Monthly Archives: September 2010

The 50th 2010 International Boat Show in Genoa

The Italian city of Genoa is putting the finishing touches to a massive display of history, art and culture as it prepares for the start of the 50th Genoa International Boat Show October 2.

300,000 visitors are expected to converge on the northern Italian port city, which is putting as much effort into welcoming guests on land as it is at sea.

The event is expected to showcase 2,300 boats, 500 of them in the water which will be accessible using nine kilometers of pathways constructed over the sea.

The show, which is one of the largest of the year, is expected to host the debuts of over 500 new craft, with 36 percent of exhibitors from overseas.
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Perrier-Jouët: The Dandy Ball by Kareem Iliya

Perrier-Jouët, the iconic French champagne brand is paying homage to its Belle Epoque cuvee with a new creative collaboration.

For the occasion, the House presents its latest artistic collaboration with the American artist Kareem Iliya.

Once again, Perrier-Jouët demonstrates its taste for artistic creation, in an aesthetic approach that exalts the brand’s art de vivre values.
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No stop to rise of Asian millionaires

The ranks of Asia-Pacific millionaires are likely to continue growing faster than those from developed countries as regional economies led by China and India power ahead, a report said on Tuesday.

The study on high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) — defined as anyone with investable assets of at least one million US dollars — was issued by Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management and consultancy firm Capgemini.

“Moving forward, China and India will lead the way in the region with economic expansion and HNWI growth likely to keep outpacing more developed economies,” the Asia-Pacific Wealth Report said.
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Range Rover Evoque Art In Paris

Range Rover is to become the latest auto brand to enter the world of pop-up art, commissioning a series of installations on the streets of Paris.

The four installations have been created by French artists to celebrate the launch of the Range Rover Evoque at the Paris Motor Show.

The concept is reminiscent of the London tattooed ice sculpture unveiled by Nissan and celebrity tattooist Henry Hate to mark the UK launch of the Nissan Cube in February this year.
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Westin to Debut in Panama

Starwood Hotels has announced that it is to take its Westin brand into Panama, the latest entrant of a hotel boom that is sweeping the country.

It will open two Westin hotels within the next two years, executives confirmed September 28, both close to Panama City.

The 611-room Westin Playa Bonita Panama will offer three restaurants, several pools and a full service spa, as well as spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean and the Panama Canal.
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BlackBerry PlayBook

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion just announced its iPad rival at its developers conference in San Francisco.

The PlayBook is aimed at business customers, co-chief executive Michael Lazaridis said during a speech at the conference.

The device is 9.7 millimetres thick and features a seven-inch touch screen. That’s smaller than the iPad’s 9.7-inch display.

It can run both HTML 5 and Flash 10.1 and has a one gigahertz dual-core processor with one gigabyte of RAM.
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Gucci – Women’s Fall Winter 2010-11 Collection

For Fall Winter 2011, Frida Giannini draws upon Gucci’s golden eras of the 70s and 90s to propose a new sense of sleek glamour.

In this new aesthetic discourse, contemporary minimalism and extreme luxury intersect to create a powerful statement that is at once rich and refined.

Exploring her own vocabulary, Giannini offers an evolution of her signatures and a new take on timeless symbols of chic.
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Claudia Schiffer to Launch Fashion Line

Claudia Schiffer is following in the footsteps of fellow supermodel Eva Herzigova and launching her own line of clothes.

At the Salvatore Ferragamo show during Milan Fashion Week, Claudia Schiffer told WWD that she will launch her own fashion line at an event next month.

Few other details were released except that her debut collection will launch in time for winter 2011.
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Infiniti to sell luxury EV in 2013

Nissan-owned luxury vehicle marque Infiniti will follow its parent into the EV market, the company has confirmed, releasing its first electric vehicle in 2013.

First sketches of the car show a sweeping sedan, which will challenge the luxury electric vehicles expected to be released by premium automakers such as Audi and BMW over the coming years.

Infiniti says that the vehicle will be a stylish, high performance five-seat luxury vehicle with zero emissions technology.
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The world’s best-dressed cabin crew

Qatar Airways has topped a list of “best-dressed” airlines conducted by airfare comparison site Skyscanner.

The airline’s “retro-look” uniforms won the votes of 33 percent of respondents to Skyscanner poll, which was timed to coincide with London Fashion Week last week.

Air France‘s uniforms, designed by Christian Lacroix, came second place with 17 percent, while British Airways came in third with 15 percent.
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Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Blancpain Edition

To celebrate the partnership between Lamborghini and luxury watchmaker Blancpain, the Italian automaker has just announced a new limited edition series of Gallardo LP570-4 Blancpain Edition cars

The two marques are also behind the Super Trofeo racing series, which Lamborghini claims is the fastest spec racing series on today’s circuits

The car features a revised engine cover, a massive rear spoiler and Skorpius wheels which cover yellow brake calipers that clamp onto carbon-ceramic discs.
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Virgin to launch space tourism in 18 months

Richard Branson said Monday that Virgin Galactic is on track to offer commercial space travel within 18 months. Space hotels are next on the drawing board.

The project’s SpaceshipTwo, an aircraft built by aviation engineer Burt Rutan and designed to carry paying customers into suborbital space, had its maiden flight in the California desert in March.

“We just finished building SpaceShipTwo. We are 18 months away from taking people into space,” Branson told a business conference in Kuala Lumpur, adding that the fare will start at 200,000 dollars.
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Blohm + Voss retro 111M motor yacht

The team of Blohm + Voss is developing the B+V 111 MY/ Vintage, which at 111 metres (364’) will qualify as one of the 20 largest yachts in the world.

The project is a nod to Blohm + Voss’s 130 year history and draws from their renowned archives.

B+V 111 MY/ Vintage links classical hull lines of yachts of the 1930’s, funnels and all, with state of the art equipment and manufacturing techniques.
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MINI at the 2010 Paris Motor Show

MINI is bringing its commitment to innovation, sustainability, driving fun and individuality to the Mondial de l’Automobile 2010 in Paris.

MINI has revealed the goodies it will be showcasing there, including the current model line-up and a study vehicle, namely the MINI Scooter E concept.

The MINI, MINI Clubman and MINI Convertible models will be joined by the latest addition in the family, the Countryman.
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Perini Navi Exuma

Luxury yachts fly the green flag

Luxury yachts that whisk their millionaire owners or charter guests to the world’s top beauty spots, guzzling gallons of fuel on the way, have long scraped the bottom of the green league tables.

But as superyachts converged on the Riviera for this year’s 20th Monaco Yacht Show, a small but determined minority were flying the green flag as the ever expanding fleet of mega yachts seeks to reduce its carbon footprint.

Paolo Moretti, who heads the yachting division of Italy’s ship certification body RINA, told AFP interest in environmental topics has spiked in the yachting sector over the last five years.

“Luxury yachts have big budgets but owners now not only want to excel in terms of comfort and luxury but also in environmental sustainability,” he said.
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W, G and now B

New hotel group B Hotels & Resorts unveiled its flagship Fort Lauderdale property September 23, ahead of its December opening date.

The company, which promises “fresh, innovative and unpretentious” hotels in the upper-upscale category, plans to open a series of hotels, resorts and boutique properties in the US and internationally over the coming years.

The first property on the Fort Lauderdale coast in Florida, which is set to start accepting reservations in October, offers 240 rooms and a range of signature services that will eventually be rolled out to all hotels and resorts, including “B Nourished,” “B Active,” “B Indulged,” “B Adventurous,” and “B Green.”
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French Riviera train for Russia

A new luxury train began running Thursday between Moscow and Nice in the south of France, in a flashback to the tsarist times when Russian aristocrats flocked to the French Riviera.

The Russian Railways-operated train will depart from Moscow’s Belorussky station every Thursday afternoon, and arrive in Nice 53 hours later after passing through European capitals including Warsaw and Vienna.

“Today is a day of celebration,” said Mikhail Akulov, vice president of Russian Railways, “It’s a new stage in our partnership with the French railways.”
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Forbes 400: The Richest People in America

Forbes released its 2010 list of the 400 richest people in America this week, and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates was in the top spot for the 17th consecutive year.

Industrialist Warren Buffett, Chief Executive Officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc, has bagged the second place this year with fortunes worth $45 billion.

While worth $27 billion dollars, software company Oracle’s co-founder and CEO Larry Ellison is the third richest American.

With a net worth that grew by nearly $4.9 billion, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg had the largest percentage gain this year, jumping from 158 to number 35 with $6.9 billion.
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Sir Richard Branson launches Virgin Hotels

Sir Richard Branson has announced his Virgin Group plans to invest around £320 million on a string of new luxury hotels.

A new website www.virginhotels.com leads with the strapline: ‘Fancy getting into bed with Virgin’ and describes the project as ‘our next (ad)venture’.

The site says that Virgin Hotels will be a four-star chain that targets ‘high income, well-educated, metropolitan “creative class” customers’.

The first hotels will open in North America and eventually go global. Branson promises to “re-define the customer journey from pre-arrival to check-out.”
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