InsideLux – The Luxury News Authority

Vaca Limousines, located in Guadalajara, Mexico, innovates new limousines from used ‘lesser value’ car parts. Turning ordinary into extraordinary, the shop takes body parts from vehicles like Fords, and crafts them into something like a Hummer limo.

Owner Martin Vaca has earned his fame through the six-month endeavor of taking the body of a jet and converting it to a drivable limo. First sliming the body to fit through the city streets, Vaca then added the engine of a Mercedes Bus, allotting a top speed of 150kmH.

The party airplane is equipped with a bar, big screen TV, lounge room, sound system, dance floor and room for 50 guests. Renting out at around $1,000 a night, the $6,000 airplane body purchase has more than paid for itself.

Tourists always wonder why China Town shopping is more like a covert operation- go up the stairs, down the hall, through the looking glass, over the river and through the woods- rather than a nice merchandise browsing over a cup of coffee. The truth about ‘knock-offs’ is way more complex than the consumer can even comprehend.

First, these tax-free, illegal imports are not just smuggled into countries for mom and pop stores to sell off little by little; in actuality they are large-scale corporations stealing trademark brands, cheapening the production costs and distributing all over the world. Underground importation also comes with more serious criminal activity beyond copyright infringement. Security agencies worldwide have shown that handbags and shoes stow away hidden drugs and these large companies are simply masks for organized crime rings.

Monetarily speaking, purchasing knock off goods contributes to the ever-rising spike in lost money from the reputable, tax-paying fashion houses. In the U.S. alone, counterfeited accessories and apparel cost the government more than $200 billion in tax revenue and on average $16 billion for the fashion houses per year.

Cracking down on these operations has been a many year fight, and fashion houses are far from giving up. Recently, Louis Vuitton and Burberry have taken three Canadian companies to federal court after a two-year private investigation, peeling apart the structure of the defendants’ business model and revealing the large-scale imports from China. The case has not yet been settled, but Louis Vuitton and Burberry seek out a 3million dollar pay out. If seen through, it will be Canada’s largest counterfeit settlement to date.

Hitting closer to the consumer’s home, the markets at which items are sold; police have made arrests and seized millions of dollars in counterfeit products in major cities around the globe.

All in all, patrons know their purchases are fakes, and are knowingly contributing to the counterfeit epidemic that is robbing the brands they aspire to sport.

Mouawad, a Dubai based jewelry designer has set another Guinness World record in the “most expensive” accessory category. Famously known for their collaboration with Victoria’s Secret, Mouawad created the $11 million “Fantasy” bra, setting the world record for the most expensive diamond encrusted bra in existence.

Now, after ten artisans invested 8,800 hours of work, Mauawad is proud to announce their next Guinness World Record for the world’s most expensive purse, “1001 Nights”. Handcrafted from 18kt gold, the heart shaped clutch dazzles with 4,517 diamonds. An assortment of 56 pink, 4,356 colorless and 105 yellow diamonds, the record-breaking bag weighs in at 381.92 carats and is priced at an incredible $3.8 million dollars.

Sold at 106.5 million dollars (65.6 million pounds), Pablo Picasso’s “Nude, Green Leaves and Bust”, is known to be the world’s most expensive original painting to date. Painted in 1932, the piece was inspired by his mistress, Marie Thérése Walter, whom he had been extra-martially seeing four years prior.  Though Picasso separated from his wife, he never married Thérése and she hung herself several years after his death, leaving their child, Maia, parent-less.

Purchased at Christie’s Auction House in New York City, May of 2010, the generous buyer has decided to share the five-foot by four foot painting with the city of London at the Tate Modern art gallery. With this new addition, Tate Modern Britain will debut a Picasso exhibition next year.

First presented at the 2009 World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi, Antonia Terzi’s Superbus has since evolved from an eco-friendly and convenient idea, to a fully manifested electric superbus. Antonia, formerly the chief aerodynamicist at the BMW Williams Formula One team received a 7 million pound (11,409,510 USD) grant to create the sleek shuttle bus destined to run between Abu Dhabi and Dubai in only 30 minutes. Funds gathered from several major optimistic backers such as, the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic), the Dutch government and US chemicals giant, Dow, were put to use in the making of the first Superbus prototype.

Teamed up with Antonia is Professor Wubbo Ockles, (known for being the first Dutch citizen sent into space), of Delft University of Technology in Holland, where the actual construction has taken place. Combining the nearly unfathomable top speed, optimized routing system and custom Superbus track, has allowed a cut of on-road travel between the two major cities from approximately 90-120 minutes to just 30 minutes. Made of ultra-light materials like aluminum, carbon fiber, fiberglass and polycarbonate, the 23 passenger, 16 door, completely electric vehicle weighs in at only 9,500kg (10.5 tons) and reaches a top speed of 250 kph (155.5mpH).

Not only is the revolutionary superbus eco-friendly and super quick, but the jet blue color, aerodynamic design and opulent interior make bus riding a new form of luxury transportation.

Negotiations with Dubai transportation officials are still underway, though, the RTA director of marketing and corporate communication, Peyman Younes Parham acknowledges the brilliance of the Superbus and comments, “I’m pretty sure there will be more discussion about this.”