Japanese fashion designer Kenzo Takada will auction off some of the art that inspired his East-meets-West style, as he trades his plush Paris mansion for smaller digs on the Seine River.

The announcement came a month after the late Yves Saint-Laurent’s art collection was put up for auction by his partner Pierre Berge, a 373.5-million-euro bonanza that caused friction with China over a pair of looted bronze relics.

From Hopi Kachina dolls to bronze Buddhas, more than 1,000 pieces collected over the past two decades will be on the block at the June 16-17 sale organized by Aguttes auction house.

Louis Vuitton opened its Champs-Elysees store Sunday amid an ongoing national battle over the supposed day of rest.

French law only allows retailers that sell sporting, recreational, leisure and culture items in heavily trafficked tourist areas to open Sunday. The law is aimed to support “dominical rest.”

Louis Vuitton has argued that the store features a cultural element. The French Confederation of Christian Workers, or CFTC, and a federation of clothing and accessories vendors filed a complaint against the retailer.

The newly remodeled Grand Palais hosts “Le Grand Monde d’Andy Warhol”.

The exhibition consists of almost 150 works, some of them coming out of private collections for the first time, by pop art legend Andy Warhol.

“Warhol wanted to produce portraits that showed not just people, but a society, a whole wide world,” said Alain Cueff, curator of the show.

W Hotels has announced plans to open their very first Paris property by 2011. It will be close to Place Vendome, in the Opéra area of the city.

W Paris-Opéra will feature 90 stylish guest rooms, a world-class contemporary restaurant and destination bar, a state-of-the-art fitness facility with spa treatment rooms, and W Hotels’ signature lounge experience where guests are invited to mix, mingle and relax in a chic social atmosphere.

The hotel will be inside a “quintessentially Parisian” 1870s Haussmann-era building, close to the Galleries Lafayette.

Place Vendôme is a jewelry case for all the jewels of the world.

What is more symbolic to a tourist in search of French expertise than this Parisian square, where high-end jewelry brands intermingle?

For travelers, we present Le monde de Vendôme (The World of Vendôme), a documentary film with the “actors” of Place Vendôme, that will be broadcasted on all AirFrance long-haul flights beginning the 1st of April 2009.

Here is, exclusively for LUXUO readers, the preview to this superb film:

“It seems whenever there’s some kind of exorbitantly expensive food there’s an ingredient that almost always makes an appearance: truffles.”

And according to Luxist there is one dish at Michel Rostang in Paris that is an absolute must. It is called LE “SANDWICH” TIEDE A LA TRUFFE FRAÎCHE, the most decadent take on a grilled sandwich ever invented.

“The sandwich sits for two nights (so the flavors can marinate together) and then the whole thing is lightly grilled on both sides.” Price: 98 € ($126)