The boom in virtual valets lets us outsource irksome tasks in the time it takes to send a text. Or so Alexandra English thought ...
The idea of having a butler is a touch antiquated — outside of Buckingham Palace, who really needs their newspaper ironed? — but if anyone tells you they haven’t dreamt of having someone on call whose sole purpose is to make their employer’s life as easy as possible and anticipate their needs before they have them, they are lying. Time is the ultimate luxury; convenience a coveted commodity. And in 2019, the lived reality of the 1 percent is no longer just the dream of the many.
Handballing your physical tasks to someone else isn’t new: anyone with a relatively small amount of money and a smartphone can outsource just about anything: a cleaner takes care of my household chores; groceries are delivered, perfectly proportioned according to the accompanying recipes and ready to cook; and a private driver (ahem, Uber) can be summoned at the lift of a finger (although, disappointingly, I still have to lift my finger myself ). But the idea of the personal virtual valet has only just emerged from the business sphere into the personal. I’ve hired Nadia*, who works remotely from India, as part of an experiment to see just how little is required from me for my life to keep running smoothly.
Bu hikaye Harper's Bazaar Australia dergisinin June/July 2019 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Harper's Bazaar Australia dergisinin June/July 2019 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Grounded In Gotham
As she acclimatises to life under lockdown in her adopted city, model Victoria Lee reflects on fear, family and the fortitude of New Yorkers
Woman Of Influence Ingrid Weir
With a knack for elevating creative yet quotidian spaces and a love of bringing people together, the interior designer is crafting a sense of community among young artists.
CODE of HONOUR
At Chanel’s latest Métiers d’art showing, house alums Vanessa Paradis and daughter Lily-Rose Depp reflect on the red-carpet alchemy of Coco’s beloved bow, chain, camellia and ear of wheat.
Stillness in time
Acclaimed Australian fashion designer Collette Dinnigan’s new life in Italy has been a slowing down of sorts — but now, with coronavirus containment measures in play, life inside the walls of her 500-year-old farmhouse in Puglia has taken on a different cast, she writes
In the BAG
Aussie expat Vanissa Antonious from cult footwear brand Neous on going solo and stepping up her accessory offering.
uncut GEMMA
Forging her own path while paying it forward to the next generation, actor Gemma Chan is the (very worthy) recipient of the 2020 Women In Film Max Mara Face of the Future Award. She reflects on fashion, the Crazy Rich Asians phenomenon and red-carpet alter egos with Eugenie Kelly
THE TIME IS NOW
Esse Studios founder Charlotte Hicks’s slow-fashion model may just blaze a trail for the industry’s new normal. She talks less is more with Katrina Israel
COUPLES' THERAPY
Brooke Le Poer Trench ruminates on the trials and tribulations of too much time together
CALM IN A CRISIS
Caroline Welch was a busy woman who wrote a book on mindfulness for other busy women. Now, in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, she has started to take her own advice
ACCIDENTALLY RETIRED
As we settle into the new normal of lockdown, Kirstie Clements finds a silver lining in the excuse to slow down and sample the low-adrenaline lifestyle of chocolate digestives, board games and dressing down for dinner
