HAVE A TASTE OF THE HIGH LIFE

Luxury festival UltraLuxe is back, this time with a new sub-event, VerveArte, which showcases the trappings of a luxurious life

- Carmen Sin

What makes a life luxurious? Scottish whisky priced at $8,000 a bottle, Japanese Matsusaka beef, heritage craft and never looking your age, apparently.

This is the blueprint for the high life proposed by VerveArte, a new sub-event at the fourth edition of homegrown luxury festival UltraLuxe. Part experience, part showcase, it runs from Oct 2 to 4 at the Tent@Ngee Ann City in Orchard Road, transforming the 875 sq m lot into a four-room gallery of more than 30 brands.

Each room is devoted to a different plank of modern luxury.

In Eternia is a curation of treatments and products that promise an extension of beauty, or what might be referred to as one's good years. Festival founder and chief executive Angela Loh, 59, calls it "agelessness".

Here, visitors can sample treatments from the likes of wellness studio Avantir Wellness, with its signature red light and hyperbaric oxygen therapies; and skincare clinic Rexults, where a pulsed electromagnetic field therapy is the speciality.

Haar, short for hair anti-ageing research, brings its bottles of scalp treatments; and weight-loss kitchen Reculture Life presents its multipronged approach to shedding fat. Hint: homeopathic remedies, oil-free meals and mindfulness.

Style Inc brings together established names in local fashion and jewellery, like 48-year-old Meiko Tailor and cheongsam authority Laichan, in a short tour of Singaporean workmanship. Peranakan kebaya by Raymond Wong - the modiste of hit local drama Emerald Hill (2025) - and Kebaya by Ratianah are in the mix too.

Haute is a catchall room for leisure. Guests can nibble on Matsusaka beef - one of the rarest wagyu - served three ways, with a choice of Yamazaki and Hibiki whiskies.

The tasting is accompanied by art from Yang Gallery and a video preview of the new Elle Resort & Beach Club in Bali that is seeking investments. Buy-ins start at $50,000.