Karl-Henry Edström gives a preview of Robb Report Monaco & Côte d’Azur’s anticipated annual Car of the Year edition—out now across Monaco and the French Riviera.
Women now represent 54 percent of travellers with annual incomes over $250,000, according to integrated marketing company MMGY Global. Females are increasingly driving demand across premium travel experiences, from wellness retreats and bespoke cultural itineraries to luxury cruises and high-end adventure tourism.
Women have been widely recognised as the dominant spenders across major sectors including fashion and accessories, beauty and personal care, luxury interiors and premium food and beverage for decades: but now even top-end car marques are reporting consistent increases in female buyers. Globally, women now control over €25 trillion in consumer spending, a figure expected to continue rising as female entrepreneurship, executive leadership and wealth ownership increase.
If these stats don’t convince you, the observable trends in the luxury industry should: the idea of “male” and “female” scents is slipping into obsolescence (page 36). Remember the phrase “his and hers” watches—with the former relating to chunky displays of bravado, the latter to dainty diamond-set wrist-candy? It now seems as archaic as men retiring to the drawing room for a post-dinner smoke while the women remained at the dinner table to discuss domestic affairs. Cultural and social change is as inevitable as the turning of the wheels of time: and the concept of products and experiences being rigidly coded by gender is fading into oblivion.
So it’s little wonder that women make up a growing proportion of readers who see the magazine you are holding as the go-to lifestyle bible when it comes to living in accordance with that glorious French expression, Art de vivre.
All of which is why we have devoted this issue of Robb Report Monaco & Côte d’Azur to women, and women’s perspective on the luxury realm which is our spiritual home. The pioneers whose creative efforts we’ve turned our attention to in this issue (page 72), from whisky pioneer Lorna Chase to the daughters pursuing their founding father’s vision at Brunello Cucinelli and upscale jeweller Lily Gabriella, are at the vanguard of a new era, in which women are major protagonists—principal architects, consumers and tastemakers, rather than bystanders—in the world of luxury living.
From page 104, we take a deep dive into longevity, interviewing some of the world’s leading experts on pioneering approaches to becoming a modern-day Methuselah: from biohacking to sleep via nutrition and fitness. We also visit two of Europe’s top wellness facilities and experience their offerings, from wellness chambers to mental health-bolstering ice baths.
Elsewhere, on page 132, we take the train from Paris to Venice on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express and, on page 38, celebrate the Riviera’s endless ability to hike its arts and culture credibility to new heights.
We have felt for some time that an issue of Robb Report Monaco & Côte d’Azur embracing the finer things in life through a female lens is long overdue. Bringing that to fruition has been one of our most enjoyable creative feats to date. Women, after all, are increasingly shaping, purchasing and defining luxury on their own terms. And long may it continue.
Enjoy the issue.
Karl-Henry Edström
