Rolls-Royce Invited Bazaar Arabia to Design A Bespoke Black Badge Ghost: We Called Her Candy

When Rolls-Royce calls, you answer. So when Goodwood’s finest asked us to design our very own bespoke Black Badge Ghost – a once-in-a-lifetime invitation – the Bazaar Rolls was born

It’s not often I have to read an email three times. But when I received a message in spring of last year from Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, asking me to design my very own Black Badge Ghost, I found myself combing through every line in the manner of a lottery winner triple-checking their ticket. Surely they meant just choosing a colour, right? Or, at a push, making some friendly suggestions about the seat leather? (Not that I would have had much to add apart from, “It’s fabulous. As you were.”)

But no, it seemed that Bazaar really was being offered an exceptional, bespoke Rolls-Royce project – and with only one other member of global media ever having been extended the same privilege, it remains one of the rarest experiences a person can have. Even if I were purchasing a Rolls-Royce myself, this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is certainly not par for the course. Quite the opposite in fact; you have to be invited into this special, custom club. One might say it’s a money-can’t-buy kind of thing. One percenters only – if that.

Outside of Goodwood; Rolls-Royce’s historic West Sussex home synonymous with the racing world, the first Private Office was inaugurated – and of course, it was in Dubai. Opened in July 2022, it’s a location that’s testament to the city’s unparalleled spending power, but also its denizens’ famed desire for only the best. Per capita, one wonders how many Rolls-Royce motor cars are gliding up and down Sheikh Zayed Road as opposed to elsewhere round the world. And now – thanks to Bazaar – it’s home to one more, and dare we say, the prettiest of the fleet.

The journey begins in said Private Office, an elegant, glossy wood-panelled space with an intimate members’ club feel. It’s the setting for all regional bespoke projects; from Coachbuild – the A-Z, Haute Couture of custom car creation, to High Bespoke Commissioning. I’m chauffeured there via Rolls-Royce (what else?), and welcomed with tea, cake and cut-glass accents. It’s all terribly, reassuringly British.

I don’t feel at home for too long though, as I’m thrust into a brand-new world of making decisions on coachline colour, wheel centres, contrast seat piping… even which style Spirit of Ecstasy bonnet mascot would look best to top off my design. Illuminated, obviously. She’s frosted, and emits a ‘crown of light’ when the welcome lighting is on, or the car is stationary. I tell the team I’m all for crowns, in whatever form.

Speaking of the team, Bespoke Lead Designer Michelle Lusby and Bespoke Client Experience Manager Chris Hardy are there to quite literally steer me through each step, offering all the insight and unmatched expertise of those who have worked for Rolls- Royce for nine and six years respectively. Michelle brings her beautifully warm, artistic sensibilities to the experience, talking through a selection of brand-new, never-used-before colours in a language I am very well-versed in – moodboards. Whilst customers can opt from a staggering 44,000 shades to order their Black Badge Ghost in, we discuss the four new ones: Pebble Paradiso, Forbidden Pink, Cool Mint and Dark Olive. Michelle even presents them next to tonally matched catwalk shots including ones from Schiaparelli and Chanel; a nod to fashion’s eternally, if not always acknowledged, wide-reaching influence.

Out come leather samples, spools of thread, and a satisfying array of miniature car moulds to play around with in order to find the perfect configuration. It’s fun – if a little daunting. Once I sign this off, the specifications will be zipped off to Goodwood to hand-make an actual, real life Rolls-Royce. One of one. The stakes seem quite high for a Tuesday afternoon.

Thankfully, Michelle and Chris – imparting his knowledge with both gravitas and charm – are not only in charge of shepherding the whole experience, but also tasked with the alchemy of tapping into their clients’ preferences, taste, and even ergonomic needs. They begin by “assessing colour palettes and moods, extracting ideas from conversations, imagery and much more to create a thoughtful, accurate and befitting product response, reflective of the client’s own personality and desires,” as per Rolls-Royce’s media literature on the Private Office’s offering. No easy feat – especially, as one would imagine, the calibre of client we’re discussing here.

Choosing the accent colours personalise and really change the dynamic of the car. I opt for Cool Mint offset by Blushing Pink; a playful bubblegum shade that paired with the main pastel exterior and Arctic White contrast exterior, has something of a Dubai meets- Miami Vice feel. Miami Nice, if you like, although the Bazaar team give her the honourary nickname, Candy.

“I opt for Cool Mint off set by Blushing Pink. It has a Dubai-meets-Miami vice feel. Miami nice, if you like”

Olivia Phillips

Before our pre-briefing is over (I’m invited back seven months later for the next stage. Like everything that is true luxury, no part of this process is rushed), I’m also privy to some truly remarkable designs from the marque’s Coachbuild bespoke offering. No sign of Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s (rumoured) Boat Tail convertible, but the extraordinary creations I’m shown have made the leap from motor car to masterpiece. Belonging to a select few global customers who have let their imaginations roam free, I take in everything from a rich, amethyst interior, painstakingly hand-inlaid with mother-of-pearl cherry-blossom trees, to a Bengal tiger mural. Perhaps most beautifully – and a display of just how emotionally connected people can be to their cars – the team tells me of a regional order where a son designed a car for his father. Instead of the usual Starlight Headlining (the magical feature that transforms the roof of the car into a star-filled night sky), the son requested the craftspeople at Goodwood to plot the stars as they were at the time of his father’s birth. Hundreds of fibre-optic lights were embedded into the leather ceiling; each specifically placed to tell a story.

Whilst Candy’s twinkling ceiling didn’t hold quite such deep meaning, I did elect for the Shooting Star option to be added. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t bring out the child in most people; I know for a fact it wasn’t just my seven-year-old stepdaughter Molly who spent her time on the backseat wishing on a shooting star every time she saw one fly overhead.

Heading back to the Private Office seven months later, I knew that the car had come off the line at the factory. Chris and Michelle proudly unveiled photographs taken in Goodwood; the Bazaar Rolls-Royce Black Badge Ghost resplendent in some unseasonal yet very welcome British sunshine. A little piece of Dubai brightening up the South Downs.

An exchange of weather seemed to be on the cards, as the team – including César Habib, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Regional Director, Middle East & Africa, and Rami Joudi, former Regional PR & Communications Manager – usher me outside under the guise of a celebratory dinner. Under Dubai’s rare nighttime drizzle, an even more rare sight appears: our bespoke Black Badge Ghost.

My partner wakes up the next morning to a pastel-blue Rolls-Royce in the driveway. “Good day at work?” he asks. I’ve definitely had worse days. And in fairness, even if it had been bad, try and stay miserable in the back of a Rolls- Royce. Especially one you’ve designed yourself.

Images Courtesy of Žiga Mihelčič and supplied by Rolls-Royce. Styling: Laura Jane Brown

From Harper’s Bazaar Arabia’s July/August 2024 issue.