Stella McCartney is the latest designer to debut a luxury children’s collection, joining the likes of Burberry, D&G and Dior.
Her line of childrenswear, Stella McCartney Kids, will hit shelves on November 3 but McCartney is no novice when it comes to designing for tots.
The British designer, who is pregnant with her fourth child, already has two successful capsule collections with Gap under her belt.
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General Motors said that in just three minutes, all 100 of the Neiman Marcus special edition 2011 Chevrolet Camaro convertibles it offered through the US-based luxury retailer’s annual Christmas Book catalog sold out yesterday.
The record sale took place a few hours after the car was showcased on NBC’s “Today Show”.
The new owners, who claimed their Neiman Marcus edition cars via a special telephone reservation process, will receive their cars this spring.
The Neiman Marcus edition is painted in an exclusive Deep Bordeaux exterior color, accented by subtle, “ghosted” rally stripes.
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Travel suggestion site Wanderfly officially launched October 19, providing a new way for travelers to get trip suggestions when looking to plan their next holiday.
The site, which has already seen considerable praise from journalists and bloggers testing the service prior to launch, asks key questions about a trip to provide personalized recommendations of a destination.
Users must ask key questions about the amount that they want to spend, dates, holiday themes such as environmental credentials and nightlife and other preferences, before submitting their requirements.
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Audacity.ch, the new Audemars Piguet online information platform, officially launched on Monday October 18th 2010.
This site is intended for all devotees of watches and haute horlogerie, as well as to the public at large, collectors and the press.
The Audacity.ch platform will cover the brand news: technical innovations, limited editions, sponsoring, AP icons, new product launches, boutique openings.
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Miu Miu has opened a new flagship store in Venice. The store is located in Venice’s Salizada San Moise and sells ready to wear as well as shoes and handbags.
Designed by architect Roberto Baciocchi, the store features an entrance and large glass display window with bronzed steel fixtures that face onto the “calleâ€.
These elements blend harmoniously into the frame of the historic building that houses the store.
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Nearly 8,000 customers across America weighed in on 23 designer shoes in the online Footwear News Sexy Shoes contest.
The winning pair, by French footwear designer Christian Louboutin, was revealed during a special event on October 14 at the upscale New York department store Saks Fifth Avenue.
Louboutin took the grand prize for his Swarovski crystal-embellished Maralena mesh peep-toe pumps ($2445).
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Porsche is planning to create a hybrid version of every model it sells, the luxury automaker has confirmed.
In a further signal that sports car manufacturers are getting serious about reducing their emissions, Porsche’s Wolfgang Duerheimer told Automotive News that “in the future, we will have a hybrid drive in every model line.”
The automaker already produces a hybrid version of the Cayenne, its large SUV, and its new CEO Matthias Muller revealed at the Paris Motor Show that the company has produced a plug-in version of its Panamera sedan.
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Cessna Aircraft announced yesterday that it will build a larger, advanced version of its Citation X business jet, called the Citation Ten.
The new Citation Ten is scheduled to be in the air by late 2011 and delivered to the first customer in 2013.
The jet is 15 inches longer and will fly farther and carry more weight than the $22 million, eight-seat Citation X.
The Citation Ten will have a longer range and faster rate of climb speed than the previous model.
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John Galliano will be collaborating with famous Parisian pastry café Ladurée to release limited edition macarons.
The Dior designer’s macaroons – which come in boxes of either 6, 12, or 18 – pay tribute to his new perfume Parlez-Moi d’Amour.
He chose rose and ginger flavors and created a limited edition box featuring references to the new fragrance.
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Luxury house Chanel, with its flagship store in Paris on Rue Cambon, will move its existing store on Avenue Montaigne to a larger space on the same boulevard.
Chanel gets back the surface previously occupied by Jean-Louis Scherrer. The new space covers a surface of 1.000 sqm and will be open late 2011.
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Michelin unveiled Tuesday its new guide to Japan’s western cities of Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe, with a novelty: a selection of 106 top restaurants that offer courses under 5,000 yen (60 dollars).
The guide, due to hit Japanese bookstores on October 22 in both Japanese and English, lavished the ancient capital of Kyoto with seven three-star ratings, all for Japanese cuisine, 22 two-star and 71 one-star ratings.
Kyoto is famed for the quiet sanctuary of its temples, shrines and Zen gardens, while the more boisterous, working-class Osaka has been nicknamed “Japan’s kitchen” and port city Kobe is famed for its premium beef brand.
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Each year ABSOLUT Vodka produces a limited edition bottle to celebrate the festive season and this year, they’ve created ABSOLUT GLIMMER.
This limited edition packaging follows in the footsteps of Absolut Bling Bling, Absolut Disco, Absolut Rock Edition, and In An Absolut World Every Night is a Masquerade.
Marking the first time Absolut has changed the shape of its iconic bottle, ABSOLUT GLIMMER has been designed in crystal pattern-shaped glass.
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Vogue UK reports that Harrods in London is considering adding a luxury hotel on the roof of its Knightsbridge store.
Harrods managing director Michael Ward said the potential hotel opening was one of several options being considered.
He said: “Are we looking at it? Yes. Have we considered it? Yes. It is something we would do? No plans have been put forward but it is one of them. There are a number of ideas of equal magnitude.â€
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At the 2010 Australian International Motor Show, Mercedes-Benz is showcasing two unique AMG vehicles, a C 63 AMG called Concept 358 and a special-finish SLS AMG, built exclusively for the show.
The Concept 358 is the only C 63 AMG in the world to be painted in designo Pearl Orange paint from the AMG factory in Affalterbach, Germany.
The vehicle is fitted with the AMG Performance Package Plus , allowing the driver to play with a total of 487 hp.
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Major hotel brands have been unveiling expansion plans in China at a key conference over the past week.
Many chains are planning to considerably beef up their presence in the country, with a series of deals unveiled this week at the Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific.
Hyatt announced a total of 11 new properties, confirming that four new hotels would be opened next year in Ningbo, Jinan, Guiyang and Qingdao, a mix of areas designed to target both business and leisure travelers.
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A Monopoly board game made out of solid gold and encrusted with jewels is currently on display at The Museum of American Finance in New York City.
The gold-bound game was created by jeweler Sidney Mobell, who started in 1988 and worked every day for a year on creating the Monopoly game.
The board is made in 23 carat gold plate, and all the little houses and hotels are 18 carat solid gold. On the chimneys of houses are genuine rubies, on the chimneys of the hotels are genuine sapphires.
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Chanel is to donate the exhibition pavilion designed by Iraqi-born British architect, Zaha Hadid, to the Arab World Institute.
The pavilion showcased artworks by contemporary artists inspired by Chanel’s iconic 2.55 handbag in 2008.
Chanel will thereby perpetuate this work designed by one of the greatest contemporary architects.
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New York-based Luxury Lab has released its second annual Digital IQ Index of Luxury Brands.
The study quantifies the digital competence of 72 global luxury brands by accessing brand websites, digital marketing strategies, social media initiatives and mobile applications.
The Luxury Brands that ranked at the top of this year’s Index were Coach, Ralph Lauren, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Hugo Boss and Burberry respectively.
Coach received accolades for its buzz-worthy Poppy Project which connected 468 blogs and their readers through a web of poppies. Like a public art show, with each hashtag tweet on Twitter the poppies grew.
Ralph Lauren got brownie points for developing a stellar, easy-to-navigate mobile application as well as a shoppable children’s video storybook.
Gucci made a splash when it launched its digital flagship this fall and debuted GucciConnect to complement its Spring/Summer 2011 show in Milan.
More than simply eyeing the catwalk, e-ticket holders for the virtual event were given the unique experience of going to a show and could even stream live videos of themselves.
And Burberry became luxury’s digital darling after it launched its website artofthetrench.com.
Scott Schuman of influential fashion blog The Sartorialist teamed up with Facebook to create a social networking fashion blog centered solely around the iconic Burberry trench coat. Like on Facebook, visitors can “like” or “leave a comment” and “share” each image.
According to Scott Galloway, founder of Luxury Lab, the “combination of the economic crisis, the emergence of a more digitally native Gen Y consumer, and several brands getting huge ROI– sales and press — due to digital leadership, inspired a massive investment in both human and financial capital in digital in 2010.”
Companies are becoming increasingly engaged in what Luxury Lab calls a “virtual arms race to acquire fans and followers online.”
More than 90 percent of the luxury retailers in the 2010 Index count maintain a Facebook page. And half of the 72 global luxury brands in the Index have a presence on Twitter and YouTube (up from 17 and 26%Â respectively in 2009).
Luxury brands that fared the worst on the 2010 Digital IQ Index were mainly fine watch and jewelry retailers. Brands like Rolex, Chopard and Cartier have largely ignored social media outlets.
None of the three brands are on Twitter and they have a limited engagement and user following on Facebook.
Source: AFPrelaxnews – To view the 2010 Luxury Lab Index visit L2thinktank.com
Top Ten Luxury Brands with the highest digital IQ
(as ranked by Luxury Lab)
1. Coach
2. Ralph Lauren
3. Louis Vuitton
4. Gucci
5. Hugo Boss
6. Burberry
7. Dolce & Gabbana
8. Giorgio Armani
9. Swarovski
10. Tiffany
India’s richest man, and Forbes’s fourth richest man, Mukesh Ambani, has built the world’s most expensive house in Mumbai. It is estimated to be worth $1 billion.
The 37,000-square meter home, which took seven years to build, is bigger than the Palace of Versailles, London’s Telegraph reported.
It contains a health club with a gym and dance studio, at least one studio, a ballroom, guestrooms and a range of lounges and a 50 seater cinema.
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Conde Nast Traveler magazine has announced the winners of its prestigious 2010 Readers’ Choice awards, lauding the best of today’s travel world.
More than 25,916 readers voted in the awards, which encompassed some 10,000 destinations and also included airlines and cruise lines.
The magazine’s readers judged San Francisco to be the best city in the US for the 18th year in a row, while Florence in Italy was voted the best in Europe, Bangkok the best in Asia, Cape Town the best in Africa and the Middle East and Sydney the best in the Australia/Pacific region.
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To celebrate its fifth anniversary, the five-star Mandarin Oriental Tokyo hotel is offering the opportunity to rent the entire property for one night for $670,000.
Under the plan, the entire hotel — 178 guest rooms, all nine restaurants and all spas — would be reserved from 3:00 in the afternoon to noon the next day.
There will also be the option to have a cocktail party for 500 people featuring pastries from an award-winning Japanese pastry chef.
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