Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) 1971

As David Hockney approaches his 80th birthday, the Tate Britain celebrates his vast and varied body of work in the largest retrospective to date. From his most famous works, the vibrant, geometric images of Los Angeles swimming pools through to the avant-garde, intimate scenes depicted by the painter in his 20s when he was struggling to assert his identity in 1960s homophobic Britain, to his photographs, Yorkshire landscapes and most recent, heavily saturated pastoral scenes, the exhibition charts the artist’s extraordinary career and influence. Above all, it’s Hockney’s unique perspective that’s most captivating. Hockney’s world is constantly fluid, moving between being bright to the point of almost gaudy, abstract and surreal to something more contained, pure and linear. Whatever the version, it’s energetic, hopeful and full of life.

David Hockney runs until 29th May 2017 at Tate Britain, Millbank, London

The streets of Delhi. Picture by Igor Ovsyannykov

In the past, India’s heaving capital has been a fly-in, fly-out destination for most tourists, but with a booming art scene and the recent opening of the Hyatt hotel group’s, coolest counterpart, Andaz, Delhi is fast developing its own allure. Yet, it’s the chaos, culture and complexity, that makes Delhi so fascinating, says our Digital Editor, Millie Walton.

It’s daybreak in Delhi and the streets are singing with car horns as taxis and rickshaws muscle past each other, weaving in and out of stray dogs, pedestrians and the occasional cow. India’s capital is more than overwhelming: it’s explosive. Every year the city, consumes huge mouthfuls of landscape, stretching it’s borders further in order to accommodate it’s 9 million and growing population. It’s a heaving labyrinth of sounds, smells and bodies. It takes a few minutes to be able to focus in the sensual chaos. This isn’t London busy: heads down, too busy to stop, see or speak. This is India busy that centres around interaction and trade. There’s something calming about the vibrancy.

The sunlight cuts shapes through Chandni Chowk’s crammed streets, holding dust in the air and illuminating passersbys. It’s one of Delhi’s oldest and busiest market areas, but fortunately the mundane outweighs tourist curiosity so you can play the invisible observer, without being coerced into buying a trinket, batteries or silk scarves (if you want to purchase cheap merchandise of almost any category this is the place). Huge blocks of golden brown sugar lie stacked at the front of the stall, whilst the man next door makes Jalebi, dropping coils of batter into a copper bowl of spitting oil, and a dog hopefully pushes its nose through the litter on the road. There’s less traffic here and most of the rickshaws are pedalled, but the force of bodies is enough to keep you moving underneath the overhanging tangle of electrical wires and pipes. It’s better not to plan a route, not just because there’s little indication to tell you where to turn, but because you can let your surroundings fill you without limitations. I stop at the call of a chaiwala to buy a small cup of steaming, spicy, sweet Indian tea underneath a blackened building that looks as frail as an empty shell.

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I break out of the market onto a wider main road, slipping in behind a local as he crosses the road. The Jama Masjid is the largest and most imposing mosque in India, standing at an elevation of 10 metres with two tall watchtowers guarding the entrance. For visitors there’s an entrance free but it’s well worth it if only to stand barefoot courtyard, eye to eye with ornate yawning mouth that some 25,000 pass through for worship. Locals seem to stop here too, to rest on the steps and watch life sprawling below.

A cup of hot Masala chai exchanging hands. Picture by Igor Ovsyannykov

In a rickshaw some time later, I sit alongside the dense pocket of traffic jostling towards Connaught Place, the commercial and business district where most of the luxury hotels cluster. My driver holds down his horn as a man on a motorbike pushes ahead, the woman perched sidesaddle on the back throws back a stare that silences. Then we’re there, in a circle of colonial style white columns and designer shops. It’s another city entirely: New Delhi. The huge flag of India lazily ripples in the sky above, while smart Indians strut into designer shops. It’s beautiful, but lacks the visual seduction of the older areas. Here you’re less able to blend into the surroundings, as foreigners are quickly spotted by locals as affluent and therefore, targets for money making schemes.

Read next: British model Joanna Halpin on blogging and inspiration

The wider parts of New Delhi though are more pleasant and offer an interesting insight into India’s contemporary art scene. DAG Modern is the place to begin, with an impressive collection of modernist works, experimental art forms and paintings by some of the country’s most respected names. The theme of memory and identity that’s gripping the art world globally, reveals itself here with a display of works from 14 diaspora artists interpreted through western and Indian writings. I stand captivated by Satki Burman‘s swirl of moving colours that’s acutely relatable in this vibrant setting.

The Hyatt Regency Hotel, Delhi

Outside the heat has settled and the air is visibly thick with pollution. I retreat to India’s oldest luxury residence, the Hyatt Regency that’s cool and sultry with recent renovations.

The bakery at the back is still where many of the wealthy local families buy their bread and pastries, sending their drivers to make the most of the end of the day 50% discount. I sit downstairs in the cafe for a Indian high tea of chai, samosas and pani puri ( crisp balls filled with potato and spicy tangy water) before soaking in the jacuzzi pool, in the hotel’s gendered spa. As it’s Chinese New Year, dinner is at the hotel’s famed China Kitchen for a feast of crispy duck and dumplings. Oddly, it’s the best Chinese food I’ve ever tasted.

As I wander upstairs to bed, it strikes me that it’s incredibly still within the hotel walls, and I wonder, perhaps whether that’s the ultimate luxury in a city that’s endlessly restless.

British model and blogger, Joanna Halpin. Photograph by Bryan Rodner Carr

Sydney Lima

The models who look at us from our magazine covers and Instagram feeds are often astute businesspeople as well as subjects for fashion stylists and photographers. They are now “360 degree creatives”, raising revenue from everything from social media to events appearances. Our contributing editor Sydney Lima is a model with Storm and has appeared on the cover of Condé Nast‘s glossies; she also works in film and in this new exclusive series interviews her peers about the lifestyle.

THIS MONTH: British model Joanna Halpin joined Premier Models at the age of 20 and has since shot major campaigns for the likes of L’Oréal, Free People and Urban Outfitters. Her clean, minimalist aesthetic on Instagram has attracted a following of over 280,000 and now she’s climbing the blogging ladder too, with her sister and fellow model, Sarah Halpin and their model lifestyle blog, What She Said.

Sydney Lima: How did you get in to modelling?
Joanna Halpin: I went to agency ‘walk ins’ in London nearly 4 years ago now and got taken on by Premier.

SL: What’s been your favourite job to work on so far?
JH: I’m not too sure if I have a favourite job but I have been lucky enough to get taken some of the amazing counties and shoot in the most beautiful locations. So any job where I get to travel to somewhere new always makes the favourite list.

SL: What’s been your proudest working moment?
JH: Sarah and I have recently starting working on a big exciting project through our blog so that’s going to be a very proud moment when I can properly say what it is. So sorry to sound so secretive!

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SL: Did modelling have any influence over your decision to become a blogger? How did it all come about?
JH: Yes modelling did have an influence on me starting a blog. I love modelling but I wanted to be able to have more creative input on shoots. I have a background in graphic design, as does my sister, so we decided last summer to start our blog together so we could be creative, and of course it goes hand in hand with modelling.

Sydney Lima: How do you find inspiration?
Joanna Halpin: With apps like Instagram and Pinterest it’s so easy to be constantly influenced. There are now so many beautiful accounts to follow that are great for inspiration. Accounts such as @c_l_o, @frankieandclo, @maggieontherocks, @oraclefoxjournal and @fredericforest all generally post such a variety of things from campaigns, to art, to fashion, to interiors. I think what inspires me most is imagery over actual designers, or style icons.

SL: What plans do you have for 2017?
JH: I really want to focus on the blog this year, my sister Sarah who I run it with has finally finished university now so we can hopefully both dedicate much more time to it. We also want to travel together this year, we are actually both meant to be in Sydney right now but my visa is taking a little longer than I had originally thought. But hopefully I’ll be there with Sarah in a few days!
@joannahalpin | @whatshesaidblog

Courtesy of Kering

The luxury giant is taking the lead in sustainability – and now will the world listen?

We are all now accustomed to what could charitably be called eco-fluff, like the cards by your hotel beds saying the 300 room luxury hotel your are staying in can save the environment by not washing your towels. More effective would be turning the TV welcome messages off, investing in a fleet of electric hotel cars, and only allowing sales staff to attend travel industry events by videoconference; but these would all hit the bottom line, while saving money on laundry is good for the P&L.

One group stands out in the luxury world for the thoroughness and authenticity its messages, though: Kering, the French owner of brands such as Gucci, Balenciaga, Stella McCartney and Bottega Veneta, has gone far beyond window dressing in introducing its strict ‘Environmental P&L’ for its brands. The result has been an acquisition of the high ground in environmental leadership in luxury, at a cost of many millions to the privately-owned company’s bottom line. But, in the refreshingly visionary (in these times) words of company CEO and owner Francois-Henri Pinault: “We have no choice”.

Kering’s vision for sustainability. Courtesy of Kering.

Courtesy of Kering

One curious aspect of Kering’s eco-leadership is that it being done by a so-called soft brand, that of the mothership, and not in the names of the consumer-facing fashion and luxury brands it owns. As a result, few members of the general buying public have any idea about the eco-credentials of the Kering group products they are purchasing, in contrast to much hollow self-publicity around the issues elsewhere. It’s as if they are doing it for themselves.

Kering moved more towards centre-stage this week with the announcement of a broad and dramatic “2025 Program”. This specifies, among other things, reducing its brands’ “EP&L” (broadly, carbon emissions, water use, water and air pollution etc) by 40% over the next eight years; ensuring every one of its myriad suppliers of leather, textiles and other raw materials complies 100% with its strict standards; achieving gender parity at all levels; and building its own laboratories to create sustainable alternatives to unsustainable fabrics and textiles.

It’s big, it’s broad, it’s ambitious, it’s not window dressing, and, as Kering’s Chief Sustainability Officer and Head of International Institutional Affairs Marie-Claire Daveu, it involves “transformational changes”. Other luxury groups must follow suit.

Read our exclusive interview featuring Marie-Claire Daveu in the summer issue of LUX, out in July.

The colonnaded entrance to Ten Trinity Square

By Darius Sanai, Editor in Chief

Your Rolls-Royce breezes past the Tower of London, in the shadow of the Shard, the Cheesegrater and the Walkie-Talkie, London’s newest icon buildings, and drops you at a set of stone steps leading to a grand Edwardian entranceway, past four 10 metre tall Greek-style columns. Up a couple of floors, past a restaurant run by three-Michelin-star chef Anne-Sophie Pic and the reception area of the Four Seasons Hotel in the building, you are ushered through another set of thick wooden doors. Then, down a grand corridor with exquisite marquetry, and, voila, you have arrived in the Chateau Latour Discovery Room (the world’s only such space), just in time for a contemplative glass with two of the most powerful people in finance and the arts.

That is the vision of Songhua Ni, President of Reignwood Investments UK, and his boss Dr. Chanchai Ruayrungruang, Chairman of parent company Reignwood Group, one of China’s leading international investment groups. Reignwood is the owner of Ten Trinity Square, the landmark, former HQ of the Port of London Authority, in the City of London. In stages this year, after more than five years of planning and rebuilding, Reignwood will open the Four Seasons Hotel London at Ten Trinity Square, the Anne-Sophie Pic restaurant – La Dame de Pic, 41 private residences, and Ten Trinity Square Private Club, the ultra-exclusive heart of it all, which has been developed by Reignwood, Four Seasons and Chateau Latour.

As if opening the first luxury hotel in the City of London weren’t enough, Reignwood, which owns luxury real estate in Hawaii, Wentworth, and a stake in Voss water, among many other assets, has a bigger, bolder, and longer-term strategic aim. LUX Editor-in-Chief sat down with Songhua Ni in the Latour Room, to find out more.

LUX: This is going to be a magnificent club when it opens. What gave Reignwood the idea and why do it?
Songhua Ni: Dr Chanchai was just amazed by the prestige and the heavyweight and the culture behind Ten Trinity Square. And considering the history, the culture, the location, our first thought was to make this club a kind of world forum. A forum like the World Economic Forum in Davos – that’s the only thing we can do, to do justice to this building. Especially because this building has played a very important role in the history of Great Britain. And also a very important role in the glory times of Great Britain. We thought it would be a great idea, to promote culture and economic changes amongst different cultures. We think this is the right place to create a forum to promote multi-cultural exchange and understanding.

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London is playing a more and more important role in the global marketplace with the rise of Asian powers. And the emphasis is moving slowly from New York to London. London is the best location to connect Asia and the US. And London is a very inclusive city. So we thought it would be good to create a club here. But the club itself needs to show the right level of quality and respect of history. And be inclusive for all different people and cultures. This place also needs to show the vision of Reignwood, to be a responsible investor. There is a lot of short-term investment. What Reignwood is trying to do is create a long term commitment. And to try to promote responsible capitalism. We thought it was very important when Chinese people and Chinese companies come here, they should be doing the same thing. In China, there is a feeling that after the fast growth of the last 30 years, we should encourage Chinese companies to be more long-term thinking. And to be able to have the right mindset to create a real brand.

Inside the member’s club at Ten Trinity Square

LUX: And how important is the Reignwood brand in what you’re doing? How hard is it in terms of facing people who will be members – will they be aware that this is a Reignwood development?
SN: Not necessarily. Reignwood is more of a stand-behind. We own different brands. We let the brands run in the front. So every brand has its own DNA, its own management, its own culture. This is actually something we learnt from Mr Pinault [owner of Kering, which in turn owns Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Yves St Laurent and numerous other brands; and Christies, and Chateau Latour, inter alia]. He has so many brands running in the front and I think Reignwood in the future will be adopting the same strategy. We will encourage the improvement of the brand and give new life to them. For example, Voss water and Vita Coco are great brands but the long term vision for both of them is to be able to support health and wellness more broadly as well as social responsibility – which we intend to support them with.

LUX: From what you are saying this is a very long-term and quite philosophical exercise, almost creating something that didn’t exist before in terms of bringing cultures together at the very top level.
SN: I think there is a strong desire from people to see this happen. I think there is a strong consensus among top business leaders in the next decade. The important thing is to bridge East and West. To bridge the gap between Asia, China with the US and Europe. So that people from different continents can understand each other. So that bridge will create more economic growth potential. That’s why our family members are all agreeing to this. For instance Stephen [Schwarzman, Chairman and CEO of Blackstone] is very supportive. He said it’s a great idea to deliver something like this. So many people want this platform to be able to know and understand more.

European countries are looking for growth in Asia but I think most of them don’t understand Asian or Chinese culture. And Chinese companies are coming to London and looking for quality in brands but they really don’t understand here yet either. So when you combine this, that is the way to move the economy forward. Martin Gilbert [CEO of Aberdeen Asset Management], he also agrees with us as does Gerry [Grimstone, CEO] from Standard Life. These are some of our founding members, as is the Chinese Ambassador to the UK.

LUX: So far everything you have said has been about the very high ideals of what this is going to achieve. You haven’t mentioned commercial success. Is that not the number one priority?
SN: In commercial matters, value is created in different ways. Look at WEF in Davos, when they first started that nobody thought it was going to be a successful commercial effort. But now it is extremely successful.

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LUX: Is it a challenge that global business has today, that people do not understand each others’ cultures?
SN: I think it is a big problem. And in the current world it is more important than ever because of social media. Social media has made the world so information efficient, in one minute everyone can know everything about things. And that can easily create misunderstandings. People see the information, and make their judgements very fast; they don’t have time to digest.

We need this type of club, this type of forum, to invite high level thinkers from China. And from here, high level thinkers from the City of London and the British Government, for example.

The Chateau Latour Discovery Room

LUX: Reignwood is a very interesting example of a Chinese company that has very interesting holdings around the world. The big question in industry, the luxury industry, is when will there be a Chinese luxury group and a Chinese luxury brand (two different things of course)?
SN: Actually, before the Opium war in 1840 there were huge Chinese brands. We had all of the family businesses, great brands, great quality. For example, China silk, China teaware. A lot of Chinese things were so good and the quality at that time was a lot better than here. But after that there were a lot of wars. The Opium War, The First World War, The Second World War and the Sino War [the civil war and Communist revolution]. So all of these wars destroyed Chinese business. And now in new China we have only been about since 1949, its only about 70 years old. Seventy years is too short a period to have a brand. In the last 30 years China grew, its economic growth is so high, high speed, low quality. The next run of China economic growth will be driven by consumption, rather than investment. So for consumption, people who really own brands will be leading and have a competitive edge in the next decade. Chinese people are turning more and more attention to brands. For brands you either have to create it by yourself, or you need to buy. That is one of the philosophies that drives Reignwood. That is why we acquired Voss water, why we bought Vita Coco, why we bought Wentworth. Not many Chinese companies have this.

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LUX: Anything else that Reignwood is planning?
SN: Reignwood has a quite clear strategy; Reignwood is about global expansion and it is now quite confident. We are going to become a real global company rather than just a Chinese company. We are going to have our Voss water product which we are selling in 60 different countries. And for Vita Coco, 50 countries. Through this promotion of cultural exchanges, we are going to raise Reignwood into a global power rather than a Chinese company. I don’t think there is a real global company in China yet and our focus is two lines of business. One is our fast moving consumer products [FMCG] business and the other is leisure, sports and wellness. So these two lines will be acquiring good companies, good brands and make them combine and play together with Chinese resources and on the Chinese market.

Ten Trinity Square Private Club opens in the second quarter of 2017. For further information visit: 
www.club.tentrinitysquare.com
www.tentrinitysquare.com

By Darius Sanai, Editor-in-Chief

A few months ago I was invited to take part in a panel discussion on investing in modern classic cars, by the Financial Times, at its annual reader event in London. It was a very FT-type of festival: intellectuals, entrepreneurs, CEOs and private equity principals lining up quietly to listen to the likes of Zanny Minton Beddoes, editor of the Economist, superchef Heston Blumenthal, and economic and political commentators of the likes of Martin Wolf and Gideon Rachman. I had a little chat with Jancis Robinson, the most thoughtful of all wine commentators, ahead of her talk on discovery wines, and then took to the stage myself to converse with the FT’s own classic cars guru Simon de Burton.

As a quintessential Modern Classic, prices of the Ferrari 550 Maranello are set to rise ever higher – but only for the best examples

Modern Classics are a new category of collectible, loosely defined as cars made from 1985-2005. As well as being newer, more refined and more comfortable than traditional classics like a Jaguar E-Type or Mercedes 300SL Gullwing, and appealing to a younger generation, they tend to have been made in greater numbers. I made a good return on selling my own Ferrari Testarossa last year, but there were more than 7000 of those cars made, compared to dozens or hundreds of the multimillion dollar classics like the original Ferrari GTO or 275 GTB.

My message to FT readers was that they should choose carefully, because abundance will act as a natural brake on values, and modern cars can suffer hard-to-solve electrical problems that older, simpler cars do not.

For you, my LUX readers, I have a rhetorical question. Would you buy a classic car because of its design and status, or because of its performance and reputation? Old classic cars, like the GTO, 275 GTB, E-Type, 300 SL, Aston Martin DB5, and others of the 1950s and 60s, are real beauties. They were created by (mostly but not wholly) Italian designers, to look beautiful, and then married to an engine.

They have an objective beauty which transcends the motoring world. I work in an environment which is light on car knowledge, but thick with design, fashion, and art expertise. These cars elicit as much admiration from a magazine creative as they do from a mechanic.

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Modern cars are ruled by different principles: those of aerodynamics, engineering, performance, economy, safety and packaging. None of Sergio Pininfarina’s original designs would pass muster. Some of the most valuable modern classic cars don’t look interesting at all: try selling an Audi Sport Quattro short wheelbase or Porsche 993 Turbo S to a creative director and you’d get a blank look.

So I am going to go a step further than I did to my FT audience and say that if you wish to invest in a modern classic car, looks can be one of many important elements to take into consideration. The other important elements are driving quality, scarcity, brand, and the end-of-the-line factor. Ferrari will never make any more of its metal-gated manual transmission cars: they are all automated, “paddleshifts” now, much more efficient but with less soul. A Ferrari 575 or 599 with the manual transmission is the last such car (V12 Ferrari) ever to be made: it combines soul, driving quality, scarcity, brand and the end of the line kudos.

A rare Ferrari 575 Maranello with classic manual transmission, right hand drive and the Fiorano Handling Package; it is likely that there were fewer than 20 examples made, earmarking it for classic status

But the canny collector goes further than that: he or she also identifies sub-brands within the category. There were more than 2000 examples of Ferrari 575 (2001-2005) made, a relatively large number. But only 246 of these were fitted with the gated manual transmission. The model’s handling was also vastly improved by its factory-option Fiorano Handling Pack, fitted to a minority of the cars. So with just 246 manual 575s made, and a minority of them with the “FHP”, the pool of ultra-desirable examples of this car is actually more limited than that of the legendary 1966 275 GTB/4, of which 350 were made, and probably more limited than that of the 1960 250GT SWB, of which 167 were made.

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That’s the kind of calculation collectors of modern classics are making, formed part of my reasoning (apart from sheer desire) when buying my modern classic Ferraris, which also include a F512M, F430 Spider and 550 Maranello, all from 1995-2005. And while I would never claim my own Ferrari 575 (2004, manual, with “FHP”) is anywhere near as beautiful as one of the 1960s cars, it has a 1990s elegance and is rather nicer to drive – and far faster and more comfortable.

Cars are correctly seen as an alternative investment – I prefer the term “Investment of passion” – because they don’t provide a dividend, unlike shares, or an income, unlike a rental property. Unlike wine, however, and unlike art stored in a warehouse, they do, however, provide a return throughout your ownership. This happens whenever I pull the cover off one of my Ferraris, gingerly put the key in the ignition, turn it, let it warm for a couple of minutes, slink the metal gearlever into the slot in the metal gate, balance the aluminium gas pedal against the drilled metal clutch, and ease forward with the music of 12 Ferrari cylinders in my ears, for a day’s blast through the English countryside. It has to be a passion – and the return is both joy and, if you’re lucky, one day it will be monetary too. Because classic cars taken as a whole have been the best-performing investment of all of the past decade, according to – who else – the Financial Times.

All of LUX’s Ferraris are taken care of by Joe Macari, the official service centre in London, with the exception of the 550 Maranello, which is looked after by The Ferrari Centre.

Antonio Rovaldi, Orizzonte in Italia (dalla serie), 2011-2015

In a society bombarded with images and digital platforms our lives are constantly being recorded through new perspectives. The inaugural exhibition in Fondazione Prada’s newest space, the Osservatorio at Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan, Give Me Yesterday invites 14 Italian and international artists (Melanie Bonajo, Kenta Cobayashi, Tomé Duarte, Irene Fenara, Lebohang Kganye, Vendula Knopová, Leigh Ledare, Wen Ling, Ryan McGinley, Izumi Miyazaki, Joanna Piotrowska, Greg Reynolds, Antonio Rovaldi, Maurice van Es) to meditate on the power of the gaze through intimate images from their personal lives, dating from the 2000s to the present time. Exploring identity, grief, relationships, objects and personal spaces, the exhibition is a fascinating and voyeuristic study of the modern day psyche.

‘Give Me Yesterday’ runs until 12th March at Fondazione Prada, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II fondazioneprada.org