bLavish

Lady Gaga’s Love For Philip Treacy

July 12, 2011 | Posted by bLavish as Apparel at 10:00 pm | Comments off

Philip Trecy may not be one of the most recognizable designers, but he’s definitely one of the most influential. He just happens to work in a little appreciated medium, the hat. This Irish milliner has designed for many prominent fashion houses, including Galliano, Chanel, and Givenchy.

Even if you’re not sure you’ve seen his work, you definitely have. His hats have appeared on Sex and the City, in Harry Potter films, and no less than 36 of them were attendance at the well-viewed recent wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Plus, Lady Gaga loves them. She told V magazine:

The lines for myself have become so blurred now, I know not the difference between a moment of performance and a moment of honesty. If you were to ask me to remove my Philip Treacy hat at a party, in truth it is the emotional and physical equivalent of requesting I remove my liver.

That’s some kind of accolade.

Super Luxe Tag Heuer Link Smartphone

June 28, 2011 | Posted by bLavish as Cell Phones at 8:46 pm | Comments off

I’ve seen a lot of luxury smartphones. Most of the time they’re so overburdened with embellishment that they’re not really that palatable to me. But this Tag Heuer Link smartphone is a seriously classy piece of technology.

Tag Heuer is known for their luxury timepieces, and they’ve brought their signature elegant style to bear on this new phone. The case is available in calfskin, alligator, lizard skin, and even rubber for the animal lovers. The metal on the casing is 18 karat rosegold and titanium, a maximal combination for beauty and durability. Who knows? This case might even be more shock absorbent than the famed Otter Box, and it’s sure as hell a lot more attractive.

The phone itself is great, too. The link runs on the Android operating system, features an 8 gig memory card, a 5 megapixel camera, and an external crown for easy access to the sim card. It runs for about $7,000, which is pricey for a phone, but a lot less expensive than a lot of the more bedazzled smartphones out there.

Michael Jackson’s Thriller Jacket Goes For $1.8 Million!

June 27, 2011 | Posted by bLavish as Auctions at 11:47 pm | Comments off

A few weeks ago, I wrote about Michael Jackson’s famed Thriller jacket going up for auction. The famed jacket was expected to go for between $200,000 and $400,000. I don’t know who actually expected the thing to go that cheaply. It must have been some new jack, because there’s no way that anyone who was actually conscious in the 1980′s thought for a second that it would sell for less than a million dollars. Seriously, this was THE jacket to have for no less than half a decade.

The previous owners of the jacket were the designers themselves, Dennis Tompkins and Michael Bush. He even had it inscribed to them with the words, “Love Michael Jackson”. The name of the buyer hasn’t been released, but plenty other auction goers got lucky that day. CNN says:

The signature fedora Jackson wore during his Bad Tour was sold for $16,250, a handwritten note to friend Elizabeth Taylor went for $5,625 and a signed pillowcase fetched $3,584. And a bidder paid out $330,000 — more than 10 times what Julien’s had expected to get — for one of the famous, shiny, crystal-covered gloves that Jackson wore during the 1980s.

 

 

Sand & Birch Regency Wine Cellar Collection

June 27, 2011 | Posted by bLavish as For the House at 9:32 pm | Comments off

There’s a difference between a wine connoisseur and a wine collector. This is a rectangle/square sort of situation. Every wine collector is probably a connoisseur, but not every connoisseur gets to be a collector. Why is that? Because being a collector requires an enormous investment of both money and space.

A wine collector needs a wine cellar, or at least a temperature-controlled wine closet. Not to mention the right storage system. The Regency collection by Sand & Birch is definitely the right storage system. Sand & Birch has designed some of the most beautifully elegant wine storage in the world.

The Regency Climatized Wine Cellar has the capacity to store up to 90 bottles and is available in single and double temperature control models. The lighting system uses LED, which ensures its low energy consumption, and its elegant Italian design ensures that this wine cellar will be a beautiful addition to your home.

Emerald Sunglasses by Shiels

June 26, 2011 | Posted by bLavish as Bling Bling at 9:00 pm | Comments off

Albert Bensimon, managing direction of Shiels designs, is a lover of the classics. The line’s latest eyewear is inspired by none other than Emperor Nero himself. Nero is said to have been the first person to wear sunglasses. The glasses were made out of emeralds cut into lenses, designed to block out the sun while he watched gladiator matches.

This version is pretty one-of-a-kind. In fact, they are one of a kind, because at $200,000, most people aren’t going to be buying them for daily use. The frames are made of gold accented with diamonds, and the glasses must be protected by security guards around the clock while they’re on display.

The glasses are featured in the Shiels Carillion window in Perth currently, but inquiries have been made by an unnamed celebrity who wants to make them their own.

Armed and Dangerous Cosmetics Case

June 26, 2011 | Posted by bLavish as For Her at 6:03 pm | Comments off

Women often refer to their cosmetics collections as their beauty arsenals. With these quirky new cases by Dutch jewelry designer Ted Norton, they won’t even be exaggerating.

The cases are molded to look like dangerous handguns, but they conceal something far less terrifying than bullets. The cases come in two models, the Chanel and the Dior, and each contains a unique assortment of acoutrements. The Dior, which is available for $11,500, comes with Dior lipgloss, an antique hairpin, an 18 karat gold toothpick, and something every woman needs, a 50 gram 24 karat gold bar. The Chanel comes outfitted with similar accessories, but from the Chanel line, and runs at a more expensive $17,000.

The design is definitely a little over-the-top, but it’s a little piece of avant garde design that you can carry around in your purse.

Mario Batali’s Del Posto

June 22, 2011 | Posted by bLavish as Expensive Eats, The Most Expensive at 10:51 pm | Comments off

Mario Batali is one of the most famous of the celebrity chefs. His cuisine is an amazing balance of rustic and sophisticated, so much so that his food appeals to everyone from hipster twenty-somethings to the most finicky of connoisseurs. His restaurants the world over re flooded with reservations months in advance. Well, that’s not exactly true, actually, because most of Batali’s restaurants only accept reservations up to 30 days in advance in order to keep bookkeeping complications to a minimum.

Del Posto is one of Batali’s Manhattan outposts, and it has just been named the most expensive restaurant in New York. Del Posto is offering a new tasting menu for couples that totals a whopping $1,126. For that price you really get what you pay for; an extraordinary twelve courses with wine pairings. Pretty pricey, even for four star fare.

This makes Masa, formerly the most expensive restaurant in the city, seem almost affordable. Their most expensive tasting menu is priced at $450 per person.

 

Lifestyles of the Rich and Mobile by Airstream

June 21, 2011 | Posted by bLavish as Furious Luxury Cars at 10:54 pm | Comments off

Mobile homes have a bad rep. Mention them and images of hillbillies or overweight retirees comes to mind, but the truth is much more interesting. The other day I met some a nice (and incidentally very wealthy) couple who spent three years traveling in a mobile home with their horse trailer while their dream home was being built. Their home was actually featured on the mobile edition of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. So, if you’re envisioning faux wood paneling and formica in every Airstream you pass on the highway, you might be a little off base.

Luxury isn’t yet synonymous with Airstream, but it might be soon. Their Next-gen series is full of modern features that make it interesting and beautiful, not to mention practical. The second series of Next-gen includes a large wardrobe, dressing area, and dedicated space for your home-away-from-home office.

The exterior of the Airstream hasn’t changed much, because it doesn’t need to, but the inside is full of LCD TVs and all the little comforts of home.

Michael Jackson’s Thriller Jacket Up For Auction

June 7, 2011 | Posted by bLavish as Auctions at 10:49 pm | Comments off

If you’re of my generation, or even if you’re not, you’ve definitely seen this jacket before. When I was a kid I had one just like it, which I wore with a single white glove and probably Underoos. Even today, this red and black wonder is one of the most iconic articles of clothing I can think of, something like the 80′s equivalent to Marilyn Monroe’s white dress. And now you can have it for your very own.

That’s right, the one and only Thriller jacket is up for auction. Actually, it’s one of two that he wore in the video, but who’s counting?Anyhow, it’s expected to fetch between $200,000 and $400,000, but my guess is that some fanatic music fan out there is willing to pay even more. And they can do so in good conscience, since a percentage of the proceeds are going to the Shambhala Preserve where two of the late Mr. Jackson’s Bengal tigers are currently living. The auction will take place June 25th and 26th in Beverly Hills.

Prada Funglasses

June 6, 2011 | Posted by bLavish as Apparel at 11:59 pm | Comments off

Miuccia Prada is known for a lot of things in the fashion world: making black nylon into a covetable material, that iconic triangular logo, and last but not least, her sometimes quirky sense of humor. Prada’s new Minimal-Baroque project is a collaboration between Prada, Vogue Italia, and a host of hot young artists.

The results are a cool blast of fresh air in the sometimes stuffy fashion world. The sunglasses themselves are pretty amazing, although not particularly wearable by most. Prada’s frames have been transformed into colorful curlicues and other fanciful shapes, and various non-traditional models have been used in the images.

By non-traditional I don’t mean women with unusual body types. I mean balloons and animal skulls. The prints of these images will be displayed in Prada boutiques all over the world beginning in July, but you can already see the sunglasses in fashion editorials.

RSS Feed