video

How to Buy a Flat Screen TV (video)

What is important to consider when shopping around for a high definition flat screen TV? Watch

the video above produced by our partners at FLN to learn what is important to keep in mind. For example, the only reason to pay top dollar for the highest flat screen resolution television (1080p), is if you have a 1080p DVD player or gaming system. Otherwise, you can just invest in a television with 1080i or 780p. Also, don't skimp on cables. To get the best picture possible, you should buy HDMI or DVI cables. The shorter the cables, the better, as the longer cables degrades the signal. Be sure to check out our related story on how to clean your flat screen television, once you buy it.

Tags: awards-main, flat screen television, flat screen TVs, how to buy a flat screen tv, luxist-awards, shopping tips, video

What is Cashmere and How to Shop for it (video)

by Carrie Coolidge (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Video, Luxury Shopping

Where does cashmere come from? Why is it so expensive? Is all cashmere created equally? How to care and store cashmere
Not all cashmere is of equal quality, says Sharon Haver, fashion guru and founder of FocusOnStyle.com (see video above).

"Fine cashmere comes from a longer fiber," she says. "What you want to look for in better cashmere is that it has a longer fiber. It will be more sturdy and will have a better drape to it. Cheaper cashmere usually has a shorter fiber and can break or pill and won't last as long."

Check out the Sharon Haver's related video on how to care for and store your cashmere.

If you haven't yet met the StyleList Network, a group of first-rate fashion bloggers, please do. And then introduce them to your friends! http://aol.it/g7SCdC

Tags: awards-main, cashmere, how to shop for cashmere, luxist-awards, Sharon Haver, video, what is cashmere

Why Choose Platinum When Shopping for a Wedding Band? (video)

by Carrie Coolidge (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry, Video

Celebrity Weddings and Event Planner, Robert C. Smith
of Laurel Events, recommends to his clients Why you should choose platinum over gold when shopping for a wedding ring.

Why you should choose platinum over gold when shopping for a wedding ring.

that they look at platinum when looking at wedding bands (see above video).

"It is so durable, it is heavy, it has a weight to it, it is not something that is too feminine, so it is an obvious choice for grooms," he says. "I really recommend that the bride and groom wear the same material."

Smith also urges couples to take the time to go to a good jeweler well in advance of their wedding date. "Look ahead of time, don't rush, and choose platinum and you will be great every time," he says. "Don't wait until the last minute to pick your ring. It is one of the most important decisions you are going to make. So get out there, educate yourself and find out what platinum is all about."

If you haven't yet met the StyleList Network, a group of first-rate fashion bloggers, please do. And then introduce them to your friends! http://aol.it/g7SCdC

Tags: awards-main, Celebrity Wedding Planners, engagement rings, engagement rings for men, luxist-awards, platinum, Robert C. Smith, Robert Smith, video, wedding rings

How to Open a Bottle of Wine (video)

by Carrie Coolidge (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine, Video

What are the best ways to open a bottle of wine? In the video above, wine expert Brandon Walsh, president of Reston, Va.-based Hosted Wine Tasting will show you how to operate the most

How to open a bottle of wine with a corkscrew

common wine opening techniques, including a waiter's corkscrew, a winged corkscrew (also affectionately referred to as the two-armed bandit) and a lever corkscrew. See our related post on how to use a wine key.

See our review of The Best Wine Clubs offered directly from wineries here.

Tags: awards-main, corkscrew, luxist-awards, opening wine, video, wine

How to Clean and Store Diamond Jewelry (with video)

by Carrie Coolidge (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry, Video

How to clean and store diamond jewelry Even a small amount of grease or oil can dramatically dull the brilliance of your diamonds. This is why it is important to clean your diamond jewelry regularly, advises Philip Press, president and chief executive officer of Renaissance Platinum (see video below).

"I find the easiest way is to either use a specialized jewerly cleaner or a straight clear, ammonia," says Press. "Let the piece of jewelry soak in the solution for an hour or more. Use an old toothbrush and clean the sides and bottom of the diamond and then rinse it very well under hot water. Don't be afraid of over cleaning your diamonds." Be sure to be gentle with the brush, however, as diamonds can become loose from their settings if they are treated roughly.

A few words of warning: Jewelry should not be cleaned in or near the sink. If there is no better location for the cleaning, be sure the plug is in, to avoid the jewelry going down the drain.

Also, it is very important that you to store your diamond jewelry separately, such as in individual compartments or pouches so they do not touch other gemstones. "Because a diamond can scratch another diamond," advises Press. "It is even more important to keep your diamond jewelry separated from your other gemstone jewelry because diamonds will certainly scratch other gemstones."

If you haven't yet met the StyleList Network, a group of first-rate fashion bloggers, please do. And then introduce them to your friends! http://aol.it/g7SCdC

Tags: awards-main, daimond+jewelry, daimondjewelry, diamond, diamond jewelry, diamonds, do+not+clean+jewelry+with, donotcleanjewelrywith, how to clean diamond jewelry, how to clean diamonds, how to clean jewelry, how to store christmas cookies, how+to+clean+and+store+diamond+jewelry, howtocleanandstorediamondjewelry, luxist-awards, video

Carmen Marc Valvo Fall Winter 2011 Collection During NY Fashion Week (with video)

by Carrie Coolidge (RSS feed) —

Carmen Marc Valvo's Fall/Winter 2011 Collection which was presented last night was glamorous and elegant. Valvo, the designer-to-the-stars (many of whom were presented at the show) featured a collection made with such rich fabrics as chantilly lace, chiffon, organza and tulle.

The show was presented at the Nasdaq Marketplace, with all attendees seated along long winding corridors, with the models passing by only a few feet away. Katie Couric, Star Jones, and singer Kat DeLuna all in attendance.

Highlights of the beautiful collection included exquisite cocktail dresses and formal evening wear including a latte metallic lace gown, a persimmon iridescent silk chiffon and lace gown, and a black strapless lace gown with multi-tiered chiffon applique. (See video of the show below).

"The collection was inspired by ballerinas this season," Valvo told Luxist backstage after the show (see video for full interview). "I gravitated towards them for their sense of beauty, poise, their grace, their elegance and their sensuality and femininity. So I wanted the collection to evoke that sense of beauty and movement. It is a collection full of romance and poetry. Lots of laces were employed, silk chiffons and metallic tulles."

Gallery: Carmen Marc Valvo Fall 2011 Collection

Carmen Marc Valvo Fall 2011 fashion show

Tags: awards-main, Carmen Marc Valvo, Carmen Marc Valvo Fall 2011, Kat DeLuna, Katie Couric, luxist-awards, New York Fashion Week, new york fashion week fall 2011, NY Fashion Week Fall 2011, Star Jones, video

Continue reading “Carmen Marc Valvo Fall Winter 2011 Collection During NY Fashion Week (with video)”

Annabelle Dexter-Jones Models at Half-Sister Charlotte Ronson's Fall 2011 Show (with video)

by Carrie Coolidge (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Apparel

Charlotte Ronson's Fall 2011 Fashion Show this evening at the Mercedes-Benz-sponsored Fashion Week in New York was a family affair.

Sister and deejay Samantha Ronson mixed the music for the show, while half-sister Annabelle Dexter-Jones, served as one of the models (see video below).

Annabelle (seen at right) was gorgeous in a stunning military herringbone suede trim riding jacket that was paired with a military silk Caspian dot print romper completed with black lace-up wedge booties.

Ronson's younger sibling has quite a bit of modeling experience. According to her bio, she has modeled in campaigns for Louis Vuitton and Hogan, besides being the face of Charlotte's clothing line.

Ronson's show was superb. The collection is very wearable in mostly sedated colors, including black, coffee and charcoal.

Gallery: Charlotte Ronson Fall 2011 Collection at NY Fashion Week

The Charlotte Ronson Fall 2011 Fashion Show

Tags: Annabelle Dexter-Jones, Awards-Main, Charlotte Ronson, Charlotte Ronson Fall 2011, Fashion Week, Luxist-Awards, NY Fashion Week, NY Fashion Week 2011, Samanthta Ronson, video

Continue reading “Annabelle Dexter-Jones Models at Half-Sister Charlotte Ronson's Fall 2011 Show (with video)”

Swarovski's Cinema Spot Video

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry

Swarovski becomes the latest brand to create an elaborate short movie to showcase the brand. Following in the footsteps of luxury brands such as Dior, Gucci and the W Hotels , the crystal brand has debuted "Cinema Spot," a dreamy three-minute video that shows a beautiful young model cavorting in a fantasy of airborne crystals in several different landscapes. In most of these short films, the plot centers on romance, this one is a little different, the images are meant to tell the story of a woman's personal growth. In the film she meets another character, a young boy who hands her a Swarovski product, the Nirvana Ring, and the last images in the movie show her resting on a couch with the hand holding the ring placed on her now pregnant belly. The film is also meant to symbolize a voyage through Swarovski's history.

In addition to being available online through a Swarovski microsite, a modified version of the film is being shown on the Swarovski billboards at Times Square and Rockefeller Center in New York until just before Valentine's Day. Luxury Daily reports that the spot was developed by artist Bruno Aveillan.

Tags: swarovski, video

Cutting the Electronic Cord with Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan (with Video)

by Carrie Coolidge (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor

Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan offers his best tips for getting rid of electronic cable clutter.

As most of us have experienced or will experience during the holidays, new electronic gadgets, from flat screen televisions to Blu-ray players, and iPhones, are all wonderful to have, but they all have one drawback---each comes with cords, cables or other accessories that are eye sores to have in one's home.

Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan, author of Apartment Therapy's Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces (Clarkson Potter, 2010) and founder of ApartmentTherapy.com, one of the country's most well-regarded and influential design blogs has offered Luxist several solutions for anyone who is facing such a dilemma. As the ultimate online destination for all things design, ApartmentTherapy.com's mission is to help people make their homes more beautiful, organized, and healthy. As technology has come to play a bigger role in the home, the term "techorating" is now being used to describe the use of technology in the home that is both beautiful and whenever necessary, invisible.

According to Gillingham-Ryan, it is possible to incorporate technology, even in small spaces, in ways that are both pleasing and beneficial without sacrificing quality. "It is possible to find great equipment that is mini in scale, but has high capabilities," he says. High quality speakers, for example, can be found in small sizes, he adds. (Be sure to check out the video below for more tips from Gillingham-Ryan.)

Tags: Apartment Therapy, decor-pedia, duracell, duracell mygrid, flat screen, flat screen TVs, main-pedia, Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan, video

Continue reading “Cutting the Electronic Cord with Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan (with Video)”

VIDEO: How NOT to Test Drive a $1.25 Million Bugatti

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Video

There's a right and a wrong way to test drive a Bugatti Veyron. The right way: crank it up past 200 mph on the Autobahn with a coked-out supermodel riding shotgun. The wrong way: back it into a Corolla two minutes after taking the wheel. Here we have a demonstration of the wrong way, courtesy of some hapless schmuck in Chicago with good credit but lousy driving skills. It seems the unfortunate fellow was test driving a $1.25 million 2008 black-and-white Veyron 16.4 with a brown leather interior at Chicago's Bentley Gold Coast when he clipped an idling Toyota for no apparent reason while backing out of the dealership. He then proceeded to scrape up the Veyron's front bumper on the pavement while pulling forward to extricate himself. All in all he caused an estimated $30,000 worth of damage, or enough for a couple of brand new Corollas. Adding insult to injury he didn't even buy the Bugatti.

[via JamesList]

Tags: Bugatti, Bugatti Veyron, car crash, Chicago, Veyron, video

Winner Announced in Olympus PEN E-PL1 Contest

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Gadgets, Video

Amongst fierce competition, roller blading enthusiast Kevin Dowling went on to win Olympus' "PEN your story challenge" contest which we wrote about back in May. Dowling won the prize of Olympus' great new compact PEN E-PL1 digital camera (above) and $5,000 to make his documentary video Blading, in addition to an all-expense-paid trip for two to New York City to attend the Olympus-sponsored US Open National Tennis Championships where a sample of his video was displayed on the giant board in the famed Arthur Ashe Stadium before an audience of thousands. Selecting a winner from the finalists wasn't easy – Olympus received hundreds of proposal submissions which were eventually narrowed down to 20 semi-finalists and then six finalists. Dowling's selection was based on a combination of popular vote and the panel of Olympus judges, and his video showcased the professional-grade digital single lens reflex (DSLR) image quality, point-and-shoot simplicity and high-definition (HD) video capabilities of the amazingly compact camera. You can see all of the finalists' submissions in the "PEN your story challenge" playlist at http://www.youtube.com/getolympus and view Kevin's Grand Prize Winning submission on the main page video player.

Tags: camera, contest, digital camera, New York City, Olympus, PEN E-PL1, US Open, video

Seal Wears His Parmigiani Watch In "Secret" Music Video

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

Seal released the single named "Secret" along with a corresponding music video - which are part of his upcoming new album called "Commitment."The artfully filmed black & white video has Seal and his wife Heidi Klum in intimately in bed, wearing almost nothing. One thing that Seal is wearing however is a custom Swiss Parmigiani Kalpa timepiece made specially for him. You can see the custom tourbillon watch clearly in a few scenes in the music video. If you go to the "READ MORE" link below, you can see the video.

The custom watch is based on the Parmigiani Kalpa XL Tourbillon, but with a metal bracelet, and I believe a few other changes. An image of the standard model in rose gold is below. The watch case is 44.7mm tall and 37.2mm wide. It has the time, a power reserve indicator, a tourbillon. Seal is a well known watch lover, as is his wife. Seal is also known to have an existing large collection of Parmigiani timepieces.

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

Gallery: Parmigiani Kalpa XL Tourbillon

Tags: commitment, kalpa, ParmigianiFleurier, seal, secret, tourbillon, video, watch, wears

Continue reading “Seal Wears His Parmigiani Watch In "Secret" Music Video”

Vuzix Wrap 310XL Video Eyewear Review

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Gadgets

The promise of covert video watching can be yours. That's right. No more embarrassing instances of watching the Teletubbies (or let's just say it, adult content) on a plane while your cabin neighbors snicker at your preferred form of cathartic entertainment. You can now do all that in relative privacy. Vuzix has taken it upon themselves to be an expert in video eye wear. What does that mean? Basically, these are products that you wear on your face that project images near your eyes, simulating the act of looking at screens that are further away. Visit their site to browse through the veritable treasure trove of bona fide video gadgets sure to make the 10 year old in your eagerly grab for one. It is true that wearing a face mounted TV screen shaped like sunglasses is pretty neat. The task for you is finding what do to with them.

Vuzix makes the experience pretty comfortable once you've decided how you want to use them. The concept is actually complex, and Vuzix has clearly pushed forward, continually refining the concept. The Wrap 310XL's are midrange video eye wear products in Vuzix's collection, and deliver as promised. They sport two small screen in front of each eye that together give the appearance that you are looking at a 55 inch screen (for these models) from 10 feet away. You can even wear them with glasses, or use the diopter adjustment to focus each screen individually to your eye sight.

Tags: 310xl, eyewear, review, video, vuzix, VuzixWrap310, wrap

Continue reading “Vuzix Wrap 310XL Video Eyewear Review”

Video: BMW Teases the New 1 Series M Coupe

by Sam Abuelsamid (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos

BMW 1 Series M coupe – Click above for teaser video

For months now we've been seeing spy photos of a beefed up version of BMW's 1 Series coupe and until recently there was much speculation as to whether it would get the vaunted M badge of simply be something like a 135is. We now know that it will in fact be the 1 Series M (since M1 will likely forever be reserved for the mid-engine progenitor of the M line from the late-1970s).

We still don't know any technical details although the 1 Series M will almost certainly be powered by a high-output version of the twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six found in the 135i. The wheel arches have been inflated to enclose the larger wheels that wrap around the massive cross-drilled brakes. In typical M fashion the front air dam extends much closer to the ground and features large air intakes to feed the engine and brake cooling ducts. With BMW now officially teasing the 1 Series M, it will likely be revealed in full next month at the Paris Motor Show. Check out the new teaser video and the first track test video after the jump.

[Source: BMW]

Tags: bmw, BMW 1 Series, bmw 1 series m, bmw 1-series, paris, paris motor show, paris motor show 2010, paris motorshow, video

Continue reading “Video: BMW Teases the New 1 Series M Coupe”

Day At the Races: MotoGP At Laguna Seca 2010

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Sports

There is an amazing amount of wealth at motorcycle races. You might picture the populous at a NASCAR race as being a bit above poverty level (no offense NASCAR fans, but you know what aura some of your fellow race lovers give off), but the followers of the world famous MotoGP series include some well to do participants. Many of them fervent collectors and sophisticated gear-heads. As such, you could easily quality MotoGP as a luxury sport (just for a different class than say the Kentucky Derby). At least the motorcycles themselves use top-notch hardware and technology. Amazing to think that the bikes themselves have serious computers on board. I went to the MotoGP race day at Laguna Seca historic race track near Monterey, CA - here are some of the sights and sounds of the excitement.

I've put together a bit of a visual article below when you go to "READ MORE." Much of what you see if pretty self explanatory. If you've never been to a motorcycle race, then be aware that most people attend and shove earplugs in their ears due to the incredible sound of many high-powered engines operating at full revs simultaneously.

Tags: 2010, Laguna Seca, Lorenzo, Monterey, MotoGP, race, track, video

Continue reading “Day At the Races: MotoGP At Laguna Seca 2010”

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