What’s new in accessories, fragrance, automotives and more

What’s new and noteworthy this month, from the Style Advisor desk.

ACCESSORIES

Swiss watch brand TAG Heuer steps boldly into eyewear

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TAG Heuer is best known for high-end motorsports watches such as the Monaco, Formula 1 and Carrera, but its latest collection expands the Swiss brand’s repertoire into an altogether different category of accessories. Available at TAG Heuer boutiques globally this summer, its new eyewear line lends the brand’s signature sporty character – and its reputation for advanced materials and technologies – to a range of distinctive sun and optical glasses.

TAG Heuer previously made a foray into sports eyewear in the early 2000s, but the new collection takes things to another level thanks to a partnership with Thélios, the recently-launched eyewear division of TAG Heuer’s parent conglomerate LVMH. “This collaboration with Thélios is a testimony to our commitment at pushing boundaries, not just in the world of horology but now in eyewear,” says Julien Tornare, CEO of TAG Heuer.

Ranging from pieces designed for tennis, skiing and other high-intensity sports to casual models intended for daily wear, the collection boasts innovative features including interchangeable lenses coated with 24-karat gold and platinum, high-tech materials such as Dyneema textile rope (perhaps the strongest fibre on the planet) and 3-D printed titanium components.

To envision a line of eyewear that lives up to the brand’s name (TAG stands for “Techniques d’Avant Garde”) TAG Heuer brought on Italian architect Renato Montagner, whose previous clients range from luxury automaker Bugatti to snowboarding brand Burton, as creative director. “Each model upholds the highest standards, with high-performing materials and details designed for optimal performance in all conditions,” Montagner says of the new collection. “This results in an avant-garde aesthetic where the glasses are no longer tied to the function of use, drawing their style [instead] from the beauty of technology.” – JEREMY FREED

DESIGN

Svenskt Tenn, an originator of Scandi design, turns 100

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“A home does not need to be planned down to the smallest detail or contrived,” architect and designer Josef Frank declared in his 1958 interior design manifesto. “It should be an amalgamation of the things that its owner loves and feels at home with.” Originally founded in 1924 on Stockholm’s upscale Strandvägen as a pewter workshop, Svenskt Tenn (translation: Swedish pewter) soon evolved into the design purveyor that popularized Swedish modern around the world. Its turning point came in 1934 when founder Estrid Ericson recruited the Jewish-Austrian Frank, who had fled rising fascism in his native Vienna, as her creative collaborator.

Their combined ethos of warm and welcoming artistic modernism married European elegance with Scandi functionality, coining a design language that embraced organic shapes and eclectic living. Boldly patterned furniture, lighting, and objects eschewed starkness by mixing natural materials and rejoicing in the colour of Frank’s dynamic botanical textiles.

To mark its centenary, the design house is drawing on its archive of more than 2,000 sketches and 250 textile patterns to release limited editions throughout the year. Treasures include etched pewter-topped nesting tables designed in 1927 by sculptor Nils Fougstedt, Est.1924, a map motif of central Stockholm, and the Liljevalchs armchair from Frank’s first soft furnishings suite.

The latter is made-to-order at the nearby O.H. Sjögren furniture factory, one of the oldest in the country, reflecting Svenskt Tenn’s prescient other founding pillar: long-term sustainability. Much of the company’s manufacturing is still in Sweden and to ensure its longevity, Ericson set up a foundation that links its ownership structure to reinvestment and research. Profits go to grants in the fields of ecological economics, environmental conservation and the preservation of Swedish design heritage. It’s why, as CEO Maria Veerasamy points out, they refer to Svenskt Tenn not as a company but as a “commercial cultural institution.” – NATHALIE ATKINSON

FRAGRANCE

Jean Paul Gaultier’s latest scent causes a stir on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express

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Jean Paul Gaultier is no stranger to a scandal. Over the French couturier’s decades-long career, he created some of fashion history’s most notorious designs, from the cone bra synonymous with Madonna to the skirts he introduced for men in the 1980s. It’s a playful and rebellious spirit that’s celebrated in the brand’s Scandal fragrance lineup, which sees its third edition, Scandal Absolu, released this month.

In its leg-topped bottle that calls to mind a French cabaret, Scandal Absolu Parfum Concentré is a juicy women’s scent made up of tuberose, plump black fig and sandalwood. In the men’s version, pictured here, a new chestnut accord takes centrestage, adding a smokiness that’s lightened through the playful citrusy top and grounded in sensuality with a base of tonka and santal oil. “What’s interesting is that Jean Paul Gaultier always combines something popular with something very couture,” says perfumer Natalie Cetto, who has created all three men’s iterations of Scandal alongside Quentin Bisch and Christophe Raynaud. “It’s interesting to bring this aspect to the perfume. We played with some addictive notes because they’re popular and used the most beautiful raw materials for the couture side.”

To fete the launch, the brand invited a cast of industry characters to take over the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express on a private overnight voyage. As the legendary train wound its way from Paris to Venice, the Gaultier-clad guests brought the hedonistic essence of Scandal to life, flirting over coupes of Champagne and dancing in the bar car until the wee hours of the morning. Agatha Christie would have been intrigued. – CAITLIN AGNEW

SPIRITS

Siempre is one tequila distiller pushing for additive-free bottles

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The label created for Supremo, a traditionally made new expression from Siempre Tequila, illustrates its virtues, but leaves out one key detail: it’s certified additive-free. This classification sets it apart from many premium tequilas, including the ones labeled “100 per cent blue agave.” According to rules laid out by the Tequila Regulatory Council (CRT) in Mexico, you can still call something 100-per-cent agave spirit, even if it’s only 99-per-cent true. Up to 1 per cent of the liquid can be abocantes, or additives that include syrups, glycerine, oak extract and caramel colour.

It’s a controversial practice, not so much for health reasons, but because the vanilla and caramel notes in some well-known premium brands threaten to influence what drinkers think tequila is supposed to taste like. There’s a wide range of flavours in agave spirits, such as earthy, herbal, citrussy, vegetal and even a hint of sweet, cooked agave, all of which are present in Supremo. What it doesn’t have is butterscotch and yellow cake notes, which might hail from a flavour lab in New Jersey.

That’s something journalists and tequila specialists Scarlet and Grover Sanschagrin have drawn attention to with their additive-free certification and listings on their website, Taste Tequila. Brands, including fully certified Canadian-owned Elevacion 1250 and Siempre Tequila, qualify after allowing inspectors access to facilities and samples in the spirit of transparency. Since brands need to re-apply every year, it’s a dynamic process, which is partly why labels don’t have certification checkmarks.

The Sanschagrin’s list is a handy resource for picky imbibers but it’s also a model for how consumer activists can influence production methods and possibly even change official regulations. Although it hasn’t happened yet, Mexico’s CRT announced in 2023 that it would initiate its own additive-free certification, so that “100 per cent” might finally refer to an entire shot. – CHRISTINE SISMONDO

AUTOMOTIVE

In Barcelona, Volvo sets its new EX30 loose

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If you want to really put your European driving skills to the test, try navigating a brand-new car through the life-size pin-ball machine that is a Barcelona parking garage. If you’re lucky, you’ll be behind the wheel of Volvo’s latest – and smallest – fully electric vehicle, the EX30, which takes every odd angle and impossible corner like a champ – or, at least, a car being driven by a less anxious, life-long Spaniard.

The Catalan cultural centre was where the Swedish car company unleashed a caravan of its latest model for first test drives in November. In design-savvy Volvo style, cruising around the city and countryside was paired with creative activities meant to highlight the vehicle’s sustainable credentials (the carmaker’s lowest “CO2 footprint” to date) and youthful energy. This included a sewing workshop at the reclaimed textile studio, L’Escola d’Upcycling, and a tour of the old town’s mashup of contemporary graffiti and historic architecture.

The 2025 model’s aesthetic, however, is more streamlined. Wrapped in a well-edited, nature-influenced lineup of exterior colour options, from a serene sky blue to lichen-inspired yellow, the interior is the height of dematerialized design. The majority of the car’s functions are concentrated in a single 31-centimetre tablet screen, centrally placed in its tall orientation on the dashboard. It’s a hub for all of the EX30′s standard technical perks: built-in Google apps, driver alert and blind spot information systems and a very handy in tight urban spaces feature, a door opening alert. – ANDREW SARDONE

Style Advisor travelled to Spain as a guest of Volvo and on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express as a guest of Puig. The companies did not review or approve this article prior to publication.