Louis Vuitton Denim Bag: Snob or Slob?

I have no words for Louis Vuitton's python-interior embroidered denim bag with multi-beaded handle (and are those feathers I see dangling nonchalantly?!?!?).

I guess one could use it inside out and pretend it's really a python bag lined in denim. I mean it would make more sense but then you'd lose out on the kaleidoscope of logos in rainbow colors and we all know LV fans love their logos!

This actually makes me sad; after touring Louis Vuitton's home and atelier I'd developed a newfound respect for the brand, but this-- this makes no sense whatsoever (though it could have been made purely for editorial purposes, or for Beyonce). and not only,I think the coach wholesale is your good choice,too.

What do you think?

All that glitters is not true geisha in Kyoto

There are five women, all strangers, in the hot pool, surrounded by drifts of fluffy snow. Small lights glitter in the tree above. The sun is setting, and steam curls over the water.

We're all naked, thank goodness.

Shortly earlier, I'd a moment of panic when I stepped outside from the hotel to descend the stone steps to this onsen, a traditional Japanese hot-spring spa. What if all the Japanese women already in the water are wearing bathing suits? There was a sign inside the changing room saying "swim suit no", but that could have just been another quirk of Japanese-to-English translation, like the sign I saw on the skifield yesterday for "Gondora tickets".

This is my first onsen visit; imagine the culture-clash horror if I've blundered nude into a temple of modesty. The Japanese are renowned for shyness and restraint; communal frolicking in the buff isn't the first activity that I'd expect them to enjoy.

As I shuffled down the steps, blushing for my nakedness, the Japanese ladies already luxuriating in the water averted their eyes. "Konichiwa," an elderly woman smiled as I plunged myself into the warmth.

I snuck the briefest of looks. She was naked too. Relief.

Onsen is one of Japan's finest traditions, and it has become a favourite adjunct to the snowsports lifestyle. Everyone from late adolescence to dotage is here, some with little face-cloths draped over their heads, most with their eyes shut, just relaxing. The alpine village of Hakuba, three hours west of Tokyo on the main island of Honshu, is famous for its thermal springs and surrounding network of interlinked skifields, and most of the hotels and guesthouses have private bathing pools.

It's all surprisingly cheap - a night's accommodation at a mid-range hotel like our Mominoki Hotel in Hakuba is 12,000 ($147) per room, per night; a lunchtime bowl of fragrant vegetables, meat or fish and noodles with miso soup is around 800; and a day's skiing, including bullet-train tickets to and from Tokyo, lift passes and all gear and clothing rental is 8000.

Hakuba is the heart of the Nagano district, home to dozens of skifields and host of the 1998 Winter Olympics. The Olympic heritage lingers; a Scandinavian toboggan team left graffiti on the walls of a sushi bar, Kikyoya, in Hakuba village, and the owner - a garrulous former professional baseballer - has turned it into a tradition, encouraging visitors to scrawl their own messages on the walls.

The bar is full of Westerners on the night I visit, all eating salmon roe, squid on rice, tuna marbled with rich, flavoursome fat.

Only two of the patrons are Japanese, including my friend Chieko Oto. So where are all her compatriots? They seem to be at a nearby McDonald's, leaving the local food to the foreigners. In our two days of skiing together, Chieko and I have eaten like princesses - rice and poached salmon for breakfast, cool soba noodles with wasabi for supper, lunch of grilled lamb on rice, served with green tea.

Here, a snow holiday isn't just about deep powder, long runs and dodging the snowboarders - although there's plenty of that. It's an experience for the whole body and mind: hot sake at the end of the day; a massage at night; sitting in the onsen, poking one toe out of the water to feel the spike of cold.

In Takasaki, a mid-sized city between Nagano and Tokyo, we find a jazz bar where couples sit close on small stools, watching the chefs. We eat shabu-shabu, a bubbling hotpot of stock on our table, into which we plunge fine slices of beef, mushrooms, greens and tight little bundles of noodles. I'm pressing Chieko for some culinary tips.

"What do Westerners do wrong when we use chopsticks?" I want to know. A couple of nights earlier, at a sashimi counter in Tokyo, my friend Robert (an expat) chided me for picking up a sliver of pickled ginger in the same chopstick-ful as my fish.

"Don't do that," he says sharply, then: "Sorry. It's just that the ginger is a palate-cleanser. You're only supposed to eat it between courses."

Reluctantly, Chieko confirms Robert was right about the ginger, but like so many Japanese she'll do anything to avoid offending me, and steers us to a different subject.

But how does this innate politeness _ which seems to be at the centre of Japan's orderly, self-contained nature - intersect with skiing, always such a chaotic, messy business? On my journey from Auckland, through Tokyo to the skifields, I've observed thoughtfulness of a scale undreamt of in most Western societies, and I've been curious to know whether the general air of restraint will dissipate when we arrive at the snow.

On the Shinkansen (bullet train) from Tokyo, a conductor in the carriage turns and bows to the passengers before passing through the sliding door at the end.

When I stop to take photographs of the vertiginous Olympic jump-stadium near Hakuba, a young father stops building a snowman with his toddler to enquire if I'm alright. He's concerned I'm not getting the best view of the jump and inspects the snow-proofness of my boots before taking me uphill for a better outlook.

There also seems an aversion to risk. "No, no, no, no," says a cabbie another night in Tokyo. I'm trying to tell him the name of my hotel (Metropolitan Marunouchi, which might sound slightly different in a Western accent). He doesn't want to look at my map or the card I'm waving with the hotel's name printed in Japanese script. He just wants me to get out of the cab - and the taxi drivers in the queue behind him also refuse to take me once they see I've been rejected by their fellow driver. They don't know if I'm mad, drunk or just a crazy gaijin, and they don't care - they won't even open their automatic doors.

So how does this risk-averse, considerate race react when dipped in snowflakes?

With the same subdued good manners they apply to city life.

And in the onsen, the mood is hushed, calm, polite; the only sound is the splashing spring and a few murmured remarks.

Perhaps there was nothing to worry about, after all.

If I'd been the only naked bather, the gentlewomen of Hakuba would have been far to polite too make me feel awkward about it.

if you want to enjoy youself in there,please contact us:www.dragonflytours-japan.com

Valentino Fango Nappa Petale bag and Topshop's corsage grab bag

You know those rellies you have who you know you are related to - you share the same genes and even look pretty similar - but sadly have nothing in common with? Well, these two bags are a bit like that. They look like they've got the same blood lines thanks to the pinky tones and of course, the pretty rosette decoration.

But look closer and they're about as different as can be. One is Valentino, one is Topshop. There's buttery leather on one, and um, not buttery leather on the other.

One is getting close to $2,500 while the other is the much more cheery figure of ￡22. I guess at the end of the day, blood is thicker than water and despite their differences, both are pretty special in their own way.

if you want to get other informations,please log in:www.wholesaler-handbag.com

What Kind Of Rolex Watch Would Wolverine Choose To Wear?

By John Lavitt - As the opening weekend of Wolverine: Origins, starring Hugh Jackman, was bringing in over $78 million dollars in box office, we kept asking ourselves an intriguing question: What kind of Rolex watch would Wolverine choose to wear? Commonly known as Logan, Wolverine's cool personality, funny one-liners and badass attitude make him one of the most popular Marvel characters and a huge hit on the silver screen. Given Wolverine’s ongoing battles with Magneto, the mutant master of Magnetism, in the X-Men movies and comic books, it makes sense that Wolverine would wear a Rolex Milgauss. Introduced by Rolex in 1954, the Rolex Milgauss was designed as an antimagnetic watch specifically for those who worked in areas where electromagnetic fields can wreck havoc on the timing of a watch, like power plants and in battles with super villains. Wolverine’s mutant powers lead directly to the second reason why a Rolex Milgauss is the watch for this superhero. His special powers include a healing factor that cures any wound, and heals any disease, and retractable bone claws in his hands. A corrupt government program known as Weapon X bonded Wolverine’s bones with adamantium and banded the super metal to his bone claws that he can eject from between his knuckles Given the metal-banded claws and metal-bonded skeleton, plus his ongoing battles with Magneto, the antimagnetic Rolex Milgauss watch is the only possible choice for Wolverine.

After the Weapon X program erased his memories, Wolverine wandered about until was approached by Professor Charles Xavier, the founder of the X-Men. Wolverine chose to leave the Weapon X program and join the X-Men. Wolverine remained with the X-Men for quite some time, becoming their field commander, where he first encountered the mutant Magneto and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. During a battle with Magneto, Wolverine slashed Magneto with his claws. Magneto retaliated, using his powers of the magnetic field to tear the adamantium out of Wolverine's skeleton, causing extensive injuries. These extreme injuries shorted out Wolverine's healing factor for a time, and Logan discovered that the claws that he believed a result of the Weapon X project were in fact part of his actual bone structure due to his mutation. These bone claws became Wolverine's main weapons until his skeleton later became grafted to adamantium again. If Wolverine had been wearing a Rolex Milgauss on his wrist, he might have known that Magneto’s revenge was heading his way. Wolverine is a mutant who possesses the ability to regenerate damaged or destroyed areas of his cellular structure at a rate far greater than that of an ordinary human. Wolverine’s natural healing affords him virtual immunity to poisons and most diseases, and he possesses superhumanly acute senses. Like an animal on the hunt, Wolverine is able to recognize people and objects by scent, even if that person or object is hidden. Wolverine’s skeleton includes six retractable one-foot long bone claws, three in each arm, that are housed beneath the skin and muscle of his forearms. At will, Wolverine releases these slightly curved claws through his skin beneath the knuckles on each hand. The skin between the knuckles tears and bleeds, but the blood loss is quickly halted by his healing factor.

Wolverine’s entire skeletal structure, including his claws, was artificially bonded to the nearly indestructible metal Adamantium in the Weapon X program to develop government assassins. As a result, Wolverine’s bones are virtually unbreakable, and his claws are capable of cutting through almost anything known to man. Due to his healing factor, the presence of Adamantium in his body does not interfere with his bones’ normal function of generating blood corpuscles. Given the magnetic Adamantium in his body and his ongoing battles with Magneto, the antimagnetic Rolex Milgauss is the perfect watch for Wolverine. At the Basel 2007, the renowned watch fair, Rolex announced the return of the Milgauss. The new Rolex Milgauss comes in a 40mm bezel, with a COSC certified 3131 automatic winding movement. The new Milgauss version with a black face, white and orange elements and green sapphire glass (the 116400 GV) caught the attention of watch buyers and in short order was being sold in the gray market at three times its suggested retail price. It has a certain style and flair, particularly the coolness of the green sapphire glass, that fit right into Wolverine’s natural style. The word Milgauss is derived from the French word mille, which means one thousand, and gauss, the unit of the magnetic field. If you expose a mechanical watch to a strong magnetic field, some of the parts in the movement become magnetized. This will cause the mechanism to run quite fast and require demagnetization. The Rolex Milgauss is able to resist a magnetic field of 1,000 Gauss, thus helping Wolverine resist the powers of Magneto. Without question, the perfect Rolex watch for a mutant superhero like Wolverine is the Rolex Milgauss with the green sapphire glass.

About Melrose Jewelers

Melrose Jewelers is the nation’s leading online retailer of Rolex wrist watches including mens watches and ladies watches and its associates have,collectively, over 220 years of experience in importing, restoring, and retailing Rolex and other luxury watches. Melrose Jewelers was founded with one simple premise: Buying a Rolex or other luxury watch shouldn’t be mysterious or complicated. Melrose Jewelers also employs a staff of top university-educated Trained Experts that provide customer service that extends from your initial sales call until years after you’ve received your purchase. Melrose Jewelers is not an authorized agent or affiliated with Rolex USA, Rolex S.A., Rolex International, Breitling, or Patek Philippe luxury watches. Rolex Day Date, Rolex President, Rolex GMT Master, Rolex Daytona, Rolex Oyster Perpetual Datejust, Rolex PearlMaster, Rolex Masterpiece, Rolex Super President, Rolex Submariner, Rolex Yacht-Master, Rolex Explorer and Rolex Sea Dweller are all trademarks of Rolex S.A.

Melrose Jewelers also hosts the Melrose Jewelers (MJ) Rolex Watch Blog. The MJ Rolex Watch Blog is the world’s largest independent forum website about Rolex events and Rolex and other luxury watches in pop culture. With over 300 user-posted articles and new articles and commentary updated daily, the Melrose Jewelers Rolex watch blog contains articles about Rolex watches owned by Danica Patrick, Matthew McConaughey, Eva Longoria Parker, Tobey Maguire, Lindsey Lohan, Eddie Murphy, Tom Selleck, Jennifer Garner, Donald Trump, Eva Longoria, Skepta, Jennifer Lopez, Lance Armstrong, John Mayer, Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake, Brad Pitt, Drew Barrymore, DJ Am, Tim Tebow, Colt McCoy, Jay-Z, Zara Phillips, Barack Obama, O.J. Simpson, Madonna, Ana Ivanovic, Jennifer Aniston, Tokio Hotel, Paris Hilton, Orlando Bloom, Tupac Shakur, Lily Allen, & Wiley. Blog postings on the MJ Rolex Watch Blog are submitted by independent Rolex enthusiasts and not by Melrose Jewelers.

Marc by Marc Jacobs Lil' Riz bag: Snob or Slob?

I was excited to find a bag under $500 to report to you guys, this is probably the most requested price point from our readers but so difficult to find good bags at this range!

The Lil' Riz bag from Marc by Marc Jacobs has the cute round shape reminiscent of the whimsical Miu Miu Coffer (remember that bag? I still love it!) in yummy summer colors. Perfect for the warmer season, right? WRONG! Look at that giant logo plaque! What was he thinking? Has he gone logo 'loco' in his old age or the Louis Vuittonll the years at LV?!?! The Marc Jacobs I loved in the '90s was an anti logo rebel talent~ this looks like something Coach would design. But at least Coach would only charge $200 for it.

If you can get past the awful name plate

Maia N Python Hobo with Croc Strap

The classic beauty bags is safely established now that Queens of state (Jordan, Spain, Saudi Arabia) and fashion (Carine Roitfeld) are loyal fans. But seriously, even if they weren't, how can you deny that this bag is nothing short of I-will-eat-only-bread-and-water-for-a-month-must-have-amazing?its name is Maia N. bag.

Or quinoa and water, if you're counting carbs and worried about lack of protein. The use of crocodile back for the straps is not only waste-free croc use but the look is bold and unique. Not to mention, super sturdy. The foldover top closure is my favorite, easy and chic.

I love natural python but it is for hardcore python lovers, the red clay is perfect for Fall, it has a pop of color but is still muted enough to coordinate with Fall colors. This bag is already selling out, it may still be available at Intermix stores in NY but is sold out online. You can also order by emailing Joanna at Maia N. The price is great for such a high quality timeless python, $2880.

Japan: Culture splash

There are five women, all strangers, in the hot pool, surrounded by drifts of fluffy snow. Small lights glitter in the tree above. The sun is setting, and steam curls over the water,I think you won't want to loss,so,contact us:http://www.dragonflytours-japan.com.

We're all naked, thank goodness.

Shortly earlier, I'd a moment of panic when I stepped outside from the hotel to descend the stone steps to this onsen, a traditional Japanese hot-spring spa. What if all the Japanese women already in the water are wearing bathing suits? There was a sign inside the changing room saying "swim suit no", but that could have just been another quirk of Japanese-to-English translation, like the sign I saw on the skifield yesterday for "Gondora tickets".

This is my first onsen visit; imagine the culture-clash horror if I've blundered nude into a temple of modesty. The Japanese are renowned for shyness and restraint; communal frolicking in the buff isn't the first activity that I'd expect them to enjoy.

As I shuffled down the steps, blushing for my nakedness, the Japanese ladies already luxuriating in the water averted their eyes. "Konichiwa," an elderly woman smiled as I plunged myself into the warmth.

I snuck the briefest of looks. She was naked too. Relief.

Onsen is one of Japan's finest traditions, and it has become a favourite adjunct to the snowsports lifestyle. Everyone from late adolescence to dotage is here, some with little face-cloths draped over their heads, most with their eyes shut, just relaxing. The alpine village of Hakuba, three hours west of Tokyo on the main island of Honshu, is famous for its thermal springs and surrounding network of interlinked skifields, and most of the hotels and guesthouses have private bathing pools.

It's all surprisingly cheap - a night's accommodation at a mid-range hotel like our Mominoki Hotel in Hakuba is 12,000 ($147) per room, per night; a lunchtime bowl of fragrant vegetables, meat or fish and noodles with miso soup is around 800; and a day's skiing, including bullet-train tickets to and from Tokyo, lift passes and all gear and clothing rental is 8000.

Hakuba is the heart of the Nagano district, home to dozens of skifields and host of the 1998 Winter Olympics. The Olympic heritage lingers; a Scandinavian toboggan team left graffiti on the walls of a sushi bar, Kikyoya, in Hakuba village, and the owner - a garrulous former professional baseballer - has turned it into a tradition, encouraging visitors to scrawl their own messages on the walls.

The bar is full of Westerners on the night I visit, all eating salmon roe, squid on rice, tuna marbled with rich, flavoursome fat.

Only two of the patrons are Japanese, including my friend Chieko Oto. So where are all her compatriots? They seem to be at a nearby McDonald's, leaving the local food to the foreigners. In our two days of skiing together, Chieko and I have eaten like princesses - rice and poached salmon for breakfast, cool soba noodles with wasabi for supper, lunch of grilled lamb on rice, served with green tea.

Here, a snow holiday isn't just about deep powder, long runs and dodging the snowboarders - although there's plenty of that. It's an experience for the whole body and mind: hot sake at the end of the day; a massage at night; sitting in the onsen, poking one toe out of the water to feel the spike of cold.

In Takasaki, a mid-sized city between Nagano and Tokyo, we find a jazz bar where couples sit close on small stools, watching the chefs. We eat shabu-shabu, a bubbling hotpot of stock on our table, into which we plunge fine slices of beef, mushrooms, greens and tight little bundles of noodles. I'm pressing Chieko for some culinary tips.

"What do Westerners do wrong when we use chopsticks?" I want to know. A couple of nights earlier, at a sashimi counter in Tokyo, my friend Robert (an expat) chided me for picking up a sliver of pickled ginger in the same chopstick-ful as my fish.

"Don't do that," he says sharply, then: "Sorry. It's just that the ginger is a palate-cleanser. You're only supposed to eat it between courses."

Reluctantly, Chieko confirms Robert was right about the ginger, but like so many Japanese she'll do anything to avoid offending me, and steers us to a different subject.

But how does this innate politeness _ which seems to be at the centre of Japan's orderly, self-contained nature - intersect with skiing, always such a chaotic, messy business? On my journey from Auckland, through Tokyo to the skifields, I've observed thoughtfulness of a scale undreamt of in most Western societies, and I've been curious to know whether the general air of restraint will dissipate when we arrive at the snow.

On the Shinkansen (bullet train) from Tokyo, a conductor in the carriage turns and bows to the passengers before passing through the sliding door at the end.

When I stop to take photographs of the vertiginous Olympic jump-stadium near Hakuba, a young father stops building a snowman with his toddler to enquire if I'm alright. He's concerned I'm not getting the best view of the jump and inspects the snow-proofness of my boots before taking me uphill for a better outlook.

There also seems an aversion to risk. "No, no, no, no," says a cabbie another night in Tokyo. I'm trying to tell him the name of my hotel (Metropolitan Marunouchi, which might sound slightly different in a Western accent). He doesn't want to look at my map or the card I'm waving with the hotel's name printed in Japanese script. He just wants me to get out of the cab - and the taxi drivers in the queue behind him also refuse to take me once they see I've been rejected by their fellow driver. They don't know if I'm mad, drunk or just a crazy gaijin, and they don't care - they won't even open their automatic doors.

So how does this risk-averse, considerate race react when dipped in snowflakes?

With the same subdued good manners they apply to city life.

And in the onsen, the mood is hushed, calm, polite; the only sound is the splashing spring and a few murmured remarks.

Perhaps there was nothing to worry about, after all.

If I'd been the only naked bather, the gentlewomen of Hakuba would have been far to polite too make me feel awkward about it.

* Claire Harvey travelled to Japan as a guest of Air New Zealand.

FIND OUT MORE

Japan's ski season runs from mid-December to the end of May. Air New Zealand flies direct to Tokyo every day, and to Osaka five days a week. Return tickets from $1600 a person. See airnz.co.nz.

RESORTS

Around 8000 ($98) buys you return bullet-train tickets, lift passes and rental gear at many resorts near Tokyo. Gala Yuzawa is a 77-minute trip from Tokyo (approx $46 one way).

To reach the alpine village of Hakuba, which is surrounded by resorts, take the bullet train to Nagano (approx $45 one way), then a free one-hour shuttle bus from Nagano station.