THE CLOTHES
Mark Cohon discovered clothes the day he changed jobs a few years ago and met the founder of the company. “I noticed that his suits were better than anyone else’s,” he recalls. “The material was rich but light, and the fit was perfect.” The suits were Italian, custom-made at Brioni, a small, high-end shop in Manhattan. His new boss made him an offer: If they closed several large deals currently in the works, he would buy Mark a Brioni suit. When those deals went through, Mark went to the shop to be fitted.
“You walk in and it’s ‘Who’s Who in Finance,’ ” Cohon says of the experience. “Everything about it was elegant.” After being measured, he selected material from bolts of cloth and later stood for two fittings. “When you get the fit right, it’s like the garment’s hugging you. It’s like belonging to the right club.”
When he moved his family to Weston three years ago, Brioni referred him to Mitchells of Westport, one of only a handful of retailers in America with whom the Italian store does business. Since then, Cohon has had all of his Brioni suits custom-made at Mitchells — at $5,000 apiece — relying on salesman Paul Mendelsohn and tailor Domenic Condoleo not only for advice but also for accessories. “Once Mitchells finds someone who is interested in the finest, they expose you to everything,” Cohon says.
How many Brioni suits does he own? “I have no idea anymore,” Cohon says. They are divided between his 6,400-square-foot Weston home (the suits have taken over a spare bedroom) and an apartment in Manhattan. “It’s way too much money for anybody to spend on a suit,” he admits, “but it feels fantastic. If I dress like a slob, I look terrible, so I have to have good clothes.”
THE ACCESSORIES
Guys suited up and driving 911s might be inclined to drape an arm on the window edge, a casual opportunity to display their Patek Philippes (Mark Cohon drives one and wears one, coincidentally).
But if the watch on your wrist is a Richard Mille, you will probably want to power up the windows and lock the doors. The watch of the moment this fall is the Tourbillon RM 012. The dramatic, tubular configuration was inspired by architectural and industrial forms, built on a chassis with a Formula-1 circuit, and created in platinum along with titanium and an aluminum alloy found in skyscrapers and sports cars (we knew there was a connection!). One review praised “the manner in which it unites the functions of the watch’s baseplate with those of the movement and bridges into a technically coherent and visually inseparable totality.” Which may or may not help explain the price tag: $440,000.
More likely, the cost reflects its rarity. Only thirty pieces (watchspeak for “timepieces”) have been made for distribution throughout the world, and two of them are on order (and prepaid for by local collectors) at Manfredi Jewelers in Greenwich.
What kind of guys can afford a watch like this? “Men who have a real lot of money,” says Roberto Chiappelloni, Manfredi’s long-time owner. “Their budgets are such that buying a watch like this doesn’t change their lifestyles. They own all the great traditional watches, but they also want to be on the curve of what’s new and exciting.”
THE GRILL
Most men understand, at least on some level, that backyard grilling isn’t just about cooking any more than keeping a wine cellar is just about drinking wine. It’s about primal prowess — starting fires, exerting dominion over beasts (even if they come wrapped in wax paper) and competing with other heads of clan. When it comes to men of luxury, it’s all about pride of product and brand-name one-upmanship.
Simply put, the Wide Viking Grill is a stainless-steel outdoor range that will blow other grills out of the neighborhood. The highly rated unit lists for around $7,500, which, as it should, includes cool stuff guys with ordinary grills simply don’t have. Things like six 25,000 BTU stainless-steel burners for a total delivery of 150,000 BTUs; a 15,000 BTU infrared rotisserie with overpowered motor for whole-foods cooking; a removable smoker tray with an independent 12,500 BTU smoker box burner; double-walled stainless-steel construction; and a range of optional burner configurations and side burners. Plus, just look at it.
The customer for this lawn beast is “a guy who parties a lot and who wants to impress his guests,” says Linda Gilmore, a sales specialist at Aitoro Appliance in Norwalk, which stocks Viking grills. It’s also for the serious backyard chef. “You can do practically anything outdoors on this grill that you can do indoors.”
The built-in model is only $6,000, yet can easily heat up to $15,000 or more with a range of must-have options: stainless-steel side cabinets and warming drawer, outdoor oven, refrigerator and kegerator. But rolling and positioning a Wide Viking in your backyard is the equivalent of parking an RV in your driveway. You’re no longer just some guy flipping burgers: testosterone starts pumping — it’s a Viking, man — and you become a grill warrior!
THE RIDE
The problem with owning extraordinary clothes and accessories is that you can’t be seen driving an ordinary car — only a comparable status symbol will do. One of the hottest this fall is the 2008 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet. The two-seater convertible, which has been called “the 192 mph tanning booth,” went on sale in September. It has a 3.6 liter, 480-horsepower engine that rockets the car from 0 to 60 in 3.6 seconds.
Like most luxury items, a good part of the appeal is the exclusivity of the vehicle. “This is a limited-availability, top-of-the-line, first-offering of the new generation 911,” says John Resnick, general sales manager at Porsche of Fairfield. “All of the model allocations for 2008 have been filled and five people are queued for the 2009 allocations.”
Who buys a car like this? Resnick says, “Male, thirty-five to sixty-five years old, a professional or retired or semi-retired, who has owned 911s and bought them from us in the past.”
Silver and black are popular exterior colors, but the interiors are open to individual taste. Custom colors and materials — carbon fiber, Makassar or Sycamore, Carrerra-red natural leather — can accelerate the price from $136,500 to $170,000 in a heartbeat. And a sound system that can be tuned to the vehicle cabin and cancel out ambient sound can jack up the price a little more.
Another supercharged market is muscle cars. At the Classic Car Gallery in Southport, owners Joe Bertini and Richard Raskin are showcasing a big-block, 427 hp, ’66 Corvette for $100,000.
The likely buyers, he says, will be guys in their mid-thirties to early forties and a stockbroker or investment banker (with a lot of money). “They had friends in high school who had muscle cars, and now they can afford one,” says Bertini.
THE WINE
A guy with a great suit, hot car, stylish accessories and grilling domination is going to find himself surrounded by friends. Wine, then, becomes a hallmark of good taste, enhancing a good meal and opening doors to appreciation of the finer things in life.
“Wine cellars are getting bigger and bigger,” says Evan Goldenberger, a Greenwich architect and wine collector whose firm, Design Build Consultants, Inc., has designed more than 800 wine cellars since 1993. The majority of his clients these days are commissioning cellars that display select bottles as if they were rare gems.
“The cabinet work has also become more intricate, with cherry and walnut now used rather than redwoods as in the past. And the cellars have been elevated from wine storage
to library-quality rooms that are downtime areas for relaxing, recreation and entertaining,” Goldenberger says.
Westport resident Anthony Sanfilippo, fifty-one, recently moved into a three-year-old, 6,700-square-foot house with a 3,000-square-foot unfinished basement, which he had Goldenberger’s firm turn into a full wine cellar. One of the two rooms has a glass front for displaying his prized wines: a ’61 and a ’90 Chateau Latour, and a ’90 Gaja, an Italian wine. The second room is a traditional, functional storage room. Together, they are capable of holding 7,000 bottles.
Sanfilippo, who works in financial services, purchases most of his wine online from major wineries, but once a week he stops in local shops like Greens Farms Spirit Shop, where he has had luck finding low-volume, limited distribution Australian wines like Molly Dooger, and boutique or cult wines like Dunn’s and Carmen.
“It’s an interesting hobby,” he says. “It’s educational; there’s the process of learning different wineries and grapes. It’s social, for entertaining guests and serving special wines on special occasions.” And for an increasing number of collectors, there’s the process of building one’s portfolio. “It’s also an opportunity,” Sanfilippo says, “for the long-term — for investment and future resale or for future consumption.”