Best Luxury Ski Equipment
Fill the empty suitcase in your mind with the very best luxury ski equipment for your next ski trip.
Bogner, Fusalp, Moncler and Rossignol may be the kings of the mountain, but several luxury houses have begun taking a more technical approach and gaining air with their chic, high-performance ski gear.
At Loro Piana, Balenciaga, Dior, Fendi, Prada and Louis Vuitton luxurious fabrication meets high-tech fabrics to offer glamorous garments for the slopes.
In recent years Moncler has even invited Pharell Williams to design collections for the label. Signature tailoring and fashionable colours from these brands combine ultra-lightweight and technical fabrics, in groomed styles with strategic vents and pockets to keep powder hounds warm and dry.
Modern skiers will often opt for hardshell jackets, with multiple thermal layers underneath to maintain flexibility, while a traditional look of ski pants with ski jacket offers tailored comfort on the slopes.
Professional British ski instructor Luke Scoffield who works for Ritz-Carlton Niseko says that technical gear, dark colours and baggier fit, is most popular in the ski community.
“Burton has a baggier fit, Black Diamonds has really good technical gear and I like Fisher skis because they’re so lightweight,” says Scoffield from his adopted home of Japan.
Scoffield favours Poc helmets, Dakine day packs and when going off-piste also likes to equip himself with a transceiver and Avalanche kit (probe, shovel and a transceiver).
Designer, stylist and SportLuxe founder Victoria Montano gives her vote to Gore-Tex ski suits made by Moncler. Montano started her own ath-leisure label Sport Luxe during covid after wearing all her “sexy ski onesies” in the snow and “absolutely freezing”.
“All active wear other than golf and tennis really cater only to a very youthful market. I am 41 but I live the life of a 21 year old. I am mature and I don’t need to have pink and branding every where on my gear.I want navy, olive, black and brown and I want my hardware to be gold not silver.”
Montano, a cast member of The Real Housewives of Sydney, favours Moncler La Plante ski suits and adds on to her collection every year.
“As someone who heliskis 3-4 times a year,” says the self-confessed adrenalin junkie. “I know first-hand that you need to be wearing Gore- Tex. The only brand that can amalgamate fashion and function with that very specific Gor-Tex fabric is Moncler.”
Here, we share some of the most prestigious brands for ski equipment and apparel, to make shopping for the next ski trip silky smooth.
Moncler
Terrabeam ski goggles, various designs; $560-1025; moncler.com
Bogner
Henrik quilted padded hooded ski jacket; $2,895; bogner.com
Fusalp
Unisex, albinen gloves; $310; fusalp.com
Louis Vuitton
Louis Vuitton Snowfall ski mask; $2,010; louisvuitton.com
Bogner
Bucharest high-top sneakers in black; $562; Sportofino.com
Rossingnol
Lightweight, minimalist backpack; $200; Rossignol.com
We Norwegians
A classic cable knit sweater 90 percent merino wool/10 percent cashmere; $500; WeNorwegians.com
Kjus
Leather mittens filled with premium down insulation, an ultra-soft cashmere sherpa lining; $230; kjus.com
Balenciaga
3B Sports Icon snowboard; $7,800; Balenciaga.com
Toni Sailor
Mid-layer in highly breathable and quick-drying super-stretch fleece; $480; Tonisailor.com
Canada Goose
Langford Black label parka; $2,300; canadagoose.com.au
Dale of Norway
Merino wool leggings, made from 100% superfine skin soft merino wool; $230; DaleofNorway.com
SportLuxe
Sportluxe Ski Onesie with Faux Fur Trim; $2,200; sport luxe.com
Fusalp
Ranger ski pant; $1,150; fusalp.com
Fendi
Black helmet; $2,190; fendi.com
Loro Piana
Lech padded Storm System® virgin wool-blend hooded ski jacket; $9,234; loropiana.com
Brunello Cuccinelli x Oliver Peoples
OP Aspen ski goggles with extra lens; $759; oliverpeoples.com
YSL
Alpaca-Blend Balaclava; $1,043; Mrporter.com
Balenciaga
Oversized logo-embroidered fleece jacket with Balenciaga political campaign logo; $3,766; mrporter.com
Dior
Gloves in Grained back leather; POA; dior.com
Piaget
Polo wrist watch; $20,000; piaget.com
Moncler
Moncler Jersey Gloves; $300; moncler.com
Dior
Black Dior oblique jacquard 8 Bag with crossbody strap and front mesh pocket $3,800 dior.com and Cannage down jacket in technical jacquard; $7,071; lyst.com
Brunello Cuccinelli
Cesarino metal sunglasses with leather side shield; $1,800; shop.brunellocucinelli.com
Prada
Leather and Gore-Tex mittens; $1,190; prada.com
Frequently Asked Questions
What fabrics and qualities should I look for when buying luxury ski equipment?
Seek out skiwear that’s light, flexible and waterproof. Outerwear garments need to be made from Gore-Tex, polyester and breathable, quick drying synthetics. It pays to check any designs you are buying for under arm and under leg vents that can help release body heat. Under layers that sit next to the skin — such as thermals, neck gaiters, balaclavas and beanies — are best made with soft polar fleece or natural fibres. Merino, Icelandic wool and cashmere are all ultra-lightweight, and offer a luxurious feel. When it comes to gloves, favour Gore-Tex inner gloves, with leather mittens over the top with a sturdy insulation and lambswool lining.
Which luxury brands sell technical products?
Bogner, Fusalp, Rossingnol, Moncler and Canada Goose all offer legendary coverage on the slopes. Bogner is the hallowed German label considered the brand of true professionals. Fusalp is one of the most prestigious of all the trusted French labels from the Alps. Fusalp pioneered the ski pant category with high quality materials, attention to detail and contour fit. Moncler started making sleeping bags for mountaineers and then moved on to sponsoring the French national downhill skiing team. They remain a favourite of heliskiers and have a history of making quilted jackets for professional use. Each year they release an extensive luxury line of mountain chic with accessories to match. Rossingnol located in Isère, is a French manufacturer of ski, alpine, snowboard, and Nordic equipment. Canada Goose hails from Montreal and was founded in 1957 as Metro Sportswear Limited. They originally provided parkas for the Canadian police force and still make parkas suitable for Antarctic expeditions. Balenciaga, Brunello Cuccinelli, Dior, Fendi, Loro Piana and Prada offer luxe garments with superb ski wear tailoring and technicals fabrics. Italian brand Loro Piana and Prada have each developed their own registered systems; Loro Piana’s Storm System® and Prada Extreme-Tex stretch. These days every resort has its own boutique for picking up extra gear. For knits, accessories and extra skiwear look to We Norwegians, Dale of Norway, Toni Sailor and Kjus.
What about pockets and vents in ski wear?
Vents to ventilate heat and vapour from your body are important for long sessions and off-piste mountain hikes. Backpacks and cross body bags now all come with handy pockets for digital devices. The most useful pocket in the ski jacket being the little left forearm pocket used for storing a wireless lift pass. Check your jacket for vents and pockets.
How do I decipher technical ratings on skiwear for moisture and breathability?
High quality outerwear with waterproofing is measured using the height in millimetres of liquid that cover the surfaces, before leakage through to the body occurs. High quality ski gear will have waterproofing above 10,000mm or ideally, 20,000mm. Breathability is calculated by how many grams of water vapour can pass through a square metre of material in 24 hours. Look for 20,000g and above for a highly breathable fabric. Many skiers will prefer natural down to synthetic insulation for a more luxury, less bulky option.
What are the best hoods, hats and balaclavas?
Choose soft balaclavas and neck gaiters in polar fleece, alpaca and cashmere. These neck and head accessories, along with polarised goggles will help you ski for longer by staying warm on the mountain. You neck gaiters and head coverings will break the wind and aid in sun protection. A balaclava is the simplest way to keep your face and head warm under a helmet. Opt for a light breathable synthetic or lightweight fine wool, depending on your skin type. Choose snow jackets with detachable, lightweight hoods. The best are big enough to slip over the top of a ski helmet. Check the size of the hood before purchasing a ski jacket.
What about backcountry gear?
Off piste skiers will also often want a day pack to store equipment and back up gadgets as well as water. Something like a Rossignol 18L backpack is perfect for travelling light in the mountains. It is ultra lightweight and has tonnes of back panel storage for keeping ski poles, and a shovel. It also has a place to attach your helmet. Also try brands like Poc, Dakine and Fisher for backpacks, lightweight skis and technical equipment.
What should I wear if I am a beginner?
A helmet, knee socks, neck gaiters, inner gloves and outer mittens as well as opting for a longer-line ski jacket to cover the hips and bottom. This is important for beginners who will inevitably fall down and spend some time lying directly on the snow.
What should I pack for one week of skiing?
For a week of skiing pack one ski jacket, one set of ski pants or salopettes, inner gloves, leather mittens, neck warmer, balaclava, 2 sets of long over the knee socks, 2 sets of long sleeve all-body thermals, soft comfortable trousers with high stretch, rubber soled boots (or flat aprés boots with a lambswool lining plus grip for walking over the ice), regular woollen gloves, leather mitten, synthetic inner gloves, a knitted woollen jumper, a high necked polar fleece, cashmere or wool beanie, sunglasses, goggles and sunscreen and SPF50 lip balm.
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The line-up shows up a bevy of metals and colours, too, as well as two new calibres.
Omega’s latest watch is in a universe of its own.
The Swiss watchmaker just unveiled its new Constellation Observatory Collection today, the next step in its Constellation lineage and the first two-hand hour and minute timepieces to ever earn Master Chronometer certification. And if you were paying attention to any of the dazzling watches spotted at the Oscars this year, you would’ve caught a glimpse of the new line already: Sinners star Delroy Lindo rocked one of the models on the Academy Awards red carpet, giving us a pre-release preview of the collection.
Developed at Omega’s new Laboratoire de Précision (its chronometer testing lab open to all brands), the collection houses a set of nine 39.4 mm watches. The watches underwent 25 days of scrutiny there, analysed via a new acoustic testing method that recorded every sound emitted from the timepiece to track irregularities, temperature sensitivities, and more in the name of all things precision. (Details such as water resistance and power reserve are also thoroughly examined.) This meticulous process is all in the name of snagging that Master Chronometer label, meaning that the timepiece is highly accurate and surpasses the threshold for ultra-high performance. The Constellation Observatory Collection has now changed the game, though, thanks to its lack of a seconds hand.
“Until now, precision certification has required a seconds hand,” Raynald Aeschlimann, president and CEO of OMEGA, said in a press statement. “The development of a new acoustic testing methodology has made that requirement obsolete. It is this breakthrough that has enabled us to present the Constellation Observatory, the first two-hand watch to achieve Master Chronometer certification.”
In addition to notching its place in history, the collection also debuted a new pair of movements: the Calibre 8915 and the Calibre 8914, each perched on a skeletonised rotor base. The former’s Grand Luxe iteration will appear on the 950 Platinum-Gold model in the collection, which offers up that base in 18-karat Sedna Gold alongside a Constellation medallion in 18-karat white gold with an Observatory dome done in white opal enamel surrounded by stars. The second Calibre 8915, the Luxe, will find its home on the other precious-metal models in the line, either made with the brand’s 18-karat Sedna, Moonshine, or Canopus gold seen across the case, the hand-guilloché dial, and, of course, the movement itself. (Lindo chose to rock the Moonshine Gold on Moonshine Gold iteration, priced at approximately $86,000, for Sinners‘s big night at the Oscars.) As for the Calibre 8914, it can be found in the collection’s four steel models.
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In Search of White Gold
Colorado’s barely known San Juan Mountains do a fine line in bespoke skiing experiences, luring alpine-sports cognoscenti and billionaire thrill-seekers alike.
“Though no one currently on staff is at liberty to say, billionaire actor Tom Cruise is a very average heli-snowboarder. But although no one currently on staff is at liberty to say, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos—the world’s second richest human—makes up for Cruise’s inability with his off-piste prowess. The pair have been clients of Telluride Helitrax, a heli-skiing outfit operating in the backcountry behind Telluride Mountain Resort, in remote south-west Colorado, since 1982. My source, a former guide who prefers to remain anonymous, admits he’s entertained a host of household-name One Percenters over the years.”
“Power billionaires aren’t going to the popular resorts any more,” he reveals over a happy-hour drink at a Telluride bar. “Luxury skiing these days, it’s all about exclusivity. No one with any clout shares snow, and at every resort, no matter how fancy, you have to share the slopes. But nowhere is more exclusive than the backcountry. That’s your billionaire’s playground. And no backcountry is more exclusive than San Juan backcountry.”
Which is precisely why I am here. Australia’s considerable brigade of free-spending, snow-crazed executives may jet off to Vail and Aspen each northern winter for thrills, but it turns out some of the world’s most choicest ski experiences have been right under their noses—only a short helicopter ride, car journey or private jet flight from said resorts.
Packed into the ultra-rugged southern end of the Rocky Mountains, the San Juans are a little chunk of the Swiss Alps in the US—young, ridiculously spectacular formations known for their steep slopes, deep powder snow and Disney-esque triangular peaks, all bathed in 300-plus days of sunshine a year. And the region is augmented by unique, and select, backcountry options that rival anything currently in the upscale ski orbit.
Case in point: North America’s highest skiing setting, Silverton Mountain. Located in the heart of the San Juans, outside the tiny town of Silverton, the 4,111 m peak boasts 736 hectares of chair-accessible terrain set among what is reputedly the deepest, steepest snow in the nation. It also offers a further 10,000 hectares of private terrain, serviced by heli-ski operation Heli Adventures. This is the Shangri-La of skiing: every slope connoisseur has heard of it, though most wonder if it actually exists.
We arrive via the treacherous Million Dollar Highway, where a disturbing lack of guard rails sometimes causes travellers to plummet into the valley floor (the death toll, grimly, averages eight people per year). Silverton Mountain was bought in 2023 by Heli Adventures’ young co-founders Andy Culp and Brock Strasbourger. While private punters can book the hill in its entirety, starting from around $14,000 per day, plus extra for single heli-skiing runs, the destination is also open to the public from Thursdays to Saturdays through winter.
“Silverton is a bastion for the pure ski experience,” Culp says. “All that corporate consolidation that happened when ski resorts all over the world developed condos and real estate and got super-busy… well, it never happened here. You’re able to access Alaska-like terrain from an old rickety chairlift, but you’re an hour’s drive from a pretty major airport [Montrose]. And you can access snow that’s even better than most heli-skiing straight off your lift.”
There’s no radio-frequency lift passes when I arrive. In fact, I don’t get a lift pass at all. A discarded school bus doubles as the “second chairlift”; it picks me up and returns me to a yurt which serves as a restaurant and bar. “There’s a time and a place to hang out at The Little Nell [Aspen’s legendary après-ski bar] and the world doesn’t need more of that,” Culp says. “This is the new luxury. We also run a heli-ski business out of Aspen [Aspen Heli-Skiing] but this is where we come. You can’t put a price tag on what we have here.”
I drive away from the mountain, back along the perilous Million Dollar Highway, park my car and disappear into the San Juan National Forest with guide Kaylee Walden. This white-coated outback between Silverton and Ouray, dubbed “the Switzerland of America”, offers swathes of primo backcountry skiing terrain. The ski touring here is often likened to Europe’s iconic Haute Route—an emblematic trail between Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn.
The operator Mountain Trip offers a Colorado version of that feted circuit, on a multi-day traverse between secluded huts. All in all, there’s nearly 8,000 km² of national forest and 2,500 hectares of wilderness to explore, frequented only by the occasional intrepid enthusiast.
A wood-burning sauna is being prepared as I arrive at Thelma Hut, 4,500 m above sea level. Traditionally, US Forest Service huts were humble affairs, with rudimentary bunks, self-service kitchens, and food supplies brought in by skiers. This evening, however, a chef is preparing local bison across from an open fireplace as the sun sets through a floor-to-ceiling window against a horizon of white mountains. As he works, I walk out into the snow to study the twilight sky; beaming planets shine down on me, necklaces of tiny stars sparkle.
Back down to earth, upon my return to “civilisation”, we take a two-hour car ride to Telluride, probing through the San Juans. The small town is picture-postcard pretty, wedged at the end of a box canyon surrounded by Colorado’s tallest waterfalls, and hosts the highest concentration of 4,000-m-plus peaks in the state. Most of its buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places, including a bank that was robbed in 1889 by the outlaw Butch Cassidy.
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I’m staying in a privately owned three-bedroom penthouse apartment, where a helicopter takes off each morning for convenience (when I’m done carving clouds, I move a kilometre up the mountain to the seven-bedroom, three-storey mountain retreat Hood Park Haven, valued at around $42 million). Telluride Helitrax uses an abundance of drop-off locations, all above the tree line, meaning everyone from intermediates to experts can be catered for.
During my three-day odyssey, I don’t cross a single other ski track, but it’s the peace that is most startling. In this pocket of montane paradise, there is, literally, not a single sound—a stark contrast to the whirling fury of the chopper that transports me. My experienced guide Bill Allen won’t reveal who’s come before Robb Report. “You’d know their names,” he says, grinning.
And so the San Juans remain a secret to all but a fortunate few. Of all the luxuries the ultra-wealthy enjoy in the skiing ecosphere, the promise of untouched snow is by far the most enviable. Here in Colorado is where the white gold truly lies.
Photography: Kane Scheidegger (heli-skiing); Patrick Coulie (hut); Courtesy of Colorado Tourism Office (Hood Park Haven).
This article appears in the Autumn issue 2026 of Robb Report Australia New-Zealand. Click here to subscribe.
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A modern classic in the making, combining naturally aspirated power with elegant restraint to deliver performance that feels as refined as it is visceral.
In a year when carmakers of all persuasions sheepishly extended hyperbolic electric targets, it’s fitting that the monastic puritans of Maranello—who, lest we forget, won’t finally yield to the sin of battery power until October with the Elettrica—opted to make combustion their major power play.
As an uncertain future of AI omnipresence barrels towards us, the 12Cilindri—an analogue, open-topped tribute to Ferrari’s late-’60s/early-’70s grand tourer, the Daytona—represents a defiant fade into the past, a pause for breath, a fleeting return to The Good Times when nascent technology provoked excitement rather than existential dread.
Guiding this automotive nostalgia trip is, as the nomenclature suggests, a naturally aspirated 6.5-litre V12 engine, generating an unceasing wave of power as it sears towards the 9,500 rpm redline with relative nonchalance. That’s because the 12Cilindri is not a mouth-foaming attack-dog. It scales performance heights with the refinement of the finest Italian works of art; its “Bumpy Road” mode facilitates comfy al fresco GT cruising, and even the imperious powerplant is mannerly at most speeds.
For all the yesteryear romance, progressive technologies and engineering, such as a world-class 8-speed transmission, advanced electronic aids and independent four-wheel steering, are baked into the deal. The 12Cilindri’s clean, stark design somehow toggles between retro and modern; and while vaguely polarising, one can’t ignore its magnetic road presence.
In terms of aesthetics, Ferrari describes the 12Cilindri as being “ready for space”; in many ways, a fantasy vehicle that transports users to another dimension is probably what the world needs right now.
The Numbers
Engine: 6.5-litre V12
Power: 610kW
Torque: 678 Nm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto
0-100 km/h: 2.95 seconds
Top speed: 340 km/h
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High and Low
At Le Bernardin, Aldo Sohm oversees one of the most formidable cellars in fine dining. But on the beach, he’ll happily drink a cheap rosé. The world-class sommelier explains why taste—and humility—matter more than price.
Aldo Sohm is one of the most accomplished sommeliers in the world. The 54-year-old Austrian heads up an oenophile’s empire on New York City’s West 51st Street, where he both serves as wine director at Michelin three-star Le Bernardin and leads his namesake wine bar, just across the road from the fine-dining institution. (He spends his time literally running back and forth between the two.) So it may come as a surprise that this man, who sips prized varietals all day, admits to the joys of a glass of Whispering Angel, a ubiquitous rosé that retails at stateside Target stores for US$22.99 (around $30) a bottle.
The context here is important; the aptly named Sohm is quick to clarify that he’s not about to start serving Whispering Angel as one of the pairings with chef Eric Ripert’s US$530 (around $750) eight-course tasting menu. But during a trip to the Caribbean for the Cayman Cookout food festival, Sohm’s wife requested a glass of rosé on the beach. When he went to fetch it, she specified that she wanted a cheap drop, not the fancy stuff that he likely would have grabbed. “I felt kind of gobsmacked, right?”
Sohm says as we’re sitting in the tasting room at Aldo Sohm Wine Bar. “Now, rather than just criticising, I have to admit: I got out of the water, and I tried Whispering Angel, too. It was delicious.”
Unlikely as it may be, this humility is perhaps the key to Sohm’s success. His lack of self-seriousness makes him an anomaly in the oftentimes highfalutin world of fine wine. Rather than shaming you for your preferences, Sohm will indulge your desires. Maybe, as in the case of his wife, you’re going to be right. More likely than not, you’re going to be wrong. He won’t simply tell you that, though; he’ll use his encyclopedic knowledge of wine to subtly steer you in the right direction, allowing you to come to that conclusion on your own. “You just wake up from your dream—and mistake—and realise that, ‘Oh yeah, he’s right,’” says Ripert, who has worked with Sohm for almost two decades.
Sohm intended to move to New York for only 18 months. Growing up in Innsbruck, in the Austrian Alps, he wanted to be a helicopter pilot. Like many childhood fantasies, that didn’t come to fruition, and he settled on something more practical, becoming a teacher at a hospitality school. Having overcorrected—“That was way too boring for me,” he admits—he switched to the more public-facing side of the industry, getting a job as a restaurant server. It was then, when he was about 21, that Sohm fell in love with wine. (Prior to that, he was a self-proclaimed Bacardi and coke guy.)
After studying wine on his own time, he began his formal sommelier education in 1998. He rose quickly through the ranks and was named the best sommelier in Austria in 2002, a title he defended the following two years and reclaimed in 2006. Amid that stretch, he sojourned to New York in 2004 with the goal of improving his English to compete in international competitions. It paid off: four years later, he won the top prize from the World Sommelier Association. But more than the accolades, Sohm had discovered a career. By then, he had joined Le Bernardin after stints at Wallsé, Café Sabarsky and Blaue Gans—all Austrian restaurants in Manhattan.
“Back then we had a very strong French sommelier community, and they controlled everything,” he says. “And it was an uproar because how come an Austrian sommelier came to one of the most French restaurants?” He proved his bona fides, and in 2013 Ripert and Maguy Le Coze, the co-owners of Le Bernardin, approached him with the idea of partnering with them in a wine bar. It was Ripert who suggested putting the connoisseur’s name on it.
Aldo Sohm Wine Bar debuted the following year, with a team that Sohm handpicked. Sarah Thomas was part of that opening crew, after meeting Sohm during a fateful dinner at Le Bernardin with her cousins. When her relatives divulged to him that she was a sommelier in Pittsburgh, he proceeded to serve a blind tasting to Thomas. “He didn’t say what I got right or wrong. He didn’t care about that,” she tells me. “He just wanted to hear me talk about wine, I guess. So I did.”
When he offered her a job at the end of the meal, she laughed. Sohm didn’t. Thomas promptly packed up and moved to New York. After she spent about nine months at the wine bar, Sohm promoted her to Le Bernardin, where she worked for another five years. When she decided to start her own business—Kalamata’s Kitchen, which aims to teach kids about other cultures through food—Sohm was one of her earliest investors. He may have found full-time teaching to be too banal, but it’s still a huge part of what he does now, identifying the next generation of stars and giving them the guidance to grow into their own—whether that takes them into the upper echelons of fine dining or beyond the white tablecloths altogether.
Overseeing two teams, at two very different spaces, feeds Sohm’s prodigious ambition. He’s on a mission to completely reshape the world of wine, from what’s in your glass to the glass itself to what you enjoy it with—say, Champagne with eggs. Along with his day jobs, he has partnered with the Austrian brand Zalto to create his own wineglasses. “As a sommelier, you criticise only, but you make nothing,” Sohm says. So, he also now wears the winemaker hat, producing a Grüner Veltliner under the Sohm & Kracher label, a relatively accessible quaff that’s a collaboration with his fellow countryman Gerhard Kracher. And in 2019 he added author to his résumé, releasing Wine Simple, a “totally approachable guide”, as the book’s subtitle puts it. He followed that up with Wine Simple: Perfect Pairings, to help you pick the right bottle for the right meal and the right moment.
“In wine pairings, you have three possible combinations,” Sohm says. “There’s the perfect pairing. Then sometimes you have flavours just going along… it’s like humans—they talk, they interact, but they never connect. And then there’s conflict.” It’s that first one he’s after every time.
“Sohm fell in love with wine when he was about 21. Prior to that, he was a self-proclaimed Bacardi and coke guy.”
Outside of the restaurant, the wine bar and the cellar, Sohm is an avid cyclist who owns six bikes, a number he admits is excessive—especially in New York City. Riding is what he credits with keeping him healthy, when so much of his time is spent eating and drinking—and drinking some more.
Still, despite the 18-year career at one of the world’s best restaurants, despite the top honours from his peers, despite the wine and the wineglasses and the wine books, Sohm doesn’t consider himself successful. Every day, he’s trying to figure out how he can self-correct. “I like what I do, so I go back home that night, think of things which I can improve,” he says. “I get annoyed when I make a mistake, but I improve the next day.”
His quest for perfection may never be over, but Sohm does concede that he’s happy—its own type of success. Sometimes he finds that happiness while sipping a glass of 1980 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche, a bottle now so rare and coveted that he calls it “unattainable”. And sometimes, if to his chagrin, he finds it while drinking a mass-produced rosé on the beach.
Photography by Tori Latham
This article appears in the Autumn issue 2026 of Robb Report Australia New-Zealand. Click here to subscribe.
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Available in a range of shades and intensities, this metallic tone is still a first-place choice.
Above: Awakening 02, Sebastien Durelli Designed exclusively for StudioTwentySeven, Sebastien Durelli’s Awakening 02 floor lamp is available in a limited run of eight examples. Handcrafted in Italy from cast patinaed bronze, the striking piece takes inspiration from the naturally sculpted landscapes of Iceland, specifically the country’s glacial lagoons. The organic boulder-esque shade is rugged and elemental—like an exploded rock wrenched apart by seismic activity—while the base is sleek and symmetrical, providing visual balance in a deep bronze finish. From around $65,300
Above: Orion, De La Espada When it comes to the Orion dining table, the draw is in the details. Designed by Anthony Guerrée for De La Espada, this piece features a central base crafted from a series of overlapping wood slats—a textured moment that creates visual equilibrium with its smooth, curved-brass counterpart. A bona fide visual anchor, the Orion can be paired with thin-framed chairs for a sneak-peek view or heftier seats that provide a surprising reveal when guests sit down to dinner. From around $20,870
Above: LS35A, Luca Stefano This showstopper by Milan-based designer Luca Stefano is all curves. A sexy lounge sofa, seen here upholstered in Pierre Frey mohair with canaletto walnut details, the LS35A is available for customisation, but we think that this mossy-gold hue is incredibly chic, evoking the muted desert tones popular during the ’60s and ’70s. Around $66,280, as shown
Above: Jazz, Tom Bensari Part of master woodworker Tom Bensari’s Manhattan collection for StudioTwentySeven, the Jazz bookcase is an ode to the designer’s love of music. With edges that curve like brass instruments and shelves that skip like riffs, this unit is meticulously hand-built in Poland from oak and olive wood, with custom veneered interiors according to the client’s preference and a glowing finish that takes on a golden tint in just the right light. Around $29,320
Above: Sleeper, Lucas Simões Last September at Christie’s in Los Angeles, Brazilian artist Lucas Simões unveiled his first furniture collection, Colendra. Presented in Lightness & Tension, an exhibition curated by roving gallerist Ulysses de Santi, Simões’s work is rooted in material exploration, as seen in the Sleeper chair, a curving steel form that suggests Brazilian midcentury modernism. A unique patina—which imparts the shimmery, rainbow-esque look of an oil slick—gives the piece a contemporary, artistic feel. Around $22,440
This article appears in the Autumn issue 2026 of Robb Report Australia New-Zealand. Click here to subscribe.
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