Now that winter is coming to a close, we are enjoying the first warm days of spring. Ironically, one of our first inspirations for this issue came to us in the dead of winter while visiting Las Vegas for the holidays. After spending way too many hours gambling at the casinos, we decided on a day of shopping and wandered over to The Forum Shops at Caesars Palace. As shop-a-holics, we are quite familiar with all of their stores but imagine our surprise when in this sea of baroque concoctions, we spotted a Reed Krakoff Boutique! We made a beeline for it and were immediately dazzled by this American designer's minimalist collection — which only just debuted in the fall of 2010. The designer and his Las Vegas boutique are the subject of our cover story in World Class Shopping and we are certain that you too will love this new American brand.

Our fashion feature highlights Paris-designer Artsi Ifrach and his ART/C Spring 2011 Couture Collection. Inspired by his Moroccan roots, the collection incorporates indigenous embellishments with colorful floral embroideries and is already causing a sensation in Paris fashion circles. We accessorized the looks with pieces from Alex Soldier's new silver collection. The floral and leaf patterns in these new pieces also pay homage to the spring season. Contributing Fashion Editor, Jillian Sorgini writes about his work in Style de Luxe.

New York remains one of my favorite cities in the world, so when Managing Editor Victoria Scavo suggested the recently remodeled Gramercy Park Hotel as the subject of our Globetrotter story, I had no recourse but to book the next flight out and experience the hotel's art-filled environment first hand. The colorful Bohemian atmosphere so enticed us, we began behaving like art-patrons of yore, spending most of our time within the hotel's bars, rooms and restaurants admiring the art.

In Foodie, Steve Paulovich begins an ongoing series whose main focus is California's smaller American Viticultural Areas, an ambitious endeavor that combs through the state's flourishing wine appellations and discovers its many boutique wineries and the producers behind them. First on his list is Napa Valley neighbor Suisun Valley.

We have three updates for this issue that will be released in the next two weeks. Better Living looks at the new chairs from Dutch-based designers Montis which are beginning to trickle in at LIMN, San Francisco while men's fashion dissects Gucci Guilty for men. In Foodie, Steve and I teamed up for a feature about San Francisco's Twenty Five Lusk restaurant, which has become such a hit that even we need to make a series of phone calls to get a table on a Friday night!

-Victor Vargas, Editor in Chief