Автор: karymsakov_qq4zn395

Things are looking up for the beleaguered supercar manufacturer. 

He lost half a leg in a crash while filming Le Mans with Steve McQueen in 1969, but he insisted they use the footage. He bought his racing cars directly from Enzo Ferrari, and I met him at the factory during an extravagant five-day birthday party the company had thrown for itself. “It used to be pretty impoverished here,” he said as we sat under a parasol on Ferrari’s scented herbal lawn.

“I first came to see Enzo in 1962. It was cold, so I asked his chief engineer to turn the heating on while I waited. He apologized, and told me that they couldn’t afford the oil.” Almost every supercar maker has seen tough times. The more your cars cost to develop and buy, the more exposed you are to cashflow problems and your customers’ varying ability to pay for your very nice things through recessions and oil crises.

Aston Martin has been bankrupt seven times during its 112-year history and changed hands more often than an old banknote. Lamborghini, now a stable and reputable member of the Volkswagen Group, was once bought out of bankruptcy by a 25-year-old Swiss millionaire and was also owned by Tommy Suharto, son of the former Indonesian dictator and later a convicted murderer.

And now it’s McLaren’s turn for a wobble. The road car division of the Formula 1 team seems to have everything going for it. Its current range of two seat supercars is critically acclaimed. The McLaren F1 of 1992, arguably the greatest road car ever made, cost $815,000 new but you’ll need at least $20m to buy one now, which says a lot about the appeal of the brand. And the McLaren F1 team is rampant again, winning last year’s constructor’s title and leading this year’s drivers’ and constructors’ world championships by a chasm.

But costs are high, sales are slow and in 2023, the last year for which numbers have been made public, McLaren Automotive lost in the region of $1.1bn, enough to make even its previous owners, the Saudi and Bahraini sovereign wealth funds, blanch. But a very modern salvation is at hand. CYVN — pronounced SIGH-ven — is a division of the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund that invests in mobility.

In 2021 it founded Forseven, a shadowy UK-based start-up that was developing a new range of hybrid and electric luxury cars in utter secrecy, drawing on the tech of NIO, the clever Chinese EV maker in which CYVN had also invested. Forseven was just a cover name: the cars would be sold under a new brand. Within three years Forseven had 700 staff.

It was led by Nick Collins, the British engineer who had developed the brilliant new Range Rover and Defender while at Land Rover. He learned that McLaren Automotive could be bought separately from the F1 team, and realized that it would not only provide a ready-made, world-renowned brand for Forseven’s new cars, but that those cars would also be the saving of McLaren.

Unless you do it in tiny numbers, building sports cars alone is seldom enough to survive. Ferrari, Lamborghini and Aston Martin have all diversified into four doors and four seats, but Porsche is the single most successful example of this very necessary trend. Each marque’s purist fans tend to hate the new models at first, but then they realize their profits bring stability, and pay for more and better sports cars.

Developing new models is costly. McLaren couldn’t afford to do it alone, but unlike any other potential investor, Forseven had already done the hard work, and that’s the secret sauce behind the merger. It was only finalized in April, but Collins was so confident that it would happen that Forseven’s cars were being developed with the intention of becoming McLarens for at least a year beforehand, though few of his staff knew it. Some of those new cars will be revealed later this year, and everything the new McLaren will launch until 2030 has already been designed. 

I spoke to Collins recently. The Forseven name has disappeared, and he is now the CEO of McLaren. He is clever and thoughtful, but tough. He talks about this being the opposite of a quick-buck private-equity deal, and says that he and his investors take a 50-year view, as perhaps you have to with supercar makers. A little over 50 years after David Piper shivered outside Enzo’s office, Ferrari went public and its share price has risen almost tenfold since then. With a very clever, very modern lifeline uniting a famous British name with Gulf money and Chinese tech, maybe McLaren could go the same way. 

mclaren.com

There’s also a hi-fi listening lounge at the new West Hollywood restaurant. There’s also a hi-fi listening lounge at the new West Hollywood restaurant.

The married rock icons and their two daughters lived full time at the custom-built property on Maui for several years until 2009. The married rock icons and their two daughters lived full time at the custom-built property on Maui for several years until 2009.

The Forte 47 is the first model from industry newcomer Forte Yachts. The Forte 47 is the first model from industry newcomer Forte Yachts.

This Parisian handbag Maison is a favorite of Taylor Swift – and Louis XV. 

To Paris, where a young French company is reviving the era of Louis XV’s court — one handbag at a time. In its flagship boutique in the 8th arrondissement, close to the Elysee Palace, Joseph Duclos displays its wares on illuminated pillars, like art in a gallery, to showcase the craftsmanship involved in each bag.  

Founded in 2020 by former financier Franck Dahan, Joseph Duclos revives the family name of an 18th-century leatherworker whose tanneries supplied Louis XV after the king granted him the 1754 Letters Patent establishing Duclos’s Royale Leather Manufacture as the crown’s official supplier. Unable to trace descendants of the Duclos family, Dahan purchased and registered the name as a tribute to honor the original craftsmen and pioneering tanners while speaking to a new generation of discreet luxury lovers that includes Taylor Swift – more on that later.

One of Dahan’s first moves was to hire Ramesh Nair as artistic creative director. With a resume that includes stints at Moynat Paris and Hermès under Martin Margiela and Jean-Paul Gaultier, Nair is known for his deep understanding of silhouettes, structure and craftsmanship.

“Translating the rigidity of leather and metal into coveted handbags, something emotional, is not easy,” said Dahan. “But Ramesh was able to reinterpret the 1700’s and bring so much creativity and perfection that these bags are relevant and timeless today. That is a sign of longevity and passion. If a design could survive for centuries before, it will survive for centuries to come.”

Each piece is made by hand in small French ateliers by artisans who train for nearly a decade before working on Duclos. One bag takes about five days to complete; Duclos makes fewer than 600 handbags annually.

The house offers four collections of handbags, crossbody bags, shoulder, messenger and mini bags. The Saint-Clair bag is inspired by gun-powder bags, while the structured, almost sculptural Diane features engraved molded metal frames and arrow-shaped clasps that, apparently, reference the arrows carried by Diane, the goddess of the hunt. The Diane has become something of a cult classic after Taylor Swift wore it last March on a date with her now-fiancé Travis Kelce (after which, Joseph Duclos received an unprecedented barrage of inquiries from fans eager to find the ‘Swiftie bag’). Other fans include Nicole Ari Parker, Carla Bruni and Brigitte Macron.

In addition to the limited-edition bags, Duclos offers one-of-a-kind and bespoke commissions, allowing clients to choose everything from exotic materials to skin colors, precious metals for the hardware and even gem setting.

With handbags going up to $40,000 – with some custom pieces running as high as $150,000 – Joseph Duclos has become an insider’s treat. But it eschews waiting lists; instead, clients can purchase and pre-pay for a bag –and sit tight for months until it’s ready.

There are also small leather goods, leather bracelets and small jewelry items inspired by the hardware, as well as fragrances for each collection. 

“In the time of Louis XV, perfumed gloves were common — a way to mask the scent of the leather – so this seemed a natural progression,” said Dahan, who turned to a prominent French master perfumer, Nathalie Feisthauer, to develop the four different scents. With 40 years in the industry and her own LABscent studio in Paris, Feisthauer has crafted perfumes such as Honour Man for Amourage, Must de Cartier Pour Homme, L’Eau d’Issey Florale for Issey Miyake and Gardenia Petale for Van Cleef & Arpels, among others.

Much of the value of a Joseph Duclos bag lies in the materials and craftsmanship. Duclos sources cowhide and exotic skins from tanneries that supply exclusively to them. Each hide undergoes a natural water-molding process that can take more than six months. Even then, only about 60 to 70 percent meet the desired standard.

The makers use waxed linen thread — rarely seen in modern leather goods because of its cost and difficulty to source. But it’s prized for its strength and gentleness on the leather, and is critical to the longevity of the bags.

Many of the tools used in the process are constructed in-house, including those for shaping, embossing, and even finishing the buttons and metal fittings. For the hardware, Nair dug deep into the history of Royal Leather Manufacture, reviewing the leather military boots, coin purses, gun powder pouches and travel cases of the era for inspiration.

“It’s crazy how much time we all spend on each bag. From the thought process to the designing of the shapes, even to the tanning of the leather and the sewing,” said Ramesh Nair. “Sometimes, my artisans will call and say I am driving them nuts; they will send me pictures of their fingers after working on a specific process, but then there’s this bag that could only have been made because of the way we do it. There is just no way we will compromise on the process.”

The new trend has consumers heading to Paris, Madrid, and more to buy their luxe items. The new trend has consumers heading to Paris, Madrid, and more to buy their luxe items.

The stately mansion, presiding over 170 feet of beach frontage, has undergone an airy, modern update with an expansive subterranean level decked out like a private social club. The stately mansion, presiding over 170 feet of beach frontage, has undergone an airy, modern update with an expansive subterranean level decked out like a private social club.

The three-story hillside house by the late architect Ian McKay in the leafy Northbridge suburb provides epic vistas across Middle Harbour. The three-story hillside house by the late architect Ian McKay in the leafy Northbridge suburb provides epic vistas across Middle Harbour.

The 668 hp, rear-wheel-drive sedan comes standard with a six-speed manual transmission and the ability to crest 200 mph. The 668 hp, rear-wheel-drive sedan comes standard with a six-speed manual transmission and the ability to crest 200 mph.

Fellow F1 racers George Russell and Max Verstappen have also been spotted relaxing on yachts before the race. Fellow F1 racers George Russell and Max Verstappen have also been spotted relaxing on yachts before the race.