H&M's next designer for Winter 2009 and Spring 2010 is SONIA RYKIEL.  In another exciting development this collection will also see the first designer collaboration branching into lingerie and related accessories.  The first collection will release in 1500 worldwide store on December 5th and the lingerie will also be available within Sonia Rykiel stores 


“Sonia Rykiel is a true fashion icon who invented a signature style around femininity, Parisian chic and modernity – as well as functional, comfortable, wearable clothes. She has an attitude that inspires admiration among women of all ages around the world. We loved the joyful chic of Sonia Rykiel’s 40th anniversary runway show – and in that spirit this collection is all about revelling in great lingerie for its own sake. This is a totally modern, new kind of lingerie look, and when we started to work together with Rykiel on it, we just couldn’t stop,” says H&M creative advisor Margareta van den Bosch. “It’s a wonderful highlight for our main collection.” 


The Spring collection of "iconic knitwear" for women and girls will launch February 20th 2010 in 250 stores across the world.

The jaw dropping jewelled spectacular that is the latest jewelry collection from Vuitton is the very first in the collaboration with Lorenz Bäumer.
"L’âme du Voyage" translating as the soul of the trip is a collection of 6 sets of jewelry the focal point of each being a unique necklace, prices are up to $2.5 million.

The piece shown above is a mix of 18k white gold, red gold and yellow gold, garnet, spinel, tsavorite, multi­colored sapphire, fire opal and diamond necklace, set into a clolourful display of the monogram design and featuring the famed Louis Vuitton cut diamonds.

"L’âme du Voyage" marks Vuitton's own journey into the Haute jewelry world although they have created fine jewelry for around 8 years this collection is designed to get people to sit and take notice of Louis Vuitton as a force to reckoned with “We thought it was time to go to the next step,” says Yves Carcelle, Vuitton’s chief ­executive. “Vuitton has a strong point of view on everything we do.”

Bäumer, who has also previously worked with Chanel and Baccarat, describes his latest role as his mission is to help Vuitton be “recognized, admired and respected as a jeweler. We wanted to show at the beginning the vision, the capacity of creating incredible pieces in terms of craftsmanship, and the ability to tell a story. It’s like writing a book. We just wrote a chapter.”

Gucci for Spring Summer turned out a show of uber sexy utilitarian influenced outfits.
Models walked the runway like ass kicking assassin's where the harness style details, belts and bags lashed together with ropes looked like the could transform into a handy escape parachute at any second.
The essentially grey, black and white palette had touches of colour in the form of orange, pink and blue but these were merely hilights to the monochrome.

Once again Giannini turned out a beautiful collection, here are a selection of some of my favourites.
Pics: Vogue

To launch the new Louis Vuitton store in Dubai, LV have created a number of limited edition pieces for the store one of which is the Summit Drive in Gold Miroir or to give it it's correct name Summit Drive Monogram Miroir Doré.

You can view pics of the Summit Drive Miroir here.
Summit Drive Side View
Summit Drive Front View


The Summit Drive will retail in the Dubai Mall store for 7250 Dirhams and is limited to 100 pieces, but don't worry about missing out on this one in the coming months there is rumoured to be a limited edition release of the Sac Plat in Miroir, which personally I think will look amazing in Miroir.

The Sac Plat will be a worldwide release but limited in numbers if you are interested talk to your store, Miroir releases tend to fall around the Holiday period from November to December but no confirmation of date has yet been received.


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Whenever I visit the flagship stores I like to snap a picture of their windows, I was surprised to see the backdrop of the crates still in the windows (I remember these at the Ave Montaigne store about 6 months back).


Last weekend Paris was experiencing a beautiful summer's day and the sunlight made it difficult to see anything is the windows but I did manage to get two pretty good shots for you.

In pretty much every Vuitton store it was possible to see the Eclipse, Double Jeu and Monogram My Deer! although they did say the Eclipse was totally sold out and every bag shown was already reserved.

From the window is the Louis Vuitton Double Jeu Neo Noe in Cranberry which was considerable smaller than I had previously thought.

The window mannequins all wore the Fall Winter Show pictured here are the Coquette open toe pump in pale pink, this model is also available in Green and Red and retails at £660.


Related Posts:
Louis Vuitton Double Jeu Collection
Louis Vuitton Eclipse Collection
Louis Vuitton Monogram My Deer!

In a slight detour from fashion to jewelery I wanted to show you the new stunning setting chosen for the Hope Diamond.

The Hope Diamond (45.52cts if your interested) is currently housed at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington, the reason it is getting a new outfit is to celebrate it's anniversary of 50 years since it's donation by Harry Winston.

There were three possible choices for the new setting which will be ready in May 2010 although the Hope Diamond will be returned to it's original Cartier setting later the same year.

The winning design is called "Embracing Hope" and it a stunner.


Although I do think the other two designs are really beautiful too

WWD featured a pretty interesting article about the Top 10 Pantone Colors for New York Fashion Week Spring 2010, based on these colors the Spring Summer is going to fab!

Top to Bottom, Left to Right

Violet Pantone 
Aurora Pantone 
Turquoise Pantone 
Fusion Coral Pantone 
Tomato Puree Pantone 
Tuscany Pantone 
Amparo Blue Pantone 
Pink Champagne Pantone 
Dried Herb Pantone 
Eucalyptus Pantone

Source: WWD

I haven't blogged for a few days as I have been in glorious Paris!
A little while ago I enquired at my Vuitton store about having a special order created word came back that it would possible but in the wait for Fall Winter bags to arrive it got put on the back burner.

Whilst in Paris or more precisely in the Galleries Lafayette I spotted the very bag I'd requested. As the bag was a special order that the person had decided they no longer wanted to go ahead with I was able to purchase it.  So without the 3-6 month wait I am now the proud owner of my very own.........


I always feel that Damier is hard to photograph so the pics don't really do the bag justice, the damier appear slightly smaller when compared to the monogram but they are the same size.



About Special Orders

A limited number of Louis Vuitton bags can be special ordered in alternative materials than those they are produced in, it can take between 3-6 months to receive your bag. Prices of special order pieces can vary greatly, switching a bag from Monogram to Damier for example can cost around +30% on the original price of the bag switching to a leather such as Epi leather can cost considerably more. There are restrictions on what can be Special Ordered and orders go through Asnieres as a general rule of thumb the material or style must have been in production for a minimum of two years before it will even be considered for a Special Order, discontinued pieces and Multicolore pieces (with the exceptions of hard pieces) can not be Special Ordered.

Not just colour but glitz and glam too!
Many of last years spring summer show's had a pretty neutral palette this year is a full on colour explosion and I love it!

I haven't had chance to trawl through all of the New York Shows yet but here are few pieces from those that I have seen that are just fab, fab, fab!

Monique Lhuillier - This orange is an amazing colour you will need a little bit of tan to pull off at it's best but when you do you'll look stunning.

Marchesa - OK so it doesn't fit with colour but you can't deny the glam factor the intricate detailing makes these pieces more than clothes they are works of art.

Halston - This is the brand to watch for Spring Summer after managing to get a number of pieces into the Sex and the City 2 movie Halston and Halston inspired clothing will be everywhere.

Sex and the City 2 filming, Fashion's Night out tonight, Fashion week...New York is the place to be.

I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate the wonder that is New York than these absolutely beautiful pieces from Macy's in collaboration with Jewelry.com