Louis Vuitton family wine for Chinese market

A fifth-generation family member of the Louis Vuitton dynasty has launched a wine in Hong Kong developed specifically to cater to the Asian palate.

Winemaker Xavier-Louis Vuitton’s XLV, an exclusive private label, was developed with the Asian drinker in mind, a palate that favors fruit-driven notes and softer tannins in red wines, reports industry publication The Drinks Business.

While XLV has no connection with the Louis Vuitton brand LVMH, the family connection and name recognition is sure to sway consumers in brand-obsessed Hong Kong, notes the story.

Vuitton owns a wine estate near the village of Apt in southern France, which he manages with his son Quentin-Louis who acts as cellar master.

Only the Ventoux wine is made from Vuitton’s estate grapes, while others are made with grapes from the Bordeaux, Rhone, and Champagne regions.

The XLV brand is available through Hong Kong-based online retailer yeswine.com, with prices ranging from HK $360 (€36) for the XLV Ventoux 2010, to HK $2,450 for the XLV Pauillac 2007 or €242.

While Xavier-Louis may be developing a wine made with French grapes for Chinese drinkers, another brand within the LVMH family Moet Hennessy has set its sights on China as a wine-producing nation in its own right, snapping up estates in Shangri-La county in Yunnan Province.

Similarly, Chateau Lafite Rothschild has also begun work on a vineyard in the Penglai region of China’s eastern Shandong province to cater to the country’s growing thirst for premium luxury wines.

China is the fifth largest wine market by volume in the world, having recently knocked Britain into sixth place

Sexy Sharon Stone for Roberto Cavalli

Roberto Cavalli is pleased to announce Sharon Stone will be participating at the inauguration event for the new Just Cavalli flagship store, which will be held in Corso Matteotti 18 in Milan.

Alexander McQueen Revamp!

On the heels of Gap’s announcement that former COS designer Rebekka Bay would be taking the helm as creative director of the brand, comes another big-name appointment: McQ has tapped former Pringle designer Alistair Carr as head of design, the Telegraph is reporting.

Carr’s first collection for the brand will be for pre-fall 2013/14, and given the designer’s preppy-cool aesthetic, Central Saint Martin’s degree and past stints at Balenciaga, Marni, Chloé, and Pringle, our expectations are pretty high.

Carr will also be working closely with Alexander McQueen’s creative directorSarah Burton, who will still have overall creative control of the diffusion brand.

The timing of the announcement hardly seems coincidental, as Pringle debuted their spring/summer 2013 collection today, just moments before news of Carr’s new post was released.

First campaign image for Saint Laurent Paris!

Saint Laurent Paris — the brand formerly known as Yves Saint Laurent — has offered a photographic glimpse of its upcoming campaign on the social networks.

The picture was taken by none other than the house’s artistic director, Hedi Slimane, who shot the campaign in black and white.

Making reference to two other passions of his, photography and music, Hedi Slimane shot Christopher Owens, who sings in the band Girls.

The first picture of a series of 15 acts as a teaser for the upcoming official Saint Laurent Paris campaign, which is set to be fully revealed in December.

First look at Yves Saint Laurent rebranding

Last month Hedi Slimane made the headlines when it was announced he would rename Yves Saint Laurent‘s ready-to-wear line as Saint Laurent Paris, and now the first images of the rebranding have emerged online.

A picture of a black product box with the new branding on it appeared on the label’s official Facebook page this weekend.

The box has ‘Saint Laurent’ written on it, with Paris appearing in smaller type beneath, surrounded by a simple square black frame.

Valentino sold to Qatar royal family!

On July 12 it was confirmed that Italian luxury label Valentino has been sold to the royal family of Qatar for an estimated $858 million.

Mayhoola, an investment group controlled by Qatar’s royal family, explained its vision for the fashion house — which was founded in 1959 by namesake Valentino Garavani and is famed for its ultra feminine frocks.

“Valentino has always been a brand of unique creativity and undisputed prestige,” said a Mayhoola spokesperson in a release.

“Our vision is to back management for the long term to exploit the full potential of this exciting brand. We believe Valentino is ideally suited to form the basis for a global luxury goods powerhouse.”

Meanwhile, Valentino chief executive officer Stefano Sassi added the new investors will help the brand “reach its full potential.”

As well as acquiring Valentino, the Qatar group also reportedly picked up the M Missoni license, while the Qatar Luxury Group, owned by the Qatar Foundation, acquired French leather goods company Le Tanneur last year.

Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned, the glamorous wife of Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, was behind the creation of the Qatar Luxury Group in 2008, and is considered to be one of the world’s biggest couture collectors

Lionel Messi for Audemars Piguet!

Argentine Football superstar Lionel Messi became a brand ambassador for Audemars Piguet in 2010 and today he gets his own AP.

The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Leo Messi Limited Edition watch is based on the new 41mm Royal Oak chronograph and will come in three different models!

Limited to just a 1000 pieces, the watch uses hour markers crafted from white gold for the steel version and pink gold for the pink-gold version with the platinum version packing a deep blue dial with contrasting white gold markers.

Jean Paul Gaultier’s Fall 2012 Campaign

Karlie Kloss plays the role of an urbanista in the Fall 2012 campaign for Jean Paul Gaultier, captured by Willy Vandeperre

Chanel launching face stickers!

Chanel’s Cruise collection at Versailles earlier this week didn’t disappoint in the beauty stakes, and now fashionistas will be able to recreate the Marie Antoinette-inspired aesthetic with the launch of Chanel logo beauty spot stickers.

For Monday’s runway show, Chanel’s creative director of makeup Peter Philips adorned models’ cheekbones with black velvet Chanel logo beauty spots.

Style.com reports that the stickers recreating the effect will be available for sale in an upcoming line called Collection Versailles de Chanel.

“Last minute I added a subtle highlight with Mouche de Beauté,” said Philips, explaining the customized highlighter, a bold pink eyeshadow and CC stickers will form the forthcoming beauty set.

Chanel has previously enjoyed success with a collection of temporary jewelry-like tattoos inspired by Chanel symbols, cherry blossoms, and birds

Lady Gaga’s Giorgio Armani Tour Wardrobe‎!

Lady Gaga and Madonna’s outfits for their respective upcoming tours look set to rival one another in the high fashion stakes, the latter has Jean Paul Gaultier on hand, while Giorgio Armani has just revealed sketches of his creations for Gaga.

On April 19 Armani unveiled a string of predictably wild custom-made outfits for the songstress, including lashings of luminous PVC, a keyboard head piece and, naturally, spiky shoulders.

“Collaborating with Lady Gaga is always an exciting experience for me. I admire the way she uses fashion as a scenic element and as a means to build a character,” said Armani, who also created looks for her 2010 Monster Ball tour.

“She is an artist of many talents and great intelligence. Creating stage costumes for her is a stimulating and creative exercise.”

While Gaga’s Born This Way Ball kicks off April 27 in Seoul, Korea, Madonna starts the MDNA Tour May 29 in Tel Aviv, Israel.

The songstress confirmed that her long-time collaborator Gaultier, who came up with the iconic pieces of her 1990 Blonde Ambition tour, is helping out with costumes!