HEIST ALARM: To mark the launch of the new Damier Graphite collection for men, Louis Vuitton cooked up a novel window display concept. The company’s Fifth Avenue flagship in New York currently features two windows with the bag in a museum-like glass case, surrounded by chrome and metallic security cameras pointing at it. The adjacent windows show the same scenario, except with the cases broken into, glass shards on the floor, the bags missing and the security lasers activated. While it makes for great viewing pleasure, the concept apparently proved too real for some. Last Wednesday morning, police officers entered the boutique to investigate the broken glass.
BE, JEWELED: Beyoncé Knowles and her mother, Tina, are known for glamming it up with piles of diamond jewelry by the likes of Lorraine Schwartz, but now the duo wants to offer bling at an accessible price. Industry sources say Deréon, the junior sportswear brand founded by the Knowleses, has inked a deal with Carolee jewelry to create a fashion jewelry collection for the label. The line is expected to hit stores in spring. Carolee and Deréon could not be reached for comment.
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SPEEDO PREDICTS GOLD: With 92 percent of the swimming gold medals at the Olympics won so far by swimmers wearing Speedo’s LZR Racer, the swimwear brand said “buying interest in the LZR Racer [is] at an all-time high” — even before the performance swimsuit goes on sale to the public next month. Based on preorders taken through speedousa.com, Speedo expects the $550 record-breaking suit will sell out immediately when it becomes available, and predicts it will sell 50 percent more of the LZR Racer than it did of the previous generation of LZR Pro. Speedo, which holds 80 percent of the elite swimwear category and typically does $15 million in volume for this level of competitive suit, has its factory producing additional LZR Racers “as fast as it can” to keep up with the perceived demand, as Michael Phelps comes close to earning the $1 million Speedo has pledged to give him if he comes home with all eight medals.
BLUE CRUSH: If ever there was an appropriate time to dress down for a cocktail party, the opening of a denim store would be it. So how to explain the hordes of suited men and women in heels and dresses at the Vogue-sponsored opening of Seven For All Mankind’s new boutique in New York’s SoHo? “I have no idea who these people are,” remarked one guest as he surveyed the crowd. Fortunately, others like Kenny Scharf, Caridee English, Olivia Palermo and “Gossip Girls” Jessica Szohr, Nicole Fiscella and Amanda Setton happily slipped on jeans (in most cases, Seven For All Mankind, naturally) to sip beer and cans of Sofia Coppola Champagne as they perused the racks and inspected Tim Mantoani’s exhibit “Behind Photographs,” displayed in the store’s gallery space.
Even DJ for the night Paul Sevigny, got into the mood, wearing a grayish-black pair from the brand. Nonetheless, he still mourned his onetime denim love. “I miss old Helmut Lang,” he admitted.