Work and plays: Meet Richard Bean, Britain’s most successful contemporary playwright July 2, 2015 When Richard Bean’s One Man, Two Guvnors embarked on its first UK tour, every morning the dramatist would email James Corden (the lead) with tweaks and extra lines tailored to whatever audience he was facing that evening. Oh, you’re in Birmingham, swap line X with line Y. Leeds? Make sure you say Z. This tells [...]
It’s okay to forget the rings on your wedding day – just grab one of these extra special watches to celebrate instead July 2, 2015 Among the seemingly limitless array of judgment calls that wedding planning involves (I’ve been learning this first hand over the past few months), the choice of rings seems relatively straightforward. Life slips into a mysterious parallel reality where canapé volumes, seating arrangements and – God help us – the merits of different shades of the [...]
Max Büsser’s 10th anniversary limited edition timepiece is a petrolhead’s dream July 2, 2015 It’s 10 years since one of Switzerland’s most creative horological brains, Maximilian Büsser, set up his “Max Büsser & Friends” brand, with the intention of working collaboratively with the finest watchmaking talents to create the most unusual, highly-specified timepieces. This one is styled around 1970s digital driving watches, in which time was shown at the [...]
Summer watches: Don’t be fooled by these brightly coloured stunners; there’s some serious horological clout here July 2, 2015 Summer: that time when every magazine lightens its pages with vibrant yellows, azure blues and that indefinable shade of pink that only surfaces between June and August (somewhere between “old lady” coral and Legally Blonde fuchsia). I thought I’d join the club. My esteemed peers and I sometimes have a tendency to get bogged down [...]
Head back in time to the bowling alleys of 1950s America for some retro style July 2, 2015 Photography: Packard Stevens Styling: Ozzy Shah Joe: Markus Lupfer jumper, £330, and trousers, £285, both markuslupfer.com Lizzy: Marco De Vincenzo top, £760, liberty.co.uk; Just Cavalli trousers, £320, harrods.com; Kate Spade New York rings, £55 and £80, and bracelet, £100, both katespade.co.uk Pinko top, £183, pinko.it; Mikimoto necklace, £2,300, mikimoto.co.uk Lizzie: YMC top, [...]
The Maserati GranTurismo MC Stradale is an idiosyncratic beast but spend some time with it and you may just fall in love July 2, 2015 The Maserati GranTurismo MC Stradale is a mysterious beast, alluring and confounding in almost equal measure. The “Stradale” tag indicates it’s a road-going version of a racecar; a lean, focused, road warrior – which it most certainly is – but it’s also got two rather roomy seats in the back. And don’t let the name [...]
La Dolce Vino: A visit to Italy reminds me that there’s more to Tuscan wine than hype July 2, 2015 I had a long weekend recently in Florence, cautiously reacquainting myself with the pleasures and pitfalls of Tuscan wine – and came away feeling that I’ve been too timid about the region for too long. With good reason, I might add. I have drunk more duff bottles of wine from Italy than any other nation [...]
Fifty scents: Richard E Grant on being led by his nose, speaking to peacocks and watching his neighbours ‘at it’ June 4, 2015 When Richard E Grant suggested we meet at Fulham’s exclusive Hurlingham members’ club, it seemed to make perfect sense. He lives just up the road in Richmond and it’s exactly the kind of place I can imagine him hanging out, especially after having watched him star in Downton Abbey. I had visions of wood-panelled walls, winchester sofas, views over the croquet [...]
World wide: New exhibition offers a rare glimpse of Alighiero Boetti, a true 20th century maverick June 4, 2015 Alighiero Boetti 1989 embroidery on fabric, 103 x 107.5 cm, courtesy of the Mazzoleni London Alighiero Boetti (1940-94) is a refreshing antidote to all the things “conceptual artist” has come to connote: sterility, aloofness, opaque jargon that says too much to say anything at all. While his work is complex and its meaning elusive, [...]
Beyond memory: Tomoko Yoneda’s first UK solo exhibition in 10 years June 4, 2015 Nothing in the zen-like spaces photographed by Tomoko Yoneda indicates the destruction that once reigned in them, but the titles offer a clue. In Lovers After the Thaw (pictured), a couple embrace in a swimming pool in post-Cold War Hungary. In Sniper View, a nondescript city-scape is injected with a sense of danger when you [...]