Luxury Lifestyle, Design & Architecture blog

On July 12 it was confirmed that Italian luxury label Valentino has been sold to the royal family of Qatar for an estimated $858 million. Mayhoola, an investment group controlled by Qatar’s royal family, explained its vision for the fashion house — which was founded in 1959 by namesake Valentino Garavani and is famed for its ultra feminine frocks. “Valentino has always been a brand of unique creativity and undisputed prestige,” said a Mayhoola spokesperson in a release. “Our vision is to back management for the long term to exploit the full potential of this exciting brand. We believe Valentino is ideally suited to form the basis for a global luxury goods powerhouse.” Meanwhile, Valentino chief executive officer Stefano Sassi added the new investors will help the brand “reach its full potential.” As well as acquiring Valentino, the Qatar group also reportedly picked up the M Missoni license, while the Qatar Luxury Group, owned by the Qatar Foundation, acquired French...

Chinese shoppers are increasingly buying luxury goods in mainland China, turning away from high-end stores abroad and in Hong Kong, a survey indicated Thursday. The poll by market research firm Ipsos found that Chinese buyers preferred to shop on the mainland for luxury goods in five of its seven categories — watches, cosmetics, clothes, shoes, and wines and cigars. Last year, mainland Chinese preferred to buy top-end items at home in only three categories. The semi-autonomous city of Hong Kong remains their preferred destination only for jewellery and handbags, despite higher taxes on luxury goods on the mainland. Louis Vuitton was the respondents’ top luxury brand, named by 39 percent of them, followed by Chanel on 17 percent. Seven percent picked Gucci, Hermes had six percent and Christian Dior five percent. A total of 1,135 people on mainland China with annual incomes higher than 100,000 yuan ($15,900) were questioned last month for the China Luxury Forecast, jointly car...

Salvatore Ferragamo will be outfitting the tiny Republic of San Marino with uniforms for the London 2012 Olympic Games. Influenced by the luxury label’s Italian mainline, the uniforms combine sophistication with craftmanship as well as functionality. The tailored outfits include a pair of white cotton trousers, a silk crepe dress, preppy blue blazer, blue loafers and a pair of square toe heels featuring a bow. The San Marino Olympians will also tout one of Ferragamo’s iconic bags – the Sofia – which has been given an update. Ferragamo joins the ranks of designers creating Olympic kits, including Stella McCartney, Ralph Lauren, Prada and, most recently, Hermès.

If you were tired of lugging huge bags all the time to work and looking like a walking office yourself, take heart. The new fashion trends reveal that small bags and clutches may come in vogue again and you may not have to carry the huge bags ever again. Of course, this is based on the new design trends that were noticed on the runways and it would be a great way to make sure that you are carrying less, and also making sure that you are in fashion. Robert Burke, who runs the famous New York luxury consulting firm, revealed that the consumers strive to look more carefree these days, and that means that a lot of them would rather go ahead and get something that would make it easier for them to carry stuff. The bags are expected to generate sales to the tune of $10.3 billion and that is a huge amount if you asked me. Brands such as Louis Vuitton would sell small bags for around $14,000 now and thus small doesn’t exactly mean cheap. Women on the other hand would have something new to...

 Dior Short Film at Versailles: The world of fashion is very competitive. And even if you an old and established label like Dior you have to be on your toes all the time to stay ahead of competition and retain your customer base. They have released a short film the Secret Garden to showcase their newest collection. Fashion industry requires all the players to be very agile as it has to keep adapting to constant change. The industry is full of creative minds and glamour and you really have to be out of the ordinary to catch the attention of your potential customers. The Team Has Created Iconic Campaigns for Fashion Brands This film Secret Garden does just that. The film has been made by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, a team that has challenged and inspired the field of fashion photography. They are working as a team since 1986 and have harnessed the latest digital imaging technologies to capture the imagination of art critics. In the past they have created iconic adve...

Luxury handbags are the most sought after accessory by women and Louis Vuitton has been masters at designing and creating collections that are lapped up by the women. They move along with the changing trends and fashion. They are about to launch their Louis Vuitton Fall/Winter 2011 Lockit clutches and bags. It is an original design from 1958 which is making a comeback after so many decades. Something new in this collection is the change in the monogram. The new monogram has a glossy patent finish that looks elegant with the shiny collection. The Lockit Clutch in the collection is the design which was first introduced in 1958. The trend is back, hence Louis Vuitton has reintroduced it. It is a design that makes the clutch suitable for any occasion. Key bell, padlock and handles are all covered by patent monogram canvas. The lining is matte goatskin. The tread used for stitching is ivory and the zipper pull is made from matching ivory resin. The elegant clut...

If you love your luxury handbags and just cannot get enough of them, this bit of news should warm your heart. The Digital Luxury Group recently joined hands with the Luxury Society to create a World Luxury Index for handbags. The Digital Luxury Group deals in digital communication strategies for luxury brands, while Luxury Society provides a wealth of business information and connections to top luxury professionals. As for the World Luxury Index, it ranks and analyses the most searched for luxury brands on the international level. With the introductions now done, let us focus our attention on the ten luxury handbag brands that made it to the World Luxury Index. 10 Handbag Brands That Online Searchers Love The team that created the Index for high-end handbags studied over 130 million online searches across more than 130 brands in eight countries. The data was sourced from Demandtracker’s report for the twelve months between April 2011 and March 2012. The countries covered...

Louis Vuitton sure knows how to get the right person to be its face. Earlier, luxury-icons and celebrities like Bono, Sean Connery, Keith Richards and Catherine Deneuve have been the Louis Vuitton’s faces, and this time around, it is Angelina Jolie who would be the face of their latest campaign titled ‘Core Values’. The campaign was shot by Annie Leibovitz and the first ad from the campaign features Angelina Jolie sitting on a wooden boat somewhere in Cambodia. Of course, she has a Louis Vuitton bag over her shoulders and looks as fashionable as ever with her dark hair. In fact, until recently she was spotted with blonde hair, and Angelina doesn’t look bad in dark hair either. LV sure knows how to rope in the best celebrities for their ad campaigns. While Angie sure is a global symbol of humanitarian efforts, adoptions, fight against racism and a bit of glamour thrown in, Louis Vuitton might have chosen her as she is also the U.N. Goodwill Ambassador for many causes. He...