A Luxury Travel Blog

The Denver Art Museum is the only venue in the United States for the internationally acclaimed exhibition Yves Saint Laurent: The Retrospective. It will be on show at the museum from 25th March to 8th July 2012.  This retrospective of the designer’s 40 years of creativity features a stunning selection of 200 haute couture outfits along with numerous photographs, drawings and films. These illustrate the development of Saint Laurent’s style and the historical foundations of his work.

Organised thematically, the presentation blends design and art to explore the full arc of Saint Laurent’s career from his first days at Dior in 1958 through to the splendour of his final runway collection in 2002.  Highlights include The Gender Revolution galleries where visitors will see how Saint Laurent bent (and sometimes broke) the rules of what women were expected to wear impacting on the wardrobe of today’s modern woman; The Yves Saint Laurent and Women section, displaying the clothing of the historic women who wore and supported Saint Laurent, including Princess Grace of Monaco, Catherine Deneuve and Paloma Picasso; The Last Ball section, featuring exquisite evening dresses from the glory days of haute couture complete with a red carpet; and The Colours of Yves Saint Laurent gallery, where guests will enjoy vibrant examples from his collections and hundreds of fabric samples

During his 40 years of designing, Saint Laurent (1936-2008) revolutionised the female wardrobe by borrowing the tuxedo, the trouser suit, shorts and the safari jacket from men’s clothing, transferring these symbols of power from one gender to the other. He empowered women with this new form of clothing, turning traditional menswear into haute couture. Saint Laurent reflected women’s changing role in society ahead of any other designer, setting the styles of the day. The show premiered in Paris in 2010 at the Petit Palais, Musee des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris.

Tickets go on sale to the general public on 20th January 2012.  A number of Denver hotels are offering YSL packages – guests who purchase the VIP hotel packages will receive two tickets valid for any date and time along with an audio guide for the exhibition for each room booked. The tickets also allow guests to enter the exhibit at the next available time slot, bypassing any queues.

I have recently been lucky enough to acquire a number of items from the FB Collection.  Founded by Harry Brantly and Max Leese in Rio de Janeiro in 2005, this beachwear collection exudes quality and style.  Among the collection are beautiful, brightly-coloured (£85) or patterned (£95) linen beach towels. These towels are so soft and lightweight yet apparently resistant to sand and seawater. At 175 x 140cm, they are still a good size for a beach towel yet won’t take up too much space in your luggage.

Also in the FB collection is a range of men’s swim shorts. These trunks come in two lengths – Transcoco or the slightly longer Leblon line (pictured here in yellow) – both priced at £115.  Alternatively, you could choose from the patterned Copacabana edition (also pictured here), priced at £135. These are ultra-lightweight, made with 100% Italian cotton, and with a distinctive Brazilian tailored cut.

Last but by no means least are the FB Frescobol bats. Hand-crafted from beautiful wood, they come with a  sack that can store both bats and the balls, and that has an outer zip pocket ideal for stowing away your wallet, keys and money safely. The set is a steal at £110 for such beautiful quality and would serve as a great Christmas gift for that special someone who seems to already have everything.

Pictures courtesy of FB Collection.

When it comes to your honeymoon, it’s always a good idea to prepare way ahead of time. That way once you get there, all you have to worry about is lounging, relaxing and celebrating your recent nuptials. In terms of destination, the majority of today’s honeymooners opt to go to warm and sunny luxury beach resorts. If you fall under that category, you’ll need plenty of gorgeous swimsuits, cover-ups and accessories to make you feel romantic and sexy. For any honeymoon beach getaway, you’re sure to take plenty of photos to remember your trip, so you’re going to want to look your best. Read on for all the essentials for a romantic luxury beach getaway.

Swimsuits

As a rule of thumb, anything white is perfect for a honeymoon. Not only is white the color for brides in many Western countries, but it also symbolizes purity, grace and innocence. Melissa Odabash is one designer who always features gorgeous bikini sets that evoke a sense of romance and sensuality. On the other hand, Brazilian brands like Despi and ViX specialize in sexy yet sophisticated swimsuits with gorgeous embellishments that pop beautifully against your skin. Finally, Sauvage is perfect for fashionable brides who crave that glamorous beach-chic style; featuring sparkling Swarovski crystal details, Sauvage swimsuits are elegant and perfectly chic for a beach honeymoon.

Cover-Ups

If you’re planning a honeymoon beach getaway, most likely you’ll be staying at a resort. You’ll need a lot of cover-ups and dresses, as they will most likely be your typical daytime outfit of choice at the resort. Think tunics, kaftans and dresses in fabrics that are lightweight and flowy. Both Debbie Katz South Beach and 6 Shore Road make breathtaking cover-ups in an assortment of styles. All styles feature unique details and embellishments, and are made with breezy, luxurious fabrics. In addition, Melissa Odabash makes gorgeous ready-to-wear resort pieces that work perfectly as cover-ups or as an outfit all themselves. In any of these designers’ styles, you’ll look and feel sexy, sensual and perfectly romantic on your honeymoon.

Accessories

Every woman knows that it’s all about the detail and certain accessories can really make or break an outfit. For any honeymoon beach getaway, make sure to bring at least one pair of flip-flops. Havaianas and Ipanemas are two brands that are affordable, comfortable and feature a variety of colors and styles. In addition to flip-flops, hats are essential for a honeymoon beach getaway, as they help keep the blazing hot sun out of your face. In terms of style, go for a floppy hat; not only are floppy hats fun, but they also add a sense of elegance, mystery and high fashion to any beach ensemble. In terms of jewelry, you want to keep it simple, so either go for a chunky bracelet or a necklace. Cocobelle makes gorgeous accessories, including beautiful beaded cuffs and belts, perfect for pulling your entire beach look together.

And finally, the number one thing not to forget for any honeymoon beach getaway is the honeymoon lingerie. Choose styles that compliment your body type and get to sizzling!

Susan Bodack is the Director of Social Media Marketing at InStyleSwimwear.com.

If you would like to be a guest blogger on A Luxury Travel Blog in order to raise your profile, please contact us.

While basking in the sun is undoubtedly relaxing, today’s smart sunbathers understand the dangers associated with the sun’s rays. But rather than smothering sunscreen all over your body, what if there was an easier way to protect yourself on a warm-weather vacation?

Look no further than Mott 50, a stylish new clothing collection that absorbs the sun’s rays before they reach your skin.  The brand boasts a full range of skirts, tees, polos, tunics dresses, pants and jackets for women, t-shirts and polos for men, and a range of hats for both sexes.   What’s even better? A percentage of proceeds from the protective skincare line is donated to cancer research.  Talk about the perfect pieces to pack for a beach vacation!  Prices range from $35-$145.

Rachel Greenberg is the Founder of Suitcase Secrets.

If you would like to be a guest blogger on A Luxury Travel Blog in order to raise your profile, please contact us.

While the annual holiday is for most of us the highlight of the year, the return home can be a daunting prospect. Not only are we hit with the reality of returning to work but there’s also a host of mundane tasks that need to be tackled. In addition to adjusting our body-clock, processing the holiday snaps and exchanging any leftover spending money, there is usually a huge pile of washing and ironing that needs to be seen to. The average 4 person family returns from holiday with around 10kg of dirty washing. Washing, drying and ironing 10kg of clothing can take around 9 hours which is in essence, an entire day’s work.

However there is an alternative to knuckling down and bringing on the post-holiday blues with a full day of washing and ironing. Your Holiday Wash offers a unique new service – they will collect, wash, dry, iron and return to you a full holiday’s worth of washing within three days, all neatly folded and in a secure box.

The service was developed and launched following a survey of average holiday makers; 52% of which stated that dealing with the piles of dirty clothes that return with them after a week or two in the sun is their most dreaded post-holiday chore.  The aptly named Your Holiday Wash saw a gap in the market for a service that could make the transition from sun and sand to the 9-5, easier.

Their aim is to make the service as well-rounded and complete as possible. Each customer is provided with an environmentally friendly laundry bag which they can take on holiday with them, placing all dirty clothing directly into the laundry bag. Your Holiday Wash will even separate the colours and whites, thereby nearly eliminating the need to consider the washing or how it will be handled upon the return home.

What’s more, understanding that collection and delivery from a home address is not always convenient, Your Holiday Wash is able to provide the exact same service to a work or office address.  They will even send a text to your phone once they’re on their way with your clean and fresh laundry, with the convenience of delivery up to 9pm so you don’t miss the return of your holiday wardrobe.

While having your washing dealt with and delivered directly to you is undeniably a fantastic way to reduce the depth of the post-holiday blues, there are a few other steps that can be taken which should help ease the transition back into the routine of daily life:

1. Start planning your next holiday

Whether this means simply starting to save, or whether it’s hopping online and reading about all the fantastic places that you’d like to visit, starting to think about the next trip away will provide a welcome distraction from everyday life and should help retain that holiday feeling.

2. Do things that remind you of your holiday

If there’s a song you listened to many times abroad, put it on before you head off to work or while you relax in the evening. Alternatively, remake a meal that you enjoyed whilst abroad or enjoy a night in a restaurant that serves the food of your destination. You could even throw a holiday themed party, complete with summery cocktails and beach games – whatever it may be that will help keep you in the holiday mood.

3. Keep the holiday feeling

Look through your holiday pictures with family and friends, share your holiday adventure and keep that holiday feeling going for a bit longer.

Whatever you choose to do to keep yourself in the holiday spirit, there’s no harm in seeing what Your Holiday Wash can offer. Not only will their service remove some of the stress and strain that comes with a return home, but those nine hours spent washing can be left to the professionals, leaving the holidaymaker with an extra day to relax and rejuvenate.

Even though most of us will never be ridiculously rich, we can travel and live like famous celebs with just a few tricks and tips. You don’t need to break the bank to rub elbows with the rich and mighty, just get rid of the Hawaiian shirt and other giveaways and get ready to live like kings.

Designer goods

The days of standing on the other side of the glass from designer bags and other couture items are over. Now you can wipe the drool from your chin and instead belly-up to the keyboard. Online companies like Bag, Borrow or Steal offer designer and couture items for a monthly fee. The only catch is that you have to return them at the end of the month. In the meantime though, you can dress to impress.

Private chefs

Private chefs are a luxury that only the uber rich can afford to have full time, but even modest budgets can afford to have a professional private chef cook for a dinner party. Fees vary, but for your buck you’ll get a chef to do the menu planning, shopping, cooking, serving and cleanup. Having a chef cook for your next dinner party will impress everybody and have them thinking you live like a star.

Vacations

Vacation rental services allow you the chance to travel like the ultra rich. Celebs and stars rent luxury villas and homes for maximum privacy when they travel, and you can too. In the off season, many of these homes become quite affordable, and if you split the costs between a group of people you can vacation in the same home as Madonna or Shaq. Besides, hotels have a lot of grossness and bad juju associated with them.

Celebrity grooming

Haircuts, manicures, pedicures and other grooming done at high-end salons and spas can easily run into hundreds of dollars. The trick is to sign up as a model for aspiring stylists. You’ll be in the hands of a student but under the direct supervision of an experienced stylist or technician. This way you can get top dollar treatments for very low cost.

Designer clothes for less

The trick to dressing like the rich without paying top dollar is to pay attention and be diligent. Bargain sites like Overstock, Amazon, BlueFly and others will sell designer labels at greatly reduced prices. You may not get the exact color you wanted, but with prices at least 50 percent cheaper, do you really care? The best deals go fast, so the best strategy is to browse often and jump on a deal when you see it.

Even though you may be slaving away at your 9 to 5, you can look, dress and travel like the rich. These few simple tricks will help you get some of the perks that are available only to those with fat wallets, and you won’t have to tell a soul your secret as you show up to work with a new designer handbag each month or when you jet off to some exotic island on your vacation.

Jennifer Williams is a freelance travel writer and author of All Over Tech.

If you would like to be a guest blogger on A Luxury Travel Blog in order to raise your profile, please contact us.

Stylish travel has always inspired the House of Gucci since it was founded in 1921, and so this theme is further explored in its latest Cruise Collection for 2011. With an elegant voyage very much in mind, Creative Director Frida Giannini interprets the contemporary female wardrobe with faultless nonchalance, alternating between an edgy chic urban attitude and an ultra glamorous spirit.

A weekly pick of luxury travel links for your perusal…

• Craving for Travel: Celebrating Life’s Moments
• Check out the luxury spas portfolio from Johansens
• Rollable travel shoes (!) from Spare Pear
• Boutique chic from Villa Elena, Sicily

For those who aren’t already familiar, Shanghai Tang is a leading luxury lifestyle brand emerging from China, offering everything from luxury apparel for men, women and children, as well as accessories and homeware.

And now, if you own an iPod Touch or iPhone, you can enjoy their latest collection courtesy of their free ‘City Chic’ app. The collection “embraces the euphoria of love with a sense of restraint and creative defiance, reflecting Shanghai Tang’s distinctive spirit of interpreting diverse artistic and cultural elements with a contemporary Chinese chic style”.

You can view items in the collection, watch video footage of models parading up and down at a Shanghai Tang fashion show and redeem vouchers that give you money off at certain stores or on certain products.  But the app goes much further than this… it also tells you the coolest places to eat, drink, shop and party in Shanghai.

Whether you’re looking for a boutique 5 star hotel (88 Xintiandi), a chic little lounge bar (DR Bar near Ma Dang Road), the private tearooms of the Whampoa Club, or a sophisticated nightclub perched on top of a skyscraper (M1NT), or other hidden secrets of the city, you’ll find it all neatly packaged in this app.

There’s also, of course, the fine offerings of Shanghai Tang itself, including the Shanghai Tang Café, the Shanghai Tang Xintiandi Flagship Store, the Shanghai Tang Peninsula hotel store, the Shanghai Tang Shangri-la hotel store and the Shanghai Tang Jinjiang hotel store, making this a great little app for anyone looking to ‘live it up’ in Shanghai.  The app is free – download it, give it a try and let us know what you think.

Remember the Travelwrap that we reviewed earlier this year? Well, it sounds like the company is going from strength to strength.  In addition to winning Luxury Gift of the Year (UK) 2008, it’s now a recipient of the prestigious Best Company of the Year, International Women in Business at the 2009 Stevie Awards.

Alongside the new autumnal colours for the Travelwrap, this season sees the introduction of luxury lounge socks – the perfect accompaniment for a winter wardrobe and Christmas stocking filler.

Whether travelling for business or pleasure, take the time to indulge in some serious retail therapy at Heathrow this Autumn. Catering for your every want and desire, the airport is home to a wide collection of premium brands including Paul Smith, Prada, Harrods, Gucci and Sony – all at airport prices.  Here are their picks for the ultimate in luxury and opulence this season.

Enjoy travelling through time with the elegant Cartier Ballon Bleu watch. Available to purchase from Harrods Heathrow stores for £23,000, the 18 carat white gold timepiece features a case set with round-cut diamonds and Cartier calibre 057 quartz movement.

Put pen to paper with the limited edition Montblanc Skeleton A380. Made with 750 white gold and adorned with 42 diamonds, this investment scribe is available to purchase from The Pen Shop and costs £11,086.95.

Add the colourful characters of The Dalmore (home to the oldest maturing stocks of any single Highland malt) to your drinks cupboard with the The Dalmore Sirius 1951 available exclusively from the World Duty Free store in Terminal 5 for £10,000. Relish the aromas of intense citrus and honeyed chocolate followed by roasted coffee, crushed walnuts and hints of liquorice spice. With just twelve bottles made, and five already sold, ensure you don’t miss out by going online to World of Whiskies where a limited number are available to pre-order.

With thigh-high boots remaining the must-have footwear for Autumn, be sure to check out the sumptuous Paulitta boots from Bally. A step above the rest, these black stretch suede and leather boots cost £1,435 and feature a 130mm brass lace ‘cage’ heel and gilt edge platform.

For state of the art eyewear, look no further than the new Pit Boss sunglasses from The Oakley Elite Collection. Available exclusively from the World Duty Free store in Terminal 5, these shades have taken four years to develop and seamlessly blend the world’s most advanced optical technologies with truly unique aesthetics. There are three lens and frame colour combinations to choose from each costing £425 per pair.

Don’t you just hate it when you turn up somewhere, only to find someone else is wearing an identical garment?  I wonder how Rihanna felt when she emerged from the Hotel de Rome in Berlin today and found herself being upstaged by the doorman…

These days it seems it’s not enough to offer just a few drinks and snacks in a hotel minibar.   Hotels are going a step further, offering all manner of items from bikinis (W Retreat & Spa, Maldives) to gourmet dog biscuits (The Loews Hotel, Denver).  

But perhaps one of the most unusual items you’ll ever find is an oxygen cannister!   Rooms at the Banyan Tree Ringha can be up to 10,500 feet above sea level and so the minibars come with a cannister containing almost 10 litres of lung-boosting freshness.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve ever come across in a hotel minibar?

The Travelwrap from The Travelwrap Company arrived at A Luxury Travel Blog HQ this week.  This company offers the perfect travelling companion in the form of their original, contemporary, Scottish-knitted cashmere Travelwraps.  So soft and luxurious,  they are  made from the finest cashmere: the company  spent a long time finding the right mill  to do the  knitting and dying of the ethically-sourced  yarn as the finish and palette of cashmere is so important. Knitted by one of the world’s top cashmere suppliers in Scotland, this was a vital ingredient in getting The Travelwrap exactly right.

There are four Travelwrap collections  available, with a variety of designs to choose from, covering classic and contemporary styles.   Ours  is ‘Poppies’ from the Eclectic  Collection (pictured) and it came in a beautifully-presented signature gift box and wrapped in tissue paper.   As we lifted it from the box, it exuded luxury in every way and we could immediately see why it was well suited for travel, being so lightweight.   Also, being 100% cashmere,  it  beats those awful acrylic blankets you get on flights by a country  mile – in fact, it’s not really fair to draw any comparison!

It’s with good reason, therefore, that The Travelwrap  earned the prestigious title  of ‘Luxury Gift of the Year 2008′. Although marketed for travel, you could equally use The Travelwrap at home, curled up on the sofa in your PJs with a good book. And despite being largely  a girl thing, The Travelwrap  also comes in smaller sizes for toddlers and children. What’s more,  the company is to launch slightly more muted Travelwraps for Him collection later in 2009.

Travelwraps retail from £191 adult/ £140 children and are available online.  But here’s some good news for you,  our readers!

The Travelwrap Company is kindly offering readers of  A Luxury Travel Blog a 20% discount on purchases from The Eclectic Collection or Evening Collection made  up to and including  30th April 2009.   Just quote the promotional code TRAV1.

Gwen Stefani isn’t just known for her music.   She’s also a fashion designer and was recently named ‘top celebrity designer’ by In Touch Weekly magazine, ahead of the likes of Justin Timberlake, Victoria Beckham and others. And her eye for design has clearly been noted by W Hotels who have commissioned her to design new uniforms for their female bar stuff.   The new range will be phased in in December 2008.