Day: 17 November 2017

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. The decorations are going up all around the Principality, the snow-dusted Christmas trees have popped up around the Casino and there’s a festive feeling in the air as you walk down the avenue Princess Grace, Starbucks gingerbread latte in hand. Tis the season also for fashion goodies. Fashion goodies in the form of the annual Gucci “Gift Giving” campaign and holiday catalogue convincing us that crystal covered sweaters, furry bejewelled slippers, and cat print T-shirts are what’s missing from our lives and the lives of our loved ones this holiday season.

Inspired by the tale of Icarus, Spanish artist Ignasi Monreal, who first collaborated with Gucci two years ago on their #GucciGram digital art project, wanted to convey a sense of Icarus flying too close to the sun and falling down into a Gucci-filled heaven. Over 80 illustrations featuring Gucci accessories and ready-to-wear updates from the Gucci Cruise 2018 collection interweave into a narrative spanning multiple influences and references from the Renaissance to Greek mythology. The 2017 Gucci Gift Book makes us dream by transporting us to an utterly surreal yet somehow familiar world: Hercules’ winged horse Pegasus kicks off its Gucci shoes in the Gucci office parking lot. Stick figures on street signs accessorise with Gucci bags. The world as we know it has been tipped on its head, shaken up and given the Alessandro Michele touch.

As well as the Gift Giving book, there will also be new interactive content on the Gucci App ranging from filters for your photos, holiday cards that can be customised and shared, and software to animate the new Gucci shop windows. The window installations will be reflective of the seasonal Gift Giving campaign with Renaissance inspired themes and excerpts of Lorenzo de’ Medici’s “A Song for Bacchus” poem while yellow temples and pink LED neon frames display the items.

In the Gucci world shopping isn’t a standalone experience. The experience begins before and continues after you make your purchase. This is not your run-of-the-mill holiday shopping. This is holiday shopping done the Gucci way, where everything has a deeper meaning. To know more about the Gucci Gift catalogue you can check out the Gucci.com homepage where #GucciGift has taken over.

Instagram sensation and style blogger Louis Pisano writes SuperficialLivingDiary.com. Article first published November 16, 2017. All images with permission from Gucci.

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On Tuesday, November 14, the Prince Sovereign and Princess Charlene, accompanied by their children, the Hereditary Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella (who turn 3 on December 10), visited the micro-nursery A Farandola, which has been open since early September.

Guided by the Director Aurore Suisse, they were accompanied by Mayor Georges Marsan, Chloé Boscagli-Leclercq, Communal Councillor for Early Childhood, and Didier Gamerdinger, Minister of Heatlh and Social Affairs, representing the Minister of State.

The micro-nursery is in the same building – “Les Villas Des Pins” – as the two other micro-nurseries, A Ribambela and A Riturnela, inaugurated respectively in 2010 and 2011.

With an area of 127 square metres, this state-owned apartment has been completely transformed to accommodate 10 young children. The work was made possible by a generous donor, Oleksandr Boguslayev, who wanted to provide financial support for a project for early childhood.

In his speech, the mayor sincerely thanked the donor, but also Isabelle Cellario, Head of the Social Action Service of the Town Hall, and Jean Ferry, Chief of the Communal Technical Services, as well as their respective teams, for their work on this project.

With this new micro-nursery in the Hector Otto district, the total capacity of the three facilities today is 30 places – a necessity with the forthcoming completion of the Engelin building, which will generate an increase in the number of requests for nursery places. One of the priorities of the Communal Council is to meet this growing demand.

While elected officials are primarily focussed on the long term solutions, it has been necessary to find intermediate solutions neighbourhood by neighbourhood. The micro-nursery system has helped to provide a rapid response pending the delivery of the next municipal nursery by 2021 with Testimonio II.

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Knight Frank, the luxury real estate agency, has again placed Monaco at the top of the league table of international property prices.

The cost of one square metre of luxury real estate in the Principality stood at €53,000 in the second quarter of 2017. Hong Kong, New York and London followed. Monaco has led the Knight Frank rankings since 2008.

“Monaco remains at the top of global wish lists, with no other city in the world boasting the same wealth density,” said Kate Everett-Allen, head of international residential research at Knight Frank.

More upward pressure on prices is expected in the short term, as there are no new residential developments near to completion.

The €2 billion land reclamation project at Portier will add six hectares of new land that will accommodate 120 new high-end apartments, whose prices are expected to be in excess of €100,000 per square metre. This is a price that is already being met in the Carré d’Or area, Knight Frank said.

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Christie’s in Geneva was the stage for ONLY WATCH 2017, the biennial charity auction where watchmakers donate unique timepieces, giving collectors and connoisseurs the opportunity to own a truly one-of-a-kind watch with all the proceeds going towards finding a cure for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

The 7th edition of ONLY WATCH on Saturday, November 11, raised €9,289,434 (CHF 10,776,500), which will be donated to Monaco’s Association Monégasque contre les Myopathies in support of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy research.

Yet amongst the excitement and enthusiastic bidding, this year’s charity was marked by the absence of Paul Pettavino, son of ONLY WATCH founder and President of L’Association Monégasque contre les Myopathies, Luc Pettavino.

Paul, who suffered from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy died on November 12, 2016, a loss that for any family would be insufferable except that Paul was not an ordinary young man. Described by friends as “serene”, “radiant”, and “extremely kind”, he went out of his way to help others. He also participated in ONLY WATCH, working with Louis Vuitton over the years to design unique pieces to auction, and at a remembrance service held at the Cathedral in Monaco, it was standing room only.

Since the auction’s first edition in 2005, and under the High Patronage of HSH Prince Albert, Only Watch has raised over €34 million and has financed numerous scientific and medical research programmes.

Prince Albert, who was at the event, thanked the “bidders, watchmakers, partners, participants: from the bottom of our hearts, thank you so much” and said, “With money raised together with Only Watch in the past decade, we have changed the face of research on this matter. […] We are getting closer to changing the lives of millions of boys around the world.”

Luc Pettavino commented, “We have won many battles together. The battle of altruism and empathy in amongst all of us: brands, partners, donors. The battle of beauty and research of excellence. The battle of awareness for research on Duchenne muscular Dystrophy with the largest media buzz ever. Now, let’s continue pushing hard, as we do need to win the battle to cure this disease.”

In Geneva on Saturday, all watches did well, but some did a bit better than others.

The Patek Philippe 5208T-010 ended up being the topic of a bidding war between two Asian bidders and was eventually sold for €5,335,326 (CHF 6,200,000), nearly six times its high estimate. This timepiece combines an instantaneous perpetual calendar, with a chronograph and a minute repeater and its case is crafted from titanium, which is a material very rarely used by Patek Philippe, making the watch all the more rare.

Tudor set a world record for most the most expensive watch of this brand ever sold at auction, as its unique Black Bay Bronze sold for €301,200 (CHF 350,000), while the watch had a high estimate of only €4,732 (CHF 5,500). With this, it takes the place of the former record holder, which was auctioned at the 2015 edition of ONLY WATCH.

Against a high estimate of €34,4214 (CHF 400,000), the FP Journe Chronographe Monopoussoir Rattrapante Bleu sold very well, reaching a final bid of €989,616 (CHF 1,150,000). Especially developed for the ONLY WATCH auction, this watch features a new monopusher rattrapante chronograph calibre, fitted in a 44mm tantalum case, and topped off with a stunning blue chrome dial.

The unique Hublot Big Bang UNICO Sapphire Usain Bolt, also nearly doubled its high estimate and was sold for €129,080 (CHF 150,000). The proud new owner will not only receive this very special sapphire-encased Big Bang, but will also meet the world’s fastest man, Usain Bolt himself, as part of making the winning bid.

John Reardon, International Head of Christie’s Watch Department, stated, “As the auction partner for Only Watch 2017 it has been a pleasure and honour to be part of this important initiative. The final result has reached beyond our expectations and we congratulate Luc Pettavino and the entire Only Watch family for such a success and like to express our thanks to all the partners who have supported Only Watch.”

All lots combined brought in two and a half times more than the highest estimates. Even better is that the cost of the auction is only one percent, making 99 percent of the total amount available for the Association Monégasque contre les Myopathies to find a cure for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

Prince Albert also commented before the auction, “We might not all be researchers but I think we all have collectively the power to change things for generations to come.”

It is through this goodwill that Paul Pettavino’s name will live on.

Marie-Pierre Gramaglia spoke on behalf of the Principality of Monaco at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 23) in Bonn on Thursday, November 16, and offered support to the island state of Fiji.

In her speech, Monaco’s Minister for Public Works, the Environment and Urban Development reiterated the objectives of the Principality of Monaco in reducing greenhouse gases: a reduction of 50 percent by 2030 compared to 1990 and carbon neutrality by 2050.

“Today my country wants the commitment of all parties to be ambitious and transparent in order to achieve the goal we have collectively set for ourselves, to contain the average rise in global temperatures to less than two degrees from at pre-industrial levels and as far as possible below 1.5 °C.”

In the face of major meteorological events, Marie-Pierre Gramaglia asked: “Do not these extreme phenomena bring us back to the urgency of a situation that we have too long underestimated? Is it not today our collective responsibility to act and establish mechanisms to facilitate access to international funding for the most vulnerable?”

Speaking to the Fiji Presidency of COP 23, the Minister added that “our two countries share the same approach to the key role of oceans for climate. Beyond threats, we also know the tremendous opportunities that oceans hold, provided we are able to protect and exploit them in a sustainable way.

“It is important to highlight their incredible potential for mitigation and adaptation. As such, the IPCC Special Report on the Oceans and the Cryosphere, to be published in 2019, will undoubtedly provide new insights to enrich debates on these issues and inform our decisions.”

“It is fundamental that the commitment of each and everyone is maintained so that together we can achieve the objectives and thus ensure a sustainable future for our children.”

COP23, which ran until November 17, was chaired by Fiji, an island state particularly affected by the effects of climate change.

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