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Mogul Furniture


Turning high fashion glamour into high-end living environments is the unique talent of the men behind Los Angeles furniture store Mogul. Designers Thomas Piscitello and Neal Wagner were inspired by fashion designer Tom Ford to create rooms that are both luxurious and sexy with rich colors and tactile materials such as fur, leather and exotic skins, highlighted by Swarovski crystal chandeliers and gleaming chrome, acrylic and lacquer details. Neal Wagner also sells his own abstract art pieces which blend seamlessly into the decor.

The company sells furnishings and accessories as well as offering design services and staging. And like Tom Ford, they know that you can't go wrong with a little flesh. The intro for the mogul website features rock music and a parade of semi-nude models reclining on the furniture.

[via Furniture Style]

Bibigi Fashion Collection Rings

Bibigi has many unique jewelry designs but their Fashion Collection rings are my absolute favorite because I love gardening, flowers, and the outdoors. Featuring an obvious floral theme, the collection is bright with colorful leaves, petals, and the occasional dragonfly or butterfly. Featuring white gold and yellow gold with diamonds, black diamonds, and enamel accents, the collection has a definite whimsical vibe. One of my favorites is this Van Gogh ring, of which there are four designs including a coordinating necklace and earrings.

Via JustLuxé

Gallery: Bibigi Fashion Collection Rings

West Vancouver, Estate of the Day


We are getting great reader tips lately. This one comes from Luxist reader Ben and is a beautiful modern home in West Vancouver, BC. The home is gated and located inside the Canterbury Estates community. It is up on a hill giving it flawless city, harbor and ocean views. The four bedroom home has more than 7,400 sq. ft of modern space with an an open floor plan. The foyer features an indoor/outdoor Koi pond and waterfall. The copper-leafed custom gourmet kitchen has professional grade appliances and custom edge grain Cherry cabinetry and adjoins a family room with a fireplace. The main rooms open out to the south for the best views.

The upper level is given over to the bedrooms and includes the master suite with a bathroom that includes a tub overlooking the city and a custom-built dressing room with limestone topped island. The lower level has a large games/pool room. media room, exercise gym and private office all opening out to the patio with the swimming pool, hot tub and barbecue center. This home is listed at $6.8 million.

Experience more lush living in luxury homes and mansions or see the stars living large with celebrity homes galleries at AOL Real Estate.

Gallery: West Vancouver Estate

Continue reading West Vancouver, Estate of the Day

Jaeger-LeCoultre's First Jewelry Offering


Watchmaker Jaeger-LeCoultre has created their first fine jewelry creations in their 175 year history. The four-piece set called Parure Extraordinaire Le Lierre includes a cuff watch, a necklace, earrings and a ring. The floral design is similar in style to two Jaeger-LeCoultre watches we previously covered called The Rose and The Tulip.. The first jewelry produced in Jaeger-LeCoultre's 175-year history was unveiled Sunday night during a dinner at the Venice film Festival attended by actress and Jaeger-LeCoultre ambassador Diane Kruger who modeled the set which features a total of 12,000 precious stones totaling over 160 carats and two large yellow diamonds. It is valued at approximately $4.3 million.

Atlantis Chandelier


The Atlantis Chandelier from Hudson Furniture is an elegant design from Barlas Baylar. The chandelier is a graceful cascade of nickel chain with a gloss nickel finish. The hanging down strands add just the right touch of modern chaos. The chandelier takes eight bulbs and is 42 inches tall. It is available by custom order and sells for $29,880.

[via Los Angeles Magazine]

Phoebe Philo to Helm Celine

It's been two long years since famed Chloé resuscitator Phoebe Philo left the studio to focus on her family. But come October, Philo will take over as Creative Director at Celine, in a move that parent co. LVMH hopes will again breathe new life into a flagging luxury brand.

Credited for designing perhaps the mother of all It-bags, the Chloé Paddington, Philo started out as Stella McCartney's assistant at Chloé before McCartney left to design her own eponymous line. And like everything in fashion, Philo's appointment makes whatever happens at fashion week (which starts today in New York) feel like old news. She'll present her first collection for Celine in March 2009.

Artistic Luxury On Display in Cleveland


This fall is a great time to do some museum hopping if you have an interest in precious objects from all eras. There's the Hidden Treasures of Afghanistan exhibit which is headed to San Francisco, the Art Nouveau Jewelry exhibit at the MFA in Boston and now Artistic Luxury: Fabergé, Tiffany, Lalique at the Cleveland Museum of Art from October 19 – January 18.

This exhibit showcases jewelry pieces and luxury objects from the 1900 Exhibition Universelle at Paris's Grand Palais where Art Nouveau jewelry design reached its apex. The show is a comparative study of the work of three of the greatest designers of the 20th century Peter Carl Fabergé, Louis Comfort Tiffany, and René Lalique. It includes rare loans from public and private collections worldwide from lenders such as Queen Elizabeth, Prince Albert of Monaco, Joan Rivers, and Neil Lane and public collections from the Met to the Hermitage. The pieces in the gallery below are just a sample of some of the beautiful objects on loan. Shown above is Edward VII's Faberge enamel cigarette case which was loaned to the exhibit by Queen Elizabeth II.

Gallery: Artistic Luxury: Fabergé, Tiffany, Lalique

100+ Russian Children to Inherit $1 Billion Apiece

For the very first time in the history of Russia, over 100 children are in line to inherit more than $1 billion each from their ultra-rich oligarch fathers. Russian business magazine Finans has found the number of likely legatees swelled to 112 this year, as compared with 70 last year, the London Telegraph reports.

At the top of the list are the two toddlers belonging to Russia's richest man, Oleg Deripaska, who stand to inherit as much as $20 billion each. The paper notes the list is not terribly scientific, however, as the rankings were arrived at merely by dividing each billionaire's fortune by the number of children he has, without regard to age, primogeniture or other mitigating factors.

Therefore, since Luxist mascot Roman Abramovich (right) has five children, his brood only clocks in at No. 34, with an expectation of $4.6 billion each. Elsewhere on the list, Lukoil owner Vagit Alekperov's son makes No. 2 with $13.5 billion coming to him, and steel tycoon Vladimir Lisin's three children rank at No. 14 with $7.4 billion each. See the gallery for some of Russia's richest dads.

Gallery: Russian Billionaires

Oleg DeripaskaVladimir LisinVagit AlekperovAlexei MordashovMikhail Prokhorov

Cindy McCain's $300,000 Outfit for the RNC

Thanks to the calculator-savvy fashion dept. over at Vanity Fair, we've got an estimated grand total for Cindy McCain's outfit from Tuesday evening's Republican National Convention festivities. The final cha-ching? $300,000. Highlights include her Oscar de la Renta fierce-collared shirtdress, a pair of $280,000 diamond sparklers and Chanel's J12 white ceramic watch. The shoes have yet to be identified -- any guesses readers? (I'm betting Manolo.)

At least in the realm of fashion, Cindy is the elitist in this race. Remember Michelle Obama's pick for her appearance on The View? A $148 number from mass chain White and Black.

[via Vanity Fair]

Mulholland Brothers Boardroom Collection

Matching luggage was all the rage at one point but today the trend seems to be moving away from brightly colored bags so perfectly matched they're all but identical to more gently coordinated sets like this Boardroom Collection from Mulholland Brothers. Made from materials that could do double duty as a business suit, the bags feature all the class and reserve of pinstripes and leather plus a few splashes of modern style in the way of the occasional bright print. Prices range from $92-$610 and the set include every shape and size you could possible need, from wallets to garment bags to carry ons.

Via acquire

Gallery: Mulholland Brothers Boardroom Collection

Chicago Luxury Home Tour


Real estate may be sluggish but that hasn't seemed to stop the luxury home tours. For three weekends in September, Sept. 5- 21, Chicago-area real estate gawkers can check out the houses in the 5th annual Chicago Luxury Home Tour. The homes are all new and feature green construction such as asphalt shingle roofs, geo-thermal heating and cooling, radiant in-floor heating and recycled and recyclable materials. Tickets can be bought in advance for $15 at local locations or for $20 at the homes. Or if you aren't in the area, sneak a peek at the photo gallery on the Chicago Home Tour website.

[via Chicago Tribune]

Cappellini Love Table

Do you feel guilty about all your old magazines, even if you are recycling them? New York designer Stephen Burks certainly must have given it some thought which explains his line of eco-conscious tables for Italian manufacturer Cappellini called Cappellini Love. The small tables are made from recycled paper and shredded magazines. The tables have a paper structure stuffed with paper and then a paper maché like design of magazine strips on top which is treated with adhesive and hardener. Burks designs made a big impression at the Milan furniture show earlier this year where he was interviewed by Cool Hunting about his process about the production of the tables. It almost seems like a project I might be tempted to attempt to try to recreate at home if I weren't certain it would end in gluey disaster.

Ralph Lauren To Launch Ultra-Premium Fragrance

Ralph Lauren is betting that some people will be willing to pay over $4,000 for a bottle of perfume this holiday season. His "super premium" perfume titled simply "Love" will be launched at Harrods in October. The fragrance will come in a gold-plated bottle and wlll be aimed at luxury consumers over the age of 25. I haven't been able to find out any details on what it actually smells like yet.

Avila in Tampa, Estate of the Day


Let me take the opportunity of today's estate of the day to remind everyone just how much I love getting tips on outrageous real estate. If you find a luxury property you think I should see, please use the tips form on this site to send in the info.

Today's estate was referred to me by Luxist reader Chris who rightly thought it would make an interesting estate of the day. Certainly we don't see homes this lavish in Tampa, Florida too often. The huge compounds usually tend to be on the Atlantic side of the state near Palm Beach or Boca Raton. Today's home is located inside Avila, a private country club community. The gated home is on over five acres overlooking the golf course, pond and conservation areas within Avila. The compound is over 28,000 square feet of space and with attached guest quarters it has 10 bedrooms. The home is pretty ornate. Outside it has a grand manor-like look. Inside there is a large ballroom, a library paneled in dark wood , 14 fireplaces, elevator, wine room. The grounds include a pool and spa with cabana and basketball court. Obviously a lot of money has been spent here but I question the overall effect. The dark wood, marble and touches of gilding. It reminds me of Villa Versailles in Malibu which is on the market for around the same price in that it aspires to grandeur but seems too overblown to be livable even for those with the most lavish of tastes. This home is listed at $25 million.

Experience more lush living in luxury homes and mansions or see the stars living large with celebrity homes galleries at AOL Real Estate.

Gallery: Avila in Tampa

Continue reading Avila in Tampa, Estate of the Day

M by Michael Mondavi Wine

After reading the ins and outs of the Mondavi clan in The House of Mondavi book, I'm even more intrigued to see what former Mondavi CEO and chairman Michael Mondavi has cooked up with his first wine. The 2005 M by Michael Mondavi is made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from his Animo vineyard in Atlas Peak, Napa. The wine was aged for 22 months in French oak and bottle aged for a year.

You can pick up M by Michael Mondavi this fall for a steep $199. In a recent interview with Steve Heimoff, Mondavi explained how he reached this price. He explained that his team bought a bunch of top cult wines and did a blind tasting asking themselves how much they would pay for each wine. Because their wine came out strong they prices it below some of the super-pricey cult wines and above some of the ones it showed better than. Of course the costs of managing the 15-acre vineyard were also a factor.

Heimoff's interview also reveals that Mondavi has learned his lesson about rapid expansion. He says that at his Folio Wine import and production company they have just two rules, only work with those they respect and want to spend time with, and only sell wines they would like to serve to family and friends.

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