Since 2000, the world’s richest man, Warren Buffet has been auctioning off a lunch date with the proceeds going to Glide, a local San Francisco charity. This year’s bid came somewhat under that of 2008’s which was $2.11 million. Last year’s winner, hedge fund manager Zhao Danyang and his son Zhao Ziyang (in the pic) had his lunch last week with Warren Buffet. Some explain this year’s lower bid is due to the current financial crisis. The auction was initially held live for the first three years. Currently, eBay plays host to the charity fundraiser. The lunch venue is New York’s Smith & Wollensky Steakhouse. The table seats eight. I would think the other six in the party are paying big cash to get an invitation to that meal. No news on the identity of this year’s wining bidder.

pic and info: Reuters

Our yesterday’s post ringing in the news of Michael Jackson’s personal belongings being auctioned off seemed, at the time, an inevitable event. Lo and behold: Jacko got his way via a settlement with Julian’s Auctions. With the legal fronting now over, the King of Pop now will have most of his personal belongings returned. It’s could be somewhat a disturbing feeling, possibly even a sense of violation, knowing that most of your personal effects were put out on display to the public. So much for the mystique. Part of the mutual agreement resulted in some of Jacko’s belongings being retained and housed in some museum-like venue. Julian’s had spent some $2 million on the auction. No news on what’s to be done with the 5-volume signed and numbered auction catalogue which was to sell for $500. The catalogue of the “auction that never was” will definately be a collector’s prize. It’s gonna fetch a handsome sum for any of its owners.

pic and info: Luxist

Items from Versace’s Lake Como estate was put under the hammer today in London. The anticipated net sales Sotheby’s prognosticates is about £2m. In the lot there is abundant neo-classicist works of art; Karl Roos bookcases, an unseen Johann Zoffany painting and the homo erotic Pugilist statue pair of Antonio Canova.  A total of 550 items were put on auction at Sotheby’s on Bond St.

More after the jump.

John Dolmayan, Torpedo Comics owner and of System of a Down’s fame won Action Comics issue #1 for $317,200 at an online auction just recently. Apparently, he purchased the item for a third party. The comic storyline has the debut appearance of Superman. It was originally published in June, 1938. The previous owner of the comic book is known to have owned the “holy grail of comics” since 1950, which he had purchased second-hand for 35 cents. There are about 100 copies known to exist. To date it holds the highest price paid for a comic book.

pic and info: LA Times

This year’s the Evian ready-to-wear bottles are designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier and are produced by Baccarat. The collection had already toured Tokyo, Shangai, Melbourne, New York, London, Moscow and Dubai. Now it’s in Paris. The series consisting of five limited edition pieces will be on display at Colette and Maison Baccarat from March 16-21 prior to them being auctioned off April 7th at Artcurial.  All proceeds are to go to the Ramsar Convention. The collection is to reflect Evian’s best asset: purity.

More after the jump.

Sotheby’s will be auctioning off some items of the the Maharadja of Baroda’s estate on March 19th in Doha’s Museum of Islamic Art. The famous jewelry collector from the last century, the Gaekwar, as he was known to be called, had a collection of jewels comparative to that of jewelers Alfred Van Cleef and Louis Cartier. It’s the first auction Sotheby’s had ever organized in Qatar. The Pearl Carpet of Baroda’s heritage is Indian circa 1865. It was a gift to the prophet Mohammad’s tomb in Medina. The carpet’s dimensions are 174×264 cm which has rosettes encrusted with 1.5 million basra pearls and rose cut diamonds totaling 350-400 carats (!). Furthermore, emeralds, sapphires and rubies are all set in gold embellishing this work of art. Work started on the masterpiece in 1860 and took 5 years to finish under the collaboraton of hundreds of artisans. Bidding is to start at $5 million, and some anticipate that the Pearl Carpet of Baroda will fetch some $60 million.

More after the jump.

Here’s a random memory linked to this post: I remember working the sales floor at a Toronto Holt Renfrew years ago, and on one weekend some lasagna boy entourage from Woodbridge came into my department. I figure they had nothing better to do. They were like kids looking the part for some Backstreet Boys dance rehearsal. During that ill fated conversation they strike-up with me, their blatant ignorance on menswear became obvious in a matter of seconds. One of the guys wanted to know if I could make him a suit with Super 200’s fabric. Overhearing their inquiry and aloof request, and showing his utter repugnance for the chavs (they were obviously out of their element) a dear irreverant colleague of mine abruptly ends my consultation by yelling across the sales floor: “Super 200’s?! You want Super 200’s?! That’ll melt on you!” As it usually happens with the unexpected, keeping up appearances becomes quite the challenge. I couldn’t maintain composure as I burst into laughter. Within a few seconds the chavs left as soon as they had come in…

At Holt’s we carried Holland & Sherry cloths among a selection of other luxurious mills like Scabal, Dormeuil, Barberis, Loro Piana, Zegna; all classics in menswear custom tailoring. My leafing through the swatch books  and cards at the start of every season was ritualistic, and we never saw anything like this. Now, Holland & Sherry weave a fabric made solely from vicuna. The luxurious fabric up until now was only blended with other wools (lambswool, cashmere, angora)  adding to the touch of the garment. The vicuna, a cousin of the llama lives high up in the Peruvian-Bolivian Andes. The wool yields small amounts and the animal can only be shorn every three years. Apparently, Holland & Sherry had been collecting the wool for five years and spent two years developing the fabric. There’s only 60 metres of this bolt of fabric at $4000 a yard, and for $50,000 some 18 people will be priviledged enough to wear a vicuna suit one day. The English textile manufacturers have a retail operation on Saville Row in London. Who needs Super 200’s when you can have 100% vicuna?

pic and info: Luxist

In a recent interview John Varvatos disclosed his intentions to expand his retail doors to Europe and Asia in 2009. The SS/09 collection launch slated for next week in Milan is a first, as all his fashion shows to date were held in NY. John Varvatos has been creating his rock inspired menswear lifestyle brand for over 9 years and his boutiques are exclusive to the US.

pic and info: LA Times, John Varvatos

Next year an Armani concept store will be opening in Manhattan on Fifth Avenue. The doors will open on  February 18th to a first, where all Armani collections will be available under one roof. The list is the following: Giorgio Armani, Emporio Armani, Armani Jeans, EA7, Armani Casa, Giorgio Armani Beauty. There will be a full service restaurant operating on location.

There’s a vid of last year’s Ginza opening after the jump.

The layman or the socialite might not appreciate the creativity instilled in designing these fine garments. Each piece has some social commentary. (above: the Pearly Queen). You’d consider the work involved as practically bespoke. Their current collection’s inspired by those Teddy Boys and Rude Boys spanning  decades from the 50-80’s.

More pics after the jump.