Category Archives: British Colonial Style

A Winter’s Respite

Following the embracing warmth and good cheer of the holiday season January can sometimes seem anticlimactic – a tad boring, if not completely gray, cold and depressing. Fresh from a winter’s week-long respite in Jamaica I feel rejuvenated, energized and positively upbeat. There is nothing like the tonic of the Caribbean’s blue skies and crystal […]

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Oscar de la Renta: Punta Cana, c1990’s – 2014

Over thirty years ago Oscar de la Renta developed the sleepy town of Casa de Campo, his homeland in the Dominican Republic, into a luxurious resort where he entertained the jet set at his retreat Casa de Madera (the Wood House – see my post Oscar de la Renta: Casa de Campo c1970’s). The development’s […]

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A JAMAICAN JEWEL: ROUND HILL

Fresh from a most non-traditional Thanksgiving vacation in Jamaica I am still dreaming of crystalline azure waters, balmy breezes, the friendly Jamaican people, and the understated traditional luxury informed by decades of British colonization. And the fact that Ralph Lauren has vacationed here for nearly as long as he’s been in business adds another layer […]

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Villa Mabrouka

With a view across the Strait of Gibraltar to the coast of Spain, Villa Mabrouka, Arabic for “The House of Luck”, is a peaceful walled complex set into a lush landscape perched at cliff’s edge, a mere five minutes from the labyrinthine souk in the Medina of Tangier. Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé purchased […]

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La Zahia: Dar es Saada

Dar es Saada, Arabic for “The House of Happiness”, became Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé’s first Moroccan retreat in the late 1970’s. Having vacationed there previously they were introduced to the maestro of pan-Arabic orientalist style, Bill Willis, through the haut-monde of European society who also either vacationed there or owned a retreat of […]

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Back to Out of Africa

Posted February 10, 2013. Filed in British Colonial Style

On this cool, rainy Sunday afternoon, fresh from viewing Out of Africa, I’m feeling a tad nostalgic, if not romantic. Perhaps it’s the weather; or, perhaps it’s the breathtaking scenery and gorgeous cinematography and period set design of this epic movie that has transformed my mood. As you may already know, the movie is set […]

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