Travel is always a great excuse to blow some cash for a fabulous experience and these elite suites help you do just that. Ever wondered how much the most expensive hotel room in the world would cost you? $52,000...a night! (Does that qualify for the Guinness Book?) The gold-medalist in this category (yes, I have been watching too much of the Olympics) is the Royal Penthouse Suite at the Hotel President Wilson in Geneva, Switzerland. Curious as to the winner of "budget-breaker" in the U.S. -- it's none other than the Ty Warner Penthouse at the Four Seasons New York. I'm not sure exactly what that big price tag includes but I would hope that means free champagne and strawberries, a cozy robe to take home and plenty of room service.
Gallery: Hotel President Wilson, Geneva, Switzerland
The latest in the Hermes collection, the Jypsière (aka the Birkin messenger), was designed by Jean Paul Gaultier, who wore the androgynous shoulder bag down the runway following his Fall 08 show for Hermes. Waiting lists are long in the U.S., where the bag has yet to make an appearance. Eager shoppers have been told the satchel should be stateside by the end of the month.
Slung casually over the back of a wild yak in the fall ad campaign, we hope that acquiring this piece won't be quite so difficult as it looks in the pictures. Though if you must muscle a one-ton beast over a Himalayan mountain pass, best do it with your Hermes saddle and your Jypsière. The Jypsière will be available in multiple colors and leathers. The version seen above retails for $11,365.
The Rowland Ripple Series is a set of beautiful tables that are a nice balance of smooth contemporary styling and creative design. Designed by Lee J. Rowland each of the Ripple Series tables is an optical illusion of the movement of ripples in water created by a mix of polished aluminum, clear polyester resin, and aerospace engineering technology (to help it all come together).
This large rectangle would make a beautiful and cutting edge conversation piece in an office, or one of the smaller versions could make a dramatic statement in a modern decor home. $45,000+/-
The first boutique luxury hotel has just opened in Cusco, Southeastern Peru, the historic capital of the Inca Empire. Situated in a meticulously-restored colonial mansion that is probably the first Spanish building ever constructed on the ancient site, La Casona Inkaterra features eleven luxurious suites surrounding a sumptuous courtyard that's nearly 400 years old. The hotel, which is only a short distance from famed Machu Picchu, a UNESCO world heritage site, boasts modern amenities like radiant heated floors and iPod docks that would have shocked the original inhabitants.
For those of us with small living quarters and the occasional need of extra seating Pick Chairs are the perfect solution. Hang them on the wall for a decorative and modern look then pick them off the wall and fold into a light-weight seat. It is encouraged to only allow slim individuals to perch upon them as they are not built for sturdier types but at least in a pinch they can accommodate party-goers and family alike. Most are steel framed with wooden plank inserts although they are also available in glass. For $1,630 each they aren't cheap but I doubt sleek art/furniture like this ever is.
NYC seems to be surviving the housing market's slow decline better than most cities. Case in point: This $80,000,000 condo at 15 Central Park West. Located on the 40th floor, the home, built in 2007, is 5,276 square feet and has unobstructed views over Central Park West and the Hudson River. Of the 9.5 rooms, there are 4 bedrooms and 5.5 baths, and the major rooms have 14-foot ceilings. There's a library and a fireplace (only one?). The ground floor suite is 1,222 square feet with private street access that would work for owner staff offices. There's also the usual building amenities: doorman, courtyard, health club, pool, and garage. As with most condos and with many homes in NYC, you pay way more than the purchase price. This home requires monthly maintenance/CC of $5,425 and monthly real estate tax of $2,081. Too bad the photos only show you the view -- I'd love to see the kitchen and bathrooms in a home like this!
It's called the Freewheeler, and it's a wireless outdoor speaker that won't do anything unexpected or special except roll around a little and 'freewheel' you out of $20,000.
Features include: wireless up to 656 ft, recharging station, and the capacity to project the quality stereo sound you'd expect from two speakers out of just the one unit. And apparently it's pretty good sized (as big as small car tire???) and that could be a pro or a con, depending on your taste.
It's got a nice contemporary design, and the "roll it around the yard" feature certainly is convenient, but I'm still not sure why the price tag is so high at £10838.74. Anybody have any idea?
Normally I think Swarovski jewels encrusted onto household appliances look tacky and ridiculous, so I'm a little surprised to hear myself saying that the Swarovski Jewels Sink collection from Antologia is actually pretty nice. Simple, tasteful, and artistic, the basic white and black sinks aren't overrun with big sparkling jewels so much as they're accented and enhanced by them. Each piece is put together by hand with Signity jewels.
Any kind of jewels on a bathroom fixture are still completely impractical and difficult to clean, of course, but these are nice to look at nevertheless.
October is breast cancer awareness month and companies are already getting ready with pink merchandise. National Jeweler reports that jewelry designers Jane Basch and Andrea Candela are both debuting jewelry collections that will benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Jane Basch's latest collection is called "Tribute" and for every piece purchased from he collection Basch will contribute 5 percent to the Komen foundation.
Andrea Candela's limited-edition "Pink Ribbon" collection is made with sterling silver, enamel and stainless steel. It includes a bracelet for $50 and two pendants accented with a pink ribbon, for $100 each. A portion of each sale will also be donated to the Komen foundation.
Luxury yacht brokerage Edmiston has commissioned seven avant-garde marine designers to come up with a nautical-themed take on Land Rover's classic Range Rover. The entry shown here, by self-described "yacht design pioneer" Dickie Bannenberg, features wooden side panels and a tailgate that folds into a nautical-style wooden bench, complete with champagne holders, while the rear windshield converts into a sun visor to shade it. The winner of the design competition will be announced on Sept. 25th during the Monaco Yacht Show, one of the megayacht community's biggest annual events. Visitors to the show will be able to custom order a Range Rover in any of the seven designs, with a delivery time of three to six months and a price range of about $300,000 - $1.2 million.
Endless self-promoter Kanye West -- who proves he has a sense of humor about himself after all -- spoofs his persona in a new line of Absolut ads. The first time I saw the print ad (which looked like, but didn't have the Absolut references, what you see here), I didn't get it at all, and I had no idea what was being advertised. A little research showed me the light. I can't show you much here, since you need to be 21 to get into these sites. Log on and check them out for yourself. And don't lie about your age -- it's bad karma.
Another big spender joins the celebrity foreclosure follies. This time it's Roc-A-Fella Records company co-founder Damon Dash and his wife, fashion designer Rachel Roy. The high-profile pair could lose two of their Manhattan apartments. Eastern Savings Bank says the couple owe $7.3 million on the properties and were supposed to make hefty monthly payments of $78,500 but haven't done so since January. Dash has a $100,000 federal tax lien on the properties and reportedly owes the city of New York $2 million in back taxes. Damon Dash is allegedly has a $50 million fortune amassed from his hip-hop empire.
Globe-Trotter, the British luggage designer which since 1897 has furnished luxury carryalls for the likes of Queen Elizabeth II and Winston Churchill, will soon add another formidable piece to its collection: a bulletproof case designed by Ross Lovegrove. Weighing in at under three pounds, it's the lightest rigid suitcase of its kind. Even before this news, Globe-Trotter was getting around: the luggage maker recently collaborated with J.Crew to craft limited edition pieces for its new luggage collection, and it showed up last year in the Conran Shop with a special rolling fashion statement.
The Lovegrove piece will make its debut during New York Fashion Week in September, posing from the windows at Moss. Until then, you can still get the perennial classic, the Centenary trolley suitcase in orange (designed by hand from Vulcan Fibre and lined in silk) at Moss for $1,580. The Lovegrove designed Air Cabin, by comparison, will retail for $3,500.
Evian has launched a new, smaller bottle of water -- with kid-friendly graphics and a reminder to moms that a few laps around the playground do leave Junior rather parched. The 330 mL mini bottle was designed to fit neatly into a kid's lunchbox, a child's grip and the back to school shopping list. The six-pack of French Alps water has a suggested retail price of $5.99 and will arrive on shelves this month.
The avant-garde super-yacht designed by famed British architect Lord Norman Foster for UK fractional ownership firm YachtPlus is nearing completion and should be available next month. My colleague Deidre Woollard first reported on the luxurious project last year. The high-tech 132-ft. Foster-designed "Signature Series" craft is the first in YachtPlus' fleet, each of which will have eight owners at a share price of about $2 million each, bringing the total cost to about $16 million. Construction on the flagship steel-jacketed vessel is in its final phase at the state-of-the-art Rodriquez Cantieri Navali (RCN) shipyard in Italy. Aside from it's eye-popping design, the company claims Foster's yacht offers more deck space, interior comfort and glass surfaces than any equivalent craft of her size.
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