The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| Van Cleef & Arpels sees flight to quality Posted: 20 Jun 2011 01:05 AM PDT LONDON, June 20 — Van Cleef & Arpels is seeing buoyant demand for its most exquisite jewels from an increasingly international class of super-rich as it expands its presence in fast-growing economies such as China and Russia.  Sotheby's Marta models a rare Van Cleef & Arpels 6.43-carat vivid pink diamond ring and a pair of yellow diamond earrings at the auction house in central London. — Reuters pic The pieces were on display in the sumptuous Lancaster House, St James's Palace, in central London, which mirrored the grandeur of the historic balls, and ranged in price up to €6.3 million (RM27.4 million). "We have more clients from different locations, and this is good: it means that there is a greater spread of culture, wealth and connoisseurship," De Quercize told Reuters in an interview. In former times, traditional collectors of Van Cleef & Arpels jewels, which have been worn by some of the world's most glamorous women such as the Duchess of Windsor, Marlene Dietrich and Madonna, were from a narrower group of ultra-wealthy. But now the emergence of fast-growing economies such as the BRICS — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — has created opportunities for Van Cleef & Arpels, which started from a boutique in Paris's plush Place Vendome in 1906 and has since grown to become a global brand with outlets around the world. Last week Van Cleef & Arpels, a subsidiary of Swiss-based luxury goods group Richemont, opened an outlet in Hong Kong and expanded retail space in Moscow. Impervious super-rich Soaring prices of precious metals such as gold and platinum, as well as diamonds, which have bounced back since the 2008 global financial crisis, are no deterrent to the super-rich. "There is a flight towards quality," De Quercize said. "People want signature pieces. People are looking for the best quality." Among the standout pieces of the Bals de Legende collection, sparkling under the Lancaster House's chandeliers, were a pair of earrings featuring two supremely rare briolette-cut diamonds of the highest clarity, each weighing just over 20 carats, for €6.3 million. The collection was inspired by balls, such as the fancy dress Winter Palace Ball in St Petersburg in 1903, attended by the doomed Romanovs, rulers of Russia, and an Oriental ball, an extravagant celebration of the East, in Paris in 1969. Some of the pieces from the Bals de Legende collection had already been bought, sources close to Van Cleef & Arpels said, and it came as no surprise that Russian and Far Eastern connoisseurs had come forward. — Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. | ||
| Marilyn Monroe ‘subway’ dress sells for US$4.6m Posted: 19 Jun 2011 09:04 PM PDT [unable to retrieve full-text content]BEVERLY HILLS, June 20 — The pleated ivory dress that blew around Marilyn Monroe in an iconic scene from “The Seven Year Itch” sold for US$4.6 million (RM14 million) at a weekend auction of Hollywood costumes — far exceeding its estimate. The so-called “subway” dress is perhaps the most recognisable in movie history. In Billy Wilder’s 1955 movie, ... 
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