We all know that the Chinese New Year is one of the biggest migrations there is, but it is also a time when commerce flourishes for some, because gifting is very important in the Chinese culture. The colour red has to be somehow included in the gift, and this year very valued are the Dragons, but what are the top brands to give gifts from for the Chinese?
According to the Hurun Report, these are the brands that get the most bought from the luxury industry: 1. Louis Vuitton 14,9% 2. Cartier 10,3% 3. Hermes 8% 4. Chanel 6,2% 5. Moutai 5,9% 6. Apple 5,7% 7. Dior 4,6% 8. Prada 3,9% 9. Rolex 3,6% 10. Armani 3,4%
I think my respect for the Korean culture is already well known by know and also my admiration for their will to succeed in whatever they set their minds to should also be taken note of. This project I am mentioning here today is also a starter for both Koreans but also for the luxury brand Louis Vuitton, which is known for its affinity for travel.
Louis Vuitton makes its airport debut with the Shilla Duty Free at Incheon International Airpot in South Korea.
The store is 550 sq.m. features mostly leather goods, the core competence of the company, but also shoes, ties, belts, fashion, jewelry, textiles, watches, a.o. Expected sales for the first year are around 100 million dollars but figures will most likely be over this sum.
yesterday I received an e-mail which made my day. It was telling me that I had been awarded the Stylish Blogger Award, which you can nicely admire on the right-hand-side of my blog now. Furthermore, there is a link behind it, letting you know that this award has been given to me by the wonderful Ada from classiq.ro.
Here's a quote from the e-mail: "According to the rules, you have to tell 7 things about yourself, link your post to the person who's given you the award, pick 10 blogs you love, pass the award onto them and let these bloggers know that they have received a stylish blogger award."
1. First thing about me is that I am surprised about this award. Not that I don't think that my style/blog etc isn't stylish enough, but rather because my blog has been more of a niche one and has less contact to fashion in general than all the other blogs I am reading or my readers are reading. Nor have I put many pictures of me posing in various clothes or pictures of my latest acquisitions. I find that all that is less relevant for me and that I want to know and share more on how beautiful, unique things are done and what their history/tradition is. Plus, I think that Coco Chanel was perfectly right when saying that fashion fades while style remains the same.
2. I love food. I love good food. And most of the time I prefer saying that we live to eat and not that we eat to live. Gastronommy is one of the finest arts for me...if well done. More on this subject soon on a London-Series episode.
3. If I could choose to have only one alcoholic drink in my fridge, it would be Champagne. It goes with almost everything!
4. One of my very strong connection to the big luxury houses is because I love doing equestrian sports. Most of the companies, such as Hermes, Louis Vuitton, A.Dunhill started from making harnesses and their craftsmanship into this field made them create reliable and durable leather goods. Hermes still creates saddles nowadays.
5. I love the summer and prefer te seaside, even in winter!
6. I love Greek music. I think it is so simple in the lyrics while the melody touches your inner chordes and even the most insensitive person could melt to these songs. I like them because they show that life is never easy nor is it as we would like it to be,...but we can sing our grief or sorrow and then still move on with a smile upon our faces,...because there are new horizons ready to be discovered.
7. I'm not someone who respects traditions by the book, but there are some small traditions which remind me of home. One of them is the offering of the "Martisor", and I know that being away from home and not getting it is sometimes a reason for sadness and thinking of home. Well, my girls abroad, this one goes out to you girls!
(Picture Source: rockeritza96iris.wordpress.com)
So now I must award this Stylish Blogger Award to ten other bloggers, which is a bit difficult for me, as most of the blogs I follow are on gastronomy. So there it goes: - Ada for classiq.ro , because, even if you awarded me this prize, I still adore your blog and find you should do carry on the work you're doing now! - Arina from arinavarga.ro - because I like your work especially - Ioana from Fashezine.com - because we all like your blog and work - thestudentsguidetoaffordableluxury.blogspot.com - because style is not dependent on money - micdejundebucuresti.blogspot.com - because style begins with breakfast - Dana from danarogoz.onemagazine.ro - beacause even if she says she's a fashion addict, she's a style addict for sure
I know it's not ten, but as I said, I follow more gastronomy blogs and luxury blogs where there is a whole team behind the project, not just one stylish blogger.
It's the beginning of spring (altough it doesn't really look like it), so think happy thoughts! I will be back soon with some more on the London Series.
Copied from its use in wine terminology, vintage is a term used now for clothing showing they are new or second-hand, but from a past era. It has become very fashionable to use this term nowadays and vintage fairs are more and more often in Bucharest as well. If I'm not mistaken, there is at least one each week and you can meet the same people more or less with the same merchandize, so this can be good (if you don't have the money on a particular week) and also not so good, when you see the same type of merchandize.
Between the people who have vintage jewelry on sale or vintage clothing, there are also new designers (Romanian ones), who are working hard (or not so hard) to get out there and become someone through what they are producing. You can really find great creations, but also can be disappointed,...but I guess this is a matter of taste and desire...
Today I visited (as usually I do on weekends) another venue of this type and, and this is the reason I am writing now, I was really disappointed by something that happened to me. Fortunately, I know something about luxury and this saved me from committing a mistake.
The story goes like this: I am thinking of buying a type of LV bag for myself, and I noticed that model at the fair. I asked the woman who was in charge of it, if it were a replica or an original one. The bag really looked great and it was packed like an original one would be... and she told me it was a real one. So I grabbed it and started looking at the fine-tunig of its interiors. They were almost the same as the real one, but the zipper looked slightly different (you must have had the original one in your hands to notice the difference!!!), so I asked the woman where she got the merchandize from. She didn't know where they were imported from. This was my first question mark... Then I asked for the price, it was something around 120 Euros... Considering that these bags rarely loose their value, especially if they still are available on the brand's website, I asked the woman again if it was a replica or not. She then said yes, and that for that money I couldn't dream of having a real one (true). Sadly, she added that that bag would cost thousends of Euros, in the attempt to sell it to me. I told her that wasn't true, that it would be 400-500 Euros on the internet (depending on the size). She then answered that those are also fakes. WHAT??? I told her, that's not true, it's that much on the Louis Vuitton site. She then was speechless and I was furious. I just walked away!!! I am still angry thinking that they, who are uneducated concerning what they are selling, are also selling fakes to other uneducated buyers...who then think they are something they will never be. Plus sustaining the counterfeitting industry means less work for us, here in Europe, it means giving up values and traditions for cheap plastic just to show off what those people are not.
Fortunately I also found someone who sells the real deal. They are called Budoir Vintage and have clothes and bags and shoes and clothes from various very known luxury or fashion brands. The prices go to confirm it. Nevertheless you can find some nice pieces at reasonable prices.
I hope this entry will make you more attentive when buying at these fairs. Being educated in fashion and luxury is a plus. Knowing what you want to buy is a plus. Understanding the quality of a thing is another plus. And knowing the value of your money is the most important thing!
From all the cities and places I have visited and lived in, a special one remains in my heart and I remain a part of it. A German song even says "I have a trunk in Berlin", meaning that I still have a part of me and my life there, and it will always remain like that.
The city has a special connection for me for various reasons: while others were having their grandparents next to them while they were little, I always cherished the summers when I went to Berlin and was there with my grandpa. He had a very special approach to things and we travelled a lot when I was there, discovering this and that, going to weekly markets or fairs, to shows in the city, feeling the vibe around us. I also observed things "through his lenses", as he was a passionate and talented photographer and very careful to details. It was a very wonderful time in a very wonderful city. After growing up, I had the opportunity of living in Berlin on my own (and visited my grandfather every weekend), as a student. I still consider it the best city in the world for being a student: you have such great facilities all over the city, libraries and research centers as well as food joints, restaurants, pubs, clubs etc. and it is so cultural and multi-cultural that you are always on the move, you always find something to do for your own tastes and desires and you can hardly ever get bored there. It is also a city full of contrasts, so you can find fully urbanized and modern parts, then ones from the communistic area and then areas filled with nature...you just need to choose!
Berlin is also very young. Through its universities and cultural attraction, it is a great place for people to develop. This is why architects and designers find it a very appropriate place for them to live in,...inspiration is around every corner and the fact that they are extremly tolerant and Berlin is a huge melting pot makes it such a great place. For people interested in fashion, there's the Berlin fashion week and I hope many will make it big!
Berlin was also such a great inspiration, that half of my Master thesis was based on it and on its influence on young people, design, architecture, hotels and how to make a communication strategy on a boutique hotel to be built there. It was a truly amazing research time and so much fun as the city is so multi-facetted...
I think it seems only normal that Louis Vuitton dedicated its new city travel guide to this place of the world. In their also educative and playful manner, they created its presentation video which you can watch here or on youtube:
I can only recommend you this wonderful city, for visiting, for falling in love, for learning, for getting lost, for being found, for becoming you as I don't think there are better places where you'll be appreciated for who and what you are such as this one. Plus, it has such a great "magnetic" power,...once you go there, you always want to go back to visit it again and again and again. While I lived for 6 months in Hamburg, i visited Berlin five times...yet, it does have a (good) power over you, and you will never be disappointed. And one more thing: you'll realize that not even a lifetime will be sufficient for you to discover all its secrets...isn't this mistery such a great thing?
In loving memory of my grandfather, who showed me life in detail and let me appreciate the beautiful things I like now. He has even now such a great influence on my development and I love him for every thing he did and didn't do for me.
...or better said, the Catholics wear it, ...as she is the image of Catholics, the Virgin Mary, and she's all dressed in a LV-branded cape. This is art...or maybe a sign related to our consumerism society? I must admit I was rather shocked when I discovered this picture on Francesco De Molfetta's piece of art. But was relieved when I read his description of it: the statue should “denounce a society based on the cult of appearance through the use of a brand that represents the search for ephemeral happiness.”
Maybe this piece is just a sign, of what I was mentioning before, for the LV-tatooed neck of that runway-model: luxury is nice, it's actually wonderful, that's why I chose this path, but luxury should be a means of pleasure, and not a way of making us slaves of big companies around the globe. The 100% luxury is still, in my opinion, the made-to-order, the one of a kind piece, which is not necessarily branded, but caters to the needs and desires of its wearer and is not a means to show social status and financial power. And let's face it,...I've met some women wearing a luxury bag (not a LV, but won't mention the brand for now) which was the most unpractical bag they had ever had,...as there was no way they could have arranged their belongings inside it, as they were all sliding to the middle...in short, it was a PAIN...for around 900 Euros...that is not happiness!!!
I couldn't decide what to write, so I tried to find a topic for these two so different items of news. Luxury, money, French....no, one was clear, it's all connected to beautiful women.
Monaco, if you visit today, even now has the shadow of Grace Kelly everywhere you go. There are even posters of a tour of the princess and actress. Many, many years people were wondering who would be the one to follow her, and will she be graceful enough to fill in the empty space she has left? Shortly before my trip to Monaco this year I and the whole world found out about the official engagement of HSH Prince Albert the IInd to Charlene Wittstock, a swimming champion. I think she fits the image the Prince is giving of himself and Monaco: fresh, sporty, environmental, beautiful, stylish, luxurious. Now my news: the official date has been set to next year, 8th of July for the civil wedding, and the next day for the religious. I hope I will be there then to enjoy a bit of monegasque history.
Keeping it in the register of beautiful women, here is one of my favourites. She is for me a 100% woman, extremly sexy, even with years passing by. Last week she honoured us with her appearence in Beirut, at the opening of a new LV store. The 3 pictures from the even are a (C) of LV. Enjoy the short behind the scenes movie at the end of this entry!
Yesterday was a really boring day. Awfully boring! The type of days that does not want to end. Wonderful weather outside, but as usual, due to the behaviour of a mole which my boss sometimes adopts, there was no light coming into our office. Funny thing was that today there is a mole on the cover page of the Hamburger Abendblatt. They seem to be the destructive creatures tortureing the gardeners of this nation.
I even got bored yesterday by the news on the luxury industry. Louis Vuitton launches cases for Ipad in 2011. Nothing surprising! They had cases for the IPhone. Surprising is just the fact that they don't react too fast to the market development. But they can afford it. According to another item of news, the world's most valuable luxury brands were ranked, having LV at the leading position ($19.8 billion) followed by Hermes ($8.45bn), Gucci ($7,58bn), Chanel ($5.54bn) and Hennessy ($5.36bn). The study was compiled by reasearch firm Millward Brown Optimor.
The only not borig, but rather surprising news was the named best restaurant in the world. I am talking about S.Pellegrino World's Best 50 Restaurants list. The 47-year-old wonder chef Ferran Adria landed another blow when his restaurant ElBulli went from being first to being second on the list, just after a restaurant from Copenhagen, Denmark!!! I didn't believe it myself. Furthermore, there are NO French restaurants in the top 10 of this top 50 list. Still, in order to decide that, there were 800 international critics, journalists and food expersts on the panel. And they should know their job!
So who was this winner? In a converted 18th century shipping warehouse, 32 year old chef Rene Redzepi serves Nordic specialities in the winning restaurant Noma. His fame grew worldwide for his specific way of using local and seasonal ingredients to create strange dishes such as radishes in edible soil. if time allows me, I will travel soon there in search of this restaurant. Until then, I will be on a gastronomic quest this Saturday, as well as a cultural one. There is an exhibition which just opened on the 29th of April 2010, on Tutankamon. Promise to bring back pictures (if allowed)!
After having had an education in Business Administration in Bucharest and Berlin and written the first Bachelor thesis on luxury in Romania, I decided to embark further on the luxury adventure, by doing a Master in Luxury Goods and Services in Monaco, from which I have graduated in June 2009.
I have specialized in Hospitality, but my main focus has been Communication and Marketing in the luxury industry. I have done a communication plan for SBM, the most important company in Monaco, have been an organiser for Amber Lounge and the Elton John Aids Foundation (for an auction), am a winner of an entrepreneurship contest in Monaco (also luxury-related business) and have started recently my work in Product Management at Montblanc International, Category Management Watches.
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(Picture Source: http://www.learnthailanguage.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Chinese-New-Year-2012-Dragon-288x300.jpg)
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