LVMH’s Delphine Arnault with Karl Lagerfeld at the LVMH Prize 2018 cocktail reception ©François GOIZE

The LVMH prize is the most prestigious and desirable award for any emerging designer. Lauren Cochrane reports from Paris on the mix of established and new and the ideas bubbling around a competition aimed at discovering the next John Galliano or Alexander McQueen

This spring, as Paris Fashion Week swirled around them, some of the industry’s highest profile names – JW Anderson, Nicolas Ghesquière, Maria Grazia Chiuri, Bella Hadid, Suzy Menkes and Karl Lagerfeld included – found a moment in their busy diaries. The reason? The shortlisting of the LVMH Prize. Over two days, with LVMH’s Delphine Arnault, fashion’s brightest and best whittled a shortlist of 20 semi-finalists down to just nine. After an additional round of judging, the final winner is announced in June.

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In the four short years since its launch, the LVMH Prize has become the most prestigious in fashion. Each winner is given a grant of 300,000 euros and access to mentoring from LVMH experts to develop their business. Winners so far have included minimalist Thomas Tait and Grace Wales Bonner, the visionary of London’s menswear scene. Simon Porte Jacquemus, a designer mooted for the top job at Lanvin, was a special prize winner in 2015. Marine Serre, 2017’s winner, has already caused a stir. After her debut show in March, the New York Times said she had come “far, fast”, while Vogue called her collection “terrific”.

Designer Snow Xue Gao with model ©François GOIZE

Of course, fashion insiders will take note of anything that comes with the LVMH name attached. With Bernard Arnault at the head, it is the biggest luxury group in the world, taking in a record 42.6 billion euros in 2017 across brands including Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Givenchy. The impact of LVMH’s endorsement and mentoring (not to mention that cash injection) on a young designer’s career cannot be underestimated. Serre, speaking to Vogue, said what the win meant: “It was possible for us to really take things to a whole new level”, allowing her to hire new staff and expand into a new studio space. Marta Marques and Paulo Almeida echo this. “We suddenly had the exposure, the support and the funding to put into existence a lot of the things we always wanted to do, and grow the company,” they said in an email. “This is what the foundations of our label is built on and what the company is today.” Winning the LVMH Prize can turn a fledgling operation into a bona fide brand.

Read more: We ask artist Mouna Rebeiz about trash and beauty

Jean-Paul Claverie, advisor to Bernard Arnault, was instrumental in setting up the Prize in 2014 and he sits on the jury. The Director of Corporate Sponsorship at LVMH, he describes the prize as a way for “young designers to value creativity first”. LVMH are committed to that pledge. Designers are only eligible if they have shown two collections or fewer, and there is an in-house team that works specifically on the prize, selecting the final 20 designers who go before the jury. Relationships continue beyond the competition process, too. “We stay in touch with many of the winners and we are ready to help if they have a problem,” says Claverie. “The door is always open.”

Menswear designer Charles Jeffrey ©François GOIZE

Each year the number of applications has grown, with 1,300 in 2018, including designers from South Korea, China and countries in Africa. Among the 20 semi-finalists there was A Cold Wall, the London-based label by Samuel Ross, New York’s Eckhaus Latta, who put a pregnant woman on their catwalk in September, Charles Jeffrey’s artistic take on menswear and five gender-neutral labels including Faustine Steinmetz, GMBH and The Sirius. Of these, Ross, Jeffrey and Eckhaus Latta made it into the final nine, alongside Rushemy Botter and Lisi Herrebrugh of Botter, Masayuki Ino of Doublet, Lea Dickely and Hung La of Kwaidan Editions, Rok Hwang of Rokh, Matthew Adams Dolan, and Ludovic de Saint Sernin.

Model Emily Ratajkowski at the LVMH Prize 2018 cocktail reception ©Virgile_Guinard

Delphine Arnault (right)
with Carine Roitfeld ©François GOIZE

Established figures in fashion always enjoy meeting the next generation. Jury member Sidney Toledano, chairman and CEO of the Fashion Group at LVMH, says that he was excited after listening to the designers’ presentations. “I was so amazed by the energy,” he says. “I felt it myself, and it was after a long day of shows. I saw how excited Karl [Lagerfeld] was. His antenna tells him they’re talented. I think he had fun.”

Of course, the Prize is not without its advantages for LVMH. It means they effectively have first dibs on the next generation of talent. Toledano believes this has been at the heart of the LVMH culture since Arnault became the majority share holder in 1989. “It’s something he repeats daily – he wants creativity and quality, with an evolution.”

Read more: The maker of Masseto hosts a private dinner for LUX readers

It’s clear the winner is chosen carefully, and with much debate. “At the start of the process, we think that one applicant will be the winner and then, later, it turns out to be someone else entirely,” says Claverie. “I love discussion,” adds Toledano. “I hope we have two or three potential winners and we don’t know what to do.”

Claverie says that business acumen is a plus, along with determination – he praises Jacquemus for applying again after his first unsuccessful attempt. Ultimately, it is vision that characterises a winner: “The creativity is first… they are expressing something new.” Toledano says this is a quest for the next names to know. “It is not a philanthropic project,” he explains. “All the brands we have are based on the success of a designer. It was Monsieur Dior as a designer who created the magic of the Dior name.” Toledano compares designers to pilots. “An engine is needed to sustain a big name,” he says. “OK, from time to time, if you stop the engine, the plane is so high you can continue flying, but if you are a top brand you need [someone] in the cockpit, providing the momentum.” The LVMH Prize? The most stylish take on aviation college there is. Time to watch the latest graduates take flight.

To meet this year’s finalists, and for further announcements visit lvmhprize.com

This article appears in the Summer 2018 issue of LUX, on sale now worldwide.

Dead End, 2015 by Mouna Rebeiz

Mouna Rebeiz in the studio

French-Lebanese artist Mouna Rebeiz lives and works in London and is debuting her second solo show in the capital at the Saatchi Gallery, The Trash-ic or Trash in the Face of Beauty. Showcasing 17 works of mixed media – including digital and musical installations – the exhibition explores the expression of natural tensions between beauty and its counterpart, the grotesque and ugly, in art and society today. She tells LUX why she supports the charity Innocence in Danger and how internationally renowned designers and artists came to create their own unique ceramic piggy-banks to auction at Sotheby’s in aid of the charity.

1. In your view, what’s the role of the artist in contemporary society?

In any society at any time, the role of an artist is that of a mediator between what the world would have one see and reality itself; they make you see things. Like oracles or “la pythie” they are translators — between gods/nature and humans.

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2. Do you think our perception of beauty has changed as a result of social media?

No. Art has made us change our perception of beauty, because art is a translation of our era. It’s art that makes us see beauty in a different way. That’s why we see trash in beauty; because we are in a period of time where trash is glorified.

L’insoutenable légèreté de l’Etre by Mouna Rebeiz

3. How would you define ‘trash’?

Trash is something you don’t want to live with, something you reject, something you want to discard. That’s trash. Could you live with a trashcan that smells? No. It’s not meant to be lived with. Ugliness is not necessarily trash; hideous things can be beautiful.

Read more: Why you should be checking-in to The Thief hotel, Oslo

4. How do you think your fine art training has informed your contemporary practise?

You can write an essay without knowing the alphabet. You cannot build a building without a foundation.

Mouna Rebeiz with the piggy-banks designed by the likes of Buccellati, Christian Lacroix, Emilio Pucci, Esther Freud, Etro, Giles Deacon and Swarovski

5. How did you select the artists and designers to create piggy-banks for the online auction, and why the Innocence in Danger charity?

I was lucky enough the designers chose to work with us. As for IID, I’ve been supporting them for 15 years because I believe its the hardest thing to deal with, children who are abused. And I don’t think humanity, the “civilised world” is as civilised as it proclaims to be. I think we are barbarians.

6. What’s next for you?

Big things are on the horizon — I’m going to continue in this “trashic” theme and merge beauty and trash together in a way that’s never been seen before.

‘The Trash-ic or Trash in the Face of Beauty’ runs until 7 June at The Saatchi Gallery, King’s Road, London. For more information on visiting the gallery click here.

To view the silent auction of piggy-banks visit: www.trashicauction.co.uk 

The Thief boutique hotel sits on the edge of a peninsula known as Tjuvholmen

Why should I go now?

One of the fastest growing capitals in the world, Oslo is in the midst of some serious reinvention, which admittedly means you’ll encounter a few clusters of cranes but the excitement is palpable. You can now walk the entire length of the pretty harbour which is lined with cafes and shops, and it’s well worth popping into the Nobel Peace Center while you’re at it.

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The Thief is very much part of the grand redesign; perched on the edge of the small peninsula known as Tjuvholmen (translated as thieves’ island) alongside slick luxury apartments, restaurants and galleries. The hotel’s views over the Oslo fjord are staggering especially at this time of year when the sun’s shining.

The Thief is an art-lover’s dream

What’s the lowdown?

The Thief Foodbar restaurant

The hotel is made for aesthetes; there are Warhols in the restaurant, works by Sir Peter Blake in the suites and Julian Opie artworks in the lift. The art is supplied in partnership with the Astrup Fearnley Museum (room keys to the hotel also grant you unlimited access to the museum) next door and forms an eclectic in-house collection that contributes to the cool ambiance.

Read more: Geoffrey Kent reveals how luxury hotels are still getting it wrong

The action goes down at the Thief Foodbar, a chic and stylish restaurant; personified it’s a sexy deep, dark and interesting character. Breakfast is also served daily for guests here, and in the warmer months the roof terrace opens for alfresco dining with panoramic views of the harbour and live music as part of the hotel’s Unplugged series. The grilled squid with eggplant, cherry tomato and browned butter comes highly recommended.

The Thief Spa’s cove-like indoor pool

The Thief Spa features an indoor pool with an eye-level window so that you can gaze out onto the crisp blue sea that gently laps against the glass as speedboats hurtle past. The Turkish hammam is dreamy with its twinkling LED lights in the ceiling and the Sensory Sky showers, by German brand Dornbracht, offer waterfall or rainfall downpours depending on your preferred level of drenching.

Read more: Introducing Richemont’s new, sustainable watch brand Baume

Getting Horizontal

We were in a Deluxe Suite on the seventh floor decorated in sultry shades of blue, grey and cream with an enormous, and exceptionally comfortable double bed piled high with pillows. All of the rooms have huge floor-to-ceiling windows and private balconies, but the higher up you are, the better views.

The extravagant suites are furnished with unique artworks

Flipside

The hotel’s moody atmosphere makes it perfect for a romantic getaway, but if you’re there on business, it might be harder to, well, actually get any work done.

Rates: From 3000 NOK (approx. €400/ £350 / $500)

Kitty Harris

thethief.com

Axel Heinz, Masseto’s Estate Director and Winemaker

The maker of Masseto hosts a private dinner for LUX readers in London, along with LUX Editor-in-Chief Darius Sanai

Axel Heinz is not what you would expect of a Tuscan winemaker. Half German, half French, he speaks English with a perfect Received Pronunciation public school accent, the result of a UK school education. He is also thoughtful and philosophical about the great issues surrounding wine – and how he has helped turn Masseto, the jewel in the crown of the estate he runs, from being just another good Italian red, to one of the world’s greatest wines, on a par with Chateau Lafite and Petrus, within just 15 years.

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Axel was on sparkling form while hosting a dinner for friends of LUX in London this week, introducing some wonderful vintages of Masseto.

Axel Heinz at the LUX Masseto dinner

A selection of wines a the LUX dinner

The 1998 showed the mark of a truly great wine, having developed into a subtle kaleidoscope of delicate flavours and layers. I asked Axel what it was that allowed some wines to develop this astonishing complexity with age – to improve, rather than just get older – and his answer was that it is a blend of magic and expertise. Of the eight vintages we tasted, the 2006 is the most celebrated, but my favourite was the 2010, with its blend of power and poetry.

Read more: Meet Manhattan’s star real estate broker and fixer Gennady Perepada

Masseto is also changing, for the better, with a new winery opening on its estate on a hillside above the Tuscan coast, next year. It’s a magically beautiful place, and the place, and its creations, were celebrated with much gratitude and joy at our private dinner in London.

masseto.com

Even luxury hotels in the world’s great metropolises, like Hong Kong, sometimes get it wrong, according to Geoffrey Kent

It’s surprising how often ‘luxury’ hotels get even the simple things wrong and lose precious booking revenue because of some too-common errors, says Abercrombie & Kent Founder Geoffrey Kent

I was 16 years old before I spent the night in a hotel. The Ambassador was one of the grandest hotels in Africa. It was a mecca for travellers who liked to be as comfortable as money could make them. Mr Perfitas, the owner, ensured that his hotel did luxury in the right way. Since then, both as a travel professional and someone who loves adventure, I’ve stayed in hotels, chalets, camps – every type of lodging – on every continent and in nearly every country on Earth. I’ve experienced all the good, the bad and the ugly that hospitality can offer. Here’s how even the top luxury hotels can get the basics of hospitality so very wrong.

Charging extra for wifi

Wifi is frequently the highest rated in-room amenity. Like many businesspeople, I’m on the road for the vast majority of the year. I’m reliant upon technology to allow me to run my business whilst travelling and I don’t want to have to pay additional fees for wifi in hotels. Some hotel brands have even been fined for blocking personal connectivity devices so that travellers are forced to fork out if they want access to the network.

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Interestingly, hotels at the lower end of the market have always gotten wifi right, guessing that to win business travellers on tight budgets, they’d have to offer complimentary connectivity and it wasn’t unheard of for hotels within the same brand to have differing policies on wifi charges. Thankfully higher-end properties have spent the last few years getting with the programme, and free wifi is becoming de rigueur.

In 2014, the president and CEO of Loews Hotels and Resorts, Paul Whetsell, stated that he didn’t think it was “sustainable to keep charging” for wifi, scrapping the $14.99-20 a day charge his properties had been asking guests to pay.

Hidden fees

Hotels shouldn’t be charging for all the extras: parking fee, resort fee, gym fee, early check-in, late check-out, an energy surcharge, luggage holding, etc., etc. And please don’t get me started on ludicrously expensive buffet breakfasts. The mark-up on granola is enough to suppress even the heartiest appetite.

Complicated in-room lighting systems

In-room lighting systems must be wonderful fun for those with engineering degrees I’m sure, but for the rest of us attempting to find the switch to turn off that one light which defies all efforts to make it go dark is infuriating.

Hotels should also make the lighting smarter to guests’ needs. If feet hit the floor in the middle of the night, chances are someone needs to use the facilities, the lights should illuminate the way subtly without waking all occupants.

Read more: Why you should check into La Réserve hotel, Geneva this spring

Unreliable showers

Over the years, hotel showers have changed for the better. Sea-views, desert-views, glass feature walls, multiple heads, custom-built benches, built-in sound systems, I love that hotel showers now feature tech-savvy touches and that there isn’t a clingy plastic curtain in sight. However, no one wants to stand there alternately freezing and boiling, under a trickle or tidal wave, while they attempt to work out the pressure and heating settings.

A private island resort is less magical with an intrusive butler, according to Geoffrey Kent

Lack of power sockets

There should be easy to access outlets so that guests can charge devices on the bedside table and don’t have to crawl under any furnishings to find a plug. Or, even better, hotels should consider furniture with in-built charging facilities. After all, even Ikea stocks products that contain integrated wireless charging.

Read more: Richemont launches debut watch brand, and it’s sustainable

Intrusive service

Butlers should appear as if by magic to grant my wish for a cold beverage or a hot snack. Having a butler should make a stay feel flawless, not make guests uncomfortable.

Badly stocked (and expensive) mini bars

Mini bars should be stocked with a variety of healthy snacks and guests shouldn’t be charged to restock it (another hidden fee). Many forward-thinking resorts are now making the mini bar contents bespoke, and complimentary – in my view that’s the way forward for luxury.

However, not all properties forget the basic rules of hospitality. Hotels that I believe are exceptionally good include The Peninsula Hotels in Paris and Hong Kong, the Mandarin Oriental New York, and Il Sereno, a new property on the shores of Italy’s Lake Como.

All offer complimentary wireless internet access as standard. The Mandarin Oriental even advertises its free wifi on its Google search page title. A stay at one of these hotels exemplifies how hotels get luxury right, seamlessly.

Read more of Geoffrey Kent’s exclusive columns for LUX here

Sassan Behnam-Bakhtiar in the studio

French-Iranian artist Sassan Behnam-Bakhtiar‘s latest exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery is refreshingly uncontroversial. And that’s the point. Aptly titled Oneness Wholeness, the show is a response to what Behnam-Bakhtiar sees as an unhealthy obsession with materialistic wealth and ego in contemporary society. As such his artwork functions as a kind of cathartic release, taking the form of calming, colourful, mixed-media expanses, that draw inspiration from Persian mythology with curious textures, figures and reflections.

Gallery view of ‘Oneness Wholeness’ at the Saatchi Gallery

Reflection of The Damned 2017, Sassan Behnam-Bakhtiar

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There’s a distinct movement visible in the paintings that not only reveals the artist’s process, but also a kind of gentle fluidity, a lapping almost (not dissimilar to Monet). Whilst the titles are mystical sounding, pointing towards Behnam-Bakhtiar’s musings around existentialism, nature and harmony: Guardians Of Life, The Pursuit Of Light, and Me and Her. 

Read more: Meet Mister Manhattan, Gennady Perepada, real estate broker and fixer

But at the same time, these are not works of mere whimsy, look closely and there are shades of darkness, nostalgia, raw emotion.

Millie Walton

‘Oneness Wholeness’ by Sassan Behnam-Bakhtiar and curated by Nina Moaddel runs until 5 June 2018 at the Saatchi Gallery, Chelsea.  For more information on the exhibition visit saatchigallery.com/art/sassanbehnam-bakhtiar.To learn more about the artist visit sassanbehnambakhtiar.com

Richemont’s debut watch brand Baume aims for total sustainability

Uber luxury goods holding company Richemont owns some of the world’s biggest brands in the watch and jewellery industries including Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, IWC Schaffhausen, Piaget and Vacheron Constantin. Now the company has created their own luxury watch brand with the aim of total sustainability. Introducing Baume.

The Iconic Series

Baume is targeting a truly modern mindset. The brand’s luxury timepieces are not only fully customisable, but created through sustainable processes, using a online configurator with over 2000 variations to provide consumer choice and reduce waste. It might sound like a clever marketing ploy, but to demonstrate full commitment, the brand has partnered with Waste Free Oceans to create watches and parts from recycled plastics, with the view to collaborate with similar organisations in the future.

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“We use no animal-based or precious materials and unused components are recycled or re-used. Our interchangeable watchstraps are made from natural, up-cycled or recycled fabrics such as cork, cotton, linen, alcantara and recycled PET. Packaging is kept to a minimum: there is no secondary packaging and only FSC-certified paper and cardboard are used,” comments Baume Brand leader Marie Chassot.

Baume is committed to using upcycled, recycled and sustainable materials

The design aesthetic of the brand’s debut collections the Iconic and Custom Timepiece Series is minimalist and contemporary. The Iconic watch features a case made from partly recycled aluminium and a strap made from 100% recycled PET (plastic), with the plan to release a limited edition made from other recycled materials later this year.

Read more:  Wine, tango and dinner with the Coppolas at Auction Napa Valley

The Custom Timepiece Series allows customers to pick from two stainless steel size cases, a variety of colours, number of dial executions, various features and straps made from materials such as natural cork, cotton and linen – our favourite for this summer is the cotton variation in burgundy.

To view the full collections and customise your own timepiece visit: baumewatches.com

520 Park Avenue, under construction, seen from Central Park

Gennady Perepada is New York’s go-to real estate broker who curates lavish lifestyles for his elite, high-net worth clients. LUX Editor-at-Large Gauhar Kapparova finds out how he does it

Gennady Perepada

Two years ago luxury real estate broker Gennady Perepada organised a surprise on behalf of one of his clients. The man had bought a family holiday home in the Hamptons, without telling his wife. “I arranged a helicopter to take them for a ride along the coastline so she could see it from the sky. He said to her, ‘Do you like this house with the pool? Well it’s already yours’. When they landed, there was a limousine with champagne waiting to pick them up,” he recalls. “It was a very romantic presentation, a personal show of this amazing property.” Yet while this particular man went to impressive lengths to show off and celebrate his purchase, many of Perepada’s clients – foreign and American high net-worth investors, who, as a rule, have a portfolio of real estate around the world – don’t even view a million-dollar apartment in person before they buy (they see a video instead).

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“My clients don’t need to come to New York to make a deal. Our lawyers are experts in international investment,” says Perepada, who set up his company, One & Only Realty Inc, eight years ago with lawyer Edward Mermelstein and thinks nothing of flying between three continents in a week for meetings. “The problem for many clients is that often they don’t have enough time – and that’s what I can give them.” Which he does, not only by finding and securing the most exclusive properties in New York and Miami but also by offering a 24/7 concierge service where no request is seemingly too obscure. “For my clients, I take care of everything from A to Z. Everything,” he emphasises. “For one family from the Middle East, I sorted out medical insurance, kindergarten for the children, connecting the cable television channels in their apartment.”

520 Park Avenue overlooks Central Park as visualised in this render

He reels off other examples. A client with a daughter studying for an MBA at New York University for whom he found an apartment and arranged a housekeeper to fill up the fridge with food every week; another who needed knee surgery so he organised a private hospital and the best doctors; the morning he spent at a dealership test driving new cars for a client’s wife. His phone is never off, and he is constantly on call, all day and all night, as his clients attest.

It’s all a far cry from 1990 when Perepada immigrated to the US with his family from Ukraine and worked as a taxi driver and as a stall holder at a flea market to survive. Looking for a career, he chose real estate because of the buzz that comes with property. He began by selling regular apartments but soon realised that he needed to find his own niche – the real estate elite. “In real estate trading, create your own market and your own clientele, do what no one else has done,” he says.

Read more: Meet the Swarovski x Design Miami/ Designers of the Future

Fast forward to today and he has 18 members of staff, including two personal assistants, looking after the needs of around 30 clients at any one time (he is currently looking at the possibility of opening offices in Dubai and London). Between them, his employees speak Chinese, Russian, Korean, Arabic (among other languages) to support those clients who aren’t fluent in English, and he has relationships with key property developers in both New York and Miami. “I know every building, every developer, they call me when something new and unique comes on the market because they know I have the contacts with the high net-worth buyers,” he says. “I understand the mentality of my clients and I have lots of experience with what kind of property I need to deliver for them.”

Manhattan’s now super-desirable Upper West Side

Key to his success is always anticipating his clients’ needs before they know what they want themselves. “When my clients buy a property, before they’ve even thought about it, I’ve got a team of interior designers putting together proposals down to the tiniest details, such as electric blinds, paint colours and smart-home technology.” On top of this, he also looks after real estate management, which involves everything from collecting rent on a property to repairs and full-scale renovation.

Read more: A different kind of Alpine luxury at The Tschuggen Grand Hotel

If it sounds all-consuming, that’s because it is, but Perepada says he wouldn’t have his job any other way. “I love my job; I don’t like it, I love it. It gives me the opportunity to meet and communicate with very interesting and significant people from all over the world. My clients are normal people and they feel very comfortable with me, so they call me like a friend.” They often comment on his endless energy and enthusiasm, he says, and are so happy with the service he provides that they sometimes give him presents. “Last year, one lent me his yacht to enjoy so I spent a week during the summer in Monte Carlo.” In fact, he usually spends at least one month during the summer in the south of France, partly on holiday, partly networking.

Many clients are repeat business (his motto is “return to those who are trusted”), who enlist his services as much for the lifestyle he offers as the property he sells. “Call me, buy a nice apartment and after that I provide a luxury lifestyle,” he concludes. “Trust me and I will take care of everything.”

Find out more about Gennady Perepada’s properties and services: oneandonlyrealty.com

This article appears in the Summer 2018 issue of LUX, on sale now worldwide.

Friday night’s dinner is typically hosted at various wineries across the Napa Valley. Image by Briana Marie Photography

This month sees the latest edition of the annual Auction Napa Valley, one of the most lavish and interesting events on the world’s charity and wine calendars. LUX editor Kitty Harris, who attended last year’s event as a guest of honour, recalls about her time spent drinking some of the world’s finest wines, dancing the tango at sunset on a hillside vineyard and witnessing the enormous generosity of connoisseurs and winemakers alike over the four-day event

Setting my bags down in the quaint Sutter Home lodge is like stepping back in time to the 1970s – when Sutter created the first White Zinfandel, a style of cheap and cheerful wine which I suspect is not going to be on any of the menus for my next five days. I’m told that every evening I will get a bottle of fine wine to take to my room or to enjoy on the wooden white porch. I opt for a glass of the house’s Californian Riesling while I prepare for my evening of festivities; I am told to wear white for Argentinian tango and dinner.

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My host for the evening, Argentine Delia Viader, earned her title as the ‘Wine Mother’ after founding Viader in 1986 when she created her eponymous estate on the slopes of Howell Mountain, on the east side of Napa Valley, and soon gained worldwide renown for her highly-structured, Bordeaux-style reds.

Guests dancing post live auction on Saturday night. Image by Briana Marie Photography

We are served Viader’s estate blend, made of 40 percent Cabernet Franc and 60 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, that evening; now ranking among Napa’s most esteemed wines, it is powerful yet restrained, a wine that combines California’s sunny fruit with a certain French hauteur. There is a mix of guests from around the world, and I (the only Londoner) sit around five tables with white table cloths below the shadows of trees for the evening meal. Argentinian style steaks and are served before we try our luck following the steps of the tango teachers. If there were any hesitations to begin with, all fears were lost as we happily swapped dance partners whilst the sun set behind the hills.

Auction Napa Valley is a phenomenon. The four-day fete raises money for 25 local Napa Valley nonprofits and strategic initiatives for the benefit of children and community health. Since 1981 they have invested $180 million into the area. The first evening, usually a Thursday, sees Napa’s vintners invite guests to dine with them at their estates. During Friday afternoon the live barrel auction is held at a different location each year depending on which estate hosts the events – this years is Charles Krug and last years was Francis Ford Coppola. Early Saturday evening the auction begins, prizes included a private dinner at The Restaurant at Meadowood’s Christopher Kostow, one of the youngest chefs to ever earn three Michelin stars’ and the chance to travel on the Coppola family’s private jet and a four-night stay at their hotel Palazzo Margherita in Italy. The event is attended by residents of Napa who range from Oscar winning director, Mr. Coppola, to venture capitalists Steven and Claire Stull and celebrities such as Oprah and Michelle Pfeiffer.

Read more: Geoffrey Kent on millennials and transformational travel

Napa Valley Vintners, the nonprofit trade association who organise the auction, are my hosts for the weekend. Brian, my driver, picks me up the following morning for an adventure. We drive we pass a gigantic (35-foot tall!) stainless steel Bunny called ‘Foo Foo’, which I later learn was created by the English artist Lawrence Argent. This is one of the 35 pieces of contemporary art on show at the HALL winery. The 150-year-old site is owned by Craig and Kathryn Hall who compered a treasure hunt for us that morning. The 30 odd guests divided into groups and were given an iPhone with a pre-programmed game to follow. Tasks at different levels of the game included recreating your favourite music album cover – my team opted for the famous Beatles scene walking over the Abbey Road zebra crossing – and blending your own wine which was judged by the in-house wine maker. Sadly, I didn’t win, though I thoroughly enjoyed the vineyard’s classic Bordeaux varietals.

Francis Ford Coppola (director of ‘The Godfather’) and his wife, Eleanor and two children Roman and Sofia were the honorary chairs of the four-day fete. 2,000 guests frequented their historic Inglenook estate for the Napa Valley Barrel Auction which took place in the winery’s caves. The cool – in every sense of the word – atmosphere of the caves saw bidders vie for the 108 lots of 10 single cases of current Napa Valley wines. There was a buzz in the air, an energy and excitement that wasn’t just from the wines.

Saturday’s live auction with various festivities and food stalls

Outside in the mid-day heat, canopies kept the crowds covered and wines were flowing in areas according to their blends. Food stalls with grilled scallops, bursting with flavour, were served alongside freshly rolled sushi and tempura.

Read more: California takes on Chateau Latour and the world at an exclusive LUX wine tasting on Lake Como

For a little respite, I headed to Health Spa Napa Valley to revitalise before the weekend’s pièce de résistance: the live auction. Held at five-star hotel Meadowood Napa Valley, the host venue since 1981, the auction began under an enormous white tent in the theme of a 1930s nightclub, complete with a live jazz band. The top single lot was donated by Dalla Valle Vineyards: a week-long trip with the co-proprietor Naoko Dalla Valle to some of her favourite spots in her native Japan. Dalla Valle is a modern Napa legend, an estate situated on the Rutherford Bench, an area just above the river and below the steep valley sides on the east side of the valley, which some connoisseurs think of as the ‘first growth’ stretch of the valley, infusing its greatest wines with an almost imperceptible hint of ethereal ‘Rutherford dust’.

The highest-bidding lot was from Colgin Cellars, another Napa legend created by the redoubtable Anne Colgin, and included Colgin wines and trips to both Champagne and Napa. The bidding was vigorous with an astounding $15.7 million raised in one evening.

The region’s stunning landscape provides the perfect backdrop for sunset dancing and wine tasting. Image by Briana Marie Photography

Following the live auction we moved to the garden for a candle lit al-fresco dinner of Italian family favourites prepared by Francis Coppola himself. The evening ended on the dance floor with a private performance by soul singer-songwriter Leon Bridges of Texas. The weekend went by in a flurry of excitement with a gentle buzz from the wines. And the fun wasn’t over: sampling cult wines from the Screaming Eagle winery, possibly Napa’s most famous (and most expensive) and the rounded hillside merlots from Shafer with the proprietors themselves was a privilege, inside the dreamscape that is Auction Napa Valley.

The 38th annual Auction Napa Valley runs from 27th May to 3rd June. For more information visit: auctionnapavalley.org

French-Iranian artist Sassan Behnam-Bakhtiar with his work ‘Guardians of Life’ 2017, at his solo exhibition ‘Oneness Wholeness’

This week saw the London opening of Oneness Wholeness, a much-awaited solo show by the young French-Iranian artist Sassan Behnam-Bakhtiar, at the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea.

Amid the glitzy crowd at the private view, which seemed equally split between young and old, Persians, Brits, and citizens of the world, LUX took the time to view the works themselves – not always easy in a packed gallery.

‘In The Company of Purity and Freedom’, Sassan Benham-Bakhtiar at the Saatchi Gallery

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‘Oneness Wholeness’ VIP Preview at the Saatchi Gallery

Prior to the opening the international art media made much of the show challenging Western views of Iran. For LUX, it did much more than that, blending ancient Persian mystic influences, the romanticism of some of the country’s literary giants of the 10th to 14th centuries, and a view of eternity and our place as microcosms in a multi-universed existence. The fleeting images – silhouettes of heads or horses – in his mixed media creations and an overwhelming sense of stillness and light (influenced no doubt by Behnam-Bakhtiar’s current home in the south of France) only hint at the complexity of Persian history and the empire’s reach – and much more besides.

Maria & Sassan Behnam-Bakhtiar & Nina Moaddel at the ‘Oneness Wholeness’ VIP Preview

A night of celebration: Katy Wickremesinghe, Juliette Loughran, Founder of the Loughran Gallery and LUX Editor-in-Chief Darius Sanai

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The artist may be Iranian – in fact, he was born in Paris before moving to Tehran for most of his early life – but his art, like his fan base apparent at the Saatchi, is much more than that, and we imagine we will be hearing a lot more about him.

‘Oneness Wholeness’ by Sassan Behnam Bakhtiar and curated by Nina Moaddel runs until 5 June 2018 at the Saatchi Gallery, Chelsea.  For more information visit saatchigallery.com/art/sassanbehnam-bakhtiar