Nothing beats a name. A somewhat-bashed but still intact hand-knitted sweater that belonged to the late Princess Diana fetched US$1.1 million at Sotheby’s New York on 14 September 2023. The garment—scarlet wool embellished with rows of white sheep facing alternate rows, with one black sheep standing out among the rest—was famously worn by the then-fiancée of the then-Prince of Wales to a polo match in June 1981. It’s since been stored in an empty wine box at the home of one of the two English knitters who created the original garment.

Meanwhile, members of private clubs want to be in on action, says former investment banker Ben Jones, co-founder of Mandala Club, the first of which opened in 2022 in Singapore. A four-floor Bukit Pasoh shophouse that had hitherto been Straits Clan, run by The Lo & Behold Group, became Mandala. Its recent special events included Mandala Mansion’s Singapore Grand Prix 2023 party on the pool terrace of the just-reopened Mandarin Oriental Singapore, where club members get room and food privileges at any time.

Come December, a sibling Mandala Club opens in Niseko and lasts as long as the snow does. It’s a two-floor ski-in, ski-out treasure in partnership with the Kuala Lumpur-based Yeoh family’s giant YTL conglomerate. Its huge hotels portfolio, let by Dato’ Mark Yeoh, includes the 50-key Higashiyama Niseko Village, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve. Mandala Club members may choose to dine at the hotel’s Sushi Nagi, or in the 70-seat Popi’s, clone to the same-named venue in Singapore, where the best-seller is Angus beef cheek rendang. Next on Ben Jones’s agenda is the opening, sometime in 2024, of Mandala Club Bali in Central Canggu.

Bali, by the way, is getting more of the “have you heard?” telegraph communication normally reserved for the Maldives. All 32 villas at Raffles Bali, overlooking Jimbaran Bay, have maximum privacy. For me-time seclusion, choose the 900-square-metre, two-bedroom Presidential Villa and laze by its pool. A mere whisper to the butler can bring Rumari’s famed Bali pie susu, a puff-pastry delight filled with Papua Tahitensis vanilla cream. Of course, a toast is in order—Rumari, which means “house of the sun and the full moon,” is a Krug Ambassador restaurant.

Raffles London at The OWO—The Old War Office—should, by the way, have been on everyone’s list for its official opening on 29 September (suave hotel MD Philippe Leboeuf, at an exclusive preview, said it would take “time” to remove the central courtyard temporary ceilings after the hotel’s owners, the Hinduja family, invested yet another consider sum on a private party that all would remember, three days before). Book the Haldane Suite, Churchill’s office during WWII, and correctly expect nine-metre ceilings, panelled walls, and views across Whitehall to mounted guards in scarlet and gold regalia. One of the endless surprises could be a titivation on arrival. Right next to the main entrance, the Guerlain salon offers hair and nail services while watching the Whitehall life.

Wellness takes on a new essential with the appointment of Maria Sharapova as Aman’s global wellness ambassador. The multi-Grand Slam tennis star, 35, is engaged to Old Etonian art dealer Alexander Gilkes. Her first live wellness appearance will be a three-day retreat at Amanpuri in Phuket sometime in February 2024 and it sounds as if she will be along throughout, including at main meals. Aman New York, meanwhile, can already offer half-day sessions, which include Sharapova, virtually, leading an hour-long strength and conditioning. (In reality, you, a Russian-type sauna, and Aman x 111Skin masks.) Other hot news is that Aman New York adds two residences with no minimum stay, above and accessed from the hotel.

You may also travel far for favourite wheels. Filip Larsson owns Motikon cars just outside Stockholm. Stay in that Swedish capital, preferably at Ett Hem, and visit Larsson to inspect your choice, say a Mercedes-Benz 280 SL Pagoda 1969. The easiest way to plan all of this is with the help of The Pelican Club, run by former Four Seasons hotelier Jamsheed Pocha. Travel to the entertainment centre of the US for Formula 1 Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix from 16 to 18 November 2023. The Las Vegas Strip is out of action, naturally, but MGM is thoughtfully building tiered seating for Bellagio Fountain Club to watch the spin.

Or watch something else—private watch producer Greubel Forsey is introducing a Tourbillon Cardan, with two tourbillon cages suspended in a 20-millimetre structure like a gimbal, allowing the cages to tilt at separate angles to increase efficiency. If you must know the price, it’s a little over half a million US dollars. If you want to visit Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey, the company base is a modern grass-topped glass workshop, courtesy of architect Pierre Studer, attached to a historic farmhouse in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland.