THE RAKE

Welcome to the first release from The Rake in 2025. A great issue is in front of you, dear reader, and here is what to expect…
We have Liv Tyler on the cover (as you will know by now, we feature a woman on our cover at the beginning of each year). Tyler is referred to so often as ‘ethereal’ that you might think the descriptor would lose its potency, and yet every time her smile and those structured features are captured on celluloid, they merely reinforce the impression, making it everlasting.
 Elsewhere, Sapper, our Illustrator-at-Large, presents both Paul Feig’s cocktail column (which in this issue features the Grasshopper) and the Sketch, which this time celebrates the Chairman (who looks suspiciously like a regular frequenter of these pages — guess who?).
Stuart Husband examines the phenomenon that is power couples, and how, over many centuries, certain love stories have created legacies greater than the sum of their parts. Stuart also reminisced about watching Nina Simone perform live in London in the late 1980s, an experience that helped him profile the legendary singer whose voice echoed well beyond concert venues.
 Further features in this issue include an interview with Kristina Blahnik, the Chief Executive of Manolo Blahnik. Vacheron Constantin, who are celebrating a huge anniversary, and Hublot, who have revived their fruitful collaboration with Carlito Fuente, the Dominican Republic’s cigar jefe whose Opus X line is often as popular and sought-after as many Cuban releases.
Our hope is to kick off 2025 with something to lighten the mood. This is not a world in which everyone is settled and happy. So may we all remember our manners this year, and our instinct to be civil, rational and calm; may we be less reactive and more charitable. May we all remember to love our neighbour, to be subject to one another, and to put our faith in a better tomorrow.