Japan

In response to the devastation in earthquake, tsunami and now nuclear-ravaged Japan, New York-based International Cosmetics & Perfumes -- home to such brands as Creed and the Japanese inspired Hanae Mori -- has announced an expanding charitable campaign.

Earlier this week, ICP CEO Emmanuel Saujet announced that a portion of proceeds from both the sale of items at Creed's New York boutique and Hanae Mori web sales would go to benefit the American Red Cross' Japanese relief efforts. In addition, a part of future sales of the new Hanae Mori No. 3, available in June from retailers like Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's and Sephora, will also be donated for the same purpose.

The next day, ICP announced that 50 Hanae Mori reusable tote bags, originally intended as an in-store customer appreciation gift, would also be donated to the American Red Cross to assist Japanese displaced from their homes and belongings. And finally today, Creed declared that any winnings from the 2011 season of their official polo team would find their way to the American Red Cross as well.

Japan is a market that has long and enthusiastically embraced luxury goods, so let's hope that more brands follow ICP's lead and give back.

S.T. Dupont, founded in Paris in 1872, is one of the few luxury firms that still makes exquisite accessories for that endangered species, the smoker. Their latest ultra-stylish offering is a limited edition lighter and fountain pen set designed in homage to the storied samurai, the military nobility of feudal Japan. The Samurai Prestige Lighter and Pen set, limited to just 20 pieces, is priced at about $66,000 and comes complete with a display stand and matching katana or samurai sword letter opener. The items are hand-crafted from a chiseled piece of solid rose gold set with hundreds of white diamonds and textured black leather and silk ribbon accents, and are made to resemble the katana and traditional samurai armour.

[via JustLuxe]

Ice hotels aren't just popular in Canada and northern Europe. Japan's northern island of Hokkaido has The Alpha Resort Tomamu in the Shimukappu village. The village includes several dome structures lit by colored lights. There are also some features not usually seen in other ice hotels including an ice glass studio where you can chisel out your own ice glass. You can take your ice glass to the ice bar or the ice cafe. And to to get an overview of the glowing village you can take a quick ride in a hot-air balloon at night. The hotel experience costs 20,000 yen (around $242).

[via Wall Street Journal]

In 2009, Versace pulled out of Japan during a time that saw several other luxury brands changing their luxury plans in the region. The fashion company had stores in Osaka, Tokyo and Chiba. Versace shut down its boutiques but at the time left hints that it might come back; a statement said that the company had decided to "close them and start with a clean slate." Now Versace is ready to give Japan another go. WWD reports that Hiroshi Saito, who was president of Jil Sander Japan will be the chief executive officer of Versace Japan. The Versace, Versace Collection and Versace Jeans lines will show up in department stores in Tokyo and Osaka starting with the fall 2011 season. So far there has been no mention of new boutiques but a lot depends on the Japanese economy and whether or not the Japanese luxury consumer is ready to embrace Versace style again.

There have been some indications that luxury is back in Japan. Sales of Rolls-Royce cars are up and Tiffany recently announced that sales in Japan rose 11 percent.

To celebrate its fifth anniversary Tokyo's luxurious Mandarin Oriental Hotel is offering the opportunity to rent the entire property for one night for 55 million yen, or about $670,000. The price includes the exclusive use of all the hotel's 157 guest rooms and 21 suites, including the posh Presidential Suite, its nine restaurants, cocktail bars, spa, fitness center and Grand Ballroom. The package, available until Nov. 30, 2011 and easily the world's most expensive hotel offering, also comes with a cocktail reception for 500 people with the dessert portion catered by an award-winning Japanese pastry chef, the Wall St. Journal reports. Gen Yoshida, the hotel's communications officer, says it is the first time for any Mandarin Oriental to offer such a package. The Hong Kong-based Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group currently operates, or has under development, 41 luxury hotels spread across 27 countries.

Famed London luxury goods firm Dunhill is collaborating with UK adventure travel firm Black Tomato on a new series of excursions replicating a famed Dunhill journey in 1930. In that year Dunhill's Clement Court traveled overland from Paris to Japan to secure the very finest Japanese lacquered goods for the firm. Dunhill and Black Tomato are now offering modern versions of Court's epic journey, with appropriately luxurious accommodations and adventuresome activities along the way. The excursions are designed to demonstrate that "luxury is something more discerning, more elusive and more unique than just a price tag", as they put it.

The concept of discovery and exploration has been a hallmark of the Dunhill brand since 1893, as reflected in its most recent collections. The luxury packages are priced from about $4,500 and include destinations such as Paris, Moscow, Mongolia and Japan. Experiences include a private tour of the Louvre in Paris while the museum is closed, a flight in a Russian fighter jet above Moscow, learning eagle hunting in Mongolia (above) and bathing in Japan's oldest mineral hot springs. Guests can also opt to recreate Court's entire journey, including 10 days in a private cabin on the Golden Eagle Trans Siberian railway, starting at about $44,000.

One of Japan's best kept horological secrets - Grand Seiko - will very soon be available world wide. For years (and years) watch lovers longingly looked to Japan at the prestigious high-end Grand Seiko timepieces that were available exclusively in that domestic market. Grand Seiko has been around for 50 years, and this month will officially be available around the world. Until now, only a few places like Hong Kong (I believe) were able to sell Grand Seiko timepieces.

Seiko announced that Grand Seiko would be available world wide last March, but didn't disclose any specific schedule. News has just been released that this month Seiko will offer the entire Grand Seiko collection (with the likely exclusion of a few special models) to 20 new markets around the world - including in North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Oceania.

Grand Seiko watches are hand-made in Japan by highly skilled watch makers - probably the very best in the country. I personally visited these manufactures and wrote about them here. Most watch lovers agree that Seiko has 'gold' with Grand Seiko. The collection includes timepieces of three varieties based on the movement. One collection has quartz movements, another has purely mechanical movements, and the third collection contains Seiko's now famous Spring Drive movements (that is a beautiful combo of mechanical watches with high accuracy quartz regulation).

A brand new website has been released for Grand Seiko here. The well-done site includes information on all the available models, and clearly describes the many benefits and selling points of Grand Seiko watches (not everyone has someone like me to sit there and passionately explain why they should like these timepieces). I am not alone in my ability to be impressed by these watches. The designs are classic, the quality is superb, and the movements are beloved among collectors. The best part is that compared to their distant Swiss cousins, these watches are a good value. Prices (for mechanical and Spring Drive models) generally seem to be in the $4,400 - $9,700 range. My current favorite model is the Grand Seiko SBGE001 with a GMT Spring Drive movement. When Grand Seiko watches come to a store near you (there is a store locator on the site), I highly recommend you check them out.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch reviews site aBlogtoRead.com.

When you go to a spa, you expect a few nods to modesty -- a private room, for instance, and artful draping of your naughty bits, which are usually Not to Be Touched. And while spas that cater to Westerners around the world do tend to observe these protocols, there are a few entirely legit spa treatments that make these modesty-preserving measures entirely counterproductive.

Here are five spa treatments for which you'll just need to let it all hang out.

1. Turkish Hammam: A Turkish Hammam is sort of a like a communal bath, where you spend time in rooms of varying heat. The highlight is having your skin nearly flayed off with a loofah. (Some people call the resulting ribbons of removed skin "spaghetti".) In a traditional hammam, this scrubbing is administered by a person wearing a bathing suit, and usually within few view of everyone else. My observation has been that people mostly avert their gaze from the scrubee, these are rarely attractive angles for anyone.

There are spas that offer a more modest variation on a hammam treatment. The spa at La Mamounia, for instance, has a shared steam room (which you enter wearing a bathrobe, leave it on or take it off as you wish), and then a private room for the scrub-a-dub, with private shower. The post-hammam moisturizer is applied in a communal relaxation room, so gaze aversion strategies are still a must if you don't want to get an eyeful.

An exceptional 1954 Ferrari 375 MM Berlinetta (above), the fifth of only seven examples ever built, sold for an astounding $4.6 million at RM's Sports & Classics of Monterey sale on Saturday night, leading an impressive group of 14 individual sales (including eight other Ferraris) which shattered the magic million dollar mark. TV personality and former racer Alain de Cadenet joined auctioneer Max Girardo onstage for the six-hour sale, which saw 84 motor cars cross the podium before a packed house. The Saturday night sale marked the conclusion of RM's 2010 Classics of Monterey event, which attracted record bidder registrations from 29 countries, including Monaco, Brazil, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates. After the jump, find the complete list of million-dollar-plus sales from the incredible auction:

If you're looking to get your hands on the latest special edition BMWs, you're going to need to move to Japan, because these limited-production specials are dedicated exclusively to the Japanese Domestic Market.

The latest to join the catalog is the 120i Performance Unlimited, which comes equipped with the 170-horsepower 2-liter four with a six-speed automatic and a variety of M-Sport components, from the bumpers and blacked-out grille to the 18-inch split-five-spoke rims and carbon fiber spoiler and wing mirror housings, along with an upgraded interior. Only 30 examples will be made, each carrying a ¥4,350,000 ($50k) price tag and available exclusively in white or blue.

The special 1 Series follows in the footsteps of the BMW X6 Performance Unlimited and the Mini Savile Row edition announced a few weeks ago. The special X6 is powered by the company's twin-turbo 3-liter hybrid inline-six with an eight-speed transmission, complimented by special aero package, wheels and interior. Available exclusively in silver in a limited run of 20 examples with a ¥9,450,000 ($107k) price tag.

Finally the Mini Savile Row pays homage to London's famous tailoring quarter in jet black with chrome wheels and trim and an array of optional extras thrown in as standard for ¥3,100,000 ($35k), of which 100 examples will be offered.

Take Ivy, with photos by Japan's T. Hayashida, is truly the original preppy handbook, first published way back in 1965 – in Japanese. In the early 1960s Kensuke Ishizu, the founder of an Ivy League-inspired clothing line called Van Jacket, commissioned Hayashida and three other Japanese disciples of clean-cut American style to go on a "fact-finding mission" to all of the States' eight Ivy League colleges – Havard, Yale, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, Dartmouth, Brown and Cornell – chronicling every element of the students' style along the way. Hayashida took tens of thousands of photos at the colleges, then went on to document the stores the students patronized, the cars they drove and even Ivy League grads working on Madison Avenue. When first published in Japan the book sparked a huge trend for Ivy League fashion among Japanese youths who frequented Tokyo's hip Ginza shopping district.

In subsequent decades the book developed a huge cult following among sartorial connoisseurs, with rare original editions selling for thousands of dollars on eBay. The New York Times called it "a treasure of fashion insiders" and cited its influence on a number of men's fashion designers in an article last year, noting photocopied versions were being passed around design studios helping to spark a whole new trend. Now powerHouse Books is re-issuing the book this month, with a long-awaited English translation; J.Crew has also printed 300 limited edition copies in a special case in celebration to be sold in select J.Crew mens shops, the perfect accompaniment to the Ivy-inspired clothing on its shelves; J. Crew men's designer Frank Muytjens says he was "obsessed" by the book and it's timeless appeal.



While The Official Preppy Handbook, which came out 15 years later, is rather tongue-in-cheek, Take Ivy's approach to the subject is downright scholarly. The implications of 'Ivy Style' "go beyond the group of eight prestigious universities that belong to the Ivy League, American football, or the vine itself that covers the buildings of Ivy League schools," the authors note. "It is also not simply about Madison Avenue, Brooks Brothers, modern jazz and folk songs. They do play a part in defining 'Ivy' as a whole, but each of them is only a peripheral component.... In order to understand the spirit of 'Ivy', you must appreciate and master all aspects of American East Coast culture." Thus the back of the book features instructions on building the perfect Ivy League wardrobe including how to wear key items along with a whole compendium of the Ivy League ethos.

The world of 3D has come to diamonds. De Beers has created a special exhibition in the setting of world famous department store,Isetan, in Tokyo. The Art of Diamond Jewelry exhibition will run until July 21st in all the windows of Isetan, giving customers an insider view of De Beers Diamond Jewelry through photography and multimedia displays. A specially created 3D film by Holition, leaders in advanced 3D technology applications for retail, and Pointy Stick brings the magic and allure of the jewelry to life in a new way. The 3D film is shown on a customized screen that doesn't require 3D glasses. The stereoscopic display is a first for Japan and the jewelry world.

The awesome sight of 600 Ferraris congregating in the shadow of the famous Mt. Fuji greeted spectators at the recent Ferrari Festival of Japan. Organized by the Japanese branch of the Italian auto marque in conjunction with Ferrari's Corse Clienti department, the eye candy included rare racers like the famed F399 Formula One car from 1999, four 599XXs and six FXXs (above) circling the track. The event also featured a heated competition between Challenge versions of the 348, 355, 360 and F430 for the Ferrari Trophy of Japan as well as the Japanese debut of the 599 GTO and the 458 Italia. Decidedly a showcase for modern rather than classic Ferraris, there were also a striking number of F40s, F50s and other supercar stars.

Hanae Mori, named for Japan's most successful female fashion designer, inaugurates its new Eaux de Collection with the launch of No. 1, a limited-edition scent for women.

The first release in a fragrance series that aims to capture the elemental forces of the sun and wind, approximately 30% of the power used to create the appropriately named No. 1 comes from renewable sources. Additionally, a portion of US sales will benefit Clean Air-Cool Planet, a non-profit organization dedicated to solving global warming through policy and education.

The structure of the scent is built using fruits and flower blooms selected in France, which are then bathed in warm alcohol to release their natural essences. Top notes swirl with fresh bergamot, grapefruit and blackcurrants, while the middle notes express white musk, jasmine and more dark berries. A base of Indian sandalwood, amber and vanilla anchors No. 1 with a warm and calming demeanor.

Sun ripened fruit, flowering petals and a classically Japanese desire to channel nature's etherealness make No. 1 a corollary scent to the approaching summer season. Early word is that the First Lady of California, Maria Shriver, is already a fan, having received one of the debut bottles.

(3.4 ounces, $95)

Hermès has come out with a witty tribute to its iconic scarf designs in the form of a chic origami set. The famed French fashion and luxury goods house's twist on the traditional Japanese folk art pastime features several sheets of origami paper in bright colors, adorned with scarf prints in various motifs on one side, and deep-hued Rothko-like color blocks on the other. Encased in a handstitched black saddle leather envelope and presented in a black lacquer box, the set is priced at about $750. The envelope itself is designed in the style of a piece of folded origami paper, and echoes that of leather clutches Hermès has offered in the past. Hermès made its first scarf in 1937, and the eye-catching accessories were an immediate hit, since sported by worn by style icons such as Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Catherine Deneuve, and Jackie Kennedy.

[via JustLuxe]