Lap of Luxuryluxury everything blog

A few weeks ago we reported that a third Bugatti Veyron Pur Sang, one of only five made and the world’s most expensive production car, had been listed for sale via global online luxury marketplace JamesList.

Now a fourth Pur Sang has surfaced for sale at Florida’s exotic auto dealer Forza Collezione. The car on offer is said to be the first of the five Pur Sang’s built and we’re told the pricetag is $3.8 million. This means only one of the five Pur Sang’s remains in private hands.

The first was offered up in Abu Dhabi, and the next one surfaced a couple of weeks later in Frankfurt, Germany, where the car was originally unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show. The special edition supercar with exposed carbon fiber and aluminum bodywork sold out within 24 hours of its original announcement.

Lucchese Boot Company is celebrating its 125th anniversary in style with a special offer: its limited edition 125th anniversary boots.

Only 125 pairs of this exquisite boot will made. Created from American Belly Alligator and manufactured in Lucchese’s matador construction, the boots will have covered sideseams and a fully hand-tooled and hand-painted quarters. Hand-tooled scrolls, Lucchese logos and stars will adorn the tops of each boot. The scallops will be hand-laced. The torero pullstraps will be overlaid in alligator, and the company’s premier grimini linings will be used on the inside of each pair.

Each pair will be hand-signed, numbered, and accompanied by an embossed, raised seal on a numbered certificate and logged by written record in a dedicated 125th Anniversary Edition Log Book. Each pair comes in a matching, numbered 125th Anniversary Edition hand-tooled leather boot box.; $12,500 per pair.

This link will take you to a list of authorized retailers.

Modern Spirits, makers of the TRU Organic line of spiritsl, has introduced Fruit Lab, a collection of artisanal, 100% organic liqueurs designed to facilitate making all-organic cocktails at home and in bars. The collection – which includes Citry (orange), Crism (hibiscus) and Theia (jasmine) – complements the growing number of organic vodkas, rums, gins and tequilas on the market.

“With Fruit Lab, we set out to bring the garden to the glass with whole, organic ingredients and complete hand processing for uncompromising quality,” says Melkon Khosrovian, co-founder of Modern Spirits. Named after the company’s Los Angeles production facility, “The Fruit Lab,” where all TRU organic spirits are crafted, Fruit Lab Liqueurs are now available for $29 per 750ml bottle.

Citry combines the familiar aromas and flavors of fresh Valencia and naval oranges with the scent of Bergamot and sour orange. Crism is a powerful balance of the sweet-sour nature of hibiscus flowers with floral aromas and tangy berry flavors. Theia is described as “like a night garden infused with flowering jasmine” and makes a great champagne cocktail.

Similar to how TRU Organic Spirits plants a tree for every bottle sold, Fruit Lab will donate a percentage of proceeds to The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation, a San Diego-based nonprofit dedicated to planting edible, fruitful trees and plants to benefit needy populations and improve the surrounding air, soil, and water.

I’ve never considered a handbag could double as a self-defense mechanism, unless it had a brick inside or something equally heavy, but Alexander McQueen’s Knuckle Duster Patent Leather Clutch would certainly bring more than a slap to an unwelcome visitor’s body. Accenting the top ridge of this richly covered bag are skull and crystal rings in dark colors adding a subtle bit of glamour. The bag does feature more than protective embellishments such as a clasp closure, metal frame and leather lining.

Have you ever put your thumb through a ring connecting your handbag’s handle to the body of the bag for protection from muggers along a busy street? Well just slip your fingers through these rings atop your clutch and I’d bet you’d deter any interested parties from attempting to swipe your clutch now. Enough violent fun for one day…

(7″ x 41/2″ x 2″ for $1,595 at Saks)

Even mothers want to make a stylish statement when pushing their prams and if they’re going to be lugging around all of that baby gear it might as well be in a designer bag. I knew that more affordable designers like JP Lizzy and Vera Bradley made diaper bags but honestly until today I didn’t realize such iconic names like Prada, Juicy Couture and Burberry were brandished on baby totes.

Saks Fifth Avenue has a large collection of designer baby satchels for the fashion forward mama ranging from $158 to $1,100. These bags don’t look like any ordinary diaper bag and they definitely don’t portray any pastel colored or yellow ducky themes. They are sophisticated yet functional and will blend into everyday life without shouting ‘Baby on Board’! Peruse the gallery to select a fantastic baby bag for some lucky mom you know.

Alec Bradley Cigars has brought a new experience to market. The makers of the Tempus and Maxx cigars have released its Select Cabinet Reserve series. It should be on cigar shop shelves this month and promises to be quite a treat. The series consists of Corona, Robusto, Churchill, Torpedo and Gran Robusto cigars with Honduran Trojes wrappers. The sticks will be released in boxes of 20.

This line of cigars was born from a conversation that Alec Bradley president Alan Rubin had while back on the family farm in Trojes. Over the past five years, the Rubin family had accumulated a large amount of aged, mid-priming Trojes wrapper.

“We talked about the natural sweetness of the wrapper and the chance to develop a blend around its unique flavor profile,” Rubin says. “When we got back to the factory, we went to where we store all the wrapper tobacco and opened a few bales for inspection. I grabbed a hand of tobacco containing 25 leaves, plucked two of them, de-stemmed them, and rolled a sample. These caramel colored leaves were glorious to the touch and looked fantastic. Even better, they smoked every bit as good as I expected.”

A year later, Alec Bradley’s latest creation has been completed and is missing only a cutter, a lighter and someone to enjoy it. Expectations are high, particularly given Rubin’s assessment of the product. “The SCR line is built around a mid-priming Trojes wrapper that allowed us to focus on the natural sweetness of the leaf,” says Alec Bradley president, Alan Rubin. “The blend is buttery smooth, and possesses an abundance of complex flavors and aromas that will hold your attention from start to finish.”

Its mid-May performance was nothing to scream about, so Sotheby’s didn’t take any chances at last night’s contemporary art auction in London. Three works by pop art king Andy Warhol moved for $10.5 million, accounting for 25 percent of the $42 million in sales. In all, 40 lots came under the gavel and came in just under the high estimate of $45 million. A surprisingly high 92.5 percent of works found buyers.

This year’s London results for Sotheby’s are off 73 percent from the late June 2008 contemporary art auction, indicating that low expectations played a role in last night’s success. The average price last year was around $2.2 million, dropping this year by 48 percent as a result of a protracted art market recession. Well, Tobias Meyer, worldwide head of contemporary art for Sotheby’s calls it “a performing transitional market,” but you know what that means.

If the latest results tell us anything, it’s that death is the cure for dying. An ailing art market is now showing signs of life thanks to the dead guys whose art continues to be in demand. Earlier auctions focused on lower cost, less prominent, “cutting edge” artists as an attempt to get collectors to open their wallets in smaller increments. Now, we’re looking at a possible flight to quality. Ninety percent of the pieces auctioned had been under the hammer before.

So, is there any meaning in today’s art market? Eh, maybe. It’s schismatic. It’s fun. And, at least it gives bloggers something to write about.

Changing out plain, old ceramic tiles in a boring color can have a dramatic effect on your kitchen, bathroom or fireplace. Creating interest while adding ambiance with sculptural elements can really punch up the volume in a space. I’m especially drawn to the effect produced by Ann Sacks’ decorative tiles.

Using a time-honored, Italian technique called sgraffito, which uses clay carved reliefs, each tile becomes a unique expression all on its own. Available in either ‘Dahlia’ or ‘Nautilus’, tiles can be purchased in groups of fifteen to create a mural for approximately $480 plus tax and shipping.

Personally I’m taken with the Dahlia design in persimmon and the warm effect it would have in a kitchen or around a fireplace.

Is it just me or is every luxury brand trying to tap into the surfboard market?

For summer the storied British brand has come out with a limited edition surfboard, decorated with a modern take on Dunhill’s iconic Bulldog motif.

Designed for Dunhill by the acclaimed European surfboard company Pukas in conjunction with surfing legend Jed Noll, the 9 ft. board is constructed from lightweight but high-density polyurethane foam with a superior resin-soaked fiberglass hard outer surface, minimizing drag on the waves.

Only 10 of the exclusive boards will be offered for sale at the Alfred Dunhill flagships in London, Tokyo and Shanghai for about $3,000.

Rap star Lucacris was in France recently debuting his new Cognac at the Vinexpo event.

Ludacris arrived in style in a chauffeur-driven Bentley and posed with a bevy of beauties dressed in identical black dresses. Ludacris worked with Birkedal Hartmann, a Norwegian-owned Cognac producer to create Conjure, which will debut in Norway in July and then here in the U.S. in the fall. The Grammy-award-winning rapper says that he went to the Cognac region in France to help create the spirit. He worked with Birkedal Hartmann’s master blender, Philippe Braastad Tiffon choosing more than 40 different brandies to create the blend.

Decanter reports that while Cognac usually has a grade such as VO (very old) or VS (very special) on the bottle, Conjure is ungraded because it mixes several different grades. The bottle design includes a print which is composed of naked female silhouettes. The cognac will sell for $34.

The AFP reports that Ludacris added a bit of excitement to Vinexpo with some of the top names in the wine businesses lining up for autographs. Ludacris said that his favorite drink is Cognanc and Coke which makes me think this Cognac will skew to the sweet side. Birkedal Hartmann currently ships 400,000 bottles of cognac a year but with Ludacris on the team hopes to sell a million cases. Other musicians including Snoop Dogg, Swiss Beatz and Dr. Dre have also entered the Cognac business, adding interest to a drink category that has been seeing decreasing sales recently.