End grim 2020 on a high note: A guide to super-indulgent year-end shopping

Vintage sunglasses

From the classic Cartier Vendome Santos that Christopher Walken sported in the 1985 James Bond movie A View to Kill to Don Johnson’s Ray-Ban Wayfarer in the 1981 series Miami Vice, aficionados of vintage style and accessories have been on a constant hunt for glasses that defined the style of the 80s and 90s.

Here is your chance to own a part of the vintage sourced from across the world right here in India. Bengaluru-based opticians SR Gopal Rao has collaborated with Capsul, a multi-brand store, to sell a range of beautiful vintage sunglasses from December 10 right up to January 1.

The drool-worthy collection includes a range of vintage 24k gold-plated Ray Bans, besides luxury brands such as Salvatore Ferragamo, Porsche Design by Carrera, Christian Lacroix, Christian Dior and Paloma Picasso. The eyepieces are from the 1980s and early 1990s. For instance, the Ray-Ban Arista was first made for the 1994-96 Olympics and the Capsul X SRGR collection belongs to the early 1990s. Porsche Design by Carrera is a by-product of a fabulous association between Porsche and Carrera; the range was considered the best sports sun-wear in the 90s. The Paloma Picasso, Christian Dior and Christian Lacroix are from the 1980s.

Handmade shoes by Raghavendra Rathore

From one of India’s best menswear designer comes a collection of elegant shoes just in time for the year-end revelry (keep it muted, though, as the threat of the virus continues to hang in the air!). A member of the Jodhpur royal family, Rathore knows a thing or two about great shoes.

His collection, designed in Jodhpur, has distinctive quilting details for enhanced sole comfort. They are and handmade in Italy are available at all Raghavendra Rathore Jodhpur boutiques across India.

Rathore, through this collection, has rejuvenated an age-old tradition of bespoke accessories that dates back to the 1920s. The aristocratic and business families often ordered customized handmade shoes that could be matched with their bespoke wardrobe.

Ermenegildo Zegna x Leica Camera AG collection of camera accessories

It is rare to stumble across a collaboration that involves two storied brands in their respective worlds. The Italian Zegna, founded in 1910 in Trivero and run by the third generation of the family, is a much-loved uber-luxury menswear brand. The German Leica Camera is legendary among photographers for its superior quality and very expensive cameras.

There cannot be a better buy than the capsule collection of camera accessories, crafted by Zegna for Leica Camera, which debuted at the Ermenegildo Zegna XXX Winter 2020 show.

It is perfect for a photographer who loves his or her accessories to flaunt exquisite handmade craftsmanship. The collaboration collection consists of PELLETESSUTATM camera holsters for Leica Q2 and Leica M cameras; PELLETESSUTATM protectors for Leica Q2 and Leica M cameras; functional cross-body bags called Insta-Pack that fits almost all Compact Leica cameras (Leica V-Lux excluded) and the Leica CL with the 18mm ‘pancake’ Leica lens; besides carrying and wrist straps, Leica keyrings and round wallets (both for coins or the Leica Q2 lens cap) that feature the iconic special woven nappa leather strips from Zegna’s PELLETESSUTATM collection.

The Zegna X Leica collaboration is available in the brand stores as well as on-line on the brand websites.

Breguet Classique Double Tourbillon 5345 

Costing over $651,000 or Rs 4 crore, this hand-engraved watch is an ode to the complexity of movement. The sapphire crystal covers a dial, with a striking view of the watch’s 588N movement, which pivots entirely when the crown is adjusted. The case-back shows off next-level engraving of founder Abraham-Louis Breguet’s original manufacture, located on Paris’s Quai de l’Horloge in the city’s central Ile de la Cité neighbourhood. 

The decorative hand-engraved tableau features a city scene: The figure of a woman peeping out the window and city lights that are represented by ruby jewel bearings, while the movement’s golden gear train wheels pop through the building so that you can see them spin as they appear to light up the building.

The main gold bridge, as well as three additional bridges in the centre, are coated to match the colour of the surrounding surface of the highlighted building. The decoration of the bridges alone took over two weeks of the kind of work that many claim can make the artisan go blind.

This watch is a brilliant work of museum-worthy art.

Serpenti Rainbow watch, Bvlgari

Hollywood great Elizabeth Taylor was photographed in Rome with a striking Bulgari bracelet featuring a serpent with a diamond-pavé head, hand-crafted gold and enamel scales, and a brilliant set of emerald eyes way back in the 1960s. Since then, the Serpenti design has become emblematic of the Maison's heritage and has been revived several times over the years.

In 2020, Bvlgari dresses up the Serpenti design in brilliant gems for the Serpenti Rainbow watch collection. The Roman jeweller and watchmaker have applied its artistry with coloured gems to high-jewellery watches, reinventing signature styles in a riot of rainbow-coloured gems and a kaleidoscope of cuts and sizes. The watchmaker has used 12 of their beautifully cut coloured gemstones—emeralds, rubies, diamonds, yellow-orange-blue-purple sapphires, red and orange spinels, tsavorites and spessartites—in a bold collection of the Serpenti Viper and Serpenti Incantati jewellery watches.

L’Or de Vie La Cure, Dior 

Why would you pay $2600 for a skin serum?

Here are the reasons Dior offers: This limited edition serum is an annual indulgence. You can buy it only once a year, at the end of the year in fact, during the festive season. The two products from the L’Or de Vie La Cure range, a three-month serum set and super hydrating cream, are formulated in partnership with an ancient vineyard, the Chateau d’Yquem in Bordeaux.

They are the brainchild of a winemaker. The famous winemaker Pierre Lurton has collaborated with Édouard Mauvais-Jarvis, Dior Science’s environmental and scientific communication director, to create a powerful anti-ageing product. Seemingly, Dior Science has been studying vines for over three decades and that research has been leverage to create a concentrated youth elixir for the skin made from a super-concentrated amount of the noble rot that grows on the vineyard's grapes, known as the ‘Yquem sap’. An optimal concentration of the grape's sap is said to gradually restore collagen production.

It takes 160 harvesters to survey the vineyard in search of “botrytized” seeds, or the grapes that have been transformed by noble rot and have reached an optimal point of concentration. They're then handed over to Dior Science who creates the magic in a bottle.

Polar Bear Surprise Locket, Fabergé 

The one-time jeweller to a powerful Russian oligarch and a heritage luxury brand has just released a lovely little polar bear pendant designed by in-house bespoke designer Liisa Tallgren. It pays homage to the onyx polar bear, which was first sold by the brand in 1909. Records show that on 10 September 1909, a white onyx polar bear was purchased by Virginia Fair Vanderbilt, wife of William Kissam Vanderbilt II, one of the wealthiest men in America.

The new heritage egg-shaped pendant, inspired by the original, is crafted from 18k rose gold, kitted with midnight blue guilloché enamel and set with 15 brilliant-cut white diamonds. Within, a white gold polar bear encased in white enamel with black diamond eyes sits regally atop a glistening agate base.

Platinum Love bands, Platinum Days of Love 

The twinning Platinum Love Bands by Platinum Days of Love features geometric design, delicate markings, intricate patterns, clean lines, and hints of precious stones and two-toned pieces. Most have a solitaire at their centre and are worth an investment. Platinum, a naturally white metal, is known for both rarity and purity.

The material’s origins date back two billion years ago, when a meteor crashed into the Earth, leaving behind very few platinum deposits. Platinum is 30 times rarer than gold and increasingly is a material favoured by the young for its non-flamboyant, non-flashy quality that many associate gold with.