The late Queen was an incredibly ritzy dresser. It was such a treat to be invited by @gieveslondon to The King’s Gallery for a dinner amongst the ‘Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style’, so thoughtfully and beautifully curated by Caroline de Guitaut (a former Walpole Award winner). It was, as Gieves & Hawkes Managing Director, Jason Gerrard, said in his inspiring speech, not only an exhibition of style and fashion but one in which the UK’s exceptional craftsmanship, creativity, design and textiles really come to life. I hope the exhibition inspires a new generation of makers and it is great to see the King’s Foundation and others work to help keep increasingly endangered crafts like beading (look at the work on the Norman Hartnell Coronation dress) & lacemaking and other needlework skills alive. It was also wonderful to see the Queen’s love of Savile Row Bespoke skills with her ‘Boat Cloak’ (pictured next to Gieves’ Jason Gerrard) and other cloaks and uniforms. The King, of course, is rightly very famous for his love of Savile Row bespoke tailoring, Gloucestershire shirting, Northamptonshire shoes and other UK specialisms - he is a snappy dresser, but not a ritzy dresser like his mother. Speaking of ritzy dressers, it was a treat to see Stephen Doig now at The Telegraph (with whom I worked at @bazaaruk ) look sensational in Schiaparelli. #luxuryinthemaking #walpolemember #royalstyle
There is a lot of chat in luxury about a shift from ownership to experience: in luxury, ownership and experience go hand in hand with the product a souvenir you buy to remind you of a highly engaging experience and it has been super interesting to see major luxury brands create exquisitely detailed and compelling hospitality experiences in which to reinforce your connection to the brand like the new Louis Vuitton hotel pop up in Berkeley Square which is immensely impressive. I loved hearing FT HTSI Editor Jo Ellison interview Pierre-Louis Vuitton, head of savoir-faire at Vuitton, about the meticulous craftsmanship that goes into making the iconic Vuitton trunks, and how they’re training new craftspeople of all ages - apparently there is a trend for people in their forties and fifties to want to re-train as a trunk maker. And then, because one fascinating experience in a day wasn’t enough, I went to one of the legendary garden parties at Buckingham Palace.
Walpole’s British Luxury Summit at The Londoner: what a deep dive into what true luxury means. Just a few of my highlights included Josh Schulman’s clarity of strategy with Burberry Forward; Amrita Banda of Agility on heritage as a defensible moat for UHNWI; Labrum’s Foday Dumbuya; Bain & Company’s Mathilde Haemmerlé on luxury and AI (80% of luxury customers used AI to help them with their last luxury purchase) & Marek Reichman talking to Katy Wickremesinghe about the art of imagination in the age of AI. All playing to a packed house of over three hundred luxury leaders. Bravo @walpole_uk team for putting together such a thought provoking 2026 Summit.
I used to be a much speedier reader, but it has been a busy time of things and so it has taken me longer than I would have liked to finish Max Olesker’s utterly brilliant, witty, heart-stopping book, Making the Cut. The book lived up to the promise of the launch party, hosted by Browns, and to the sparkle of Gusbourne (cocktails also on offer but I’m an English Sparkling Wine person to my core) and everything Andrew O’Hagan said in his moving and funny speech is true of Max Olesker and his book. Go and buy a copy, you won’t regret it.
I will admit to bias: I was lucky enough to work with Max when we were both at Esquire back in the day and it was wonderful to see so many Esquire friends there, not least Editor in Chiefs present (Teo Van den Broeke) and past (Alex Bilmes) as well as other Esquire luminaries (Catherine Hayward, fashion guru extraordinaire) and Emily Miles, now at Gusbourne. And the ever marvellous Niki Gifford of Browns made sure the vibe was as elegant and happening as the crowd. Bravo Max, your book is incredible, I am in awe.
Letters between sisters. Walpole celebrated International Women’s Day (yes, I know we went early…) with such a joyful lunch at The Berkeley (thank you Paula and Pierce). Six sisters wrote letters to each other in celebration of all sisters, both literal and metaphorical. We have each other’s backs, sisters!
With huge thanks to Sasha and Lydia Slater, to Rebecca and Carla Filmer, and my sister Anna Bartle; to the beautiful Berkeley; so Wildabout for heavenly flowers (mimosa!); Maison Margaux for exquisite tablescaping; Jo Malone for delicious gifts and Smythson for chic notecards on which to write our letters. To the @walpole_uk team for bringing such a lovely idea to life 👏🙏🏻(& big hugs so my lovely sister who is the best person I know) #iwd #sisterhood #luxury
Run, don’t walk, to Claridges Bakery when it opens tomorrow. Richard Hart’s baked goods are everything you’ve fantasised about (especially when on a diet), from Scotch Eggs as big as cricket balls to Lardy Cakes and Walnut Whips and Iced Buns that taste like they do in your dreams.
“I used to go around the world and think, why are all the English bakers not bringing back all the stuff that I love?” Said Richard Hart, proving that - in the world of British luxury - if you can’t find the thing you want in the way you want it, you’ve just got to get on and do it yourself. (I also tried to push him on the difference between French patisserie and British bakery - he was incredibly diplomatic but - and I paraphrase madly, so don’t sue me - it boils down to British baked goods looking messier but tasting much better. I’d agree - you can keep your Opéra and give me a Fondant Fancy any day of the week. )
Anyway, get there early, I guarantee this place will be queued around the block.
Thank you so much to Piers and Paula for inviting me.
#britishluxury #richardhart #claridgesbakery #claridges walpolemember
Time is precious. It’s always what people say is their greatest luxury, and given how 2025 seemed to speed by, I’m starting 2026 by reintroducing an old ritual of mine to help me (re-)embrace giving each day its own value and meaning, something to prevent one day gliding amorphously into the next as it seemed to last year.
Here’s the ritual: Start with the most beautiful diary you can imagine (believe me, the magic won’t come if you’re only working with the Outlook calendar on your iphone). Invest in it - it should have been crafted with care and love so that you will love and value owning and using it. Keep the diary boxed until New Year’s Day and you’re feeling compos mentis and with vigour restored (I had a very quiet NYE, but even so, it doesn’t do to start a new year with too much fervour too early in the day). Christen it by writing your name in the front and an intention-setting quotation in the square marked New Year’s Day.
This quote from Ernest Shackleton is a favourite of mine - as I get older I realise nothing worth having happens without graft, and obstacles will inevitably appear along the way and it helps me to remember that Shackleton, who faced greater challenges than I ever will, considered all difficulties ‘just things to overcome, after all’.
Your diary needs to be your daily friend, but how you use it - to record or to plan, or both, is down to you.
Don’t make resolutions, just be resolute.
(As another hero of mine, Oscar Wilde, once wrote, ‘I never travel without my diary, one should always have something sensational to read on the train’. I might write that in my diary too - it’s also important to balance graft with glamour and a bit of frivolity.
Happy New Year! Here’s to a great 2026, and to making much of time.
#2026 #intentions #smythson #luxuryinthemaking #shackleton
What a treat to gatecrash a brilliant and thought provoking Jane Austen walk with historian, academic, author and One Aldwych curator, Dr Matthew Green on Saturday. Covent Garden was the epicentre of literary activity at one point (perhaps it still is) but through Matthew’s eyes we saw Thomas De Quincey glide past in a booze and opium fuelled haze, hurrying home before the creative muse deserted him, Dryden throw the deepest shade on literary hopefuls by tearing up their manuscripts before their eyes, stuffing them into his pipe and setting fire to their words and dreams, habitués of the coffee house scene showing up to hear the latest news and scurrilous gossip with a cry of ‘Your servant Sir, and what news from Tripoli?’ (the coffee served in 18th century coffee shops disproportionately fashionable given how undrinkable it was - with spit, beef fat and cat wee added to the thick, dark grounds) and Jane Austen herself mining London’s balls, routs, assemblies,and operas for shrewdly observed copy whilst all the time longing to be back in her ‘snuggery’ in Chawton, writing, writing, writing.
Thank you so much to One Aldwich and the charmingly erudite Dr Green for such a memorable morning.
#janeausten #luxurylondon #literarywalks #londonhistory
Happy 250th birthday to Jane Austen and I couldn’t be happier that One Aldwych is celebrating my favourite novelist. Actually, perhaps she is everyone’s favourite novelist - and such an important figure in the U.K. she not only continues to be a best selling novelist 250 years after her birth, or the inspiration for many brilliant TV and film adaptations or a prompt for other works like Bridget Jones’ Diary, she also adorns a ten pound note.
The Austen inspired Christmas at One Aldwych offers not only a place to curl up with a good book, or delicious cocktails and people watching in an Austenesque world of ribbons, paper garlands, scented pomanders and gilded books, you can also go on a guided walk of Covent Garden with historian and writer Dr Matthew Green every Saturday and discover the areas literary links to Austen.
This year, I’ve been having a small celebration of my own - I’ve been re reading her novels (& rewatching classic TV adaptations), I’ve visited Chawton in Hampshire where she lived and Bath where so many of her novels are set. It has been so lovely to reacquaint myself with her subtle, elegant prose and her exceptional insights into human nature, observe how our frailties can be as bewitching as our virtues & see how masterly she is at showing us a character’s journey of self discovery: Emma I’m looking at you.
I photographed a few of my oldest copies of Austen (some nicked from school, it seems…) and I also love The Economist’s graph - we all need our own Austen celebration
