Michel Comte Exhibit Opens at Prague's Leica Gallery
Filed under: Art
Carla Bruni
Nicolas Sarkozy's New Presidential Plane Gets A Test Flight
Filed under: Wings
Looks like it will soon be wheels up for French President Nicolas Sarkozy. His new plane, a specially outfitted Airbus A330-200 has had its first test flight in Bordeaux. The $235 million plane is Sarkozy's answer to Air Force One (Obama rides in a Boeing 747-200) and comes with a 12-man meeting room, 60 business class seats, a bedroom for the president, a shower and an air filter system so he can smoke cigars. It is protected by a top-grade encrypted communications systems, a reinforced fuselage and missile decoy system. The ten-year-old plane was bought from Air Caraibes, the Caribbean airline. Two smaller A319s are currently used for the French President and will be sold. He has also ordered two Falcon 7Xs for smaller, shorter trips. One of the planes is reportedly named the Carla One after Sarkozy's wife Carla Bruni.According to an article in the Telegraph, the French government denies that the plane is an extravagance. A government spokesperson said that the plane isn't ostentatious but is "equipment fitting for the world's fifth power." Sarkozy has been under fire for his luxury spending before. His lavish trips around the world and time spent in private jets and on lavish yachts has raised eyebrows.
Gisele, Carla Bruni Nude & More in Photo Sale
Carla Bruni's Castle Back on the Market for $28 Million, Estate of the Day
Back in February we reported that Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the sexy supermodel, singer and first lady of France, had sold her family's castle in Italy (above) to an Arab sheikh. Now the buyer, who has since been revealed as billionaire Saudi businessman Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, has relisted the historic castle with an affiliate of Christie's Great Estates with a reported asking price of about $28 million; he was said to have originally paid anywhere from $12 million - $25 million depending on sources. The 40-room, 21,000-sq.-ft. Castello di Castagneto Po, near Turin, has been repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt over the years but is believed to first date from the year 1019. Bruni's father, the billionaire industrialist Alberto Bruni Tedeschi, bought the historic estate in 1952 for about $1.5 million. It is surrounded by 175 acres replete with vegetable gardens, orchards, flowering terraces, ancient greenhouses, a caretaker's house and a farm building.
The Man Who Makes Supermodels Look Good
What's the sexiest photo ever to appear on Luxist? There are a few contenders for that title, but Michel Comte's nearly-nude shot of Gisele Bundchen featured in a Christie's auction last year is hard to top. That image is just one among many eye-poppers in the Swiss photographer's massive new monograph from teNeues, Thirty Years and Five Minutes. A trained art restorer and self-taught photographer, Comte came to prominence in 1979 with his first advertising commission for Karl Lagerfeld's fashion label Chloé. One of the top names in fashion and magazine photography, his work fetches tens of thousands of dollars at auction and has appeared in Vanity Fair, Vogue and many others. Included in the book are portraits of Sharon Stone, Jeremy Irons, Mike Tyson, Cindy Crawford (above) and a number of nudes including one of Carla Bruni. The volume spans Comte's entire three-decade career and includes his most iconic images.
Sarkozy Names New Plane After His Wife
Filed under: Wings
Ships are often given the name of a lady but French president Nicolas Sarkozy has used his new jet to declare his love for his wife, Carla Bruni. Sarkozy has ordered several planes including a new Airbus A330-200 plane. The first plane is a Dassault Falcon 7X which has the new name 'Carla One' painted on the side. The French jet has 12 leather seats and teak desks with a red, white and blue details. His Airbus will include a meeting room for 12 people and seating for 60 passengers. Sarkozy is currently meeting with other world leaders at the G8 Summit but his new jet is in a hangar in Villacoublay airbase near Paris.The International Best-Dressed List Goes Democratic
Filed under: Apparel, Celebrity Shopping, Men's Style
For the first time ever, Vanity Fair is inviting civilians to nominate their favorite candidates for the International Best-Dressed List. Since its launch by fashion queen Eleanor Lambert in 1940, the List has been determined by an anonymous committee of tastemakers and a roster of influential voters (including yours truly for a few of the more recent years). Socialites and stars vie for a coveted position on the List.Vanity Fair took over the list (and the voting process) in 2003 following Lambert's death. For 2009, the polling's going democratic in a "spirit of Obama-era transparency." You can vote for candidates for both best-dressed women and men on the magazine's website - Carla Bruni (right), Lydia Hearst, David Beckham and Kanye West among them - or write in your own choices. Winners will be announced in the mag's September issue.
Sarkozy's Love of Luxury Gets Him In Trouble Again
Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Celebrity Shopping
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has once again raised eyebrows with his taste for luxury. Sarkozy and his lovely wife Carla Bruni spent a luxurious weekend at the El Tamarindo Beach and Golf Resorts in a one bedroom villa owned by a millionaire friend of Mexico's President Felipe Calderón. The villa has a private pool, outdoor Jacuzzi and comes with the services of a butler, cook and maid. The Telegraph reports that the overall cost for the weekend jaunt, including security, could be as much as £45,000. It is not known who paid for the stay but it seems not to have been the French government.
With France facing high unemployment and the possibility of a recession some are shocked by the president's vacation. The photogenic couple have spent the last couple of years globetrotting on adventures that included trips to Egypt, Brazil and most recently a ski vacation in February in the French resort of Megève. Sarkozy is in Mexico on business. He paid a state visit to Mexico and held talks with President Calderón about the global economic crisis. Calderon and his wife Margarita Zavala also took the French first lady and French President for a visit to the pyramids of Teotihuaca, Mexico where the picture above was taken.
Carla Bruni Sells Family Castle to Sheikh for $12 Million
Filed under: Estates
Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the sexy supermodel, singer and first lady of France, has sold her family's castle in Italy (above) to an Arab sheikh for about $12 million, the London Daily Mail reports. The 40-room Castello di Castagneto Po, near Turin, has been repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt over the years but is believed to first date from the year 1019. Bruni's father, the billionaire industrialist Alberto Bruni Tedeschi, bought the castle-style mansion in 1952 for about $1.5 million. The contents of the house, include furniture and antiques, were auctioned off in London for another $13 million. The Italian-born Bruni married French President Nicolas Sarkozy last year and has renounced her ties to Italy. "We had finished with Castagneto Po – nobody went there any more," her mother Marisa Bruni Tedeschi, the castle's co-owner, tells the AFP.
The Carla Bag
Filed under: Handbags, Charity
France's first lady, Carla Bruni is a former model and fashion icon and now she has her own bag. The Carla bag, being sold at France's Colette, is a colorful yellow, red, blue, green and white bag made of hessian and cotton. The original Township bag was presented to Bruni by a women's sewing cooperative in Khayelitsha, South Africa. Proceeds from the sale of Carla bags will go towards establishing a new cooperative in Khayelitsha.The bag is a limited edition numbered from 2 to 421 and sells for €100.[via Black Book]
More Nude Supermodels on the Auction Block
Filed under: Auctions
Following Christie's' successful photo auction earlier this month where a nude of First Lady of France Carla Bruni fetched $91,000, the auction house is staging another sale of stunning images in a couple of weeks. The eye-popping event, taking place in London on May 15, features another photo by Michel Comte, who took the Bruni pic. The new one is of Brazilian bombshell Gisele Bundchen from 1999, and carries an estimate of $12,000 - $16,000. Also included is an Albert Watson portrait of Kate Moss from 1993 (pictured here, est. $16,000 - $20,000), a Peter Beard photo of Salvador Dali in 1963 (est. $24,000 - $35,000), Richard Avedon's iconic 1981 image of Nastassja Kinski and a friendly boa constrictor (est. $30,000 - $40,000), and Lewis Morley's famous 1963 shot of Christine Keeler (est. $8,000 - $12,000), the model who was at the crux of a famous British government scandal in the '60s.
In addition, there are works by Ansel Adams, Diane Arbus, Robert Mapplethorpe, and William Eggleston on offer. The 115-lot auction is expected to bring in over $3 million.
[via Men.Style]
Nude Photo of Sarkozy's Wife To Be Sold At Christie's
Filed under: Auctions, Celebrity Shopping, Art
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is learning that one of the perils of marrying a beautiful model is that nude photos of your wife might easily surface. A black and white nude of the lovely Carla Bruni will be auctioned off to the highest bidder during an auction of the photography collector Gert Elfering at Christie's New York on April 10. The 13 x 10 1/8 inch gelatin silver black and white photograph was taken in 1993 and shows Bruni in all her glory with her hands discretely covering her nether regions (you can see the photo here, but it is not safe for work). The photo was taken by Michel Comte and is expected to bring in $3,000 to $4,000. Comte has said that he has many more pictures of Bruni, some more explicit, but that he will never put them up for sale.UPDATE: The nude of Karla Bruni sold for $91,000.
Sarkozy Has Consistent Taste in Women, Jewelry
Filed under: Jewelry, Celebrity Shopping
The romance between France's president Nicolas Sarkozy and model/singer Carla Bruni has been captivating the gossips lately. The latest news involves a bit of jewelry spotting. Bruni has been seen wearing a heart-shaped Dior ring that is very similar to one owned by his ex-wife Cecilia. The rings are from Dior's Coeur Romantique collection. Sarkozy reportedly gave the the model a pair of earrings from Dior earlier in their courtship. Some have also remarked that the two women are similar in looks, both being angular cheekboned and leggy model brunettes. Many are predicting that the pair will marry soon even though they have only been dating since November.
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