Founded in 1743, Moët & Chandon is one of France’s most renowned champagne brands, one of the grande marques based in Épernay. The house was founded by Charles Moët, a wine trader, who sourced the best grape crop in the region to produce his sparkling wines. The brand quickly became a favourite of French nobility and high society who greatly enjoyed the wine’s delicate but robust flavours. Moët grew to become one of the largest and most celebrated wine brands in France and, eventually, the world. Today the brand is one of the key marques under the LVMH stable (with the MH being an abbreviation of the brand).
Category Archives: LUXURY
S. T. DUPONT
When his carriage manufactory workshop burned down in 1872, Simon Tissot-Dupont endeavoured to begin anew, acquiring a small leather studio which would produce high-end leather goods and briefcases for the most rarified Parisian gentlemen. The brand was a success and he soon won contracts to supply the great department stores of Paris and further afield. Today, the Dupont brand is synonymous with exquisite luxury goods, including their leather goods range, ornate pens and, especially, their top quality lighters.
CAMICERIA TIZIANO
A bespoke shirting house in Milan, Camiceria Tiziano has been outfitting many of Italy’s most discerning and best-dressed clientele since it opened in 1947. The small studio offers a bespoke, custom shirtmakers including luxurious fabrics and detailing. In addition, Camiceria Tiziano produces a range of accessories and handmade neckties. Their Milanese boutique also carries a broad selection of ready-to-wear shirts and accessories.
ALMINI
A boutique Milanese shoemaker and leather goods atelier that was established by Pietro Almini in 1921. The marque is renowned as a maker of high-quality, handmade footwear, bespoke to a customer’s exact specifications. Almini uses a wide range of hides and tans with a full suite of colourways. Their casual shoes are particularly sought after. The brand’s craftsmanship extends to various leather goods and accessories including bags, belts and travelling accoutrements.
LE PROCOPE
Dating back to 1686, Le Procope is one of the most famous and storied restaurants in Paris. A brasserie of distinction, bedecked in ornate furnishings, grand artwork and gilded decor, the restaurant has long-been held as a bastion of traditional French cuisine. Throughout the establishment’s history it has been a celebrated meeting place for Parisian society, the intelligentsia and various luminaries in artistic and literary circles, particularly so in the days that the dining room acted as a café in the grand European café tradition. Indeed, the restaurant regards itself as the oldest continuously operating café in the city. The beautiful environs make the venue a particularly popular destination for Parisians and tourists alike, keen to try the classic fare on offer or to enjoy their famous confections or ice creams. Today, the restaurant is a key institution of the Group Bertrand collection.
1897
A coffeehouse in the Viennese tradition, 1897 has been a Bayreuth institution since it’s foundation more than a century ago. Located in the beautiful medieval old town of Bayreuth, close to the castle and the UNESCO protected Margravial opera house, the café includes a guesthouse and private roastery, producing bespoke coffee under their own brands and as a private label for other organisations. 1897 (sometimes known as the Kaffeehaus Bayreuth or the Wiener Kaffeehaus) maintains the aura and ambience of the great European coffeehouse and grand café archetype. For tourists and locals alike, this is a must-visit for delicate pastries and confections, sit-down meals or excellent coffee.
RIMOWA
Rimowa, like so many of our most celebrated luxury brands, began life as a saddlery in the 19th Century, crafting high quality equestrian goods, accessories and leather goods for exacting customers in the age of horse-drawn travel. The company, founded in 1898 by Paul Morszeck and his business partner, Heinrich Görtz, traded as Görtz & Morszeck and quickly developed a reputation for excellence. Görtz left in 1900 and Morszeck would take the company a different direction, focussing on saddlebags, travel trunks and luggage, embracing the advent in aviation and steamship travel. When his son, Richard, joined the business in 1931, changing the businesses name to a play on his own, Rimowa would begin to craft the highest quality luggage, robust and indestructible and inspired by the flight cases used by pilots. This design brief would become the house’s signature and is still very much in demand today. The house was taken over by the luxury goods conglomerate, LVMH, in 2016.
21 CLUB
A legendary speak-easy that grew into a landmark fine-dining institution in New York City, the 21 Club was a place to see and to be seen until it’s post-Covid closure. Originally a bar for those in the know during America’s prohibition years, it became a favourite venue of the Knickerbocker elite, a society outpost that’s legacy continued long after prohibition came to an end. The 21 Club leaned heavily into the concept of a private members club (it was a members club of sorts during its early years), with its signature jockey club motif. The bar expanded its offer to become one of the city’s finest dining rooms, a steakhouse with classic American cuisine defining its menu. The restaurant became a jewel in the Belmond/LVMH crown.
SMYTHSON
Frank Smythson opened his eponymous stationers in London in 1887 and soon garnered a reputation as a purveyor of the highest quality provisions for London’s smartest families. The house’s bespoke stationery was comprised of the finest materials allowing their customers to convey their extremely high tastes, not to mention their capacity to spare no expense. Smythson’s became a firm favourite of the Royal family and other great households across Europe. The firm expanded their range to include diaries, notebooks, travel accessories and leather goods, particularly bag & handbags, made to the same exacting standards and luxurious brief as their traditional stationery.
A.A. BROWN & SONS
A luxury high-end gunmaker, A.A. Brown & Sons has been producing bespoke arms to order for the most discerning of sportsmen since 1930. A true gunsmiths, the firm produces their own side by side (the Supreme de Luxe model) and an over and under model (the ABAS Series 8), as well as refurbished pieces from various other marques.
FITZGABRIELS 