Trattoria del Local

• Salizzada dei Greci, Castello 3417, 30122 Venice, Italy

Arrange your visit to Trattoria del Local around the calendar rather than a signature dish. Thursday means gnocchi, Friday baccalà and Sunday Neapolitan ragù at this recent offshoot of Michelin-starred Local, situated a few doors away. Chef Salvatore Sodano and owners Benedetta Fullin and Manuel Trevisan built the second dining room around platters meant to be passed, drawing equally from Veneto and Sodano’s native Campania. Start with fried polenta, then look for bigoli in salsa or fegato alla veneziana among the daily changes.

La Palanca

• Fondamenta Sant’Eufemia, Giudecca 448, 30133 Venice, Italy

At 7 a.m., the first coffee cups begin landing on La Palanca’s counter. By noon, Giudecca residents have returned for the only full meal served here, typically a short seafood menu eaten at tables along the canal. Follow the day’s catch rather than arriving attached to one dish. The board might pair shrimp with black cabbage or artichokes before moving to ombrina. A spritz works better at the bar, while tiramisu gifts a reliable finish. The Palanca vaporetto stop sits two minutes away, making the detour simple.

Pietra Rossa

• Sotoportego della Corte Nova, Castello 2877/2878, 30122 Venice, Italy

Slip through the Sotoportego della Corte Nova and Pietra Rossa opens into a large garden, an uncommon reserve of space in Castello. Andrea Lorenzon created the restaurant after a decade at CoVino. Sant’Erasmo vegetables anchor the menu, with Upper Adriatic fish often finished over a Kamado grill. The three-course Fa’ Ti sharing menu costs €55 and includes La Bocconata, five cicchetti that provide the kitchen’s clearest introduction. Natural wines favor small producers and spontaneous fermentation.

Bea Vita

• Fondamenta de le Capuzine, Cannaregio 3082, 30121 Venice, Italy

Bea Vita kept the name of a longtime neighborhood trattoria but changed its rhythm when the Vino Vero team took over. Two small rooms and canal-side tables now operate as a listening bistro, with natural wine, cocktails, DJ sets and changing exhibitions drawing Venetian regulars toward the quieter end of Cannaregio. Let the staff select the bottle, then add fried sardines or a polpetta di lesso from the counter. The evening often begins softly and gains decibels as dinner gives way to music.

Adriatico Mar

• Calle Crosera, Dorsoduro 3771, 30125 Venice, Italy

Adriatico Mar describes itself as a malvasia, reviving the Venetian wine shops that once poured imports arriving through the lagoon. The kitchen follows both shores of the Adriatic in its cooking, filling the chalkboard with small producers from Friuli, the Karst and Istria alongside pragmatic natural wines. Let the day’s open bottles determine your glass du jour, then add a miniature panino or a board of regional cheese and salumi. The room holds a few tables, but the prize is the wooden pontoon over the Rio de San Pantalon, where regulars arrive by boat.

Laguna~B Spazio

• Dorsoduro 3276, 30123 Venice, Italy

At Spazio, drinking glasses sit in a white gallery rather than crowding shelves. Marie Brandolini founded Laguna~B after reworking the goti de fornasa, the improvised cups glassmakers fashioned from furnace remnants. Today, her son Marcantonio leads the company, and every piece in its classic collections is handmade in Murano, then signed in Venice.

Start with a Goto. Each differs slightly in size and shape, and prices begin at €225. Architect David Leclerc fitted the store with steel door frames and handles and an Enzo Mari-inspired communal table, while a 200-volume lending library encourages lingering.

Arzanàrt

• Calle del Cafetier, Castello 6479/A, 30122 Venice, Italy

Oil paint floats on water at Arzanàrt, where Federico Galli pulls combs through the color and Isabella La Torre turns the dried results into sewn journals, albums, boxes and varnished paper jewelry. Some background: Marbled paper reached Venice around 1600 as a covering for books. Here, the patterns move between familiar stone veining and modern color combinations, and no two sheets repeat exactly. The most useful purchases are the hand-bound notebooks, which retain the paper’s movement without requiring a frame.

Tessitura Luigi Bevilacqua

• Santa Croce 1320, 30135 Venice, Italy

At Tessitura Luigi Bevilacqua, soprarizzo velvet advances by only about 12 inches a day. Weavers work 18th-century wooden looms, cutting one silk pile while leaving the second looped, which gives the fabric its shadowed relief. The Santa Croce showroom opens directly onto the Grand Canal and sells yardage, cushions, scarves and handbags in patterns drawn from an archive of more than 3,500 designs. Look for the Leoni Bizantini tote or a cashmere stole with Fresie-velvet pockets, a multicolored Art Nouveau garden of sinuous stems. This year’s collaboration with Muschieri carries that botanical language into Silk Peony, composed with peony, Damask rose, mandarin and tonka bean.

Foundazione Dries Van Noten

• Palazzo Pisani Moretta, San Polo 2766, 30125 Venice, Italy

Dries Van Noten and Patrick Vangheluwe placed their new foundation inside Palazzo Pisani Moretta, bringing contemporary craft to a 15th-century Venetian Gothic house. The inaugural presentation, “The Only True Protest Is Beauty,” gathers more than 200 works across its frescoed rooms. The Christian Lacroix jacket from Anna Wintour’s first issue as editor of Vogue and a Wave Murano glass table share the piano nobile without collapsing into a fashion retrospective. Handmade objects press against carved ceilings and accumulated grandeur.

Cycle the Lido with Lido on Bike

• Gran Viale Santa Maria Elisabetta 21/B, 30126 Lido di Venezia, Italy

Venice bans bicycles in the historic center, which makes the Lido’s long, flat roads feel oddly liberating. Lido on Bike sits a minute from the Santa Maria Elisabetta vaporetto stop and rents city bikes with baskets, locks, puncture-resistant tires and a map. Ride south past Liberty-style villas and the Film Festival buildings, then follow Via Sandro Gallo through Malamocco to the 18th-century Istrian-stone Murazzi and the Alberoni reserve.

The Nines

• 9 Great Jones St., New York, NY 10012

Golden Age Hospitality founder Jon Neidich modeled The Nines’ scarlet dining room on Diana Vreeland’s Billy Baldwin-designed living room and La Grenouille, then set the piano on leopard carpet. Tommy Hilfiger booked the room for a 2023 Fashion Week dinner with Charlotte Lawrence performing, while the following September, Veronica Beard brought in Banks for an acoustic set and traded a seated dinner for passed hors d’oeuvres around a chips-and-caviar tower. On a regular night, the house order is the Kaspian potato with a martini, preferably within range of the piano.

Sartiano’s at The Mercer

• 99 Prince St., New York, NY 10012

Fashion had Sartiano’s to itself before the public saw a menu, when Chanel used the former Mercer Kitchen for its 2023 Met Gala after-party and Gisele Bündchen danced beside Penélope Cruz with a slice of pizza. Scott Sartiano opened the restaurant that June, with Alfred Portale directing the kitchen and Chris Lewnes as executive chef, but The Mercer’s history with the industry reaches back decades: Karl Lagerfeld used the hotel as his New York base, and Marc Jacobs was a guest in the late 1990s. This season, the property is pairing dinner at Sartiano’s with drinks at the exclusive (Sub)Mercer lounge, and hotel guests can finish the night with an elevator ride upstairs.

Le Veau d’Or

• 129 E. 60th St., New York, NY 10022

Harper’s Bazaar traded the Plaza’s black-tie scale for Le Veau d’Or when it brought its 2024 Icons party to the newly reopened 15-table bistro. Naomi Campbell co-hosted with editor-in-chief Samira Nasr as Solange Knowles and Willy Chavarria took their seats in a room that has drawn uptown regulars since 1937. The party ran on sandwiches and fries, considerably looser fare than the $145 prix fixe now served to diners.

The Manner

• 58 Thompson St., New York, NY 10012

The Manner belonged to fashion before it belonged to hotel guests, with Coach x Perfect and Off-White hosting there ahead of the property’s official opening and Marc Jacobs choosing Sloane’s for a post-show party in February 2025. Alex Stupak oversees the food-and-drink program across the ground-floor seafood restaurant The Otter and later-night Sloane’s, both of which take public reservations, while The Apartment upstairs is reserved for hotel guests. Coach shows on Sept. 9, but no return party has been announced, so anyone without a room key can reserve The Otter or Sloane’s instead.

Caviar Kaspia at The Mark

• 992 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10075

Gigi Hadid brought her Guest in Residence knitwear label to Caviar Kaspia at The Mark for a September 2024 dinner, with Helena Christensen and Gabriella Karefa-Johnson among the guests. Jacques Grange designed the emerald dining room for this New York outpost of the Paris restaurant founded in 1927, where the signature twice-baked potato arrives crowned with caviar and there are caviar-topped fries for anyone inclined to share.

Cafe Zaffri

• 16 E. 16th St., New York, NY 10003

Cafe Zaffri became a fashion address almost as soon as The Twenty Two opened, hosting Miu Miu’s Miutine fragrance launch in September 2025 with Maggie Rogers performing and Chloë Sevigny in the room. By the following May, GQ had taken over the same ground-floor restaurant for its Met Gala after-party, with Olivia Rodrigo and Haider Ackermann among the guests. The public restaurant at The Twenty Two occupies the ground floor of the 1891 Margaret Louisa Home, commissioned for self-supporting women seeking work, while Mary Attea leads its Levantine kitchen.

Bar Pitti

• 268 Sixth Ave., New York, NY 10014

Since Giovanni Tognozzi opened Bar Pitti with Da Silvano’s Silvano Marchetto in 1992, the sidewalk at Sixth Avenue and Bleecker Street has doubled as its waiting room, drawing fashion people into the same line as downtown regulars. It remains cash only and takes no reservations, while a waiter carries over a blackboard listing dishes such as rigatoni Pitti and veal Milanese. The outdoor tables face the avenue rather than one another, which puts the whole sidewalk on view before lunch has even arrived.

Danieli, Venezia, A Four Seasons Hotel

• Riva degli Schiavoni, 4196, Venezia VE, 30122 Italy

Four Seasons reopened Danieli on July 30 after Pierre-Yves Rochon restored Palazzo Dandolo and Casa Nuova, the first two pieces of a three-palace project. Across 120 rooms and suites, cleaner lines give the pink marble, gilding and Rubelli textiles space to hold attention. The four-story atrium has, happily, lost none of its swagger. A Premium Lagoon-View Room places the Bacino di San Marco beyond the glass, which is where the rate has to justify itself. Terrazza Danieli follows the water toward San Giorgio from the roof. For the full historic charge, the 1,592-square-foot Doge Dandolo Royal Suite carries a Jacopo Guarana ceiling fresco above three balconies. Palazzo Danieli Excelsior remains under restoration for a 2027 return. The three-room Danieli Spa is planned for late 2026.

Airelles Palladio, Venice

• Fondamenta Zitelle 33, Giudecca, 30133 Venice, Italy

Nearly 2.5 acres of garden spread behind Airelles Palladio, where the 45-room resort opened in April with three pools and a children’s club among a quartet of historic buildings, including Andrea Palladio’s 1561 Zitelle institute. Designer Christophe Tollemer set Fortuny textiles against terracotta and surviving frescoes without making the former convent feel newly costumed. Conventino entry rooms face the garden but get shower-only bathrooms, while Prestige Junior Suites run 678 to 797 square feet and add a tub. Three restaurants spare guests another crossing of the basin after dark: handmade pasta and pizza at Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s abc kitchens, omakase and black cod at Italy’s first Matsuhisa, then lagoon ingredients and nearby producers in Norbert Niederkofler’s kitchen at Villa Frollo.

Hotel Excelsior Venice Lido

• Lungomare Guglielmo Marconi 41, 30126 Lido di Venezia, Italy

Giovanni Sardi’s 1908 Moorish-Byzantine resort hosted the inaugural Venice Film Festival on its terrace in 1932, five years before the main screenings moved to the nearby Palazzo del Cinema. Festival week still brings Venice Production Bridge conferences to the hotel. After the first phase of a multiyear renovation, the Excelsior returned for the 2026 season with more than half of its 198 rooms and suites redone. Wicker and striped upholstery lighten the rooms, and wave-shaped Murano fixtures echo the Adriatic outside. Renovation status matters as much as floor height. From an upper-floor sea-facing room, the horizon stretches beyond the windows with little else in the way. The grounds extend to a private beach and outdoor pool, with tennis courts farther back, while a complimentary launch reaches San Marco in roughly 15 minutes.

The Gritti Palace, a Luxury Collection Hotel

• Campo Santa Maria del Giglio 2467, 30124 San Marco, Italy

Passing boats slide so close beneath the Gritti Palace’s windows that the Grand Canal joins the décor. The 82-room Gothic palazzo dates to 1475 and became Doge Andrea Gritti’s residence in 1525. Its last major restoration still holds up because Rubelli textiles and Venetian plaster sit within the palazzo’s patina rather than erasing it. Room names carry useful geography here—a Grand Canal category, for example, opens toward the traffic below, whereas entry rooms may turn toward the campo or a narrow lane. The Redentore Terrazza Suite sits higher and is considerably larger, pairing a 2,691-square-foot roof terrace with a plunge pool.

The Venice Venice Hotel

• Sestiere Cannaregio, 5631, 30121 Venezia VE, Italy

Opened in 2022, Venice Venice comprises two ancient palazzi, Ca’ da Mosto and Ca’ Dolfin, with the Rialto Bridge across the water, and holds 43 rooms assembled by Golden Goose founders Francesca Rinaldo and Alessandro Gallo. Arte Povera hangs beside restored fragments, while steel furniture takes the place of yet more red brocade. Room 35 extends the idea across 2,045 square feet, with a Grand Canal balcony and private hammam. Room 01 contains a heated pool, available only with the room or as a reservable wellness experience rather than a communal amenity.

Ca’ di Dio

• Riva Ca’ di Dio, 2183, 30122 Venice, Italy

Ca’ di Dio occupies a former hospice founded in 1272 near the Arsenale, where Patricia Urquiola kept the dimensions of the old cells legible. Pale timber, Murano glass and softly colored stone bring warmth to the monastic austerity that could easily have taken over. Only two of the 66 rooms and suites open onto a broad rooftop altane above the San Marco basin, a useful distinction during Biennale season. Below, two cloister gardens absorb the afternoon lull before dinner at lagoon-facing Vero. A compact botanical spa handles museum legs. The hotel feels unmistakably Venetian without asking anyone to sleep like a pilgrim.

Madama Venice

• Sestiere Cannaregio 3604, Fondamenta San Felice, 30121 Venice, Italy

Gold leaf flashes through terrazzo and murals at Madama, a nine-room palazzo that feels closer to a collector’s house than a conventional hotel. Owner Mara De Guidi spent three years restoring Palazzo Antelmi, opposite the Scuola Grande della Misericordia, with Calvino as an imaginative reference rather than a design theme. Each room bears a name and its own logic. Iris takes in both the canal and the garden, while Dhalia has a private entrance through the greenery. The walled waterside garden is thick with wisteria and lemon trees. Its private landing does more for the stay than another polished lobby bar.

Venissa Wine Resort

• Fondamenta Santa Caterina 3, 30142 Mazzorbo, Venice, Italy

Inside Mazzorbo’s walled vineyard, Venissa’s five rooms occupy a restored manor where the Bisol family revived Dorona, the lagoon’s salt-tolerant grape. Pale wood, exposed beams and washed blue-green tones recede behind the vines outside. From the top-floor suites, vineyard rows run toward the lagoon. Downstairs, Chiara Pavan and Francesco Brutto build menus around garden produce and invasive species that disrupt the lagoon, work recognized by both a Michelin star and a Green star. From here, central Venice requires a boat ride, but distance is the point: morning begins among Dorona leaves instead of souvenir stalls.

Premiere of High Strung

• Los Angeles, 2016

Two months later, he enters the full plaid-blazer-and-knit-tie routine, wearing a gray-and-black check wool jacket over a white shirt, with a burgundy tie and oxblood monk straps to match. It is Savile Row by way of a rental shop, earnest and a little fusty, the look of someone who Googled “how to dress for a premiere” and, to be fair, mostly nailed it.

Free Dance Paris Premiere

• Paris, 2016

Same film, different country (High Strung went out as Free Dance in Europe), as he shows up in the tie-with-distressed-denim thing. This was peak 2016, the sartorial equivalent of a side-swept fringe, and he commits to it completely.

“Them That Follow” Party at DIRECTV Lodge at Sundance Film Festival

• Park City, 2019

Parked in the Sundance Festival’s Pizza Hut portrait lounge, the actor shows off in a black leather biker jacket over a cobalt-blue rollneck. No stylist nor a fashion house yet, just a good leather jacket and the time-honored hope that wearing one makes you look a little like James Dean.

Los Angeles Premiere of Amazon’s Cinderella

• Los Angeles, 2021

For the 2021 Cinderella premiere, in which he played the prince, the actor wore a fire-engine-red ribbed blazer over a black satin shirt and black trousers from Saint Laurent. Two years before Fendi came calling, this is Galitzine going for impact the obvious way—with color—and mostly getting there.

Fendi Men’s Spring/Summer 2024 Show

• Florence, 2023

That June, at Fendi’s SS24 men’s show in the gardens of its Florence factory, a matching denim co-ord printed all over with a cracked, tile-like FF motif. Sneakers and wraparound shades keep it loose, the ambassador era figuring out how to do daylight.

Fendi Men’s Fall 2024 Show

• Milan, 2024

At Fendi’s fall 2024 men’s show—he was fronting the campaign by then—a gray suede safari jacket with a belt-loop collar over a plain white tee, black FF-monogram trousers and pointed boots.

The Idea of You World Premiere at SXSW

• Austin, 2024

For the SXSW premiere of his romance film co-starring Anne Hathaway, it was an oatmeal pinstripe Giorgio Armani double-breasted suit, soft in the shoulder, over a black shirt left open halfway down the chest. The undone collar keeps a boardroom cut from looking fresh from a stakeholders meeting.

Prime Video’s The Idea of You New York Premiere

• New York, 2024

For the New York leg of the same press tour, he opted for a custom Fendi charcoal flannel double-breasted suit over a pale blue shirt, collar open, no tie.

Formula 1 Grand Prix of Monaco

• Monte Carlo, 2024

Galitzine turned up to motorsport’s glossiest weekend—Charles Leclerc’s home race, the one the Monégasque would go on to win from pole—dressed like he was headed to a beach-club lunch instead, in a washed chambray shirt, cream pleated shorts and suede Birkenstock clogs that frankly had no business anywhere near an F1 paddock.

Emporio Armani Show

• Milan, 2026

Two years on, the paddock nonchalance has hardened into something almost monkish. He fronts the Emporio Armani fragrance now, and he came to the show in head-to-toe Armani greige—a collarless ribbed jacket buttoned right to the throat, matching wide-leg trousers and chunky black loafers, all of it tonal enough that he nearly dissolves into the concrete wall behind him. It’s the Armani idea of tailoring in miniature, soft-shouldered and a little ascetic, the opposite of a logo.

“Masters of the Universe” New York Screening

• New York, 2026

For the New York screening, Galitzine reaches back to the 1980s trading floor. It’s a charcoal chalk-stripe double-breasted with peak lapels and six buttons, pure mergers-and-acquisitions—Gordon Gekko sent out to promote a toy franchise. The bedhead hair gives him away, though—the kid who lost rugby is still in there somewhere, under all that grown-up tailoring.

Barena Venezia Siroco Tropical Navy Jacket

Barena cuts the double-breasted Siroco from light tropical wool, leaves it unlined and gives it patch pockets, so the peak-lapel silhouette survives without turning a water-taxi cabin into a sauna. The house takes its cues from the lagoon, which is more astute local authority than a striped gondolier souvenir.

$1,060, shop now

Sunspel Riviera Polo Shirt

Sunspel developed its open cotton mesh for the Riviera, then adapted the polo for Daniel Craig’s first Bond outing in Casino Royale. That history comes with an amusing Venice footnote, since Bond eventually reaches the city dressed for a very different—rather morbid—sort of property closing. Of the 28 colorways, opt for versatile slate blue.

$155, shop now

Ripa Ripa Alta Stagione Swim Shorts

The Excelsior pool practically begs for a photogenic swimsuit. Ripa Ripa prints the cream Alta Stagione shorts with tiny umbrellas and loungers, an entire Italian beach concession miniaturized before it can become kitsch. The straight, tailored leg avoids the parachute silhouette of board shorts, migrating seamlessly from swim to terrace lunch.

$160, shop now

Eton White Plissé Tuxedo Shirt

Hotel irons possess the temperament of minor villains, which makes Eton’s plissé bib more than mere formal decoration. Its woven folds are built to hold their shape, while the white cotton body, cutaway collar and French cuffs keep the black-tie grammar intact beneath your tuxedo’s peak lapels. Removable black studs spare you from transporting a tiny velvet box that will promptly vanish under the minibar.

$290, shop now

Baudoin & Lange Sagan Rubber Loafers

The Lido’s most consequential dress code is traction. Baudoin & Lange gives the dark-brown Sagan the ease of an unlined house slipper, then adds a rubber sole for water taxi steps, marble lobbies and the walk between a late screening and the last civilized drink. The suede nap softens navy tailoring and remains dapper enough for the Gritti terrace.

$710, shop now

Jacques Marie Mage Stanley Kubrick 1948

Before Stanley Kubrick became Stanley Kubrick, he worked as a Look photographer in thick acetate frames. Jacques Marie Mage revisits his 1948 pair in Willow, with sepia lenses and enough brow line to give a jet-lagged face some editorial supervision. The edition is rather exclusive, with a limited run of 400.

$1,155, shop now

Four Seasons Hotel Seoul

• 97 Saemunan-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul, 03183, South Korea

Book a Palace-View Executive Suite, and you’ll get windows that look north along Gyeongbokgung’s ceremonial spine. Beyond Gwanghwamun’s broad hipped roof, successive courtyards and low timber halls capped in gray clay tiles known as giwa culminate at Geunjeongjeon, the late-Joseon throne hall, with Bugaksan behind. The same panorama reaches the marble bathroom and its soaking tub. The hotel’s 317 rooms and suites start at 441 square feet, generous by Seoul standards, while the three-level wellness complex pairs a lap pool with a Korean sauna. In the basement, Charles H. hides an eight-seat H. Bar where cocktails arrive as a tasting menu.

Josun Palace, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Seoul Gangnam

• 231 Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, 06142, South Korea

The 254-room Josun Palace occupies the top of Centerfield, an office tower on Teheran-ro, which may sound grim until the elevator opens on veined marble and curved lacquer warmed with metal, Humbert & Poyet’s Art Deco doing the work the address cannot. Shinsegae, the department-store dynasty behind the hotel, spent accordingly, with Frette on the beds and Byredo in the bathrooms, and the 26th-floor pool is at its best early, when Teheran-ro below is reduced to toy cars. On-property restaurant Eatanic Garden is reason enough to skip the taxi and eat in.

Signiel Seoul

• 300 Olympic-ro, Songpa-gu, Seoul, 05551, South Korea

The 235-room Signiel, a member of Leading Hotels of the World, takes floors 76 through 101 of Lotte World Tower, the tallest building in Korea, so the street simply stops existing; on a clear morning, the Han’s bends are what you see from the bed, and which way the room faces matters more than an extra few square feet. The sky lobby sets Korean floral motifs against polished onyx and local craft. The indoor pool keeps the city in view between laps, and Bar 81 holds the panorama after dark. Jamsil Station and Lotte World Mall are directly below, Seokchon Lake just outside, which is useful given how little you will want to leave.

Grand Hyatt Seoul

• 322 Sowol-ro, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, 04347, South Korea

The lawn behind the 615-room Grand Hyatt rolls toward the skyline with enough room to make downtown Seoul feel like something happening to other people, which the 1978 landmark has traded on for decades. Club Olympus adds a serious indoor pool and gym, hence the loyal local membership. Book high and face the Han, because the 323-square-foot standard rooms are modest and the bathrooms feel even smaller. Hannam’s restaurants and Itaewon’s bars are an easy taxi, though the subway is a hike from this Namsan perch, so budget for car transfers.

Nostalgia Hanok Hotel

• Welcome center: 1 Bukchon-ro 8-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul, 03056, South Korea

Bukchon’s regulated lanes are now closed to nonresidents overnight, so hotel guests get the hour before 10 a.m. alone with the rooftops, and Nostalgia hands you an entire restored hanok in which to enjoy them. Each of the six houses keeps its ondol floors and enclosed courtyard, then adds a reason to pick that one: Slow Jae holds a pottery studio, Hidden Jae an outdoor Jacuzzi and a music cave. Taking the whole house also sidesteps the thin-wall problem that haunts most traditional stays, which is the polite way of saying you will not eavesdrop on your neighbors’ pillow talk.

Ryse, Autograph Collection

• 130 Yanghwa-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul, 04038, South Korea

Ryse works because the 272-room hotel feels like a genuine part of Hongdae. Local regulars share the coffee shop and rooftop with guests, giving the place the ease of a clubhouse. Glossy pink resin floors cut through raw concrete, while rotating art commissions and four artist-designed suites tie the interiors to the district’s streetwear scene. Rooms with open bathrooms suit solo travelers or couples who have run out of secrets. Upstairs, Side Note Club pairs a record collection and DJ sets with a city-facing terrace, and Hongik University Station offers direct AREX trains to the airport, though the platform is a 10-minute walk with luggage.

JW Marriott Dongdaemun Square Seoul

• 279 Cheonggyecheon-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul, 03198, South Korea

Heunginjimun, Dongdaemun’s great gate, fills the windows here, so the tiled eaves and Seoul’s 14th-century wall are directly across from the bed, and the room is less a hotel room than a box seat. Among the hotel’s 170 rooms and suites, insist on one facing the gate. The view gives an otherwise familiar chain hotel a Seoul address instead of an anywhere one, and the same monument appears from the Executive Lounge balcony and the Griffin rooftop once the floodlights come on. Downstairs, the indoor pool goes unexpectedly theatrical under chandeliers and oversized mirrors, and Provence Spa by L’Occitane is next door.

Sofitel Ambassador Seoul Hotel & Serviced Residences

• 209 Jamsil-ro, Songpa-gu, Seoul, 05552, South Korea

At Sofitel, the lake view is the reason to book. Those rooms look across Seokchon Lake toward a calmer Jamsil than the tower panorama on the opposite side. In spring, when the shoreline becomes one of Seoul’s busiest cherry-blossom promenades, the view is best enjoyed several floors above the crowd. Pay for the lake. The building holds 403 hotel rooms and suites, plus 160 serviced residences for longer stays. The hotel rooms settle into clean lines and a cream-and-blue palette. The 82-foot indoor pool comes with a separate children’s pool, and Biologique Recherche treatments offer an exit when the family traffic peaks. The palace districts do, however, remain a long ride away.

Banyan Tree Club & Spa Seoul

• 60 Jangchungdan-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul, 04605, South Korea

Few hotel rooms ask you to pack a swimsuit for the bedroom, which immediately makes the Banyan Tree Club & Spa intriguing. Nearly 90 percent of the hotel’s 50 rooms and suites have a private relaxation pool built for soaking rather than laps. The main hotel building is Kim Swoo-geun’s late-1960s Tower Hotel, set on a 17-acre Namsan site where the father of postwar Korean modernist architecture gave the rooms dark stone and broad windows with a weight newer towers avoid. Outside, Oasis is a proper seasonal pool ringed with cabanas, and the spa has 11 treatment rooms.

Four Seasons Hotel Seoul

• 97 Saemunan-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul 03183

In Seoul, the Four Seasons has the useful kind of power address: between Gwanghwamun’s offices and the palaces of Jongno, with Seochon and Euljiro close enough for spontaneous plans. Besides the 317 residential-style rooms, the more persuasive luxury is its grand spa, which has three temperature-controlled pools plus wet and dry saunas. Charles H. waits downstairs for anyone who has mistaken jet lag for stamina, and hidden inside that bar is the eight-seat H. Bar, which presents Korea’s first course-style hotel cocktail experience.

Josun Palace, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Seoul Gangnam

• 231 Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul 06142

Josun Palace occupies the upper floors of Gangnam’s Centerfield complex. Once upstairs, Humbert & Poyet’s 254-room interior wows with midcentury curves and lacquered surfaces nodding to Korean motifs, with more than 400 artworks distributed through the hotel. After dark, their windows turn views of Teheran-ro boulevard into an animated circuit board. Eatanic Garden, Son Jong-won’s contemporary Korean restaurant, crowns the 36th floor.

Ananti at Gangnam

• 734 Nonhyeon-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul 06049

Ananti at Gangnam was designed for people who find the standard luxury room suspiciously horizontal. SKM Architects gave every accommodation a duplex plan and an 18-foot ceiling, then softened the volume with curved timber and planted balconies. Rooms feel closer to private apartments—that is, assuming one’s apartment has a sculptural bathroom and an upper-level bedroom overlooking Gangnam. An indoor pool sits below grade, while the outdoor pool is framed by brick arches and dense landscaping. Choose it for space and design, especially if the trip revolves around Cheongdam and the galleries south of the Han.

Onjium

• 4F, 49 Hyoja-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul 03043

Across from Gyeongbokgung’s stone wall, Onjium occupies the fourth floor of a cultural institute devoted to Korean craft. Its culinary studio studies old cookbooks and inherited techniques with chefs Cho Eun-hee, a specialist in royal court cuisine, and Park Sung-bae building seasonal courses around precise broths, fermented pastes and pristine produce. A recipe may begin in the Joseon era, then acquire abalone where crab appeared last year or a surprise cameo from a modern ingredient. Book the counter for a view of the kitchen, or a window table for the palace wall.

Born & Bred

• 1 Majang-ro 42-gil, Seongdong-gu, Seoul 04757

Born & Bred sits in Majang-dong, Seoul’s wholesale meat district, and its most coveted meal happens below street level. The company began as a Hanwoo distributor in 1978; its basement Speakeasy now serves one 7 p.m. tasting, moving through familiar steaks, scarce cuts and composed dishes in the order a butcher believes the animal deserves. Each cut is grilled, simmered or served raw according to muscle and fat, before rice in beef-bone broth lands the plane. Book carefully: the second floor serves à la carte cuts and the third holds shorter private-room menus spanning 20 different beef-based dishes.

Zest

• 1F, 26 Dosan-daero 55-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul 06014

Demie Kim, Sean Woo, Jisu Park and Noah Kwon opened this spare Cheongdam bar in 2020 with no branded bottles on display. The back bar holds house spirits, seasonal gins and house sodas. One Jeju hallabong can yield juice for a Garibaldi, peel powder for a sour, and pulp for pickles for a Gibson, which persuasively conveys the zero-waste idea through taste. The cocktails are balanced and bright, with mostly Korean produce supplying flavor. Reserve a counter seat when bookings open, while weekday walk-ins fare best near opening time.

Le Chamber

• B1, 42 Dosan-daero 55-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul 06014

Le Chamber has spent more than a decade refining Seoul’s polished speakeasy model. Owners Eom Do-hwan and Lim Jae-jin built a 50-seat room of dark leather, chandeliers and live piano, then stocked it with roughly 200 whiskies. Order a martini or Old Fashioned before studying the house signatures, then use the aroma graph if preferences are difficult to translate. Prices sit above the neighborhood average, and the crowd dresses accordingly. Early reservations work best, particularly Friday and Saturday.

Cobbler

• 16 Sajik-ro 12-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul 03169

Cobbler is tucked inside a restored hanok near Gyeongbokgung, with sultry red light on timber beams and enough whisky behind the bar to carry a long conversation. There is, famously, no printed menu, so tell the bartender what you drink, how dry or spirit-forward you want it and which flavors should remain elsewhere. A tailored cocktail follows. The system is most useful for classics and subtle variations, especially a Vesper or Old Fashioned. Every guest receives a slice of cobbler pie, and the warm pastry steadies the first pour.

Boon the Shop Cheongdam

• 21 Apgujeong-ro 60-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul 06016

Inside this retail hub, designer Peter Marino divided 55,000 square feet between two pale-marble volumes linked by bridges, with daylight and Korean art doing much of the decorative work. The fashion edit moves from established houses to emerging designers, fine jewelry, beauty and objects, with ample seasonal turnover to warrant a return visit. Walk both buildings before deciding what to buy, since the first rack rarely explains the selection. Hit up the basement gallery to check out its rotating exhibitions and temporary brand projects.

Amore Yongsan

• 2F, Amorepacific Headquarters, 100 Hangang-daero, Yongsan-gu, Seoul 04386

Amorepacific reopened its Yongsan flagship in April 2026 after expanding it to roughly 12,450 square feet inside Amorepacific’s David Chipperfield-designed headquarters. The company’s beauty portfolio shares the floor with a fragrance lab, skin and scalp diagnostics and on-site compounding. Hera Custom Match offers each foundation formula in 205 shades, based on five undertones and 41 brightness levels. Lip color adds 142 options, several textures and fragrance. The staffed consultation requires an appointment, while a self-service zone accepts walk-ins. Multilingual guidance, international payment and immediate tax refunds keep checkout straightforward.

Centre Pompidou Hanwha

• 50 63-ro, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul 07345

Paris shuttered the Centre Pompidou for a five-year overhaul in September 2025. Nine months later, Seoul received an outpost, though Beaubourg kept the exposed pipes. Jean-Michel Wilmotte converted the former 63 Building aquarium into a four-story “box of light,” its curved translucent skin glowing beside Yeouido’s gold tower. The debut show, The Cubists: Inventing Modern Vision, gathers roughly 90 works by more than 40 artists through Oct. 4, then interrupts the usual Parisian canon with a section on Cubism’s Korean afterlife. There is no permanent collection on display, and the program changes by season.

Jungsaemmool 101 Seongsu

• 101 Yeonmujang-gil, Seongdong-gu, Seoul 04787

K-beauty is easier to understand once someone explains why the color of your iris has been sabotaging your blush. At Jung Saem Mool’s three-floor Seongsu flagship, artists use eye color, skin tone, facial structure and more to build a makeup plan, then teach the application rather than sending clients back into the world with expensive evidence. The private consultation lasts an hour, though they also offer a 90-minute class that keeps groups to eight and concentrates on the luminous base makeup for which the artist is known. Both are offered in English and include products to take home.

Inwangsan and The Forest Chosochaekbang

• 172 Inwangsan-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul 03033

Namsan Tower has done an excellent job monopolizing sky-high views on Instagram. Inwangsan rises 1,109 feet behind Seochon, with a section of the 14th-century city wall tracing its granite ridge and the palace roofs arranged below. Start near Dongnimmun, cross the summit and descend toward The Forest Chosochaekbang and Suseong-dong Valley. Allow three hours, and expect the final rock steps to make fashion sneakers an optimistic decision. The book café pours coffee in a former police guard post whose terrace faces the skyline. The ridge stays open around the clock, although daylight is the safer and more flattering arrangement.

René Lacoste, Forest Hills

• Sept. 12, 1927

Modern menswear is hiding in plain sight in this shot. Lacoste takes a forehand in an open-neck white knit, high-waisted flannels and a flat cap, noticeably less encumbered than players still wrestling with starched collars and rolled sleeves. He developed the short-sleeved shirt for easier movement, then put it into production with a crocodile at the chest.

Arthur Ashe, Forest Hills

• Sept. 1968

Arthur Ashe drops almost to the grass for the return, horn-rimmed glasses still level and his white polo tucked with military neatness. The outfit follows every convention in the club book, yet by the time he left Forest Hills as the inaugural U.S. Open men’s champion and the first Black man to win a major, those tennis whites no longer belonged exclusively to the institution that prescribed them.

Chris Evert, Flushing Meadows

• Sept. 10, 1978

The ultra-fitted bodice of Evert’s scalloped white dress barely shifts while the skirt lifts behind her. The diamonds at her wrist appear almost incidental, although a bracelet lost during that tournament stopped play and soon gave jewelry counters the term “tennis bracelet.” She beat Pam Shriver in the final wearing tennis white at its most exacting, with just enough shine to change what women wore beyond the baseline.

Andre Agassi, Flushing Meadows

• Sept. 9, 1988

Agassi’s acid-wash Nike shorts announce themselves several rows before the mullet comes into focus. The white polo feels almost like a concession to tennis, while the denim-effect nylon belongs to late-1980s Las Vegas and MTV. Ivan Lendl won the semifinal, but the 18-year-old Agassi already grasped that a player could lose the match and still command Page Six.

Serena Williams, Flushing Meadows

• Aug. 26, 2002

The black Puma catsuit leaves nothing to ruffle or conceal the mechanics of Williams’ movement, while a pink headband keeps the severity from becoming costume-villain literal. She helped design the faux-leather one-piece, won the tournament in it and made the tennis establishment discuss a muscular Black woman’s clothes at exhausting length.

Maria Sharapova, Flushing Meadows

• Sept. 9, 2006

Sharapova plays the final in a black Nike dress with a crystal-trimmed collar, drop earrings and metallic silver shoes, evening clothes translated into stretch fabric. She had given Nike Audrey Hepburn as the reference, and the dress was developed specifically for night play, allowing Arthur Ashe Stadium’s lights to finish the design whenever she moved.

Roger Federer, Flushing Meadows

• Sept. 9, 2007

Black stretches from polo collar to Vapor shoe, interrupted only by the tuxedo stripe running down Federer’s Nike shorts. The press called the night kit “Darth Federer,” although the clothes are too polished for costume, with their interest coming from sheen, cut and the near absence of color. He wore them to defeat Novak Djokovic and collect a fourth consecutive U.S. Open title.

Serena Williams, Flushing Meadows

• Aug. 29, 2018

Lavender tulle circles Williams’ hips as she turns after match point, floating away from the one-sleeve Nike x Off-White dress beneath it. Virgil Abloh named the capsule “Queen,” pairing the ballet volume with matching high-tops so the reference remained athletic rather than precious, and Williams found the asymmetric construction surprisingly easy to play in. Days earlier, the French Tennis Federation had invoked her medically functional Roland Garros catsuit while promising a stricter dress code, which made her arrival in New York wearing a tutu an especially elegant answer.

Coco Gauff, Flushing Meadows

• Sept. 9, 2023

Orange, oxblood and acid green meet without any particular interest in behaving like a set, which suits a 19-year-old holding her first major trophy. Gauff’s New Balance crop top and skirt keep the silhouette clean, leaving the serious fashion credentials at ground level. Her Coco CG1 “City Brights” made her the only active tennis player then competing in a signature shoe bearing her own name, a distinction far more substantial than another sponsor logo.

Carlos Alcaraz, Flushing Meadows

• Sept. 7, 2025

Nike called the colors Playful Pink, Bordeaux and plum, names that sound sweeter than they appear on Alcaraz’s sleeveless frame. The NikeCourt tank, shorts and Vapor 12s work because the palette is tonal rather than timid, while his newly shorn hair and bare arms give the soft colors a tougher outline. He defeated Jannik Sinner for his second U.S. Open title and the No. 1 ranking, confirming the sleeveless tank as the defining men’s look of his early career.

District Vision Kohei Aero Blade Ti Sunglasses

Made in Japan, this featherweight rimless frame uses aerospace-grade titanium down to the anodized hardware, with hypoallergenic rubber at the nose and temples. The shatterproof mirrored lens blocks UVA and UVB rays, while anti-reflective and oleophobic coatings help with glare, water and fingerprints. District Vision brings Japanese eyewear craft into running rather than treating sunglasses as branded merchandise.

$635, shop now

Ten Thousand Interval Short

A week that moves between squats, sprints and rowing can expose a single-sport short quickly. Ten Thousand’s Interval is built for that mixed schedule, with a four-way-stretch shell, laser-cut ventilation and a waistband that stays comfortable under load. Five-, seven- and nine-inch lengths cover different preferences, with an optional liner. The most persuasive feature is the pocket system, which holds a phone close enough to stop the usual slap against the thigh.

$88, shop now

Satisfy HeatCrush Muscle Tee

The HeatCrush Muscle Tee makes an ordinary gym tank feel padded. Its Japanese-developed mesh and micro-jersey react to sweat or water by drawing heat from the skin, with moving air increasing the cooling effect. Bonded Acrofuse seams remove the raised stitching that can become painful deep into a hot run, and the care label detaches from the outside.

$130, shop now

Proof Airweave Tank

The garage gym in August is the proper setting for the Airweave Tank. Proof developed its perforated four-way-stretch fabric to vent heat without exposing as much skin as an old mesh practice jersey. Side slits keep the hem from catching during overhead work, and a paracord loop lets the tank hang dry instead of fermenting at the bottom of a bag.

$78, shop now

Wolaco North Moore Compression Short

The phone problem is especially irritating in compression gear, where a loose object has nowhere to go unnoticed. New York label Wolaco built the North Moore around patented sweat-resistant pockets that pin a phone and key close to the body. Flat seams reduce chafing, while grippy cuffs stop the moderate-compression legs from climbing during sprints. Layer it beneath loose shorts for coverage, or on its own for outdoor circuits and race warmups.

$68, shop now

All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club

• Church Rd, London SW19 5AG, United Kingdom

There is no harder room to enter in tennis. The All England Club dates to 1868 and has hosted the Championships since 1877, now the only Grand Slam played on grass. Membership is capped near 375, and getting your name onto the list takes four current members willing to vouch for you in writing, two of whom must have known you for years. The shortcut is to win the tournament. Every singles champion is offered honorary membership on the spot, which is how Serena Williams and Roger Federer both belong, and the Princess of Wales serves as patron. What it costs is almost beside the point. The club publishes nothing, but the tennis writer Simon Cambers, after checking with sources inside, shared the annual subscription fee on his Substack this June—it’s about £150, roughly $198.

Real Club de Tenis Barcelona 1899

• Carrer de Bosch i Gimpera, 5-13, Les Corts, 08034 Barcelona, Spain

Spain’s grandest tennis institution has carried a royal warrant since close to its 1899 founding; the “Real” in the name was a gift from the crown. It sits in the well-heeled Pedralbes district and plays across 18 clay courts, one of them an 8,400-seat stadium that stages the Barcelona Open—the Godó—each April. Spanish champions have come through these courts for a century—Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, Conchita Martínez, Tommy Robredo—but the club’s patron saint is Nadal, a record 12-time winner of the tournament who had the center court renamed for him in 2017. Entry runs through four sponsors, each with three years’ standing behind them, and ends with buying a share in the club. What the share costs, the club has never said.

Toronto Lawn Tennis Club

• 44 Price St, Toronto, ON M4W 1Z9, Canada

Considered by most accounts the oldest surviving lawn-tennis club anywhere, the Toronto Lawn Tennis Club was founded in 1876 and moved to its current grounds in Rosedale, the city’s most rarefied enclave, in 1913. It ran the first Canadian Championship in 1881, a tournament older than the U.S. Open and beaten only by Wimbledon, and later hosted Davis Cup ties and touring pros like Pancho Gonzales and John Newcombe. Its real notoriety now is social. This is old-money Toronto’s clubhouse, private enough that the city magazine once ran a long piece on the “turf war” between its established members and its newer ones. The renovation at the center of that fight pushed initiation fees to roughly CAD$40,000, about $29,000. The club says a senior member’s annual dues now fall between CAD$5,500 and CAD$5,700, about $4,000, before activity fees. It remains open through construction, with its new clubhouse currently scheduled for spring 2028.

Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club

• 489 Glenferrie Rd, Kooyong VIC 3144, Australia

For most of the 20th century, the Australian Open was decided on the grass at Kooyong, which Australians still call the spiritual home of their tennis. Founded in 1892 and set in Melbourne’s genteel southeast, it held the national championship until the tournament moved downtown in 1988, and its lawns crowned the Australian greats, from Rod Laver to Margaret Court. Four members sign your application—a proposer, a seconder and two referees—and then you wait, two to four years for a restricted membership and as long as six for a junior who joined the queue at 13. These days, it stages the Kooyong Classic, a pre-Open exhibition that still pulls big names in for a low-stakes hit.

Yellowstone Club

• 1 Yellowstone Mountain Club Trail, Big Sky, MT 59716

Every Western club now copies Yellowstone, or drafts its argument against it. Its roughly 15,000 acres include 2,900 skiable acres and a Tom Weiskopf golf course. Membership is capped at 914, with real estate and approval required at the door. Forbes put condos just below $7 million and houses above $20 million in 2024. Growth now centers on Eglise, where CCY Architects’ 14,000-square-foot lodge sits above the club’s first gondola and anchors a 1,000-acre expansion. The land remains political. A 2025 Forest Service exchange involving Yellowstone and five other landowners moved 3,855 public acres into private hands and 6,110 private acres into public ownership, increasing federal acreage while closing historic access routes. Its combination of scale and oversight remains the benchmark for every new Western club.

Powder Haven

• 3900 N Wolf Creek Dr, Eden, UT 84310

American businessman Reed Hastings has turned the residential side of Powder Mountain into the West’s most useful experiment in private skiing. A $157 million phase announced in April 2026 adds two private lifts and Arclodge, a 73,000-square-foot clubhouse due in 2028 with an outdoor pool, spa and climbing wall. Membership stops at 650 families and begins when a property closes. The first 39 lots sold out. Prado adds 34 homesites measuring as much as 4.5 acres. Members receive more than 3,000 acres of private terrain, while the public mountain remains open and is adding lifts of its own. Private real estate keeps an independent public resort in business, then reserves a less crowded version for its owners.

Marcella Club

• 9143 N Mayflower Mine Rd, Park City, UT 84060

Tiger Woods’ first mountain course opened to Marcella members in early July for what the club calls a “preview year.” Tusky, the Utah Mammoth mascot, struck the ceremonial shot with a hockey stick and an exploding golf ball. Skyline stretches roughly 8,000 yards over valleys and exposed ridges above Jordanelle Reservoir, with a formal opening planned for 2027. Marcella spreads the useful parts of membership across Utah: golf at Jordanelle Ridge, ski bases at Deer Valley and a lounge on Park City’s Main Street. Ambush, a second 18-hole course by King Collins Dormer, is under construction along a mile-long ridgeline. All 500 Golf & Ski memberships sold before Skyline was finished, giving the preview year a complete membership from its first tee time.

Caldera House Alpine Club

• 3275 W Village Dr, Teton Village, WY 83025

Caldera House understands that Jackson Hole’s most useful luxury may be a place to leave the skis and park the car. Its Alpine Club sits steps from the tram, with oversized lockers, boot dryers and tuning downstairs. Valet service extends to the car. Members also receive a private lounge beside the spa and fitness studio. The building operates as an eight-suite hotel, although its club rooms remain private. Unlike the deed-bound mountain compounds, Caldera functions as a local utility, gathering the pieces Teton Village makes scarce under one roof. When the tram line forms before sunrise, a permanent parking space and boots waiting near the lift can matter more than another thousand acres.

Martis Camp

• 7951 Fleur du Lac Dr, Truckee, CA 96161

Martis Camp has spent two decades fitting second-home life into 2,177 acres. A private high-speed chair connects members to Northstar resort, Tom Fazio designed the golf course, and the Family Barn handles weather with bowling lanes, a cinema and an upstairs art loft. Its sharper advantage is dynastic: membership includes adult children and can pass to future heirs. In November, the club paid a reported $25.75 million for the former Mourelatos Lakeshore Resort, securing 275 feet of Tahoe shoreline and a 3.2-acre lakefront parcel. The addition supplies the one asset its Martis Valley compound lacked. Seven home sales averaged about $7.64 million in the second quarter of 2026.

American-Made Oxford Cloth Button-Down Dress Shirt

Brooks Brothers’ origin story gives the OCBD one of fashion’s better travel anecdotes: John E. Brooks saw polo players fasten their collars during an English match, then turned the fix into a shirt in 1900. This American-made version restores the collar roll that lesser button-downs press flat. Pair it with a navy hopsack over the shoulders, open over a white T-shirt or with a tie whose knot has not been torqued into a Windsor.

$198, shop now

Lacoste Men’s Classic Fit Original L.12.12 Polo

René Lacoste introduced the L.12.12 Polo in 1933, replacing restrictive court whites with breathable cotton petit piqué and a short placket. The original still has the compact collar and enough body to tuck into high-rise chinos. A thin performance polo under the same blazer can suggest a conference outing. White remains the reference color, especially for dinner after a late match.

$115, Shop now

Polo Ralph Lauren Cable-Knit Cotton Sweater

Ralph Lauren’s version of prep has always owed as much to cinema as campus. In 1974, the year’s Polo collection supplied most of Robert Redford’s menswear in The Great Gatsby, with a custom pink suit made for the title role. The cable-knit sweater condenses that world into something considerably easier to wear, with roving cotton yarn that gives the cables depth without the heat of wool.

$145, shop now

Rowing Blazers Men’s Ripley Blazer

Jack Carlson knows the source material from inside the boat. The archaeologist and former U.S. national team coxswain founded Rowing Blazers in 2017, with its signature club blazer boasting wool flannel, patch pockets and a 3-roll-2 front, all useful on an Ivy League mood board, but its unlined body wears closer to a cardigan.

$598, shop now

J.Crew Giant-Fit Chino Pant

J.Crew’s Giant Fit features a higher rise and wide leg pull; an Oxford or rugby away from 2010s business casual and toward the generous chinos in old campus photographs and 1990s catalogs. Substantial cotton twill helps them fall cleanly, provided the hem meets the shoe instead of collecting around it. Navy is more useful than khaki here, particularly with white socks and penny loafers.

$118, shop now

Alden 986 Leisure Handsewn Loafer in Color 8 Shell Cordovan

Shell cordovan earns its cult by aging differently than calfskin. Instead of forming fine creases, the dense horsehide develops broad rolls, then shifts from glossy burgundy toward oxblood with wear. Alden builds the 986 from Horween Color 8 on its roomy Van last, with the apron handsewn in New England. That low vamp is pure Ivy League, reminiscent of the black and white midcentury photographs hanging in Admissions Hall.

$1,022, shop now

New Balance Made in USA 990v6

The first 990 arrived in 1982 with a then-astonishing three-figure price. The v6 carries that original understatement into a softer sneaker, with FuelCell cushioning beneath navy mesh and pigskin overlays. Its entry into prep came through the back door, fueled by New England dads and the insatiable Japanese appetite for well-made American basics.

$199.99, shop now

Smathers & Branson Dark n’ Stormy Belt

Prep has always permitted one item to misbehave, and for summer, that job often falls to the needlepoint belt. Smathers & Branson hand-stitches this Dark n’ Stormy pattern, then backs it with Italian leather and a brass buckle, so the joke is better made than most of the trousers around it. Wear it to a harbor dinner, lawn party or wedding weekend with plain navy chinos and a blue Oxford.

$195, shop now

Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Classic Monoface Small Seconds

The Reverso’s preppy credentials predate the term. Jaeger-LeCoultre developed the swiveling case in 1931 for polo players in British India, who could turn the dial inward before a match and spare the crystal. This steel Monoface keeps the proportions lean at 40.1 by 24.4 millimeters, with a hand-wound movement, small seconds and a reverse left blank for engraving. It slips beneath an Oxford cuff where a larger sports watch tends to snag, then holds its own with black tie. Initials or a private date suit the back.

$8,300, shop now

Sculling

• Boston, Massachusetts

On the Charles, the temptation is to begin with a navy blazer and work backward. Community Rowing begins in a barge. Its Harry Parker Boathouse sits in Brighton, several bends west of Harvard. Intro to Rowing puts beginners in a stable 12-person training boat to learn sweep rowing, where each person controls one oar. Intro to Sculling moves into stable singles with two oars and requires a swim test on file. Thankfully, neither course assumes previous experience. A private hour costs $120 for one rower or $180 for two, useful for anyone unwilling to discover their coordination in front of a dozen strangers.
Get your bearings before Oct. 16, when the Head of the Charles takes over the river for three days. More than 12,000 athletes compete across 74 events, making it the largest regatta of its kind in the world. Watching crews pass beneath Weeks Bridge becomes considerably more impressive after spending an hour trying to keep one shell level.

Squash

• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Squash solved a problem before the boutique fitness industry found it: two people can clock out of work, play for 30 minutes and show up at dinner to split a bottle of merlot. The sport will make its Olympic debut at Los Angeles in 2028, giving the old prep-school court a new reason to feel current. In Philly, the Arlen Specter U.S. Squash Center occupies a 1916 Pennsylvania National Guard armory near the University of Pennsylvania. Its 20 courts include 18 singles courts and two hardball doubles courts, with glass exhibition boxes for players who eventually become worth watching. The building also houses the national governing body, Team USA’s training center and the U.S. Squash Hall of Fame.

A 60-minute private lesson with most of the staff costs nonmembers $135. Adult clinics are $55, while a round robin costs $25 once you can keep the ball off the floor. Beginners may borrow a racquet, goggles and proper court shoes.

Polo

• Pine Plains, New York

Polo has lent its name to more shirts than most players will ever meet horses. Mashomack Polo Club offers a corrective on 2,000 acres in Pine Plains, about 90 minutes north of Manhattan. The club has six tournament fields and a regulation outdoor arena, with a school that accepts adult nonmembers. Lessons continue through Sept. 19, while tournaments carry the season through Sept. 27. Rates are provided by inquiry, and be honest about your riding experience when booking.
Watching a match first is sensible reconnaissance. Mashomack allows spectators to tailgate at most tournament games without an admission charge, though ticketed and members-only events are excluded. Times move with the weather, so consult the club’s social feed or call the polo hotline before loading the car. September brings the Constitution Cup, Fall Classic and the last coaching sessions of the year. The season wraps just before Hudson Valley foliage begins competing with the field.

Hanover, New Hampshire

• Family Weekend: Sept. 25 to 27, Classes of 2027 and 2030

Hanover catches Family Weekend at a flattering moment, with its compact downtown set against the first fall color. Post up at Dartmouth’s Hanover Inn, which faces the Green and puts nearly all of campus within a few strides. Pine downstairs handles dinner when convenience wins, as it often does by Friday evening. For more character, cross the Connecticut River into Vermont to the Norwich Inn, where Jasper Murdock’s Alehouse pours English-style beer brewed on-site and sold nowhere else. The detour also puts you near Dan & Whit’s, the general store whose “if we don’t have it, you don’t need it” motto is mostly accurate. Back in Hanover, Tuk Tuk Thai handles spicy noodles and tom yum. Jesse’s, open since 1976, is the cedar-log steakhouse that has kept generations of Dartmouth families satisfied by hand-cut rib eyes and crab bisque. The Mill at Simon Pearce in Quechee is the table to organize early. Dinner overlooks the Ottauquechee River waterfall while glassblowers work on the floor below, adding production value to a family meal already carrying plenty. Back on campus, José Clemente Orozco’s 24-panel Epic of American Civilization fills a reading room beneath Baker Library. His smaller test fresco remains in the corridor outside, the master’s rough draft.

New Haven, Connecticut

• Family Weekend: Oct. 9 to 11

The Yale parent arrives with one perk over the rest of the league: New Haven is a pizza town that knows how to feed visiting adults. Opt for The Study at Yale for a polished, book-lined stay close enough to campus. Architecture lovers should consider the all-electric Hotel Marcel, which occupies a Marcel Breuer Brutalist landmark on Long Wharf. Then comes Apizza, pronounced “ah-BEETZ.” Frank Pepe, founded in 1925, built its reputation on the coal-fired white clam pie. Sally’s, opened by Pepe’s nephew in 1938, remains the place for tomato pie with a charred, willfully irregular crust. Expect a line at either, plus unsolicited advice from someone who chose the other. When the family would rather sit than adjudicate crust, reserve Union League Cafe for white tablecloths and a proper Burgundy list. J. Press, founded in New Haven in 1902, remains the correct stop for sack jackets and regimental ties, should the weekend call for looking more collegiate than your student. Across Chapel Street, Louis Kahn’s Yale Center for British Art reopened in 2025 after a two-year conservation and complete rehang. Admission is free, which may be the last bargain attached to the weekend. Families arriving Friday can also tour the Cushing Center beneath Yale’s medical library, where neurosurgeon Harvey Cushing’s brain-tumor registry is preserved in glass jars. Public tours are offered at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Providence, Rhode Island

• Family Weekend: Oct. 23 to 25

Brown University shares College Hill with RISD, giving parents more than 100,000 works of art to contemplate after inspecting whatever is taped above the dorm bed. Sleep downtown at The Beatrice, 47 rooms in the 1887 Exchange Building, with Bellini Rooftop access reserved for guests and members. The former Biltmore, now Graduate by Hilton Providence, is the larger fallback. The culinary scene impresses with options and accolades: Al Forno  is where Johanne Killeen and George Germon pioneered the concept of grilled pizza, handmade pasta reigns supreme at Oberlin, while Federal Hill’s Loma won the 2026 James Beard Award for Best New Bar. Brunch belongs to Frank & Laurie’s, where Gwyneth Paltrow declared “the best lunch of my life” after moving her son into Brown. Get the hash browns. Brown hosts Cornell at noon on the Saturday of Family Weekend. Free shuttles leave Faunce Arch beginning two hours before kickoff, a better bet than parking near the stadium.

Morningside Heights, New York

• Family Weekend: Oct. 23 to 25

Columbia has no college town in the traditional sense, though a blindfolded real estate broker might circle 20 blocks of Upper Manhattan and call it one. Treat the Upper West Side as the local hotel district and the 1 train as the campus shuttle. Book The Wallace for residential-style luxury. Hotel Belleclaire, an Emery Roth building, is a little less precious and puts a French bakery in the lobby. Around campus, eat for history or convenience. V&T Pizzeria has served red-sauce Italian on Amsterdam Avenue since 1945, one block below the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Tom’s Restaurant supplied the exterior for Seinfeld and attracts exactly the tourist traffic that fact would suggest. The Hungarian Pastry Shop is where to wait when your student is 35 minutes late. For dinner, head down Broadway to Dagon for Yemeni pull-apart kubaneh, crispy lamb with dates and a wine list intended for a longer evening. The Wallach Art Gallery occupies Renzo Piano’s Lenfest Center on the Manhattanville campus and costs nothing. Book Culture on West 112th handles the browsing for literature, not textbooks. That is the advantage of Columbia’s imaginary college town: once your student disappears, the 1 train puts the rest of Manhattan back in play before dinner.

Sperry Authentic Original 2-Eye Boat Shoe

This is the one that started it, barely changed since 1935 with its water-resistant leather, rawhide laces and razor-cut sole. Choose from over two dozen colorways, wear them into the ground, and proudly let the salt and the scuffs handle the styling.

Auralee Soft Leather Deck Shoes

The cult Tokyo label builds these from New Zealand baby calf, finished by hand until the leather all but melts onto the foot. This is the deck shoe stripped to pure line and feel, zero contrasting stitching or hardware, just the silhouette and a fit that gives like a second skin.

Sebago Classic Portland Dockside

Sebago has been turning out the Docksides since 1970, and it’s still the European prep’s boat shoe of choice—full-grain leather, a hand-sewn moc seam, those non-corroding brass eyelets, and a crisp white sole.

Paraboot Barth

The Barth is the French rebuttal to the “bateau” shoe, cut in the 1970s for the Navy’s submariners and built to outlast them. It’s hand-sewn in soft deer leather on a Blake-stitched gum sole, which means a pair can get resoled and rebuilt rather than swiftly replaced.

Ralph Lauren

What began with neckties in 1967, giving American prep a budget and a backstory, would eventually become a public company whose founder, now 86, remains executive chairman and chief creative officer. The succession plan is considerably more practical. Patrice Louvet has managed the daily business as president and chief executive since 2017, leaving Ralph to direct collections and campaigns. Ralph’s younger son, David Lauren, joined in 2000, became a director in 2013 and is now vice chairman and chief branding and innovation officer. Ralph and Ricky’s daughter, Dylan, built Dylan’s Candy Bar. Their eldest son, Andrew, produces films. Only David works inside the company, but all three siblings have a formal role in the family’s voting block. Ralph controls 85.5 percent of the voting power, according to the 2026 proxy statement, while David, Dylan and Andrew also manage a family LLC holding 2.84 million super-voting shares, and at least two must approve any action.

Estée Lauder

Estée Lauder understood the persuasive power of a free sample from the start. She and Joseph Lauder founded the business in 1946, selling skin-care products in New York before their son Leonard took the company into department stores around the world. The company developed Clinique in-house and acquired MAC, Aveda, Bobbi Brown and Jo Malone London. Leonard remained involved until his death in June 2025. The family still controls roughly 84 percent of the voting power through shares covered by its stockholders’ agreement. William P. Lauder, Estée’s grandson, chairs the board. His cousin, Jane, left her executive position at the end of 2024 but remains a director. Jane’s sister, Aerin Lauder, continues as an ambassador and director of creative special projects. Aerin’s husband, Eric Zinterhofer, joined the board in 2025 as one of Ronald Lauder’s two family designees.

Elie Tahari

In 1980s corporate America, Elie Tahari made the sharp jacket part of the working woman’s uniform. After a childhood that included time in an Israeli orphanage, he arrived in New York and built his name on polished separates that moved easily from a desk to dinner. The company celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2024. The following year, Tahari appointed his son, Jeremey, as chief executive and creative director, the clearest handoff in this group. Jeremey began working with his father at 16, and later founded the streetwear label Anti and spent time in real estate before returning to the company. Elie remains chairman and continues to design the luxury Elie Tahari Collection.

L.L.Bean

Long before the duck boot became a campus uniform, it was a rather spectacular product failure. The leather uppers separated from the rubber bottoms on 90 of the first 100 pairs of Maine Hunting Shoes. In an impressive show of customer service, Leon Leonwood Bean refunded every buyer and corrected the construction. Then he mailed the catalog again. The repaired boot became the brand’s signature product, and the company remains privately owned by a fourth generation of the family. While a nonfamily executive now handles daily management, Shawn Gorman, the founder’s great-grandson, chairs the board.

Louis’ Lunch

• 261 Crown Street, New Haven, Connecticut 06511

Four generations of Lassens have run this cramped brick lunchroom near Yale since 1895, and the Library of Congress credits founder Louis Lassen with serving the first hamburger here around 1900. The burgers still come off cast-iron vertical broilers from 1898, ground fresh and served on toast—never a bun, and under no circumstances with ketchup. Great-grandson Jeff Lassen will happily explain why.

Pat’s King of Steaks

• 1237 E. Passyunk Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19147

Pat Olivieri was a hot dog vendor in 1930 when he grilled some beef for his own lunch, sold a bite to a curious cabbie and accidentally invented the cheesesteak. Four generations later, the Olivieri family runs the original corner stand around the clock, directly across the street from archrival Geno’s, and still expects you to order correctly (“whiz wit,” if you want Cheez Whiz and onions). During wartime rationing, Pat spread a rumor that his sandwiches contained horse meat, then offered $10,000 to anyone who could prove it—business boomed.

The Columbia Restaurant

• 2117 E. 7th Avenue, Tampa, Florida 33605

The Hernandez-Gonzmart family has run this Ybor City landmark since 1905, growing it from a corner café for cigar workers into the largest Spanish restaurant in the world, occupying an entire city block. Now in its fifth generation, it is Florida’s oldest restaurant, known for the 1905 Salad tossed tableside, Cuban sandwiches and nightly flamenco. The dining rooms seat 1,700 beneath hand-painted tile and stained glass.

The Bright Star

• 304 19th Street North, Bessemer, Alabama 35020

Alabama’s oldest restaurant opened in 1907; it has been in the Greek Koikos family since 1925, when brothers Bill and Pete bought a stake from founder Tom Bonduris. Three generations on, it serves Greek-style snapper and beef tenderloin, seafood gumbo and meringue pies several inches tall, beneath murals a European artist reportedly traded for room and board. Among its celebrity fans is Sandra Bullock, who brought her father here for Father’s Day back in 2019.

Ted Drewes Frozen Custard

• 6726 Chippewa Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63109

Ted Drewes Sr., a champion tennis player, opened his first custard stand in 1929. The fourth generation now runs the Route 66 shop using a recipe from the 1930s, with honey retained from the years of wartime sugar rationing. The signature is the “concrete,” a custard shake so dense it is handed over upside down to prove it won’t fall out—a gimmick so effective that Dairy Queen copied it for the Blizzard. Come December, the parking lot turns into a Christmas tree lot.

El Charro Café

• 311 N. Court Avenue, Tucson, Arizona 85701

El Charro has occupied the same downtown house since 1922, when Monica Flin—one of Tucson’s first businesswomen—turned her stonemason father’s home into what is now the oldest Mexican restaurant in America run continuously by the same family. The Sonoran specialty is carne seca, beef sun-dried in a rooftop cage, and Flin is widely credited with inventing the chimichanga after accidentally dropping a burrito into the fryer. In the 1940s, she reportedly sipped martinis from teacups and played cards on the patio with John Wayne, in town shooting Westerns; today, her grandniece, Carlotta Flores, keeps the kitchen running.

Musso & Frank Grill

• 6667 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, California 90028

Hollywood’s oldest restaurant opened in 1919, and the Mosso family has owned it since 1927—four generations now, with John Mosso’s great-grandson Mark Echeverria working the floor. The red-jacketed waiters, the martinis and the century-old chophouse menu are unchanged, which is why the “Chaplin booth” remains the most-requested table in the house. F. Scott Fitzgerald proofread novels in these booths; Taylor Swift even name-checked the place on her 2025 album.

Black’s Barbecue

• 215 N. Main Street, Lockhart, Texas 78644

Cattle rancher Edgar Black Sr. opened a Lockhart meat market in 1932 and started smoking his unsold cuts. The Black family has run it as the oldest barbecue joint in Texas under continuous family ownership ever since. In the self-declared barbecue capital of the state, it serves post-oak-smoked brisket seasoned with nothing but salt and pepper, sliced to order onto butcher paper, plus giant beef ribs and a sausage recipe going back some 80 years. The brick pit that third-generation pitmaster Kent Black works in was built by his father in 1949, and holds 500 pounds of meat at a time.