Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2025 - Issue 98 i The Rake

So it was that on the Day of Our Lord the Eighth of December, Two Thousand and Twenty-Four, I found myself reciting the Shepard’s Prayer. Specifically, the same prayer recited by the astronaut Alan Shepard while he lay 83 feet off the ground, in his Mercury-Redstone 3 rocket, with the eyes of the United States and much of the world watching as he prepared to light the fuse on his boosters, smash through the stratosphere, and become the first American in space: “Dear Lord, please don’t let me fuck up.” I was embarking on the kind of adventure from which there is no return: the institution known as marriage. Which, in some ways, was surprising to me, as just a few years earlier I had sworn off all long-term relationships,…

There has never — or so it’s tempting to surmise — been an outfit so chillingly emblematic of its owner as the double-breasted Chanel suit famously worn by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis during the swearing-in as president of Lyndon B. Johnson aboard Air Force One at Dallas Love Field on November 22, 1963. Designed by Chanel but made in candy-pink wool bouclé by the New York outfitter Chez Ninon — thus honouring both the trends that had shaped her when studying in Paris in her youth and the tradition that First Ladies wore clothing made in America — the suit epitomised the classical dynamism at the core of her style smarts. Having just hours earlier been splashed with the blood of her husband, John F. Kennedy, as the pair were transported…

The Welcome Luncheon at Il Cielo 07.12.2024 Dress code: California Chic The Welcome Cocktail Party at Dante, Maybourne Beverly Hills 07.12.2024 Dress code: Old Hollywood The Wedding at the Beverly Hills Hotel 08.12.2024 Dress code: Black Tie (Touch of Pink)…

Genetic biologists — of the bookish and the bar-room varieties — will be familiar with the concept of our Mitochondrial Eve, the most recent common matrilineal ancestor of all humanity, thought to have lived in East Africa 200,000 years ago. That’s a lot of time, a lot of Homo sapiens, and a fairly gargantuan cauldron of DNA. On the other hand, we Barbets in the little cluster of islands north of La Manche share two common matrilineal ancestors, though you can forget notions of greater genetic diversity. Betsy and Bepop were brought to these shores from our native France less than 20 years ago, and there are only about 200 of us here, in the resulting extended family, today. Jibes about undershot jaws, cataracts and the kind of foot infections…

On one of the gentle slopes that define the Chateau de la Fuente estate, where the ‘Rosada’ wrapper leaves of the Arturo Fuente OpusX cigar grow, there is a gathering of large stones. Not quite rocks, small boulders more like, arranged into a shape that commands no obvious definition. Each is painted. Those around the edge are enamel white, and among them are others painted blue, yellow, red, black and cream, coming together in the unmistakable figure of Snow White, portrayed with her head tilted gently to one side as she tends to a flock of small animals. “My mother was Snow White to me,” Carlos Fuente Jr. explains to the 75-or-so-strong crowd assembled under an open-sided rotunda on the estate, surrounded by the Dominican Republic’s Bonao mountains. His voice…

As noted by our fearless founder on the previous page, I joined him in Los Angeles at the end of last year to celebrate his nuptials. My professional relationship with Tinseltown has always been a tad dysfunctional. On one hand it is the source of great discomfort and tension (booking covers is always a sensitive operation and negotiation); on the other, the place has allowed this magazine to thrive in a complex and competitive market, and it is a place that I have, over the years, fallen in love with, even without being able to wrap my head around it. That is another reason why watching the dreadful fires of January eviscerate swathes of this magical city has been such a grievous experience. L.A. is meant to be a beacon,…

The Chairman has always operated in a man’s world. This fact — and her capacity to remain unfazed by the status quo — was clear for everyone to see when she was given an award in 2013 literally titled ‘man of the year’. Of course, the Chairman takes all of this in her stride. The Chairman is unimpeachably authoritative, sine qua non. She remains the primary source for her subject matter. All others in the same professional promontory are surplus to requirements, as most of them defer to her and dare not be seen cutting her grass, not only out of deference but at the risk of looking foolish. The Chairman is a social seminar to her male counterparts. Time in her company is much like Shakespeare’s sweet sound that…

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked in white gold Telling Rake readers the story behind the Royal Oak — arguably the most oft-told yarn in horological history — would be like regaling a serious scholar of popular music with the story of how Dylan went electric, or lecturing a literary professor on Shakespeare’s yen for neologisms. Suffice to say, Gérald Genta’s octagonal magnum opus rewrote the rules of horological aesthetics, turned steel into a premium watchmaking material, and played a game-changing role for the mechanical watch industry, in the midst of the quartz crises, akin to that fulfilled by Pelé for Brazil at the 1970 World Cup. The Shah of Iran, Prince Michael of Kent and King Juan Carlos of Spain were among those who snapped up one…

When Travis Kelce joined Taylor Swift on stage at Wembley stadium last year — in full white-tie rig, no less — the resultant roar could be heard across most of north-west London’s postal districts. It was a consummation, of sorts: the Kansas City Chiefs’ tight end and the world’s most poredover pop star had teaser-trailed their affair with winks, nudges and mutual hospitality-suite cameos, but, as Swift feigned amazement and Kelce applied himself to a bit of stage business involving a fan and a make-up brush, here was the IRL thing playing out in real time. “We just witnessed Travis and Taylor’s coming out as the ultimate power couple,” gasped a correspondent for America’s ABC News. “Make no mistake,” thundered rival network TMZ, trying — and failing — to push…

One chilly winter’s evening in Battersea, in south-west London, I found myself at the Institute of Masters of Wine, learning about Swiss wine with Stefan Neumann, a master sommelier, and Sarah Abbott, a master of wine. We tried some of the glorious indigenous varietals that thrive on the vertical vineyards of Switzerland. “If you fell, you would be very relieved about the Swiss hospitals,” Stefan said. It’s not just the vineyards that are steep. Labour-intensive production verging on deadly makes for expensive wines that are often hard to source. But aren’t the best things hard to find, and a little on the expensive side? As Sarah said, “The persistence of wine quality and culture is what makes it so exciting.” Some of those indigenous varietals include Chasselas, the most common…

brian bowen smith Brian, who was born and raised in New York, became a professional photographer via a less-than-traditional route. After catching the eye of Herb Ritts while performing as a pro athlete in a print campaign, the legendary photographer became a friend and mentor, helping Brian find his personal photographic style. He has been working steadily ever since, shooting for countless publications and commercial clients, as well as publishing two books and focusing heavily on his fine art photography. Brian lives in L.A. with his wife and young son, and when he is not working you will find him surfing, snowboarding or riding his motorcycle. He has made a welcome return to The Rake for this issue, shooting our cover star, actress Liv Tyler, for the story that begins…

Some time in the late 1980s, I went to see Nina Simone at Ronnie Scott’s. It wasn’t without a certain amount of trepidation. Her residencies at the club had yielded numerous tales of erratic behaviour, including pugilistic audience interactions and random walk-offs, which served only to burnish her legend. She’d been a piano prodigy, the High Priestess of Soul, a righteous testifier at the blazing heart of America’s civil rights movement, and, latterly, a wandering exile from her homeland and seemingly, taking into account her well-documented struggles with her mental health, from herself. Which Nina would we get tonight? The entrance of ‘Miss Simone’ — as everyone addressed her, like an honorific — was dramatic enough: led on in a white fur coat and feathered plumes, she gripped the grand…

If you know anything about my work as a film director, you’ll know I love to make movies with great female leading characters. All my films, from Bridesmaids and Spy to my forthcoming Another Simple Favour, feature supremely talented women in three-dimensional roles. I fight to make sure they come off as fully developed individuals who are smart and funny and real and vulnerable yet strong — and contain all the other things that go into making us the wonderful, fully functioning humans we are. Yet over the course of my career, there have been guys who refer to my movies as ‘chick flicks’. I find the term hugely offensive because it involves writing off the characters and stories that my casts and I are telling as only appealing to…

In England, King George II had five years remaining before his death would hand the throne to his grandson. Across the pond, the North American colonies of the British Empire were doing constant bloody battle with those of the French. James Cook had just joined the navy, and, 15 years later, on the other side of the planet, would land at Botany Bay. For those of a horological persuasion, though, the mid 18th century — and the year 1755 in particular — is relevant for the goings-on in Geneva. It was in that year, with the Age of Enlightenment reaching its denouement, that Jean-Marc Vacheron signed his first apprentice, effectively founding the company — making it now the oldest watch manufacturer in continuous operation — and creating the piece that…

I am delighted to say that Manolo Blahnik’s offices are exactly how you’d hope they would be. I arrived for the interview at the given address, and thought it might be one of those requisitioned townhouses in Mayfair that hold multiple companies on various floors, but I needn’t have worried. The building also displayed two characteristics: firstly, it was a monument to, and parable about, longevity and a business’s ability to grow from humble beginnings; secondly, it was refreshingly unbranded and respectful of the location’s architectural heritage, undisturbed, as it was, by ephemera — a classy move. In walked Kristina Blahnik, the Chief Executive of the brand and a niece of its legendary eponym, and it all began to make sense. Kristina was understated in dress, striking in bearing, and…