Moonen Shipyards Unveils Scaled-Down Semi-Series

The Dutch yacht company Moonen Shipyards has teamed up with the all-star designer Nick Mezas to create a series of smaller motor yachts ranging from 59 to 79 feet. The announcement came shortly after the company built its largest superyacht to date, the 138-foot Sofia. The semi-series comprises the 59-foot Ibiza (which is estimated at $3.4 million), the 66-footMenorca, (about $4.7 million), and the 79-foot Mallorca(estimated at $6 million).
Despite the smaller size, the yachts will still uphold all of the Moo…

Sotheby’s Will Auction Off a Century’s Worth of Moët & Chandon Champagnes

A collection of 270 Champagnes dating from 1914 to 2004 will make their debut on November 13, when Sotheby’s London auctions off Moët & Chandon’s Grand Vintage Collection. The bottles were selected by Moët & Chandon’s chef de cave, Benoît Gouez, and Sotheby’s international head of wine, Serena Sutcliffe, to celebrate the 270th anniversary of the house. There will be 74 lots presented at auction, and none of the bottles have left the cellars of Moët & Chandon’s in Épernay since their production.
Th…

Volvo Concept Coupe: Thinking Outside the Box

Even though its cars are quite contemporary in design, Volvo still struggles with its image as a builder of boxy cars. Hoping to put that old idea to rest once and for all, the Swedish automaker unveiled the Volvo Concept Coupe at Frankfurt, which it says lays the foundation for a more sensuous and curvaceous design philosophy.
Still, the company couldn’t resist bringing up its past, making a comparison to the P1800, a sports car it built from 1961 to 1972. While the P1800 is an attractive car, it doesn’t hol…

Pouring Wine without Uncorking

The old rule among oenophiles was that once you opened a decent bottle of wine or vintage port, you had to finish it within 24 hours before oxidation irreparably altered the taste and bouquet. That meant many a bottle of wine in home cellars remained unopened because there was no one to share it with. Plus, if only a glass or two was desired of a vintage bottle, that doomed the rest of the contents once it was opened. Pumping out the air and storing the bottle in the fridge would only extend its flavor for 2 t…

Jeweler Alexandre Reza’s Work on Display in New York

Concurrent with its Contemporary Art and Impressionist & Modern Art sales, Sotheby’s New York will present an expansive collection of jewelry by Alexandre Reza from November 2 to 14. In an unusual move for the auction house, the pieces aren’t for sale; they are on display to illustrate the Parisian jewelry house’s extraordinary cache of gemstones and European craft over the past 50 years. The exhibition The Extraordinary Jewelry of Alexandre Reza features a vast selection of jewelry, from Reza’s early desi…

Salvatore Ferragamo Pop-Up Shop Opens in Los Angeles

Salvatore Ferragamo is hosting a month-longpop-up shop inside the Wallis Annenberg Center for Performing Arts in Beverly Hills as a tribute to the city of Los Angeles in which the company’s founder, Salvatore Ferragamo, opened his first leather-shoe shop nearly 100 years ago. The new 2.5-acre arts center—which encompasses a 500-seat theater, a sculpture garden, an outdoor terrace for events, and courtyards—occupies the historic Beverly Hills Post Office, which opened in 1934 and was completely restored for the…

On the McLaren Hunt

With Ron Howard’s Rush at the top of the mind among moviegoers and race fans alike, collectors of historic Formula 1 racecars will be raising paddles at RK Motors Collector Car Auctions’ sale on November 2, vying for the iconic 1977 McLaren M26 that James Hunt drove to his last Formula 1 victory—at the Japanese Grand Prix in 1977. The car, chassis #3, is powered by a Ford Cosworth V-8 that develops 525 hp and revs to 10,600 rpm in classic F/1 style. Top speed for the day was 195 mph. Perfectly preserved, accor…

Zegna’s Made-to-Measure Suits Get More Personal

Ermenegildo Zegna will provide 100 cuts of its superfine wool, long-wearing Trofeo wool, or high-performance, wrinkle-resistant wool blend that can be woven with the buyer’s name or a message of his choice into a suit. To execute these special orders, Zegna will stop the looms in its factory in Biella, Italy—which produces more than 2 million meters of material annually—to weave each custom order. The labor is reflected in the nearly $10,000 price tag for a suit and the 3- to 4-month lead time.
Zegna’s new Pe…

Most Valuable Pink Diamond Hits Sotheby’s Auction Block

A month after setting a world record for the most valuable white diamond sold at auction—a 118.28-carat D-flawless that sold for $30.6 million on October 7 in Hong Kong—Sotheby’s Geneva expects to set another record on November 13, when the Pink Star crosses the auction block. The 59.6-carat internally flawless vivid-pink diamond is expected to fetch more than $60 million. It is the largest stone of this color and clarity ever graded by the Gemological Institute of America, according to Tom Moses, the institut…

100 Important Automotive Designs Invade Pasadena

More than 50 years ago, Bill Mitchell—the head of design for General Motors and an avid fisherman—was inspired by the powerful and hydrodynamic bodies of sharks and stingrays while at sea. He returned to his design room with the vision, and Peter Brock—the youngest designer on the GM team in ’59 and an Art Center College of Design alumnus—came up with the 1959 Corvette Stingray Racer XP-87, which will be a showpiece at the Art Center College of Design’s upcoming Car Classic in Pasadena, Calif., on October 27.