Maxim April 2016

As the penchant for tattoos continues unabated, do I need to change my thinking on the men and women who get them? I’ve always held that tattoos are acceptable when applied discreetly to parts of the body that are only revealed during acts of intimacy or beach vacations. It’s one thing if my local barista is a guy with a spider crawling up the side of his neck, but quite another to have my mortgage rejected by someone with the same self-inflicted markings. Is there no longer such a thing as too much personal information in a professional setting? Tattoos have a large part in the history of regret, as they are often acquired under the hormonal influences of youth and before the course of one’s life and career is…

Many of the great things that come from Italy, from wine and cheese to cars and shoes, owe their quality, integrity, and staying power to family. Maybe it’s about honor and respect, maybe it’s about learning a craft from childhood; whatever it is, the Rossettis have created an enduring shoemaking dynasty that’s flourished since the end of World War II. Renzo Rossetti began the business making sports shoes in the early 1950s—a perfect discipline for anyone who would produce light, comfortable shoes that wear well. He was soon joined by his two brothers and later by his three sons, and the family became known for footwear of superb quality that was innovative and stylish without being trendy. For decades Fratelli Rossetti has been known for its slip-ons, the tassel loafer…

For the past 25 years, Yann Fillioux, Hennessy’s master blender, has been the key figure behind the iconic brand’s celebrated cognac. Now, at age 69, he is ready to anoint a successor after 50 years with the brand, but not before presenting his final, and greatest, creation for the famed maison. Priced at $39,000 a bottle and available this May, Hennessy 8 is a blend of eight utterly exceptional varieties of eau-de-vie, the fermented, double-distilled spirit at the heart of cognac, representing eight generations of incomparable heritage—with just 250 bottles being produced for the entire world. Seven selections were chosen by Fillioux— who’s also the seventh person ever to serve as Hennessy master blender—from the greatest distillations of the past seven generations. The eighth was picked by Renaud Fillioux de…

BLOCK FROM G-LAB DESIGN FIDELITY This custom-engineered integrated tube amp from Polish audio house G-LAB is the perfect marriage of industrial-modern form and acoustically jaw-dropping function. To reduce interference, designer Mateusz Główka carefully compartmentalized BLOCK’s internal components, producing the sort of high-fidelity sonic precision you only find in the most rarefied studio-grade equipment. 1960 AP ORIGINALS LOUNGE CHAIR Unlike so many midcentury classics that have been endlessly reproduced, this rare 1960 lounge chair from Dutch design firm AP Originals is a rugged individual. Suspended from a spartan brushed-steel frame, its supple cognac leather allows a man to recline the right way. When one of these does come up for auction, it usually goes for around $7,000.…

COBALT CO50 VALKYRIE For the aspiring aviator, there’s no plane more seductive than the Cobalt Co50 Valkyrie, a single-engine piston five-seater designed for maximum maneuverability and safety. With a design descending from classic fighter jets, the Valkyrie is the fastest private aircraft in its class, melding luxury and acrobatic functionality into one of the slickest birds in the sky. Priced at a relatively grounded $595,000. SKYRUNNER Why drive when you can fly? Then again, why not do both? The SkyRunner flying ATV combines muscular off-road design with paraglider aviation technology, allowing it to take off from almost anywhere. On the ground, it can conquer the roughest passable terrain at speeds of up to 70 mph. But with its parachute deployed, it can literally carry you up and over a 10,000-foot…

In The American Gentleman’s Guide to Politeness and Fashion from 1860, Henry Lunettes writes, “No rude familiarity should outrage the delicacy that veils femininity, no outward indifference or neglect betoken disregard of the sacred claims of the woman, whom, next to his mother, every man is bound in honor, to distinguish beyond all others, by courteous observance.” Which is all to say, there is a right and a wrong way to treat a woman. Of course, the world has evolved since then, but there’s something to be said about the universal principles of chivalry when it comes to dating, which are presently facing extinction. These days, a date is little more than a right-swipe into a wasteland of casual drinks at sticky-floored dive bars with paramours as memorable as the…