Dearest friends in leisure,

Welcome to our Sunday Special, where the passionfruit mimosas are free and the water is just right. We’re overjoyed to be floating aimlessly here with you today.

Let’s dive in…

Sunday Recs ☼

📍 Emily is currently departing Tokyo, Japan, listening to The Social Radars (a new podcast with Jessica Livingston of Y Combinator, and Paul Graham’s wife), checking out this designer’s really cool work, surfing the wonderful world of Secret Riso Club, and exploring this eccentric Brooklyn apartment that doubles as a performance space.

📍 Marty has just arrived in the hills of rural San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, camping out while his partner Alyssa’s Portuguese Nomad Visa processes, after speaking for Business of Fashion about all things Poolsuite & Vacation® at the exquisite Stanly Ranch (where a chance meeting with Pamela Anderson & other icons of leisure is rumoured to have occurred…), feeling calm amidst chaos with the Endel app, reading the life story of Walt Disney, and snapping 1,000 pics a day with Stops.

LEGENDS OF LEISURE

Aesthetic Architect: Wes Anderson

“Growing up in Texas, Anderson first dreamed of becoming an architect, then a writer. Though he has ended up devoting his life to film, those early interests in mastering space and narrative clearly never left him — nor has the porousness between imagination and reality that characterizes childhood. “Wes Anderson tells stories from the perspective of a 12-year-old boy,” Lannom writes. “More specifically, he tells stories from his perspective as a 12-year-old. His films capture the essence of a board game or story book, and the world he builds in each film resembles a snapshot from his childhood.”

Notorious for his immaculately crafted spaces and stellar use of colour, Wes Anderson’s style has become an adjective and a reference point for copious creative generation. With a new film out this month, it’s our delight to do a deep dive on this aesthetic maven.

Highlights

Reserved for Premium members of the pool.

• His own thoughts on his infamous style: “I don’t want to have an invisible style, but I don’t care about having a trademark. My writing and my way of staging the scenes and shooting – people can tell it’s me, but that’s not by my choice. It naturally happens. It’s just my personality as a director.”
• Deep dive through the colour theory in Wes Anderson films
• 50 of Wes Anderson’s most stunning stills
• On the films he is drawn to: “The kind of movies that I want to make draw probably equally on European and American movies and maybe some Japanese or Indian, too. But the biggest are European, American, and British traditions. I am more interested in a classical kind of moviemaking. I like to be dazzled in the movies and I don’t feel I am very reserved in the way I direct. But they come from a tradition of cinema. My favorite filmmakers are people like John Huston, Orson Welles, Jean Renoir, Roman Polanski, Stanley Kubrick, Fellini, and Bergman – and that’s how I was formed as a filmmaker. Those are the biggest influences.”
• The early days: Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson (yes, the one you’re thinking of!) were college roommates before moving to California to make their first film Bottle Rocket (1996).
• Wes Anderson revives a 1950s train carriage inviting visitors into whimsical film sets: “I have often had the chance to invent train compartments and carriages in my movies so I was very eager to make something new while also participating in the process of preservation which accompanies all the classic Belmond train projects. They are keeping something special alive. An endangered species of travel which is nevertheless very suited to our time”
• Watch this excellent video weaving through “elements that make up that style but also why Anderson is drawn to those elements and the role they play in his storytelling”
• Accidentally Wes Anderson is an Instagram account founded by a Brooklyn-based couple: “Over the course of ten films and counting, Wes has honed in on a distinct visual aesthetic that is both undeniably beautiful and deserving of adulation. Each frame of his films stands alone, resulting in a collection of delightful gems. AWA has built upon Wes’ imaginative scenes and seeks out their real-life counterparts around the globe. We are forever indebted to Wes for opening our eyes to the beauty that surrounds us. Sometimes all we need to do is “reframe the perspective”.” AWA has since gone on to make a book and exhibit in Tokyo amongst other Wes-inspired endeavours.
• Wes Anderson explains how to write and direct movies. His biggest piece of advice to people starting out is to learn to write well.
• Anderson’s latest film Asteroid City premieres this month, with opening credits reading “Jeff Goldblum as the alien”. Dive into the details of the set and attend the exhibition opening in London at 180 Studios on June 17th
• An extensive archive of Wes Anderson material including behind the scenes, commercials, essays and homages
• The Wes Anderson-themed Airbnb in Ontario, Canada. He has inspired copious spaces around the world, such as this Melbourne cafe

We sincerely hope you enjoyed this of the Palm Report Sunday Special.

Sunshine always ☼
Marty & Emily