“Authenticity is a rare and valuable commodity, and people will travel far to find it,” writes editor-at-large Bobby Ghosh in this issue of TIME Style & Design. These days, to call someone or something authentic is considered praise (though something can be considered authentically bad). But in seeking out authenticity, we are looking for a dish, or a hat, or a building that has integrity—a provenance that you can verify and a purity of intent and design that you can’t find elsewhere. The search for authenticity begins with Bobby’s journey to Bhutan. In his piece, featuring photographs by Bharat Sikka, Bobby explores a real-life Shangri-la, a relatively isolated nation that is negotiating how to ramp up its hotel and tourism industries while preserving its traditions, culture and natural resources.
If Bhutan is fending off globalizing influences, architect David Adjaye is busy transcending them. For Adjaye, editor-at-large Belinda Luscombe writes in her profile, “the notion of an architectural movement that plants its avatars all over the globe is, just like colonialism, over.” The integrity of Adjaye’s work is rooted in a style that resists signature and big statements, instead responding to the context and culture in which he is building—a polyglot approach that comes from his international upbringing as the son of a diplomat.
(MORE: The Definite Objects)
Like Adjaye, this magazine has seen the world. Assistant managing editor Bill Saporito visited Torino to talk Italian automotive design with Fiat’s Roberto Giolito. Hannah Beech, chief of Time’s China bureau, toured Beijing’s art districts with photographer couple RongRong and Inri. Chef Naomi Pomeroy let us tag along on a trip to Corsica to seek out ideas for Beast, her restaurant in Portland, Ore. And for our cover portfolio, TIME contract photographer Peter Hapak and senior photo editor Natalie Matutschovsky flew to Paris to capture actress Marion Cotillard in some of the season’s definitive looks, styled by fashion editor Christopher Campbell.
TIME will have more opportunities to take you to the runways of Paris, New York City and Milan with our new Style site, launching alongside this issue under the expert guidance of TIME.com managing editor Catherine Sharick, associate editor Feifei Sun and fashion market editor Caroline Grosso. TIME Style will feature daily coverage of beauty, travel, food and drink, tech, design and more, as well as appropriately extravagant coverage of all the latest fashion trends. We hope you’ll be there to take a front-row seat.