Last month we wrote about the Russian-made $1.5 million Monaco Red Diamond Edition luxury armored SUV, featuring gold and diamond accents and an interior upholstered in whale penis leather. The unnerving upholstery is apparently in tribute to Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, who had whale penis leather aboard his yacht the Christina. Now pneumatic actress and animal rights activist Pamela Anderson, Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Federation have complained to Dartz, the company responsible, causing them to ditch plans for any whale genitalia to be used in making the insane vehicle. We can't imagine anyone but the Prince of Brothels would ever buy one anyway. Dartz's Leonard F. Yankelovich has now issued an unintentionally hilarious apology of sorts, in Russian-inflected English:

"We have no ideas to kill the whale or something like that," he insists. "All we want - to make just luxury car. Real luxury car which will be world number one car. We just looking for most expensive products for this car - and that's why we choosed whale penis leather when we checked it is most of most. After wave of protest we realised our mistake and make a decision not to use natural leather at all. We will focus on world most advanced nanotechnologies to achieve interior highest quality using artificial materials which also was never used for cars. We want to tell our hello to all whales: 'Our Sea Brothers! We all know that earth are stand on three whales - we will keep You live! We don't want Earth fall down to Ocean!'"

Steve McQueen's magnificent 1940 Indian Chief motorcycle, one of the most prized among his collection, is being auction off on Nov. 14 during Bonhams & Butterfields' Classic California sale at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. The King of Cool was pictured with the beloved bike on the cover of the book Steve McQueen: The Last Mile. The actor had the classic moto meticulously restored by Southern California's Starklite Motors in the '70s and used it to zoom around the Hollywood Hills. It's estimated at an extremely reasonable $55,000 - $65,000. Also on offer is McQueen's original condition 1949 Chevy pickup which he used to travel incognito around Beverly Hills, wearing sunglasses and a big cowboy hat to dodge the paparazzi; it's estimated at $20,000 - $30,000.

[via Duncan Quinn]

Things are certainly going well for Mick Jagger's model daughter Georgia May Jagger as we first predicted back in the summer of 2008. Of course with a Rolling Stone for a dad and Jerry Hall for a mom what else would one expect for the 17-year-old stunner? In September we noted she had landed a sexy new ad campaign for Hudson Jeans; now she has made the cover of British Vogue and been named the new face of Versace. Jagger has just been photographed for the ad campaign by Mario Testino. "She's smart, beautiful, full of energy and has a strong personality [with] that natural high star quality. I adore her," Donatella Versace told WWD. "She's perfect for this collection - a real Versace girl."

Naomi Campbell just surprised her Russian billionaire boyfriend Vladislav Doronin with a lavish jet-set birthday surprise in Morocco, the London Mirror reports.

The supermodel chartered a private jet to fly them there as a surprise for Doronin, who's been called the Donald Trump of Russia. There she presented him with a lifesize sports-themed cake with a boxing ring, race cars and rackets on it.

The pair partied all night before boarding a jet to Abu Dhabi and then Tanzania for her charity work for the White Ribbon Alliance. Of course, as we've reported previously Doronin has been very generous as well.

Campbell has been earning praise of late for looking better then ever despite her 39 years. Her longtime hairstylist Amoy Pitters, who tended to the precious tresses for recent A-list events like Black Girls Rock and the Clinton Global Initiative gala, deserves her share of the credit.

Pitters, whose other celeb clients include Sheryl Crow, Ashanti, Ciara, Iman, Rihanna, Alicia Keys, Mary J. Blige and The Pussycat Dolls, is famed for her unique, signature method of hair extensions, indistinguishable from - some would say better than - the real thing.

A new book on the late Paul Newman tells the story of how one of the world's greatest actors escaped the pressures of Hollywood by sitting behind the wheel of a race car.

As with most things he attempted in life Newman excelled at it. Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman is an illustrated history of Newman's racing career both as a driver and team owner. His interest in racing began while preparing for his role in the movie, Winning, in 1968 and blossomed into several championships competing in the Sports Car Club of America.

The actor also competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, finishing second in 1979, and in 1995 at the age of 70 he became the oldest driver to be part of a winning team in a major sanctioned race, winning in his class at the 24 Hours of Daytona, capping his long association with the Rolex model of that name.

The book features a foreword by Mario Andretti and many first person remembrances from those who raced against him and admired him, along with many previously unpublished photographs documenting his career at the track. Newman's personal car collection including Porsches and Ferraris is also featured.

Whitney Houston is in the midst of a comeback (complete with a new album and an appropriately contrite appearance on Oprah) and she's shedding the trappings of her old life including some real estate. The Real Estalker reveals that Houston has listed her home in Mendham Township, New Jersey. The five-bedroom contemporary home sits on a five acre lot with a pool, pool house and tennis court. The Real Estalker Mama says that Houston bought the home in 1987 and it appears very 1980s in its style with a circular theme that includes a domed sky light, semicircular walls of windows and a curved wall of art glass. The home is over 12,500 square feet of curving windows draped in lackluster swags, floors in neutral carpeting and pale terracotta tile and anonymous decor. In the master bedroom the bed is mounted on a dais facing a television and topped with more circles in the lighting fixture. It was probably the height of fashion at one point but now it seems a bit dated. It is listed at an even $2.5 million but Property Shark shows an assessed value of $5,640,700 and a tax bill of $87,609.

Oceana, an international nonprofit based in Washington, D.C. dedicated to protecting and restoring the world's oceans, celebrated the launch of Oceana New York on Monday night with a star-studded bash at the stunning penthouse of socialite philanthropists Alexander and Brenda Schweickhardt (above, far right). A tableaux vivant of mermaids entertained guests at the event, which was sponsored by Tiffany & Co., including Sam Waterston and Sue Cohn Rockefeller (above, far left), John Varvatos and wife Joyce (above, center) Jeff Goldblum, Gina Gershon, Tommy Hilfiger and wife Dee, New York Jets tackle Damien Woody, New York Gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio, and socialtes Denise Rich, Bettina Zilkha and Jean Shafiroff. Since its founding in 2001, Oceana has achieved several major victories including protecting more than 640 million acres of ocean habitat.

Ukranian model / actress Olga Kurylenko, who played a Bond Girl opposite Daniel Craig in Quantum of Solace, has just been unveiled as the star of the 2010 Campari Calendar. Following in the footsteps of former calendar stars Salma Hayek, Eva Mendes and Jessica Alba, Kurylenko appears in a series of vignettes in different locations around Milan indulging in the classic Italian aperitif. Italian photographer Simone Nervi shot the photos, including the image above for December of a Gucci-clad Kurylenko surrounded by Ducati Monster-riding admirers at Milan's Piazza Duca D'Aosta. The twelve images will be featured in the limited edition calendar, with only 9,999 copies being printed to be distributed worldwide.

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.

Not every celebrity needs a mega-mansion to salve their ego. Several of the hipper set have recently purchased traditional, stylish, low-key cottages in bucolic Sullivan County, New York, from designer and builder Charles Petersheim's Catskill Farms. Buyers like Albert Hammond Jr., guitarist of The Strokes, actor and comedian David Cross, Vice magazine founder Gavin McInnes, fashion designers and other artistic types get the best of both worlds - early American architectural features including wide plank floors, fireplaces, painted salvaged wood ceilings and wrap-around porches, along with whole-house audio, security systems, and modern kitchens.

While capturing the charm, beauty and character of the early 1900s in a private setting, Catskill Farms aims to eliminate all of the hassle and maintenance issues related to old houses, which is especially important for those with busy schedules who need to relax when they're finally able to get away from it all. Over the past few years, Catskill Farms has designed, built and sold over 40 new / old homes in Sullivan County, becoming the leading designer and builder of Upstate New York getaways. Another of their goals is affordability, hence their brand new mini-cottages series. Priced from $225,000 to $400,000, the picturesque dwellings (above) feature open floor plans and spacious interiors.

On October 9th in New York, Sotheby's will stage a stunning sale of photographs including several nude portraits of supermodels, with work from the likes of Chuck Close, Peter Beard, Robert Mapplethorpe, Helmut Newton and more. One of the top lots is a series of six full frontal nudes of Kate Moss by Chuck Close taken in 2003, estimated at $100,000 - $150,000. Another high-priced draw is a portfolio of 12 semi-nude images of Marilyn Monroe taken in 1962 by Lawrence Schiller, estimated at $50,000 - $70,000. Two Peter Lindbergh portraits of Mick Jagger taken in 1995 are estimated at $30,000 - $50,000. And a nude of Stephanie Seymour by Richard Avedon taken in 1992 is estimated at $20,000 - $30,000, while this relatively tame image of Nadja Auermann by Irving Penn from 1994 is also a relative bargain at $6,000 - $9,000.

Recession or no, certain truly unique and exclusive handcrafted luxury items remain in very high demand. The Fall issue of WSJ., The Wall Street Journal's glossy magazine, reports that there's currently a five-year waiting list for the custom $175,000 shotguns made by Italian master Tullio Fabbri. Fabbri marries high-tech fabrication - the guns' locking mechanisms are coated in diamond dust to increase durability - with classic Brescian engraving on the metalwork that looks like embroidered lace. He has made guns for celebs like Steven Spielberg, Eric Clapton and King Juan Carlos of Spain, as well as Mexican-born pop singer Thalia, pictured above with her Fabbri 20-gauge. Fabbri's father began the business in 1965 in a small shop in the Valle Trompia, a legendary valley in northern Italy that has been home to gunmakers since the 16th century. Fabbri only makes 30 guns per year, hence the waiting list. Italian artisans spend 400 - 600 hours etching the metalwork on each gun, which can add $50,000 or more to the price. Thalia's husband, music mogul Tommy Mottola, tells the magazine that "Tullio's work is as good as a Picasso."

CNN 360° host Anderson Cooper has been getting a lot of attention lately for his buff physique (check out this video on TMZ.com). While it may seem like a sudden transformation, in fact Cooper's muscles are the result of two years of workouts with a personal trainer, Thelonious "T.J." Johnson (right).

In addition to getting Cooper and other high-profile clients in shape, Johnson is also an actor and model, with appearances in Vogue Italia, Details, and the cover of Maximum Fitness. His acting credits include roles on Law & Order: Criminal Intent and All My Children.

Johnson, a New York native whose jazz musician father named him after the great Thelonious Monk, was also picked as one of 2008's Most Eligible Bachelors by Extra. He customizes his training sessions to fit the needs and goals of each individual client.

An extreme sports enthusiast, he also specializes in extreme outdoor training, providing fitness sessions that feature mountain-biking, hiking, "tough man" workouts and boot camps. Citing confidentiality he declines to say exactly how he got Cooper so cut, but the results speak for themselves.

Last summer we reported that Mick Jagger's beautiful daughter Georgia May Jagger was embarking on a modeling career, following in the fashionable footsteps of the rocker's other daughters, Jade and Elizabeth. Now the 17-year-old Georgia May, whose mother is Texan stunner Jerry Hall, has landed a sexy ad campaign for Hudson Jeans (above) evoking Brigitte Bardot. Georgia May, who has one year of school left and lives with her mother in London, tells the October issue of Vanity Fair that modeling is just a temporary gig for her while she tries to break into art, design and photography. With her genes that shouldn't be too hard. As for her sexy poses, she tells the mag that daddy Mick "doesn't hate it at all."

On October 7th Christie's in London will auction the collections of Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ismail Merchant (above) of Merchant Ivory fame, the production company noted for evocative all-star adaptations of the works of Henry James, E. M. Forster and others. Works of art, furnishings and textiles from Merchant's stylish residences in London, Paris and the Hudson River Valley, as well as a small selection from his New York apartment, will be on offer. The Indian-born producer passed away in 2005. Estimates range from £500 to £70,000 (about $115,000) for the pieces which reflect Merchant's "fascination with the encounter between Eastern and Western cultures." In addition, the auction will feature a small group of film memorabilia including some props from various Merchant Ivory films such as a bookcase from Howard's End and a replica of Pablo Picasso's L'Homme a la Guitare from Surviving Picasso.

[via JustLuxe]