Dream Design
The Reading Room

Luxury selection - Edition 7

Our special ruby edition round up of all things luxury, from high horsepower sports cars to smoothest whiskies.

Ferrari Roma
Stories for... Lovers of luxury
Ferrari Roma

Ferrari Roma

The car

When in Roma

The burning core of a red ruby is also thought to represent the flame of passion. And passion comes in many different shapes and sizes. For those with a long-standing love for speed, this one’s for you. The new Ferrari Roma brings back the glamour of old Italian design and marries it with sleek modern engineering. The minimalist exterior comes with clean, understated panels that hug the chassis and deep, comfortable leather interiors. The car is a poetic nod to a manufacturing heritage that spans more than 80 years, and brings to life the open roads of Modena, the birthplace of Ferrari. These four wheels will happily and quietly glide around town with ease until you flick it to ‘race’ mode when they offer sharper more direct steering. The Roma is a car you’ll never want to stop driving.

 

The Ferrari in numbers
  • 199
    MPH
Top speed
  • 11.2
    litres/100km
Combined consumption
  • 612 HP
    at 7,500 RPM
Power

The drink
Glass half full

Macallan wine

The drink
Glass half full

The distinctive rust colour flows through The Macallan’s woody and mature whiskies. So much so, in fact, that they’ve named a collection after it. The Macallan Red Collection is a curated selection of single malt whiskies that have slowly matured over the decades to reach the perfect moment of maturation. The amber liquid sleeps in wooden barrels before it’s bottled to deliver the natural colour, distinctive aromas and full flavours that The Macallan has come to be known for.

The Macallan

The shoes
Heart and sole

Models Louboutin angels collection

The shoes
Heart and sole

When you think of a touch of rouge, you think of Louboutins. The famous heels caught attention back in the 90s when Christian Louboutin was inspired to paint the sole of his latest design in a red nail varnish that an assistant was using. Since then, these famous stilettoes have been worn on every dainty foot the world over from Rihanna to Gwyneth Paltrow. The latest collection “Our Angels” is cheeky and playful, making sure you know that a pair of crimson-lacquered Louboutins will always set you off on the right foot.

Christian Louboutin

The jewellery
Romance is red

The jewellery
Romance is red

Reaching any milestone is an achievement – it requires dedication, resilience and passion. But it’s not often that people can say they’ve dedicated their life to just one other person for 40 years. A life spent rejoicing in epic adventures, embracing all the highs and lows together, creating wonderful memories along the way. Celebrate a ruby anniversary with a stone that signifies this unwavering love.

Theo Fennell

The insider

Hidden meanings

In different cultures, red signifies different things. From happiness and success to passion and love, it dates back to ancient traditions and can even bring you good luck.

Thailand

In Thailand, according to ancient customs and astrology, each day of the week is assigned a specific colour. Red is the colour for Sundays, and is associated with the solar god Surya, who was born on this day. Many Thai people pay their respects to Surya by wearing red on his birthday each year.

India

Traditionally, when a woman gets married in India, she wears a red sari and has her hands painted in mehndi, red henna, a sign of luck and prosperity and a red powder, sindoor, is placed along the hairline for fertility.

South Africa

Conversely, in South Africa red is associated with mourning and a symbol of respect for the apartheid era. At Nelson Mandela's funeral. Nobel Peace Prize winner, Archbishop Desmond Tutu wore red in tribute.

Bhutan

In Bhutan amongst the temples teetering on lofty mountain passes, flashes of red can be seen from the billowing robes of monks. Red is one of the five colours which are said to have emanated from the Buddha when he attained enlightenment and signifies wisdom, virtue and dignity, and helps to resist evil.