Man about town Ricardo Simich brings you Society Insider. This week, the Burlings have a new base in Sardinia; Kiwi it girls, including Kimberly Owen, are enjoying the Euro summer; Kiwi YouTube star Jesse James opens a new bar and hosts a fundraiser.
Society Insider: Peter and Lucinda Burling’s new life in Italy; Kiwi It Girls in Europe; YouTube star Jesse James opens new Ponsonby Rd bar
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Kiwi YouTube star Jesse James has opened a new bar on Ponsonby Rd; Peter and Lucinda Burling have a fabulous new life in Italy; Kiwi It girls Estella Gapes, Kimberly Owen and Ella Sloane are making the most of the Euro summer. Photo / Herald composite
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Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli is based in Cagliari, a major port city, until the next America’s Cup regatta takes place off the coast of Naples in 2027.
Last month, the former Emirates Team New Zealand, three-time America’s Cup skipper announced he was joining Prada Group chairman Patrizio Bertelli’s team.
“I’ve always loved racing against Luna Rossa, and now to join this iconic team is a real honour,” said 34-year-old Burling.
Burling will play a pivotal role in the team’s leadership group and development programme.
The impressive base is nestled on the Molo Ichnusa harbour area, where the team perform daily tests and analyses on and off the water.
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Society Insider is told Burling and Luna Rossa are keenly awaiting the release of the final protocols for the 2027 cup by Burling’s former boss, Team NZ chief executive Grant Dalton.
Lucinda, a lawyer and interior design expert, loves Cagliari’s rich history and diverse architecture.
She is also enjoying the wonderful Prada clothing she has access to thanks to her husband’s new role.
“The family are all embracing learning Italian,” a source close to the family tells Society Insider.
“In Italy, pre-school education [scuola dell’infanzia] starts far earlier than in New Zealand, and Paloma will attend a bilingual one.”
Burling is also pleased to be working with a team who are as passionate about looking after the ocean as he is.
Days after the Black Foils won silver in SailGP in New York last month, Burling, his family and his Black Foils co-chief executive and Live Ocean Foundation co-founder Blair Tuke, spent three days at the United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice, France.
The pair were star guests at the Ocean House Nightcap, where the duo highlighted issues closer to home in Aotearoa and the Pacific.
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Also at the conference was Bertelli’s son, Lorenzo, who is the chief marketing officer of the Prada Group and its head of corporate social responsibility.
Prada Group has pledged more than $4 million for its Sea Beyond project, which focuses on ocean literacy.
The Burlings have a multimillion-dollar house in Ponsonby; however, their new base in Sardinia allows speedy access to the European SailGP racing all over the Continent in the next few months.
Lucinda has many friends in London, and this month the Burlings have been spotted out and about.
Peter headed to the Silverstone Circuit, near the Northamptonshire villages, for the Great Britain Formula One Grand Prix and both Peter and Lucinda got dressed up for Wimbledon.
The Burlings were guests in the royal box on the sixth day of the tennis tournament, and among the sports stars in their row was British sailing champion Sir Ben Ainslie, one seat down.
Burling is making a return to ocean racing as a crew member on the French trimaran Trim SVR-Lazartigue in the Rolex Fastnet Race, just days after sailing in the British Sail GP this month.
Burling will race with the Black Foils in Portsmouth this weekend and then head to Cowes in the Isle of Wight to join the French team, which will race over 600 nautical miles to Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, France.
Burling, who sailed in the Volvo Ocean race in 2017, told Yachting World that when SVR-Lazartigue contacted him to race, it was an easy decision to say yes.
“I’ve always loved offshore racing – that’s what led me to the Ocean Race. The Ultim class is the pinnacle of high-performance offshore sailing,” said Burling.
“These boats are incredibly innovative and versatile. I’m really excited to get back offshore and to learn more about how this class is evolving.”
The family will get some time at home in New Zealand this summer, when SailGP returns to Auckland in February.
The Kiwi It-girls in the Med
London-based Kiwi It girl Kimberly Owen is hitting Europe’s hot spots this summer, and a new generation of women is following in her footsteps.
It’s been nearly a decade since Society Insider announced that Owen, the daughter of one of New Zealand’s most successful property men, Steve, was relocating to London, where her father owns a smart abode in Belgravia and she mixes with the city’s elite.
Owen was a guest last month at what was billed as the biggest party ever on the Spanish party Island of Ibiza: the opening of the new super club UNVRS, featuring a star-studded lineup of DJs including Carl Cox and Jamie Jones, and celebrities such as Will Smith and English football star Jude Bellingham.
UNVRS has been called the world’s largest nightclub, with a capacity of 10,000. VIP tables with table service for eight guests are said to cost more than $3000 for DJ booth access and it can cost twice that for a prime dance-floor table.
Last week, we reported that Gretchen and Duncan Hawkesby’s son Dylan enjoyed the club with friends as part of his 19th birthday celebrations.
Owen was back in Ibiza last week for the UNVRS Enchanted Forest party, where the club transformed into a forest of sequins.
The next generation of Kiwi women turning heads in the Mediterranean are London-based model Ella Sloane, Auckland-based social media co-ordinator Estella Gapes and Sydney-based model Yasmin Christian.
The trio originate from the same Auckland private school circles.
Sloane and Christian share the same New Zealand agency, 62 Management.
Christian got her love of fashion from her mother, in-demand, Auckland-based fashion stylist Rachelle Christian.
Gapes is the daughter of successful property developer Tony. Her mother, Nikki, was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident seven years ago.
Sloane is the daughter of former Real Housewives of Auckland star Julia Lorimer, and Dunbar M. Sloane, from the auction house family.
Sloane and Gapes have also spent time in Ibiza recently, enjoying the world-renowned outdoor nightclub Ushuaia’s high-energy techno Ants Metal Works party. The pair also spent time in Marbella and celebrated Gapes’ 23rd birthday in Madrid, before heading back to London to enjoy Sabrina Carpenter’s concert VIP-style at Hyde Park.
This week, Gapes enjoyed the sights and sounds of Saint-Tropez and Cannes and tells Society Insider the whole trip so far has been amazing.
Christian has taken time out of her successful Australian modelling career to enjoy the European summer. So far, she has enjoyed time in Paris, France and Monaco, island-hopped in Greece and taken in Rome, the Amalfi Coast and Capri, in Italy, and this week, Spain.
Christian tells Society Insider Milos in Greece was a standout, with good times had at O! Hamos!
“Rome was a dream. In Capri, the terrace at restaurant Villa Verde was stunning,” says Christian.
Also in Spain is Auckland Bay Audiology heiress Ali Andrews, who married multi-billionaire Chanel heir Raph Wertheimer in a private ceremony at their home base of Manhattan in December. The couple started the European season in London, where Andrews caught up with Lucinda Burling.
Last week the couple were in Paris, where Wertheimer’s family brand Chanel held its fall 2025 couture show at the Grand Palais, also attended by Kiwi singer Lorde.
The couple joined friends in Marbella this week, staying at a palatial casa.
In honour of their wedding, Andrews and Wertheimer had a celebration dinner at the Coya Club, Puente Romano.
Jesse James holds a Texas fundraiser at his new Ponsonby hotspot
Tradie, extreme sports athlete and YouTube star Jesse James hosted a fundraiser at the Ponsonby Rd bar he co-owns, Jolene, on Saturday afternoon to support victims of the Texas floods. The event came just a week after Jolene’s opening party.
“When I saw the catastrophic floods, we couldn’t sit around and do nothing,” James tells Society Insider.
“In my teens, I spent time at a summer camp in Maine, so it rang home, the loss of life for so many people affected in Texas. I knew Jolene had to hold an event to raise money for the families who have lost so much.”
James grew up on Auckland’s North Shore, and chased an endless summer between the US and New Zealand in his teens after completing his plumbing apprenticeship. In between tradie jobs he would seek extreme sports adventures, including wakeboarding, skydiving, surfing, motorsports, boating and freediving.
He took his love of creating extreme sports content for YouTube internationally. He often travelled with his best mate, fellow tradie and YouTube star, Queensland-based Logan Dodds, who was there to support his fundraiser last Saturday.
James has opened Jolene alongside hospitality lads Thane Kirby and former Olympic decathlete Brent Newdick, at 164 Ponsonby Rd, the former site of Mexico.
Ponsonby’s “new home of country music and attitude” sits across the road from Kirby’s new spot with Luke Dallow, Gigi Bar and Restaurant, which opened in May.
At Jolene’s opening party James’ friend, singer Mitch James, performed. Guests included Precinct Properties’ Lily Montana, lawyer Taylor Sutherland and James’ good mate, former world champion wakeboarder Brad Smeele and his family.
When Auckland nurse Rachel Lockwood saw Jolene fundraising for the Texas Flood Relief Fund, she asked if she could attend the event to share a personal connection.
Lockwood had spent time working at Heart O’ the Hills, a Texas Summer Camp for girls by the Guadalupe River, which was completely washed away by the floods.
“I am grateful to Jesse and the team at Jolene for putting on a beautiful event and to everyone who showed up to show their support,” says Lockwood.
The afternoon event was family-friendly and alcohol-free, to mark Dry July. Sponsors came on board from Asahi 0.0% and Sober AF drinks, with food served by Hamish Pinkham’s Tex-Mex pop-up, Sheppards Kitchen.
“All the money we raised from the drinks and food will be going straight to the relief fund,” says James.
Kiwi country star Rosie Teese and her band led the day’s entertainment with her new single Breathe, which is released this week.
In February, before he opened Gigi, Kirby and Newdick were doing Jolene pop-up nights at 155 Ponsonby Rd.
“I have known Brent for a decade, and when I saw what he and Thane were doing, I loved it,” says James.
“I perched up at the bar and said, You two should do this with a permanent spot with a real cowboy,” he says.
When Mexico closed its doors in Ponsonby in May, the posse went about securing a permanent home for Jolene.
James, whose full name is Jesse James Cassrels, says his dad, Geoff, named him after the legendary American Western outlaw, which gave James a fascination for America’s Wild West.
His mother, Arnse, is a singer-songwriter and his cousin is singer Benee. James says music is very much in his blood and Nashville, Tennessee, is his second home.
James says line dancing and ladies-only nights will be part of Jolene’s schedule.
“Customers have a great time enjoying fantastic country music and authentic, Southern-inspired food.”
Party people of the week
Naveya & Sloane Christchurch opening
Fine jewellery house Naveya & Sloane unveiled its first South Island showroom on Friday evening – housed within the historic Midlands Club on Oxford Terrace in Christchurch. Hosted by co-founder Rachel Sloane and her business partner and husband Alex Bunnett, the night included diamonds, bubbles and curated detail.
To celebrate, Naveya & Sloane designed New Zealand’s largest ring box. Sitting riverside on the Avon by the Bridge of Remembrance, the two-metre installation brimmed with fresh blooms by local florist Bek Novak. Guests were treated to canapés by Lillies, pours from Cloudy Bay, Peroni and Pals, and thoughtful take-home moments by Abel Fragrance and Audi. The event included artwork by Jacqui Colley and styling by Naveya & Sloane head of design Sophie Bioletti.
Among the guests were Metropol Magazine editor Nina Tucker; Lomas Kerr director Julia Lomas and fashion stylist Lou Heller.
Central city splash
Kiwi technical outerwear company Inselberg treated guests to a sneak preview of the brand’s latest design at a pop-up shop in Auckland’s Britomart last Tuesday.
Labelled “the world’s toughest shell jacket”, the Axiom Shell was put through its paces over three years by members of the Aoraki Mount Cook Alpine Rescue Team in the Southern Alps.
The jacket was also put to the test at the event, with various demonstrations of the fabric’s strength, including an in-store rain shower. Drinks were also flowing, and canapes were served by neighbouring restaurant Ortolana.
Inselberg founder Jarlath Anderson shared the brand’s back story in front of the guests, who included Black Foils SailGP sailor Leo Takahashi, Olympic swimmer Lewis Clareburt, international rugby referee Ben O’Keeffe, 1News presenter Jenny Suo, Shortland Street star Ben Barrington, fashion stylist Sarah Stuart and influencers Simone Anderson and Tarryn Donaldson.
Ricardo Simich has been with the Herald since 2008 where he contributed to The Business Insider. In 2012 he took over Spy at the Herald on Sunday, which has since evolved into Society Insider. The weekly column gives a glimpse into the worlds of the rich and famous.