Julie Earle-Levine

Lifestyle: UK Vogue, GQ, Tatler - Ian Schrager

2008-08-12T22:55:00.002-04:00

Studio 54 made him famous but Ian Schrager's latest project may be his crowning achievement

By Julie Earle-Levine
September, 2008

HE has been called the ‘King of Cool’, an arbiter of great vision and taste, ‘master of the ultra-hip hotel’ and a swashbuckling developer, but ask Ian Schrager, dapper in an Hermes pinstripe suit, where this style comes from and he shifts uncomfortably.

“I am not sure where this style comes from. I am not even certain I have good taste,” says Schrager, in a raspy Brooklyn accent.

Few would agree. Many would assert that Schrager not only has impeccable taste but that he creates it. Schrager, whose tanned skin and broad smile defy his 61-years, has spent nearly half his life creating spaces for the rich and famous to flock to, including boutique hotels in London, New York, Miami and LA. He has a colorful past. Of course Schrager was most famous for opening Studio 54 in Manhattan, once the world’s hippest nightclub where Bianca Jagger celebrated her birthday by riding half naked through the club on a white horse. He has also served 12 months in jail for tax fraud, where he and his friend Steve Rubell came up with the idea of a boutique hotel business. Four years later, Morgans, the world’s first boutique hotel opened in New York and the duo went on to open a string of hotels including the Royalton, Philippe Starck’s first-ever hotel project. Schrager’s new talent is combining hotels with high-end residential properties for the very, very wealthy.

When it comes to stunning buildings, New York has many, but Schrager’s second residential project, 40 Bond in downtown Noho, resonates with style. Designed by Herzog & de Meuron, the architects best known for Tate Modern, the 11-storey building is a modern take on the neighborhood’s cast-iron architecture. The exterior is cast entirely in greenish Coke bottle glass that glistens when the sun strikes it. Inside, there are wide-plank Austrian smoked oak wood floors, 11-foot high ceilings, fireplaces and envy-inducing outdoor terraces. Ricky Martin has bought here, as has Mario Testino. Schrager will live in the three-storey, 8,500-square-foot penthouse.

Schrager has been doing business in his mobile office – a black Mercedes - then walks in to greet me. He shakes my hand but is looking at the wall where he has spied a light fixture is not as it should be and demands to know why. I ask him if he is a perfectionist and he says. “Ha. Perfectionist is an understatement.” He might try 30 or 40 shades of white before he picks the right one. He can recognize if a bouquet, which he has decided must be a precise size and colour, is missing stems. “I don’t have to count them.” A potential buyer at the building recognizes Schrager and seizes the moment, asking, if the gleaming, wavy white walls in the foyer are plastic. Schrager’s face tightens, but the man who some say will simply walk away if he doesn’t like what he is hearing, just replies: “It is Corian marble.”

Schrager says he is actually very shy and does not like to be photographed. But once he warms up, he is charming, his conversation a steady stream of topics. Boutique hotels, Lifestyle apartments, concierges who will cater to how we live. His ideas stem from his roots in the nightclub business where he developed the production skills for acting on creative ideas. “Out of necessity I had to do these big productions and parties and the success or failure of what I did was really predicated on how exciting and magical you could make the space.” This thought process translates to hotels and to residences. “You get an idea, you try and realize it, you build it. It is exactly the same.” He is an avid reader of magazines and hunts the streets of New York for creative, individual ideas.

After leaving the Morgans Hotel Group in 2005, he developed his namesake, Ian Schrager company. His new focus is on “managing one’s life’ or rather, having someone else manage it for you. Schrager was at his weekend house in the Hamptons where estate managers do everything for you from writing party invitations to hiring a nanny. “I thought this should be applied to city living. City managers can really make your home somewhere you can enjoy.”

Schrager predicts there will be demand across the board for this kind of living, not just by the super wealthy and that it makes 40 Bond a standout. At the time of writing there were just three of the building’s 27 apartments still for sale. They cost $3 to $10 million. He insists the building’s appeal is not just the design, rather the services that come with it.

Schrager has plenty of other projects on his plate. Recently, he signed a deal with Marriott where he will develop 100 boutique hotels for a new brand that will be launched in major cities across the US, South America, Europe and Asia. He is working on a hotel in Miami, plus another high end hotel in that city as well as a sizeable project (a hotel and residences) on Manhattan’s 10^th avenue with developer and friend Aby Rosen He is also looking to close a transaction in Las Vegas and would like to do some more hotels in LA, New York and in London. “Over the next five to seven years I’d like to get to ten or twelve private label hotels and sell it or go public with it. That is the strategy.”

Clearly, Schrager shows no signs of slowing, but his approach is different these days. He works hard to strike a balance with work and family. And he’s spending time on his own immediate environment, 40 Bond. For now his new home is an empty shell, and he doesn’t want to share the specifics other than to say it will be very simple, with most materials from Europe, the woods, marbles and raw finishings. He’d like to keep the rest a secret. “Once something goes mainstream, for me it is over.”

Lifestyle: Weekend FT, Gel Botox coming soon

2008-07-22T11:57:00.002-04:00

Weekend FT

July 19, 2008

By Julie Earle-Levine

Ever since the 1990s, the anti-wrinkle drug Botox has reigned supreme in the fight against unwanted lines. Many have deemed it and one of its competitors, Myobloc (another drug that uses botulinum toxin to block nerve impulses and "freeze" lines), heaven-sent.

But now the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is investigating the product and has warned of possible side effects and even deaths related to Botox use.

According to the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, there have been at least 16 deaths among 658 reported cases of people in the US "suffering adverse affects from Botox" between November 1997 and December 2006. The FDA is currently reviewing data from clinical studies by the drugs' manufacturers and expects to issue a report in several months.

Public Citizen's initial findings suggest that the use of Botox for cosmetic purposes does not lead to as great a risk of adverse effects as for other "off-label" uses, which would include using treating limb spasticity in a child with cerebral palsy. But the FDA has warned that people using Botox cosmetically should be aware of potential adverse effects, which include breathing problems.

The issue is enough to make consumer groups such as Public Citizen ask that doctors be required to give patients a written warning each time they receive a Botox injection. Last year, drug regulators in the UK and Germany required sterner warnings to be sent to doctors in those countries regarding its use. In France, the government requires doctors to have surgical qualifications to use Botox. Amidst all this, Allergan, the maker of Botox, has said that adverse reactions are rare. "In its entire history, there has never been a single reported death where a causal link to cosmetic Botox was established," said Dr Sef Kurstjens, Allergan's chief medical officer.

Talk of side effects does not appear to be deterring current clients, at least according to Dr David Goldberg, a Manhattan dermatologist and director of the Skin Laser clinic in New York. Goldberg has been offering Botox for more than 10 years and estimates that it makes up 20 per cent of his business. "About 75 per cent of people keep having Botox once they have tried it," says Goldberg of his mainly female client base.

But for those fighting shy of the needle or who would prefer to wait for the results of the FDA investigation, there are plenty of Botox-inspired products on the market - even if the results are not as long-lasting.

For instance, "Glamotox", which contains hyaluronic acid, promises to plump up the skin while you sleep. One recent convert already swears by it. "I'm addicted. It makes me look younger, without having to get Botox or laser," she enthuses.

"Freeze 24/7" is another highly popular moisturiser that professes to freeze wrinkles for up to eight hours, giving the effect of an eye lift - albeit briefly.

Meanwhile, the sale of topical Botox in a gel form - which can be applied to the skin rather than injected - is also a looming reality.

"The intention is to get rid of wrinkles but to preserve facial expression," says Dan Browne, chief executive of Revance, the US-based biopharmaceutical company behind the development. It is currently conducting clinical trials to see whether the gel will have fewer possible side effects than injected Botox.

According to Browne, Botox gel could become a huge chunk of the rapidly growing $14bn facial aesthetic markets. The cool gel will warm up on the skin and, as with Botox, result in visible changes after 24 to 72 hours, with "peak activity" after one week. But the gel would be prescribed and applied by a doctor, meaning you could not just apply it casually at home.

ends

Lifestyle: New York magazine - Polo's Nacho Figueras

2008-07-15T12:10:00.003-04:00

Nacho Figueras Explains Polo to Us

Photo: Getty Images

July14, 2008

The Hamptons polo season starts this Saturday, and one of the world’s most famous players, occasional Ralph Lauren model Nacho Figueras, moves into his Sag Harbor summer rental to prepare. (Okay, let's face it, he's the only famous polo player. Why is he the only one anyone ever talks about? Because he's hot? Okay, that's fair.) He’ll be playing in Bridgehampton each Saturday through mid-August. The eternally adorable Argentine explained the appeal of the game to Julie Earle-Levine and answered our ultimate burning questions about polo: Isn't it really just about wearing pastel and drinking Champagne? (Answer: apparently not.)

Does anyone in the U.S. actually follow polo?
New Yorkers are obviously very into baseball and football, but I think that New Yorkers are very open-minded, so they are really into any sports.

But isn’t the polo thing really just about the Hamptons social scene?
No! Polo is a sport that is very underrated and has a lot more to offer. It is a great thing to do with family. I play polo with my son, who is 8 years old. He is learning the sport. It is a very special thing. The bond you have with horses is very, very special. They are wonderful creatures. You cannot be a polo player unless you have special relationship with horses.

And you think the Bridgehampton crowd appreciates that bond?
Of course some people are there to socialize. But after the matches, many people come up and tell me about the game, and I realize they have been following it. When I first got to America, in 1999, I couldn’t understand baseball. It is the same with polo. You need to learn the game and watch it. Then you can appreciate it.

Is it played in places more accessible to normal people than the Hamptons and Greenwich?
You need room, like fourteen acres. There is a polo club in Meadow Brook, Long Island, a club in Greenwich, and a club in Millbrook, upstate New York.

And the crowd seems to be all models, media barons, and hedge-fund guys.
I think polo is for everyone. Polo is for kids, family, and everyone. Polo is a sport that brings together people from all over the world. I mean, a guy like me, from middle-class family in Argentina, I met the Queen and played polo there, and then I spend a lot of time with the grooms in the barns.

ends

Travel: Departures - Explorers Issue

2008-07-14T13:49:00.001-04:00

Departures, July/August 2008

By Julie Earle-Levine

Southern Ocean Lodge, Kangaroo Island – ‘Way Down Under’

SOUTH Australia’s Kangaroo Island – home to some of the continent’s most intriguing wildlife – has long been popular with the day-tripping and camping crowd. It never had any luxury accommodation until this spring, however, when James and Hayley Baillie, owners of the chic Capella Lodge on Oz’s Lord Howe Island, opened their new property, Southern Ocean Lodge.

Set between two national parks on the island’s isolated southwest coast and just a 25 minute flight from Adelaide, the property is nestled in the bush and has expansive views of the turquoise blue sea below. Of the lodge’s 25 minimalist rooms, the best is the Osprey Pavilion, with its hand-sculpted, egg-shaped Japanese bathtub and private terrace. From its alfresco daybeds and plunge spa, guests have a prime view of passing kangaroos and whales out at sea.

But those who come to K.I. almost always want to get closer to the wildlife. And so the Baillies partnered with local outfitter Exceptional Kangaroo Island to take visitors to the area’s singular landscape (the animal-spotting is so good here and so easy here that it’s really a shame the lodge doesn’t allow children younger than six). Our stellar and slightly wacky guide, Anthony, aka Ants, who has lived on the island for 18 years, led our small group on a half-day journey, pointing out plump koalas perched on impossibly thin branches, kangaroo mothers hopping about with their in-pouch babes, and even the elusive glossy black cockatoo – or at least evidence thereof, in the form of some nibbled seeds.

On a separate hike, a trip to see Australian fur seals preceded a light lunch served rather glamorously under a white shade tent and accompanied by a local Chardonnay.

Later, a stylish New Yorker who had just arrived at the lodge from Sydney was wondering aloud when she might see a kangaroo. She didn’t have to wait long though. During a twilight tour with lodge staff, glass of champagne in hand, she was suddenly surrounded by dozens of curious ‘rooms and wallabies. “I didn’t really expect to see wildlife like this,’ she said, laughing. But at Southern Ocean Lodge that’s just the kind of champagne wishes and kangaroo dreams experience that guests are in for.

Rates begin at A$900 per night (two night minimum) and include meals. Southernoceanlodge.com.au

Travel: Martha's Vineyard

2008-06-16T16:06:00.003-04:00

The Five-Point Weekend Escape Plan
New York magazine

See Modern Martha’s Vineyard

With a spate of revamped hotels and upgraded kitchens, a robust local art scene, and those ever-gorgeous beaches, the summer perennial has rarely looked better.

By Julie Earle-Levine

1. Where to Stay

Lambert's Cove Inn & Restaurant

(Photo: Courtesy of Inn Shots)

You won’t find four-poster beds, floral wallpaper, or a doily on the toilet at the just-made-over Harbor View Hotel & Resort (from $350) in Edgartown. Though still wrapped in a white picket fence, the largest hotel on the island has officially gone modern: Its 900-square-foot suites are dressed up with black walnut floors, red cedar outdoor showers, and private gardens. Book suite 61 in the Captain Rowley cottage—it has a spacious stone patio—and lie out with some trashy beach reading.

The family-packed Winnetu Oceanside Resort (from $230) near Edgartown is a 250-yard stroll from South Beach, one of the loveliest strips of sand on the island. The resort’s rooms are freshly renovated and unfussy and loaded with domestic accoutrements like toasters, coffee-makers, and microwaves.

Partners Scott Jones and Kell Hicklin bought Lambert’s Cove Inn & Restaurant (from $220) in West Tisbury in January 2005 and immediately did away with the mounted geese and powder-blue décor. Now there are pale gold walls, ivory damask bedding, and plush dressing gowns, along with a heated, saltwater swimming pool and complimentary chairs, umbrellas, and towels for private Lambert’s beach.

Where to Eat

The Outermost Inn

(Photo: Courtesy of Outermost Inn)

Brasserie–style Détente , in Edgartown, serves locally raised organic chicken and island-grown veggies in a golden-hued dining room dotted with black-and-white photos of European wineries. If you can’t snag a reservation (this has been one of the island’s most popular restaurants since opening in 2005), go before 7:30 and grab a spot at the seven-seat bar.

Owned by James Taylor’s brother Hugh and his wife Jeanne, the Outermost Inn unsurprisingly attracts a celebrity crowd: Bill Clinton, Carly Simon, Dan Aykroyd, and of course, brother James. But despite the high-profile clientele, the vibe remains low-key and casual, thanks to the meadowy surroundings, the views of the sound, and cooking that makes use of locally grown squash blossoms and arugula, herbs from the Taylors’ own garden, and just-caught striped bass.

Book at least a month ahead in the summer to secure a table at the perennially packed Beach Plum in the fishing village of Menemsha. Though the décor's a bit Pottery Barn, the ocean views and lenient BYOB policy are hard to knock. Bring a bottle of Chenin Blanc and pair it with the pan-seared halibut, served in a shallow bowl with tomato confit and basmati rice.

Island newcomer Mark Goldberg, formerly of Boston’s Mistral restaurant, mans the kitchen at Lure, the Winnetu resort’s nautically themed restaurant, which dishes out sublime Katama Bay oysters and butter-poached local lobster. Parents should request space in the family dining room, where there’s a kid-height buffet, beanbag chairs, and movies in the corner.

What to Do

Aquinnah Beach

(Photo: Courtesy of Peter Simon/www.petersimon.com)

Pastel sailing paintings and wicker baskets are still being hawked like crazy in the Vineyard, but there’s been a big push to modernize the art and shopping scenes in recent years, especially in Oak Bluffs, where plans are under way to restore a church to house new galleries and live-work artists’ lofts. In the so-called SoHa (for South of the Harbor) district, the new Red Mannequin boutique (93 Dukes County Ave.; 508-693-2858) is stocked with French designer duds for kids and bright bead necklaces. Next door at Pik-Nik (99 Dukes County Ave.; 508-693-1366), you can browse vintage jewelry and art, and just a few doors down, the Dragonfly Gallery features works by locals like Renee Balter, known for her striking monoprint illustrations of island landmarks. The Alison Shaw Gallery is a great spot to pick through coffee-table books and fine-art prints, while the new hastings in the alley displays Vineyard stalwarts like Ron Hall, who shoots hauntingly vibrant landscape photos, and Rick Hoffman, who creates thickly layered abstract paintings.

Of course, it’s never all about shopping, not when there are such stunning beaches around. Head to the public strand at Aquinnah, off Moshup Trail, before the afternoon crowds arrive. After a few hours playing in Aquinnah’s clean, calm surf, dust the sand off with a hike along the mile-long base of Gay Head Cliffs, the island’s much-photographed, brilliantly colored formations, which lead directly up to picturesque Aquinnah Lighthouse. Skip the daytime tour and return on weekend nights, when the lighthouse stays open late for viewings of seriously beautiful sunsets.

Insider's Tip

Lobster-roll Fridays at Grace Episcopal Church.

(Photo: From left, courtesy of Susan Safford and Danielle Zerbonne/Martha's Vineyard Times)

Martha’s Vineyard is admittedly packed with tourists in the summer, but there are at least two places where you won’t see any of them. Che's Lounge (38 Main St.; 508-693-8555), hidden in an alley off Main Street in Vineyard Haven, is a locals-only spot, though that doesn’t mean visitors can’t stop in for nighttime poetry slams and salsa-dancing sessions. And on Friday evenings from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m., Vineyarders gather at Grace Episcopal Church (Woodlawn Ave. at William St.; 508-693-0332) in Vineyard Haven, to chow down on delicious lobster rolls, listen to live bands, and swap fishing stories. A roll, chips, and drink, served in the church’s parish hall, will set you back $13.

5. An Oddball Day

Mansion House Inn & Spa

(Photo: Courtesy of Julia Cumes)

The island has dozens of trails to explore, but the local favorite is Great Rock Bight, off North Road, where hikers scamper up into heavily wooded hills for stunning views of the Aquinnah Lighthouse and the Elizabeth Islands. Go in the late afternoon and pack a bottle of wine and snacks. There are few signs or markings, but it’s popular enough that you’re guaranteed to bump into an islander who can steer you toward the stairs that lead down to a remote, sandy cove. After your hike, slip into a lightweight cotton robe at the Mansion House Inn & Spa at Vineyard Haven. The Moshup Mud Wrap uses chunks of the Aquinnah cliffs mined through a “hunting-and-gathering” permit from the local Wampanoag Indian tribe. Wind down with some of the spa’s licorice root and peppermint tea, or indulge at the inn’s Zephrus restaurant with the “chocoholics platter” of chocolate strawberries and cake.

Weekend FT: Dinosaur Designs

2008-06-02T13:16:00.001-04:00

'Paintings can be like views'

Weekend FT:

By Julie Earle-Levine

May 31 2008

Louise Olsen is one of the designers behind jewellery and homeware collection Dinosaur Designs. She is inspired by artists such as sculptor Henry Moore and painter Jackson Pollock but also looks to her immediate surroundings for ideas and finds them often at her home in Bronte beach, a seaside suburb of Sydney. She is the daughter of John Olsen, the renowned Australian landscape artist. Her husband and business partner, Stephen Ormandy, is also an accomplished painter.

Do you have many childhood memories of places you lived?

Yes. I come from a family that travelled a lot, because of the nature of my parents' work. My father and mother are both painters. One of my first memories was living in Portugal in a beautiful stone house. My father was working as a chef in a restaurant to support the family while he painted. Then we lived at Watson's Bay in Sydney in a wonderful weatherboard house that used to rattle in the wind.

Was it near the beach?

Very near. My brother, Tim, who now has an art gallery in Woollahra, Sydney, and I would go down to the beach every morning at 6am to swim before school. My father liked to paint in the living room so whenever you walked into the house it was like one big studio. It smelt of turpentine and oil paint, which was wonderful. That was his space. It was quite a big house, with two storeys but that was my favourite room. We lived there until I was about 10.

Where else did you live?

We went to live in a big artists' colony - Dunmoochin, near Melbourne. Clifton Pugh [the Australian portraitist and landscape artist] had a big house there and we had a mud brick-house in the bush. There was no electricity and a pot-belly oven. It was great, like going back to grass roots. There were emus banging on our windows and kangaroos thumping around.

You also lived in another home in the country?

Yes, my parents wanted to live further in the bush and have large studios for work, so we moved to Dural, north-west of Sydney. My parents designed and built the house, with big sliding doors and verandahs out to the bush. It was a very beautiful place in a valley of angofa trees.

Tell me about your Bronte home.

My husband and I renovated this house for a year. This is a place where we enjoy creating, too. Stephen has a studio and I tend to work a lot at a large table with a view of the sea. Having the beach - seeing whales - is just like watching a moving theatre. It is incredible to see them, to feel their energy. It is never the same. It is so amazing. I love the smell of the sea and the salt.

How important to you is a sense of home?

It is good to have a home base but I always think that nothing is for ever. I will always feel a strong connection with where I live and with the nature of a place because that is something that developed as a child. It is important to me to be in a place where I feel I can work and create. With Dinosaur Designs it doesn't really feel like I am working because I love it so much. The business side is work but the creative side is pure joy.

Tell me about the renovations.

We lived here for eight years before we renovated. It was very different and very dark. We really wanted to work on the light aspect of the house. Being by the sea, we wanted the feeling of opening the house up to that and letting the sea in. There is a whole new storey and we have decks that open out on to the sea.

What is your favourite room in the house?

The open kitchen is lovely to work in. On one side you can look at the sea and on the other is the garden. We have lemon, orange and avocado trees. In six months the Australian native gardenia tree will really take off.

Do you collect art?

Yes, I love it. I have mum and dad's and their friends' work. We have art throughout the house. I think paintings can be like views. I like to collect Australian contemporary art.

What objects do you love at home?

We like to collect different things: one item is a sculpture from Milan, a special way of blowing glass where they pour salt in it, so it looks like bubbles. Another of our rooms has surfboards, aboriginal bark paintings and family photos. I'm fond of a picture of my father and me in the bush.

Your company is very conscious of the environment. Did you think about this when you were renovating your home?

Yes, we are a carbon neutral company. We offset our travel, if we travel, by planting more trees. At home, we have a solar expert guy across the road from us who has sun panels he is testing. If they measure up, we will put a set on our roof.

Any tips when renovating?

Get your house blessed. After the house was done, we had this lady come and she did a special ceremony with sage. She used drums and feathers - but, you know, there is something to it. It felt great afterwards.

Lifestyle: New York's Chinatown

2008-03-17T10:21:00.002-04:00

Weekend FT: The allure of the authentic

Published: March 15 2008 00:43

Chinatown in New York is one of the last few authentic neighbourhoods in a city that is always searching for the next “it” place to live. Its core population is about 80,000, of which 55,000 are of Asian lineage. But residential developments and at least one five-star hotel are transforming an area that was first carved out by Chinese immigrants in the mid-18th century.

“The change is daily. It is obvious. It is irreversible,” said Stefan Gerard, who lives in a former factory on the eastern edge of Chinatown. Gerard, co-founder of Gen Art, a not-for-profit arts organisation, says: “There are no loft conversions on our street – yet. It is all still Chinese businesses but one block from us there is a new fashion boutique, Project No 8 (stocking international and local designers), a new restaurant, Bacaro, and the Swedish bar Good World. We all see the writing on the wall.”

Chinatown’s allure has been alive and well for decades, long before the gentrification of bordering SoHo, Nolita, the East Village, Tribeca and Wall Street. Its alleys are meant to be explored on foot. Its stores, selling everything from live crabs, to silk pyjamas, lampshades and rare teas, offer a different kind of shoppers’ paradise. As well as the many Chinese restaurants, there are street stalls piled high with persimmon fruits, ginger and lychees.

So what exactly is coming to Chinatown? Morgans Hotel Group is building a 270-room Mondrian hotel with a bar and restaurant at 150 Lafayette Street, which it expects to open in the second half of 2009.

W Hotels is reportedly eyeing a bank building for a new hotel. On a smaller scale, the Chinatown Holiday Inn at 138 Lafayette is being converted into a boutique hotel.

On the residential front, a one-bedroom apartment in a new construction or recently opened building costs $1,150-$1,350 a sq ft, so a decent one-bedroom at 600 to 700 sq ft costs less than $1m. A two-bedroom flat can be bought for just under $1.2m. Ten years ago there were few apartments available to buy because there were not as many conversions or new apartments, only a handful of condominiums, according to Glenn E. Schiller, of the SoHo office of the Corcoran group. Schiller, who has been selling property on the edge of Chinatown for 18 years, said: “As early as three years ago, Chinatown would have been $800 to $900 a sq ft but there has been an appreciation across all of downtown.” In spite of the rapid rise in prices, Chinatown remains extremely good value, he says, and is continuing to develop.

A 30,000 sq ft building, a block north of Canal Street, Chinatown’s main artery, will soon be converted into 14 luxury lofts. The developer is gallerist Max Protetch, whose gallery is known for exhibiting architectural renderings and happens to be one of the first to show Chinese artists. He is betting on Chinatown being the next hip area.

Apartments in his development, which involves converting the old Machinery Exchange built in 1915, will cost from $1.6m for a one-bedroom to nearly $4.5m for a two-bedroom duplex penthouse. Protetch said he looked to Chinatown because he found nothing he liked elsewhere. He fell in love with the building’s arched windows and history. The buyers to date are rich Upper East Siders and foreigners, he says.

Directly opposite Protetch’s building is 123 Baxter, a fullservice, 23-unit condominium that shot up three years ago and attracted attention for its “zen spa bathrooms with rainforest showers” and Brazilian cherry floors. A large one-bedroom has been listed for $1.2m.

The big question is whether Chinatown – which started on Mott Street, Park, Pell and Doyers streets, east of the Five Points District, a formerly dangerous slum area depicted in Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York – will be able to retain its authenticity.

The conversions have really only been going on in the past two years. The pace of change is conditioned by the fact that many buildings are occupied by rent stabilised and rent controlled tenants who would all need to be moved out in order for them to be converted.

Gershon Adjaye, a broker and property investment adviser with the Gersh Group, doesn’t believe the area will become overrun with condos, as SoHo has. The core has zoning restrictions that prohibit high-rise buildings and he says his Chinese clients own in New York, New Jersey and offshore but never sell their Chinatown properties. “They prefer to keep it in the family. It is not even a case of money.”

He believes the far east end of Chinatown is not an area that developers would go to. “At that point you are so far east and south that you are too far from any major neighbourhood.” But he said if you go north, Chinatown is very attractive.

He predicts there will be more small developments. “Nothing huge scale because even if you get one guy, or one family to sell a building, you need a much bigger footprint, perhaps a whole block to do a very large development.”

Wellington Chen, executive director of Chinatown Partnership, a group that was formed after September 11 to rebuild Chinatown, also questions whether the area, which has been hit hard by fewer tourists and the demise of its garment industry, will become gentrified.

“Most of Chinatown is rent controlled, five-storey walk-ups owned by Chinese or Jewish landlords.” He said these tenement buildings were mostly more than 100 years old and often in poor condition, with bathrooms in the hallways. There is no doorman or parking and only rarely is there a laundry in the building. The buildings are financially supported by ground-floor retail and restaurants that are suffering because fewer tourists are visiting the area, preferring Little Italy or SoHo. “Development is not happening in the core of Chinatown. Speculators have been circling here for years and if there was a soft spot they would have had it by now”.

He predicts that Chinatown will “age out” over time, meaning that older Chinese residents in rent-controlled buildings are dying. Some are moving to more affordable satellite Chinatowns in Queens. The area does not cater for non-Asians, he says. “Try to get a town car to pick you up. Where can you buy organic food? You can’t.”

But Gerard has no plans to move any time soon. “So you can’t buy milk or butter very easily. But you can get 16 different kinds of shrimp paste. We like that.”

end

Travel: T&C Travel, The World's Most Elite Airport Lounges

2008-01-23T19:38:00.000-05:00

Passengers Waiting in these Lounges Might Find Themselves Wishing for Delays

By Julie Earle-Levine

The Qantas lounge in Sydney, AustraliaThese days, flying first-class is all about what goes on before the plane takes off, or so it would seem at some of the world's most elite airport lounges.Qantas

Sydney

The look: Created by Australian designer Marc Newson, the 22,066-square-foot lounge resembles the wing of a plane. Curvilinear oak partitions break out ten zones with chocolate- and cream-colored furnishings.

Details: The dining room, with its open kitchen and tables designed by designed by Cappellini, feels like a cool Sydney café. (The menu is devised by chef Neil Perry of Sydney's famed Rockpool restaurant.)

Who: The business crowd, well-dressed families and young fashion designers en route to New York and London for shows.

Services: Hosts will meet you curbside and speed you through customs. They can also book hard-to-get restaurant reservations anywhere in the world.

Superlatives: A sublime day spa using Payot Paris products. The complimentary facials and massages are given in rooms with vertical gardens designed by botanist Patrick Blanc.

—Julie Earle-Levine

Travel: T&C Travel, The Maldives

2008-01-23T19:35:00.000-05:00

The Maldives: Prepare for Paradise

These are four sumptuous spots in the Maldives that should not be missed

By Julie Earle-Levine

No matter how many paradises you've been to, nothing quite prepares you for the Maldives, a just-about flat archipelago of 1,190 islands that seem to float on the sapphire Indian Ocean 350 miles southwest of India. Since the tsunami in December 2004, construction has been in overdrive, with a handful of properties debuting and more on the way. Here's your guide to the best of what's new.

For the Scenester

When you see the giant white letter W on a jetty from the window of your seaplane, you know you've arrived at the W Retreat & Spa, on Fesdu Island, a seventy-eight- room resort geared to diving enthusiasts and the design-savvy set. Book one of the Ocean Oasis villas, which sit over the water and whose floors are partly glass. The water view also takes center stage at the Asian-inspired open-air restaurant, where you dine to the sound of the waves as manta rays and turtles swim by. At night, the mostly European crowd grooves to DJ-spun tunes at the underground bar. Villas from $895; 011-960-666-2222; whotels.com.

For the Sybarite

At the Four Seasons Resort at Landaa Giraavaru, the company's second resort in the Maldives, health-conscious guests can indulge in sessions with the resident yogi and in Ayurvedic treatments in one of the top-notch spa's ten pavilions. (Ayurvedic doctors have been brought in from Sri Lanka and Kerala, India.) There are 102 rooms, including thirty thatched-roof Beach Villas, each with a forty-foot lap pool and a sand-bottomed patio on which you can pass idle afternoons atop a daybed or in a traditional Maldivian swing. Al Barakat, an Arabian restaurant, serves Lebanese mezes; at the adjacent Shisha Bar, guests can be found puffing away on water pipes. Rooms from $800; 011-960-660-0888; fourseasons.com.

For the Yactsman

If staying on land and sea appeals to you, book the Rania Experience, on the private Water Garden Island, which will host up to fifteen people. You'll have your own eighty-six-foot yacht with three bedrooms and a Jacuzzi on deck. Visitors can sleep on board or on shore in the three-bedroom villa with open-air bathrooms shaded by palm trees and an entertainment room equipped with board games and DVDs. Your staff will include a chef, a butler and spa therapists. By day, you can play tennis and the ship's captain and diving instructor can take you sailing among the coral reefs, with stops for fishing and snorkeling. After dark, the stargazing is otherworldly. From $10,000 a couple a night, all inclusive; 732-773-8230; raniaexperience.com.

For the Romantic

Expect to see wealthy Europeans and a celebrity clientele when you stay at the One&Only at Reethi Rah, a castaway-style outpost of One&Only Resorts that opened just four months after the tsunami. Pampering begins on arrival, with lemongrass-scented towels and shots of custard-apple-and-lemongrass juice to revive you. The resort's 130 villas are scattered over 109 acres, enabling extreme privacy. Couples can soak in the large stone tubs designed for two or play in the tides at one of the twelve pristine beaches. There are three restaurants, but for a meal that will make you swoon, arrange a picnic at a secluded spot on the beach. Rooms from $1,050; 866-552-0001; oneandonlyresorts.com.

Travel: T&C Travel, Lord Howe Island, Australia

2008-01-23T19:31:00.000-05:00

Capella Lodge, Lord Howe Island

Already a vacation paradise, Capella Lodge makes Australia's Lord Howe Island even more appealing.

By Julie Earle-Levine

A sleek new hideaway on Australia's Lord Howe Island, in the South Pacific, makes the UNESCO World Heritage-listed paradise even more appealing. The tiny island, just a two-hour flight from Sydney, is relatively undiscovered and blessed with abundant flora and fauna. Its Capella Lodge is the latest offering from James Baillie, the visionary behind some of Australia's best resorts, including Lizard Island and Bedarra Island.

The nine-suite beach house with a wraparound teak deck and floor-to-ceiling glass windows opened last year, after Baillie bought the existing property and rebuilt it from the ground up. The stylishly spare rooms have shutters that open to views of mountains and an isolated lagoon with golden sand and rolling surf.

By day, guests snorkel in the coral reef or bike on the nearly car-free island. Capella's spa features Aboriginal treatments and is the perfect place to relax after climbing Lord Howe's two volcanic peaks. Try Gower's Foot Therapy, named after one of the mountains: a foot soak and salt scrub followed by a mask of kelp and pepper berry. Take an early-morning yoga class on the beach, and in the evening enjoy the sunset while dining on fresh seafood at Capella's restaurant. From $306 a person daily. 011-61-2-9928-4355; lordhowe.com

Lifestyle: Weekend FT The perfect pair of Jeans

2008-01-12T11:58:00.000-05:00

By Julie Earle-Levine

Published: January 12 2008

Weekend FT

It was only a matter of time. Now that denim is a market unto itself – no longer merely a “separate” or a piece of “casual wear” but a multi-million-dollar market full of competing players, global marketers and dedicated websites – comes the rise of the “denim specialist”.

James Leslie, for example, owner of Trilogy in London, a store that offers 15 brands of jeans along with a glass of champagne or wine in a boudoir-like setting, with designer high heels for customers to try with jeans. “The sheer nature of going to a department store is quite intimidating and in-your-face, with huge racks of 20, 30 different styles of jeans,” says Leslie, not to mention the fact that at some stores, sales staff use “jeans language; if you are an expert, fine, but not all customers know what a ‘high-rise skinny’ is, and we explain that”.

“There are so many jean-victims who bought poor denim or look bad,” says Mauro Farinelli, a Savile Row-trained tailor and former denim specialist at Saks Fifth Avenue. “People think, ‘how hard can it be?’. I can fix the gap with a belt, or if they have the biggest arse in the world, they don’t realise that itty-bitty pocket isn’t going to help.”

Now, however, at stores from New York to Los Angeles and London, experts who can match style to body type, and advise on details such as thread count, weave and selvage (the edge of the fabric that doesn’t fray) are proliferating at almost the same rate as new jeans companies.

“People who buy their jeans from department stores or boutiques specialising in mass-market jeans may have no need for a denim specialist,” says Mark Sterne, an image specialist and denim fan. “But I think the more particular the customer is about fit and exclusivity, the more useful a specialist might be.”

Consider the following story from Farinelli. He recalls one customer, a woman in her fifties who was determined to buy a very low-rise pair of jeans, “something her teenage daughter might wear”. He recommended a more sophisticated, flattering style of jean and she reluctantly tried on several. “She ended up looking better than her teenage daughter might. She still looked sexy in a brand other women admire, but not foolish.”

“We have an older clientele who really want to understand what they are buying,” says Kiya Babzani, co-owner of Self Edge, a denim specialist store in San Francisco that sells designer Japanese denim, including a $450 copy of a 1955 Levi’s jean with original Scovill brand zippers bought from dealers in vintage stock. “Most of our clients are deeply passionate about denim and care about what they are wearing.”

“I depend on specialists to research what is available in foreign markets and to tell me about expected shrinkage,” says Sterne.

Yuji Fukushima, co-owner of another specialist jeans store, Blue in Green in Soho, carries more than 10 Japanese denim brands, mainly for men, that he says are impossible to buy in any other one store. For him, specialists provide expertise for “serious” jeans buyers. “I think because we are a very small store, personal relationships are key,” says Fukushima. “If a customer comes into our store, they try to find one pair of jeans they really want. Sometimes we spend hours dealing with this, and help them try on many, many pairs of jeans to find the perfect one.”

“Men might go with something made with a shuttle loom, natural indigo – they’ll pay more for it – or they want to know where the zipper is from, what mill it is from,” agrees Farinelli.

This a reason American Rag, one of the first designer denim stores, trains staff to be knowledgeable about the finest details of every pair of jeans they sell. “A lot of customers want to know why these jeans cost so much,” says Mike Flynn, a spokesman for the store. “I think it is very helpful to have someone who understands denim explaining why certain types of cotton make a good denim, or just understanding that if it is loomed in Japan and made in the US, why that will cost more.”

“People hate shopping for jeans. They don’t really want to go in,” says Farinelli, who will open a new store, called Denim Bar in Manhattan, this year, where the ethos is nightclub, and buyers can have a glass of wine or a cocktail while shopping (he already has two in Washington DC). As he envisions the future, however: “The bartender will be explaining pocket placement, triple stitching, different cuts. A few drinks later, next thing you know, the customer is in Rock & Republic or metallics by 4 Stroke Jeans, a cool new line made in collaboration with Keith Richards’ daughter Theodora.”

And suddenly, he says, they realise: “Jeans shopping is not all that bad.”

......................

Pocketbook

www.blueingreensoho.com

www.denimbaronline.com

www.selfedge.com

www.trilogystores.co.uk

Lifestyle: Weekend FT New Yorkers Do It Better

2008-01-09T13:24:00.001-05:00

New Yorkers do it better

Weekend FT
By Julie Earle-Levine

January 5 2008

A small mountain of shopping bags and a coat rack 20-garments deep filled the waiting area at Soho Nails in downtown Manhattan. It was not an unusual scene in this shopping Mecca where women drop in to the popular salon for a quick manicure, pedicure or bikini wax in between hitting the boutiques. But on a recent weekday, the lines were too long, the wait took several hours and the chattering ladies were largely speaking in foreign accents.

Blame the economy. British, European, Japanese and Canadian shoppers are swooping on New York to take advantage of the favourable exchange rate. But they aren't just going for clothes bargains – they are also booking in at hair salons and spas for "half price" treatments. And the spa business is booming as a result. One British woman at Soho Nails, for instance, exclaims her delight at the basic $7 manicure. "It's a steal," she says.

Alexandra Marshall, a Paris-based writer, has just spent Christmas in Los Angeles but had planned the Hollywood-style beauty regime she would undertake on holiday weeks before she arrived. "I was getting manicures and pedicures every other day," she says. "They're impossibly inconvenient and expensive in Paris" – a cry often heard in London too, where many beauty treatments are prohibitively pricey. Salons are not so prolific in the French capital, says Marshall, and there are no walk-ins – a more traditional appointment-only basis operates there. And the prices are more restrictive too with an average price of €35 for a basic manicure and then up to €8 extra to apply polish. "And they don't actually do a great job," says Marshall.

Emily Cohen, founder of Pout Cosmetics, which she has since sold, saves all her beauty treatments for when she is visiting New York for meetings on future projects. "I have my waxing done, my pedicures and manicure. I get it all done and save myself a fortune, plus the treatments are better in New York. Even the little places on the corner in New York offer really stonkingly great manicures. Fifteen bucks and you get quality."

Suki Duggan, owner of Donsuki's hair and beauty salon in Manhattan, says she has noticed many more international clients in the past eight weeks. "A lot of Americans are staying home because of the softer dollar, and their European friends are visiting. They bring in their friends and they are getting everything done here – colour, cut, styling – because it's so cheap here."

But, according to Duggan, a brisk business at her Upper East Side salon is not just as a result of visiting Europeans – it's also being driven by locals. "Many of my New York clients are not doing a weekend to Paris to shop. So they are getting more beauty treatments in New York because they still want to stay chic in a tough economy."

Other stylists and salon owners confirm business has never been better. Europeans don't blink at $600 massages because they feel as though they are only paying as little as half price, says Kim Matheson, a spa consultant. She says spas across the US have been seeing an influx of Europeans. "We are also seeing a lot of women from Asia, South and Central America getting treatments here."

Camille Meyer, of TriBeCa Medspa, agrees that travel-savvy New Yorkers are skipping weekend shopping jaunts in Europe. "No one is travelling right now, and everyone else is travelling here. We get a lot, especially from London." In recent weeks, those visits have been for Botox shots or one-off treatments such as dermal fillers. "Botox takes 14 days to really kick in, so they get it just once [in a trip]. We are also seeing a lot of Canadians and Japanese who might get skin resurfacing. They just walk around Manhattan with red skin for 24 hours but they don't care because they are on holidays."

Locals, of course, are still spending but some are doing it a little more cautiously. "They are buying laser facelifts. Usually they buy them in a package of three but in recent weeks they would rather pay each time," says Meyer. Even wealthy clients, who previously had no problem writing a $10,000 cheque, now just want to pay for single treatments. "They are saying, 'My husband will kill me if he sees a large amount [on the statement] all at once.'" Ellen Sackoff, founding partner of Cornelia Day Resort – famous for its customised facials – says her American clients are also travelling less but are spending more. One woman who once travelled to exotic locales with her husband is staying at home and making the spa her away time.

"Customers who would buy a $5,000 handbag still feel guilt associated with it," she says. So rather than opt for a new seasonal accessories fix, she says "now they are putting money into beauty and wellness. They realise it is good for them."

Regardless, for Sackoff, out-of-towners are still the main ones driving the business. While the average spent by her weekend clients is $350, those coming from Europe are parting with anything from $800 to $1,000 dollars a go. "They feel like they are getting a great deal. People don't care about prices. We raised them recently and no one blinked."

..............................

Reach for the spas

Soho Nails, 458 Broadway, 3rd floor; tel: +1 212-475 6368
Donsuki's Salon, www.donsukisalon.com
TriBeCa Medspa, www.tribecamedspa.com
Cornelia Day Resort, www.cornelia.com

Lifestyle: Portfolio A Wine for All Seasons

2008-01-09T13:19:00.000-05:00

Portfolio

by Julie Earle Levine
Jan 7 2008

Wine director Richard Hales spends $2 million a year purchasing the bottles that make the list at New York's Mandarin Oriental Hotel.

Photograph by: Robert Caplin

Job title: Wine director

On a recent Saturday morning in December, Richard Hales was at Christie's auction house in New York to bid on vintage madeiras—massive, full-bodied, and incredibly old wines with high alcohol content and prices to match. Madeiras have recently been attracting attention as investments and as stories (some are almost 200 years old), and Hales, the wine director for the Mandarin Oriental in New York, spent nearly $40,000 at the auction to buy about 15 bottles of the rare wine.

"These are wines that have been sitting in the cellars of wealthy families," Hales says. "They are very, very good, and everyone wants them."

As wine director, Hales' job is to study, find, and purchase wines for the hotel's restaurant, bar, and lounge; room service; and banquet facilities. He typically spends about $2 million a year at auction and through wine dealers to pick the wines that will be served at the hotel. (Read his top tips for building your own wine collection.)

Hales keeps about 1,000 wines on his various lists for the hotel and can recall each one according to style, flavor, alcohol content, and acidity so that he can suggest the perfect pairings, whether it be with foie gras or finger food. As a sommelier, his style is to be casual and conversational with the hotel's guests. "Not every table requires so much information, and as a good sommelier, you must read your guest," he says. Hales also always encourages his guests to give a price range for what they're looking to spend.

A typical day starts at 10 a.m. when he checks on deliveries and has meetings with staff, followed by lunch and dinner service and then an hour of updating his wine lists, studying new wines and regions. During slow periods at his restaurants, usually in April and midsummer, Hales travels to do research and tastings, typically splitting his time between the new and old wine regions.

Hales' passion for wine grew from an obsession with food and his original career path as a chef. After studying at New York's French Culinary Institute in 1997, he worked his way up the food chain at New York gastronomic centers La Grenouille and Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Vong, eventually rising to sous-chef at Vong several years later. From there, he moved on to Miami's Azul, an Asian-inflected Mediterranean restaurant located in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, where he found himself in the role of wine connoisseur when the sommelier left abruptly in 2002. He became wine director for the Mandarin in New York in December 2006.

Hales compares his work as a wine director and sommelier to his previous job as a chef; both positions have required him to assemble the right ingredients to fashion something memorable.

"At this level, dining is about the experience as much as it is about eating," Hales says. "Wine is part of that experience, and it is more than just satisfying a thirst. It is a discovery."

Wine director Richard Hales shares his best advice for assembling a top-notch, highly personalized wine collection.

Companies that hire them: Luxury-hotel groups and restaurants. Typically, a wine director oversees multiple outlets in a hotel or restaurant group, with one or more sommeliers on staff.

How to find out about openings: Word of mouth, since it is a small world. There are also job listings on the Court of Master Sommeliers' website. This is the American chapter of an international group whose mission is to improve standards in the beverage industry.

How much you can earn: Between $60,000 and $250,000 a year, depending on the size of the company and the scope of the position. At the lower end, the job would most likely be at a single restaurant, while at the top, a national operation.

Useful skills: No specific background is necessary but communication and organizational skills, a fine-tuned palate, and a knowledge of wine history, vintages, and current wine trends is crucial. Wine directors must also travel and taste wine regularly.

Number of jobs in the U.S.: The Court of Master Sommeliers says it's likely that each five-star hotel and upscale restaurant in the U.S. has its own wine director, putting the number in the low thousands, but there are no official data.

Weekend FT: How Hillary Wears The Trousers

2007-12-31T14:12:00.000-05:00

How Hillary wears the trousers

Weekend FT

By Julie Earle-Levine

December 29 2007 02:00

Ah, the travails of being the leader of the pack. As Hillary Clinton heads into the Democratic presidential primary as the frontrunner, the mud is being slung fast and furious, and her clothes are getting a splattering. But is it because she is the biggest target around, or is it because - as she e-mailed in a note to supporters in response to some observations about a low-cut black jumpers she wore - she's female?

"Frankly, focusing on women's bodies instead of their ideas is insulting," she wrote, and not long after she could be found on ABC's The View commiserating with Barbara Walters about the fact that female candidates were unfairly analysed over their clothes. Truth is, however, she's going to have to get used to it. So says Edith Mayo, curator emeritus at the National Museum of American History and designer of the current Smithsonian First Ladies exhibition, which aims to place these women in the context of their husbands' administrations. As Mayo can attest, American First Ladies' wardrobes have always been an obsession. One can only presume that's even more true for first female presidential candidates.

And so Clinton is being scrutinised for her fashion sense - or lack of it. She wears unflattering trouser suits, floral-print blazers and uninspiring heels, her critics say; she looks "boring" and "cold". "People have realised that fashion is not Hillary's main interest," says Valerie Steele, director and curator of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. "She just doesn't care."

Yet for world leaders, having an impact on fashion is inevitable. Is Clinton overreacting in dulling-down her appearance? Should she be harnessing the power of dress to project her political identity?

Mayo predicts that if elected, President Clinton will do more or less what Margaret Thatcher did: "wear some sort of power suit rather than strive for fashion elegance - except perhaps at state dinners or balls." Similarly, Michael Pick, author of Be Dazzled!: Norman Hartnell: Sixty Years of Glamour and Fashion, a new book on the British designer who helped to shape the image of various royals, believes that Clinton "could work with a few designers to transform her image, much in the way Thatcher did".

After all, as Mayo says, Americans want their First Ladies to look current, but not necessarily to be fashion leaders or take risks with their wardrobes. "I think they want them to be wearing clothes that are not dowdy and are currently fashionable," says Mayo, "but unless you are Jackie Kennedy, or a former movie star like Nancy Reagan, voters don't usually want women in high fashion."

"In Italy and France women leading the country need to be wearing fashionable - even sexy - clothes," agrees Steele, but in the US, "Women are not supposed to flaunt their sexuality."

There are, of course, tricks to getting noticed in a positive way. As Pick points out, in the 1950s Hartnell created a more youthful image for Queen Elizabeth II by using stronger colours and patterns, while for the Queen Mother the idea was to make her look larger and of greater stature, so a draped and waist-tied pastel dress might be offset by a feathered hat and triple row of pearls.

Clinton's trouser suits, although they have drawn considerable attention, may not actually be the modern-day answer. According to Steele, the idea of a woman wearing trousers has connotations of her stepping outside her appropriate, ordained place in the universe - even though women have been wearing them since the 1920s, and wearing them to work since the 1970s.

"Clinton's critics will say she is wearing the trousers - that she is too powerful," says Steele. "I've [even] heard women complain that she is too ambitious. [But] don't you think anyone running for president should be?"