The Notebook

A personal notebook on luxury, fashion, design and craftsmanship. Reflections on materials, heritage and the cultural meaning of objects.

My Notes1–8 of 16 notes

What Is Oud?

Ink drawing of an agarwood trunk with dark resinous veins, loose wood pieces and an Arabian-inspired bottle labelled Oud, with curling incense smoke.

What oud is, how agarwood forms and what an oud note reveals about a perfume.

Beauty & Fragrance

What Is Amber?

Ink drawing of amber beads and resin on bark, perfume blotters and an ambroxide bottle, with ambergris and a sperm whale.

Amber beads, the warm accord in perfumery and the distinct origin of ambergris.

Beauty & Fragrance

What Is Vegan Leather?

Ink drawing of curled material samples beside a pineapple, with apples and a cactus behind them.

What vegan leather is made from, how footwear labels work and what to ask about environmental impact and repair.

Fashion

Black Friday and the Things We Could Do Without

Black ink drawing on ivory of a hand holding a shopping bag with three paper tags marked 30, 50 and 70 per cent off.

Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the purchases we start to consider when a price comes down.

Fashion

We Share Poems. Do We Read Them?

Black ink drawing of a dip pen resting on a handwritten page beside a flower and a few grasses, on a warm ivory background.

Amanda Gorman, Ryane Leão and Cécile Coulon: reading poems beyond the lines we share online.

Culture

How Much Growth Can a Luxury Brand Survive?

Black ink drawing of an artisan’s hands positioning a template on leather, with a ruler and cutting tools on a pale ivory background.

Luxury growth under uncertainty: product trust, creative experimentation and the ateliers needed for future collections.

Strategy

Thierry Mugler: The Anatomy of Power

Black ink illustration of a woman in a long black skirt and sheer bodice, with faint archival silhouettes of flame tailoring and a sculptural corset behind her on an ivory background.

Thierry Mugler’s tailoring, couture creatures and stage work, with a look at the house under Miguel Castro Freitas.

Fashion

Fashion in Search of Renewal

Black outline illustration of a woman seen from the side and behind, pinning muslin onto a dress form, with faint garment sketches on an ivory background.

From superstar designers to today’s fashion students: a personal reflection on creative authority, commercial pressure and the time needed to develop new ideas.

The Friday Column