The 57-year-old French luxury eyewear brand Vuarnet relaunched in the United States in September, bringing its iconic all-weather sunglasses back into the limelight. The brand first achieved fame over five decades ago with its namesake, the 1960 downhill-skiing Olympic gold medalist Jean Vuarnet. Years later, the company reached the peak of its popularity, greeting the 1984 summer Olympics as an official sponsor. Now, after having fallen from the radar for more than a decade, Vuarnet is back and as committed t…
Nauta Yachts, Designer of the World’s Largest Yacht, Unveils a 541-Foot Gigayacht.
Nauta Yachts—the design firm that conceived the world’s largest yacht, the 590-foot Azzam—has revealed its latest project, a seven-deck, 541-foot gigayacht with a mind-boggling array of amenities. The massive yacht is powered by a diesel-electric hybrid system that allows for a cruising speed of 18 knots and a range of more than 6,900 miles.
Guests enter the yacht, which can accommodate as many as 36 guests, through its 1,615-square-foot main deck lobby. The forward section of the main deck houses two VIP s…
The Lodge at Torrey Pines Offers VIP Access to the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club
To celebrate the inaugural fall Bing Crosby horse-racing season at the legendary Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in San Diego, the Lodge at Torrey Pines is offering a two-night package with racetrack access. Available for the duration of the extended season, which runs November 7 through 30, the Winner’s Package includes a table at Del Mar’s trackside Clubhouse Terrace restaurant. Daily breakfast for two at the lodge and chauffeured Audi shuttle service will also be available.
The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club’s firs…
From the November Issue: Carte Blanche
With its unhurried expansion of the Cheval Blanc brand, LVMH is slowly but surely redefining the concept of a luxury hotel.
It is one of those quintessential Maldivian afternoons in which a single fluffy cloud sails across the sky like a slow-moving ship and the slender palm trees seem to stretch to the sun. My fantasy island—a football field–sized patch smothered by a mound of snow-white sand—is silent save for the whisper of a light breeze and the churning of the rising tide. I flatten myse…
The Can-Am Spyder F3 Is a Performance-Driven Three-Wheeler
The Can-Am Spyder’s oddball three-wheeled configuration polarized die-hard motorcyclists when it was launched in 2007. It was the brainchild of Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP)—the Canadian conglomerate responsible for the Ski-Doo snowmobile and the Sea-Doo personal watercraft—making the curious trike an appropriately disruptive force within the traditionalist motorcycling community.
For 2015, BRP has introduced the $19,500 Can-Am Spyder F3, which adds a performance-focused edge to the lineup. The Spy…
Driving the New Audi A3 Cabriolet and S3 Sedan
Sometimes, one of the most instructive exercises for those of us who review top-end sports and luxury automobiles is experiencing a marque’s more modest offerings. And the new Audi A3 Cabriolet and S3 Sedan speak volumes about how the German manufacturer treats its entry-level customers.
We recently took the all-new 2015 A3 Cabriolet 1.8T FWD S tronic (quite a mouthful) for a quick jaunt to Rancho Valencia Resort & Spa in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., about 135 miles from Los Angeles. Equipped with a 1.8-lit…
The Star Yacht Concept from Lobanov Design Is No Ordinary Vessel
The radical new Star yacht concept from the Italian firm Lobanov Design, conceived in collaboration with the British naval architecture firm BMT Nigel Gee, pushes the boundary of contemporary yacht design. The 435-foot superyacht features a minimalist, symmetrical design, with a white hull and superstructure marked by an intricate, snowflake-like pattern of irregularly shaped windows—an effect made even more striking when the yacht is lit up at night. The forward and aft sections slope gently and then steeply …
Porsche Design and BlackBerry Create the New P’9983 Smartphone
The third collaboration between BlackBerry and Porsche Design, the new P’9983 smartphone is a stylish upgrade of the mobile-device maker’s Q10 smartphone running the newest BlackBerry 10 operating system. Though its technical specifications remain largely unchanged (it does feature 64 gigabytes of storage compared to the Q10’s 16), the Porsche Design phone is built from premium materials—including a scratch-resistant sapphire camera lens, a forged-steel logo plate and case side, and a full QWERTY keyboard with…
Saleen Transforms the Tesla Model S into the Foursixteen
At this year’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, the Southern California performance-car manufacturer Saleen unveiled its first all-electric model, the Saleen Foursixteen. Known for building versions of U.S. muscle cars, such as the Ford Mustang and the Chevrolet Camaro, from the chassis up, as well as its own supercar, the S7, Saleen has marked out an intriguing new direction with the introduction of an electric vehicle.
A radically restyled version of the Tesla Model S P85, the Foursixteen (starting from …
Chefs Daniel Boulud, Emeril Lagasse, and Buddy Valastro to Host Las Vegas Ultimo Weekend
Celebrity chef–sponsored food festivals seem to be a dime a dozen these days, but Ultimo at the Venetian Las Vegas, from December 5 through 7, is no ordinary food festival. Hosting the event and preparing food throughout the weekend is not one but three brand-name chefs—Daniel Boulud, Emeril Lagasse, and Buddy Valastro—and optional accompaniments to the dining festivities are spa treatments at the Venetian’s Canyon Ranch SpaClub, exotic-car driving at the nearby Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and a shopping spree w…