Picture-perfect: Côte d’Azur – straight out of a magical storybook

The enticing South of France has it all. Anything is tolerated as long as you have the money to pay for it or you’re a VIP. Welcome to the epicurean Côte d’Azur – one of the most exclusive stretches of coastline in the world. Just pack your swimsuits – and your status items, of course. … Read more

Winning the uber jackpot. 5 things to buy from an investment perspective

Life has many ways of testing a person’s will, either by having nothing happen at all or by having everything happen all at once – Paulo Coelho – What would you buy if you won the lottery? What to do after winning a hyper jackpot? This fantasy exercise is always really amusing, conjuring images of … Read more

Upper crust: buyers pay up to £5.5m for apartments with pizza lifts

Four luxury flats on the Strand sold for between £3m and £5.5m, with all mod cons including butler’s lift from restaurant next door

Louis Vuitton’s Nicolas Ghesquière brings digital punk to Paris catwalk

Show at Frank Gehry-designed gallery, featuring models resembling wild creatures from Mad Max, sees fashion house marry high art with big commerce

‘It’s not about fabric, it’s about dreams’: how Ralph Lauren created an empire

Though not everyone buys into his fantasy fashion world, the story of the tie salesman who went on to dress Oscar winners is a classic American Dream tale

Playgrounds for sheikhs and oligarchs: the secret world of ​London’s luxury hotels

With their discreet lobbies and Michelin-starred restaurants, the capital’s high-end hotels have become a new green zone of affluence, where the global super-rich book entire floors to do business away from prying eyes