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T H I S WAY I N

BEFORE WE BEGIN
W H AT W E V E B E E N U P T O R E C E N T LY

CHATTING
with Captain America
himself as we flew to LA
for our exclusive cover
shoot. Check out our
feature with Chris Evans
in this issue and see the
behind-the-scenes video
at EsquireME.com.

TRAVELLING

MASTERING

the sport of polo, thanks to a

few lessons from champion
Pablo MacDonough.
The Richard Mille brand
ambassador spent the
morning dishing out a
few lessons at the always
impressive Yas Marina circuit
in Abu Dhabi.

PERSONALISING

the shirts of our readers,

th
as part of Esquires in-store
event
e
with Hugo Boss at
Galeries Lafayette. Because
Ga
w
were a sucker for a touch
of bespoke, and so should
you be.

to the mean streets of Basel to gorge on the

watch worlds annual convention, Baselworld.
Heres a peek at one of the new releases.
For more, make sure to pick up the Esquire Big
Watch Book, available May 1.

TA M I N G

the high-seas as we boarded the

impressive Americas Cup defending
boat, Oracle Team USA, off the coast of
Oman. After we got our land-legs back,
we spoke to the skipper Jimmy Spithill,
and his arch rival Sir Ben Ainslie. To read
what they think of each other, turn to
page 76.

SHOOTING
classic cars for the shoot on page 104 and pretending that we are doing work.
And on a related note, the story of Pakistans classic car collectors is on page 96.

TO CHECK OUT WHAT ELSE WERE DOING (AND WIN YOURSELF SOME GOODIES), FOLLOW US:

16

ESQUIRE

APRIL 2016

@ESQUIREME

@ESQUIREMIDDLEEAST

T H I S WAY I N

HOW MUCH IS A
CUPPA JOE*?

BEFORE WE BEGIN
A M O S T LY R A N D O M G U I D E T O T H E PA G E S T H AT F O L L O W

MONEY TALKS

1989

1997

2002

2005

2008

2008

The Avengers $623,357,910

2012

T U N E- U P T E C H 4 fitness-savvy apps

PAGE

90

JAWBONE UP
This is the best app for those
serious about tracking their
daily activities but want an
app thats simple to use and
makes tracking look easy.
CHARITY MILES
Too busy giving back to
work out? Charity Miles uses
corporate sponsors to donate
a few cents to a good cause
for every mile you run, walk,
or bicycle while using it.
ZOMBIES, RUN!
To ensure your run doesnt get
boring, this app brings all the
drama of a Zombie outbreak
to add an element of danger
to your jog. Run around
collecting supplies to build
and defend your base!
CARROT FIT
We can all be lazy, and
sometimes we just need a
good kick to get us up and
moving. This app will motivate
you in any way it can, be
it threatening, inspiring,
ridiculing or bribing you.
For more smartphone upgrades turn to page 50

18

ESQUIRE

APRIL 2016

Costa

Dhs 13

Seattles Best

Dhs 12

*Medium-sized black coffee

1987

Caribou

Dhs 14
*Source: boxofficemojo.com

$100m
m

The Dark Knight $534,858,444

$200m

Punisher: War Zone $8,050,977

$300m

Dhs 15

Elektra $24,409,722

$400m

Caff Nero

Spider-Man $403,706,375

$500m

S
Steel $1,710,972

$600m

Batman
$251,188,924

78

Dhs 15

How previous superhero films have fared at the box office*

To read our interview with Captain America, Chris Evans,
turn to page 78
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace $15,681,020

PAGE

Starbucks

Tim Hortons

THE MOST COMMON PHOBIAS

Spiders (Arachnophobia)
Snakes (Ophidiophobia)
Heights (Acrophobia)
Difficult situations (Agoraphobia)
Thunder and lightning (Trypanophobia)
Read how our man cured his fear of flying on page 88

Dhs 11

For expert tips on how to

make the perfect espresso
turn to page 52

140 million
Price in dirhams of the
most expensive car ever sold,
a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO
Read about Pakistans classic car
collectors on page 96

T H I S WAY I N

BEFORE WE BEGIN
A BRIEF GUIDE TO THE MONTH AHEAD

1
2

O 9
L 7 T

N
O
C
C
I
M
CO

APRI

he
ready t
dex and
iggest
n
a
b
p
s
s
n
e
th
e reg io
h
t
s
Slap on
th
a
s
f
r
for a if
ne-line
returns
t
pithy o
n
e
le
v
b
e
lture
f nota
pop-cu
rs list o topher
his yea
T
.
r
h
a
C
e
s ris
y
include
nd
names
r Glau a
Summe
imselff,
h
s
ic
Lloyd,
m
o
C
l
e
v
r
M r Ma
c.com
e. mefc
Stan Le

4
5
6
7
8
9

APRIL 14 & 15

10

W EL
WWE
LIV
LIVE DUNE BASH
Bodyslam
Bodyslams,
ms, chokeslams, and just about every
other ttype
eo
of slam going will be on show
as the WWE
E makes its long-awaited return
to Dub
Dubai.
bai. Fo
For
o two nights the likes of Dean
Ambrose,
Ambrose, T
The New Day, Kevin Owens and
Dolph
Dolph Ziggler
Z
will be flipping, brawling
and
an
nd enthralling
e
audiences at the
Dubai
Du
Duty Free Tennis stadium.
Are
A you ready to rumble?

11
1
12
3
13
4
14

platinumlist.net
pla

15
16
17

LIVE MUSIC

18

From oonstoonst to woahwoah theres

a little something for everyone this month

APRIL 1 & 2

19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30

20

ESQUIRE

AVICII

TOM JONES

DATE: April 1
WHERE: World Trade
Centre Dubai
WHAT: Having
cancelled his last
visit to the UAE,
people could not be
more ready to see
the young Swedish
electronic master
perform here.
LEARN THE WORDS
TO: Wake Me Up

DATE: April 15
WHERE: Du Arena,
Abu Dhabi
WHAT: Whats new,
pussycat? Just the
fact that legendary
Welsh crooner Tom
Jones will be back in
the UAE capital. Oh,
and you dont have
to call us pussycat.
LEARN THE WORDS
TO: Delilah

ANDREA
BOCELLI
DATE: April 22
WHERE: Du Arena,
Abu Dhabi
WHAT: The operatic
superstar tenor flies
into Yas Island this
month for a night
that will remain
long in the memory.
LEARN THE WORDS
TO: Time to Say
Goodbye

ticketmaster.ae

thinkflash.ae

thinkflash.ae

BEACH
BEAC
POLO CUP
Twelve years and
still going strong,
the popular
polo-on-sand
tournament
pitches up
its temporary
residence once
more at Skydive
Dubai, attracting
the usual
entourage of
polo pros, noble
steeds and the
odd celebrity.
beachpolo.net

APRIL 8 AND 9

SOLOISTS OF
THE BOLSHOI
Russias rich ballet
history is the envy of
most of the world,
and no company
is more celebrated
than that of the
illustrious Bolshoi
Theatre. This month
its finest ballet
performers will
make their debut
performance in
Dubai, in what will
unquestionably
be a way to show
your partner that
you have loads of
culture.
mceagency.com

APRIL 2016

T H I S WAY I N

CONTENTS
A L L T H E S T U F F T H AT S I N S I D E A N D M O R E

ESQ.
PAGE

78

O CAPTAIN,
MY CAPTAIN
How Chris Evans made Captain America
the perfect superhero for our times

ESQ.
PAGE

114

HYBRID THEORY
As the UAE pushes towards a greener future with its
Vision 2021, Esquire asks whether the people in the
country will ever embrace hybrid and electric cars

22

ESQUIRE

APRIL 2016

DUBAI 205x275 ESQUIRE M3 April16.indd 1

08/03/16 16:55

Tods Boutiques Dubai: Burjuman Centre - Mall Of The Emirates - The Dubai Mall - Galeries Lafayette, Level Shoe District Abu Dhabi: Marina Mall - The Galleria Al Maryah Island

T H I S WAY I N

ESQ.
PAGE

118

YES, MADAM
PRESIDENT?
On the (oh-so-long) campaign
trail with the Democratic tickets
front-runner, Hilary Clinton

p90

24

p146

LEARN TO FLY

WARP SPEED

British novelist Will Self tackles his fear of

flying by getting into the pilot seat

How you might one day get from Dubai to

Abu Dhabi in 15-minutes flat

ESQUIRE

APRIL 2016

Our quest for perfection.

Senator Cosmopolite

Senator Cosmopolite. An ideal companion for all world travelers: the Senator Cosmopolite brings all of the 37 world time zones to the wrist. Taking Daylight
Savings and Standard Time into account, this mechanical masterpiece displays the time of day in two separate time zones at once. The world time zones
are represented by official IATA airport codes. This complex function is easy to use since every second counts, especially for time-travelers.

Glashtte Original Boutique The Dubai Mall Financial Centre Street 00971 04 3 39 87 62 glashuttedm@rivoligroup.com
Glashtte Original Boutique The Burjuman Centre The Burjuman-Centre Dubai 00971 04 3 86 74 06 Glashutte.burjuman@rivoligroup.com

T H I S WAY I N

ESQ.
PAGE

73

RAFA SUITS UP
How tennis legend Rafael Nadal has been upping his style game, thanks to
his partnership with Tommy Hilfiger on a new capsule collection for the brand

p96

FULL METAL
JACKET
Inside the world
of Pakistans vintage
car collectors

26

ESQUIRE

APRIL 2016

p110

PRINCESS RILEY
Elvis Presleys eldest
grand-daughter is
a woman that we love,
and so should you

 2016 TUMI, INC.

NICO ROSBERG
Global Citizen

TUMI.COM

Abu Dhabi Mall +971 2 6738574 The Galleria +971 2 4124115

The Dubai Mall +971 4 3398536 Mirdif City Center +971 4 2363408
Also Available At Galeries Lafayette - Dubai Mall

T H I S WAY I N

MAHB
ESQ.
PAGE

126

p39

Q& A
Retired WWE star Daniel Bryan
speaks ahead of his UAE trip
p49

TEC H
Cameras, speakers and coffee
machines to upgrade your life

NINETEEN THOUSAND MILES OF STYLE

Around the world in eleven days, on a tour highlighting the men and clothes
that make up the interwoven capitals of mens style

p54

FOO D
Four new restaurants you need
to visit before its too late
p 56

ON THE COVER

MUSIC
The best new album releases,
featuring The Last Shadow
Puppets and Iggy Pop

p144

Chris Evans
Photographed exclusively for
Esquire Middle East by Kurt
Iswarienko. Mr Evans is wearing
Polo Ralph Lauren available from
City Walk Mall Dubai

28

ESQUIRE

APRIL 2016

CALIFORNIA SCREAMING

p60

Where else would you go to test out the new

Mercedes-AMG SL 63, other than the sunkissed
roads outside San Diego?

The most affable man in

motorsports, Mark Webber

CARS

Dubai, Four Seasons Resort, Jumeirah Beach Road

www.100capri.com

Tel: 04 3855800

T H I S WAY I N

MIDDLE EAST

ITP LIFESTYLE PUBLISHING

PO Box 500024, Dubai, UAE.
Tel: +971 4 444 3000 Fax: +971 4 444 3030

ITP PUBLISHING GROUP

ADVERTISING

CEO Walid Akawi

MANAGING DIRECTOR Neil Davies

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PHOTOGRAPHY

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ESQUIRE CONTRIBUTOR

KURT ISWARIENKO
LA-based photographer Kurt Iswarienko shot this
months cover star, Chris Evans. Hes one of those
actors with whom we are all familiar through the
lens of big action films, but who also keeps a
refreshingly low profile in his private life, he told us
after the shoot. I was curious to spend some time
just hanging out and trying to capture a personal
impression of him. I found him to be a warm,
grounded, and engaging man who happens to be
about as handsome and easy on the lens as they
come. Check out the results on page 78.

H E A RST M AGA Z I N E S
I N T E R N AT I O N A L

PRESIDENT/CEO Duncan Edwards

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, CFO AND
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Singapore:
Spain: Andrs Rodriguez
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APRIL 2016

FIND US ON FACEBOOK ESQUIRE MIDDLE EAST

T H I S WAY I N

A LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

120

TRUMP REDUX

YEARS AGO
THIS MONTH

We need to be both tough

on Trump, and tough on the
causes of Trump

FIRST OLYMPIC GAMES

OF MODERN ERA

graphically in the Middle East. The Arab Spring

was a revolt against rulers who were seen as
doing nothing for their people (the depressing
aftermath is, of course, a whole other story.)
In Europe the political order is quaking
in response to economic stagnation, mass
migration and terror attacks. And once again
the establishment seems not to understand the
extent to which people feel threatened, angry
or ignored. Tony Blair recently admitted that
he was baffled by the rise of Britains Labour
leader, Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders in
the US. Now, there was a time when Blair had
an uncanny feel for the electorates mood, but
years of criss-crossing the globe in a first-class
bubble has left him hopelessly out of touch.
To coin a phrase often used these days about
politicians, he just doesnt get it.
Back in America, does Hillary Clinton, the
only person likely to stop Trump, have any
answers? On page 118 we follow her on the
campaign trail to find out.
Not to be presumptuous, but if I was her
advisor Id suggest a twin-track approach.
We need to be relentless in calling out anyone
who panders to racism or exacerbates divisions.
But at the same time we need to acknowledge
these fears and encourage new ideas. To borrow
a classic Blairite slogan, we need to be tough on
Trump and tough on the causes of Trump.
Madam Clinton, Im available on weekends
for a modest stipend should you need me...

April 6 1896 marked the first

Olympic Games of modern
times, after Roman Emperor
Theodosius I outlawed its
practice in 394 due to its
paganist nature.
Held in Athens, the
games were the brainchild
of French historian Pierre
de Coubertin. Initial funding
was poor and his plans
may have been scrapped
had it not been for public
contributions and most
notably from businessman
George Averoff, for whom
a statue still stands outside
the Panathenaic Stadium.
Featuring 150 choir
singers and nine bands, the
inauguration was witnessed
by 80,000 spectators and
King George I. Traditions
such as the Olympic torch,
anthem and oaths sworn by
officials and athletes were
introduced later.
The games were not
perfect. Some athletes
were present by chance;
accommodation wasnt
provided to others. Female
participation was forbidden,
though Stamata Revithi ran
the marathon, only to be
barred from the stadium.
This summers XXXI
Olympiad in Brazil will
see 10,500 participants
from 154 countries, in
stark contrast to the 240
Olympians who attended
the modern rebirth.

JEREMY LAWRENCE

WRITE TO US WITH YOUR THOUGHTS OR OBSERVATIONS ON LIFE IN GENERAL: esquireletters@itp.com

32

ESQUIRE

APRIL 2016

WORDS BY OMAR KARMANI

ast month I predicted that Donald

Trump would falter as the primaries
unfolded, but alas that hasnt happened.
Instead he is galloping away with the
Republican nomination and we now have to
take seriously the idea of POTUS Combover.
Which means having to write about him again,
but this time with a more profound foreboding.
Much has been written about why he is a
disaster for America. His racist statements.
His blatant incitements to violence at campaign
rallies. His preening boasts about being a tough
guy when he is clearly no such thing. Then
there are the more immediate concerns for our
region, such as his catastrophic ignorance of
the rest of the world, careless talk of kicking
ass and pledge to ban Muslims from America.
All this represents a clear and present danger
to the Middle East, but you already knew that.
The question is, how did we get to this place?
For too long, politicians and commentators
didnt bother to ask why his message
resonated with voters. So while we can (and
should) expose Trump for what he is (an
overgrown rich kid with an oversized ego and
over-leveraged businesses), we must try to
understand his appeal. It is too easy to belittle
his supporters when in fact it would be more
helpful to look at why they are crying for help.
And the reason is this: for vast swathes
of Americans, the recovery from recession
happened to somebody else (the well-off ).
Wages are stagnant, jobs are in danger of moving
overseas or being automated, and people feel
insecure. Washington elites, meanwhile, seem
more concerned with infighting and pointscoring than good governance.
Trumps solutions are vague at best, but
touting himself as an outsider who will take on
vested interests is a powerful message. He has
tapped into an anger that other politicians dont
even recognise, stoking these fires for his own
ends, which is a dangerous game to play given
the racial tensions that exist in many cities.
The problem of disenfranchised citizens
goes way beyond America, and we saw it most

MARCH 21, THE GARDEN, RAFFLES HOTEL, DUBAI

(L-R) Bastien
Blanc, Jared
Brown and
Stuart Nielsen

Esquire helped celebrate the centennial

anniversary of the Singapore Sling cocktail
last month, alongside spirit connoisseurs
Sipsmith, the Raffles Hotel and fashion
brand, Hugo Boss.
With the history of the famed cocktail
perpetually linked to the iconic Raffles Hotel
in Singapore, there seemed no more fitting
a place to host the elegant event than the
picturesque rooftop garden of the Raffles
Hotel Dubai.
An exclusive and well-dressed crowd
sampled canaps and spirits, before listening
to a fascinating Q&A session involving Diana
Banks, vice president of the Raffles brand,
and Sipsmiths master distiller Jared Brown.
This was hosted by Esquires executive
editor, Matthew Priest.
The panel regaled guests with anecdotes
of their collaboration and the search to
create a modern day version of the cocktail
that remains true to the original as possible.
In other words, a timeless classic.
For more pictures of the night visit
esquireme.com

Karen Chalouhi
and Ben Safra

David Freeborn MD of Pernod Ricard

Gulf with Sylvain P. Gaillard, GM of
Opera Gallery Dubai

MARCH 21, OPERA GALLERY, DIFC

GLENLIVET
DINNER
Alex Cox and
Claire Liddell

Chris Briers
and Laura Hobus

34

ESQUIRE APRIL 2016

P H OTO S : L E ST E R A P U N TA R , I T P

ESQUIRE
SIPSMITH
EVENING

When a top-quality single malt brand comes

to town, Esquire is more than happy to host
a dinner to help sample it. The brand in
question was Glenlivet, and the venue was
a private room at DIFCs stunning Opera
Gallery. Peter Prentice, heritage and brand
experience director for Chivas Brothers,
entertained guests with stories that included
how the brand was established in 1824 by
George Smith, a canny businessman and
entrepreneur, in a special place in Speyside
that in Gaelic means the valley of the
smooth-flowing one. That translation holds
true to this day, judging by the Founders
Reserve, 12, 18, 21 and a special 17-year-old
that were tasted.
Between courses, music was provided
by violinist Anna Pavlova, who performed
a stunning solo movement from Vivaldis
Four Seasons against a backdrop of fine art.
The overall impression was of an evening of
culture, good food and top quality drinks.
For more pictures visit esquireme.com

MARCH 18, PROVOCATEUR FOUR SEASONS DUBAI

Edy Saaiby

Duncan Muir,
Gianluca Fabbri
and Dan Talbot

Patrick
Adekunle

The private
dining room at
Opera Gallery

Andrew Phillips and

Louise Horsley

P H OTO S : A A S I YA J AGA D E E S H , I T P

MERCEDES-BENZ NIGHT STARS

Joseph Khoury, Peter Prentice,

Charles Dersahakian and
Ghassan Kassab

Mercedes-Benz, in partnership with

Esquire and Hugo Boss, ran the first of its
MB Night Stars evenings at Provocateur in
Dubai. Nightlife lovers had their pictures
taken outside the club by a professional
photographer in the sleek company of a
Mercedes-Benz dream car. The glossy
magazine-quality photographs arrive by email
within 24 hours of the shoot.
The series continues throughout April
with Mercedes-Benz, Esquire, and Hugo Boss
selecting one Night Star of the Week, who will
feature in esquireme.com and the May edition
of Esquire print magazine. An overall winner

will also feature in this years Esquire Best

Dressed list. and exclusive party.
Join the conversation: #MBNightStars
THE VENUES
April 5: Grosvenor House, Dubai
April 14: Pearls & Caviar, Shangri-La Hotel,
Abu Dhabi
April 15: 360, Jumeirah Beach Hotel
April 28, 29, 30: White, Meydan, Dubai

APRIL 2016

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35

MaHB
MAN AT HIS BEST

WO R L D E XC LU S I V E

Q&A

Daniel
Bryan

I G GY P O P S H OT
N E W B A N D p57

MARCH 11, 2016. ON THE

PHONE FROM TAMPA,
FLORIDA.
ESQ: Good morning, Daniel.
Hows retired life treating
you so far?
DB: Good. Im doing well.

Although, randomly my wife

[WWE Diva, Brie Bella] and
I are currently at [WWE
wrestler] John Cenas house,
dog sitting for him while he
continues rehab from his
shoulder surgery! [Laughs]
ESQ: Ha! Are you playing
nurse-maid?
DB: No, I havent had to do

a single thing for him. He

does several hours of rehab,
twice a day. On top of that hes
learning Chinese and teaching
himself to play the piano!
He is incredibly hard working,
but thats probably why he is
able to recover so quickly.
ESQ: It must be the Chinese.
DB: Probably!
ESQ: Like any athlete,
injuries are not uncommon
in wrestling. How do you
react when people say,
You know wrestlings fake,
right??
DB: I normally just say Yeah,

EVEN IN THE PRE-FABRICATED

WORLD OF WWE WRESTLING THERE
ARE FEW BETTER UNDERDOG
TALES THAN THAT OF DANIEL
BRYAN. FOLLOWING HIS SHOCK
RETIREMENT, THE FORMER WORLD
CHAMPION TALKS TO ESQUIRE
I N T E RV I E W BY M AT T H E W P R I E S T

I know! [Laughs] I think

when people say things like
that, they are trying to insult
you, so agreeing with them
puts them on the back foot.
They then start back-pedalling
saying, Wait, it cant all be
fake, right?. I mean, Im not
pretending to get slammed
on my back! Its just a matter
of taste.
The way I see it is that if
wrestling is not your style of
entertainment, then thats
cool by me.

APRIL 2016

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37

MAN AT
HIS BEST

Q&A

ESQ: Do you remember the

first live wrestling event you
ever went to?
DB: Yes, I was nine years old

THE E SQUI R E
DOSSI E R :

Daniel Bryan
REAL NAME:
Bryan Lloyd Danielson
BORN: May 22, 1981
HOMETOWN:
Aberdeen, Washington
HEIGHT: 510
WEIGHT: 86kg
NICKNAME:
American Dragon
FINISHING MOVE:
Running knee, the LeBell Lock
TRAINED BY:
Shawn Michaels, William Regal
BEFORE MAKING HIS
WRESTLING DEBUT ON:
December 1999
HE WOULD GO ON TO WIN:
11 championships, including
5 world titles
AND COMPETING IN THE MAIN
EVENT AT:
WWEs SummerSlam and
WrestleMania 30
HIS BIGGEST FEUDS
WERE WITH:
Kane, John Cena, Triple H,
The Miz and CM Punk
OVER HIS CAREER HE
DEVELOPED THE CATCHPHRASE:
Yes! Yes! Yes!
IT WOULD BECOME SO
POPULAR THAT:
Fans of other US sports would
chant it at their games
HE CAME TO THE RING
WITH THE MUSIC:
Ride of the Valkyries
EXCEPT:
The first time they changed to
his music they played a horrible
classic version of it, and the
wrestlers laughed at him
HE IS A PROUD:
Vegetarian and one-time vegan
AND ONCE CLAIMED TO:
Not even own a television
HIS MAIN TRAVELLING
BUDDY WAS:
Cody Rhodes
AND WOULD MEET AND MARRY:
WWE Diva Brie Bella
HE RETIRED IN:
February 2016
NUMBER OF TIMES HE
LAUGHED DURING ESQUIRES
INTERVIEW: 15

38

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APRIL 2016

and my dad took me and my

sister to see the Ultimate
Warrior against Ravishing
Rick Rude. Warrior was my
favourite, and there was a
moment when he did a Sunset
Flip and happened to pull
Rudes pants down, showing
his butt to the whole arena!
I was there with my sister, and
it was the first male butt that
shed ever seen!
ESQ: Your recent retirement
due to injury came as a
shock. Do you feel that you
have more to give?
DB: I have to look at my career

as it was what it was, but I

do wish there was more of it.
I really didnt want to do the
retirement speech. I wasnt
ready for it. [WWEs live
Monday night TV show] RAW
just happened to be in my
home city of Seattle, and two
days earlier I had heard from
doctors that for the sake of my
health, I probably shouldnt
wrestle again. I didnt want to
retire, but, if I had to, at least
all my friends and family could
be there to see it, so I just
sucked it up and did it.
Ultimately, I think that it
helped me focus on the reality
of my situation, and helped me
move on. I got my concussion
in April 2015 and was solely
focused on returning to the
action, but then all of a sudden
it dawned upon me that I
couldnt do it anymore, and
that I had to move on from the
thing that has been the entire
focus of my adult life.
ESQ: Do you have any
future plans?
DB: Part of me wants to stay

involved in the wrestling

business, because I love it. But
the thing I loved most about
it was the actual wrestling
part. I didnt get into it to be
famous, or to be a TV star, I
got into it because I loved the
performance of wrestling.

I do love the travel and the

interaction with the fans, but if
I cant wrestle any more then
it will be tough. There are so
many amazing things you can
do in this life, so why not try
and do something that you are
really passionate about? I love
environmental and ecological
issues, so maybe that is an
avenue to go down. Thats
what Im trying to figure out
right now.
ESQ: Life in the WWE can
be pretty relentless with a
schedule running all-year
round. What was that like?
DB: It was pretty tough, but

you get into a routine. My last

fulltime year was 2013, where
I had 227 matches! If you
include the travelling days and
overseas trips, we are probably
on the road 250 days a year.
In general you are on the road
from Friday to Tuesday, and
then get home for a about a
day and a half before setting
off again. When you get home,
all you want to do is lay on the
couch and recover. The trouble
is that if you have a wife and
family, those people want to
see you and spend time with
you when youre home.
ESQ: Did the overseas tours
make it harder?
DB: No, they are my favourite.

The fans are amazing, because

they only get to see us once a
year, so they are always really
excited about it. What I love
the most is that, for a guy
without a college education,
I have been able to see most
of the world. Ive seen the
Eiffel Tower with my wife, and
been in the sand dunes of Abu
Dhabi, all the while performing
in front of packed arenas.

I think now, more

than ever, people
are specifically
choosing how
they want to be
entertained

ESQ: The fans seem to have

played a much bigger role
in your career than in most
other peoples. What do you
think it was that endeared
you to them?
DB: I have no idea. People

have said its because I go out

there and be myself, or that
Im an underdog, or that Im
a good technical wrestler, or
because I work hard, but none
of those points are unique
to me. Others have done the
same, and it hasnt worked.
I think timing and luck has a
lot to do with it.
In Malcolm Gladwells
book The Tipping Point
he wrote a chapter about
hockey players, and how most
professional Canadian players
happen to be born within
the months of September to
November. Basically, he goes
on to explain that when they
are in school, being that little
bit older than other kids in
their year is an advantage.
They are bigger and therefore
are put into teams with older
players, which in turn makes
them better players and
gives them access to better
coaching. Sure, talent and
hard work matter, but it also
helps that they were lucky
to be born in those months.
ESQ: So, youre saying that
you were just lucky?
DB: Not entirely. But, for

example, when I first got into

wrestling I had the choice
of going to two wrestling
schools. One was run by
Dean Malenko, my favourite
wrestler, and the other by
[WWE Hall of Famer] Shawn
Michaels. I wanted to go to
Malenkos in Florida, but
his school closed down, so I
ended up going to Michaels
school in Texas. It was there
that I had the opportunity to
get a developmental deal at
the age of 18, and meet the
people who set my career in
the trajectory it went. Who
knows if I would have gotten
here if Id gone to Florida?

not really that active. I was on

a plane with [WWE owner]
Vince [McMahon] and he
asked how many Twitter
followers I had. I had no idea!
ESQ: Lets talk beards. How
much care does yours need?
DB: Very little past shampooing

and conditioning it. Whenever

my beard would look good,
it would mostly be because
of Brie. If I was due on a red
carpet or a photoshoot, then
Brie would make sure that it
was trimmed and looked nice.
If I was left to my own devices,
it would be a wild mess!
ESQ: Considering the current
hype around people like
Donald Trump and Conor
McGregor do you think
people today are more willing
to embrace bad guys?
DB: I think, more than
ESQ: How much creative
input did you have in the
Daniel Bryan character?
DB: Quite a lot. Essentially,

how it works is that the

creative team tells you what
your storyline is, and whether
you are winning or losing
an upcoming match and I
lost a lot of matches! Like an
actor they give you direction
as to what your motivation
is and the rest is down to
how you interpret the story.
Im a terrible actor, I would
suck in films! The only way
I would do well is if I was
playing myself, which is what
I did in my career. I looked
at the situation and thought
How would I deal with this
problem?. Then I cranked it
up to eleven.
In the ring I was normally
entrusted to have complete
control. Only in some
circumstances would the
endings be scripted, like in
WrestleMania 28 when I lost
to Sheamus in 18 seconds.
I didnt get to choose that one!
ESQ: Your biggest
moment came in 2014,
at WrestleMania 30
where you ended a six-

month-long feud with

your dastardly on-screen
boss, Triple H, to win the
WWE World Heavyweight
Championship. What was
it like in the three-month
period building up to it?
DB: It was a really tumultuous

time. During that period, the

plans of who I was supposed
to face at WrestleMania
changed dramatically. The
day after Royal Rumble [in
January], I was supposed
to be facing Sheamus at
Mania, but then CM Punk
left the company, the main
feud between Batista and
Randy Orton wasnt as hot
as expected, and the crowds
were constantly going crazy
for me, chanting Yes! Yes!
Yes! even when I wasnt
around! It made sense to
insert me into the main event.
For someone who has been
a lifelong wrestling fan, it was
my dream. I had the chance
to be in the main event at the
biggest show of the year in
front of 75,000 people. When I
was lying in bed as a kid and I
was dreaming about becoming
a wrestler, I didnt even dream
that big!

ESQ: Is it fair to say that the

Yes! chant became a bit of
a cultural phenomenon?
DB: It was a way for fans to

show support for me. But

it was never meant to be as
successful as it became.
The trouble is, Yes-ing
is exhausting! When you try
to get the crowd to do it too
many times, they stop not
because theyre not into it,
but because they get tired!
After WrestleMania 30, I was
standing there with both
heavyweight title belts (each
weighing 25-pounds), and at
this point I had a bad neck
and I had just wrestled two
20-minute matches! I wanted
to soak up the moment, but the
TV producers around the ring
kept telling me to keep yes-ing!
I did some more, and my arms
and shoulders were spent.
Surely that was enough, right?
Nope! They wanted more
because its a great visual to
have 75,000 people all chanting
in unison to close out the show.
ESQ: Are you a big social
media guy?
DB: No, not really. Apparently,

I have over two million

Twitter followers! But Im

ever, people are obsessed

with entertainment, and
specifically choosing how they
are being entertained. People
who dont even like politics
are taking notice of it because
Trump is entertaining. Its the
same with McGregor; he calls
people out and that rubs some
people the wrong way, but it
sure is entertaining. Thats
what they bring to the mix.
ESQ: If you couldve wrestled
anyone who would it be?

Shawn Michaels, and it would

be at WrestleMania. He was
the guy who originally trained
me, and is known as Mr.
WrestleMania. For me, he is
the best North American inring performer in history.
ESQ: Was there ever the
opportunity?
DB: There was a moment but

Shawn wasnt interested in

wrestling anymore. In fact, he
taught me that having a family
changed his entire outlook on
life post-wrestling. Even though
it was still important to him,
when it came to family, even
wrestling took a backseat.
WWE Live Dune Bash.
April 14 and 15, Dubai Tennis
Stadium, Dubai. For tickets
visit platinumlist.ae

APRIL 2016

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39

MAN AT
HIS BEST

Health

Trace
elements
FIVE EVERYDAY VITAMINS AND
MINERALS YOU PROBABLY LACK
BY DR. GRAHAM SIMPSON

itamin deficiency affects millions

of people around the world, yet
most of them are unaware that
many of their health problems are
caused by this issue. The main
culprit is our Western eating habits. While we
still eat natural foods, the majority of our diet,
including grains, sugars, and processed food, wreaks havoc on
our bodies. The solution is also largely diet based, as outlined
below. For vegetarians, supplements are a healthy addition.
A word of warning, however: in some cases having too much of
a particular vitamin can cause as much of an issue as having too
little. Finally, make sure you test yourself at least once a year to
check your bodys key nutritional levels.
While there are many potential deficiencies to contend with,
lets take a look at five of the most common ones.

IRON
Without iron our bodies are unable to make red blood cells, yet a
staggering 25 percent of people have an iron deficiency. Common
symptoms include a paling of the skin, shortness of breath, dizzy
spells, and fatigue. The worst consequence, however, is anaemia,
which occurs when the red blood cell count decreases to the point
where the blood becomes less effective at carrying oxygen around
the body. To stock up on iron-rich foods, eat everything our Paleo
ancestors ate in abundance red meat, poultry, fish, beans and
leafy vegetables such as spinach.

VITAMIN D
Almost 80 percent of us in the UAE are vitamin D deficient.
Why? One main reasons is, ironically, that we dont take in
enough sun. Around 90 percent of our intake comes from direct
exposure to UV rays, which allows your skin to generate the
nutrient. But in the UAE due to a combination of the heat,
social modesty and indoor working many of us simply dont
catch enough rays. Symptoms of vitamin D deficiency range from
muscle weakness, bone and joint pain and fatigue, to an increased
risk of cardiovascular disease and some cancers. If sensible sun
exposure is not an option then supplements are the answer, as it
is impossible to get the amount of vitamin D you need from food
alone. I would recommend vitamin D3 in a dose of 5,000 IU a day.

MAGNESIUM
This is essential for maintaining good bone and teeth
structure, and it plays a pivotal role in hundreds of
enzyme reactions throughout the body. However,
in the UAE we are particularly prone to magnesium
deficiency because a high sugar, grain and processed
food diet affects the bodys ability to absorb this
basic nutrient. A lack of magnesium causes fatigue,

40

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APRIL 2016

weakness, loss of appetite, headaches, hypertension, heart disease

and diabetes. Supplements are widely available, while foods such
as leafy greens, nuts (especially almonds), seaweed, and pumpkin
seeds are fantastic in terms of their magnesium content.

VITAMIN B12
Vitamin B12 is a strange case in that every single cell in our
bodies requires it to function, but we are unable to produce it
naturally and must get it solely from outside sources. As well as
aiding the production of DNA and forming neurotransmitters
in the brain, vitamin B12 helps us to maintain healthy nerve
and blood cells. Although traditionally prevalent among vegans,
vitamin B12 deficiency is becoming more commonplace among
carnivores. The most common symptoms include numbness in
the extremities, fatigue, inflammation, muscle weakness, memory
loss and can also lead to anaemia (in this case termed pernicious
anaemia). If youre a meat-eater then youre in luck, because just
one portion (around three ounces) of shellfish can contain as
much as 1,400 percent of the recommended daily intake, while
a six-ounce steak provides up to 150 percent. For vegetarians,
vitamin B12 shots are readily available from your physician, while
tablet and capsule supplements can be bought over the counter.

IODINE

Iodine deficiency is one of the most common in the world,

affecting up to 40 percent of people, yet it is the essential mineral
for thyroid function, meaning it has a direct impact on our bodys
ability to regulate energy levels, mood, temperature, metabolism
and a litany of other vital functions. Many countries including
the UAE have responded by adding it to our table salt. However,
this is in itself not healthy, and even if you switch to a healthy type
of salt, such as Himalayan salt, its still not going to be a sufficient
source. In nature, iodine is most commonly found in soil and the
sea. Just one gram of seaweed or kelp contains anywhere
from 460-1,000 percent of our recommended daily intake, while
as little as three ounces of cod can account for
around 60 percent. Iodine supplements are also
readily available. 12.5 mg of iodine per day is a
good dose.
Grains, sugars,

and processed
food wreak havoc
on our bodies and
our vitamin levels

Graham Simpson, MD is chief medical

officer and founder of Intelligent Health, a
preventive medical centre located in Jumeirah
Dubai.Intelligenthealth.ae

Dubai: The Dubai Mall, Level Shoe District, Galeries Lafayette, Mall Of the Emirates, Burjuman Mall, Ibn Battuta Mall, Dubai Festival City,
Mirdif City Centre, Deira City Centre, Atlantis - The Palm The Beach - JBR Sharjah: Sahara Center Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi Mall,
Marina Mall, Bawabat Al Sharq Mall, The Galleria Al Maryah Island Al Ain: Al Ain Mall

watches

calvinklein.com
tilda lindstam
model
john hein
model

Women

NINE THINGS
YO U D O N T K N OW
ABOUT WOMEN

Ellie
Kemper
STAR OF
UNBREAKABLE
KIMMY SCHMIDT ,
PRINCETON ALUMNA,
WOMAN

MAN AT
HIS BEST

5.
In fact, I have been told that I look up to eight
years younger than I am I guess I just look
really young and vibrant, guys!

6.
We know that when
you close your eyes
while we are talking
and you claim that you
are still listening, you
are clearly sleeping.

7.

1.
We arent actually ever cold. We just
feel more delicate when we say that.

We think it is wonderful
when you surprise us
with a surprise we have
already planned for you to
surprise us with.

8.
2.
We dont want to hear that we
look tired. Other words that you
might use instead are pure, virginal,
unpolluted, honest.

3.
When we worry about our biological clocks,
it is not helpful to point out that at least we
look five years younger than we are.

4.

9.
We want you to ask us not
once, not twice, not three
times if we are okay. We want
you to ask us 70 times seven
times if we are okay. And if we
still answer Yeah, Im okay,
ask us again. I assure you, we
are not okay.

P H OTO G R A P H B Y P E T E R YA N G

We dont actually mind

that much when you point
out that we look five years
younger than we are.

Thank you so
much for gifting us
with The Path to Power,
Means of Ascent, and
Master of the Senate
over the years, but we
are not interested in
Lyndon Johnson! It is
you who is interested
in Lyndon Johnson!
Here, take these books
about him.

APRIL 2016

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43

MAN AT
HIS BEST

Technology

Cameras
still matter

NO.

THE DIGITAL MAN RETURNS AND

ADDRESSES THE SMARTPHONE ERA
BY BARRY SONNENFELD

often get calls from chairpeople of

major motion-picture studios when Im
taking a bath. I dont know if this is a
coincidence or because I take a lot of
baths. Regardless, never are the calls jobrelated. Instead, Im grilled on which camera
they should buy their secretary or kid.
I dont mind. The definition of a film director
is someone with opinions about everything. I tell
people where to sit and stand, how fast to talk.
At home, I tell Sweetie (the wife) what fridge
drawer to put the butter in. (Her response:
Barry. Get a job.)
Because Sweetie and I were planning a road
trip from Telluride, Colorado, where we live, to
Marfa, Texas, I figured that at a time when every
phone has a sophisticated camera (I own three),
I should determine if I really need anything else.
Heres the thing: most smartphones are
2
fantastic. They take sharp, colourful photos.
They are always with you. They are phones.
If you view your shots only on a screen, youre
often fine with your iPhone 6s Plus or Galaxy
Note 5. (But why doesnt the iPhone shoot stills
in 16x9? Weird.)
However, sometimes a smartphone isnt good
enough. Dedicated cameras take better photos
3
of moving objects, faces, and the outdoors. And
I loved three on my trip.
If you want to photograph things that move
and are far away, like your kids soccer game or a
once-in-a-lifetime safari, get the [1] Panasonic
Lumix DMC-FZ1000 (Dhs3,000). Its bigger
than a phone but incredibly versatile, with a
sharp Leica lens that can zoom a tonne (from a
wide-angle 25mm to a telephoto 400mm). All
three of these cameras and both aforementioned
smartphones film 4K video, but that modes shutter speed
doesnt prevent each frame from getting blurred when your kid
scores or that cheetah starts running at you. The FZ1000 fixes
this with its 4K photo mode, which allows you to shoot 30 8MP
photos per second at whatever shutter speed you need to clearly
freeze the action. You pick the photo you want and discard the
rest. (Each camera I tested lets you send selected photos to your
smartphone via Wi-Fi, clunkily.)
If you want something that fits in your pocket, carry the [2]
Sony RX100 IV (Dhs3,500). Even though a smartphones
camera may have a great field of view, its lens is only about
5mm a very, very wide-field lens that in close-ups can turn
the facial characteristics of a pug into those of a dachshund.
NO.

NO.

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APRIL 2016

The RX100 IV has the equivalent of a

24-to-70mm zoom lens, which is much
more flattering. It also has both a sharp
pop-up viewfinder and an LCD screen that
flips 180 degrees for selfies with that pug.
If you are serious about photography
(and rich), the [3] Sony a7R II
(Dhs11,800) is the way to go. It is fairly
small for its amazing capabilities: its a
mirrorless camera with a 42MP full-frame
(the same size as the film frame of a 35mm
camera) sensor that allows you to print
enormous images. It can also practically
see in the dark without the green tones
of night vision. Since Im afraid of bears,
ghosts, and, really, all things I cant control,
when I walk my dog in the black Colorado
night, I usually carry a flashlight that could
blind anything that tried to attack me except an extraterrestrial
from a very bright planet. But once, I held the a7R II in front of
me instead and saw into the darkness. Though it might not
be best to use a Dhs11,800 camera as a night-vision scope or
weapon, it kept me feeling safe.
But there is another reason to use a dedicated camera: you
hold it to your eye. This is important. It facilitates framing and
concentration. You avoid the telephone pole in the corner and
straighten the horizon. You compose a photo instead of just take
one. It feels good. During my 1,500-mile trip, I rarely reached for
my smartphones.
Barry Sonnenfeld is an Emmy Awardwinning television director
and the director of Get Shorty and the Men in Black films

time
to pose

www.diesel.com

MAN AT
HIS BEST

Cars

Track ortreat
FORDS NEW GT HAS ONE EYE ON ITS LE MANS-WINNINGPAST, THE OTHER ON A HIGH-TECH FUTURE
BY WILL HERSEY

ts not every day you come across a Ford that costs

over a million dirhams. But when you see this
all-new GT in the metal, its quite tempting to sign
over any assets you own to get your hands on one.
A close relative of the legendary Ford GT40,
which dominated Le Mans in the late Sixties, its been
developed by Fords performance arm handily named
Ford Performance and production starts next year to
coincide with 50 years since the original car bagged a
sensational first, second and third in the 1966 race.
No surprise then that this rear-wheeled, mid-engined
V6 is a racer at heart. Lightweight, stripped out and with
more carbon-fibre than a boat show, it will mingle with

MAIN PHOTOGRAPH BY CHRIS LEAH

46

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APRIL 2016

the Ferrari 488, Lamborghini Aventador and McLaren

650S in the supercar stable.
It will also act as a kind of four-wheeled mobile
showroom for lots of cutting-edge tech that may one day
filter down to the rest of Fords less expensive models.
More than anything, this is a car that makes you smile.
From the 20in, multi-spoke alloys and upward-opening
doors, to the F1-inspired stalkless steering column.
There wont be many that get their hands on a set of
keys, though. With only 1,000 or so due to be
made and just a fraction of them heading here, the GT
will be a rare sight. But a very welcome one.
me.ford.com

FORD GT
Engine:
3.5-litre EcoBoost V6
Power:
600+bhp
Transmission:
seven-speed dual clutch
Price:
Dhs1.3m (est)
Due:
Late 2016

APRIL 2016

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47

A New Generation Of Steakhouse

Wednesday Prime Meets Jazz

Friday 1920s Brunch

Saturday Tea Party on 68th

la carte menu

From AED 450 per person

From AED 185 per person

JW Marriott Marquis Dubai | Sheikh Zayed Road, Business Bay | T +971 4 414 3000 | jwmarriottmarquisdubailife.com

Technology

MAN AT
HIS BEST

Power ballad
THE COMPACT SPEAKER WITH A BIG SOUND

P H OTO G R A P H Y B Y E F R A I M E V I D O R I C O N C E P T B Y K AT E H A Z E L L

WO R D S BY K AT E H A Z E L L

he problem with small, portable speakers is, well, the sound. If its small and
convenient, then chances are its not going to sound great. The latest SoundTouch
10 wireless speaker from Bose is smaller than the existing SoundTouch 20 and 30
speakers, yet inside is a Unidome transducer, which, according to Boses acoustic
engineer Eric Freeman, is tilted in a way that produces incredible quality sound.
The result? Vocal clarity, less-distorted bass and a big, room-filling sound. The third-generation
speaker has also been upgraded with Bluetooth. Pair the speaker with your mobile or tablet, and
it allows you to stream one song from, say, your iPad over the Bluetooth in one room and then
continue the music in another room by broadcasting it to another SoundTouch speaker via Wi-Fi
and the Bose app. So whether youre streaming internet radio, your stored music library, or general
audio throughout your home, it can now all be in sync. Bose SoundTouch 10, Dhs999

APRIL 2016

ESQUIRE

49

MAN AT
HIS BEST

Health

The smartphone
workout
LET YOUR APPS TAKE THE STRAIN
BY TOM MACKLIN

ncorporating wellbeing and fitness into your daily routine

can be tough if time is at a premium. Research, expert
guidance, planning, shopping, tracking it can become
a full-time job. However, there is a way to alleviate this
additional stress: apps. Your smartphone can deliver
workout routines, source local classes, personal trainers,
nutritionists, therapists, and offer a wealth of advice, making
you smarter, more focused and better motivated. Use these
apps in the right way and youll boost your overall physical and
mental health. Here are some of the best.

BEST FOR SLEEP

TWILIGHT
This app promotes a good
nights sleep by removing the
brain-stimulating blue light
from your Android phone in
the evenings, helping you
beat insomnia.
BEST FOR FOCUS

WATER YOUR BODY

For focus and mental agility,
hydration is essential. This app
will monitor your daily water
intake to ensure you perform
to the best of your abilities.
BEST FOR THE BRAIN

BRAIN HQ
Proven to increase memory,
speed and attention, this app
is packed with two-minute
puzzles, quizzes and training
programmes that will train the
most important part of your
body: the brain.

HEADSPACE
Meditation benefits include
increased focus and
reduced stress. This is a gym
membership for the mind.
BEST FOR NUTRITION

BEST FOR
M E D I C AT I O N A N D
SUPPLEMENTS

DRUGS.COM
Pharmaceutical
encyclopaedia, which
helps identify drugs,
check dosages, log your
own medical records
and avoid negative
interactions.

BEST FOR
M O T I VAT I O N

HAPICOACH

BEST FOR TRACKING

PERFORMANCE

BEST FOR SPORTS

ANDCLASSES

HEALTH MATE

OPENPLAY

A daily activity tracker and

heart-rate monitor that will
help you keep tabs on your
progress and improve fitness
inthelong term.

If you prefer outdoor sports to

the gym, this app will put you
in touch with sports teams in
your community.

MINDBODY CONNECT
STRAVA
A tried and tested sports
monitor specifically for runners
and cyclists.

An app to help you navigate

and book the best gymnasium
classes and services in a host
of different countries.

Recalibrate your diet with

advice, food information and
a personal nutritionist.

PACT
Debits your account every
time you miss a gym session,
sports class or run.

KAFOODLE
Where to eat and what to
order if you suffer from
allergies, food intolerances, or
are on a lean-and-clean diet.

PUMP UP
Social media app where
gym selfies are okay and
members share their
progress.

WHOLE FOODS MARKET

With over 3,700 recipes,
cooking tips and shopping
lists, this is your ideal healthfocused culinary companion.

SPRING
A music app specifically for
training; build your playlists
based on BPM.

BEST FOR TRAINING

TECHNIQUE

BODY SPACE

FITMO
Fixes you up with a personal
trainer, training plan and
advice via the app.

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APRIL 2016

HEARST STUDIOS

Learn new exercises and

converse with potential new
gym buddies.

FRIDAY BRUNCH LIKE NO OTHER

A La Carte Brunch
AED 195

AED 295

AED 495

(Soft Beverages)

(Hops & Grapes)

(Bubbly)

Accompanied by live music and good vibes

DIFC, Gate Village 7

For reservations, call 04 355 9524 or email reservations@intersectbylexus.ae

Complimentary Valet Parking.

MAN AT
HIS BEST

Technology

BUY GOOD BEANS

headline in here
Cup
winner
swh
jskd
hd

NO.

JAMES BAILEY OF WORKSHOP

COFFEE GIVES
HIS EXPERT
ASDASDDADA
SDASLDKJKLDJKASDJLASCS
TIPS TO MAKING THEPERFECT
LSJKSJDKSJDKDJKASJDK
DJ KAJD AKJDKJ DKAJ DKJ
AT HOME
B Y L IESPRESSO
NE

You wont make a good cup

ofespresso without first having
goodcoffee, no matter what your
set-up is. Buy the very best beans
you can, and grind before each dose
of espresso. Youwant to buyfrom
a roaster that advertises theroast
dates on its bags and, ideally, the
harvest date, to make sure the coffee
is from a fresh harvest. Espresso
doesnt all tastethe same, but is
just one way of brewing coffee, so
beadventurous and explore different
styles and origins.

EQUIPMENT

NO.

The common mistake is

tospendmost of your budget
onamachine and underestimate
theimportance of a good
grinder.Baristas use MythosOneClima-Pros, Anfims, Robur
Mazzer-Es, Mahlkoenig EK43s
and the like, but there is a range
ofgreat home espresso grinders
with smaller footprints, such asthe
Rancilio Rocky Doser (pictured). You
wantminimal grind retention andthe
ability to make micro-adjustments.
The espresso machine you buy
should deliverconstant pressure and
temperature and, ideally, both should
be adjustable. If it does thesame
thing each time, youre onto a winner.

K N OW YO U R WAT E R
NO.

If its too hard, the water in your

espresso machine can damage
itby leaving scale. Also, the mineral
content of bottled water canimpart
an off-flavour, and youwont do
justice to the great coffee youre
now buying. A dream set-up would
include a home RO (reverse osmosis)
unit speak tothe helpful people
at Bespoke Water Systems
allowing you tohave clean water
at a hardness which works for your
espresso. Alternatively, a quick fix
while youwait is to find a soft spring/
mineral water such as Ashbeck
orWaitrose Essentials.

TECHNIQUE

NO.

NO.

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The key to a quality espresso is

mixing taste, texture and aroma
aconcentrated shotthat can onlybe
achieved bybalancing resistance
and flow. Ifusing a flat tamper and
VST filter baskets, you want the dose
and grind to impede the flow enough
tocreate a lush, emulsified texture,
but not so much that it makes
theshot grainy andtoo viscous. Even
distribution and careful technique
allows for auniform flowthrough the
bed. Experiment with water levels
to finda recipe and strength
thatworks for you.

1. The Baron coffee beans,

Dhs335/2kg, by Climpson & Sons
2. Rocky Doser grinder, Dhs1,305,
by Rancilio
3. White Linea Mini espresso
machine, Dhs17,965, by
La Marzocco
4. Espresso cup and saucer, Dhs98,
from SCP
5. Grounds tamper,
Dhs135, by Motta

MAN AT
HIS BEST

Food

FO U R TO T RY

SHIMMERS

@BLEND

It used to be Mina
ASalams hidden little
gem, but the formerly
semi-shabby beach
shack has been given
a stylish facelift that
is likely to catapult it
to becoming one of
Madinat Jumeirahs
most popular spots.
Not only has Shimmers
transformed into an
elegant beach-side
restaurant, but its new
Greek-inspired menu
make it even more
enticing.

Health-conscious
cafs are currently big
business in the UAE,
and any new addition
to the market will face
some stern credibility
tests from an army of
self-appointed, organic
quinoa-fed foodies. The
Palm Jumeirah-based
@blend is the newest
member to those ranks
and its healthy menu of
breakfast bites, unique
smoothies, juices,
salads and wraps seems
to make the grade.

The new Enigma

BJRN FRANTZEN TAKES THE HELM AT PALAZZO VERSACE
When the Palazzo Versace hotel announced that its signature restaurant,
Enigma, would have a rotating chef concept where a Michelin-starred
chef would run the kitchen for a three-month period we were intrigued
to say the least. First unto the breach was chef Quique Dacosta, the suave
Spaniard who made an emphatic impression with his mind-bogglingly
creative molecular gastronomy dishes. But as of April 20 there will be
a new sheriff in town, the rather talented Bjrn Frantzn. Not only will
Frantzn be bringing the experience from his eponymous two-Michelinstarred restaurant in Stockholm, but it will be the first time that topquality Nordic cuisine has been available in the UAE. Get booking. Now.

MAZAHER

AYA M N A

Bright colours, stylish

tiles, olive trees and
homely dishes the
guys behind the World
Trade Centres new
Lebanese restaurant,
Mazaher, couldnt
offer a more authentic
experience if they flew
their clients over to
Beirut themselves.

Although Atlantis The

Palm is not short of
places to eat, it has
opened a new homely
Lebanese restaurant,
Ayamna. Translating
to Good old days, the
spot looks to reflect the
warm, inclusive societal
vibe of Lebanese culture
with a mixture of music,
shisha and, yes, even
some belly dancing.

palazzoversace.ae

A not-so-dum idea
While were not entirely sure
what a Donutterie is, we
assume it doesnt take the
Pillsbury Doughboy to work
it out. The news that British
brand Dum Dum Donutterie
has launched its first branch
in the UAE will be a, ahem,
treat to dessertarians.
Specialising in baked not
fried doughnuts and
with half the fat of its more
globalised competitors,
the idea seems anything
but dumb.

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APRIL 2016

EL GROCER
THE UBER OF FOOD

The sheer pace of life in Dubai is enough to give people perpetual

motion sickness, which is why finding time to do menial tasks like
grocery shopping is increasingly difficult. Luckily, people have caught
on to that, and by people we mean locally based start-up El Grocer.
Online grocery shopping and delivery may exists extensively in
other global cities but its currently lacking in Dubai. Thankfully, the
El Grocer app allows you to handpick your groceries (and brands!),
based on your location. Your tracked order is then delivered to you
within an hour, costing the same price as in stores. Handy, that.

elgrocer.com

MAN AT
HIS BEST

Music

SY N T H - P O P
BY N U M B E R S
M83, AKA ANTHONY
GONZALEZ, HITS
THE ELECTRONICA
BUTTON

Like Giorgio Moroder

before him, Anthony
Gonzalez has ridden
a wave of synth-pop
success from Europe to
LA to make music for Tom
Cruise films (Moroder
fashioned Take My
Breath Away for Top Gun;
Gonzalez soundtracked
the post-apocalyptic
action of Oblivion),
and increasingly lush
electro-pop. For Junk, the
seventh album under the
M83 name and the fifth
thats essentially a solo
work, the 35-year-old
Frenchman has gone full
Giorgio with big-name
collaborators, such as
Beck and guitar virtuoso
Steve Vai. Befitting a
man who took his nom
de plume from a celestial
body 15m light years
away, theres a sci-fi spine
to his new record, but
not so cold and knobtwiddling that listening to
it is a sterile experience.
Gonzalez is equally at
home with the downtempo Moon Crystal
could back the scene in a
VHS erotic drama where
a shoot with a top fashion
photographer goes all
raunchy as he is with
bangers like Do It, Try It.
The latter track is as
good as anything by his
confrres Daft Punk or
Justice, and if blasted out
from a Vette, top down
and jacket sleeves rolled
up, all the better.
Junk is out on April 8.

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Head, heart
and soul brothers
EIGHT YEARS OLDER, KANE AND TURNER REPRISE THEIR DOUBLE ACT

n their second album as The

Last Shadow Puppets, Miles
Kane and Arctic Monkeys
frontman Alex Turner are
back with more of the same,
only different. In 2008, the pairs rst album,
The Age of the Understatement, found the two
then-22-year-old Northerners paying tribute
to Sixties orchestral pop. Now, with the aptly
named Everything Youve Come to Expect,
the 30-year-old adopted Los Angelenos are
still nodding at John Barry and Scott Walker,
but there are also echoes of Beck, The Style
Council and even yacht rock.
The latter style seems to have spilled over
into the duos wardrobes, too a new look

of pastel tracksuits and loafers stretches their

usually impeccable style to breaking point. The
11 new songs are mostly about the mind-bending
effect of women on a mans head, heart and soul;
those three elements are also plainly evident
in Kane and Turners collaboration. Draw pop
musics Venn diagram of smart lyrics and stirring
tunes and The Last Shadow Puppets easy
listening with hard truths about love are in the
slim overlap.
They have said that this album is the second
in a trilogy, the nal part of which is written and
ready for the recording studio. Be nice not to wait
another eight years to see them get the job done.
Everything Youve Come to Expect is out on
April 1.

Notorious OAP
ON HIS NEW ALBUM, THE EVERGREEN IGGY POP RAGES AGAINST THE DYING OF THE LIGHT

EDDIE AND
THE IDOLS
GARY BARLOW
R E A N I M AT E S
E I G H T I E S STA R S
FOR HIS
N O STA LG I C
SOUNDTRACK

hen Iggy Pop drawls

beg-innn, on his new song
Break into your Heart,
he sounds exactly like
Johnny Cash. But Pop isnt
ready for his American Recordings phase just
yet. Post Pop Depression, the album on which
that track appears along with eight others, is
full of lament, but also the venom with which
a rock legend, who will be 69 this month,
really should be spilling.
Iggy co-wrote the album with Queens
of the Stone Ages Josh Homme, who also
produced and played bass. They started
work on it early last year, so German Days,

reecting on Iggys time with David Bowie

in Berlin and Munich, is no post-mortem.
Homme has said nishing the album helped
him after his sometime bandmates Eagles Of
Death Metal survived the terror attack at their
Paris show last November. But they havent
made a misery record. Theres a melancholic
minute of instrumental baroque-pop at the end
of Sunday, and Iggys spoken word moments
are reective. But on Vulture, about the bird
with evil breath that smells just like death,
he belts out a war cry as rousing as that rst
time he demanded to be your dog, 47 years ago.
Post Pop Depression (Caroline International)
is out now.

W H AT E S Q U I R E I S R E A D I N G. . .

The jacket copy of Innocents and Others By Dana Spiotta

tells you almost nothing, because theres no shorthand to
explain a book like this packed with descriptions of
lms, long phone calls, confessional essays authored by the
characters. In the hands of a lesser living novelist (read:
most), the result would be a convoluted mess. But Dana
Spiotta more than pulls it off. Her three female protagonists
are equally fascinating, her phone conversations crackle,
and the lms she invents would win at Sundance if
anybody bothered to produce them. She plays with time
like the best lm editors, cutting effortlessly between scenes,
splicing moments in revealing ways. Our quick appraisal:
a sexy, painfully insightful, and strangely redemptive novel
about the ways we misread one another and ourselves with an ending
that comes at you like a truck around a blind curve and stays with you for
much, much longer. STAN PARISH

The Eddie the Eagle

film soundtrack could
have been any of those
Eighties compilation
CDs you find only at
service stations and no
one would have batted
an eyelid. So fair play
to Gary Barlow, who
has curated an all-new
collection of songs for
the film, from many of
the artists youd see
listed on the back of Old
School Retro: Take On
Me, Take Me On!
Here are Kim Wilde,
Heaven 17, Marc Almond
and more doing what
they ever did. Its not
pastiche, Barlow says,
and hes almost right.
These tracks arent
paying homage to the
synth-and-rubber-drum
sounds of the New Wave
and the pop that came
in its wake this is
the music those artists
used to make and which
Barlow heard on his
Walkman as a boy.
Its fun to play name
that singer Wilde
hasnt changed a bit,
while Holly Johnsons
contribution is a quasiBond theme over the
films credits and is well
worth waiting for.
Fly: Songs Inspired by
the Film Eddie the Eagle
(Universal) is out now;
Eddie The Eagle is in
cinemas from April 1.

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57

MAN AT
HIS BEST

Cars

MW: We won the most races

last year and deserved the

Championship. Now we have
to do the same thing again.
The race in Le Mans is a big
target this year. Its a hard
one, but were ready.
ESQ: What are the
technical differences
of endurance racing
compared to your previous
racing experiences?
MW: One of the main ones is

that in endurance racing you

drive in all conditions. The
track temperatures vary so
much that we can experience
10 degrees and 35 degrees
on the same day. That might
not sound like much, but in
terms of motor racing, it is
a very challenging thing to
get right.
Another difference is
driving at night, because you
get traffic. In Formula One
you are rarely in traffic.
At night the speeds are very
high and visibility is poor,
so you have to react fast.
ESQ: Whats the biggest
change to the sport youve
seen in your career?
MW: Ive been racing since

Life after F1
SINCE LEAVING FORMULA ONE FOR ENDURANCE
RACING, MARK WEBBER HASNT LOOKED BACK.
HE TALKS TO ESQUIRE ABOUT THE SWITCH
I N T E RV I E W BY M AT T H E W P R I E S T

ESQUIRE: After winning

the World Endurance
Championship last year
with Porsche, what is this
seasons motivation?
MARK WEBBER: Motivation

is never really an issue for

me. When you see the team
working as hard as they do,
you push to work to the same
level. Its not uncommon for
me to drive 200 laps over a
testing weekend. In fact, I lost
three kilos in the last two days!
ESQ: Whats this years
target for the team?

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APRIL 2016

1997, and over 20 years a

lot has changed, especially
in F1. Yes, drivers still
need to push the car to the
limit, but its a little less
involved for the driver now.
I know some young drivers
coming through that dont
know how to heel and toe
[simultaneously operating the
brake and accelerator pedals
with the same foot in manualtransmission cars] because
they dont need to! Thats just
how these things work.
ESQ: Has racing in
Formula One helped you in
endurance racing?
MW: In F1 you have so many

regulations, and every two

years they change! So part of
the drivers skillset is to be
able to adapt.
Speed is important in F1,
but as a professional you have
to be able to deal with the

We won the most

races last year
and deserved the
Championship.
Now we have to
do it again
resources. There are so many
gifted young drivers who
do not know how to work
with the resources theyve
got. Thats what propels the
great drivers to another level.
When you talk to people who
have worked with Senna or
with Schumacher, they tell
you how good they are at
getting the team together to
work the right way for them
it is a phenomenal skill.
ESQ: What is it like having
to share driving duties with
a driving team?
MW: Making sure my

teammates are happy is a big

priority. When you set the
car up, you have to be openminded about the changes
that are being made and what
your teammates will think.

When youre on your own

you dont have to worry about
that. At the end of last year
we managed to get the three
of us very close together, and
I think it showed in the races.
You have to make it so that
the car doesnt know who
is driving.
ESQ: Would you ever return
to Formula One?
MW: I had a sensational

experience at that level.

Being able to race weekin and week-out against
those guys was a dream,
but nothing is forever and
you have to start looking to
whats next.
At 40 years-old, I felt
that F1 was no longer for
me. Im very happy with
my move to Porsche. If you
asked Fernando Alonso or
Sebastian Vettel, Im sure
they are happy where they
are now, but, for me, the
WEC is absolutely the best
thing for now. Its a very
different situation and when
you become a part of this
global brand you realise just
how big and great it is.
The World Endurance
Championship series begins
April 17, in Silverstone, UK.

H OT W H E E L S
THE LATEST SHOW-STEALERS ROARING ONTO THE MARKET

Maserati Levante

Aston Martin DB11

Bugatti Chiron

Mercedes C-Class Coupe

The Levante is Maseratis first

foray into the SUV market.
Wait. What? Maserati is making
SUVs? Yes, yes it is. The luxury
Italian car manufacturer is
confident that the global SUV
market will continue to grow
and, with the Levante offering
0-100kph in six seconds with
a top speed of 250kph, were
happy to indulge them.

It is almost impossible
to mention Aston Martin
without uttering the phrase
its what James Bond
drives, and the new DB11 is
the absolute embodiment of
what an Aston Martin should
be. The ultra-slick design
is accompanied under the
hood by a twin 5.2-litre V12
engine and a top speed of
320kph.

As the last Bugatti Veyron

rolled off the conveyor belt,
a little part of us died. And
while we have not since been
able to plug that hole, the new
release from the street-ready
supercar manufacturer may
just be the antidote. Only 500
are scheduled to be built,
at an estimated cool Dhs9
million apiece.

Show us a Mercedes that we

say we dont like and youll be
within your rights to assert
that our pants are ablaze.
Our love for the German
manufacturer is testament
to its ability to consistently
produce super-stylish vehicles
with a rather special brand of
engineering. That we are again
taken in by the new C-Class
Coupe is no surprise at all.

APRIL 2016

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59

INSPIRATIONAL.
AFFORDABLE.
EXTRAORDINARY.

6 9 APRIL 2016

DUBAI WORLD TRADE CENTRE

COME FALL IN
LOVE WITH ART
YOU CAN AFFORD
PRESENTING
A UNIQUE FUSION OF
ART, ENTERTAINMENT
AND EDUCATION
3,000+ affordable, contemporary
artworks for everyone from $100
- $10,000
140+ of the worlds top artists and
galleries from 30+ countries

ADMISSION

Expanded programme of art activities

including:
International Emerging Artist Award
Conversations - Art Talks
Creative Learning Workshops
Art For Every Wall AED 3,000
and under
VIP Preview

AED15 on the door

Children aged 16 years or under - Free

FAIR OPENING HOURS

VIP Preview (Invite Only)
Wednesday 6 April
12pm - 2pm
Public
6 - 9 April 2016
2pm - 9pm

& much more!

Register online at www.worldartdubai.com

ORGANISED BY

SUPPORTED BY

Join the Conversation: #worldartdubai

PART OF DUBAI
ART SEASON

IN SUPPORT OF

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LEARNING
PARTNER

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GALLERY PARTNER

CONNECT

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3/22/16 6:01 PM

Christian Louboutin
is at Mall of the
Emirates,
+971 4 399 0998

N E W S E AS O N , N E W S H O E
W O R D S B Y K AT E H A Z E L L

C O N T E M P O R A RY C L A S S I C S F R O M C H R I S T I A N L O U B O U T I N

While we know and appreciate Christian Louboutin for his statement footwear and outlandish styles, the more refined gent
might not quite be on board. Which is why, if youre more of a suited-and-booted kind of guy, youll be pleased to know that
the French shoe designers Spring/Summer 2016 collection introduces four new timeless styles to the Homme line. Cousin
Charles, Cousin Dand, Cousin Greg and Cousin Tass are all new shoes for summer, and are contemporary classics for the
modern man. Using a neutral colour range of hand-patinated brown, black, havane, navy, and a rich pavot red, the collection of
oxfords, derbys, and loafers are all handcrafted in pristine calf leather and updated for 2016. So while youll look fresh for the
new season, these will certainly last you for years to come.

APRIL 2016

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61

STYLE

C O M P I L E D B Y K AT E H A Z E L L

FRED
P E R RY
X RAF
SIMONS

C H I N A T OW N
Guccis Tian capsule collection, available
from this month, features Alessandro
Micheles interpretation of a print inspired
by Chinese 18th-century tapestries and silk
screens. It features every essential piece
of summer footwear youll need slides,
backless loafers, skate shoes and a sneaker
all featuring the Oriental-inspired print.
Made up of flowers, insects and animals,
its just on the right side of chintz. From
Dhs1,100, Gucci is at Mall of the Emirates.

62

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Fred Perry presents its thirteenth

collaboration with Raf Simons this
season, showcasing a collection
of contemporary casualwear
inspired by subcultures. Simons
puts a modernist spin on classic
Fred Perry pieces, as the Belgium
designer is inspired by art and
bold graphics for SS16. Featuring
striped pique and zip-front chevron
shirts, powdery colours on tees
and sweaters, as well as a focus on
monochrome pieces, Simons has
adopted a wider silhouette on tees
and polos making it the perfect
weekend wear to stand out from
the crowd this summer.
Fred Perry is at The Dubai Mall

FAS H I O N D I R ECTO RS P I C K

HUBLOT & BERLUTI

C O O L RU N N I N G S
What would you say if we were to
claim that there are jeans that could
actually make you cooler (physically
as well as style-wise)? American
Eagle Outfitters has come up with a
new fabric that is crafted to keep you
cool when its hot as well as warm
when its cold. The performance
CoolMax fabric has been added to
their Flex Denim, available in stores
from next month, which means not
only can you finally comfortably
move in jeans that maintain their
shape, theyll work to disperse heat
in your limbs too. Almost sounds too
good to be true, doesnt it?

When it comes to accessories, making sure

your watch and shoes are in sync is about
as important as the suit itself. Hublot and
Berluti have teamed up to create a watch that
combines contemporary style with Swiss
precision, making it the perfect timepiece
for style-conscious men. The Classic Fusion
model is adorned with Berlutis Venezia
leather straps. This partnership with Hublots
innovation in watchmaking makes it our top
investment piece for the month.
Price on request

P R E PA R E T O L A N D
Karl Lagerfeld was inspired by air
travel this season as he collated his
SS16 collection. While the Chanel
designer held his runway show in a
stage set up as an airport in Paris
Grand Palais, it was the rolling
luggage that caught our eye.
Carry-on suitcases were pulled
down the runway in nautical colours
that would make for the perfect
accompaniment for a weekend
getaway with your other half.
chanel.com

B E D, B AT H A N D B E YO N D
Dior has extended its Sauvage cologne collection
to a new bath and body line, which means the new
contemporary scent can linger even longer. Created by
Dior nose Francois Demachy, the grooming collection
now features an after-shave balm and lotion, shower gel
and both stick and spray deodorants available from this
month. Seeing as the heat of the summer always makes
it hard to wear cologne without sweating it off, we like
that there are now other options to incorporate the fresh
and woody scent into our summer style. From Dhs130

From Dhs310

T R AV E L I N ST Y L E
Louis Vuitton has added two new destinations to
its Travel Book Collection, featuring illustrations
from artists around the world. Graphic novel author
Brecht Evens offers a fresh look at the city of Paris,
while painter Liu Xiadong provides expressive art
work from his own personal experiences of travelling
around South Africa. Not only are they both jampacked with unusual and stylish information on both
destinations, as is the case for most of Louis Vuittons
projects, these books are as handsome as they are
fruitful. Out next month in Louis Vuitton stores.

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STYLE

MEN IN MOTION
I T S T I M E TO S TO P WO R K I N G O U T I N TAT T E R E D
T E E S A N D OV E R L A R G E S W E AT PA N T S . ( S A M E G O E S
F O R S I T T I N G O N T H E S O FA )

Youve probably heard

and laughed at the word
athleisure. Its funny! It
brings to mind an image of
the self-proclaimed most
fashionable people in the
world giving a standing
ovation to a model walking
a runway in sweatpants
or the face of Tom Brady
posing a little too hard, a
little too close to the word
Ugg. But at the same time,
clothes designed to both
look good and dry fast
make going to the gym,
running to the supermarket
after, or just lying on the
recliner feel better. Like this
watch on that mans wrist:
the TAG Heuer Connected.
Its the first smartwatch
blessed with fitness apps
and the design of a classic
watchmaker perfectly
rooted in both form and
function, just like a good set
of push-ups.

Nylon ripstop jacket

(Dhs369) by Patagonia;
polyester-and-elastane
T-shirt (Dhs149) by
Columbia Sportswear;
titanium Connected watch
(Dhs5,509) by TAG Heuer;
urethane dumbbell
(Dhs150) by Hampton.

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Bags: 1. Tumi (Dhs1,377)

B
2. Jack Spade (Dhs1,025)
3. Fjllrven (Dhs550)
4. L. L.Bean (Dhs185)
5. Patagonia (Dhs480)
6. Original Penguin
(Dhs405) 7. Herschel
(Dhs240)

TD

RS

AR

THE
BUYING
GUIDE

GYM
BAGS
Arranged by looks and the
kind of abuse they can take

LD

IN

BO

RS

SH

SURE, look at the colo

colour. But what you really
want to know about a bag is where it can go and
what it can do for you while you make your way
there. If you plan to run up a back trail someplace,
consider the nylon iteration, which has dozens of
pockets and the ability to turn into a backpack. If
you need something to sneak out of the office with
for an hour in the afternoon, opt for the one whose
leather handles and black monochrome give it the
look of a sleek weekender. And if you have to climb
a mountain to attend a top-secret business lunch,
go with the one that is both of those things at once.
Above, weve laid out the capabilities of each.

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65

STYLE

THE RUNNER
(OF ERRANDS)
DECONSTRUCTION

How to look like you workout while

definitely not working out

THE

When a man wears

athletic-inspired
clothing almamater sweats,
mesh shorts with
more room than
any leg could ever
need most of
the time he comes
off as, well, the
opposite. Here, we
offer another way
to be sportswearcomfortable while
doing things
that are
not exactly
strenuous.

Two-button linen
jacket (Dhs5,329)
by Lardini; cotton vest
(Dhs1,269) by Vince;
cotton-and-cashmere
shirt (Dhs470) by Kit &
Ace; cotton-and-linen
trousers (Dhs659) by
AG; suede sneakers
(Dhs240) by Vans;
ceramic Speedmaster
Moonwatch chronograph
(Dhs44,077) by Omega.

THIS BLAZER LIFTS

Imagine all this but
without the sport coat.
Sure, everything still has
a close fit and interplays
well (as it all should), but
its like a five-a-side team
without that one guy who
played a bit in college
before the injury. The
blazer elevates the rest
without going too far
beyond them its an
upgrade of a windbreaker.
Also, it doesnt constrict.
Why? Because its made
of a flexible knit that
makes it feel almost like
a polo shirt, meaning
its a sport coat that can
actually withstand a little
sport when necessary.
PUT MO WEIGHT ON
As in a three-piece suit,
a vest adds a layer of
both depth and warmth
without bulking up your
shoulders and sleeves (so
that you can move freely).
Between this and that
thin washable-cashmere
crewneck shirt, you are
relieved of that overcoat
youve wanted to shed for
a month now.
TOP: CLASS
Near the waist, these
pants are designed like
classic chinos with slit
pockets. From there
on down, they become
slimmer, ending in the
gathered ankle of running
pants. Together the two
cuts achieve an almosttailored look that matches
the blazer above, point
for point.
THE NOT-ACOLLECTORS
SNEAKER
You know what a great
sneaker does? It doesnt
just look good on a
shelf. No, it lets you walk
wherever and through
whatever, and in comfort.

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THE
LAB

MOST OF US wear any

M
old cotton tee when
o
we workout. Its simple.
w
Its there. It offers little
It
cause for scepticism.
c
But since we do live in
B
an unprecedented age
a
of fabrics that claim to
o
do more, we relented
d
and tested out cottons
a
competition (mostly by
c
rrunning five or six thishurts-pace kilometres
h
in 30- or 40-degree
weather, followed by
w
ssome push-ups). Below,
we offer our findings:
1. I C E B R E A K E R A E RO

Stats: 90% merino wool,

10% nylon,
0% cotton
Highlights: Thin, but
it kept us cool. Most
shocking: it didnt hold
any odour, even after a
pre-deodorant morning
run. This nearly made
us comfortable with its
claim that you can wear
it several days in
a row without washing.
Dhs240; icebreaker.com

IS THIS

BETTER THAN A
COTTON TEE?

2. R H O N E S E N T RY

Stats: 81% polyester,

10% spandex, 9% XT2,
0% cotton
Highlights: It has
vents beneath the
underarm (fashioned
from a material that
continuously wards
off bacteria over time),
but on the body it feels
like exceptionally soft
cotton, constricting
just the right amount.
Frankly, its delightful to
wear, even though it gets
sweaty. Its like running
while being hugged by

a cloud, which is nice.

Dhs250; rhone.com
3. U N I Q LO A I R I S M

Stats: 94.2% polyester,

5.8% Lycra, 0% cotton
Highlights: Made of
mesh so thin, its as if
its not there. Very, very
breathable. Helps keep
the temperature down.
Dhs50; uniqlo.com
4. REEBOK ACTIVCHILL

Stats: 88% polyester,

12% nylon, 0% cotton
Highlights: Almost silky,
even though its totally
synthetic. (You couldnt
wear it with a pair of
jeans.) But afterwards,
we were so dry that we
almost felt guilty for not
trying harder, even after
going a kilometre farther
than usual and being out
of breath.
Dhs146; reebok.com
5. U N D E R A R M O U R
C O O LSW I TC H

Stats: 92% polyester, 8%

elastane, 0% cotton
Highlights: Boats Nasalevel cooling technology,
but were they thinking
of this region when
they made those bold
promises of keeping
us from overheating?
What we noticed most
was that it offers an
extraordinary range
of motion without any
resistance. When we
made a final drive at
the end, it felt like we
were running shirtless,
only without any of
the sideways glances.
Dhs146; ua.com

NEW RELIABLES
T H E B E S T O F F E R I N G S F R O M Y O U N G C O M PA N I E S . A L L M A D E , A S I T H A P P E N S , F R O M M O S T LY C OT T O N

B O M BAS CA L F
CKS
SO C

A M E RI CAN
N
GIANT
E SSE N T IAL
L
SH ORTS
Made of thin terry,
ry,
these land right
above the knee and
ach
their pockets reach
at
deep enough that
t
your phone wont
our
fall out during your
morning jog.

Dhs166; americanangiant.com

They sstay up, hug your

instep and arch, and
provid
provide just the right
amoun
amount of cushioning
for you
your heels and toes,
withou
without adding much bulk
at all.

FLINT A ND T IND ER KS-1

S P O RT B OX E R B R I E F S

Dhs165 for four pairs;

bomba
bombas.com

Just enough elastic to prevent scrunching

of any kind.

Dhs110; flintandtinderusa.com

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67

S TSYTLYE L E

2
3

1. FOR YOUR ARMPITS

One swipe per. Maybe two. Lab Series
anti-perspirant deodorant (Dhs62;
at Areej) is heavier-duty-than-normal
clear stuff, with no scent not from the
deodorant, not from you.

2. FOR YOUR EVERYWHERE

4. FOR YOUR PAINS

With its multiple vitamins, menthol,

zinc, and caffeine, Kiehls Body Fuel
wash (Dhs75; at Harvey Nichols Dubai)
is built to reanimate you even after you
work yourself into a puddle of sweat.
That includes your hair.

Use Jack Blacks Dragon Ice balm (Dhs85; getjackblack.

com) before or after. The menthol (yes, more menthol)
cools, the aloe relieves, and the rest helps ward off
inflammation. Less pain, maybe even more gain.

5. FOR YOUR SAKE

3. FOR YOUR WET HAIR

Most fragrances are liquid, encased in bottles that

can leak in your bag or shatter on a tile floor. They
also spray often crop-dusting that county-champion
power-lifters sacred space. But Le Labos solid
fragrances (Dhs315; at Paris Gallery), available in 15
scents, do neither. Theyre made of wax and come
packaged in a refillable metal canister. Try Th Noir 29,
which smells like black-tea leaves, cedar and fig
nothing like a gym.

You just showered or, better, didnt,

since that surprise endorphin rush
inspired an extra set of sit-ups and now
youve gotta sprint out the door. Run
Dove Men+Cares styling paste (Dhs22
at Waitrose, The Dubai Mall) through
your hair. It gives just enough control
without adding any more crunch.

MAINTENANCE

LO C K E R E S S E N T I A L S
THE LOCKER ROOM is a place of unspoken rules. And those rules are far easier to manage if you apply two
guiding principles to all you do there: use everything efficiently and with respect for all the men whose bare feet
are within feet of yours and who might not like how that thing smells (even if theyre wrong). You can maximise
these principles by using products that naturally support them: that dispense without spraying and wafting
around the place, that minimise the duration of your shower, that come in packaging that wont slip out of slick
hands. Each item above hits all those marks and also, you know, helps you workout.

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WORDS: RODNEY CUTLER

O R G Y M-B AG E S S E N T I A L S , I F T H AT S M O R E Y O U R S P E E D

UAE | THE DUBAI MALL, DUBAI MARINA MALL, DUBAI FESTIVAL CITY MALL, CITY WALK, YAS MALL
KSA | ASSILA TOWERS

STYLE

THE EDIT

Short-sleeved leisure shirt

Dhs555

Coolmax polo
Dhs405

TO A T E E
THE DUNHILL LINKS COLLECTION BRINGS A
S A R T O R I A L E D G E B AC K T O T H E G O L F C O U R S E

egardless of whether
you are a Saturday
slasher or playing
off scratch, theres
something about
strutting your way up the
18th fairway that makes you
feel every bit the part.
Unfortunately, feeling
and looking the part are
two very different things.
But the good news is that
while improving your
golf game takes constant
practice and serious
dedication, looking the part
has become a whole lot
easier thanks to Dunhill.
With the release of the
Dunhill Links collection,
the esteemed British
brands goal to make the
worlds most luxurious and
also technically-advanced
golfwear has been realised.

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By creating a clothing
line that merges the
timeless stylish aesthetic
of golfs golden age with
modern, technologysavvy materials, the Links
collection can be worn
either on-course or in
the clubhouse, without
hindering performance
or style. dunhill.com

Links blazer
Dhs1,775

LEADING
T H E PAC K
H OW D U N H I L L C EO,
FA B R I Z I O C A R D I N A L I ,
IS SHAKING THINGS
UP FOR THE UK BRAND

What was the goal when

you took over the brand
in 2013?
I wanted to make Dunhill
the number one mens
luxury brand in the world. It
may sound ambitious, but I
think that its something we
should be striving towards.
For too long Dunhill was a
sleeping giant, and I want to
push the product so that it is
the very best in the market.
How have you gone about
achieving that target?
One thing we have done
is to make the brand more
accessible. We are creating
very well-made pieces
that appeal to ambitious
gentlemen who can range
from having just graduated
university, to someone doing
an MBA, or even a bit older.
The pricing is still in-line with
the premium quality of the
products, but it is value for
money because when you
buy a Dunhill blazer it is not
for just one season but for
years to come.
As an Italian, how
important is maintaining
the Britishness of Dunhill?
Vital. It is our heritage
and something that I am
determined to protect.
Most of our celebrated
leather goods pieces are
made in our factory in
London, and while some of
our suits are still made in
Italy, we will soon be cutting
all our premium suits inhouse in London.

STYLE

R A FA
SU I T S U P
NADALS
FAVOURITES

R A FA E L NA DA L S TA I L O R E D
CAPSULE COLLECTION WITH
TOMMY HILFIGER

How did this partnership come about?

I met Tommy in Monte Carlo around
2006 or 2007, and we had a great feeling,
so we kept in touch. Last year I had the
opportunity to be an ambassador for the
company, and it has been an amazing move.
I am really honoured and it feels great to
have a big brand behind me, supporting me,
and helping me choose the right clothes for
every event.
How is your association different from
the other brands you work with?
Every brand has its own story and every
situation is completely different. The
world of fashion is something I didnt
know a lot about. But I had the chance to
do photoshoots and events with Tommy
Hilfiger around the world and I am
having a lot of fun. I have a great personal
relationship with Tommys team, which
makes everything much easier.
Is there more pressure for athletes to be
more fashion conscious than before?
I dont know. I just enjoying wearing
Tommy Hilfiger clothes. The brand has the
perfect outfit for all events and they are
clothes that you feel comfortable with.
Back to tennis, how was last season?
2015 was a bad year. I finished as number
five in the world, so thats not good. But since then Ive been
playing much better and I feel motivated.
What is the key to coming back from injuries?
Well, I am happy with the way I am working. Injuries have
been part of my career before, but not last year and not this
year, so I feel healthy, I feel the will to keep going. Injuries

THFLEX RAFAEL NADAL EDITION

Sartorial tailoring meets performance fabrics

INTERVIEW BY OMAR KARMANI

Suit, Dhs2,699

Shirt, Dhs499
Tie, Dhs299

Holiday destination
I am from Mallorca
so the sea, the ocean
and probably a boat
Watch
Richard Mille
Restaurant
Tatel, Madrid
Last movie
La Gran Apuesta
(The Big Short)

stop your confidence and rhythm which is tough. But, to get

back to your question, I have always been to come back in a
very good way and have always given myself the possibility to
work as much as I can.
Any favourite memories from playing in Dubai?
I havent been in a tournament there since 2007 or 2008
maybe. So its a long time ago,
but 2006 is a great memory for me,
I won the tournament [defeating
Roger Federer in the final] after
my big injury [a stress fracture in
his left ankle].
How often do you visit Dubai?
I dont often visit for fun because
we have a tough schedule and I
dont get many holidays. The last
time I was in the region was when
I played in Abu Dhabi in January.
What motivates you at this
stage of your career?
I have a great passion for playing
tennis and every day I wake up in
the morning and I work.

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STYLE

THE
BIG TEN
W E TA L K T O L U C A S
O S S E N D R IJ V E R , H E A D O F
M E N SW E A R AT L A N V I N H O M M E ,
A S H E C E L E B R AT E S H I S T E N T H
A N N I V E R S A RY W I T H T H E LUX U RY
FRENCH BRAND
I N T E RV I E W BY K AT E H A Z E L L

ESQ: Happy anniversary! How has the

menswear business changed over the
past ten years?
LUCAS OSSENDRIJVER: People dont
change, men dont change; our lifestyle
does. What Ive seen is that there is
much more interest in fashion than there
used to be. Mens fashion has become
a growing business. Men are more and
more open to fashion. The way we live
now means that all the information
about fashion is immediately available
worldwide, no matter where you are.
Fashion has become democratic and
everybody has an opinion about it. It is
less elitist than it used to be. The speed
has changed! In mens we also started
doing pre-collections, so instead of
two shows its four collections now.
This constant demand for newness put
a lot more pressure on us designers.
Men started to buy clothes more like
women do; less about needs, and more
because they want certain things, more
impulsive, more outspoken. You have to
deal with those things. It also creates new
opportunities for us. You have to adapt.
Thats what I love about fashion. The
constant questioning of things.
ESQ: How have you adapted to accommodate those very
profound changes?
LO: The media has really taken over! Without wanting to sound
nostalgic, I remember the time when you had to search for
information because it simply wasnt immediately available to
everybody. Nowadays that mystery has gone. But thats just the
way it is and you just have to deal with it. I personally dont
have an Instagram account, for example, because I dont feel the
necessity to communicate all the time. It doesnt interest me.
My work is important and thats the way I communicate; my
private life is mine. In a way it makes you think more about your

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own position and way of living. What is important and what is

not. But its purely personal.
ESQ: What has been your main highlight at Lanvin over the
past decade?
LO: Step by step weve been able to build a business that still
grows. Its difficult to last in fashion because the attention span
is very short nowadays. One day youre in, next day youre out!
So maybe thats what Im most proud of.
ESQ: What do you think is in store for menswear this year?
LO: I think its a very particular moment in fashion with lots
of changes all around us. Menswear has changed a lot the last

The emphasis
on Lanvins SS16
collection, left
and below, is on
intricate design
detailing on
pieces that are
light and easy
to wear.

Menswear
has changed
a lot the
last decade.
I hope it becomes
more about design
and less about
entertainment

decade, the speed of it. I hope fashion will become more

about design and less about entertainment! That there will
be more space for newness, other possibilities, invention.
ESQ: What should we be investing in this season?
LO: I always believe in buying less, but buying better!
Investment pieces, pieces that last. For a man there is
nothing better than a tailored jacket or coat. I love the light
summer coats we did for summer [pictured left]. They are
fully canvassed with a soft shoulder, patched front and
are hand-stitched in a light wool mohair. I also love the
embroidered bowling shirt [below right]. I look forward to
wearing that this summer.
ESQ: Whats the most
important lesson youve
learned over the years?
LO: Work hard, stay humble.
Today I still feel lucky to be able
to work in fashion and do what
I do. Fashion to me is still a free
place based on creativity, with
wonderful people. I love the
people I work with, that to me is
also very important. Fashion is
a group effort, its not a solitary
occupation. When I think of my
years at Lanvin, I think of all the
people Ive worked with, the
journey its been, and the chance
Ive had to meet all these people.
ESQ: Has your work as a designer changed as youve
grown older?
LO: Actually, my way of working hasnt changed at all.
I think theres a very specific way we work at Lanvin.
A lot of research and effort is put into the clothes, every
seam and stitch is thought through. Then there is the
way we work with colours, often muted or in-between
tones, and the textures we develop in fabrics and knits to
give depth to the collection. Nothing is taken for granted,
everything is considered. All that work you see and feel
as a customer when you view the clothes up close. That
intimacy is very important to me. It is also how I judge
clothes. How are they made? What makes them stand out?
I love craftsmanship, it never bores me, even after all these
years. Im still very passionate about that. Sometimes I
feel more like a tailor or an architect than a stylist. I love
making clothes. The whole process behind it. Thats also
why I love the bespoke department, where everything is
done to the highest standards, all by hand. Incredible!
ESQ: How would you define your SS16 collection?
LO: To me SS16 was all about craft and ease. How to make
things look and feel easy and light, while the way the pieces
were made was often very intricate and special. A lot of
work went into the construction and details but I didnt
really want it to show. Clothes to me should feel light and
easy, they shouldnt overpower the person thats wearing
them. Its all about intimacy and whispering.
Lanvin is at The Dubai Mall, +971 4 330 8008

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AYE, AYE CAPN!

Ever since The Americas Cup started in 1851, skippers have competed fiercely to win the
Auld Mug*. After the latest round in Oman, Esquire met the sports two biggest names
Sir Ben Ainslie and Jimmy Spithill to talk about rivalry, victory and, well, each other
BY M AT T H E W P R I E S T A N D A N D R E W W I N G R OV E

SIR BEN AINSLIE

Skipper, Land Rover BAR team

With medals from five consecutive Olympics, he is the most

successful sailor in Olympic history. A former member of the
winning Oracle team, he now has his sights on the winning the
Americas Cup as captain of the Land Rover BAR team
When I get into a boat, all I think about is winning. Its like
I change into a different person.
I got into racing through my parents, despite growing up
nowhere near the seaside. My parents were keen sailors and we
used to go to the coast on holidays. When I was 10 we moved to
Cornwall in the UK, and I was able to get a lot more access to
the water.
I was 15 before I realised the potential that I had. I was a
reasonably talented youngster, but I was a bit shy. I used to
get bullied at school, and sailing was my salvation. Not until
I starting winning international competitions did people around
me realise that it was not just
a hobby.
Sailing is an incredibly diverse
sport. You have to be fit and strong, but
you also have to have an understanding of
the weather, the wind and the seas. You
have to be very strategic as well to be able
to put that all together while sailing the
boat as fast as you can. Its like playing
chess on the water.
My proudest moment was at the
London Olympics in 2012. To get a fourth gold medal on home
waters was very special.
It will be hard to top that one.
The Olympics is fantastic because its the culmination of
a four-year goal. That kind of dedication teaches you a lot about
commitment and even more about sacrifice. The opportunity to
represent your country at the games is something unique and
very special.
In Olympic sailing you are effectively running a small
business for four years down the track. I was 19 when I went to
my first Olympics, and I had to grow up rather quickly. I had to
learn about campaigning, fund raising and the professionalism
that comes with it.
I dont like losing. I normally need time to cool down, so Ill
go for a run or head to the gym to let off steam.
Im the same weight now as I was when I was 19. In sailing,
weight is very important, especially in individual events where
I did most of my Olympic racing. Now, however, as the helmsman
of an Americas Cup team its the other guys who do the hard,
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Theres
plenty of
rivalry
between me
and Jimmy,
but it pushes
us both to
do better

physical work. For me,

its like being a jockey, the
lighter I can be the heavier
the rest of the guys can be.
Pressure is
inevitable, especially if
you are trying to achieve
something really special.
But I think most of the
pressure comes from within. I have a desire to be successful,
so I just accept that there will be pressure and deal with it.
The secret to success is dealing with high pressure
situations well as a team. Its inevitable that youll have good and
bad days, but its about how you handle it as a group.
I want to take on the best. Theres a healthy rivalry between
me and Jimmy [Spithill] that pushes you both to do better. Plus,
if you can go out there and beat your rivals then it is that much
more rewarding. Thats what sport is all about.
There are a lot of egos involved in sailing, like most sports,
but it remains one of those where once you get back to shore you
can share a drink with a competitor.
Everyone wants to beat the defending champions. In the
Americas Cup they are given a pass into the final. The rest of us
have to compete to see who faces them. To win the cup you have
to get through so many rounds of racing, even before you race the
defenders. Thats what makes it so hard, but so worth it.
I would like to be remembered as a good family man, and a
great sailor.

JIMMY SPITHILL
Skipper, Oracle Team USA

The intense Australian is the youngest

winning skipper in Americas Cup history.
As captain of Oracle Team USA, he is
vying for his third consecutive title
Skippering a boat is a bit like a game of rugby: you often
have get involved in doing things that arent your job, regardless
of your position.
Having a mix of nationalities on board the boat helps.
If you are all from the same culture, then you have similar ideas
on to how to tackle a problem, even though it might not be the
best way. By having Italians, Australians, Americans working
together, you end up with different, and often better, solutions.
Crews tend to be loyal to a fault. Whereas it is very
common in other team sports to make changes in personnel,
it is a place where sailing lags a little bit behind. Little tweaks
can improve the dynamic of the rest of the team so if someone
doesnt work out, they can be replaced.
Pitbull was the nickname that the Italians gave me
in 2007 when I was skippering the Prada team. We had a
slower boat going into the semi-final, and the only way for us
to compete was to take a lot of risks and be very aggressive,
especially at the start line. The Italian fans are really passionate
about sailing, its like a religion to them.
Everyone wants to beat the defending champion. No
question about it. The defender has a target. I get it, I was a
challenger once.

The old Americas Cup format was boring. If you could

get to the first mark in the lead, then 85 percent of the time
nothing would change. Its now different with the introduction
of hydrofoiling yachts, because there are so many mistakes you
can make, and you are punished for every little one. It makes for
much more exciting racing. People want to see manoeuvres.
I am obsessed with winning, as is Ben Ainslie, and thats a
great thing. We used to be teammates and I know him well.
I think that makes it even more competitive wed do anything
to beat each other.
You have to be a fit guy to race today. If you look at the past
Americas Cups youve got people who look like theyre straight
out of an armchair! Today its different. Its an attitude, a state of
mind, its a requirement to be a great athlete.
I have a lot of respect for the Special Forces. I love the
mentality that they put their teammates before themselves.
I think team sports are harder than individual ones. Its the
same in business, the bigger the group, the harder it is to keep on
track. In the Americas Cup, the teams are anywhere from 50 to
100 people, so when its all working like clockwork its addictive.
Ive won the last two Americas Cups, but I want to win
three in a row.
When
Although, if
Mother
I won a third,
Nature
I would probably
decides to
want a fourth.
take over, you
I took
really have
flying lessons
no control
before the 2010
over it
Americas Cup to
help me further
understand
aerodynamics. At
first it was purely
educational, but
now Im hooked.
Ive done some
aerobatics stuff
and Im working
towards my
helicopter licence.
The hardest part of my work is the time spent away from
my family. I see my teammates way more than I see my family.
Its a huge time commitment, but at the end of the day, its my
decision. Im not forced to do it. I just want to be successful.
A couple of people died during the Sydney to Hobart race
in 1998. I was racing and there were terrible storms where some
boats were lost. When Mother Nature decides to take over, you
really have no control over it.
We once lost Olympic sprinter Michael Johnson
overboard. In the last campaign he was a guest on one of our
boats during a practice race, and he lost his balance during one
of the manoeuvres! Luckily we have support boats following us,
because there was no way we were going back to pick him up.

AMERICAS CUP SCHEDULE

World Series races 2016
Oman Feb 27
Portsmouth Jul 21
New York May 6
Toulon Sept 10
Chicago Jun 10

*Affectionately known
as the Auld Mug,
at 168 years-old, the
Americas Cup is the
oldest sporting trophy
in the world.

35th Americas Cup Bermuda July 2017

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we can be
How Chris Evans
made Captain America
the perfect antidote to
these troubled times*

STYLING AND WORDS BY KATE HAZELL

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY KURT ISWARIENKO

Mr Evans wears denim shirt,

Dhs730, and distressed denim
jeans, Dhs555, both Polo Ralph
Lauren, boots, stylists own.

lieve in

*WARNING: The following

conversation may or may not contain
strong opinions about Donald Trump
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CHRIS EVANS is sick with some kind of fever. His body

aches and he cant stop sweating. So while he has arrived at
our shoot location ten minutes ahead of schedule, hes not in
the best mood for a camera to be pointed in his face.
Having enjoyed watching more than my fair share of
YouTube clips of the Captain America star on press junkets,
thanks to his down-to-earth demeanour and warm sense of
humour (the ones where hes interviewed with fellow Avenger
Chris Hemsworth are particularly enjoyable), Id figured that
wed get on really well today. Wed have a bit of a laugh during
the shoot, then possibly become friends afterwards. But right
now he just wants two Advil rather than a new bud, and is more
concerned with feeling okay for an important meeting with Sony
in about four hours time.
Weve met in an impressive mid-20th century home in the
West Hollywood hills, Los Angeles, on a sunny morning in early
March. Its not Evans house, although its the kind of place Id
imagine film stars pad around in wearing cashmere socks.
A warm spring sun shines through tall windows, which open
out onto the patio and a big, blue, kidney-shaped pool thats
lined with mature trees. Beyond the perimeter of the garden the
ground drops away to reveal a scrub-filled canyon. Its exactly
what youd picture if you shut your eyes and visualise old-school
California, which is why weve hired it for the day for our cover
shoot. Best of all, the Hollywood Sign stands on the hill right
above us. Its the nearest Ive ever been to the iconic typography,
despite multiple trips to LA over the years; a fact I share out loud
to no one in particular. Me too, replies Evans, which surprises
me. Surely a man of Evans level of stardom has been up close
with the ultimate symbol of the Hollywood dream before?
For a couple of hours, the tasteful 1950s-inspired decor, with
iconic pieces of furniture and paintings dotted about the place,
serves as Evans retreat. Curtains are drawn to minimise the
sun heating up the home (and prevent any more sweating), and
everyone talks in hushed tones as if too much chatter might
further damage the health of our fragile star.
Its a far cry from Captain America, the Marvel comic book
hero that Evans has so successfully brought to life on screen.
The 35-year-old actor signed up to play Cap in 2011, with the
first of the trilogy, Captain America: The First Avenger. While
comic nerds were at first sceptical of the studio casting a
boyish-looking Evans, record-breaking takings at the midnight

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screenings on release day confirmed the actor as a worthy

choice. Evans was widely seen as having brought heart and soul
to the beloved character, and in 2014 the second movie, Captain
America: The Winter Soldier, cemented Cap as a beacon of
nobility and self-sacrifice in a sea of selfish, damaged, and often
petty so-called heroes.
Something about this wholesome portrayal of the character
obviously resonated with the public. Lets not forget that Iron
Man might be a genius, but hes also a chauvinistic, greedy
arms dealer. Spider-Man is a smarty-pants teenager who got
his powers by accident. Thor is a pompous prince, Superman
has a tendency to be conflicted and Batman is just a loon.
Steve Rogers, who becomes Captain America, is basically a
nice, honourable guy who wants to beat the Nazis, hence he
is chosen to become a Super Soldier. Hes hard not to like, and
Evans ensures that this remains the case on screen. Its a kind
of alchemy that not everyone masters, and being in a superhero
movie doesnt automatically make you a star. Remember
Catwoman? The Green Lantern? Steel? Nope, us neither.
Not many actors have such a sophisticated sense of the
camera as Chris does, Joe Russo, one half of the Russo brothers
who directed the last two Captain America movies, tells me via
email. Hes a very technically gifted actor, and he uses those
skills to bring a nuance and subtlety to the role of Captain
America. For us, its so important in big spectacle movies to also
be doing sensitive, smart character work. Chris nails that blend.
The first weekend of May rounds off the initial three
movies, with the release of Captain America: Civil War, which
is why hes in the Hollywood Hills doing publicity shoots when
hed presumably rather be in bed sleeping-off his fever. Its
funny because in the beginning I was so nervous, he recalls
of taking on the franchise. Were reclined on a leather sofa for
the interview after the shoot and hes chattier now, feeling a
lot more like himself. Or maybe its just the Advil kicking in.
I was nervous about the responsibility and about the way the
character would be received, but its been so great. Im just so
lucky that I decided to jump on board and its kind of scary
thinking about it coming to an end.

Mr Evans wears linen

sports jacket, Dhs2,780
and cotton t-shirt, Dhs610,
both Polo Ralph Lauren.

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Opposite page: Mr Evans wears

cashmere crew neck sweater,
Dhs1,285 and Varik slim jeans,
Dhs362, both Polo Ralph Lauren.
This page: jumper, as before.

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Evans still has two more Avengers movies to make over the
next two years, where the stories of Marvels Iron Man, Hulk,
Thor, Black Widow and Cap intertwine, and he seems more
than happy to continue his involvement in the Marvel universe.
If they want to make more, Im game, he says. And its likely
they will do just that. In less than 20 years, Marvel has come
from the brink of bankruptcy as a predominantly magazine
business to being a multi-billion-dollar, multimedia enterprise.
People may have stopped buying comic books and collectors
cards, but cinema has resurrected their
characters with the result that superhero
movies now dominate the box office.
So what is it about superheroes that
we cant get enough of at the moment?
I think studios are eager to make them
because they have built an audience with
familiar titles, which is why studios do so
many remakes, Evans offers. But more
than that, technology has finally caught
up with the imagination. A lot of these
people who grew up with comic books,
and hold them very dear to their hearts,
had really fantastic fantasies in their
childhood. And finally we can actually
bring some of those fantasies to life in
a really effective manner. So this is like
a perfect storm, in terms of time and
opportunity, and the studios have done
a good job of putting powerful people at
the helm of these movies. The directors,
the special effects artists, the music
everyone is so brilliant behind the scenes
and they make some great films.
The best affirmation for this technical
prowess is the fact that Captain America:
The Winter Soldier was nominated for
an Oscar last year, for Best Visual Affects
an important industry affirmation
that these movies arent just gratuitous
Kapows, Biffs and Whams.

TODAYS QUIET MOOD and

physical ailments notwithstanding, Evans is much like Cap in
some ways. Hes tall (61), handsome in an unintimidating way,
with clear blue eyes, and is muscular yet lean. Arriving in trusty
blue Levis, a navy sweater and unassuming brown boots, hes
well-mannered, letting people walk in through doors before
him as we navigate through our Hollywood home. And while
photoshoots are probably his least favourite part of the job, hes
hardworking and switches on the charm as soon as the camera
shutter starts snapping. The overwhelming sense is that hes one
of the good guys.

This can probably be explained by a grounded and happy

childhood in Boston, Massachusetts, where he grew up and still
keeps a place despite being based in LA. He says he frequently
goes back to visit his family his mother, an artistic director for
a theatre company; his dad, a dentist; two older sisters, Carly,
an English and drama teacher, and Shanna, an NYU graduate.
His younger brother Scott, has followed a similar path, with
parts in ABCs soap opera One Life to Live and Law & Order.
I had a really good childhood, he says of those early

I have my opinions.
Maybe later on in life
I might try and actually
get up on a soap box
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O N E D AY G O I N T O P O L I T I C S

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Mr Evans wears slim fit denim

jacket, Dhs3,125, and knit sweater,
Dhs4,555, both Tom Ford; 501CT
jeans, Dhs590, Levis.

years. Or maybe Ive built it up in my head to be better than

it was, but either way Im very nostalgic. And I really lament
the time in life when I had to become self-aware. The period
before that when you did things just because it was fun, not for
anything, and you were just present all the time, its a beautiful
thing. So for me, being home is just bliss.
While a young Evans dreamed of becoming an animator for
Disney, like most actors he discovered his talent while honing
his craft in school plays. But instead of getting plucked out of
a sea of teenagers by a talent agent, Evans made a game plan.
Hed move to New York and get himself an agent. He offered
his services and coffee-making skills for free at a casting agency
over the summer when he was 17, and then asked a few of the
friendlier agents if theyd let him audition for them. By the end
of that three-month period, hed signed to an agent, moved
back to Boston to finish high school, and in the January moved
his life to New York to start his career. It wasnt long before he
booked a pilot and, in 2000, hit the smallscreen playing the role
of Cary Baston on the TV series Opposite Sex.
It just seemed like a very logical thing to do, he explains of
his entrance into the business. A lot of people ask me how to do
it. The truth is it comes down to whether or not you can afford
to live for three months in New York without being paid. If you
can afford an internship at a casting office, youll get an agent
you will. Just be nice on the phone and someone will give you
a shot. Make some connections, make some friends.
From that initial TV role, Evans built up his IMDb profile
with films including Not Another Teen Movie, Fantastic Four,
The Nanny Diaries, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Snowpiercer.
But its Captain America that cemented his status as a big movie
star and got him tickets to the Oscars.
I ask how his parents feel about what hes achieved so far,
and he laughs. My mums nuts. Shes a lunatic. Every single
thing that I could possibly be in or on, she saves. I kind of poke
fun at her, but its a really sweet thing. And my dads proud too
but hes not to the degree of, you know, collectibles.
Evans also clearly loves what he does and is proud of his
achievements. But he has a more complicated relationship
with the celebrity-obsessed side of the business. Fame can be
challenging, he sighs. Its gotten better because you learn.
He says that when he first got the role of Captain America
he was scared of the unknown and told himself stories
about how bad it might be trying to deal with being famous.
You always make it the worst possible scenario, he admits.
A Britney Spears-shaved-head scenario? I offer as an
illustration of celebrity meltdown.
Right, he laughs, nodding in agreement. I had a few
friends who were far more famous than I was at the time and
you see how they have to tailor their lives. For someone who
never gave it much thought, it felt like a real compromise. You
go to the worst case scenario where you think, I would never
be able to do this, and Ill never be able to do that. It really is
like the sky is falling. He says he now takes it one day at a time.
Some days its going to be hard to go certain places at certain
times, and thats tricky.

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That doesnt mean he isnt grateful for the good fortune that
has come his way. He is quick to clarify that being famous isnt
the worst job in the world. For every con, theres a lot more
pros. And it really is how you choose to view it. If you want it,
you can certainly fan those flames. But if you dont like it, theres
plenty of restaurants you dont go to. So its manageable.
And manage it he does you wont find any tabloid scandals
on the private actor and hes one of just two Marvel stars (the
other being Scarlett Johansson), who dont have a personal
social media account. So while we know he dated Jessica Biel
for five years from 2001 to 2006, and has been romantically
linked to Minka Kelly several times since 2007, it was his sister
Carly he brought along as his date to this years Oscars.

THANKS TO HIS STATUS in the public eye as a scandalfree role model, its interesting to note that Evans uncle, Mike
Capuano, is an American politician who serves as the US
Representative for Massachusettss 7th congressional district.
Is that something Evans could see himself doing one day in the
future? He leans back, deep in thought, while I offer some chat
about Donald Trump being a great potential Marvel character
to fill the silence. He shoots me an alarmed look, so I clarify that
hed make a great baddie. Oh, baddie, yeah, thank God, he says
with a grin. I didnt know where you were going with that.

As to the notion of one day following in his uncles footsteps,

it turns out to be something he has considered. I would never
say never. Ive always thought it would be nice one day to think
about some sort of political pursuit. Im so proud of my uncle and
of anyone who dedicates themselves to helping the progression
of society in exacting change for the betterment of mankind.
Ultimately, theres very few things that I consider to be noble and
challenging. I know that Washington is a tough place. I have my
opinions and maybe later on in life I might try and actually get up
on a soap box.
More immediately, the subjects of government and politics
appear in the new Captain America: Civil War movie. The film
is focused around mounting political pressure to install

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Mr Evans wears linen sports

jacket, as before; slim fit cotton
chinos, Dhs610, Polo Ralph
Lauren; Greggo Flat shoes in
suede, Dhs3,145, Christian
Louboutin.

Show me a content man, and Ill show

you a failure thats the most disgusting
Western saying Ive ever heard
E VA N S O N W H Y H E L O O K S
TO EASTERN PHILOSOPHY

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a system of accountability when the actions of the Avengers

lead to collateral damage. However, Captain America believes
superheroes should remain free to defend humanity without
government interference. Although the film is set around
2006, when the comic book series was written, the subplot of
government intrusion on society seems very topical, given the
extraordinary events of the presidential campaign.
I bet every generation feels like society is crumbling and that
Americas always falling to pieces. Its always the worst of times,
he says of the current political climate.
But surely it doesnt get much worse than Trump? I reply.
To be completely fair, Trump really has he pauses, before
becoming as animated and passionate as Ive seen him all day
(its funny how Trump seems to have that effect on people).
Its the demise of the Republican Party, he continues. It would
be amazing if the Republican Party can survive him. In the UK
they had meetings about banning him from the country. That just
doesnt happen. Its insane. It just really says something.

RUNNING FOR OFFICE might be a distant, and as yet

half-formed idea, but Evans does have some more immediate
ambitions. His directing debut came late last year with Before We
Go, an independent, romantic film following two strangers who
spend one night together. The reviews were mixed, though most
praised his performance in the leading role alongside Alice Eve.
Nevertheless, the experience has made him crave more shots at
taking on this much bigger responsibility. Id wanted to direct for
a long time. Its just hard to find someone whos willing to let you
direct, he explains. I have no training, Ive never been to any
sort of school, so its a gamble. It was a situation where we found
a script that felt manageable. This was a simple story, its two
people. It just felt very contained and, not to sound awful, but
I aimed a little low, just because I just wanted to get my feet wet.
I think theres no shame in that. I didnt want to bite off more
than I could chew the first time out.
He describes the process as being an educational experience.
There were a lot of things I thought I was prepared for that
never became a problem, and things I didnt think would be an
issue that ended up being one. So it was very eye opening. But I
loved the experience and I want to do it again. Im trying to aim a
little higher in terms of the story and the scope. I feel a little more
comfortable behind the camera, and its now just about finding
the right script. Because the really great scripts are snatched up
by the really great directors. So its about digging and trying to
find the diamond in the rough.
Before shooting that film, Evans asked the Russo brothers,
and his Scott Pilgrim Vs The World director, Edgar Wright for
advice. They just said dont be afraid to ask questions. Youre
surrounded by very talented people in their own respective
departments, so lean on them, trust them, take their advice.
And that was incredibly valuable on set. Plenty of times I was like,
I dont know, what do you think? And that was really helpful.

Evans admits that he came out the other side as a better actor,
knowing the industry on a deeper level, and with tools to take his
craft forward. I would never stop acting completely, because I
do love it, but if I was to get married and have kids, I could see
myself wanting to be less of a famous actor. The fame thing is the
tricky part, especially when you have children, and there is a nice
element to the investment in directing. Even the amount of time
and passion required for pre- and post-production; youre with a
project intimately for a year. As an actor youve got a few months
and then you completely forget about it. So I like that connection,
and I like that you can be a little more in the shadows but still be
part of a profession that youre in love with.

EVANS IS A LOT MORE CHIPPER. I think hes enjoying

our chat and now that the pressure of the photoshoot is done he
seems to have relaxed. Plus hes stopped sweating and should be
in one piece for his Sony meeting. But before he leaves we have
a final question: whats the big end game? Hes a solid fixture of
the Marvel universe, which doesnt seem likely to dry up any time
soon. Hes young but experienced enough to handle the pressures
of fame and seems to be navigating the Hollywood game just fine.
So now what?
My big ambition is to not have a big ambition, he replies
ambiguously before clarifying his point. I know its kind of
strange but my goal in life is to practice trying to be present on
a daily basis. I think, as people, our consciousness is spread out.
We analyse the past, we worry about the future, and its all fuelled
by fear and pain and all these negative things. Even when its
good its going to be not good in a minute. Then youre chasing
it again. Its all rooted in time and I think my big ambition is to
really practice the ability to quiet my brain a little and just learn
how to enjoy the moment.
Right now, I think he is putting this into practice and is
enjoying the moment. I love this industry, but it certainly puts
you into scenarios where you can see very clearly the cyclical
struggle that life can present, he agrees. I know that sounds
kind of apathetic. It shouldnt be looked at as complacent or
indifferent. We have that awful saying here in LA, Show me
a content man, and Ill show you a failure. Thats the most
disgusting Western saying Ive ever heard. Thats not the way it is
with other places in the world. Its not the way I want to live my
life. I love to be content.
My conclusion? Hollywoods found a good guy here, one
whos got his head screwed on, takes the moral high ground and
one that might even have managed to stay surprisingly sane.
No wonder he makes a great Captain America. And maybe one
day hell make a great public servant too. But for now, as he waves
us goodbye, beneath the Hollywood Sign, I realise that if I was
feeling ill and under the weather, the last thing Id want to do is
a magazine cover shoot. But he did it anyway because its whats
going to keep pushing this young actor forward. Even if he is
content with the now.

Fashion assitant: Sara Avevedo.

Grooming: Jenn Streicher at Forward Artists.
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HOW DO YOU
NOT CONNECT TO
TA M M Y W Y N E T T E ?

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W H AT I V E L E A R N E D

Ayad Akhtar
Screenwriter, novelist, and playwright, 45
The productive processing of rage is the central question of

our time.
Its only going to get worse. Theres a rising tide of Rushdie

said an interesting thing. He said that people seem to be finding

meaning in their outrage. And there is something at the heart
of identity politics today that seems to regard anger as the
expression of authenticity. Its easy to say that thats misguided,
but its also a function of the increasing chokehold of global
power on the individual. So everybodys upset. And everybodys
expressing their rage in different ways, and some are playing for
keeps. Were playing for keeps. And the folks who did what they
did in Paris are playing for keeps.
I grew up feeling that I was not American as much as I
was Pakistani. When I started going back to Pakistan in my
adolescent years, I realised, Wait, no, Im from here. Theyre
from there and Im from here.
How do you not connect to Tammy Wynette?
My mother arrived here when she was 24. Shes a doctor. My

parents both came here on visas that gave them plane tickets and
jobs and apartments and papers to work. The sorrowful, tragic
dimension of the American experience in country music really
spoke to her. And polka music, too. I grew up in Wisconsin, what
do you want?
I say I live in New York. But Im particularly dislocated in
the sense that my folks are from Pakistan, and I grew up in
Milwaukee and aspired as a young man to be European, and
then I moved to New York. I dont think of myself as settled.
Im not gonna sit here and tell you that Muslims are the
problem. But Im also not gonna sit here and tell you that theyre
not the problem. Were all in this together, and were all the
problem. Its not just them and its not just us. But nobody wants
to hear that.
Its easier to just say, I feel scared. And if we go and bomb the
living daylights out of ISIS, Ill be in a better world and I wont
have that fear anymore. Its very animal. We are social herding
animals, fundamentally, and our political life is evidence of that.
Theyre not us. Were gonna keep them out. You cant actually
do anything with that. You cant build anything that way.
When youre only saying, Not that, not that, not that No
always gets you something, but it never gets you anything good.
Ive been driven by a passion to become the strongest
storyteller that I can be. Its a passion that infected me at
the age of 15 with a magnitude of love that I have difficulty
describing: seeing the world more expansively, seeing the
world more humanly, more trenchantly, and distilling that
vision into compelling narrative.

I N T E RV I E W E D BY M A R K WA R R E N

I had a high school teacher change my life. She was the first
person I met who was fully, fully committed to living an
authentic life in every moment. Ms. Doerfler.
She comes into class and shes like, Whats the meaning of
the story you read last night? And I was like, Meaning of a
story? How could a story have meaning? Everyones quiet,
and then she begins to speak. She says the train is life; every
now and then one of us wakes up to the question of what it is
and where its going. We seek the answers from those around
us. Those we would ask often have no idea there is a question.
Those who have some sense of a question have no answer.
The one who would seek to know the truth will find him or
herself confronted with the fact that life is taking us into a great
unknown and that the souls innate reaction to that knowledge
is terror.
We as Americans are dealing with generations of rhetoric that
are coming home to roost. The Islamic world is dealing with
generations of rhetoric that are coming home to roost. These are
happening in tandem. Theyre not isolated from one another.
And so to understand in a larger sense requires a more
expansive perspective. But nobody wants that.
Having Disgraced be the most produced play in
the country during this extraordinary time is
Ayad Akhtar is the
both delightful and a little terrifying. Its a very
winner of the 2013
complicated play. And its a deeply troubling
Pulitzer Prize for
play. The trouble it releases into the audience
his explosive play
is its essence. Thats what its supposed to
Disgraced, about a
do. But there are cultural moments when
Muslim-American
mans tortured
releasing that kind of trouble is not necessarily
relationship
the most productive thing. The play forces
with faith.
audiences to sit in contradiction, and when youre
afraid, thats hard to do.
How does what all end? What the f*** kind of question
is that? How do our present difficulties end? They dont.
A close inspection of any of the great religious texts reveals
the enduring persistence of bloodshed at a certain level of
existence. It is part of the picture. The issue, ultimately, isnt
about eradicating it but understanding what it can do for us and
how it can move us into a different place. The natural world is
awash in bloodshed. Great intergalactic clouds of dust and black
holes destroy galaxies on a daily basis. We are inhabited by
polarities that are eternal and universal, and thats part of the
struggle of being human.
You can never know who you are by just saying, I am not
what you say about me. You can only know who you are by
asking, Who am I?

P H OTO G R A P H BY B E N E D I CT E VA N S

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Cleared for takeoff: trainee

pilots view from inside a British
Airways flight simulator

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FINAL CALL FOR MR SELF

As an adventure-seeking boy, WILL SELF longed to be
an airline pilot. Itdidnt happen and later his desire
to fly turned to cold fear of the air. Now, inspired by a
pilots memoirs, Self intrepidly attempts to banish his
aviophobia on a BA Boeing 747 flight simulator

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M Y F E A R O F F LY I N G C O M E S A N D G O E S , of which
more later; but often, the night before a flight, Ill lie in bed
overawed by the journey Im about to undertake. My vulnerable
little body, a mere boiled-up stew of sentience in a skin bag,
will be squeezed into a metal tube with a lot of other human
paste then blasted 30,000ft into the sky. The tube will describe
a long parabola, the end of which may fall to earth in New York,
or Singapore, or, on a bad day, Dusseldorf. I often observe to
frequent flyers, of whom there are now millions, quite how
physically extreme air travel is. If youre a man, and arent a
sadomasochist and havent undergone major surgery, flying is
probably the most radical thing youve ever had done to your
body. Lying in the semi-dark of an urban bedroom, I picture
myself in all my naked vulnerability, arcing across the purpleblack empyrean, my dangling
nadgers temporarily eclipsing the
minute greenish disc of the planet
Venus, named for the Greek goddess
of love.
And while the prospect may
seem terrifying to me now, the
irony is that it was reveries such
as this that infested my childhood
and I expect they did yours as well:
I wish I could fly! even rhymes
with a naively heartfelt sigh. We all
wished we could fly. We all wished
we could break into a jog then a trot
then a sprint, divesting ourselves
with each footstep of another item
of school uniform tie, blazer, grey
shorts, Aertex shirt to reveal not
little pink nadgers but a superheros
costume; one in which we then
took to the skies, banking between
chimneys, soaring over tower
blocks, curvetting and looping
the loop. Our dreams of flying
were always unfettered by any
of the realities of commercial air
travel there was no checking-in to this wild blue yonder, no
shuffling through security or any necessity for engineering or
infrastructure we simply took to the air, often in our pyjamas.
Indeed, so great is the divergence between our experience of
flight and our airborne reveries, that sometimes during my
night-before-flight anxieties Ill remonstrate with myself: are
you absolutely sure youve ever truly been airborne? After all,
with one or two exceptions, all the flights youve ever taken
couldve easily been simulated.
I was at some literary do or other a few months ago
where I was introduced to Mark Vanhoenacker, a British
Airways 747 pilot whos written a book, Skyfaring: a Journey
with a Pilot, about his work, which also happens to be his
abiding passion. Vanhoenacker, with his blondish, crew-cut
hair, pale blue eyes and smooth complexion, rather more
resembles the management consultant he once was than
the romantic aviator hes sort-of become. His book has been
much-lauded, while hes been compared to the romantic
flyer-cum-writer Antoine de Saint-Exupry (who, after many
adventures, disappeared at sea near Marseille while flying
a reconnaissance mission with the Free French Air Force in
1944, something Vanhoenackers passengers probably dont
need to know). We chatted for a moment or two, then I forgot
about the encounter. Mark didnt: he sent me a proof copy of

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his book, then began suggesting I come for a spin in British

Airways flight simulator with him, so I could get as close
as possible to his blissed-out state as he wrestles 450,000kg
of metal, flesh, Samsonite luggage and miniature bottles of
Baileys through the zephyrs wreathing our planet.
I pretty much ignored these blandishments. After all,
as I implied above, what we mostly want from a scheduled
flight is that it be as physically unreal as a simulation: if we
come bumpily close to realising quite how up-up-and-away
we truly are, its usually because we fear things are screwing
up and were terrified of going down. Yes, yes, Im not a
complete numpty, I know turbulence isnt really a problem for
commercial aircraft, and many of you will have had a similar
experience to mine: flying into the great hub of St Louis,
Missouri, during hurricane season
and finding all the flights grounded,
except for my own connection to
New York, I staggered onto the
plane and, finding it near-empty,
concluded everyone else knew
something I didnt. Seeing my nervy
state, one of the other passengers
joined me and, as we were taxiing,
explained he was a cockpit fascia
designer on his way back from
Boeing contractor Rockwell Collins
plant at Cedar Rapids. These
planes are flown on a wire, he
grinned, which means they simply
wont leave unless its completely
safe. At which point I blurted
out the flat-Earthers plaint: But
how does it stay in the air? I mean
its a great heavy chunk of metal
and stuff. Whereupon my buddy
patiently explained that, given the
laws of physics, it was practically
impossible for the aircraft not to
stay in the air.
On that occasion, despite
the turbulence being suitably Midwestern the plane
bucking like the proverbial bronco I was soothed by the
professionals presence. Wasnt it always thus? Indeed, given
how neurotic I am, it occurs to me I never wouldve flown with
any equanimity at all were it not for such expert reassurance.
When I was a kid in the Sixties, intercontinental flying was a
big deal and the only reason I did it was because my mother
was American. To give you some idea of how uncommon
it was, in 1964, when, aged three, I first flew to the States,
annual passenger numbers at Heathrow were around 10m: in
2014, some 75m passed through the airport. Back in the day,
transatlantic flights retained a little of the romantic lan once
associated with the great ocean liners: there were real flowers
in vases in the toilets (together with free sticks of chewing
gum bliss!), and the portholes had little curtains, complete
with pelmets. But what made flying great for me was my
membership of the BOAC Junior Jet Club.
The British Overseas Air Corporation was the state-owned
predecessor to British Airways. It handled long-haul routes
while British European Airways (BEA) did as its name would
imply. The two outfits merged in the early Seventies, but before
that, BOAC had a distinct identity. My BOAC Junior Jet Club
logbook was a handsome, blue-linen-covered item with pages
pre-ruled for young flyers to fill out their itinerary, distance,

Skyfaring brings arhapsodic

eyeand poetical giftto a daily
go-round whichconsists of,
well,goingaround the world

Left: British Airways Senior First Officer

Mark Vanhoenacker, author of Skyfaring:
a Journey with a Pilot, which eulogises his
love of flying

altitude, etc. There was also a space for the captains signature
so, dutifully on each flight, my mother would request we be
allowed to visit the cockpit. To the infant me (known in the
family, I kid you not, as Little Willy), the combination of
smart uniforms, rugged shaven chins and array of buttons and
levers was altogether irresistible. I yearned tragically to become
an airline pilot. Tragically, because soon enough a different
arm of government, the NHS, tested me for colour-blindness,
and the results were well, beige. It turned out I could scarcely
distinguish blue and yellow, let alone red and green. My piloting
days were over before theyd begun.
I D A S S U M E D T H E D AY S O F D R O P P I N G B Y the
cockpit were also long-gone but according to Vanhoenacker
its still quite acceptable to request a visit, and if the pilots are
minded (and presumably youve been searched for box-cutters),
youll be invited up the sharp end. But I seriously doubt anyone
who hasnt been vetted to beyond reason is ever and I mean
ever allowed any more on the bridge of a commercial airliner
while its taking off or landing. Back in the Nineties, I lucked
out: I was on a press junket to Sweden and the only berth SAS
had for me was a little jump-seat between the pilots. The plane
was an old McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and, as we pushed back
from the passenger bridge, one of the pilots informed me it was
among the last airliners still in service that didnt have servomechanised controls. So you can actually feel its responses
through the steering column, he said.
It was only a short flight to Stockholm, yet during it I
was able to experience much of what Mark Vanhoenacker
rhapsodises in his book, and some things he doesnt. I mean,

at least when youre a passenger, you dont bother getting

stressed out about your position in the queue to takeoff, but
when you can see 15 or 20 aircraft ahead of you, its difficult
to resist the conclusion youre in a traffic jam like any other.
And once up in the air, this sense of the familiar persisted.
My SAS pilots were both ex-Danish Air Force and, as we
gained altitude out of Heathrow and western Europe spread
out below us, their attention naturally swung to their own
miserable, pig-infested peninsula. Oh, said either Benny or
Bengt, Look down there! I did as I was bade the cockpit
was so cramped I was virtually sitting in his lap. Can you see
those fighters coming up from Jutland? I could. There were
three of them ascending in tight formation. Thatll be some of
Jenss squadron. Benny (or Bengt) said, How do you put it?
Ah yes, theyre out for an evening spin. It was this sense of a
continental land mass reduced to the dimensions of a village
that stayed with me, that and the astonishing snowstorm we
powered through to land at Arlanda Flygplats (achingly boring
country crazy name for an airport). Vanhoenacker notes of
snow observed from a planes cockpit that the individual flakes
appear to be held in suspension, as if youre witnessing some
sort of snowstorm diorama.
Mind you, I was still relieved to be back on the ground.
As I said, my fear of flying comes and goes and it was mostly
absent while Benny and Bengt were doing their thing. I mean,
I am English after all, and it would be the grossest of solecisms
to evince fear while someones doing their job competently.
It occurred to me then that if I could only arrange to always
fly in the cockpit Id be fine, but my opportunity to test out
this hypothesis didnt come for another 15 years, when I flew
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Left: one of BAs 18 aircraft simulators

at the airlines training complex near
Heathrow Airport. Opposite: the
CGI landing approach to Heathrow.
Below: Pull up! Pull up! WillSelf
takes the controls of a virtual 747

I rose into the celestial blue clutching an open bottle

and puffing on a fag. Even at the time, I realised this
was the end of a hedonistic era and my life would
enter apuritanical holding pattern from here on

20 miles from the mainland of Shetland to Foula island, where

a ridiculously isolated community resides out in the Atlantic.
Arriving at the dinky airport, I was confronted by a check-in
desk the size of a lectern. Out on the airstrip the plane was
being made ready it looked like an old Citroen 2CV with
added wings. A man, also with added wings, came from a back
office and confirmed he was the pilot by gaily saying, Looks
like youre the only passenger today. You can ride in the copilots seat if you like.
Which rather begged the question: where the f ***s the copilot? As we taxied on to the runway, my companion warned
me, Make sure you open your legs as we take off that
steering column will come up sharpish. I tried not to think
of this as a perverse sexual come-on, but it was difficult, and
I concentrated so hard on the tricky leg-opening manoeuvre
I all but missed us getting airborne. Suddenly, we were
bumbling along just like any other 2CV, the only difference
being that the road was utterly transparent, while through it
I could see an astonishing vista of islets, lochs and headlands
land in water and water in land. It was too shockingly beautiful
to experience with any equanimity, I just wanted to get back on
the ground so I could recollect it in tranquillity. My leg-parting
pilot had a different idea: hed established this was my first visit
to Foula, which has spectacular 1,000ft-high sea cliffs, so he
made me an offer: Would you like me to buzz the cliffs?! I was
in no position to refuse.
It was indisputably one of the most radical physical
experiences of my life right up there with invasive surgery
and I even forgot to be terrified as we came in to land on
a grassy airstrip the islands shepherds maintain themselves.
Either that, or yet again my psyche refused to admit the landing
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was taking place at all, and decided it was simply a devilishly

effective simulation.
T R U E , T H E M A I N L A N D F O U L A F L I G H T was about
as vivid as anything gets but simulation remains of the essence
of modern powered flight. In Skyfaring, Mark Vanhoenacker
writes at length about the exhaustive simulator training
sessions involved in training to be a pilot and the annual reboots
all aircrew require so they can stay au fait with the evolving
technology. Even so, airline pilots are only usually qualified to fly
one kind of aircraft, and in his case its the majestic Boeing 747
Jumbo Jet, the great galleon of an airliner thats dominated
intercontinental aviation for nigh on a half-century.
Theres much to enjoy in Vanhoenackers book, which
brings a rhapsodic eye and a precise poetical gift to a daily
go-round which consists of, well, going around the world.
He captures beautifully how it is to work with an ever-rotating
set of workmates (BA crews seldom fly twice with the same
colleagues), and to have your days off one week in Cape Town,
the next Singapore. He explains carefully the different systems
navigational, communications, power and computational
involved in getting 747s from Athens to Bogota. Most of all, he
delights in the strange phenomena associated with high-altitude
flight: racing the dawn across the oceans, observing spectacular
weather and vast, untenanted landscapes. Throughout, he
combines a profound sense of wondrous exhilaration with an
impression of deep and abiding competence and its no wonder
British Airways has, unprecedentedly, endorsed the book:
Vanhoenacker is a perfect poster boy for its global business.
All of which goes a long way towards obscuring the ugly
realities of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, Germanwings Flight

9525 etc, etc. Indeed, it would be a gross solecism as I

think Ive already said to raise such matters when people
as competent as Vanhoenacker are doing their job. But I cant
help pointing out that while it may be difficult and expensive
to simulate the cockpit drills of airline pilots, simulating the
cabin routines of their passengers would be a piece of the
proverbial cake. Really, theres no comparison whatsoever
between guiding a great hunk of metal through the heavens,
and sitting in the back watching Mad Max on a fag-packetsized VDU while judiciously savouring the farts of the human
cattle penned in beside you. Flying for pilots may be a nearendless stream of peak experiences, but for those of us adding
to British Airways revenues, its usually a series of dull and
forgettable ones. Moreover, Id argue this is precisely what the
airline companies want. After all, if flying were allowed to be
as genuinely exciting as it is, think how difficult it would be
for Mark Vanhoenacker and his colleagues to deal with their
millions of jazzed-up passengers?
My other problem with Vanhoenackers take on the romance
of commercial flying is that contemporary airliners have
some of the most advanced automatic systems of any human
technology. Remember the fascia designer for Boeing who told
me about flying on a wire? Its true: not only can a modern
jet fly from Athens to Bogota with nary a hand on its controls,
it can also take off and land. Indeed, on those occasions an
airport is shrouded in fog or otherwise obscured, they do
just this. Contemporary critics of the rise of the machines,
notably Nicholas Carr in his excellent The Glass Cage: How our
Computers are Changing Us, point out many pilots actually want
more to do in the cockpit, while several
horrific recent crashes are attributable
not to pilot error per se, but to pilot
confusion when called upon in an
emergency to reassume control of a
plane theyve lost the feel for. None of
which is to suggest we can do without
pilots even if Mark and his pals are
only there to second-guess computers
but it casts a shadow over their
romantic lustre.
Still, what you cant take away
from airline pilots is that in a world
cram-packed with adipose boy-racers,
couch-surfers and other impotent firstperson shooters, they really do hold the lives of hundreds in
their hands for those few tremulous minutes between switching
off the autopilot and announcing: Ladies and gentlemen,
welcome to Heathrow where the local time is 3:25pm and the
weathers s*** as usual. So, at Mark Vanhoenackers insistence
I entrained for the flight centre to find out what it felt like.
I suppose I shouldve been more overawed by the signal
honour of taking the controls in a BA flight simulator. But a
clickety-clack train journey to Feltham, followed by a bicycling
meander through the scrappy environs of Heathrow Airport
kept me feeling very much down to earth. The Cranebank
Training Facility looks like just another bypass-bound
assemblage of nondescript commercial-industrial buildings
the lumber of the contemporary built environment, which
the architect Rem Koolhaas has dubbed junk space. As for
the simulator itself, well, since theyve become an accepted
part of museums infotainment and theme parks thrills, these
large metal shoeboxes poised on servo-mechanical hydraulic
jacks hold little mystery for us. Still, it was amusing to go inside
and see all the little cockpit details Mark had written about,

including the long-since redundant ashtrays. (Apropos of which,

I must say the most romantic plane flight I ever took was the last
scheduled one out of Heathrow you were allowed to smoke on.
By some fluke I managed to get an upgrade; so it was I rose into
the celestial blue clutching an open bottle of Champagne and
puffing on a fag. Even at the time, I realised this was the end of
a hedonistic era, and my life would enter a puritanical holding
pattern from here on.)
I took the pilots seat, Mark the co-pilots and we buckled
up. A reasonably believable visualisation of Heathrow Airport
by night sprung into being beyond the curved cabin windows,
one spoilt only by its rather pixellated definition. Mark asked
me if Id like to try landing the big 747 beast and I assented
enthusiastically: at last Id experience the thrill of holding
all those lives, all that investment capital, all those potential
insurance pay-outs, cradled in my hands. He took me through
the controls, showing me how to alter pitch, course and the rate
of descent. Surprising to relate, 747s arent the most responsive
of craft no direct transmission here instead, you yank on
the controls and seconds later the laggardly thing heels to one
side. Quite early into our approach I realised we were going to
crash. Why? Duh! Because Ive never flown a 747 before, or any
other aircraft. Personally, I was looking forward to crashing the
plane. After all, from a thrillseekers point of view, a crash is
infinitely more exciting than a safe landing. Moreover, to crash
the imaginary 747 would teach me to properly respect the skills
of Mark and his colleagues as they wrestle very real airborne
juggernauts down on to the tarmac.
But it was not to be. The automatic voice intoned over the
intercom: Three thousand feet, two
thousand feet and then came suitably
monitory words to the effect this was
our last chance to abort the landing.
But I didnt want to abort! I wanted to
go out in a fireball of frustrated dreams
of flight. I wanted to definitively screw
the pooch! However, it was not to be,
and as we wavered in sickeningly,
heading straight for a vast (simulated)
passenger terminal, I felt the controls
twitch and then steady in my hands
as far more competent ones seized
them. It was Mark. Damn him! He just
couldnt help his conditioning, couldnt
stop himself from preventing mass (simulated) carnage.
Once we were on the (simulated) ground and rolling towards
the (simulated) passenger bridge, I rounded on him. Hey! We
were going to crash back then, but you ruined it. You shouldve
let me stay fully in control. But you dont get to be a commercial
pilot without being unflappable, and he just smiled and said,
Really, I just helped a bit.
Which is fair enough: we all want the men and women in
the peaked caps to help us a bit. Mark Vanhoenackers book is
a beautiful piece of writing, and tells you as much about what
its like to fly a big passenger jet as youll ever want to know.
He effusively conveys what its like to descend into London,
the cockpit bathed in the heavenly light of dawn, but what Mark
doesnt go near is the experience of those who live along his
flight paths. What people such as me, slumbering fitfully 4,000ft
below, who are roused time and again to yet another long grey
morning of the soul by his tightly scheduled yet deeply romantic
brand of thrill seeking.
Skyfaring: a Journey with a Pilot (Chatto &Windus) by Mark
Vanhoenacker is out now
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Although youve probably

never seen a news report
where a procession of classic
motors glide through the
streets of Lahore, there is in
fact a thriving community of
vintage petrolheads in Pakistan.
Here are three of the men at
the heart of that group

WORDS: SR
PICTURES: SAAD SARFRAZ SHEIKH

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ith a cigarette
dangling from his
mouth, a ruggedlooking Roger
Beckermann,
played by Italian
actor, Rossano
Brazzi, drives a
blazing orange
Lamborghini
Miura neatly
through the Italian Alps. On Days Like These,
the Quincy Jones composition, softly plays throughout the stunning, dreamlike introduction of the 1969
film classic, The Italian Job.
It was this scene that last year inspired 13
vintage car aficionados from Lahore, Pakistan,
to recreate Beckermanns romantic solo drive
through Europe. They booked tickets for Italy,
made arrangements to rent nine classic cars, and
traced their route on Google maps. The plan was
to arrive in Rome, drive up to Florence, then make
the 400km drive north to Lake Como, before
climbing up through the mountains in a north
easterly direction to Stelvio Pass a route voted by
the BBC car show Top Gear as the greatest driving
road in the world. For these middle-aged motoring
enthusiasts it was a dream come true.
That group included Mushahid Shah, Kamran
Hussain and Haydar Kirmani. A year on from that
trip, the three of them are seated in Shahs cozy
living room in an upscale neighbourhood of Lahore.
Its a quiet, clean residential area with lots of trees
and Shah is able to live here thanks to the proceeds
of a chicken-feed mill that he owns. (Hussain works
as a neurosurgeon in the city, while Kirmani, who
is distantly related to Shah, runs his own software
development company and also has a workshop
that restores classic cars). We would watch The
Italian Job clip again and again, Kirmani says of his
passion for cars. At some point one of us asked, Why
arent we doing this?
The men are part of a popular Facebook group, the Vintage &
Classic Car Club of Pakistan (VCCCP) a forum for hobbyists to
engage with one another about their shared interest in exclusive
automobiles from the golden era of motoring. The page currently
boasts over 10,000 followers and also operates as an association
where classic car enthusiasts organise and advertise motoring
events for the public at large, such as the annual VCCCP rally.
This runs all the way from Karachi over 1,300km north to
Lahore, a further 400km up to the capital, Islamabad, and
then east to Peshawar, the rallys final destination. The event
functions as a moving museum where the flotilla of vintage
vehicles showcases a part of the countrys national heritage that
is otherwise barely visible.

he three men are open and engaging when explaining

how they developed their shared passion for classic
cars. Shah and Hussain have known each other since
childhood and they recount how, growing up, theyd visit
old bookshops near their school in Lahore to buy dated
copies of motor magazines. We dreamed about owning the cars

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PEOPLE WANT THE NEWEST, THE

FLASHIEST, THE MOST EXPENSIVE
THINGS. I WOULDNT CALL IT CRASS
MODERNISM, BUT PEOPLE ARENT
WILLING TO SPEND SO MUCH MONEY ON
[OLDER] VEHICLES

Kamran Hussain
wed see in the pictures, says Hussain, who finally decided to seriously
pursue his childhood passion when he returned to Pakistan after
completing medical degree in the UK. One day I was sitting around
and feeling rather depressed about the state of affairs in the country
and thought, Im working and living here, but Im not really following
any of my interests.

Dr. Kamran Hussain in

his Caterham 7 and,
left, the highlights of
his collection

The 56-year-old neurosurgeon bought his first classic car, a

Fiat 124 Sports Coupe in 1998. In the years since he has added
a 1977 Porsche 911 SC Targa, a 1969 Mini Cooper, a 1963 Mini
Cooper, a 1966 Porsche 912 SWB, a 1970 Mercedes 250S W108,
a 1975 Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV, a 1975 Toyota Celica GT, a 1963
Ford Cortina, a 1966 Mercedes 190 and a Caterham 7 replica.
The provenance of each vehicle tells its own story. For
example, Hussain mentions that his Mini Cooper once belonged
to Syed Akram, a brigadier in the Pakistan Army. He had the
distinction of capturing Ramkot, Rajasthan, during the 1971 war
with India. He loved cars and had five Mini Coopers. The car is a
preservation of history, Hussain says proudly.
More generally, the cars are all sourced from within Pakistan.
Many of them were imported in the 1970s when it was cheap to
do so unlike now when it is virtually impossible given the red
tape and stringent laws and there wasnt a great appreciation
for their value.
Both Hussain and Shah come from respectable middle class
families who are relatively successful. While Hussain studied
hard to become a neurosurgeon, Shah was busy studying for

his MBBS degree. We both had very strict parents, says Shah,
speaking candidly about himself and Hussain. But that discipline
brought with it financial benefits. I was lucky enough to start
collecting cars at the age of 20, he admits.
Shah started out with a 1964 Mercedes-Benz 220SE Coupe,
and then quickly added a 1966 Ford Mustang Convertible, a 1964
Jaguar Mark 2 and a 1964 Ford Thunderbird. This impressive
start to his collecting career ended just as rapidly when he was
ordered to sell off all his cars at the age of 22 as his parents
wanted him to focus on his studies instead.
But three years ago, with Shah having firmly established
himself in business, the 48-year-old decided to give his hobby
another go. Today, hes the proud owner of a number of original
vintage beauties. I have a 1972 MGB GT, a 1976 MercedesBenz 280 S, a 1959 Austin-Healey 3000 Mark 1 and a 1980
Mini Cooper; this ones special, he says, speaking of the latter
model. It has an automatic gear box and factory-fitted airconditioning. Rounding off the collection is a 1969 1750 GTV
Alfa Romeo, which he boasts is one of the most desirable Alfa
Romeos at the moment.
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Mushahid Shah
with his vintage
Alfa Romeo and,
right, his collection

Unlike Shah and Hussain, Kirmanis appreciation for vintage

cars developed much later. Having spent the majority of his
life in London, the 46-year-old moved back to Pakistan roughly
10 years ago to set-up the offshore office of his UK-based IT
company in Lahore. Hed long been around classic cars as his
father was a collector. Growing up, the family would often travel
across Europe in one of their classic cars on holidays. Initially
I hated them, he admits. I used to ask him, Whats this load of
junk?! Perhaps its a sign of old age, but you start to appreciate
things in a different way as you get older.
At present, Kirmani owns a 1981 Jaguar XJS, a 1973 MercedesBenz 450 SL (purchased by Kirmani after being inspired by
Bobby Ewing in the TV series, Dallas, that hed watch back in
the day), a 1972 E-Type Jaguar and a 1974 Ford Cortina. It has a
personal value for me, Kirmani smiles, speaking about his Ford,
Because when I was very young my father bought a car like that
and made a road trip from the UK to Pakistan.
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xplaining why the hobby has kept them interested

all these years is a little more complicated. Hussain
compares the preservation of cars to the way people
preserve art or houses, or anything else of historical and
cultural value. He bemoans the obsession for all things
new in Pakistan. Theres less emphasis on history and culture
in Pakistan nowadays. Everything is considered transitory, to
be done away with. The culture is becoming too materialistic.
People want the newest, the flashiest, the most expensive things.
I wouldnt call it crass modernism, but people arent willing to
spend so much money on older vehicles.
As a result, Hussain mentions that he knows of numerous
valuable cars that were eventually junked, cut up and melted
down especially since Pakistans economic troubles of recent
times. People have lost the appreciation for the finer things in
life, he sighs.
When asked why people would choose a costly, weathered,

I WAS LUCKY ENOUGH TO START

COLLECTING CARS AT THE AGE OF 20

Mushahid Shah

classic car when one can ride in style and

convenience in the latest, swiftest model of
vehicle, the men are, unsurprisingly, quick to respond. Modern
cars have become so good that theyve isolated the driver as
much as possible, Kirmani says leaning forward, The steering,
the suspension, even the atmosphere in the car, isolates you from
the mechanics. Its just a toy you jump in, drive 200 miles and
jump out. Classic cars arent like that, theyve got personalities,
and the reason they have personalities is because theyre
imperfect. Theyll be loud, noisy, some may have a hard steering,
but something about that endears you to it.
Hussain nods in agreement. Just the other day ago a friend
called me up and said; Doc, lets go for a drive. Hed bought one
of the latest Aston Martins and wanted to take it for a spin. So we
drove and I was doing about 185 mph, but it felt like a 100. Since
it was unsafe I slowed down. You can have the same level of
excitement in a classic car at a much slower speed.

At 50 miles per hour! Shah pipes in with a

chuckle.
Its not that the car is unsafe at that speed,
agrees Hussain. But it is giving you more
sensation. Thats the key to the enjoyment.
You have a connection with a classic car and it
makes you feel good, Kirmani adds.
Out of the group, Kirmani is alone in having
taken his passion a step further. After relocating
to home turf, he recounts how he was appalled
at the level of car service in Lahore. I used to
send my Mercedes to a dealer here but they never
got it right. In the UK if you go to a Mercedes
showroom, they throw out the red carpet for you,
he says with a twinge of exasperation.
This led Kirmani to start a car workshop, INH
Motor Company, eight years ago with the help
of two relatives. It functions as a workshop for
everyday car repairs but also serves as a classic car
restoration hub in Lahore. The truth was this: we
thought it was a big laugh. We assumed this was
something we could mess about with in our spare
time and tell our wives that were busy on the
weekends! he laughs.
But an idea that started out as a shot in the
dark soon became a roaring success. We thought
one person per week would stumble in and wed
tinker with his car, Kirmani says. What shocked
us was the fact that in the first month alone we
had 99 cars. Having started out with only three
mechanics, INH now employs over 100 staff. They
even have another branch located in Sharjah, UAE.
Look, theres no real money in restoring cars,
Kirmani replies, when asked about the thoroughly
niche market that his workshop caters to. Lets say
a bashed-in modern car comes in for a paint job
you can have it fixed up within a week, tops.
If a classic car comes in for restoration, it takes
a good five months just to get the denting and
painting done. Plus, you need to have three or four
mechanics working solely on that one car.
Kirmani maintains hes in it for the pleasure, nothing more.
To be able to not only purchase a piece of history, but also utilise
it, is a high in itself he says.
But surely there has to be a downside to the hobby, apart from
the cost, what with the arduous hunt for spare parts to repair
decades-old cars
Oh dear, oh dear, Hussain exclaims dramatically, leaning
back in his chair.
Thats half the fun! Shah chuckles.
The eloquent neurosurgeon emphasises his point by
recounting how complicated it was to search for classic car
parts in Pakistan two decades ago when he first got started.
This was primarily because, pre-internet, no one had ready
access to solid information. Back then, enthusiasts would have
to resort to cold-calling car companies to track down who
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their suppliers were. Looking for a certain spare part was like
sifting out a needle in a haystack. But eBay and the rise of the
internet changed the game, thankfully.
These days, perhaps one of the biggest roadblocks for vintage
car collectors in Pakistan are the convoluted customs regulations,
vis--vis the import of car spare parts. Its obvious that if a cars
been out of production for 30 or 40 years, youd be unlikely to
find a brand-new spare-part of that very car, in fact youd be
lucky to find a used one, Kirmani says. Imagine, in Pakistan its
illegal to import a used car spare part! Also, you cannot import
cars that are more than three years old.
So what does one do?
We break the law, Kirmani jokes. Hes grinning, but his tone
is verging on bitter.
These are people whod be shocked at running a traffic light,
Hussain exclaims comically, pointing at Shah and Kirmani.
We would not run a traffic light, but this country has made
criminals out of all of us, Kirmani laughs.
But smuggling a car part, Hussain interrupts, absolutely!
We walk through customs in big overcoats with parts hidden
in our pockets, hoping we dont get stopped! Kirmani jokes.
Bribing people left, right and centre, Hussain continues,
Using connections!
Were reluctant criminals, says Kirmani.
The three crack up.
Kirmani recounts how he once imported a set of rims for
a classic Mercedes that had been out of production for over
three decades. However, a customs official told Kirmani that it
was illegal to import them and that he couldnt allow it to pass
through customs. The rims, the official had stated, would have to
be auctioned off in a few months by the authorities.
It was only through a concerted effort that I ended up
convincing them and you know what I mean by convincing,
Kirmani says knowingly. And I paid a huge fine on top of that.
Weve all had bad experiences.
Its interesting, you know, Hussain says. The government
passed a law stating that if you went abroad, came back, and, for
example, had a car and its registration papers, you could import
used car parts, but in a reasonable quantity. The only thing is that
customs dont actually follow their own rules.
Participants in the annual
VCCCP car rally

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Corruption and bribery within the government machinery

is rampant in Pakistan. According to a 2011 survey, the not-forprofit, Transparency International, listed Pakistans judiciary
and the police as the most corrupt institutions in the country.
In practice this means that if a law exists, a loophole to exploit
it will usually be found; and if you cant find a loophole then
paperwork can be fobbed or deals made theres always a way.
But you cannot get around the system without being a part
of it not in the simplest or the most elaborate of endeavours
be it entrepreneurial, hobby-related or indeed, just in the
course of day-to-day living.
Given the limitations of the way Pakistans bureaucracy
functions, Kirmani maintains an unflinching confidence in his
workshop. I would be willing to put a car restored by us against
a car restored by anyone else in the world. We have that level of
quality here in the country.
When theyve done with their stories about the search for
car parts, the conversation swings towards to one the central
arguments among collectors. Some vintage car enthusiasts are
purists, striving to restore a vehicle to its original form, from the
engine to the paint. The other school of thought is to not be too
concerned with originality. Hussain explains how the modern
take on vintage car restoration is to preserve the exterior and
interior as much as possible, yet with modern mechanics.
Im not a purist, he admits. People the world over are
junking old engines and putting in a modern set-up; so you have
this beautiful vintage car that drives like a modern vehicle.
Hussain recounts how he wound up plugging a Mazda engine
into his Ford Cortina, but only because the original engine
proved extremely hard to find.
Shah, on the other hand, prides himself as a purist and,
unsurprisingly, uses a medical analogy to explain his reasoning.
I would transplant the heart of a man with the heart of a man,
not a cow, he responds acerbically. The trio bursts out laughing.
I think its important to add we call him Mr. Frankenstein,
Kirmani quips, looking over at Hussain and chuckling.
The monster is not Dr. Frankenstein; hes the one who
creates the monster, Hussain retorts in mock indignation.
So weve got it right! Kirmani says. The room again erupts
in laughter.

hanks to public activities

arranged by the likes of VCCCP
and others, and the enthusiasm of
men like Mushahid Shah, Kamran
Hussain and Haydar Kirmani,
the appreciation and awareness for the
art of vintage cars is more popular than
ever before in Pakistan. The events and
activities in public spaces have created
the possibility of a new hobby and a new
interest, to inspire and evoke a sense of
wonder within youngsters, just as Shah,
Hussain and Kirmani were moved when
they were children.
Citing an example, Kirmani mentions
a public car show that was held in Lahore
a few years ago. We took along three
classic cars and allowed the public to
get their pictures taken in them. It was
incredible; there were queues of up to
two hundred people against each car,
waiting to see the vehicles!

Haydar Kirmani in his workshop

and, right, his collection

He speculates about how much he

could grow his business if the rules
and mindset were different. I could
employ 1,000 people if the government
allowed people like me to import, refurbish and sell classic cars;
its a multi-billion-dollar industry, Kirmani says enthusiastically,
As a nation we have incredible skill and talent. I have an old
man working for me, who, with a hammer and press, can make
you any fender out of any metal. We have a Pagoda Mercedes in
the workshop and half of that car was made by him. Doing that
abroad would have cost you at least $150,000 to restore. We did it
at a fraction of that amount.
Unfortunately, in Pakistan, thanks to the corruption and a
lack of vision, the government hasnt taken any interest in the
immense potential that classic car restoration has to offer on
home turf; even with rich skills, acumen and technology at hand.
If you look at classic cars from the point of view of
investment, they are making more money over stocks and shares,
real estate, paintings..., says Hussain. The value of vintage
cars is rising more than anything else. This is something we as a
country need to latch onto.
Pakistans growth potential is tremendous, thanks to its
strategic geographical location, a large working-age populous,
and rich natural resources. What holds the country back is a lack
of mature governance, and little accountability or transparency
with each successive regime. Provincial rivalry, lack of education,
job opportunities, rising national debt and the unequal
distribution of wealth have also continued to hinder economic
growth. All this has kept the country in a socio-economic
chokehold for the past few years.
Ultimately, however, for these three men, car collecting is not
about business or economics or politics. It is simply a passion
that all three have shared since boyhood. Which begs the obvious
question of whether any of them are looking at acquiring more
cars for their personal collection?
Let me tell you a closely guarded secret, Kirmani says,

WE THOUGHT THIS GARAGE WAS

SOMETHING WE COULD MESS ABOUT
WITH AND TELL OUR WIVES THAT WERE
BUSY ON THE WEEKENDS!

Haydar Kirmani
lowering his voice in a mock conspiratorial manner. A classic car
enthusiast never stops buying cars!
Its a sickness, Hussain nods in agreement.
While the search and eventual procurement of a particular
model always remains on the horizon for a classic car enthusiast,
Shah, Hussain and Kirmani declare that a true hobbyist
continues to rotate his or her cars for the benefit of others.
Unfortunately some people are hoarders, Hussain says.
Vintage car collectors dont appreciate hoarders taking
the cars away from the public eye, agrees Kirmani. You own
a car for a while, enjoy the experience and then sell it off to
let someone else enjoy it. Yet we have some owners here who
have 70 or 80 cars and thats just criminal, especially when you
cant import more classic cars into the country. But imagine, 70
cars could be looked after by 70 enthusiasts and enjoyed by the
public too.
Given that the trio is strongly affiliated with the classic car
community in the city, perhaps they could use their influence to
discourage the hoarders?
Shah, who has remained quiet for a long time, chortles.
Theyre our friends!
And in a country battling extremism and socio-political
instability, finding solace and a sense of relief in a shared passion
is a very useful thing to have.
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A STREETCAR
NAMED DESIRE
T I M E L E SS ST Y L E M E E TS M O D E R N I T Y W I T H T H E
D R I V E D E CA RT I E R C O L L ECT I O N

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Drive de Cartier watch, Dhs21,900, Cartier;

Santos de Cartier, sunglasses, Dhs1,480,
Cartier; leather jacket, Dhs7,365, and
jumper, Dhs1,760, both dunhill.

STYLING BY KATE HAZELL

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MAZEN ABUSROUR

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Drive de Cartier watch, Dhs21,900,

Cartier; Cufflinks, Dhs2,910, Cartier;
sports jacket, Dhs5,885, shirt,
Dhs890, and tie, Dhs650, all dunhill.

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Drive de Cartier watch,

Dhs68,000, Cartier;
Santos Dumont de Cartier
sunglasses Dhs3,700; blazer,
Dhs6,255, shirt, Dhs910,
trousers, Dhs1,145, and tie,
Dhs555, all dunhill.

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Santos Sport de Cartier

sunglasses, Dhs1,480; briefcase,
Dhs11,100; Drive de Cartier
watch, Dhs21,900, all by Cartier;
cashmere top, Dhs4,300;
trousers, Dhs1,190, Salvatore
Ferragamo.

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Drive de Cartier watch small complications, Dhs80,000,

Cartier, shirt, Dhs1,800, Versace; trousers, Dhs1,190,
Salvatore Ferragamo.
Grooming: Emma Gambino at Illumin8 Make-Up Studio.
Model: Piotr at MMG Models. With special thanks to the
Dubai Autodrome for the location, dubaiautodrome.com.

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K E O U G H

LOVE
A P ROP E R I N T ROD U C T ION
TO A N AC T R E S S YO U
M AY A L R E A DY K NOW.
THIS TIME IN HER
OW N WOR DS

Th
There
here iis a w
weird familiarity with
Ri
iley
ley
ey K
Ke
eou that too many people
Riley
Keough
ha
ave
ve wi
wit
tho really knowing Riley
have
without
Ke
eough
eough,
ough, pe
Keough,
perhaps because there
ar
ree so m
many ways to have glimpsed
are
he
er:
r: as a fas
her:
fashion model for Dolce &
Ga
abban
abbana
bbana, D
Gabbana,
Dior, and Victorias Secret;
ass the w
wom
woman born into forever being
kn
nown as
a th
known
the eldest granddaughter
of Elvis, the daughter of Lisa Marie
Presley, and, later, the stepdaughter
of Michael Jackson before Nicolas
Cage (making her perpetual gossipheadline fodder); as that sister of
Dakota Fannings character in The
Runaways, that stripper Nora in Magic
Mike, and that scarlet-haired Capable,
one of the five escaped breeders of a
water-hoarding desert tyrant, in Mad

INTERVIEWED BY CAL FUSSMAN

PHOTOGRAPHS BY

MAGDALENA WOSINSKA
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APRIL 2016

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Max: Fury Road (on the set of which she met her Australian
stuntman of a husband). Though now is a good time to actually
get to know her particularly as a savvy law-school student and
call girl named Christine on the new Starz series The Girlfriend
Experience (premiering April 10), which was inspired by Steven
Soderberghs eponymous 2009 film. Or in the heartfelt indie
Lovesong. Or as a soft-spoken partner in genuine conversation
about moneymaking, confidence, and the mechanics of not exactly
lovemaking, as she was while sitting with Esquires chief What
Ive Learned interviewer, Cal Fussman, at the Sunset Tower Hotel,
in Los Angeles.
> I M N OT S H Y. I M Q U I E T. With my close friends,
I talk a lot. But if Im at a big dinner, Im not gonna walk in and
go introduce myself to everybody. If I dont feel like saying stuff,
I just wont say stuff.
My third-grade teacher actually made me go outside and yell
words across the parking lot just to be louder. I didnt get what
was happening. It felt unnatural. It made me feel like Im shy.
I guess I just took that on for a while. I thought I would never
be able to act because of it.
> I WAS A LWAYS I N T E R E ST E D in having my own
money not my familys money.
I dont think it had anything to do with me being Elvis
granddaughter. None of my drive was [from a] need to get away
from my family legacy! I wanted to save up the money to go to
film school.
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People always ask, How crazy is it that your grandpa was Elvis
and your stepdad was Michael Jackson? I make them happy and
say, Yeah, its sooo crazy! But actually, I dont think about it, ever.
The reality is I know as much about my grandpa as youd know
about a grandpa you never met.
But I always wanted my own money, and I just loved working.
Id work at a jewellery store supergluing flowers on sandals for
$30 a week. Id set up a little store in the living room and sell stuff
that Id been given for a dollar to my mothers staff.
I remember this Disney watch that Michael gave me. I think I
sold that for five.
> I D O N T K N OW W H Y modelling worked for me, because
Im short [at 57 shes actually only just under the commonly
cited model minimum height of 58 ]. But I liked it because it let
me buy my own furniture.
> I STA RT E D WO R K I NG S O M U C H that I didnt finish
high school, and then I didnt go to film school. So after a while,
I thought, F***, what do I do? Im going to try acting.
But I was battling that stigma. Oh, Rileys too shy. And when

my agent got me auditions, I wouldnt go. I was really scared.

Then came an audition for The Runaways. And I thought, If I
dont try at least once, Ill never know what wouldve happened.
So I went in terrified and clueless and sat with the casting
director. We did a scene three times. I almost blacked out, I was so
nervous. I thought it was the worst thing Id ever done. I booked it.
Im thinking, I dont even know what Im doing. Im not an actor.
Two days in, I started to get it.
> I H A D A L I T T L E LU C KY ST R E A K for a minute,
booked another movie. Booked another movie. Booked another
movie. This is f***ing easy.
I see this with a lot of people who start acting. You go in I
got this, and youre cocky, and people like that, so they hire you.
Then you get beaten up a little bit. Everything crashes. Oh my
God. Am I a s*** actor? Then youre not so cocky.
When I was about 21, nothing for a year.
> W H AT D O YO U D O in a year like that? Make bad
decisions.
> P E O P L E M A K E YO U T H I N K you need to audition for
everything, and that the goal is to make millions and millions and
be an action star and be in the biggest blockbusters. And yeah,
some movies are cool as f***. Like, I loved being in Mad Max.
Thats cool. But no one ever said: You dont have to go on things
you dont want to go on. I dont care if I do one movie every two
years. Thats important.

> I N T H E G I R L F R I E N D E X PE R I E N C E , I didnt want

Christine just to be the hot girl whos in law school and does sex
work but also is smart. I guess we all wanted her to be kind of
cynical and smart, and kind of like a man about her life and her
career, and not really emotionally connected to intellectualising
her feelings about things.
Theres adult scenes in every episode. I did talk to a girl
who used to work in the industry, and she said she would find
one thing that she liked about the person and just focus on that
the whole time. I didnt really do that, but I thought that was
interesting. What I did do was I became kind of mechanical, and
I had no emotional connection whatsoever to anything. I didnt
feel gross, didnt feel awkward. I didnt feel anything. It was like
having a cup of coffee.
> I T M A D E M E R E A L I SE that it isnt I dont know. On
one hand, Im like, its really special and its the closest you get to
the person you love, so it should just be for the person you love.
But then another part of me is like, is that something that people
just teach us?
> I M W R I T I NG A F I L M AT T H E M O M E N T,
hopefully going to direct it this year. No actors. The leads are
real people. Its based on a lot of true stories. Its gonna be cool,
I think.
> B U T Y E A H , J UST F I L M FO R NOW. Eventually
I want to move to Hawaii and chill forever.
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The Toyota Prius

launches in Dubai

HYBRID
THEORY
WILL ELECTRIC CARS SUCCEED IN THE GULF?
BY DAMIEN REID

orway is home to one of the worlds biggest

oil reserves in the North Sea. However,
while western Europes largest crude oil
exporting nation is taking the same hit
on barrel prices as the rest of us, it was
also an early adopter of affordable,
alternatively fuelled cars, long before the
current petrol crisis hit fossil-fuel producing countries.

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So it was an eye opener when we visited the country last year.

Instead of the streets of Oslo being full of high horsepower V8,
V12 and turbocharged petrol-engine cars as the Middle East is, the
capital was full of Teslas, BMW i3s, Nissan Leafs, Toyota Priuses
and other electric and hybrid cars. This is a country where zeroemission cars accounted for 17.1 percent of new car registrations
in 2015, despite remaining a big player in the exploration of fossil
fuels. It makes a good case study for this region as the UAE chases

its green plan to be one of the leading

sustainable cities by 2020 as part of
Dubais Vision 2021 plan.
That said, convincing someone to
switch from a gas-guzzling V8 luxury
car to electric could be a lot more
difficult, given that our petrol prices
have long been among the lowest in
the world. Norways citizens have long
been encouraged to lighten their carbon
footprint thanks to its petrol last year
being the most expensive in the world
at $2.33 per litre (compared to the current
price of $0.37 here).
So how much of encouragement
would the average UAE resident need
Volkswagen Middle East and
to swap their humble four-cylinder
Al Nabooda Automobiles, in
collaboration with Dubai Municipality, take
runabout for an equally mundane electric
delivery of 10 VW Golf GTE hybrid models
car? This is a question that a number of
car brands and the UAEs government
The Managing Director of BMWs distributor for Dubai,
hope to answer with a range of new initiatives.
Sharjah and the Northern Emirates, Mr Stathis I. Stathis,
roviding the necessary infrastructure charging stations
welcomed DEWAs initiative to install the 100 charging stations,
P
and cars that can survive in this climate is the first
as it potentially opens an avenue to introduce the baby i3 city
necessary step for green cars to be a feasible option. Last October,
runabout. The inauguration of the first electric vehicle charging
Volkswagen Middle East supplied 10 plug-in hybrid, petrolstation in Dubai is a momentous occasion for Dubai, he said.
electric Golf GTE cars to Dubai Municipality for a 12-month trial.
here is no getting around the fact that electric and hybrid
The brands vehicles are undergoing urban evaluation, which
T
cars are more expensive to buy than conventional petrol
includes range and hot weather adaptability. H.E. Hussain Nasser
versions, even if there are savings to be made over time on fuel.
Lootah, director general of Dubai Municipality, has spoken about
It means that governments cannot just install the necessary
why the city entered into this partnership. Dubai aims to
infrastructure and then expect people to switch. They need
become one of the worlds leading sustainable cities by 2020 and
further prompts.
wide-scale deployment of electric vehicles is a key aspect to
The success of Norways scheme stems from the generous
achieving this goal, he said. Volkswagen hybrid vehicles are in
incentive programme offered to those who choose the electric
parallel with our strategic vision for the United Arab Emirates
and hybrid path. To use the VW Golf GTE as an example, the
Vision 2021 and Dubai Plan 2021, which aim for an environmentlocal dealer in Oslo sells a regular diesel Golf for around $40,000
friendly, smart, sustainable and connected city.
whereas a GTE plug-in hybrid is yours for about $31,000 after
But for full electric vehicles to meet Dubais 2021 Plan, there
discount. Without the tax breaks it would be $10,000 more
needs to be an established charging infrastructure. A network
expensive than the diesel and youd still have to pay for parking
of 100 electric vehicle charging stations has just been installed
on the outskirts of town and the other sundries.
across Dubai and now await the green light from the Dubai
Further perks include free all-day parking in Oslos CBD
Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA). According to DEWA,
with free charging. That basically means free commuting for
about 60 chargers are mid-level stations in parking areas that
the all-electric brigade as well as being exempt from all taxes,
take two hours to top up, while high-level chargers for petrol
registration fees, road and ferry tolls. Its as close to free motoring
stations can recharge a car in 10 to 20 minutes.
as you could expect, while also enjoying VIP parking spots at
In addition, there are about 40 new Green Parking car
shopping malls.
parks across Dubai that will soon unveil free charging for
The results of this programme speak for themselves.
an introductory two-year period. We have provided this
Beginning over a decade ago, official projections estimated there
infrastructure and taken the initiative to bring this to the
would be 50,000 electric cars on Norways roads by 2017, when
country, DEWAs chief executive, Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer
in fact as of last April there were 66,000 electric cars, such as the
said. This is the start of DEWA implementing a pioneering
Tesla and Nissan Leaf, with a further 8,000 hybrids such as the
electric vehicle charging station infrastructure initiative. It is an
Toyota Prius.
important step towards achieving the objectives of a sustainable
This region will have
smart city and transforming Dubai into the smartest city in the
WE PREDICT THAT THE
to emulate some of these
world, he added.
FOURTH GENERATION PRIUS
perks to encourage people
Motorists will soon be able to obtain DEWA cards for use
WILL APPEAL TO YOUNG
to make a similar switch,
at public charging stations which, along with home charging
TRENDSETTERS WHO WANT
as experts here have
costs, can be paid with the regular monthly DEWA bills, while
EVERYTHING THAT IS NEW AND
COOL, WITH THE ADDED BENEFIT
suggested. The Middle
those without existing DEWA accounts can obtain an ID card
OF BEING ENVIRONMENTALLY
East regional director of
and pay post-paid fees as per consumption, much like a phone
ETHICAL AND BRIMMING WITH
the UK-based Transport
card. Most cars will be charged at home overnight but if they
TECHNOLOGY
Research Laboratory, Mr
find the battery is low during the day, they can go to the closest
SAUD ABBASI, MANAGING
Akin Adamson, has called
charging station, DEWAs executive vice president of strategy
D I R E C TO R O F TOYOTA AT
for subsidies on electric
and business development, Waleed Salman, said.
A L - F U T TA I M M OTO R S
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cars in the UAE. There are a number of challenges that need

to be overcome before we see mainstream adoption of electric
vehicles in the UAE, he said. Electric vehicles are currently
too expensive unless supported by government subsidies, so
pricing needs to reduce significantly. This could, for example,
be considered alongside discouraging the use of more polluting
vehicles, he added.
The recent launch of the Toyota Prius is an example of how
the numbers stack up for transitioning towards green cars.
Launched in 1997, the Prius has since sold over 3.5 million cars
around the globe before making its UAE debut in February.
It retails from Dhs89,900 with a 1.8-litre, four-cylinder petrol
engine, helped along by an electric motor. By comparison, a
1.8-litre Toyota Corolla with similar dimensions retails from
Dhs60,500, but is nearly twice as thirsty. Independent agency,
Edmunds in the US claims the Corolla uses 8.8 litres of fuel per
100km, averaged over city and highway cycles, compared to 5.45
L/100km for the Prius. That gives the Prius a range of 945km,
compared to the Corollas 690km, despite its 51 litre tank holding
nine litres less than the Corollas.
What this means is that the petrol/
THERE ARE
electric Prius is a lot more economical.
SOME NEGATIVE
But at a Dhs29,400 premium over
PERCEPTIONS
the Corolla, and with current UAE
TO OVERCOME, SUCH
fuel prices at Dhs1.36 per litre, the
AS THE MINDSET
difference in annual fuel costs (based
THAT IT IS TOO HOT
on an average of 40,000km driving per
HERE FOR THIS
year), will mean it requires more than
TECHNOLOGY. WERE
10 years of driving the Prius before you
ALL GUILTY OF NOT
are financially better off in a hybrid
REALISING HOW FAST
over a regular petrol car in the UAE.
THIS TECHNOLOGY

IS ADAPTING

he costs of making the switch

begs the most important
question: if its not about pure
economics, who are the potential customers in this region and
what are their views on hybrid cars? Saud Abbasi, managing
director of Toyota at Al-Futtaim Motors obviously has an idea of
his target market. We predict that the fourth generation Prius
will appeal to young trendsetters who want everything that is
new and cool with the added benefit of being environmentally
ethical and brimming with technology, he has said.
Presumably he is talking about early adopters of new
technologies, and environmentalists who often willingly pay
more to live a healthier, more responsible lifestyle. But as Mr
Abbasi would agree, given the poor sales of the Lexus CT200h
hybrid in the UAE, thats currently a small market at best.
To find out more about what car drivers in the region think
about hybrids, James Piecowye is a good person to talk to.
The presenter of Nightline on Dubai Eye radio, his show
includes a weekly car
segment. What feedback has
he had from his listeners?
There are a group
of people who might be
interested, he told Esquire.
Mid-level managers,
teachers, people who come
from countries where ecofriendly vehicles are already
widely used and who want
to be at the front of the wave.
A Nissan charging
Those people are here but it is
station in the UK
a niche group, he says.
JAMES PIECOWYE,
DUBAI EYE
NIGHTLINE

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The Nissan Leaf

electric car

But then he lists the most common objections to making

the switch. Some of these are legitimate worries. They may be
installing charging stations in Dubai but what happens when
you drive to Liwa, or you break down on the way to Oman?
But there are also negative perceptions to overcome, some
legitimate, others less so. This is a climate where a normal
battery only lasts for 12 to 18 months, so people worry about
cars that run on them. They have actually been testing the
technology here and in the Nevada desert climate, so they have
worked through a lot of that, but there is still the mindset that
it is too hot here. Were all guilty of not realising how fast this
technology is adapting. It works pretty well now, plus they
come with a warranty of typically five years, so youve at least
got fallback.
He also notes how firmly drivers are wedded to the idea of
driving a big SUV. Thats partly because its a car most people
wouldnt be able to afford in their home country. And there is
also the perception here that driving a 4x4 is safer, given the
erratic road habits here. In fact, as Piecowye notes, they are also
prone to rolling a lot more in the event of a serious accident.
And finally, do people really connect with the issue of CO2
emissions here? Piecowye thinks not. No ones done a really
good job of what that means right here. Hybrids make so much
sense but people cant quite rationalise why that is the case.
So what could provoke a shift? Piecowye agrees that a
government agency shifting to using a hybrid as a fleet car would
send a huge message. However that comes with its own risks.
The Volvo estate is phenomenal but it is pegged as an Emirates
fleet car. Same goes for the Camry. Its seen as being the taxi
car. Why are we not seeing more people in the minivans like the
Toyota Previa? They are seen as hotel cars.
Still, it might be a risk worth taking especially for more
elite fleet cars that spend 100 percent of their time commuting
within the city limits. Add the incentives as a complete package
and thats when you start winning big time, chasing down
Norways 17.1 percent zero emission marketshare as families
and the middle management sector see it as a way to minimise
and consolidate their monthly spend. And, as history has
proven, once theres an electric or hybrid car in the driveway
with convenient fuel billing and parking, theres usually no
going back to the old days of fossil fuel.
So whether the UAE will follow Norways path in
encouraging the next generation of environmentally savvy
customers to buy a Prius in time to fulfil its Vision 2021 remains
to be seen. But the at least the fuse has been lit.

FASHION

BEAUTY

PEOPLE

LIFESTYLE

ART

INTERIORS

BRIDE

JUNIOR

ON FILM
ART/COLLECTORS + CURATORS
In honour of Art Dubais 10th anniversary, Harpers
Bazaar Art has produced a special lm capturing the
Middle Eastern art scene through interviews with the
regions most important protagonists. Watch it now
over at HarpersBazaarArabia.com

ARTISTIC DISCOVERY

EXPLOSIONS OF COLOUR
Iraqi-British artist Athier Mousawis latest series Machine Hearts visualises
the mechanical heart of an active solider through poignant symbolism.

SWEET NOTHINGS
ART/ARTISTS
Iranian artist Parviz Tanavoli incorporates his
iconic symbolism into jewellery pieces.
Maryam Eisler meets the artist in London.

CREDIT HERE

HarpersBazaarArabia.com/Art
160

HarpersBazaarArabia.com December 2015

118

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The day Hillary

Clinton launched
her campaign for
president of
the United States,
June 13, 2015.

THE LAST
OPTIMIST AT

THE
APOCALYPSE
THE MODERN,
E XT R E M I ST
R I G H T I N A M E R I CA
WAS P R E T T Y M U C H
INVENTED IN
O P P OS I T I O N
TO H I L L A RY
C L I N TO N ( A N D
H E R H U S BA N D ) .
A N D N OW I TS
U P TO H E R ( A LO N E )
TO STO P I T
BY TOM JUNOD

O
PA RT I

Okay, maybe youre not so excited that

Hillary Clinton is running for president.
After all, shes been around for a long
time, theres always some kind of
controversy swirling around her, shes
no spring chicken, shes married to Bill,
she wears those jackets, plus shes so
serious and wonky all the time. Whats
left to be said? Youve already made up
your mind about her. She might not be
as crazy as those guys on the other side
but that doesnt mean that you have to
be happy about the prospect of another
President Clinton.
But what if the story isnt about what
you know but rather about what you
dont? Politicians always say that theres
never been more at stake in an election
when it happens to be the election in
which theyre running.
But what if, this time, thats true?
What if this is, like, it, the main event,
the conclusion of a long-running series,
the climax of a nearly metaphysical
battle that started before most people
had ever heard of her? Think of a story
you read once upon a time in which
someone is selected for a fate more
profound than anybody suspects think
Harry Potter but with Hermione, the
grind, the perpetual A student, as the
one scarred by the Dark Lords lightning.
Sure, Hillary Clinton is an unlikely
prospect for such a heroine. Shes so
familiar. What she says might change but
shes always the same. But youve read
the books. If a person seems to be an
unlikely fulcrum for forces much larger
than herself, that only means she is.
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PA RT I I

SHE STANDS IN A CLASSROOM, writing on a whiteboard. She

is alone alone as she ever is and unhurried. There are some
people in the room, but they give her space, and her back is to
them. She does not turn around. She continues in her condensed
handwriting. To her right hangs an American flag and, taped
to the board, the text of the Pledge of Allegiance; to her left is
the message left to her by the teacher who normally presides
over this room. It says, in black marker, Go, Hillary! You are an
inspiration to women and young girls across the globe. Then, in
red, Thank you and Happy Holidays to you and your family.
Her own answer is partially hidden by her body standing
close to the board, she looks like a painter who doesnt want
anyone to spy her handiwork. Shes wearing a high-collared
jacket thats the blazing pink of a childrens antibiotic, black
slacks, and black boots, surprisingly pointy and high at the heel.
She is not tall, but she has a strong physical presence, and her
expensive blonde coif identifies her instantly, even with her back
turned. She stops writing for a second and inspects what shes
left behind before stepping back and allowing people to see.
Leeann Thank you for teaching! And, Happy Holidays to
you and your students! Hillary Rodham Clinton.
It is the perfect HRC (as her aides call her) moment.
The care that she took to find out the teachers name and
employ it; the effort she expended on her handwriting, which
has the spindly flourish of calligraphy; the time and fierce
concentration she applied to a message at once graceful and
perfectly commonplace, to a teacher yet, in a school she is,
indeed, nothing if not diligent. And when she is finished, she
does what she does with everyone she meets, greeting me
by name in that bracingly enthusiastic voice of hers, then
shows me to a low table set for our interview, with two small
bottles of water already poured to the halfway point of two
identical glasses.
How are you doing tonight? I ask.
Excellent! Excellent! she says, though no exclamation
marks can quite capture the exclamatory nature of her reply
the carry of her voice in the nearly empty classroom or the
sudden and almost startled alacrity of her wide-open blue eyes.
We had a good event
I have been following her campaign for more than a month
by now. I have seen many good events. I have seen events
in Iowa and New Hampshire, in Boston and New York, in
Nashville and Charleston. I have heard her deliver variations of
the same speech over and over, introduce the same plans, tell
the same jokes, play the same songs I have seen her, in other

WHAT DO
MEN THINK OF
HILLARY NOW?
WE ASKED MEN, CHOSEN
AT RANDOM FROM ACROSS
AMERICA, THAT VERY SIMPLE
QUESTION
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words, prove herself adept at the politicians task of making

the novel seem familiar and the familiar seem novel. She never
gets tired, just tiring, for she applies her indefatigability to
the daily exercise of what her aides call staying in her lane
and executing. She doesnt try to appear extraordinary, only
formidably accomplished, and on most days she succeeds at
doing just that.
At the same time, we have all seen history itself run a very
different campaign brutal, intemperate, improvisatory,
and utterly over-the-top. There has been Trump, of course.
There has been terror. And on some days they seem to have
joined forces for the purpose of mocking the pretensions of
a politician like Hillary Clinton or any politician who tries
to make believe that history is driven by anything more than
madness and blood. Every day brings what feels like a new
outrage or a new horror or a new loosening of the bonds
of either civility or civilisation; every day history has asked
Hillary Clinton to respond.
Tonight she did. Tonight, at the gymnasium of Woodbury
Middle School in Salem, New Hampshire, she opened a
town-hall meeting with these words: I want to begin by
saying something about the recent events in California. It
had been a week since two Muslims one of them Americanborn and American-raised went on a spree of slaughter
in San Bernardino. It had been one day since Donald Trump
proposed refusing all Muslims entry to the United States.
HRCs response was very much in keeping with who she is as
a politician she assured her audience that shes been laying
out a plan to defeat homegrown radical jihadists and that
Trump and his fellow Republicans have been playing into
ISIS hands with their rhetoric.
She sets great store by the power of laying out plans. She
holds firmly to the belief that America abandons its values at
great peril, not only morally but strategically. But we know that
already. What I want to know, now that the event is over and
Im sitting with her in the classroom in Salem, is whether she
knows the stakes of her run the role shes been chosen to
play, her fate. Since I dont want to sound crazy, I simply ask
her why she wants to be president now, at this time in history,
in this season of extremism and attack.
And this is how she answers, in part:
I think were at a real turning point, and I dont want
to see the America that I love that gave me and my parents
and my immigrant grandfather and everybody that I know
a real chance to live up to their potential in any way
diminished I dont think we have any choice but to wage
and win this election.
She knows!

SUMMERFIELD, 59, INDEPENDENT

OIL PRODUCER, MONTANA: I like her
brightness, her energy, her vitality. And I like
her guts. But I think shes a rank opportunist.
JASON, 39, FILM PRODUCER, LOS
ANGELES: I guess I like her. Shes a capable
politician.
TOM, 66, RETIRED, PITTSBURGH: I dont
think she can be trusted. Im a retired Army
Reserve officer. I could still be called to
active duty tomorrow. But if she became
commander in chief and I was asked to
salute her, I would resign my commission.
CAMERON, 21, MARKETING DIRECTOR,
DES MOINES: She just hasnt stopped.
Thats amazing.

BRAD, 51, AUTHOR, KENTUCKY: My first

impression of her, back in the day, was she
kind of vulnerable. [But now] her skin is so
thick that no matter what they say to her,
she still does the job.
DENNIS, 63, TEACHER, OKLAHOMA:
Not to be at all sexist, but it is what it is:
I do not trust that she, as a woman, would
be able to do what a man could with the
same capabilities.
AJ, 31, MUSICIAN, BOSTON: Shes been
flying around in private jets since she was
the First Lady. She gets paid, like, $250,000
per speaking engagement that doesnt
sound like us. How can she really know what
we need from her as president?

PA RT I I I

OF COURSE, SHE SOUNDED PARANOID back when she

first said it participants in apocalyptic battles always sound
paranoid when they first say theyre participants in apocalyptic
battles. They sound especially paranoid when they answer a
question in apocalyptic terms when the question was really
about, well, martial infidelity. This was a long time ago. This was
back in 1998. Bill Clinton was the president of the United States
of America. Hillary Clinton was the First Lady. Hed offended
people by being a resourceful rascal. Shed offended people by
saying something about cookies. Theyd both offended people
by trying and failing to bring about universal health care and
by trying (and sort of failing) to allow gays to serve openly
in the military. Theyd been under investigation for years for
something theyd supposedly done in Arkansas when, really,
everyone knew the investigation was about sex and secrets.
Hed been accused of rape in the nascent right-wing press;
shed been accused of murder; and now they were finally caught.
He had a secret, indeed hed had sex with a young woman in
the White House and hed testified, under oath, that he hadnt.
He had sinned all right; he had sinned against her, his wife,
so that now even she couldnt defend him. But she did. And she
defended him by inveighing against them against the vast
right-wing conspiracy.
She sounded a little crazy. She sounded guilty of, at the
very least, bad faith. Except that what she was saying turned
out to be true there really was an obscurely wealthy man,
Richard Mellon Scaife, bankrolling the attacks against her and
her husband; there really was a right-wing media spawned by
structural changes overtaking the news business, and it had
found, in the Clintons, the template for every story that was to
follow. Her only error was a matter of language. She used the
word vast to describe what she faced. It wasnt vast, yet
It is now. Nearly 30 years later, Richard Mellon Scaife has
evolved into the Koch brothers, the then-fledgling right-wing
media now claims the biggest and most powerful cable-news
network among its ranks, and the money unleashed by the
Citizens United decision has conjured a ring of super PACs
organised specifically against her candidacy. The vast right-wing
conspiracy is still here, and yet and heres the thing so is she.
The vast right-wing conspiracy has outlasted everybody but her.
From the start, the attacks on her have had a tendency to resolve
themselves in the most mundane terms the Whitewater
investigation turned out to be about a husband lying about
infidelity; the Benghazi investigation turned out to be about, of
all things, Sidney Blumenthal. But that doesnt mean that both

CARL, 62, CONSULTANT, MICHIGAN:

I think she has bigger balls than Trump.
I would put my money on her in a street
fight with Trump.
GREGORY, 19, STUDENT, CALIFORNIA:
I really like her sassy wit and the facial
expressions she makes in the debates.
She seems like kind of an open book,
and very bold.
WILL, 27, RESTAURANT MANAGER,
ALABAMA: Im kind of indifferent at this
point in time.
MARTIN, 58, NONPROFIT DIRECTOR,
ALABAMA: Shes acceptable. She seemed
fairly interesting and competent as First
Lady. I remember the Im not going to sit

sides havent known the stakes all along. Shes always chosen
to fight on metaphysical ground; shes always defended herself
cosmically because shes been attacked cosmically, and so shes
lived to fight another day. But now that day is here. She helped
create the modern right wing; the modern right wing helped
create her; and now there is no place for them to go except at
each other. The 2016 election is nothing less than the climactic
event of the last three decades of American politics, and its an
amazing and scary thing to be able to write these words without
irony the future of the Free World lies in the balance.

PA RT I V

SHE LIKES TO LAUGH. Shes famous for it the forced bark

of her parodists. But in fact her laugh is the most spontaneous
thing about her. Its the most appealing thing about her, because
it shows her willingness to be entertained. Shes not particularly
funny, but she likes funny people. You can hear her laughing
when she disappears into crowds; you can see her laughing when
shes being introduced before her speeches. Her laugh overtakes
her. It startles her, and sometimes she bends slightly at the waist
to accommodate its force. Its restorative; it brings light into her
eyes and her high, round cheekbones into sharp relief. She has
a radiance sometimes, almost gravid, and its usually when shes
been laughing.
Its not like that in the classroom. Its not that she doesnt
laugh in private or that her laughter is meant only for public
display. She laughs easily and often. But when she laughs
onstage, she looks like what she is the most famous woman
in the world, laughing. In the classroom, alone, she looks both
tougher and more vulnerable than you might expect. She is sixtyeight years old, and she is all that stands between Ted Cruz and
the White House, Marco Rubio and the White House, Donald
Trump and the White House. Its not as if shes unaware of what
happens if she happens to lose. Its not as if shes unaffected by
the extremism on display on what seems a daily basis.
It certainly enhances the sense of responsibility I feel to try
to make my case as effectively as possible. Its also troubling to
me. Its so contrary to what I think politics should be about, and
the kind of people who should run for the most important job
in the world. So I try not to be distracted by it or be knocked off
course by it. But I do feel extra pressure when I hear some of
what they say Its deeply offensive to me that they are setting
out an agenda thats both unmoored from reality and really, at its
core, mean-spirited about the American people and the struggles
so many are facing.
Does that mean that she considers herself a firewall between

around baking cookies. I thought, Oh,

good for you.
MIKE, 44, WILDLIFE-REMOVAL
SPECIALIST, TAMPA: I think a woman
president would be a strong figure, and I
think a woman would be a more empathetic
president. I just think she would be a terrible
president. It has nothing to do with her
being a woman. It has everything to do with
who she is. Truthfully, I think shes a snake in
the grass.
AUSTIN, 24, LANDSCAPER, OKLAHOMA
CITY: Ive known who she is my whole life,
of course everybody does, you know?
She seems like a real nice lady. But I dont
like her. Shes not even in the White House

yet and shes all kinds of covered up with

scandal of one sort or another.
TAWM, 37, ARBORIST, WASHINGTON:
I like her, but I think a career of being a
politician just lends itself to a smarmy,
less-than-likable bent to her personality.
I think thats just her being a victim of the
political system and how she always has to
be covering her a** and thinking about the
next election.
ALEXANDER, 29, NONPROFIT PRESIDENT,
SAN FRANCISCO: She is basically a biggovernment crony.
TIM, 65, BUSINESS OWNER, WYOMING:
I dont like or dislike Hillary Clinton. She
seems to be a pathological liar. She would
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an extremist candidate and the White House?

I think to some extent thats a fair description. But I have
to win. I have to win to be a firewall against that extreme
partisanship and that real rejection of compromise.
A few minutes later, shes talking about a suggestion thats
been made about Trump that his very extremism will force a
reckoning with currents that have lain submerged in the body
politic for a long time. She rejects it. I think that what hes
saying about people is really shameless We live in a world of
instantaneous communication. When he says something, hes not
just talking to whoever those people are who come to his rallies.
Hes talking to the whole world, and what hes saying plays right
into the hands of a group like ISIS Its fact-free but its not
cost-free. Thats another reason we have to win. We have to make
it very clear to the rest of the world that the United States is still
the best opportunity-creator and freedom-defender that the
world has ever seen.
That makes three. That is the third time, in a short interview,
that Hillary Clinton says that she has to win. Now, this will not
surprise anyone who believes that what has always distinguished
her is the overweening quality of her ambition her willingness
to say anything, do anything, countenance anything, and
above all endure anything in her quest for power. And yes, an
argument can be made that the determination and resolve she
has exhibited since announcing her candidacy originates in the
simple fact that this is her last chance. But thats just it: she is not
just the first person targeted by the right wing; she is, right now,
the last person with the chance to stop it. It is one thing to want
to win as a matter of ambition. It is another to feel that you have
to win as a matter of responsibility. She is the only candidate
with a chance of winning the presidency from either party
who speaks of preserving what the US has rather than tearing
it down and starting over. She is the only one who rejects the
language of radicalism in her speeches. She is, indeed, the only
instinctive moderate left-leaning though she may be.
The candidate who has a chance to become the first woman
president turns out to be the last optimist at the apocalypse.

cynical. Her supporters turned out to be right. Obama came

to Washington saying theres no red America, theres no blue
America, says one of Hillary Clintons close friends. That was
just wrong. Theres a battle going on over who the country works
for. Its going to be a pitched battle, because people dont give up
power easily. Theyre not going to roll over. You have to win the
argument, and Hillary knows that.
She has always known that, and now she has a chance to
prove it. The election of 2008 was supposed to be epochal; it was
not. The election of 2012 was supposed to be decisive; it was not.
The president who was supposed to heal us only showed us the
depth of our wounds; the country that congratulated itself for
electing a black man to its highest office now stands riven by its
most ancient and primal resentments and hatreds; the right wing
that seemed outflanked by history in 2008 and demographics in
2012 has doubled down on unrepentant extremism. And the only
person who can stop its ascendancy who can, in the words of
a close advisor, break its back turns out to be the person the
right wing was designed to destroy.
They know it, too: the Republican candidates. Even before
Donald Trump unsettled the race and unhinged the rhetoric,
they measured how far they could go by how far they could go
in their hostility towards Hillary Clinton. In one debate after
another, they tried to prove their toughness to Republican voters
by saying tough things about a woman they knew Republican
voters feared and despised. Chris Christie accused her of
supporting the systemic murder of children and vowed to
prosecute her should he be given the opportunity to debate
her. Carly Fiorina called herself Hillary Clintons worst
nightmare. Marco Rubio, nearly trembling with his own sense
of righteousness, flatly called her a liar. And Trump bragged
that his contributions to the Clinton Foundation empowered him
to compel her attendance at his wedding, the implication being
that he and he alone was strong enough to make Hillary kneel.
She was their historical enemy, and so she was the foundation
for what their campaigns would become. A presidential race
in which all candidates understood that there was nothing too
extreme they could say about Hillary Clinton evolved into a race
in which they realised that there was nothing too extreme they
could say about anything or anybody at all.
And then came Paris and San Bernardino.

I S
PA RT V

IT WASNT SUPPOSED TO BE HER. It was supposed to be

him. It was supposed to be Barack Obama he was supposed
to defeat the partisan forces in which she was ensnared by
transcending them altogether. She is not a transcendent figure.
She does not pretend to be. She does not even want to be. When
she ran against him for the Democratic nomination in 2008,
her supporters believed that he was naive; his, that she was

sell our country down the pike if it would

help the Clinton Foundation.
JUSTIN, 38, MINISTER, NASHVILLE:
I respect her, if nothing else, because she is
not one who will let folks beat her down.
ERIC, 46, OPERATIONS MANAGER,
VERMONT: I would love to see a female
president. Unfortunately, I think she is the
epitome of what is wrong with American
politics. Her opinions seem to be completely
driven by polls.
DEREK, 49, ACTOR, OREGON: She just
doesnt come across credible. There seems
to be more to her agenda that she hasnt
quite explained.
CHRISTOPHER, 25, SALES ASSOCIATE,

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SHE IS NOT A PERFECT CANDIDATE. She never has been.

Her friends and supporters say that, as well as her opponents.
She doesnt have the oratorical powers of Barack Obama or her

NEW JERSEY: I think shes a war criminal and

a warmonger.
CHARLES, 68, TECHNICIAN, ARKANSAS:
I have a lot of respect for Hillary Clinton.
As she has grown older and more
sophisticated, I think she has become a
person I consider to be quite reasonable,
quite intelligent, and I might even say
enlightened in regards to her views on
subjects that are the big hot-button issues:
gays, abortion, immigration, things like that.
I think shes the only reasonable person
whos a candidate for president.
GIL, 84, RETIRED, CALIFORNIA: I find her
untrustworthy. Shes a conniver.
RUSSELL, 57, FARMER, SOUTH CAROLINA:

Theres just something about her personality

its a little abrasive and a little arrogant.
You know, after so many years of Hillary, its
like, Oh, go away.
DAVID, 41, RETAIL ASSOCIATE, VERMONT:
She is a strong woman and a status-quo
politician, and she would probably do an
okay job. But I still feel like we as a country
deserve better.
CHRISTOPHER, 20, STUDENT, MONTANA:
First time I started to hear about Hillary
was back in 2008 I was young and I
was a Republican, so obviously my first
impressions werent great. I have since
warmed to her slightly. She is very, very
savvy on how to play the game and get

husband; she cant change her fortunes with a single speech.

But shes a student, and shes not averse to studying herself. She
is well aware of her strengths and weaknesses, says one of her
closest friends and advisors, and so she knows how to get better.
Shes not the same person she was five years ago. Being able to
read an audience, and then in real time to emphasise the part of
the speech that people are getting: thats something shes gotten
better and better at. Shes better than most pundits give her
credit for.
This is true. Anyone who says that shes a lousy politician
hasnt watched crowds respond to her or, more importantly,
hasnt seen her respond to crowds. She loves it, says a former
aide. Whats more, you can see that she loves it, and if thats not
the basis of political talent, its at least the basis of something
more important if youre a Clinton forgiveness. Moreover, she
has a power that none of the other candidates except possibly
Trump possess, and thats celebrity. Is celebrity a power that
might help a candidate actually obtain power? We dont know
yet. But when you see its pull at a Hillary Clinton campaign
event, you see what it does do when its blended with technology
it keeps people interested. It keeps them from getting bored,
which is a good thing for a candidate who mentions three or four
policy proposals a speech. Strangely, celebrity even humanises
her, because it mediates the distance between her and her
audience. When she works the line the border between her
apparatus of security and staff and her supporters what people
do, if they get close enough, is hand her their phone so she can
take a selfie with them, and what they do if they dont get close
enough is hold their phone aloft so they can take a photo of
her from a better angle. You can see it from behind: a picket of
extended arms and a mosaic of Hillary Clinton pieced together
on a hundred swaying tiny black screens.
The Tyranny of the Selfie, she says to me in the classroom.
But youre good at it.
Well, thats what people ask for. If Im going to try to get
to everybody, I have to be good at it. It used to be and I was
talking to President Obama about this the other day it used
to be that you would do an event like this [in Salem] and then
you would shake hands with people and they would talk to you.
They would say, I liked what you said about this or You didnt
mention that or Can I tell you this? And it was a constant
learning and absorbing experience. Now its just Can I take a
selfie? Can I take a picture? People just want to capture that
moment, and I just try to be accommodating.
Her best moments on the stump, however, involve something
much more personal than technology or celebrity. No, its not
the part of her speech where she talks about her immigrant
grandfather working in the lace factory in Scranton. Its not even

exactly what she wants.

GREG, 30, SELF-EMPLOYED, WEST
VIRGINIA: I dislike her adamantly.
Everything Ive come to know about her
from the media, from watching her as shes
held various posts, as a senator for the state
of New York, as the secretary of state
everything about her is shrouded in layers
of controversy.
CHARLES, 62, COMBAT INSTRUCTOR,
EAST TEXAS: You know about Benghazi?
This was deliberate, she damn well knew
they were going to die, she didnt give a
crap. She knew this was going to happen,
she could have stopped it, but she did
nothing. We lost Americans because shes a

the part of her speech where she talks about her granddaughter
and expresses hope that everybodys grandchild will have the
same kind of opportunity her own grandchild has. Shes no
better than most politicians are at that kind of thing, and maybe
a little worse, because shes so clearly trying to relate to people
if youre a normal person, you never want to seem like youre
trying to act like a normal person. She is most authentic when
shes drawing from an experience that no one in her audience
has ever had, because its her experience and hers alone. This is
what they ask her at the town halls: If youre elected president,
are you going to be tough enough to handle the Republicans in
Congress? And this is how she answers, before being overtaken
by applause: Well, I just spent 11 hours
Of course, its a reference to the Benghazi hearings. But its
also an invocation of everything that preceded Benghazi and her
endurance in the face of it. Democrats want Hillary Clinton to
stand up to Republicans just as much as Republicans want their
candidates to take down Hillary Clinton; they want her to be
their champion, and she gains authority when she does exactly
that. What she rarely shows, however, is just how viscerally she
can respond to the rights provocations.
Maybe she was tired when she gave me a glimpse of it. It was
late; she had just completed the event. She was sitting in a chilly
classroom with the crowd long gone; she was flying back to New
York that night and then to Iowa in the morning. Her face was a
little sallow under the fluorescent lights, and the metallic traces
of her eye shadow seemed to weigh her eyelids down. She was
sitting down at a table, the chairs a little small for her, but she
had managed to find a rhythm with her right hand, as she does
on the stump, pointing a finger and touching the blade of her
hand against the tabletop as she drove home her points about the
candidates vying for the Republican nomination:
Usually in time of crisis, the country comes together. After
9/11, I was a senator from New York and I spent a lot of time with
George W. Bush. He was very supportive of what we needed
to do in New York, and when it came to You know, we need to
get help, he basically said, What do you need and here you go
get it. Instead, we have these two terrible incidents, and you
have Republican candidates just excoriating our president and
insulting people who had nothing to do with the terrorism we
were watching unfold, and who dont have realistic ideas, dont
have any grounding in foreign policy or national security, and
they just go off saying what they think will get a rise out of an
audience. Its really distressing, because thats not how we should
conduct ourselves.
I had always wondered when she was going to say, These
guys arent in my freaking league. Now she had come pretty
close, and the expression that I saw animate her narrowed eyes

self-serving b****. Is that pretty clear?

DAVID, 23, MEDICAL STUDENT,
MINNEAPOLIS: When she stood up in front
of the committee for like 12 hours, she did a
phenomenal job, and I really respected her
for doing that.
ART, 83, RETIRED, DENVER: I like her. I
admire her. Shes smart. Shes hardworking.
And she was a good public servant as
secretary of state.
KEVIN, 33, EDITOR, NEW YORK: She
hasnt always been there for people of
colourin terms of Black Lives Matter and the
prison industrial complex. If she becomes
commander in chief, a lot of eyes will be
focused on her for those two very big

subjects that have gone overlooked for the

last 80, 95 years in politics.
MASON, 25, PHOTOGRAPHER,
WASHINGTON: Shes an incredible woman
with an incredible pedigree. I truly think the
country has been going in a good direction,
and I think Hillary could continue that.
ASAFE, 22, STUDENT, KNOXVILLE:
I respect her. Especially as a woman, its
much harder for her than it is for other
politicians. It takes a lot of balls.
ED, 57, PUBLIC-TRANSIT CONSULTANT,
FLORIDA: Shes a stranger to the truth. If
you go back to the Whitewater land deal,
that still hasnt been accounted for. Theres
still too many questions left unanswered.
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and her tightened lips was not one of anger, or even frustration.
It was one of contempt.

PA RT V I I

OUR COUNTRY IS DIVIDED, she says. Well, yes and there

is no better measure of those divisions than HRC herself. Is
it her destiny to keep Donald Trump or Ted Cruz out of the
White House? Ted Cruz looked in the mirror this morning and
thought it his destiny to keep her out of the White House. The
same idea that animates Democrats the idea that electoral
loss would lead not simply to an unsuitable president but to
an unimaginable one also animates Republicans. Indeed,
everything asserted in these pages about the extremists on the
right could be and is asserted by the extremists themselves about
the candidacy of that notorious extremist Hillary Clinton.
Her supporters see her as a woman with a proven record of
idealism, competence, and, yes, moderation. She was a good, if
controversial, First Lady. She was a good, if dutiful, senator. She
was a good, if slightly hawkish and secretive, secretary of state.
Why shouldnt she be a good president? She has enjoyed excellent
proximity from which to weaken the Republic, and never has.
Why should the prospect of her election seem so catastrophic?
Now, there are two ways to answer this question. The first
is to call Colin Reed, the executive director of America Rising,
one of the super PACs organised to oppose her candidacy. He
speaks frankly and reasonably about her vulnerabilities and how
he plans to exploit them and make sure she doesnt enjoy the
advantages of an incumbent.
Weve broken it down to three main buckets, in terms of our
lines of attack, Reed says. Bucket one is unethical how they
make their money, foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation
while she was secretary of state. Bucket two is untrustworthy
the server; her willingness to say and do whatevers expedient
at the time. The third bucket, the main bucket, is failed record,
pertaining to her time at the State Department. Theres Syria and
the rise of ISIS; theres the war in Libya, which she advocated;
and theres the Russian reset, which only resulted in Putin
becoming more aggressive. Shes accomplished a lot in her life
shes a former First Lady, former senator, former secretary of
state. But she doesnt have the raw political skills of a Bill Clinton
or a Barack Obama, and polls show that people dont trust her,
even loyal Democrats. So were frequently pointing out instances
of hypocrisy to her left. I have found hypocrisy sells; its a good
story, no matter what your political convictions are.
The second way? If youre American, its to ask your uncle.
Or the person who sits next to you on the plane. In America a lot

GUY, 64, RETIRED, NORTH CAROLINA:

I think that shes okay and that she just wants
to prop up the status quo. I think we need
to quit getting involved in overthrowing
foreign governments, and I dont think shed
have any problem doing that invading
Iran or any of that stuff. None of thats gonna
change if shes elected.
DAN, 33, LOCAL POLITICIAN, PITTSBURGH:
You can disagree at any time with
somebodys policies, but she has done
everything to earn the respect of the public.
DEVIN, 25, COOK, UTAH: If it came down
to it, I dont think I would vote for her. Like,
if you asked me for a reason, I wouldnt be
able to describe a reason. Its just that she

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of people dont like Hillary Clinton. Hate, despise, and loathe

Hillary Clinton, and use those words to describe their feelings.
If you want to know why, you dont have to go far to find them.
Excuse me, sir. I noticed that you have a Hill No! sticker on
your car. Can you tell me why?
Im in the parking lot of the public library near my house.
I live in a conservative area, where Hillary hatred is in the
water. I dont have to go to it; it comes to me.
I dont like her, he says. Hes about her age, small and
hunched, wearing a windbreaker and baseball cap. He never
stops walking as I ask him questions, and he never looks at me.
I dont like anything about her. I dont like her tax policies.
The only thing she did when she was secretary of state was
travel around the world. She didnt solve anything!
Can you give me any details?
Look at the world!
Did her predecessor, Condoleezza Rice, solve anything?
Sure she did! Of course she did!
Can you give me any details?
Ill have to look it up. But Hillary Clinton lied about
Benghazi. She lied about that video. She does nothing but lie.
Her whole life is a lie! Twenty-eight years all lies!
And there it is, the fundamental tenet of Hillary hatred:
all lies. It is never one thing. It is never even 10 things. It is
everything. It is a totality. If you listen to any Republican debate
or any newscast on Fox you will discover that the talking
points promulgated by Colin Reed and other members of her
industrial opposition have found a vast right-wing conspiracy
of sympathetic ears. You will also come to understand that they
are incidental to the main project, which is the creation of a
woman whose every accomplishment doubles as an indictment,
and whose every admirable public utterance must have a
poisonous private echo. Her record of responsible service?
Her centre-left instincts on domestic issues and an attitude
toward foreign policy that would have pleased an Eisenhower
Republican? Her devotion to a difficult marriage? Dont you
see? Cant you see? All lies!
She is far from an inevitability. Twenty years ago, the job
was to persuade the undecided, says an operative at one of
the PACs promoting her candidacy. Twenty to 30 percent of
the voters were undecided. Now its maybe five. So the job is
to find and inspire those who already think the way that you
do. Digging down. Thats what the money is for. Their voter,
the white conservative, is already highly motivated. Ours, not
so much. If the Democratic voter comes out, we win, because
there are more of us than there are of them. People of colour,
single women, millennials: the new majority. But if they dont
come out, like 2010 or 2014, the Republicans could easily win.

has a negative connotation in my mind

because of things that Ive heard through
other people and the media and stuff.
DAVE, 35, SALESMAN, PITTSBURGH: Shes
smart, always had her own opinion, and she
knew where that opinion came from.
STEVEN, 24, ENTREPRENEUR, CHICAGO:
Im pretty indifferent. She seems not to say
dumb things, which I guess is better than
some other candidates.
MICHAEL, 56, REAL ESTATE AGENT,
GEORGIA: Shes got maybe one more
fight in her, but theres a pack nippin at her
heels. I dont think she has enough of a fresh
message to offer.
ADAM, 33, BREWER, MAINE: I guess my

first impression of her was probably during

Bills presidency. She seemed like a little bit
of a ballbuster. Just kind of had a dour look
on her face.
JOHN, 67, GEOLOGIST, UTAH: Her term as
senator was very telling. She worked with
the existing powers and kind of worked her
way up the food chain, which is what you
need to get things done.
BRIAN, 23, POLICE OFFICER, CHICAGO:
I appreciate what shes done for this
country. I know theres been some negative
things, but I feel that at least so far
shes kept our country safe.
BENJAMIN, 29, GRADUATE STUDENT,
WASHINGTON, D.C.: Shes pretty

It is, to some extent, the first gerrymandered national election,

defined by its extremities and open to unpredictable influence.
Hillary Clinton could lose because the left wing of her own party
regards her as compromising and therefore compromised. She
could lose because of a terrorist attack that occurs a week before
the election. Or she could lose simply because so many people
dont like or dont trust her. Her fate may be to keep Donald
Trump or Ted Cruz out of the White House. Her fate may also be
to let one of them in.

PA RT V I I I

BILL LOOKS OLDER

OLDE THAN SHE DOES. Hes thinner now, with
a certain delicacy of m
movement, and with his hair a white fire
burning over the pink
pin embers of his face. Nevertheless, its him.
Hes here, at a campa
camp
campaign barbecue hosted by the Democrats of
Story County, Iowa,
Iow aat the concrete-walled Iowa State University
agricultural expo. Ma
M
Martin OMalley is set to speak. So is Cornel
West, as an eccentric surrogate for Bernie Sanders at an event
peopled almost exclu
exclusively by white farmers. So is Hillary
Clinton. And so is her husband.
He steps up to the podium first, on a stage improvised on a dirt
floor crowded with fo
folding tables and folding chairs. He has come
to introduce her, but aas soon as he steps into view, two things
happen: first, he is greeted by a wave of applause that causes him
to nod his head and bite his lip and lift his hand and become, by
the very recognisability of his gestures, iconic. Second, he inspires
a flurry of speculation amongst the reporters corralled in the back
of the barn, who cant help but wonder why hes really shown up.
There is an obvious answer: it is the day after the Democratic
debate in Des Moines. He always travels to the debates. He
advises her and helps her prepare. She stayed overnight in Des
Moines, and he stayed with her. They are married, and they have
been married a long time.
The answer that her aides call overthought is that he has
come to help her that though she won the debate locally, with
the voters in Iowa, she lost nationally, with the voters of the
United States. She does not always live up to the moment, and she
didnt last night. The debate took place the day after the terrorist
attacks in Paris. The Republicans were in an opportunistic frenzy,
and she had a chance to do some statesmanship. Instead, she
came up with a rather technical answer that had already been
reduced to a sound bite: Its not our fight. She also defended her
Wall Street associations by invoking 9/11 and showed what makes
her such a fallible candidate, speaking an excuse of improvised
convenience with such moral force that it called her moral force
into question.

hypocritical; she definitely changes her

positions on a lot of key issues. Even with
the recent TPP deal, she was for it she
said it was the gold standard when she
was secretary of state and now shes
running for president and she pulled a 180
and opposes the TPP. Im flabbergasted.
DOUGLAS, 51, JOURNALIST, VIRGINIA:
Im weary with the idea of having to slog
through another year of argument about
the Clintons. I had hoped that Hillary might
gracefully exit the stage without running
for president again, simply because its not
fun anymore. Having said all that, there is
nobody who has ever run for president of
the United States who is better qualified.

Long ago, when they introduced themselves to the nation, the

Clintons did so as a package, as two for one, as a joint presidency.
The nation wasnt ready for it, or maybe it was: they used her to
attack him, and him to attack her, not as a political figure but in
the most personal way possible as a woman and a mother and
a wife. It is different now. She talks to him every day, on the trail,
by telephone. But she doesnt need him the way he needed her.
She is one of a kind, and as a result she is all alone.
This is not to say that the right wont do it again. It will. After
it attacks her record and she is still standing, it will attack him.
His personal life, and therefore hers. It will attempt to revive the
oldest of the Clinton calumnies; it will suggest that their long
marriage is an arrangement she tolerates in order to preserve
her opportunity for power. It might not be Trump, but Trump has
taught the party well: there is nothing that cant be said, because
there is no price to be paid for saying it. And before she is allowed
to become president as a woman, she will as a woman be attacked.
Yes, but there is no evidence that it works, says one of her
closest advisors. The evidence has always been to the contrary
that such things make women identify with her and make her
stronger. Still, if her advisors know what lies in store, so does
she. She must. I have always known that this will be a very hard
election if Im the nominee, she told me in Salem. Our country
is divided politically, and I will have to work very hard for every
vote. Im going to have to make that case for myself.
It is impossible to know what anyones marriage might be like,
much less hers. It is impossible to imagine what her life might be
like, based as it is on continuing cycles of attack and endurance
based as it is on the certainty that she will be attacked and
that she has no choice but to endure. She is a singular woman,
locked in symbiosis with Americas right wing and also with her
husband. She has said that when she first met him many years ago
she knew that he could one day be president. He has not said the
same thing about her. Now, however, as the applause for him dies
down, he tells the audience how long hes known her, and then,
with his old blue eyes still winking and his voice still a midnight
croak, he says, Ive watched all these debates and I think Im
going to vote for her.
She does what she does when shes inordinately praised,
she claps along with everybody else and rocks with laughter,
as if taken by surprise. Shes in Iowa, but she could be in New
Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida anywhere along the
endless trail. Shes bigger than he is now, and if she wins she will
be bigger than he ever was. Thats his fate, and perhaps thats
how, in the end, hes been faithful to her faithful to a destiny
he saw written upon her by an adversarial hand; faithful to the
fate he must have known about all along, and kept to himself,
as one of their secrets.

DARRIS, 37, ART DIRECTOR, HAWAII:

I think shes strong. Is she a leader? I dont
know. I think thats the biggest question
mark: Will people follow?
GREG, 67, SMALL-BUSINESS OWNER,
SANTA FE: I like her. I feel shes pretty much
unflappable in just about any circumstance.
HUGO, 55, OB-GYN, GEORGIA: Theres all
kinds of smelly stuff about her. Lets just say
controversy has never been terribly far away
from the Clintons, including her.
SCOTT, 45, PUBLIC-RELATIONS
MANAGER, CALIFORNIA: Shes one of
those people thats failing their way to the
top. She resigned in disgrace as secretary of
state, which she was ill-equipped to do. And

I think we shouldnt reward that behaviour

with a higher office.
ANGELO, 55, DOCTOR, NEVADA: She feels
so strongly that she is right and that she
knows whats best for everybody. I find that
type of overarching ego problematic.
TYLER, 34, CONTENT STRATEGIST, NEW
YORK: Oooh, I love Hillary Clinton. Shes not
afraid to p*** people off, and shes not afraid
to do the right thing.
SEBASTIAN, 27, GRADUATE STUDENT,
NEW HAMPSHIRE: I have tremendous
respect for what she has done, but it
seems that shes mostly focused on
obtaining the office and not actually trying
to better the country.
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adies and gentlemen, the captain has turned on the fasten seat belt
sign and were now cleared for departure. Please turn your attention
No man or his wardrobe has ever been an island, even if it was usually
pretty easy to tell where he was from. Something changed over
the past decade, though, with the rise of street-style blogs and e-commerce, and
a critical mass of well-dressed men has come to appreciate and appropriate how
the well-dressed dress elsewhere. The result is a new global style vernacular, in
which a man can travel the world and look at home wherever he goes. But what
does that do to the individuality of the worlds style capitals? Can global standards
of good taste be raised without watering down the differences that makes travel
and fashion so exciting? Thats why it was a good time for Esquire to do an threestop world tour of some of the important centres for mens style Hong Kong,
Milan and London to see how tastes are changing, but how each place retains
its own heritage and vibrant diversity. It is only fitting that we begin our journey
in Hong Kong where a visitor might meet locals who do Americana better than
the Americans, sprezzatura better than the Italians, and Savile Row better than
the English. In the end, their style doesnt look Japanese or American or Italian or
English it simply looks like its theirs, and that kind of style knows no borders.
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DUBAI TO TOKYO: 4,940 MILES

to the following paragraphs as we provide some important context.

ALAN LO
Businessman and
aesthete, photographed
in Sham Shui Po

But what does an

aesthete actually do?
Lo co-founded Duddells,
for one, a restaurant
and art space, and he
is also chairman of the
nonprofit organisation
Hong Kong Ambassadors
of Design.
Cotton-twill coat
(Dhs5,105), two-button
wool suit (Dhs5,699), and
cotton shirt (Dhs1,285) by
Calvin Klein Collection;
leather sneakers
(Dhs240) by Puma.

HONG
KONG
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Hong Kong is all about juxtaposition

between the old and the new,
between the very Eastern and the
very Western
A N D R F U

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ANDR FU
Architect and designer,
photographed at
the Upper House hotel

. . . And its at those

intersections of old
and new, Eastern and
Western, Fu argues,
that the creativity and
innovation for which
Hong Kong is known
truly happens. Beyond
designing the interior
of hotels like the
Upper House, Fu is
bringing his minimalist
style to a new lifestyleproduct collection,
Andr Fu Living.
Double-breasted silk
jacket (Dhs12,815), cotton
shirt (Dhs3,122), and
silk trousers (Dhs5,693)
by Ermenegildo
Zegna Couture.

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129

JUSTIN CHANG
Shirting scion,
photographed at
Battery Path

A third-generation
leader of the family
behind luxury
shirtmaker Ascot
Chang, Chang studied
in the States before
returning home to
Hong Kong to help
cultivate the brands
next generation of
customers.
Double-breasted wool
suit (Dhs14,510) by Isaia; cotton shirt (Dhs1,305)
and linen pocket square
(Dhs189) by Ascot Chang;
silk tie (Dhs610) by
Drakes.

HONG KONG: STYLING

BY CHRISTIE SIMOSON
AND MASS LUCIANO.

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THREE FOR THE ROAD

All-purpose essentials for the discerning world traveller
A

01
02

033

1. The A&F M-65 Jacket

Under designer Aaron Levine, Abercrombie &
Fitch is roaring back to its functional, durable
roots, and nothing in the history of ever is
more functional or durable than this militaryinspired, deep-pocketed cotton jacket. Cotton
M-65 jacket (Dhs479) by Abercrombie & Fitch.
2. The Rimowa Suitcase
Its polycarbonate shell makes this suitcase both

supremely tough and extremely light, and its

four-wheel-drive-like rolling system also makes
mad dashes for airport gates that much easier.
Polycarbonate suitcase (Dhs4,599) by Rimowa.
3. The Breitling Chronomat GMT Watch
It keeps time in two time zones simultaneously,
thus sparing the jet-lagged traveller the
trouble of doing maths. Steel Chronomat GMT
watch (Dhs37,699) by Breitling.

Instagram Street Style: Hong Kong

Photographed by Hong Kong local Mark Cho (@thearmouryhk)

WHERE TO...

Eat: Duddells, 1 Duddell Street.

Shop: The Armoury, 307 Pedder Building, 12 Pedder Street.
Drink: Foxglove, Printing House, Second Floor, 6 Duddell Street.
H O N G KO N G TO M I L A N : 5,8 1 1 M I L E S

BENVENUTI A

MILAN
RICCARDO
POZZOLI
Entrepreneur,
photographed on
Via Fiori Oscuri

What started as
a fashion blog
(The Blonde Salad)
written by his then
girlfriend (Chiara
Ferragni) has grown
into a global branding
and retail business,
and as the CEO of
what he calls the TBS
crew, Pozzoli has
helped fuel its growth
from its earliest days.
Suede field jacket
(Dhs21,285), cotton shirt
(Dhs2,115), denim jeans
(Dhs2,000), and leather
belt (Dhs1,928) by
Brunello Cucinelli.

MASSIMILIANO
LOCATELLI
Architect, photographed
at the Church of San
Paolo Converso, Piazza
SantEufemia

From his firms

HQ in a refurbished
sixteenth-century
church (seen here),
Locatelli brings
a contemporary,
positively Corbusian
aesthetic to interiors
and exteriors around
the world.

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Two-button wooland-cashmere suit

(Dhs11,295) by
Giorgio Armani;
cotton shirt
(Dhs1,085) by
Emporio Armani.

Im not sure if I consider Italian

men the best-dressed in the world.
Lets think about how elegant an
Indian man is! Or a British one! Every
culture has excellent traditions
MASSIMILIANO LOCATELLI

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BENIAMINO
NESPOR &
EUGENIO
RONCORONI
Chefs, photographed
at their restaurant
Al Mercato

Beyond their
flagship restaurant,
Al Mercato, which
offers refined updates
of Milanese classics as
well as a tasty burger
bar, the pair of chefs
has created a borderblurring mini-empire
that includes a taco
bar and a noodle bar.
Left: Cotton jacket
(Dhs2,555) and cotton
T-shirt (Dhs2,020) by
Burberry. Right:
Suede jacket (Dhs20,202)
and cashmere-and-silk
henley (Dhs5,699) by
Bottega Veneta.

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Made
in Italy
THREE STANDOUTS
FROM THE LAND OF
SPREZZATURA

THE GIUSEPPE ZANOTTI HIGH-TOPS

Not leather canvas. Not boots high-tops. Not American Italian,
through and through, with an elegant arc to the toe and leather detailing.
Cotton canvas sneakers (Dhs2,809).

EUGENIO
RONCORONI

WHERE TO...

THE TODS WEEKENDER

Buttery soft calfskin. Handle with care.
Leather bag (Dhs9,550).

Eat: Ristorante
da Giacomo,
6 Via Pasquale
Sottocorno.
Shop: MP Massimo
Piombo, 4 Piazza
San Marco.
Drink: Jamaica,
32 Via Brera.
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MILAN TO LONDON: 581 MILES

THE CANALI JACKET AND TIE

Family-owned and -run since 1934 and still
turning out some of the best suits and shirts in
the business. Wool-and-silk-blend jacket
(Dhs7,329), cotton shirt (Dhs1,195), and silk tie
(Dhs669).

Italians in
general, but
the Milanese
especially,
grow up with
constant
exposure to
fashion and
dressing
well, so a
good portion
of this city
really cares
about their
attire

ALASDHAIR WILLIS
Jack-of-all-trades,
photographed
on St. Jamess Street

After helping launch

the design magazine
Wallpaper* and
cofounding a furniture
line, Established &
Sons, Willis brought
his sharp eye to Hunter,
the legendary rubberboot manufacturer.
Under Willis
direction, the brand
is moving into
sportswear and
outerwear, and the
experience is what
he calls a culmination
of everything Ive
done over the years.
Single-button silk jacket
(Dhs10,965), cashmere
sweater (Dhs2,020),
and leather sneakers
(Dhs1,655) by Gieves &
Hawkes; denim jeans
(Dhs920) by Acne
Studios.

WELCOME TO

LONDON

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THE NEW ENGLISH

CLASSICS
Updates and revisions for the
twenty-first century

01

02

03

1. The St
Streamlined Chukka Boot
Who better to reinvent and refine this
quintessentially British boot than a venerable
150-year-old bootmaker? Suede chukka boots
(Dhs5,270) by John Lobb.
2. The Digital-Friendly Diary
Smythson has been making luxurious leather
diaries for the London elite since 1887, and it has
branched out into the realm of iPad cases and

other 21st-century formats. Deerskin portfolio

(Dhs2,479),
(Dhs2,495),
Dhs2 479) deerskin iPad case (Dhs2
495) and
deerskin wallet (Dhs3,489) by Smythson.
3. The Unlined Jacket
Oliver Spencer has a knack for infusing
classic English tailoring with a lightness,
functionality, and ease that speaks to how we
live today. Two-button linen jacket (Dhs899).
by Oliver Spencer.

Instagram Street Style: London

Photographed by London local Jonathan Daniel Pryce (@garconjon)

WHERE TO...

Eat: Cecconis, 5A Burlington Gardens.

Shop: Smythson, 40 New Bond Street.
Drink: Claridges Bar, Brook Street.

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CALLUM TURNER
Actor, photographed
in Brydges Place,
Covent Garden

From British
prestige projects
(the BBCs epic
miniseries War & Peace,
John Boormans
Queen & Country) to
Hollywood schlock
(Victor Frankenstein),
this former model
is finding his way
through the early stages
of a remarkably
varied acting career.
Cotton jacket
(Dhs13,960), cashmereand-cotton sweater
(Dhs7,529), and leather
shoes (Dhs4,132) by
Herms; cotton T-shirt
(Dhs690) and wool
trousers (Dhs1,035) by
Oliver Spencer.

MAT COLLISHAW
Artist, photographed
in Newman Passage,
Fitzrovia

The Young British

Artists, a loose
confederation of
button pushers who
emerged from London
in the 1990s, have grown
up to find varying
degrees of success
and respectability.
Few have managed to
surprise and grow as
much as Collishaw,
whose experiments and
adventures in multimedia
art continue to keep the
world on its toes.
Two-button wool-andsilk jacket (Dhs8,448),
cotton shirt (Dhs2,240),
and wool-and-silk trousers (Dhs2,607) by Dior Homme; leather shoes
(Dhs7,166) by John Lobb.

LONDON: STYLING
BY CHRIS BENNS.

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MILAN TO LONDON: 581 MILES

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Esq.

DIRECTORY

WHERE TO GET ALL YOUR GEAR

ABC
ACNE at Boutique1, mrporter.com
AGENT PROVOCATEUR +971 (0) 4 339 9570
AHMED SEDDIQI & SONS +971 ( 0) 4 339 8881
ARMANI +971 (0) 4 339 8121
ASCOTS & CHAPELS +971 (50) 458 3700
ASOS ASOS.COM
AVENUE AT ETIHAD TOWERS 800 384 4238
BALENCIAGA at Saks Fifth Avenue Dubai
+971 (0) 4 501 2700
BANANA REPUBLIC +971 (0) 4 339 8462
BAUME & MERCIER +971 (0) 4 339 8880
BIN HENDI +971 (0) 4 348 6361
BLANCPAIN +971 (0) 4 339 8304
BLOOMINGDALES DUBAI +971 (0) 4 350 5333
BOGGI +971 (0) 4 325 3422
BOUTIQUE 1 boutique1.com
BREGUET +971 (0) 4 339 8756
BULGARI +971 (0) 4 330 8834
BURBERRY +971 (0) 4 339 8357
BURJUMAN +971 (0) 4 352 0222
CALVIN KLEIN +971 (0) 4 340 3448
CARTIER +971 (0) 4 434 0434
CARVEN at mrporter.com
CHOPARD +971 (0) 4 339 8333
CHURCHS church-footwear.com
CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN +971 (0) 4 395 8530
CLARINS +971 (0) 4 434 0522

DEF
DEBENHAMS +971 (0) 4 339 9285
DIESEL +971 (0) 4 341 1395
DIOR HOMME +971 (0) 4 330 8739
DOLCE & GABBANA +971 (0) 4 341 0626
DSQUARED +971 (0) 4 339 8709
DUBAI MALL, THE +971 (0) 4 362 7500
DUNHILL +971 (0) 4 434 0403
FINS at Saks Fifth Avenue +971 (0) 4 501 2700
FRED PERRY +971 (0) 4 339 9358

GHI
GALERIES LAFAYETTE +971 (0) 4 339 9933
GARRARD +971 (0) 4 339 8386
GIORGIO ARMANI +971 (0) 4 330 0447
GIVENCHY +971 (0) 4 330 8282
GRENSON at Boutique 1 and mywardrobe.com
GUCCI +971 (0) 4 339 8712
HARRY WINSTON at Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons
HARVEY NICHOLS +971 (0) 4 409 8888
HAVAIANAS +971 (0) 50 358 2797
HERMS +971 (0) 4 330 8385
HOGAN +971 (0) 4 341 3144
IWC +971 (0) 4 339 8111

JKL
J.LINDEBERG at Boutique 1
JAMES JEANS asos.com
JAQUET DROZ +971 (0) 4 330 0455
JOHN LOBB +971 (0) 4 330 8244
KENZO +971 (0) 4 434 0472 and Saks Fifth Avenue
KIEHLS at Harvey Nichols
LACOSTE +971 (0) 4 339 8294
LANVIN +971 (0) 4 330 8008
LOGSDAIL +971 (0) 4 3233 148
LONGCHAMP +971 (0) 4 339 8460
LORO PIANA +971 (0) 4 330 0546
LOUIS VUITTON +971 (0) 4 330 8060

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MNO

9
1
A M E R I CA N E AG L E
O U T F I T T E R S JAC K ET
A denim jacket is a wardrobe staple.
Wear in myriad social occasions thrown
over a white tee. Dhs260

2
E D E N PA R K B E LT
When it comes to tailored shorts, swap
your leather belt for a roped version.

Dhs0000

3
D I E S E L BAG

PQR

Keep your beach-style sleek with a

leather-trim drawstring backpack.

Dhs1,175

4
H & M ST U D I O JAC K ET
A short, unlined jacket in sturdy cotton
twill with a collar is a smart weekend
go-to for A/C chills. Dhs299

10

5
KO O P L E S H AT
A simple woven Panama hat separates
the men from the boys. Dhs180

6
T E D BA K E R S H I RT
Botanical prints are key this summer and
no one does them better than Ted Baker.

Dhs310

7
M A N G O S U N G L AS S E S
If youre prone to losing sunglasses,
these affordable versions dont
compromise on style.

11

8
C L A R KS S H O E S
A brogue with a sporty sole is this
seasons answer to smart casual
dressing. Dhs360

9
BA N A N A R E P U B L I C S H I RT
A check shirt can be chic. Just opt
for neutral shades so you dont go all
lumberjack. Dhs275

10
Z A D I G & VO LTA I R E S H O E S
A simple derby shoe worn with ankle
socks can up your short game this
summer. Dhs1,450

Heading to Coachella? Add some

Californian spirit to your denim shirt.

Dhs389

12
C O S S H O RTS
Swap trunks for tailored short shorts
if you have no intention of getting wet
at a pool party. Dhs245

PANERAI +971 (0) 4 339 8444

PARIS GALLERY +971 (0) 4 237 2222
PATEK PHILIPPE +971 (0) 4 339 8999
PAUL & SHARK +971 (0) 4 434 1412
PAUL SMITH +971 (0) 4 359 0099
PHILIPP PLEIN at +971 (0) 4 339 8262
POLO RALPH LAUREN at City Walk +971 (0) 4 393
1142
PRADA +971 (0) 4 501 2870
PUMA +971 (0) 4 434 0204
RALPH LAUREN +971 (0) 4 330 8005
RAY-BAN at Al Jaber Optical and Yateem Opticians
REISS +971 (0) 4 341 0515
RIVER ISLAND +971 (0) 4 339 9685
RIVOLI +971 (0) 4 339 8496
RODIAL at Harvey Nichols
ROLEX +971 (0) 4 339 8000

ST

Dhs129

11
D E S I G UA L S H I RT

MALL OF THE EMIRATES +971 (0) 4 409 9000

MAN/AGE SPA +971 (0) 4 437 0868
MARC BY MARC JACOBS at Saks Fifth Avenue
MARC JACOBS at Saks Fifth Avenue
MARKS & SPENCER +971 (0) 4 339 8890
MARNI at Harvey Nichols
MARTIN MARGIELA at Saks Fifth Avenue
CITY CENTRE MIRDIF +971 800 6422
MISSONI Boutique 1
MONTBLANC +971 (0) 4 341 4451
MR.PORTER mrporter.com
MY WARDROBE mywardrobe.com
NEIL BARRETT at Harvey Nichols
NEXT +971 (0) 4 340 3898
OMEGA +971 (0) 4 339 830

SAINT LAURENT +971 (0) 4 341 0113

SAKS FIFTH AVENUE +971 (0) 4 501 2700
SALVATORE FERRAGAMO +971 (0) 4 330 8590
SEPHORA +971 (0) 4 232 6023
SIMON SPURR at Bloomingdales, mrporter.com
SMYTHSON boutique1.com
STONE ISLAND boutique1.com
TAG HEUER +971 (0) 4 339 8555
TED BAKER +971 (0) 4 434 0623
THE EMPEROR 1688 at Saks Fifth Avenue
THE KOOPLES +971 (0) 4 434 0626
THE LUXURY EMPORIUM theluxuryemporium.com
THOMAS PINK +971 (0) 4 339 8598
THOM BROWNE mrporter.com
TIMBERLAND +971 (0) 4 434 1291
TODS +971 (0) 4 341 3033
TOM FORD +971 (0) 4 330 8300
TOM FORD EYEWEAR at Tom Ford
TOPMAN +971 (0) 4 324 2866
TUMI +971 (0) 4 339 8536

UVW

12

VAN CLEEF & ARPELS +971 (0) 4 339 8001

VANS at Level Shoe Distrcit, +971 (0) 4 5016 888
VERSACE +971 (0) 4 339 8285
VILEBREQUIN +971 (0) 4 392 7456
WAFI +971 (0) 4 324 4555

XYZ
Y3 at Boutique 1
ZEGNA +971 (0) 4 339 8749

123
1847 +971 (0) 4 330 1847
3.1 PHILLIP LIM at Harvey Nichols and Boutique 1
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Travel

Asias new hot spot

I M A D B O UJ E M AO U I | I N STAG R A M @ C A L U D G E R O

SWAP PHUKET FOR

THE PHILIPPINES
THIS SUMMER,
AS EMIRATES
INTRODUCES
A DIRECT FLIGHT
TO THE ISLANDS
BY K AT E H A Z E L L

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any of you may be

familiar with the
clear waters of
Thailand, so perhaps
its time to change
your travel tune this
year as Emirates
introduces a direct flight to Cebu, an island
located in the Central Visayas region of the
Philippines. First Class Emirates steward,

Imad Boujemaoui, is already familiar with

the island, which was the first Spanish
settlement in the Philippines, and gives us
the insider scope on what to do, see and eat
when youre there.
Wheres the best place to get local
cuisine in Cebu? What should we order?
Theres an open-air food court called Larsian
Barbecue located at Fuente Osmena and its

STAY

BLUEWATER
SUMILON
While they have
impressive suites and
luxury rooms,
wed recommend the
Glamping Experience
where you can camp
out in a tent, but with
all the home comforts
(they even have minibars in each tent).
From Dhs648
per night.
bluewatersumilon.com

PLANTATION BAY
RESORT AND SPA

open 24/7. There are lots of stalls that offer

pretty much the same food, like skewered
chicken, stuffed fish, shrimps and hotdogs.
But order Cebus famous chorizo and you
wont be disappointed.
Best place for breakfast?
I have a sweet tooth, so for breakfast I
need my croissant or any pastries. La Vie
Parisienne is the place to be. The freshly
baked pastries smell incredible and the
macaroons are delicious. Also head there
for dinner if you want to enjoy a nice wine
from their cellar along with a cheese platter.
Located in Lahug, Cebu City, the French
bakery is the ideal place to hang out with
friends. At night, the entire garden area is lit
up by bright pink lights from the trees.
What would you recommend stocking
up on in Cebu?
For local delicacies, make sure you get Cebus
dried mangoes or try the Rosquillos cookies,
the distinctive snack unique to Cebu. Puto
and Sikwate are also popular. Puto is steamed
sticky rice mixed with coconut milk and
Sikwate is a hot chocolate drink. And you
should try the oval shaped delicious Salvaro
coconut crackers.
What are the top three tourist
attractions we should not miss out on?
You have to try snorkelling or Scuba diving
with whale sharks in Oslob; go canyoneering
in Alegria where you end up at the impressive
Kawasan Falls in Moalboal; and make sure
you spend a day at the Sumilon Bluewater
Island Resort for the ultimate day of relaxing.
Wardrobe essentials for Cebu?
Just stick to a t-shirt and a pair of shorts

with a pair of Havaianas for day. For dinner,

Id suggest wearing jeans with a plain shirt,
and depending on the weather I might wear
a sports jacket with my favourite All Stars
Converse shoes.
Whats your favourite memory from your
trips to Cebu?
It has always been one of my dreams to swim
with whale sharks and last month I dived
with five of them. It really was a magical
moment to be surrounded by the worlds
largest fish. If you are an adventurer, I highly
recommend the Alegria canyoneering where
you will be walking, cliff jumping, falls sliding
and swimming for about four hours before
you finally reach The Kawasan Falls.
Best photo you took there?
Face to face with the whale shark [see left].
Are there any favourite hobbies of yours
we should try while were there?
The number one water activity in Cebu is
Scuba diving. Youll find lots of dive spots and
its also a good place to get your Scuba diving
PADI licence. Otherwise, Id recommend
spending the day fly-fishing, banana boating,
jet skiing or parasailing.

Built around a giant

blue lagoon, take a
dip directly from your
room. If you plan on
staying horizontal
during your Cebu stay,
Plantation Bay is the
one of the best places
to relax, unwind and
soak up the sun. From
Dhs377 per night.
Plantationbay.com

MVENPICK
HOTEL MACTAN
ISLAND CEBU
If partyings your
idea of an ideal
getaway, book into
the Mvenpick, where
youll find one of the
best nightlife spots,
Ibiza Beach Club.
Located at the end
of the marina, dance
the night away with
resident DJs after
indulging in tapas
at the restaurants
Balearic-inspired,
signature 15-course
grill. From Dhs526 per.
nightmovenpick.com

GETTING
THERE

Fly direct with Emirates

from Dhs2,735. Visit
www.emirates.com for
more information.

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Drive

California
screaming
BLOWING THE ROOF OFF THE
LATEST MERCEDES-BENZ ROADSTER
BY CARLIN GERBICH

hen it comes to epic stretches of

open roads and utterly staggering
scenery, California has it all. For
Mercedes-Benz, and its open-top SL
Roadster, the region holds a special
significance because its along the
Pacific Coast Highway that the
iconic model first saw the light of day back in 1958.
That original Roadster sprung out of the monumental
300SL Gullwing Coup examples of which now fetch
astronomical hammer prices at auction and while it shared
much of the same architecture and underlying mechanicals,
the Roadster attracted an entirely different type of customer.
The Coup was a road-legal race car; the Roadster was
designed to provide elegant conveyance along coastal roads,
such as those found to the north and south of Los Angeles.
Since the heady days of its introduction, the SL has evolved
into an open-top tourer that occupies a small and incredible
niche section of the luxury car market. It has its competition in
the form of the Porsche 911, Aston Martin V8 Vantage and the
Audi R8 convertible (when it arrives, the new one isnt out yet),
but the SL is a car that manages to encompass sportiness and
comfort in a way in which the others dont quite manage.
For 2016, the SL gets a subtle redesign that has smoothed
out the cars lines and delivered a much more appealing
looking machine than the last one that arrived in 2012. Its
slightly longer than the outgoing car, but the proportions seem
better balanced and the power bulge in the bonnet is a clear
design nod towards the 300 SL Gullwing. The headlights have
been reshaped, and the entire front end and grille have been
redesigned. Major changes to the SL for 2016 also include many
technical features first seen in the two-seat Mercedes-AMG
GT launched in 2014. The driver activated Active Body Control
system now includes a mode called Curve, which triggers
changes in suspension that enable the car to lean into corners.
It does this by firing signals
to hydraulic rams in the
suspension that apply up to
2.6 degrees of lean in to a
corner, effectively making
every corner seem as though
the road camber is positive.
While it sounds like this has
been added to make the car
sportier, its ultimate aim is
to make the ride feel even
more comfortable.

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TECH SPECS
M O D E L : Mercedes SL 63 AMG
E N G I N E : 5.4-litre twin-turbo V8
P OW E R : 585 hp @ 5500rpm
TO RQ U E : 900 Nm @ 2250 rpm
T R A N S M I S S I O N : 7-speed auto with manual shift
0 -1 0 0 K M / H : 4.1 s
TO P S P E E D : 250 km/h (limited)
P R I C E : $160,700

Curve doesnt work in Sport or Sport+ modes and, in fact,

the entire suspension system becomes softer and the throttle
far less aggressive when the mode is employed. For drivers
used to the cut and thrust of the SL 500s hustle, Curve takes a
little getting used to, as it dives into a bend by tucking an inside
wheel into the corner.
The car launches with a choice of four engines: the SL
400 has a 367 horsepower 3.0-litre V6 that delivers more than
enough power, torque and exhaust excitement to set your pulse
racing. To be frank, this is all the car you need for most roads;
maximum pulling power is available from a ridiculously low
2000 rpm, and the nine-speed gearbox means youre always
in the correct gear for a spirited backroad blast or frugal
motorway cruise.
The V6 has slightly more
The original
1958 SL Roadster
aural spark to it than the SL
500s 4.6-litre V8, and even
the Mercedes-AMG SL 65
bat guano crazy 6.0-litre V12
roar and bark on upshifts is
suitably muted.
Unlike the non-AMG
cars, the SL 65 and its V8
stablemate, the SL 63, retain
the seven-speed Speedshift

automatic, which has been

tweaked for quicker shifts.
Still, with 630 horsepower
and 1,000 Nm torque over
the endlessly twisty sections
of Cuyamaca mountain pass
south west of Californian
gold-mining town and
current apple pie capital,
Julian, the car is both an
absolute joy and utterly terrifying in equal measure.
With Sport+ engaged, the SL 65 simply monsters any stretch
of road; particularly the switchback mountain pass weve been
funnelled onto. Rising 4,000 feet over a 12 kilometre stretch,
this road is constant series of point-and-squirt squiggly lines
punctuated by the odd hairpin. The drops are precipitous, and
the surrounding country staggering. Theres no time to soak
in the scenery as you bury the throttle to the firewall, pull the
upshift paddle and launch towards the next corner, stand on the
brakes and change down. The off-throttle pop and warble as
you change down through the gearbox is intoxicating, though if it
all sounds a little intense, the AMG models also offer Controlled
Efficiency (C) and Manual (M) modes for more reserved driving.
The real pick of the litter, however, is the SL 63. It lacks the
outright horsepower of the V12, but the twin-turbo V8 spools-

up faster, and delivers the kind of brutal force and exhilarating

acceleration that would, point-to-point and over similar roads,
have the performance edge over the SL 65.
Mercedes has made living with the SL even easier. The
folding hardtop can now be operated on the fly, and the boot
separator has been automated so that you dont have to stop
and fix it into position. It was a sticking point with the current
model, and the fix has been an easy and efficient one.
With these final tweaks in place the SL has become a more
complete car. It doesnt matter which engine you choose
all four versions will provide you with an everyday commuting
vehicle as well as a perfect weekend getaway machine. There
are very few cars that marry every day practicality and supreme
excitement in such an utterly beautiful way.
mercedesbenzme.com
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T H I S WAY O U T

Trying to separate the facts from the rumours

Q: W I L L T R A I N S
S O O N B E FAST E R
T H A N A I R T R AV E L?

ubai to Abu
Dhabi in just 15
minutes. Are you
shocked? Oh,
and we forgot to mention it
was by train, so how about
now? Before you start
picturing images of a Dubai
Metro train with a huge
rocket strapped to the back
(a discussion for another
time), perhaps we should
explain the technology
that might make this
possible: Hyperloop.
There has been a lot
of talk regarding this
concept in the UAE lately.
Representatives from two
separate US companies
Hyperloop Technologies
(HT) and Hyperloop
Transportation Technologies
(HTT) have each tried to
pitch a high-speed transport
network here. The directorgeneral of the UAEs Federal
Transport Authority, H.E.
Dr. Eng. Abdullah Salem
Al Kathiri, even told
Arabian Business that the
government welcomed the
idea in principle.
Other countries have
already signed up. According
to reports, Slovakia,
Hungary and Austria
are planning to create
Hyperloop routes between
Bratislava, Budapest and
Vienna, opening as early as
2020. The proposed link
would reduce four-hour
journey times to 25 minutes.
And why not? This is
essentially a high-speed
floating train inside a tube
like a bullet in the barrel
of a gun. Passengers climb
into their carriage or pod,

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with no wheels or tracks

to offer resistance, and are
accelerated to 1,220kph
slightly less than the
speed of sound. The pipes
themselves can be made
from steel or concrete, and
located above or below
ground. Everything is
powered by solar panels,
with the system pumping
the tubes constantly to
remove air, meaning even
less resistance. Electric
motors then create a strong
magnetic field, lifting the
pods and allowing them to
coast along.
That makes Hyperloop
a faster mode of transport
than any other train on
the planet, and even some
planes. For example, a
Boeing 737 travels at 938kph,
while last year, Japans
Maglev train (which uses
magnets to hover above
the track similar in some
ways to Hyperloop), set a
new speed record of 600kph
(373mph). Both may be
favoured forms of transport
now, but neither is as fast as
what its claimed Hyperloop
will be.

Adding credibility to
the technology is the fact
that it was envisaged by US
billionaire entrepreneur
Elon Musk the man
behind PayPal and Tesla
Motors, among other
companies. He wrote a 58page white paper outlining
Hyperloop in August 2013,
after he felt the proposed
California high-speed rail
system capable of 254kph
and travelling from San
Francisco to Los Angeles in
two-and-a-half hours was
inadequate. He suggested
an alternative, but then
admitted he was too busy to
pursue it himself, so invited
others to participate.
This is the reason
for multiple companies
putting Hyperloop into
development. HTT was set
up using a crowdfunding
and crowdsourcing model,
while HT is led by a number
of former Silicon Valley and
Washington figures. Both

plan build their own test

tracks in the US, on which
they hope to put the theory
into practice.
It is these tests that will
answer some of the many
questions surrounding the
project. Can the Hyperloop
system really be built at
a fraction of the cost of a
regular railway? If solar
panels are used, will they
generate enough power?
What effect will it have on
the passengers when rapidly
taking off or slowing down?
And can you still get up and
use the bathroom? Or enjoy
a coffee? Above all, will it
be safe?
Another consideration
is the lack of natural light.
On a regular train, you can
look out of the window,
but inside a tunnel and
moving so quickly, that
will be impossible. HTT
is already working on a
solution, according to CNET.
com, with augmented
windows, controllable via a
smartphone, which render a
landscape image and display
journey info.
Smaller networks
between cities would come
first, but if a success it might
be possible to jump on the
Hyperloop and head from
Dubai to London, or maybe
farther afield, in just a few
hours it would certainly
compete with air travel.
A quick commute from
Dubai to Abu Dhabi would
be handy, although falling
asleep and missing your
stop might make things
interesting. Who knows
where youd end up?

This is essentially a high-speed floating train inside a

tube like a bullet in the barrel of a gun

WORDS BY CHRIS ANDERSON

EXIT NOTES

A Daimler Brand

Leader. Ship.
The new GLS. Make the best of every ground.

A Daimler Brand

Leader. Ship.
The new GLS. Make the best of every ground.