Follow US
New York City
Oprah’s New York City Penthouse
This piece of Midtown real estate in the posh Place 57 building was reportedly purchased by Oprah’s best friend Gayle King in 2008 for $7.1 million, according to Zillow.com, but was later said to actually be bought by Oprah herself. The confusion could come from Gayle hoping to maintain privacy and possibly acquiring the home under an LLC, so which television mogul actually lived in the property is still uncertain. The 2,500-square-foot apartment on the 36th floor contains three bedrooms, the master with three walk-in closets and a Jacuzzi tub, three and a half baths, floor-to-ceiling windows and nearly 800 square feet of terrace space.
The ABCs of the ABC Islands
There is one thing common between fashion designers and Caribbean which is capsule collection. The region’s southernmost trio of islands just off the coast of Venezuela form ABC islands collectively. Namely Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao have their own cachet. They are exotic in every respect yet are ready to wear. They are tending to be a lesser amount of burden for your pocket, less fussy Maldives of the West, exempting over-water-bottomed huts.
With a Caribbean creative director, Dutch designer and a Spanish sketch artist, the ABC collection of islands have a global reach, along with linguistic proficiency in English, Dutch, Spanish and Papiamento which is the local Creole tongue. There is no point to worry about foul-weather gear as all three of these islands are below Caribbean’s hurricane belt.
You can take a direct flight from Miami, Boston, New York City, and Charlotte make it easy for American visitors to explore these alphabet islands, though many tend to just try A on for size. Aruba is a reasonable enough destination thus it becomes the favorite to be the first choice for the visitors to be able to get there. As it is located at a two hour flight from Miami and have an advantage of locals who speak fluent English, two big resort beaches, and widespread acceptance of U.S. dollars.
The second one is Bonaire, the collection’s smallest island, known for sporty basics. It tends to fly under the radar of visitors who want to enjoy their holidays apart from mere diving, kiteboard, or windsurfing the pursuits for which it is most famous. Last but certainly not the least, in addition to welcoming direct flights from Miami and New York City, Curaçao has the most boutique hotels amongst all three. The island is beautified with many glorified resorts with some of the most prominent names being the Hyatt and Renaissance, wherein most of the retreats are intimate and petite in nature.
The Latest in Panamanian Luxury
The Ocean Club International Hotel & Tower is the handiwork of showman, TV star, and real estate developer Donald Trump, and when it opens this spring, the new 70-storey high rise will be the first international venture for the Trump Hotel Collection and the largest hotel ever built in Latin America. Besides 369 condo hotel rooms, similar to the rooms comprising the flagship Trump International Hotel in New York City, this $400 million project includes an additional 630 purely residential condominiums.
The bridge between North and South America has been booming as of late, and this project is positioned to take advantage of that interest, both for leisure and business buyers. The Ocean Club is located in the exclusive Punta Pacifica area of Panama City, overlooking Panama Bay, a central location just ten minutes from the International Banking center, three minutes from world class shopping and nightlife, two minutes from the new Punta Pacifica Hospital, and fifteen minutes from the airport, which in turn is just two and a half hours from Miami or five and half from New York City.
Disney Cruise Line now in New York City
From May 2012, The Manhattan Cruise Terminal in New York City will be Disney’s new home port. Yes, Disney Cruise Line has a new terminal. At the time of making the announcement, the New York City Mayor, Michael Bloomberg confirmed this and hoped it will generate $11 million in additional revenue. New York is one of the top cruise markets. Disney will join Carnival, Norwegian, Holland, Cunard and Princess to sail from New York City.
New York City’s 23-foot Yellow Teddy Bear
Teddy bears are real cuddly; a girl can never have enough of them. It’s about time New York got one too; and now that it’s finally here, the city will now show. A giant yellow teddy bear which is said to be a sculptural masterpiece is up under the spotlight. The 23 foot tall teddy bear is crafted in bronze and appears to look slumped under a black bedside lamp.
The 35,000 pound bear with button eyes has been crafted by New York-based Swiss artist Urs Fischer. On display at Seagram Building skyscraper on Park Avenue, the bear will go under Christie’s hammer in May and is estimated to earn over $9 million.
New i Brand by BMW
Electric Mini prototypes and an electric Rolls-Royce with its EfficientDynamics program is under development, the BMW Group is getting serious about its environmental credentials. And now the German automaker has announced a new venture.
Announced earlier today, the i division will be a new range of environmentally-friendly vehicles produced under the BMW banner. Two vehicles will lead the way: the i3, a city car in the same vein as the Smart and the Toyota iQ, and the i8, a production version of the Vision EfficientDynamics concept car.
The company has set up BMW i Ventures with $100 million in capital based in New York City with a variety of initiatives under way.
Legendary Jewelry Online by Verdura
Verdura’s salon high above Fifth Avenue in New York City has long been a quiet haven for jewelry connoisseurs. The new website seeks to expand that old-world shopping experience into the internet with lush photography. Old favorites, like Verdura’s jeweled Maltese Cross designs will certainly attract new fans. The Maltese Cross cuff, shown here in peridot, blue topaz, diamond, enamel, and 18k yellow gold retails for $33,500.
Verdura is brilliantly interpreted online by website developer dotbox. Zo Björgvinsson, dotbox’s Creative Director, comments: “In the new website, we strove to recreate that rarified experience by marrying the brand’s allure with innovative design.”
The site also showcases special opportunities like this vintage, one-of-a-kind wrapped heart brooch which is available for purchase online until the end of February. The piece is done in brilliant yellow sapphires, with 16 brilliant-cut diamonds and 18kt yellow gold twisted rope ribbon. This particular brooch dates back to 1955 but the design dates back to 1941 when Verdura created it for actor Tyrone Power, who wanted to “give his heart” to his wife on Valentine’s Day.
Designs inspired by the beauty of nature are a big part of the Verdura legacy. When selected pieces went on display at the Houston Museum of Natural Science in 2007 one of the pieces on display was a lily of the valley piece which, like the one above, used a delicate combination of diamonds and pearl to evoke the delicacy of the tiny bell-like flowers.
Eristoff Vodka by Bacardi
Eristoff hails from the former Soviet state of Georgia, which Eristoff’s marketing has long capitalized on as “The Land of the Wolf”. A very popular ad for Eristoff shows a man walking through the streets and into the woods beyond. He comes to be chased by a pack of wolves. The payoff of the ad is that the man is running inside a snowglobe, eventually running into the outer glass wall of the globe. Eristoff’s logo is a wolf howling at a crescent moon.
Eristoff is made from 100% grain, tripled distilled and charcoal filtered. The recipe is said to be the original from 1806 created by Prince Eristoff of present day Georgia. It comes in three varieties: Original (80-proof); Red (40-proof), which comes in a red color and is flavored with sloe berries; Black (40-proof), which comes in a dark color and is flavored with wild berries. There are two other flavors abroad that are not part of the U.S. launch Limskaya (lime flavor) and Gold (caramel flavor).
Bacardi launched the brand in New York City on Feb. 16 in Manhattan’s meat-packing district close to midnight at a party featuring people dressed as wolves howling at the moon. Premium and super-premium spirits are growing again as the economy recovers, while value-priced brands are slipping. And vodka remains the fastest growing spirit. Vodka, which accounts for 31 percent of industry volume, was up 6.1 percent at 59 million cases in 2010.
A Quarter Century of Style
In 1981 he published his first book Making the Man and opened his first custom tailoring shop in New York City in ’86; a year later his Master of the Universe wardrobe created for Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko in Wall Street made him an instant icon. Now on the 25th anniversary of the original’s debut, Flusser is re-launching the shop with a new look in the space on E. 48th St. it has inhabited since 2002. In recent years someone else handled the day-to-day operations of the shop for Flusser though he remained available for consultations. Now he’s decided to take up the reigns once again and usher in a new era of elegance.
“My original vision for the shop had always been a kind of imaginary Savile Row tailor’s shop”"meets Park Avenue men’s club”"meets Gertrude Stein for a bullshot,” Flusser tells us. “In other words, an environment suffused with Old World taste and totems.” As a younger and more ‘downtown’ crowd has increasingly taken to the merits of fine tailoring, however, Flusser felt it was time for an update, both decor and clothes-wise. Having introduced a slimmer fitting, more body conscious silhouette the “Vanderbilt” to his repertoire in 2008, Flusser “wanted the look of the shop to more closely reflect that sleeker sartorial idiom.” Enter silver walls, alligator skin tables, 1940s leather and chrome furniture, black lacquer fittings, and of course a cocktail bar.
“I’ve stepped back in and basically redesigned everything from floors to ceiling, pillows to picture frames, shirt collars to tie widths,” Flusser notes. “In addition to the aesthetics of the business, I also decided that the hand-sewn, individually-cut, hand-recorded tradition-tied male custom tailoring business needed an infusion of modernity.” That comes in the form of a digitized inventory of each client’s purchases. “Should they be in momentary need of some ensemble coordinating advice or direction relative to the correct dress for a particular social occasion,” Flusser says, “everything is no further than our finger tips.” He also recently launched an iPhone app, BeSpeak, a “personal mobile stylist”.
Dylan’s Candy Bar, a premium Valentine’s Treat
Marriott’s Shadow Ridge in Palm Desert, California has opened its own Dylan’s Candy Bar, a West Coast outpost of the popular sweets emporium created by Dylan Lauren in New York City. Lauren, the daughter of Ralph and Ricky Lauren, is quickly turning a sweet tooth into an empire with stores in East Hampton, New York; Orlando, Florida and Houston, Texas. Last year she became an author of a book named “Dylan’s Candy Bar: Unwrap Your Sweet Life.”
The new shop has the same type of colorful, friendly decor as the original with bright turquoise walls, a candy-coated ceiling, custom candy-themed light fixtures and shelves full of tantalizing treats ranging from gummy bears and jelly beans to the various tempting flavors of Dylan’s Candy Bar’s exclusive line of chocolate bars. This store also features the Whirly Pop Tree with its branches of lollipops. For Valentine’s Day, Dylan’s Candy Bar offers the “Bleeding Heart Bar,” a premium Belgian milk chocolate bar oozing with sweet red caramel.
Marriott’s Shadow Ridge is part of Marriott’s Vacation Club and has 497 one- and two-bedroom villas. It is also home to Marriott’s Shadow Ridge Golf Club, the first Nick Faldo-designed championship golf course in the U.S., and the Faldo Golf Institute by Marriott. Any calories you burn up on the course can be quickly replaced at Dylan’s Candy Bar.
News & Updates
Recent News
H&M all set to unveil...
The very famous Swedish high street giants Hennes and Mauritz, who own H&M, COS, Monki and Cheap...
Aston Martin Rapide and...
A disease gets worse when you just don’t know how it hit you. The thing gets practical in terms of...
