Swarovski Elements have launched their first range of wallpapers, designed in collaboration with British designer Karen Beauchamp.
The collection features Swarovski crystals on a backdrop of foil, layers of printed ink, velvety flock – or an opulent combination of all three, as seen in Feather Palace.
There are nine crystal-embedded wallpapers in the range, with two plain wallpapers to match them.
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Have a look below at the forthcoming MUGLER Mens Fall 2011 Image Campaign shot by Mariano Vivanco.
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House of VOILA has released their Collection #9. The watch incorporates several elements of Chinese Feng Shui bringing positive energy into the timepiece.
the #NINE Collection by Voila features a figure eight design with two harmoniously balanced watch faces.
Voila has designed the #NINE Collection to feature local time on its upper face, while the lower face is intended for a global time of the wearer’s choice.
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In collaboration with designer Yves Béhar, Copenhagen-based Aesir is releasing a headset design with both visual appeal and functional tactility.
“In an age when the industry seems to think that phones aren’t for speaking anymore, I wanted to focus on the idea of voice, clarity and simplicity.
The central tenet behind the +YvesBéhar is to literally craft the visual details, craft the functional tactility, and craft the user interface.
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Shanghai Tang‘s new campaign for Spring Summer 2011 combines the unlikely elements of passionate love and traditional Chinese restraint.
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Hotels in London have begun raising their room prices for next year’s Olympic Games, with one establishment hiking up their tariffs fivefold.
One four-star hotel quoted an unnamed wholesale trip operator 1,100 pounds (1,1750 dollars) for a room which would normally be charged at 200 pounds.
On top of the rate increase, many hotels are implementing harsh conditions on room reservations, including in one instance a 100 percent cancellation fee over the period of the Games, the Financial Times reported Monday.
“Hotels appear to be gripped by a frenzy of greed,” said Mario Bodini, general secretary of tour business trade body, UKinbound.
The 2012 Olympics will run from July 27 till August 12, with the Paralympics to follow.
Carlos Slim Helu remained the world’s richest person, but Asia is where today’s big money is flowing, Forbes magazine said in its 2011 list of the world’s billionaires.
Slim, who is almost unknown to the general public outside Mexico, weighed in at a staggering $74 billion of net wealth thanks to his telecoms empire. Already the top dog last year, he increased his fortune by $20.5 billion dollars.
In a now familiar second place was Microsoft founder Bill Gates with $56 billion. The relatively lowly ranking reflected his enormous philanthropic give-aways over the year.
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Following on the heels of Blake Lively’s handbag campaign for Chanel, Keira Knightley is starring in a teaser video for the commercial of the brand’s Mademoiselle fragrance.
The 40-second clip was directed by Joe Wright, with whom Knightley already worked while shooting Pride & Prejudice, and shows the actress channeling an elegant superhero, wearing a beige catsuit and lounging around a motorcycle.
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In a matter of just a decade China has established itself as the world’s largest car-buying market. And, just as other industries are finding, when the Chinese like to buy, they like to buy luxury.
Daimler AG — owners of Mercedes-Benz — recently announced it had shifted 15,000 units of that car in January alone, a rise of 90 percent from last year, while BMW moved more than 20,000, up more than 70 percent.
And it’s a fair guess that those sorts of figures are why Top Marques Monaco — to be held from April 14 to 17 this year and an event which bills itself as “the only live supercar show in the world” — has decided upon the southern Chinese enclave of Macau to host its first Asian edition.
Top Marques Macau will be now be hosted annually at The Venetian Macao resort, with the first edition set down for November 24-27.
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Here is the director’s cut of the commercial for Gucci Guilty Pour Homme. The short film stars Chris Evans and Evan Rachel Wood.
This video was directed by Frank Miller, the creative mind behind Sin City, and features many of his signature stamps.
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Lamborghini is launching a new special edition of its Gallardo supercar to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Italian unification.
Tthe Lamborghini Gallardo Tricolore features a white exterior with carbon fiber mirrors and a tricolor strip that runs the entire length of the car.
The stripe is echoed on the driver’s seat, where it is perfectly aligned with the exterior stripe. The green, white and red colors of the stripe are in homage to the Italian flag.
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Geoffrey Parker, London-based maker of the finest games on the globe, is offering the world’s most expensive poker set for $7.5 million, Justluxe reports.
The bespoke set comes housed in a genuine alligator skin case finished in any color the client chooses, fitted with 18k white goldcombination locks and hardware.
The case’ suede lining features an 18k gold and diamond frame holding 384 18k white gold chips, each inlaid on both sides in shagreen (stingray skin).
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Ian Purkayastha’s teenage revolution didn’t involve rock groups, rebelling against his parents or embarrassing fashion experiments.
For him it was: “black truffle ravioli with foie gras sauce”.
And three years later, aged 18, Purkayastha not only remembers the “amazing” taste of that dish, but he’s turned himself into one of America’s leading truffle tycoons.
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Indonesia’s “King of Luwak”, Gunawan Supriadi, is having a hard time keeping up with demand for the beans excreted by his stable of pampered civet “cats”.
And he’s not alone. Demand for coffee brewed with beans plucked from the dung of the furry, weasel-like creatures — known locally as luwaks — is surging among well-healed connoisseurs around the world, exporters say.
About 40 civets at Supriadi’s plantation in West Lampung district, Sumatra, provide the intestinal machinery for his Raja Luwak (King of Luwak) brand of bean. Lampung is the undisputed capital of luwak coffee.
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The world’s greenest airlines have been named at the ITB Berlin travel show, with European carrier Monarch topping the list.
The study of airline efficiency was conducted by Atmosfair, a carbon offsetting company, and looked into factors such as how efficient an airline’s fleet was and how full its planes normally fly.
Monarch, a charter and scheduled airline operating predominantly from the UK, was judged the world’s most efficient airline, with Atmosfair praising its efficient aircraft and high seating density.
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In a brand new ad, Kate Winslet writhes on the floor, only scarcely covered by a satin sheet, to promote Lancôme‘s L’Absolu Nu lipsticks.
Winslet, who recently debuted a peroxide blond pixie cut in British Vogue, is still sporting her signature soft locks in the ad, which was shot by Mario Testino.
Actresses are seemingly less and less prudish in their beauty ads: just recently, Italian luxury house Bulgari released a campaign fronted by an almost nude Kirsten Dunst for its new fragrance Mon Jasmin Noir.
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Bell & Ross watches and Shaw Harley Davidson have teamed up to develop a one-off custom motorcycle: the Bell & Ross-inspired Nascafe Racer.
Shaw Harley Davidson approached Bell & Ross about a bike design project that was inspired by the watchmakers’ vision on performance, precision and engineering.
The same technical exactness that Bell & Ross rule by was taken into account with the build of the unique motorcycle.
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A new cabin concept called Phoenix, featuring a colour-scheme and layout designed to appeal to Asian tastes, is being offered to Airbus Corporate Jet customers.
The main cabin features seating for six people around a large circular-table – the focus of family life in many Asian cultures – which facilitates work-related discussions and dining.
Airbus Corporate Jets are able to offer this feature because they have the widest and tallest cabin of any business jet, existing or planned.
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Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Gucci, and Burberry are testing the Chinese microblogging service Weibo to research their most promising market of the future from the inside.
The platform, which grows at 10 million users per month, has been attracting an elite of Western luxe brands over the past month, testing ideas for campaigns or other projects directly on their Chinese audience.
“You can immediately see how the market and your following will respond to something if you want to do research” said Leaf Greener, fashion editor of Elle China.
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Hong Kong’s Severn Road, a winding street of mansions and tony apartments, is still the priciest address on the planet.
For the second year running, Financial News has determined that properties on Severn Road cost more per square foot than those anywhere else.
Properties on Severn Road were valued at US$78,200 a square meter (about US$8,689 a square foot), up from US$70,000 in last year’s survey.
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Marc Jacobs spends a lot of time on the road, so what better theme for his fall-winter collection for Louis Vuitton than the goings-on inside a grand old hotel?
To the sound of elevators arriving, uniformed bellboys opened wrought-iron doors for models stepping out in tongue-and-cheek outfits inspired by, among other things, porn films from the 1940s.
“I spend a good part of my life in hotels and I like watching their secret lives, especially the ballet between call girls, mistresses and wives,” said Jacobs, 47, on the final day of Paris fashion week.
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