The Fine English Company is a recently launched line of luxurious furniture, luggage and lifestyle accessories reminiscent of Britain's colonial past with a contemporary flair. Founded by former financial consultant Benedict Wormald, the company was born out of a desire to trade in his city lifestyle in London and turn a lifelong passion for classic British design and antiquities into a business. The Fine English Company's products combine traditional craftsmanship with its detailing of exotic animal skins, rare and native woods and veneers to create a range of collectible and desirable objects betokening the best of bespoke British luxury,

With 15 years of experience sourcing unusual items and commissioning bespoke products, Benedict worked tirelessly to create the Fine English Company's first collection, a selection of which is now available at Holland & Holland, the famous London gunmaker established in 1835 and holder of the Royal Warrant. The core range includes steamer trunks finished with exquisite detailing and exotic zebra and giraffe skins, for £2,750 - £5,750. Larger furniture pieces include traditional leather armchairs, sofas and footstools, and club-style fireplace fenders upholstered in tweed, zebra and giraffe skin giving them a contemporary flair.

Fine English also has range of smaller items for sporting gentlemen including traditional handmade slippers with leather soles in a range of animal skins, bold tweed, and for the pocket pirate, a skull and crossbones. Also available are a number of iconic humidors for the busy plutocrat with rich wood finishes such as ebony, macassar and walnut, some decorated with the skull and bones (£2,500) or iconic Union Jack. Also a collection of stunning bespoke pocket knives featuring William Morris acanthus engraving, 18k pink gold with gold lipped pearl details, Damascus steel blades and ivory from the woolly mammoth, rivaling creations from the world's finest gun and watch makers.



A well-curated collection of fine antiques is also on offer, drawn from military, architecture, automotive, aeronautical and sporting pursuits and restored to perfection. Of course the company offers a complete bespoke service as well; if you can conceive of it, Wormald promises to make it happen - he claims to have never turned down any client's request. From unique taxidermy - one recent example being the finest Van Ingen Tiger to be seen in Europe - to whole games rooms, gun rooms, dramatic architectural statement pieces and even a mahogany WC seat with the skull and bones motif, Fine English will furnish it to your requirements.

Louis Vuitton is bidding adieu to aging pop chameleon Madonna and replacing her with model-of-the-moment Lara Stone, nearly 30 years her junior, in its upcoming ad campaigns. The Dutch stunner, who appears on the cover of the new British Vogue and has starred in numerous other high-profile ad campaigns, will bring a breath of fresh air to the famed French brand. Stone poses on a bed of moss and ferns surrounded by doves in the new ads, photographed by Steven Meisel, which will debut in Februrary fashion mags. "Because the collection loosely took its cues from the idea of the New Age traveler, we decided to create a green, outdoorsy set that would evoke a spirit of peace and love," Vuitton designer Marc Jacobs tells Vogue UK. "To model the clothes, we wanted a modern, iconic, sexy beauty... It had to be Lara Stone."

This holiday season the Mark Ecko brands are doing a very appealing series of giveaways. Each day they are giving away a different item (apologies but you've missed a few of the days already) that is cool by itself, but made more desirable by some enhancement. For example, the pictured Ecko Boba Fett hoodie is signed by the guy who played Boba Fett (Jeremy Bulloch) in the classic trilogy. Nice! Other giveaways include items such as an Ecko Playboy shirt signed by Hugh himself. You get the idea right? Aside from apparel there is also a watch - but mostly they are pop culture themed clothing and shoes.

The giveaway is held at the ShopEcko.com website here. You need to go there to enter, and you apparently must re-enter each day for that day's giveaway. They really want you revisiting that website a lot to check out the various Ecko sub-brands. Worth checking out.

For our final installment on the eye-popping holiday offerings from that glossy chronicle of the filthy rich Robb Report - following the matching custom private jet and megayacht set costing $500 million and more - we have a bespoke basket of goodies from famed French luxury goods house Hermès. Starting at $215,000 depending on what exactly the recipient chooses to indulge in, the gift includes: a custom eight-piece luggage set handcrafted by a single Hermès craftsman in Paris from their incredible range of luxurious, exotic leathers (above) including crocodile, alligator, ostrich and lizard, dyed in any of 300 shades; consultation with a specialist from Hermès to create a bespoke suit, topcoat, shoes, and leather and knit accessories, all of which will be made to the recipient's specifications; and a private tour of the Hermès leather atelier in Paris for the recipient and a guest. Some luggage items, like the portable alligator skin bar trunk the firm once made for Sammy Davis Jr., may take up to a year to complete.

Sometimes there exists the mistaken notion that do-it-yourselfers are not interested in luxury products. Made by hand, no longer only implies a cost cutting measure and no where is this more evident than in the products available to home knitters. What better way to give yourself a gift than to use the finest fibers available on the market.

The fine fiber yarns available both through specialty shops and the Internet offer a range of products for those who don't care if the raw materials cost more than the average finished sweater one might find in a high-end retail store.

We've previously written about String, a knitting store with branches in New York and Greenwich, which now offers customers its exclusive Cashinetta yarn. This chunky 100% cashmere yarn is available in 7 colors and each 160 yard ball of yarn sells for $180 a piece.

Other entries in the luxury yarn market include products from, Windy Valley Muskox, a family farm located in Alaska. The company is devoted to providing knitters with unusual high quality yarns from exotic animals. There is pure Qiviut, which is from the fine undercoat of the Muskox and sells for $90 per 218 yard ball. According to the manufacturer this rare fiber is considered warmer than wool and finer than cashmere. This unusual fiber is also hypoallergenic and will not shrink. They also offer Vicuna another rare fiber from the almost extinct ancestor of the modern day alpaca. The Vicuna lives only in the upper regions of the Andes Mountains and the methods of obtaining the fiber under strict regulation by the Peruvian government to protect the remaining animals.. Vicuna yarn, only available in its natural cinnamon color, is offered for $300 per 214 yard ball of yarn.

Tanglewood Fiber Creations offers hand-spun and hand dyed cashmere through local knitting stores and on-line retailers. One aspect of their unique natural cashmere is that the great natural variety is seen in individual skeins and is priced accordingly. The hand dyed cashmere is offered knittingcentral.com for prices ranging from $144 to $180 for various sized balls of yarn. They also offer hand spun yarn that has been laced with vintage beads, again by hand, for the knitter who likes the combination of the natural textured cashmere and a little sparkle. Knitting Central sells 50 yard balls for $189 on-line or at their store in Westport, Connecticut.

Art Basel isn't the only thing taking Miami by storm - dashing designer Duncan Quinn has opened a limited edition pop-up shop in the city's design district that's a shrine to gentlemanly pursuits and fine tailoring. In addition to his full range of Savile Row-inspired menswear the British-born bon vivant's 6,000-sq.-ft. space features a full-sized indoor croquet pitch; a 1962 Maserati 3500GT, one of only 359 made, specially ordered and owned by famed Formula One driver Peter Revson; and a killer collection of vintage Ducati motorbikes, including a 450 Desmo from the 70's, a 350 Desmo, built in 1969 and a 1985 F1 prototype.

There are also limited edition croquet shirts and t-shirts exclusive to the venue; a bespoke lounge with Dormeuil fabrics; an installation of Ruby couture motorcycle helmets from France; Hendrick's Gin cocktails; and more. Famed shoe designer Christian Louboutin, who has his own op-up shop down the block, was their first customer, coming in to buy an outfit for his own opening, while Birmingham band The Twang, who opened the Glastonbury Festival in front of 500,000 people, played a one-off show for the DQ faithful there on Friday night. The shop will be open until Dec. 12th, then once a month for dinners and tastings and otherwise by appointment.

Last year color-defining company Pantone chose sunny Mimosa as the shade for 2009. Their choice for the color of 2010 is PANTONE® 15-5519 Turquoise, a tranquil blue-green hue that recalls tropical waters and clear skies. The choice marks another year of distinctly cheery hues, far less dramatic than 2008's moody blue iris or 2007's fiery chili pepper red. Pantone's color experts say that the turquoise color can be used as an accent both in clothing and in home decor to provide a calming and colorful touch. They are also pushing it as a wedding color, pointing out how well it offsets white. One trendsetter has already embraced turquoise, Michelle Obama wore a bright turquoise dress on December 2 while unveiling the White House holiday decorations.

Manuela Moollan's ahilya scarves take their name from an 18th century Indian queen, Ahilya Bai Holkar, who was graced with the title of goddess and called "The Philosopher Queen" for her benevolent rule and municipal gifts. Moollan's scarves, however, are products of Kasmir -- which is to say, they're cashmere.

But not just any scarves and not just any cashmere. To paraphrase the deliciously delivered education Vesper gave to Bond: "There are scarves, and there are scarves. ahilya is the latter." The throats and underbellies of Kashmiri goats are combed for threads that are twelve to fourteen micrometers thick, the standard of the most exemplary woven wools and cashmere. It would take seven of those fibers to equal the thickness of a human hair. The fibers are then hand spun, hand woven, and hand dyed. There are no mechanical processes in their creation -- you know, kind of like the way the finest things have been made since before the days of Sanskrit.

ahilya offers five collections, from the for-kids Tumble line of blankets and smaller scarves (kids love goats, you know), to the diamond weave Touch, to the diaphanous Ethereal. For the ornate, look no further than Lace, which pairs a Chantilly or Calais trim to the woven body of the scarf. And for the ultimate, there's the obviously-named Ultimate collection if you think leafed gold or silver thread will help keep you warmer, or at least better looking. When you're ready to wear a scarf, you can find ahilya online starting at about €215 ($318 U.S.).

HELLO IT'S Noko Jeans! from Noko Jeans on Vimeo.

Novelty isn't enough to keep the latest in Swedish jeans on store shelves. Noko, which debuted last week, is an upscale brand with an unusual twist -- it's made by people who could never partake in the style. The jeans are manufactured in North Korea, where access to jeans is rare at best.

Swedish department store PUB, decided to stop selling the jeans in order to avoid controversy. After all, who'd want to be associated with the land of Kim Jong Il? The department store's management claims it didn't know of the jeans' origin and killed the deal as soon as it learned of the North Korea connection. Sweden is effectively the western world's envoy to Pyongyang.

Rene Stephansen, PUB's director, told The Associated Press, "For us, this is not a question of Noko Jeans - this is a question about a political issue that PUB doesn't want to be associated with." He continued, "This is not the forum for the discussion."

Noko Jeans was developed by three Swedish entrepreneurs who wanted to engage North Korea, end the isolation ... and probably capitalize on the Communist mystique. The jeans are only available in black, and they aren't cheap. One pair will set you back $215 a pop!

The plan was that Noko Jeans would be sold at Aplace, a store within the PUB store, according to Stephansen. Aplace isn't on board with PUB's decision, calling it "a bit cowardly."

You may be wondering why we would promote "simple" clothing when, after all, Luxist is all about luxury and the high end of living. The answer is because sometimes you just want a t-shirt -- or a basic pair of pants, or a simple dress -- that fits, is flattering, and is made of quality material, and you're willing to pay a bit more to get something that will last longer than an item purchased at The Gap.

I recently stumbled upon Reality in Style, which, according to its website, "was created in 2009 by college best friends Denise Apicella and Rachel Blakeman. After several decades of working in various fields, Denise and Rachel were continuously frustrated by the lack of comfortable, stylish and high quality clothing." After some research -- polling real women -- and "after picking up one too many backless shirts, Denise and Rachel decided to create an affordable clothing line emphasizing comfortable fabrics and styles designed to flatter different body types."

I haven't purchased an item from the line, as it doesn't offer petite sizes, but I simply put it out there for those readers who wear what a (former) friend called "grown-up sizes." The dress shown, for example, is called Tony, and is sleeveless stretch-cotton with a pleated belt accent. $395, available in even sizes 0-14.

See the gallery for some other basics.

Actress Megan Fox and her Marilyn Monroe tattoo will be in our sights even more now that she is replacing Victoria Beckham as the face of Emporio Armani underwear and Armani Jeans. Reputed to making $2 million in the deal, Fox will show off her great figure in print ads and on billboards. The ad campaign was shot in early fall in Los Angeles by fashion photographers Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, and according to WWD, the campaign will roll out worldwide in January. Fox is best known for appearing in form-hugging outfits in the blockbuster Transformers movies and recently starred in Jennifer's Body as the lead. She also got the full-on New York Times treatment as the cover story in its November 15 Magazine.

A company like Porsche is always looking ahead. If not to avoid crashing around that fast-approaching corner, then to come up with the next advanced feat engineering, from the variable turbocharger to the dual-clutch transmission and everything in between. So while temperatures continue to drop, Porsche Design is already looking to the spring and summer with its latest sportswear collection.

The result of a longstanding collaboration with Adidas, the newest Porsche Design Sport collection features items for driving, running, swimming, sailing, tennis and more. There's a good 26 new items in the collection, which you can check out in the gallery below.

We've been following the fortunes of Christian Lacroix as the brand struggled to find a buyer. For a time it looked like there were a variety of suitors ready to snap up the brand but as Fashion Wire Daily reports a French court has now advised that the couture house should undergo a massive restructuring and lay off about 100 employees, essentially turning Lacroix into a licensing business rather than a functioning fashion house.

The ruling from the Commercial Court of Paris says that Lacroix must close down its ready-to-wear business and couture division and won't be part of the upcoming Paris couture season in January for the first time since his show in 1987. The French Industry Ministry has said that it will continue to search for a buyer for the brand. One of the bidders for the company was Sheik Alhassan Bin Ali d'Ajman but the financial woes have recently commanded his attention. Italy's Borletti Group, owner of the Printemps and La Rinascente department store chains, has dropped out of the running.

In order to continue on in name only Lacroix will need to select a manufacturer to license its women's ready-to-wear and accessories collections and close the three Lacroix boutiques in Paris, New York and Las Vegas.

The web isn't just for bargains. Some of the top luxury lifestyle brands in the world are turning to the internet to beef up their sales -- a must in a market where brick-and-mortar is lagging in the all-important holiday season. Giorgio Armani and Valentino Fashion Group, which have generally steered clear of the prolies shopping online, are changing their attitudes, as they have had to cope with the most severe recession in seventy years. Roberto Cavalli and Salvatore Ferragamo have joined the fray, too, both opening online stores in the past month.

In addition to younger buyers who are more comfortable skipping the store, a sense of "luxury shame" is causing many to turn to the web. The anonymity, once reserved for porn purchases, allows customers to indulge in big-ticket buys without having to endure looks of envy (or worse). If you need proof that luxury spending is going digital, take a look at Italy. This year, online sales of Italian luxury products are expected to surge 42 percent to $500 million, according to a study by Politecnico. Last year, it fell six percent for the luxury goods industry as a whole. In Italy, around 14 percent of holiday shopping will occur ont eh web, according to Deloitte's 2009 Christmas Survey.

The luxury industry's online endeavors are not limited to traditional stores, though Stefano Sassi, Valentino's CEO, notes that the startup costs are lower and that "There's a very interesting margin on e-commerce" as a result. Armani has launched applications for smartphones, including the iPhone and Blackberry and has launched a Christmas website.

Mackage is so pleased with sales in its first NYC pop-up boutique, in the Meatpacking District, that it has opened a second, this time in SoHo. Open through December, the store will carry the Canadian company's Fall/Winter '09 collection for men and women including butter-soft leather bombers, shearling styles, and its ever-popular Puffy down-filled winter coats. The line is popular with such celebrities as Hilary Duff, Jessica Biel, Elizabeth Hurley, Eva Mendes, Kristen Bell, Will.I.Am. and John Legend, to name a few. And a non-celebrity -- me. The coats are beautiful, practical, and better-priced than I expected for such style and quality. The SoHo store's details can be found in the photo above.