| | | It’s the first Monday in May. Tonight is the Met Gala—one of the biggest moments of the year for the business of fashion and luxury. |
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| Luxury is consolidating around a new value system. What’s changed is expectation. |
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| Like the Met Gala, the moments that matter most span Hollywood, society, art, media, sport, fashion, hospitality, beauty, automotive, and commercial culture. The brands rewriting the rules move fluently across all of them. |
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| You see it in how hospitality is being reimagined as a platform for self-actualization. In how fashion is claiming intellectual and cultural space. In how loyalty is being reframed as access to moments that can’t be replicated. In how even the most established brands are evolving to stay relevant and meet new audiences where they are, without losing what made them desirable in the first place. |
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This issue is a read on that shift. |
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| We look at how luxury brands are showing up today: those setting the pace, those challenging the notion that luxury takes time to build, and those redefining what luxury means altogether. |
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| Photo via Emmanuel Fradin |
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| Pulse Check: Luxury Brands You Need To Know |
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| Luxury credentials that used to accumulate over decades are now being built in years, as new brands rewrite what heritage, craft, and institutional validation look like under the attention economy. The read is structural vs. aesthetic—which brands are doing the work, and which ones are just coded that way. Across luxury categories, we're highlighting the eight building real momentum now. ➔ |
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| BMF Connects With Ben Pundole |
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| Ben Pundole has shaped some of hospitality’s most defining members’ clubs and hotels over the years. Now, as he prepares to relaunch Delano Miami Beach, he joins BMF Founding Partner Brian Feit to discuss the future of luxury and why the most compelling experiences are built around people. ➔ |
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| | The New + The NoteworthyEverything Worth Doing/Seeing/Getting/Booking |
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| Photos via Mercedes AMG F1 |
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| The Miami Grand Prix took the grid this weekend, where the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team took home the win with Kimi Antonelli's third straight victory. An Official Team Partner, BMF client Marriott Bonvoy’s Moments program puts fans in the heat of some of sport's best action, and you can be next. At more than 15 races this year, Moments gives members access to the Silver Arrows Lounge, Hot Laps, paddock meet-and-greets, and Ritz-Carlton Ultimate Weekend stays by bidding or redeeming points. Catch the race highlights here, and start earning access here. ➔ |
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| Photos via The Lake Como EDITION |
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| Photos via The Ritz Carlton, San Francisco |
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| | Jet-set glamour just got upgraded. BMF co-piloted Dyson in launching the Dyson Supersonic Travel hair dryer with an airport-themed activation in Miami: check-in desk, security screening, first-class lounge with live styling demos and a product newsstand, with baggage claim as the final stop for purchases. Delivering the same high-performance styling in a lighter, perfectly portable silhouette with precision heat technology and universal voltage adaptability, the Dyson Supersonic Travel is the ultimate companion for a life in motion. Get yours here. ➔ |
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| Photo via Andaz Tokyo Toranomon Hills |
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| BMF client Andaz Tokyo Toranomon Hills is nothing like your average high-rise hotel. With a lobby that resembles something closer to a zen garden mixed with a private members club than a check-in desk, anchored by a record-breaking work of Japanese craft, the energy shifts from the moment you arrive. The suites are design-fair-worthy. The spa, genuinely transformative. Tokyo Tower at sunrise through floor-to-ceiling glass is an experience you won’t want to miss out on. Book your stay here. ➔ |
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| | The FrequencyWhat We’re Listening To Now. |
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| | Pop's newest era is set against gilded walls as Olivia Rodrigo drops “drop dead,” the lead single from her upcoming third album. Through the renowned creative direction of Petra Collins, the Palace of Versailles became her cinematic playground as she and her team became one of few granted hours of overnight access to film the music video in its most opulent rooms. With Rodrigo running around in a blue Chloé dress and pink headphones, the centuries-old grandeur sharpens the pop-rock edge of the single itself. The lyric came first: "angel on the walls of Versailles." The location followed. Watch and listen here. ➔ |
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| | That’s Fire By Sir Candle Man 🔥 |
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| Photo via Hotel Lobby Candle |
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| BMF tapped fragrance aficionado Kudzi Chikumbu, AKA Sir Candle Man, for this edition's scent spotlight. We're burning Figuerie by BMF client Trudon, the legendary maison's first-ever fig candle. Inspired by the royal greenhouses at Versailles, fresh fig leaves and cedar lead green and crisp, then give way to sandalwood, tonka bean, and earthy moss, all housed in Trudon's signature celadon glass vessel and gold blazon. For the perfect spring scent, shop here. ➔ |
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| | The DestinationNow Departing: Global Luxury Hotspots |
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| Photo via Mandarin Oriental, Singapore |
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| From private clubs to palatial hotels, from Michelin-starred dining rooms to flagship boutiques that double as destinations, luxury travel is having a moment of reinvention. The bar is higher, the experiences more intentional, and the addresses more worth knowing than ever. We look at the cities leading that charge—some obvious, some you wouldn’t expect—and the specific places within them setting the pace. ➔ |
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| | | | Let’s chat about how we can keep your brand in tune with the pulse of culture. |
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| | The SublimeCreators, Innovators, And Cool $#!+ You Should Know About. |
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| Photos via The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel |
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| The Met Gala begins at The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel. BMF client and the longstanding pre-Gala headquarters, The Carlyle is where fashion's biggest night actually starts, where suites turn over to ateliers, glam is stacked deep, and paps patiently await every exit onto Madison & Park. Last year alone included Gigi Hadid, Kendall Jenner, Jennie, A$AP Rocky, Bad Bunny, Rosalía, Lupita Nyong’o, and Dapper Dan to name a few. The carpet is the reveal, but The Carlyle is where it all comes together. Read more here. ➔ |
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| | BMF client [solidcore], the cult boutique whose waitlists and blue-lit reformer rooms reshaped American fitness, is temporarily stepping off the megaformer to test its newest workout format. The brand's first Innovation Lab, a two-week pilot at its Navy Yard studio in D.C., is testing a heated, mat-based conditioning format built to complement the reformer, not replace it. "Your favorite reformer is safe," CEO Bryan Myers told members, assuring its core audience felt heard. For a peek inside the Lab, watch here. ➔ |
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| | Care for a tennis ball amuse-bouche? Bark Air, the dog-only luxury carrier, just added four European routes (Berlin, Dublin, Athens, Stockholm) to its global itinerary list with in-flight wellness kits, lounges serving warm broth, and a Companion Concierge that handles international paperwork and required vaccinations. It joins RetrievAir, which launched last year, and JSX, which has a Petco partnership shipping branded bandanas and frosted cookies to its four-legged passengers. No longer accessory, pets have graduated to client status. Explore and book here. ➔ |
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The DKNY PR Girl is writing a novel in public. Aliza Licht, a pioneer of social media storytelling, is serializing her debut Off the Record: Secrets of a 90s Fashion Insider In New York on Substack, releasing a chapter every Wednesday and letting subscribers shape the story once her drafted material runs out. Equal parts roman à clef and live experiment, the book opens the door on fashion's image-making at its most closed. Subscribe before the next chapter drops here. ➔ |
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| | Reading is having a moment, and the most coveted brand in luxury knows it. From April 22 to 24, Miu Miu took over Milan's oldest cultural institution, Circolo Filologico, for its fourth Literary Club. Three days of readings, performances, and conversations under the theme “Politics of Desire” drew on the work of Nobel laureate Annie Ernaux and Ghanaian feminist novelist Ama Ata Aidoo. While peers staged Design Week spectacles, the brand at the top of the Lyst Index spent its biggest April activation buying intellectual real estate. Watch Alexa Chung’s recap here. ➔ |
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| | Three of Europe's most powerful luxury houses are showing their Cruise 2027 collections on American soil this month. Dior opens at LACMA on May 13 with Jonathan Anderson's first Cruise, set against Peter Zumthor's newly opened David Geffen Galleries. Gucci follows in New York on May 16 with Demna's first Cruise for the house. Louis Vuitton closes the run on May 20 with collections from both Pharrell and Nicolas Ghesquière. The U.S. is currently luxury’s strongest growth market, and the houses clearly know it. Read more here. ➔ |
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| | Members clubs have officially taken to the sky. Revaire, an invite-only platform that launched last year with a $1,500 fee, lets vetted members see when other members are flying in the same direction and split the cost of a private charter. Founded by Diplo's former tour manager Luke McNees, it sits alongside Wheels Up's Signature Membership and XO's Insider program, which offers access to premier events like Miami race weekend and the Masters. Soho House logic at 35,000 feet, where access is the real first class. Read more and apply here. ➔ |
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| | The Week in ReviewICYMI... |
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| Travel London's New Louis Vuitton Hotel Offers Afternoon Tea, Champagne And Generous Helpings Of Heritage ➔ Wellness Tourism Could Top $900 Billion In 2030—Luxury Hotels Are Racing To Keep Up ➔ Inside Blacklane's Brand Evolution And The Future Of Luxury Travel ➔ Classic Vacations Releases Summer 2026 Luxury Travel Trends Forecast ➔
Fashion & Beauty From Ralph Lauren To The Row, American Luxury Is Booming ➔ All Of Your Favourite Beauty Brands Are Entering The Fragrance Market ➔ Time For Change: How Luxury Watchmakers Are Embracing Innovation ➔ There's Never Been A Bigger Year For High-Low Collabs ➔
Entertainment Finally, Emerging Designers Are Having A Red Carpet Moment ➔ Met Gala 2026: How Celebrities And Designers Will Prove 'Fashion Is Art' ➔ Meryl Streep, Anna Wintour And Lady Gaga Toast 'The Devil Wears Prada 2' ➔ Euphoria’s Costume Designer Explains Why Nate Jacobs Wears So Much Bottega Veneta ➔
Technology Can AI Save Luxury Retail? ➔ Gucci-Branded Google Smart Glasses Are Coming Next Year ➔ L'Oréal Says Its NVIDIA Partnership Will Cut Skincare Discovery Cycles By 100x ➔ As Luxury Brands Partner With Tech, Will Entertainment Become More Sophisticated Or More Exclusive? ➔
Media A Viral $660 Perfume And The Dupe Conversation Inspired Guerlain's First Paid Influencer Campaign ➔ Marc Jacobs' Rachel Sennott Collab Kicks Off Pivot To Social Entertainment ➔ How 'Devil Wears Prada 2' Designed A 'Fashion Collection' Of Brand Partners ➔ What Are Fashion People Listening To? ➔
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