The Rake

While escapism is often seen as a coping mechanism, I look at it differently. Escapism to me is the ability to wholeheartedly lose oneself. To momentarily break free from the hegemonic oppression of reality by immersing one’s mind in a realm that pro

For some time my happy place has been a tiny town called Bargemon, in France, where I got married and every year spend a few weeks doing very little. Editing a magazine is a noisy game, so the kind of quiet available in Bargemon feels like a revoluti

Tis call’d the evil:A most miraculous work in this good king;Which often, since my here-remain in England,I have seen him do. How he solicits heaven,Himself best knows: but strangely-visited people,All swoln and ulcerous, pitiful to the eye,The mere

In The Great, the court of Catherine II of Russia unfolds like a comic marionette show. The acclaimed television satire is a modern Hogarthian take on the period drama, setting the stage for Gwilym Lee’s suave Grigor as he survives the perils of cour

To describe a writer who sold 40m copies of his books in his lifetime — inaugurating one of the most profitable franchises in history — as underrated would seem counterintuitive, but Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, has always seemed to provok

This interview was meant to take place more than two years ago. Fabrizio Buonamassa Stigliani, the Bulgari Product Creation Executive Director, and I had been in talks to feature him in The Rake because, frankly, his omission from the magazine in yea

Mixed-breed mutts running into burning houses and emerging through the flames carrying bawling infants in their jaws; Golden Retrievers who wouldn’t know Dr. Heimlich from Dr. Hook performing abdominal thrusts on owners choking on apples; and Beagles

If you had grown up in Sweden in the late 1960s and early seventies, you would have known the name Paulina Porizkova. It was a byword for a type of natural liberty denied a human being due to forces that Porizkova, specifically, was too young to oppo

For more than 50 years, Vilebrequin have been celebrating the spirit of summer with their famed European-style swim short. The secrets to the brand’s longevity? Perhaps the joy, freedom and confidence one feels when wearing a pair of Vilebrequin swim

New & Lingwood possess a gravitas that most companies can only dream of. The heritage brand has been around since 1865, survived the first world war, had its flagship destroyed during the second, and has dressed the scholars of Eton for more than 150

The music starts slowly, with a resonant B-flat from a distant dulcimer, like a mental lightbulb coming on for the virginal, repressed schoolboy Todd Anderson, soon to become a man. A crescendo marks the trigger-pulling of the rebellion. Not by manni

Acapulco, look here comes the sunAcapulco, it’s a day for funI can’t wait till I meet your sweet senoritasKiss everyoneThis is not time for siesta, this is time for fun… The lyrics to the title song of Fun in Acapulco — the 1963 fiesta starring Elvis

I am, and have always been, something of a second world war nut. My interest has become even more acute as the years have accumulated, with my attention shifting at any one point between the war’s various stories, battles, campaigns, services and nat

Mas de Torrent Hotel & Spa. A journey to happiness. A traditional 18th century Catalan farmhouse, transformed into a luxury hotel on the Costa Brava that oozes happiness, calm, glamour and exclusivity. All 39 suites are surrounded by mature gardens a

What do the adventures of Vasco da Gama, the Chinese year of the dog, and a paper-and-silk hot air balloon that glided over Paris in 1783 have in common? They — and their topical kith and kin — have all been depicted as part of Vacheron Constantin’s

People following my quixotic, often bumbling video exploits in the realm of high watchmaking have noticed that I like to use the colloquialism ‘dope’ — as in, ‘Dude, this watch is dope’ — when assigning praise to my favourite timepieces. Which inspir

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