London’s Victoria & Albert Museum is currently hosting a rather decadent exhibition, of luxury lost called the Magnificence of the Tsars.

This exhibition illustrates Russia’s relationship with her past and with Europe through two centuries of men’s court dress.

It is curated and mounted by the Moscow Kremlin Museums. Together with the Armoury Chamber, they form Russia’s oldest national treasury, founded in 1806.

With luxury brands maturing in their home markets, Luxury Interactive taking place March 16-18, 2009 at Le Meridien Piccadilly in London is dedicating an entire day to international expansion opportunities.

Especially now that traditional markets such as Europe and North America have slowed down and several emerging markets showing continued growth in the luxury tier, it is becoming increasingly interesting for luxury brands to explore new markets.

During the Emerging Luxury Markets Summit on Monday, 16 March 2009, we take a closer look at the practical challenges luxury companies encounter when positioning their brands in Russia, the Middle East, China and India.

London was yesterday, the official home of Britain’s largest shopping mall with the launch of the $2.8 billion Westfield London Shopping Centre in Shepherd’s Bush , a massive 265-store, glass-roofed shopping center.

The centre’s owners, Westfield and Commerzbank AG are confident that the looming British recession, the worst since 1991 will not negatively affect the potential profits of the centre’s future.

Steven Lowy, managing director of Australian based Westfield said that the project was built with the future in mind. The new mall is targeted to serve 20 million shoppers per year and Westfield aims for sales of £1 billion ($2 billion).

This Acrylic resin table conceived by the Freshwest studio was unvelied at London Design Festival, Tent London.

“Pool Table had a serene and calming Zen like quality in the surrounding bustle of the show. The coffee table made from 50mm acrylic with miniature diving board, reflected and refracted light in such a way that it resembled the depth and hue of an actual swimming pool.”

The new Westfield Mall which opens on Thursday will cover 43 acres of space and cost £1.7 billion ($2,65 billion) to build. As the Telegraph reports the mall will have 265 shops, a 14-screen movie theater, 50 restaurants, a gym, spa, a library and 4,500 parking spaces.

For the luxury-minded shopper the mall has a concierge team of 60 who speak 14 languages total. Valet parking is available as well as handsfree shopping and chauffeur service.

Although the immediate economic forecast is bleak, Westfield’s executives remain cautiously optimistic. Keith Mabbett is senior leasing executive at Westfield, and has been responsible for getting the retailers into the centre.

“We’ve been sounding out the retail market for six years, seeing what they need. And there is a need for this centre,” he said at Westfield’s site office overlooking the development.

The Wealth Bulletin (a Dow Jones site) has come up with a list of the 10 most expensive streets in the world. The survey revealed that the prices for the top homes in the best locations appear to have decoupled from the gloom and doom being felt in the wider property market.

If you want to live in the best accommodation in these streets you will need to be a billionaire, or not far behind !

Avenue Princess Grace in Monaco has been named at the top with a price tag of $190,000 per square metre. It is followed by Hong Kong’s Severn Road with a price of $121,000 per square metre (sq mt) at second and New York City’s Fifth Avenue at third place ($80,000 per sq mt).

Here is the complete list, with some sample property prices as tallied by Wealth Bulletin: