bow Tie. Here Are 3 Black-Tie Accessories to Rock Instead
Stylist Tom Stubbs on ditching the bow tie this festive season—and what to wear alternatively.
Black tie, that essential marker of an increasingly rarefied ceremonial style, is inspiring. Nothing coaxes men into upping the sartorial ante quite like reading those words on an invitation. I say amen to raising the bar, but I can’t bear wearing a traditional bow tie—and haven’t done so for over a decade.
Around the turn of the millennium, I was enthusiastically dress-code obedient, but two unstoppable forces put me off: Fashion moved on, and I got old. Where abiding by hallowed traditions once felt exalted, it suddenly began to seem restrictive and stuffy. And while it was extraordinary to be a bow-tied 30-something, in my 40s, the convention made me feel like a pompous, conservative square. Now, menswear has changed so much that bow ties register as pedestrian garb better suited to waiters than to revellers.
Fortunately, there are several black-tie alternatives that excite and inspire me now that I’m well into my 50s—many espoused by stylish guys on the red carpet and innovative designers in London, Paris, Florence, and Milan. And though I might take a bow on nonconformism as I step into my 60s, I still plan to steer clear of the bow tie, that ultimate symbol of gentlemanly customs, for as long as I can. Here’s what I’m replacing it with.
Form and Function
I got excited seeing Lemaire’s slim metallic modernised bolo ties in the house’s fall 2024 show. A favourite of men as varied as Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, and Snoop Dogg, the bolo is perhaps best remembered as the chosen neckwear of John Travolta’s surly hit man, Vincent, in Pulp Fiction. Originally, Native American tribes including the Zuni, Hopi, and Navajo used these accessories used to fasten bandannas with plaited-leather cords. High-end versions double as a bit of jewellery, with silver slides set with turquoise and often engraved with animal motifs, including buffalo skulls and eagles. Contemporary takes abound, but vintage sleuthing can turn up some particularly beguiling options.
Gambling Man
Varying in size, flounce, and attitude, ribbon ties—also called gambler or Kentucky neckties—have long been a legitimate black-tie alternative. Actor Cillian Murphy has worn Saint Laurent’s take to various award shows, looking stand-alone chic and authentically cool. They have a distinct Western energy—Kirk Douglas donned one as Doc Holliday in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, as did Robert Vaughan in The Magnificent Seven. But they’re as much rock star as they are gunslinger: The late Johnny Thunders of the New York Dolls and Bauhaus front man Peter Murphy (style role models of mine) also wore them with panache. Take a note from the runway and wear them with a pair of boots—cowboy, Chelsea, or with a Cuban heel—to really step away from the standard.
Fit to Be Tied
Getty Images/Courtesy of Lemaire
If you want to give yourself some breathing room, consider scarves and neckerchiefs. This fall, Tom Ford proposed a louche take on evening style, using black, slim-plaited, or delicately sequined scarves whose long tassels provocatively dangle at the hips. For maximum effect, the brand styled them with open satin shirts, recalling rockers Mick Jagger and Rod Stewart. London’s La Bowtique also does beautiful outsize bows. On a smaller scale, the Twilly—a short silk scarf pioneered by Hermès—works in much the same manner. The French maison makes gorgeous options with angled ends for extra verve, whether hanging loose or more discreetly knotted.
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The Sydney Harbour Concours d’Elegance—a beauty pageant for priceless classic cars—returns for another instalment at the city’s most intriguing, and unlikeliest, venue.
The logic behind staging a prestige automobile show on an island may, at face value, seem warped—history tells us that cars and water do not play nicely. The rationale twists further when said piece of land is a former shipyard that is, aesthetically, more workhorse ute than classic Ferrari.
Scratch beneath the surface, however, and the decision to plant the Sydney Harbour Concours d’Elegance on Cockatoo Island for the second year running begins to make locational sense: the steel arch of the emblematic bridge acting as photogenic backcloth; the UNESCO World Heritage site’s previous guises as 19th-century penal colony and eminent boat-building facility fleshing the show’s historical bones; the theatre of watching collectors delicately coaxing their four-wheeled artworks off a rusty roll-on/roll-off barge in the islet’s wharf before showtime. (After all, if owning a car in this stratosphere isn’t about projecting drama, then what’s the point?)
Throw in an endless endowment of free Champagne for guests and VIP transport from the mainland via superyacht, and it barely matters that the three-day jamboree is, in the words of founder and curator James Nicholls, “a logistical nightmare”.
“People love the energy, the adventure” says the Anglo-Italian, a broadcaster, writer and photographer whose extensive resume includes various stints as a concours judge across the world. “There’s a great contrast between the luxurious motor cars and the industrial environment. The Turbine Shop [a timeworn, hanger-like space used to display the vehicles] is where ocean-going liners and propellers were built. People interested in cars are also interested in that kind of thing but it’s just a backdrop. Cars are the main focal point.”
The concours d’elegance concept (“concours” means “competition” in French) can be traced back to 17th-century Paris, when aristocrats would flaunt horse-drawn carriages in local parks during summer months. Animals eventually gave way to automobiles, and the gatherings mutated into more organised contests in which these new-fangled contraptions were, in somewhat prescient fashion, judged solely on the appearance. The trend spread throughout European high society, before reaching America in 1950 with an inaugural pageant at Pebble Beach, California—a concours which has since evolved into a behemoth of the species, now billing itself as “the world’s most prestigious car show” and drawing 214 vehicles and spectators in the low five figures at the last annual meeting. Other concours are thriving globally, from spectacles in Lake Como in Italy (the longest running event, launched in 1929) to Udaipur in India. Vanity, it seems, remains in vogue.
Among this storied company, Sydney’s interpretation is playing catch-up. But Nicholls insists the local variant—launched in 2019, having occupied three other citywide locations—has no intention of locking horns with competitors. Not numerically, at least.
“In 2024, we had 500 people over the three days; this year we’ll aim for 750. But we’re never going to become a 20,000-people show,” he says. “We want it to be bespoke and beautiful, so people don’t have to queue for a glass of Champagne. You can talk to the car owners, and everyone feels like a VIP.” The overarching aim is to become a “destination event” on the socialite calendar, on par with the Melbourne Cup or the Australian Grand Prix.
While keen to keep paying visitors guessing, Nicholls offers Robb Report a sneak peek into some of the 44 objets booked to occupy the coarse, exposed-brick viewing hall, ranging from turn-of-the-century rarities to modern-day exotics: a 1905 Eugène Brillié 20/24 HP Coupé Chauffeur, believed to be the only one of its ilk left; a 1955 Porsche Speedster 356 “Pre A”, examples of which are valued in excess of $750,000; a Lamborghini Miura 3400, a model famed for its starring role in the opening sequence to 1969’s The Italian Job movie; a 2021 Audi R8 Spyder, an iteration that is no longer being produced and thus quietly accruing kudos.
Up to seven “classes” will be open, including categories solely for Porsche Speedsters and pre-war Australian coachbuilt cars. Two 1930s Bugattis are slated for appearance, one of which is, as this article is being written, on a boat somewhere, on its way to Australia. A panel of seven judges, led by the first ever female concours head assessor, who also adjudicated in 2024, will select the overall “Best in Show” winner—scored last time out by a 1964 Ferrari 250 LM, a model line with a $24 million price tag attached. And in a progressive play designed to lure the oil-shunning generation, an “electric elegance” section will debut. Nicholls estimates the combined value of all this precious metal at around $80 million.
While it would provoke an illicit thrill to discover that frenzied super-collectors were slyly puncturing rivals’ tyres or keying priceless bodywork—skulduggery has plagued other pageants, from dog show Crufts (canine poisoning) to Miss World (rigging allegations)—the entrants are, in keeping with the show’s refined, English-garden-party profile—a gentlemanly bunch. To a point. “They like meeting up, the community that’s here, but they do get competitive,” says Mark Ussher, the Sydney Harbour Concours d’Elegance managing director, and on-the-ground organiser. “They care about their cars but they’re investors as well as collectors. If they win a concours anywhere around the world it adds value to the car.”
Which makes it doubly important that, surrounded by all that deep Harbour water, everyone remembers to put their handbrake on.
The Sydney Harbour Concours D’Elegance runs from February 28th-March 2nd 2025; sydneyharbourconcours.com.au
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Jannik Sinner Is the First Tennis Player to Take a Luxury Bag Onto Wimbledon’s Centre Court
The 23-year-old Italian flaunted a custom Gucci duffle bag on center court.
Jannik Sinner aced the style game at last year’s Wimbledon Championships.
The Italian tennis star turned up to his match against Juan Manuel Cerundolo with a custom Gucci duffel bag on his shoulder. It marks the first time a designer bag has been carried onto centre court in the history of the prestigious, centuries-old tennis tournament, as reported by Women’s Wear Daily.
The duffel, which Sinner describes as a “timeless classic,” showcases the house’s signature beige and ebony colorway, the iconic GG monogram, and a contrasting green and red web stripe. It also features the athlete’s initials near the straps. Ironically, the rather traditional design has called into question a 150-year tradition.
“For sure this will create a conversation,” Sinner told WWD before defeating Cerundolo in straight sets. “Bringing sport and luxury fashion together in this way is something that’s never been done before and I feel extremely proud to be a part of it. I hope people will love it as much as I do.”
Wimbledon’s dress code is extremely strict: Players have been required to wear white at the event since 1877, with not even off-white or cream permitted on the court. Tennis whites were originally instated as it was believed the ensemble showed less sweat, as reported by Time. The tradition has continued out of respect for the sport’s history and a desire to maintain formality.
The rules are enforced, too: Our own player Nick Kyrgios was allegedly fined $25,000 for rocking red Air Jordan trainers at 2023’s tournament. Interestingly, the decidedly non-white Gucci accessory was reportedly given the all-clear by the powers that be. A spokesperson for Gucci told WWD the house worked with Sinner’s team “for the approvals from the ITF (International Tennis Federation), ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals), and Grand Slams, including Wimbledon, to ensure the bag met the necessary requirements.”
The 23-year-old, who turned pro at age 18, became a Gucci ambassador in 2023 in his first luxury fashion endorsement. “Gucci for me represents Italian excellence around the world, excellence which is rooted in tradition as much as in innovation,” Sinner said. “This is the kind of message I am proud to convey when I represent my country wherever I am in the world.”
The Italian player was capture in action last week during his 1st round men’s singles match against Nicolas Jarry (from Chile) on day two of the Australian Open at Melbourne Park with more Gucci gear. Sinner carried a custom duffle bag crafted by HEAD and designed by Gucci to the men’s singles match on day two of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne.
Sinner will play Australian Alex de Minaur tomorrow 22 January at the Australian Open.
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Everyone has a favourite hotel—but what if you could create your own? We envision the ultimate place to stay, combining elements of the world’s most noteworthy openings.
Forget fantasy football—what about a heavenly hotel? Imagine you could create one from scratch, cherrypicking the best aspects of the world’s most noteworthy recent openings and reopenings, combined into the perfect, impossible property. That’s what we’ve done, from the best rooftop restaurant for supper to the only beach club where’s it’s truly worth basking in the sun, this is the world’s ultimate hotel. The only thing we can’t arrange: the chance to check in.
FACADE Capella Sydney
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It took seven years to turn this local landmark—the building once housed the departments of education and agriculture—into a luxury hotel. A honey-coloured jewel in a precinct awash with appealing sandstone facades, its crowning glory, literally, is the gleaming, four-storey glass addition that perches atop the structure like an architectural tiara.
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The Surrey, a Corinthia Hotel
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After a full reimagining by Martin Brudnizki and its new operators, Malta-based Corinthia Hotels, this Upper East Side stalwart’s signature suites now include a quartet inspired by Central Park bridges. Mouldings nod to the structures’ architectural details, while hand-painted sketches inside the grandes armoires evoke the Ramble-adjacent Bow Bridge.
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Le Rooftop at Royal Mansour Casablanca
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Relax on the 23rd floor of this Art Deco-inflected skyscraper hotel and you’ll not only enjoy astonishing views over the water and toward the towering Hassan II Mosque, but you’ll also find yourself rubbing elbows with the coolest crowd in the city. Snag a sofa on the terrace before sundown and linger all evening.
LOBBY
Peninsula London
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Hong Kong’s Peninsula hotels are renowned for their fleet of high-end classic cars—a personal passion of billionaire owner Sir Michael Kadoorie. No wonder he struck a deal with Surrey’s Brooklands Museum for his latest opening in London: not only is the Claude Bosi-operated restaurant named in its honour, but the institution also makes available a rotating selection of outstanding vintage vehicles—most recently, a Bentley Blower and a Napier-Railton—for display in the eatery’s dedicated lobby, close to the Concorde nose installed overhead, sourced from Kadoorie’s personal collection.
BEACH CLUB
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The dearth of standout beaches is the Amalfi Coast’s dirty secret, so this is a remarkable asset: walk down through the terraced, lemon-tree-filled gardens of this Gio Ponti-inspired hotel bolted to the steep cliffs by Conca dei Marini, and you’ll stumble upon its own beach club attached to the property. The restaurant sits in a renovated boathouse; feel free to snip some herbs from the mismatched pots filled with sage and basil.
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Meritage Resort and Spa
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The naturally formed 2,044 m² Estate Cave, located 12 m underground, was already spectacular—its extensive menu of treatments includes both cave-stone massage and guided breathing and meditation sessions—but the $37 million rehab of this establishment thankfully doubled the size of the adults- only pool in front of Spa Terra.
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The Citizen Kanebridge VHG Golf Open Returns to The Southern Highlands This February.
The third annual Citizen Kanebridge VHG Golf Open Day is happening again this year at Citizen Kanebridge Lodge in the Southern Highlands on Friday, February 21. Players will tee off from 8 am for a day of unrivalled bucolic hospitality in the spirit of friendly competition.
The Open unites forces with the operators of Mount Broughton in Sutton Forrest to stage the popular day, in which teams of four enter to enjoy 18 holes of unadulterated fun.
Players will meet at the clubhouse, where—golf aside—they will be served breakfast, lunch and liquid refreshments throughout the day before heading back to Citizen Kanebridge Lodge for a special dinner, fun awards ceremony and more drinks.
Located just 10 minutes from the Citizen Kanebridge Lodge in Berrima, the stunning Mount Broughton course gives players—male and female, and ranging from amateur to semi professional—the chance to compete in a golf day with plenty of high-jinks and food along with way.
The event is part of the new offering from Citizen Kanebridge, a private membership club based in Sydney. Citizen Kanebridge allows members to have access to the Robb Report Club(RR1) based in the United States of America, Citizen Kanebridge Lodge in the Southern Highlands of NSW, and The Royal Automobile Club of Australia (RACA) in Circular Quay, Sydney.
Members interested in Golf Open Day, may enquire by reaching out to leanne@citizenkanebridge.com.au. For more information on Golf Open day, you can download the information brochure here.
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