Innehållsförteckning för August 2023 - Issue 89 från The Rake

The obvious place to start with Anjelica Huston is her name, which finds its genesis in Greek and translates to ‘messenger of God’. This is apt, for she has danced with the devil — several of them, in fact — and won. At 72, Huston retains the angular magnificence that suggests Morticia Addams once had a fervent three-way with an eagle and one of the heads from Easter Island. She was Polaroid-ed by Warhol, and she once said, “There were times when I hated my nose. But you grow up and you start to recognise that maybe it wasn’t a bad thing that you weren’t born Barbie.” Imbuing her roles with a brooding imperiousness that can somehow laugh at itself, Huston has built a cabinet featuring an Academy Award, six…

You might think it inevitable that Stefano Canali would have joined the company that bears his family name, but as I listen to him, he insists it was his choice alone. It turns out it was a good one, as the third-generation family member has helped steer this legendary Italian tailoring house through some difficult times. Stefano was able to join the business as treasurer in 1998 thanks to his experience in the financial industry in New York. He went on to become the chief financial officer and, in 2008, the general manager — just in time for the global financial crisis. In 2018 he was elevated to C.E.O., giving him less than two years in the role before the Covid pandemic arrived. He can joke about his timing now.…

‘Unisex’ might be today’s buzzword in the watch industry, but it was a different story at Audemars Piguet in 1989, when the Managing Director, Stephen Urquhart, tasked a 22-year-old designer called Emmanuel Gueit with secretly revamping the Royal Oak ahead of its 20th birthday. The steel sports watch created in 1972 by Gérald Genta had by then become a cornerstone of the Audemars Piguet line-up and been endowed with ‘sacred’ status, so anyone who tinkered with it would do so at their potential peril. But once Gueit grasped the nettle, he found himself inspired in part by the trend among women of wearing watches designed for men, as watches were often small enough for unisex use. In the same rebellious spirit as the original, Gueit decided to go against that…

The contemporary art world is perhaps the toughest nut to crack when it comes to the luxury industry. Its various mysteries include its subjectivity and trends, its quality control, the vast amount of output on the market, and the competition for jobs within the business. It has a rampant annual calendar for fairs across the world, and a growing cadre of collectors who are as punctilious as those who have dedicated themselves to working ‘on the inside’. There are also politics involved: who is allowed access to what; who finishes the day with bragging rights. It is not unlike watch collecting: there are those who have the means to buy any watch they please, and there are those to whom brands go first with their flagship watches. “My golden rule…

When it comes to fictional world war I veterans who could occupy this platform, we’re spoilt for choice. Biggles, the protagonist of W. E. Johns’ series of adventure books, might be deemed as worthy of the slot as he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and Military Cross for his insouciant valour (his tally of 49 aircraft, three balloons and one submarine retired from action speaks for itself), as well as his eternally stiff upper lip on being shot down or crash-landing eight times. Derring-do of a different kind — sartorial — also earned Jay Gatsby his place on this page (over to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s lucid prose: “Recovering himself in a minute, he opened for us two hulking patent cabinets which held his massed suits and dressing gowns and…

Of all the year’s exciting moments, there is nothing quite as blood-summoning as taking a table at Bellamy’s in August. As usual, Gavin Rankin — one of the last of the patrons mange ici — bids you “what-ho”, and Luigi comes with the menu. At this time of year, of course, there is a notable adjustment: grouse has been added, with a warning (may contain shot). Aside from the mighty pleasure of carving one’s own bird to the bone à table, tucking into the strong, smoky meat, and drinking something wonderful with it — for me it’s a Diet Coke, though having consulted my learned colleague and The Rake’s wine expert, Georgie Fenn, a 1999 Chassagne-Montrachet pinot noir would work well, too — the story of how the bird reached…

I have a tough job: I’m endlessly trying to convince my wife that I have a job. It’s a task that was made all the harder when I told her I needed to attend the Concorso d’Eleganza at Villa d’Este on the banks of Lake Como this year. “For what?” she said. “A jolly on the lake?” I pushed back as best I could — well, yes. Concorso is almost certainly the most elegant get-together in the automotive calendar. It’s a gathering I’ve admired from a distance for many years but never had the pleasure of attending. I relish events at which people have been brought together by their shared passion. While the 50-plus cars on show at the Concorso represent the apex of collecting in terms of their rarity,…

mary ellen matthews Mary Ellen is a New York native who has been a leading entertainment portrait photographer for more than two decades. She has created colourful, iconic images of many well-known personalities of the age. Her work documents artists in myriad fields, from pop stars (including Billie Eilish and Kendrick Lamar) and sports legends (Tom Brady, Derek Jeter) to rock gods (Mick Jagger, Jack White, Neil Young). Since 1999 she has been the photographer for Saturday Night Live, where she has been responsible for creating (and recreating each season) the distinctive look of the show’s still images. Through creative and playful styling and a demeanour that puts her subjects at ease — as well as intense post-production work — she produces unique and recognisable portraits under the relentless deadline…

Humankind truly runs the gamut when it comes to intelligence. It’s hard to comprehend that the same species that can 3D-print spare parts for classic vehicles from the comfort of its own home needs to be warned not to eat the Styrofoam in which the hardware is packaged; that the Homo sapiens behind the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and the Hadron Collider share a genome with those behind The Kardashians and the fidget spinner; and that the intrepid boffins who crunch data concerning marine sediments, ice sheets, fossil and tree rings to draw empirical conclusions about the fate of the planet share a Mitochondrial Eve with those who trust their horoscopes. Many humans are surprised to learn that dogs, too, occupy both ends of the cerebral scale. We chase…

I don’t know about you, but I like having decisions made for me. Especially on holiday. In fact, I enjoy decisions being made for me on holiday so much that I turn into a root vegetable (made only slightly more capable because I retain the ability to peruse a newspaper, play some board games, and reapply sun cream). Surely one of the luxuries of a holiday is that the stress of decision making — including what to eat and drink — is taken away. Plat du jour? Sign me up. Just leave me to my pink liquid and let me float around wondering, How did a vegetable like me ever get here? I don’t know where this summer will take you (hopefully someone else is making that decision for you),…

The Gentlemen’s Evening by Chopard 17.05.2023 Chopard hosted their annual Gentlemen’s Evening at the Martinez Hotel in Cannes. Stefano Bemer x The Rake at Pitti 14.06.2023 Stefano Bemer and The Rake filled the Cibrèo Caffè in Florence during Pitti to celebrate 40 years of dedication to the art of shoemaking.…