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I'll stay here
Portugal's Algarve region gets a new retreat
Surrounded by natural parks within Portugal's Algarve region, Farmhouse Hotel Quinta Do Pinheiro is a 10-minute walk from protected sand dunes, oyster farms and the beaches of Barrier Island. First constructed in 1870, the property was purchased in 2021 by Dutch couples Martin Kreigewaite and Monique Snowyen. Currently, five stylish cottages designed by Portuguese architect Frederico Valshouna and his daughter Marta, all have two or three bedrooms, a dining room and a kitchen. The window frame is painted red, which is traditional for the area. The floor was local Santa Catalina tiles. And the old bread oven and distillery remain on the grounds. The hotel does not have a restaurant, but staff can arrange for chefs. For meals, the town of Tabila, a Roman settlement known for its church and bell tower founded in 400 BC, is a scenic 90-minute hike (or 25 minutes on one of the site's electric bikes). In May, it will be much easier for New Yorkers to visit this area of Portugal thanks to a new United Airlines direct flight between Newark, New Jersey and Faro, the capital of the Algarve region. Starting from around $380 per night during low season (November to March), Quintapinheiro.com.
Please wear this
Opera pump for every occasion
For the Pavillon DeFollies collection in Spring 2025, Valentino creative director Alessandro Michele, known for his bohemian spirit of gender fluidity, softened the brocade and frills with historic elements of male evening wear: the opera pump. Originally, the components of men's formal dresses, dating back to Regency eras, opera pumps or court shoes, feature low heels, glograin bows, and slightly higher vamps than ballet flats (but low enough to show off gorgeous socks). During the Victorian era, they became a popular choice of footwear for gentlemen visiting the opera, and then everyone from Marlene Dietrich to Frank Sinatra to Colman Domingo wore it. A version of Valentino, called the Bowow Ballerina, participates in a recently released array of similar designs. New York label Bode is also known for its outfit nod to the past, selling pairs to both men and women in patented leather and NAPA leather. Both Tom Brown, the champion who reinterprets formal dresses, and Suzanne Leh, a New York designer, produce varieties for women. And Manolo Branick offers velvet pairs for men. The opera pump, a relic of footwear, is traditionally available only at older school shoe stores such as Arthur's Sleep in London, and was notoriously difficult to find in women's sizes. The silhouette has hardly changed to this day, but the biggest riff is the details of Valentino's cutaway near the bow – the way they wear it is certainly true. Domingo recently paired him with an embroidered evening vest, black pants and Portel socks.
Spanish fashion house Loewe, in partnership with French cognac maker Hennessy, released the furry casing of the distillery's Paradis Decanter, turning the curved bottle into more of the objet dirt. The muppet-like shell, covered in hundreds of shredded Calfskin leather strips, is inspired by a bar of chestnuts, a thorny pod that matures chestnuts. The three colorways of the case (green, brown and black) represent the life cycle of Bali, echoing the chestnut tree bands surrounding Hennessy barrels as protection from wooden fractured beetles. The limited edition casing comes in a standard 700 ml bottle featuring 400 intricate knots, while the 3 liter bottle created for collaboration comes with a case made from 875 knots. Even the most enthusiastic collectors may need to explore to ensure a box set that comes with a decorated decanter, a pipette to extract cognac and two-stem cognac glasses – only 177 out of 47 units of 3 liters and 700 ml available worldwide. Hennessy Paradis x Rowe will be released on March 17th. Starting at $2,850 for 700ml hennessy.com.
Please access this
An elegant new hotel located in downtown Litchfield, Connecticut.
The lush centre in Litchfield, Connecticut offers a layer of architectural history. The building is close to hiking and bargings in Connecticut's largest natural lake, Lake Bantam and nearby white memorial centres, from the homes of the decorated White Box Colonial Revival to linear structures by famous modernists such as Marcel Brewer and John M. Johansen. However, until recently, there was no place to stay in downtown unless you had a friend who happened to have a room. This month, Belden House & Mews will be the second option for visitors (after Abner, which opened in September 2024). The family behind Troutbeck, a country house hotel in Amenia, New York, has transformed Green's complicated property into a “hotel that should really be here.” He worked with his mother's hotel designer, Alexandra Chanpalimu, to create a Belden home, maintaining the architectural features of the 1950s modernist structure, combining it with the mansion of the 1888 Colonial Revival Doctor and the building varieties of Litchfield. Inside, the building has a more unified custom glass cloth wall covering, and in the Mews building there is a four-poster spindle bed built by local artisans. Champalimau, who lives a few units apart, says the atmosphere is meant to be “residential.” For this reason, Belden House Restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. Items are available from the mansion's original dining room from the local farm and Connecticut coast. Belden House & Mews will open on March 28th. Starting at $500 per night, beldenhouse.com.
See this
Gallery in Corsicana, Texas, is a homecoming for its founder
In 1894, oil was discovered in Corsicana, Texas, making it the state's first boom town. By the late 1950s, once elegant downtown had fallen into great devastation. When sisters Katherine and Susan Hubble grew up in Corsicana in the '70s, it “feeled like a ghost town,” says Susan, now an artist and runs a design company with Katherine in Athens, Georgia. “I felt a pulse that wasn't there before,” Susan says. “We discovered a very cool art residency and group called 100 W Corsicana.” They decided to buy a two-storey building in downtown, and after two years of renovations, they converted the space into a gallery that opened last month. The first floor is a mix of Susan artwork, including organic cut paperwork, ceramic and plaster, and abstract sculptures of cast bronze. The second floor features art workshops, community events and occasional pop-up dinners. “If we could expose people to something we've never seen before, we'd finished half of our work,” Susan says. hablegallery.com.
