Luxury News from InsideLux – The Daily Luxury News Authority

We have seen dresses in all shapes and sizes, but the latest gimmick comes from London and has 24,000 full colour LED lamps making it the world’s largest wearable display.

Called the Galaxy Dress, the two designers were commissioned to make a centre piece to go on exhibit in the Chicago Museum of Science.

“We used the smallest full-color LEDs, flat like paper, and measuring only 2 by 2 mm,” say designers Francesca Rosella and Ryan Genz.

Hallmark Jewelers has unveiled a diamond encrusted Christmas Bauble valued at $136,000.  The “Bauble” was designed to stand out from your average Christmas decoration and with 500 diamonds, 3 of which are 1 carat and 188 rubies in a snowflake pattern.

Taking over one year to complete, the Bauble is on display at  Hussey’s Titchfield store in the UK.

Perhaps best known for the ruckus he caused after juxtaposing Anne Frank’s face with a certain expletive on a T-shirt dress in his Fall 2006 collection, aleXsandro Palombo is a proudly controversial, fashion-focused Italian artist. And his cheeky-chic endeavors aren’t restricted to the runway. In 2010, Palombo will make a stir with the release his second collection of sharp-witted fashion cartoons. Titled Humor Chic, the book cimples images and graphic novels, each of which feature satirical caricatures of fashion’s obsession with celebrity, politics and, of course, itself.

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Galactic Suite Limited has announced that the world’s first space hotel will be ready to accept guests from 2012.   At €1m per night for a minimum of 3 nights, this hotel is reserved for the world’s richest.

The zero gravity resort will orbit the planet 15 times a day, offering a sunset and sunrise more than once an hour.  A spaceport from a Caribbean island will transport guests on Russian rockets to the resort and an introductory 8 week course prior to departure is compulsory.

The project, still in its design phase may be yet another pipe dream, but lets hope this one turns out to be a reality.

Megha Mittal, Lakshmi Mittal’s daughter-in-law has bought the failed Escada AG company.  InsideLux can confirm that the financial details have not been unveiled, it a statement was released by the family trust on Friday.

InsideLux first reported has followed the collapse of Escada closely leading to a financial deal to rescue the firm being rejected at the last minute.

Megha Mittal is married to Aditya Mittal, son of Lakshmi who is founder of ArcelorMittal steel, the world’s largest steelmaker.

Say hello to ‘Ether’ the watch that defies the current financial climate. ‘Ether’ is the first to be introduced under the Cephee collection by Christophe Golay. Made of 150 precision set baguette diamonds, ‘Ether’ is a combination of Swiss craftsmanship and hi-tech engineering.
Ether features a unique engineering technique with its sapphire cradle that houses the movement; manufactured exclusively for the Ether watch it has two perfectly adjusted lids so the precious face and side diamonds are completely encased. The straps are entirely made of soft supple leather with hand-crafted diamond buckle.
Ether watch costs $350,000 and is for those looking for quality and durability.

Luxury phone maker Mobiado has unveiled the Mobiado Grand 350 Pioneer Luxury Phone; a tribute to NASA’s Pioneer 10 spacecraft, the first spacecraft to travel through the Solar System’s asteroid belt. Only 37 of the Mobiado Grand 350 Pioneer Luxury Phone will be made in honour of NASA’s Pioneer 10 spacecraft launched 37 years ago.

Each of the phones will have its limited edition number engraved on the right side and the Pioneer 10’s date of launch; March 3, 1972 engraved on the left side.

The Mobiado Grand 350 Pioneer Luxury Phone is Mobiado’s second qwerty equipped handset, what makes it unique is its battery cover which is made out of materials from the Gibeon meteorite discovered in Namibia in 1836. The meteorite is believed to come from asteroid belts near Mars and Jupiter and made up of 90% iron, 8%nickel plus small traces of phosphorus and cobalt.

The battery cover of the Mobiado Grand 350 Pioneer also features a variation of the Pioneer plaques placed on board the Pioneer 10 to provide information about the human race in case the spacecraft was intercepted by extraterrestrial beings.

The Mobiado Grand 350 Pioneer supports quad-band GSM and 3.5G WCDMA/HSDPA networks; it also has a 2.36-inch 16 million color display, a 3.2 Megapixel camera with video recording, a front camera, integrated GPS, QWERTY keyboard, 11MB internal memory, a micro SD card slot as well as support Wi-Fi.

Lexus finally unveiled the production version of the Lexus LFA at the Tokyo Motor Show; car enthusiasts have been waiting nine years for this unveiling and like me couldn’t contain their excitement. With only 500 units being made, might be time to race to your local Lexus dealer if you want your hands on one. The key dynamics to the Lexus LFA is its lightweight construction with the chassis and bodywork made of CFRP – carbonfibre reinforced plastic. The Lexus LFA offers four times the strength of aluminum and weighs 100kg less on an LFA-sized chunk. The engine is 115bhp/litre specific and output is ten per cent better than the Prancing Horse’s.

In terms of specifications the Lexus LFA has a 4.8-liter V10 with 560 ps (552 bhp), 354 lb-ft torque, a zingy 9,000 rpm redline, six-speed sequential gearbox, 0-62 mph in 3.7 seconds and a top speed of 202 mph. Price tag is $375,000.

Hotel experts Mr & Mrs Smith are due to launch their new hotel guide for Australia and New Zealand this November and as always, it promises to be packed full of bijou boutique hotels and luxury getaway destinations.

The guide will be entitled ‘Mr & Mrs Smith Hotel Collection: Australia/ New Zealand’ and it’s the very first guide to Australia and New Zealand they’ve ever published.

Top hotel destinations to look out for include the iconic luxury resort of Qualia and the ever stylish boutique hotel Sal Salis.

Simon Westcott, co founder of Mr & Mrs Smith Asia Pacific has said “Our books take the guesswork out of booking somewhere best in class. We think what Mr & Mrs Smith does better than any other travel guide in the world is identify the wow-factor – that boutique-travel something special – a take-your-breath away location, incredible food and wine, unique spa treatments or simply the old-word charm of a remote and beautifully restored homestead.”

The Mr & Mrs Smith Hotel Collection: Australia & New Zealand is officialy available to buy from November 25th.

Posh Tots is a luxury furniture company that specialises in designing, making and selling bespoke fantasy-themed furniture for children.

There are literally thousands of hand crafted items on sale through Posh Tots and you can even create a whole luxury bedroom with a specific theme like Princess, Pirate or King Arthur. Read the rest of this entry »