Table of contents for December/January 2023-24 in Robb Report

OF ALL THE BURNISHED little signifiers men flash about like so much plumage—the hype kicks, the grail vintage piece, and, now, the most eye-catching jewelry (see p. 44)—at least we've largely been spared having to chase that unrivaled engine of stylish female status anxiety, the It Bag. Until now. Enter Pharrell Williams, Louis Vuitton's new creative director for menswear and a man whose personal style, from his own Richard Mille watch collaboration to those custom Tiffany & Co. sunglasses framed entirely in diamonds, has long set the bar for unimpeachable cool. With his inaugural collection in June in Paris, Williams unveiled his take on Vuitton's famous Speedy bag; in a good sign for LV's high-profile signing but bad news for the rest of us, it instantly became the musthave carryall…

ON A DECEMBER NIGHT in 1944, jewelry designer Harry Winston paused in front of his Scarsdale, N.Y., estate to admire the holly wreath, glistening with snow, hanging on his door. Noticing how its intertwining leaves disappeared beneath the wintry dusting, he had a light-bulb moment: The gemstones, rather than their metallic settings, should shape the piece. Created in partnership with Harry Winston's head designer, Nevdon Koumrouyan, the house's famous Cluster style was born. Mimicking the contours of a wreath's leaves, it features a mixture of stones in various cuts and at various angles, placed so tightly together that the platinum setting is nearly invisible. It's a signature that has graced everything from pendants to rings and bracelets, but it's the over-the-top Cluster necklace, like a sparkling garland for the neck,…

2024Want to head off on your own wine-country jaunt, minus the Sideways drama and tourist traffic? Downtown Napa has all your needs covered, combining the ambience of a small town with the amenities of a big city, including world-class dining, high-end boutique hotels, and more than 55 tasting rooms within walking distance. Below, four must-visit spots. M.D. and J.J. ALPHA OMEGA COLLECTIVE 1245 First Street This gorgeous western-saloon-style tasting room features highly acclaimed pours from three sister wineries, including Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay from Napa Valley's Alpha Omega; Burgundian-style Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from Tolosa, on the Central Coast; and bold Mediterranean varieties from Spanish winery Perinet. Flights can be paired with cheese and charcuterie or sandwiches and fried chicken from neighboring Dutch Door. VINTNER'S COLLECTIVE 1245 Main Street Open…

It's no secret that Miami is heating up. The balmy southern city is one of the hottest markets in the U.S.-Miami Dade's government website says the city is projected to increase to over 3 million people from the 2.4 million estimated in 2005. Much of its recent boom is due in part to Covid migrations, as well as the allure of the weather and beaches and, of course, because Florida collects no state income tax. It has become an increasingly important business hub, too, with bil-lionaire titans such as Carl Icahn and Orlando Bravo moving their operations there. But much of its development is thanks to its reigning king of real estate, Craig Robins. He was integral to the revitalization of South Beach in the late 1980s and ‘90s before…

THERE'S A PREVAILING misconception about rigid-hulled inflatable boats (RIBs), especially stateside, that they are, well, a bit utilitarian. It's true that, with their fiberglass hulls and puncture-resistant Hypalon tubes, they certainly seem better suited for work than for leisure. Yet that's also why they have a long and respected history as go-to vessels for special forces units, not to mention as hardworking yacht tenders. And when did reliable, low-maintenance performance become a bad thing, anyway? Now, with lengths approaching 72 feet and equipped with as many as five outboards, RIBs are gaining prominence in the Med as Italian builders rush to produce larger models to meet increased demand. In the U.S., meanwhile, day-boat markets such as Miami, Los Angeles, and the Hamptons are ripe for RIB takeovers. “Americans tend to…

*Unless your name is Hamilton, Slater, or Moore IT'S DAY TWO OF THE 2023 TAHITI PRO SURF COMPETITION. I'm perched on the roof of a VIP boat 400 feet from Teahupo'o, one of the world's most dangerous waves. Surf icon Kelly Slater has just been swallowed by a heaving wall of turquoise water. I'm so close to the action that when he's finally spit out from the ride, my face gets misted in ocean spray. Below me, Australian Jack Robinson, who will go on to win the event, sits on the edge of the boat performing breathing exercises ahead of his heat. Around me, a flotilla of kayaks, Jet Skis, surfboards, and small vessels bobs in the channel, acting as a floating stadium for fans. For many of the competitors-and…

Jack Griffin, now 25, was a high-school sopho-more in Atlanta when he saw a 60 Minutes broad-cast on hunger in America. Dismayed, he resolved to be part of the solution, one bag of groceries at a time, by volunteering at a local food pantry. There was just one catch-he couldn't find one. Then a thought struck him: What became of all the desperate, hungry people who couldn't find their neighborhood food pantry, either? To be sure, Griffin was not the first teenager to have his conscience pricked by the plight of the disadvantaged-just the rare one who iden-tified a need, conceived a solution, and followed through on it. At the ripe age of 16, he established his all-virtual nonprofit, FoodFinder. It began as a website listing a handful of area…

The new ethos underpinning the most noteworthy hospitality launches next year? Straddling the divide between pampering and pushing boundaries. “People want to be on the edge of the wilderness,” says Jules Maury, who runs Scott Dunn Private, noting that “it's about being one step back from being completely abandoned in the middle of nowhere”—a sentiment heard more than once. “You're in the middle of nowhere, but not having to think for yourself, versus a place where there are lots of other hotels and people looking at you,” says Christopher Wilmot-Sitwell, of Cazenove & Loyd. In other words: Hotels are increasingly trying to be destinations in themselves, the overthe-top properties reason enough to visit, no matter how remote. The raft of new private-island resorts is one expression of this idea. Note…

“I want everyone to know what high-quality beef is, to [taste] the difference, the way connoisseurs distinguish among wines,” says 34-year-old Argentine chef and restaurateur Germán Sitz. Which, even in Argentina, is no small ambition. But in a country renowned for its meat, the beef served in the five restaurants that Sitz owns with his business partner, chef Pedro Peña, doesn't just stand out-it conjures a fascinating footnote of Argentine history. In 1889, fleeing anti-Semitic violence in czarist Russia, over 800 Jews settled in La Pampa, a rural region in central Argentina, then populated by the local cowboys known as gauchos. It was an unlikely merging of disparate communities: Jewish refugees and lasso-swinging cowhands in wool ponchos and leather boots. Sitz is a descendant of those refugees-who assimilated and became…

DOMAIN WHERE DESIGN LIVES Togo, Ligne Roset Whoever said, “Don't slouch!” didn't understand the Togo. Designed by Michel Ducaroy-who was inspired by a tube of toothpaste folded back on itself-the frameless, quilted-polyester-covered foam seat debuted in 1973 to a puzzled public. Once people sat it in, they eagerly embraced the chair's flop-friendly appeal; today, Togo is an icon. To celebrate its 50th anniversary, Ligne Roset released 878 Togo Fireside chairs upholstered in a Kvadrat bouclé imagined by Belgian fashion designer Raf Simons. Evoking pointillist landscape paintings, the limited-edition Atom fabric comes in three colors. (We favor Labradorite, above.) $4,285 Scarab, Atelier d'Amis How can an armoire resemble a beetle, you wonder? Atelier d'Amis cofounder and creative director Sébastien Léon fashioned Scarab's gold-metal bars, which stretch from top to bottom and…

DREAM MACHINES A DEVOTION TO MOTION Lamborghini's newest flagship, and one of the fastest Raging Bull models ever produced, is a plug-in hybrid. Strange times. ALL MIXED UP Lamborghini Revuelto In the interregnum between gas engines and zero-emissions cars, automotive engineers have found themselves in a sweet spot, with the ability to electrify traditional power trains to levels of performance beyond what combustion-only setups could achieve. In the Revuelto, that means a trio of electric motors added to the ferocious 6.5-liter V-12 for a total of 1,001 hp, a top speed of over 217 mph, and a zero-to-62 mph sprint time of just 2.5 seconds-all with 30 percent more efficiency than the outgoing V-12-powered Aventador. It also means that Lamborghini's newest flagship, and one of the fastest Raging Bull models…

If you pay them, they will come. Is it about now when you hit peak seasonal anxiety? Or do you tend to succumb in mid-December, just as the in-laws descend? Do holiday tip-ping, ham glazing, and hunting down the perfect present for your partner leave you exhausted? Does it help, when you're up at midnight planning menus for visiting vegans, celiacs, and intermittent fasters, if your fam-ily asks why you're so stressed? Is your wilting tree becoming an awkward metaphor for your feelings of personal inadequacy? Do you suspect that the mandate to Have Fun and Make Mem-ories this time of year was the work of a sadist? Staff Up The dream is a staffing infrastructure that runs like a well-oiled machine while you kick back and sip eggnog. To…

IT WAS THE LINE heard round the wine world: “I am not drinking any fucking Merlot!” With that splenetic declaration, Miles Raymond, the fictional wine-snob protagonist played by Paul Giamatti in the movie Sideways (based on the Rex Pickett novel of the same title) eviscerated the real-world estimation of an entire varietal. Even going on 20 years since the film's debut, it's impossible to fully account for the reputational hit suffered by the small, dark-purple grape from Bordeaux-but you can start with the fact that Pinot Noir took its place as the “It” variety almost overnight. This, despite the fact that Miles and his sidekick, Jack (Thomas Haden Church), are hardly the types of people anyone would actually take advice from. Deriving its name from merle, the French word for…

From birthday cakes to Thanksgiving turkeys to Fourth of July barbecues, food and its attendant rituals bring friends and family together in a way nothing else can. The universality of that tradition will be on display in a new show at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Dining With the Sultan: The Fine Art of Feasting, which examines Islamic art through a culinary lens. “It's a food-oriented culture,” says Linda Komaroff, LACMA's curator and department head for art of the Middle East and a specialist in Islamic work, who organized the show, which runs from December 17 to August 4 and then travels to the Detroit Institute of Arts. “So many tablewares were produced, and they survived in enormous quantities.” As the invocation of sultans suggests, this is an…

Will that be methanol, biofuel, or hydrogen for your superyacht? It's something you might hear at the fuel dock in the not-so-distant future. That's because builders have essentially been pushed onto a carbon-neutral timeline. “Both the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and European Commission are asking for drastic carbon reductions,” says Paolo Bertetti, vice president of research and development for Sanlorenzo Yachts, of cuts that could be as much as 40 percent by 2030 using the IMO framework. “At the same time, environmentalists are also targeting us.” This scenario has prompted three approaches to cleaner propulsion: hydrogen fuel cells for yachts under 79 feet, green methanol converted to hydrogen for larger vessels, and hybrid diesel power acting as an interim solution for both categories. The last uses hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), which…

Like a baby boom after a blizzard, an influx of next-generation flying machines is heading to market following the pandemic-driven demand for private aviation. “Covid was a great accelerator for interest,” says industry analyst Rolland Vincent. “It brought in people who could afford, but couldn't justify, getting into the space.” And according to forecasts from aerospace giant Honeywell, business-jet deliveries in 2024 will be up 10 percent over the past year. Also benefiting from the trend is the battery-powered eVTOL landscape, currently rife with start-ups looking to democratize the skies over the next 24 months. Here, six aircraft-from the conventional to the futuristic—that are on our radar. Dassault Falcon 6X After engine issues led to the cancellation of Dassault's Falcon 5X project, the French manufacturer shifted its focus to passenger…

It's close to 3 a.m. on the Friday before Formula 1 weekend in Miami, and the nightclub known as E11even is heav-ing. At the owner's table, just above the dance floor, managing partner Dennis DeGori is showering the crowd below with stacks of cash. “Make it rain,” he says, demonstrating the proper tossing technique so the bills scatter high and wide. Thousands of singles carpet the floor already. Waitresses hoist magnums of Dom Pérignon, cutting a path through VIPs in the pit. These guests shelled out extravagantly for a prime spot in the club's throbbing center. This weekend, the most coveted tables-which encircle an elevated stage, a dance floor, and the DJ booth-will require a minimum tab of $30,000 apiece for booze, food, and entertainment. Unlike at most venues, the…