Watch an artistic video that Christophe Graillot did showing a collectible LV charm being made, from lost wax casting to stone setting to the final polishing.

LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, the world’s largest maker of luxury goods, lowered retail prices for its Louis Vuitton brand in Japan by 7 percent yesterday to boost sales, bloomberg reported.

For years the Vuitton-crazed shoppers in Japan have fueled LVMH’s rapid growth, together the U.S. and Japan account for about a third of LVMH’s revenue.

The price cuts apply to nearly all items sold, including bags, watches, apparel and shoes, at the company’s 56 stores in Japan, Nikkei cited the company as saying.

The price reductions reflect the yen’s strength against the euro with most Louis Vuitton products imported from France, the report said. Louis Vuitton sales fell 7 percent in Japan in the first nine months of the year, the report said.

Madonna has signed a deal worth $10m to become the face of Louis Vuitton’s 2009 spring/summer ad campaign.

She was photographed in Caf̩ Figaro from Los Angeles РCafe Figaro is located off Vermont and Sunset for all you L.A. based readers Рby Steven Meisel, styled by Marie Amelie Sauve (working as a fashion editor for Vogue Paris and as a consultant for Balenciaga) and Garren (for the hair)

The ads are expected to be racy as Meisel was the photographer behind the images for Madonna’s notorious 1992 book ‘Sex’, which was released as an accompaniment to her fifth studio album Erotica.

Madonna is no stranger to ad campaigns having previously starred in ads for Gap, H&M, Versace and Max Factor.

Last month the original James Bond, Sean Connery, was photographed by Annie Leibovitz for Louis Vuitton’s Core Values ad campaign. Connery was shot lounging around in the Bahamas.

Karl Lagerfeld is famous for his hundreds of iPods and he’s even designed a Fendi trunk specifically for the storage of multiple iPods. For his personal storage needs, however, he commisioned a bespoke trunk from Louis Vuitton .

Made of black Taiga leather with brass fittings and a red microfiber interior, it contains an interior case which holds 20 iPods and a power charger. There are compartments for JBL iPod speakers and subwoofer, and Lagerfeld’s initials are stamped in red near the handle.

Vuitton can actually create a trunk for anything that you wish to carry around : The process of creating a bespoke case like this can take four to eight months and costs tens of thousands of dollars. If they don’t like your request, they will modify the idea and make a suggestion – their polite version of refusal. Now why would anyone want space to carry around 20 iPods is anyone’s guess : )

Louis Vuitton have launched two new patented diamond cuts based on their iconic monogram flowers – a rounded-cut flower diamond, and a pointed-cut flower diamond.

The cuts which are patented took over three years to develop. The LV diamonds have between 61 and 77 facets, and are set into various pieces of jewelry, including a necklace with 108 carats of diamonds retailing at $4 million.

Brooches, rings and necklaces featuring the monogram cut diamonds will also be available. The collection has been named “Les Ardentes”, which translate as “the blazing.”

Not new but this Japanese ad for Louis Vuitton is just amazing, I love it!
While waiting to meet her friends outside of a Louis Vuitton store, Aya’scell phone is eaten by the LV Panda, who then promptly swallows Aya – but the inside of his stomach is gateway to a psychadelic wonderland. Based on characters created by famed superflat artist Takashi Murakami.

The next time I see a Panda I am running in the opposite direction !