For Your Eyes Only
Say goodbye to the other people. Australia’s first private island, off the less-tread Townsville coast, is 1,000 m2 of blissful tropical sensation.
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Australia won more than its fair share of islands in the geographical lottery—8,222 to be precise. Despite this earthly blessing, the nation has never offered a genuine private island experience.
Most of the isles ringing this vast land mass are already occupied by resorts, where individuals or companies can book out the entire place for their friends, family or staff. But Pelorus Private Island is different.
Here there’s no option to share. Meaning no crowded communal pool areas, no boutiques hawking you clothes and no making polite small-talk with strangers around the bar.
It’s been seven years since Morris Escapes’ billionaire executive chairman Chris Morris bought a small island 25 minutes’ helicopter flight time north-east of Townsville, just a few kilometres from his high-end luxury resort, Orpheus Island Lodge. Now, after two years of construction and a total spend of $13 million, he’s opened Pelorus Private Island.
The only access to the island is by helicopter, which drops me on a green lawn 20 m from a single, sprawling residence.
The shallow, coral-fringed beach just beyond, and the fact there’s no jetty, means most boats can’t land on Pelorus Island—and so guests have complete protection from the outside world.
Which makes it about as different from certain other resorts on perpetually busy Hamilton Island as it gets. The property is built on the south-western edge of the island, and is the only dwelling among over 400 hectares of national park. Though there’s plenty of coconut trees bordering the white sandy bay in front, it’s more an overwhelming sense of the Australian outback that dominates first impressions; a metre-long lace monitor lizard strolls through the bush behind the residence; cicadas whir continuously; white sulphur-crested cockatoos squawk overhead; I can see as many gum trees as tropical frangipanis.
So it does not feel unusual, then, that the residence looks more like an outback-style homestead than a tropical island beach house. It’s almost 1,000 m², with wide open spaces filled up by communal lounges and dining areas where guests eat meals family-style. Beside this extensive shared space, I push through a door to an open kitchen with bar seating for breakfasts, and floor-to-ceiling windows looking out to a horizon pool and the sea beyond.
Five suites extend beyond the central entertainment space. The fifth suite can accommodate any configuration of king, king and single, twin or three single beds. The fourth and fifth suites can interconnect. They’re big—each suite is 76 m²—with private balconies that stare straight across a passage of calm water to the heavily forested peaks of Orpheus Island.
Natural materials dominate; whitewashed hardwood timber floors, limestone and quartzite. Hardwood timber posts and hand-sanded feature columns make my suite look warm and cosy, almost like a hunting lodge. There’s no numbers on any of the doors, because Morris wanted this private island to feel like a home, not a hotel. It’s the simplicity of its design that stands out most: for an accommodation option starting at $20,000 per night, there’s less obviously luxurious touches than you might expect.
“Our approach to the design was to keep it simple, pristine and uncluttered,” says its Melbourne-based designer David Dubois.
“We wanted to avoid excessive opulence because it just wouldn’t be right in this rugged island setting. We used a reduced, pared-back aesthetic, together with an openness that reflects a modernist pavilion style of architecture.”
Most of all, Dubois wanted to keep guests’ focus less on his design quirks and more on the natural beauty outside. I prefer to keep my blinds open in my suite, so the first thing I see each morning is the calm Coral Sea through floor-to-ceiling windows.
And from my seat at the kitchen bar stool at breakfast, I watch loggerhead turtles come up for air outside, and schools of Spanish mackerel gouge the water in feeding frenzies. Had I visited between July and November, I would have seen humpback whales pass close by. Private chef, South African-born Grant Logan, was brought across to Pelorus Private Island from Morris’s Mediterranean-based superyacht Northern Escape. His partner, Kate Hawkins, is general manager. Morris’s ethos all along has been to treat Pelorus Private Island like a land-based superyacht. During construction, the company even referred to the project as Mare Pelorus, borrowing a term bestowed on superyachts (mare means “sea” in Latin). Morris’s intention was to offer the same level of service, and the same principles of exclusivity. “Your dining experience here will be as good, if not better, than on a superyacht,”
Logan explains as he serves up breakfast. “But we have much more direct interaction with guests. The island’s much more personal and it’s much more homely, so you could say it’s superior to a superyacht.”
The residence is built beside an easy-sloping, wide white-sand beach bordered by dramatic sea cliffs and thick, imposing forest, offering safe, sheltered swimming. The fringing coral just a few metres off the beach is full of colour and teems with bright reef fish. The snorkelling is as good here as I’ve found in outer parts of the Great Barrier Reef only accessible through long boat rides. Guests have 24-7 access to water toys like stand-up paddleboards, kayaks, jet-skis and sea-bobs. A personal watersports coordinator is on hand at all times.
And yet, some of the best things about staying at Pelorus Private Island aren’t even on Pelorus Island. Included in the tariff are excursions aboard the company’s amphibious motor boats (which beach themselves for easy access for guests of all ages) for snorkelling or island-hopping excursions.
We take a motor launch to reefs off a group of uninhabited islands, which here look just like the better-known Whitsunday Islands 300 km south —minus the resorts, the charter yachts and other tourism operators. We zip to Hinchinbrook Island and land on a long, secluded beach just as dark clouds part and reveal 1,300-metre-high mountains; as we motor past mangroves to a deserted white sand beach, I picture 5-metre-long saltwater crocodiles lying in wait. We walk across the beach and hike through thick rainforest, across swollen rivers to Zoe Falls. With recent heavy rains, the mist from the cascade fills the entire valley. We climb a narrow trail to a rock pool at the top of the waterfall, with views right back across the Great Barrier Reef. Because of its remote location and the fact there’s no infrastructure, only expert hikers visit Hinchinbrook Island to try its iconic multi-day walk—rated one of the best in the country. But today, we have the island entirely for ourselves.
Next morning, a fishing guide arrives from Orpheus Island Lodge to take us fishing for highly sought-after reef species, like coral trout, giant trevally and sweet lip. We troll too for the pelagic species of the Great Barrier Reef, like Spanish mackerel, wahoo and dogtooth tuna. Then chef Logan prepares fresh sashimi from our catch, and we eat it at sunset beside the pool as the fading colours turn the ocean purple.
Numerous island resorts offer private or semi-private retreats for premium travellers in Far North Queensland, but none are this intimate, or private. Five hundred kilometres north, Lizard Island. Resort offers a three-storey, three-bedroom private property within its resort but you’ll share the island with other resort guests, research station workers and visiting yachties. Haggerstone Island Resort, a further 400 km north, offers exclusive use of its resort but you’ll have to charter a plane for a two-hour ride north of Cairns and its huts are widely spread out (to offer guests who don’t know each other complete privacy).
Orpheus Island Lodge, 10 km south of Pelorus Island, also offers exclusive-use buy-outs, but with room for 28, you won’t find the same immediacy. Pelorus Private Island, on the other hands, manages to feel like my own private home. Its appeal lies not in any flashy trimmings, but in the fact you’re leasing your own little world.
Private hire of Pelorus Private Island includes all gourmet meals and a selection of wine, Champagne, beer, spirits, gourmet snacks and experiences; from $20,000 per night (minimum of two nights); see pelorusprivateisland.au; Morris Escapes has also just opened the luxury Ardo Hotel in Townsville, where guests can board its helicopter to Pelorus Private Island;ardohotel.au
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One of Hollywood’s Favorite Bespoke Tailors Is Making His First Ready-to-Wear Line
Leonard Logsdail, who’s dressed everyone from Denzel Washington to Robert De Niro, is finally going off the rack.
Published on January 18, 2025
When Hollywood’s best-dressed men need suits—to wear on-screen or off—they call Leonard Logsdail. The English-born, New York–based bespoke tailor had already cultivated an enviable legacy by the time he dressed Robert de Niro in 2006’s The Good Shepherd.
In 1971, after graduating from what is now the London College of Fashion, he became the youngest person to open his own store on Savile Row. He set up shop in Manhattan 20 years later and has since dressed everyone from Al Pacino to Hugh Jackman. A lengthy list of devoted clients suggests the long lead time for one of his $15,000 rigs is worth it.
If you like his strong-shouldered look but want to skip making the dozens of decisions bespoke commissions require, you’re in luck. This year, Logsdail will begin offering a line of ready-to-wear jackets, available for purchase directly via his website.
“It’s an idea that’s been percolating for years,” Logsdail tells Robb Report. The result of his ruminations is timeless and essential: a two-button jacket with a double vent, using the same pattern he has employed countless times to give actors such as Denzel Washington (American Gangster) and Michael Douglas (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps) a commanding on-screen presence. It’s all about the shape, he says of the jacket’s leading-man look. There will be “a little bit of waisting,” so it flatters guys of all sizes.
Fabric options include a classic navy from the same Vitale Barberis Canonico textiles Logsdail uses in his bespoke garments; beautiful tweeds made at the Lovat Mill in Hawick, Scotland (the best tweeds out there, in his opinion); and a solid-blue Japanese seersucker. In a nod to his ancestry, he’ll use an 1888 painting by distant relative William Logsdail, St Martin-in-the-Fields, for the lining.
The choice underscores that the venture is as much personal as it is professional. The jackets, priced under $2,000, will help him reach a wider audience. But his business is a family affair: Two of Logsdail’s sons and one of his daughters help run it, handling everything from marketing to web design. One lesson he hopes to pass on with his uncomplicated, refined approach? “Fashion goes out of style,” he says. “But style does not go out of fashion.”
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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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Show Stoppers
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
Book tickets now and take benefit from the RR 15% discount code: ROBB15
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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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We Cherrypicked the Best Elements of Luxury Resorts to Create the Ultimate Fantasy Hotel
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.
SUITES
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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.
RESTAURANT
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
Borgo Santandrea
Italy
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.
SPA
Meritage Resort and Spa
Napa Valley
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.
POOL
One&Only Za’abeel Dubai
UAE
This gravity-defying infinity pool, sitting atop the cantilevered link between the hotel’s two towers, has a clubby vibe, swim-up bars and sunken seating pods—and the fact that it’s Instagram catnip doesn’t hurt either.
Photos by ADRIAN GAUT; BORGO SANTANDREA; PENINSULA LONDON; WILL PRYCE.
