Sotheby's to auction seven Picasso paintings

Seven works by Pablo Picasso are up for auction next month at Sotheby’s

One is a portrait of Picasso’s muse, the painter and photographer Dora Maar, famous for her love affair with the Málaga artist. One of his portraits of her, ‘Dora Maar with Cat,’ reached the second highest price of a work of art ever sold at auction in May 2006: 95.2 million dollars in May 2006. His bronze sculpture, ‘Head of a Woman,’ went for 29.1 million in November last year.

His painting ‘Head of a Woman,’ up for auction next month, is a little more reasonable. It’s only expected to reach between 13 and 17 million dollars.

Project Lydia

Bugatti Veyron is developing a $3m Veyron track car. German website Motor Auto und Sport has posted a series of drawings, which could be the rumored model touted to be more track-focused but still road legal. It will get its power from the Veyron’s 8-liter quad-turbo W16 engine thet produces 1,175 hp.

The new supercar is said to be being developed under the codename ‘Project Lydia’ after Ettore Bugatti’s wife. It would exceed 400 km/h and get a Nurburgring lap time of 6 minutes and 40 seconds.

Louis Vuitton and Takashi Murakami at MOCA, Los Angeles

Louis Vuitton has created a temporary store within the retrospective exhibition of works by Japanese artist Takashi Murakami at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, which runs until February 11, 2008. The store's presence in the museum symbolizes the interweaving of art, culture, fashion and commerce that has become a fundamental component in Takashi Murakami's philosophy.

Ray-Ban Ultra Gold

Ray-Ban has launched the Ultra Gold limited edition based on the classic Aviator design. The ultra shades feature 22-karat gold plating, a titanium frame, P3 polarized lenses - with both anti-reflection coating and a new moisture-wicking hydrophobic coating, and an individual serial number on the inner side of the temple.

Nicolas Sarkozy gives Carla Bruni a ring strikingly similar to ex-wife's

French president Nicolas Sarkozy has gifted Carla Bruni a pair of exquisite, rose-hued sparklers from Dior.

Mr Sarkozy's romantic gesture has raised eyebrows in France, as his ex-wife Cecilia wears a heart-shaped ring strikingly similar to one of the love tokens the president gave Carla, Hello reports

France's former first lady also has one of the fashion house's white gold and pink tourmaline creations the French premier gave to his new girlfriend, along with a 'Coeur Romantique' design from the same Dior collection.

Baby CZ by Carolina Zapf

Carolina Zapf has launched a line of Baby CZ cashmere items. The cashmere found in Baby CZ is removed from the goat by hand with a coarse comb, and up to one pound of material is yielded per goat. Baby CZ's pure virgin cashmere is dyed, spun into yarns and knit into layettes, hats, sweaters, and blankets.

Marvin Watches

Marvin which dates back 1850 is back after a multi-year break. The brand was bought from Les Manufactures d'horlogerie Suisses Reunies (MSR) by the Neuchatel company Time Avenue. The brand offers a selection of luxury men's and women's watches with both quartz and mechanical movements. Prices range from 480 to 1,280 Swiss Francs for a quartz watch and from 980 to 3,600 Swiss Francs for a mechanical watch reports Luxist.

Mulberry footwear debut

Mulberry is making its footwear debut for Autumn / Winter 2008 with Jonathan Kelsey. Mulberry invited Kelsey to create its first line of shoes for women, to be shown at the brand’s London Fashion Week presentations.

Five styles make up the collection: A riding boot, Ankle Boot, Shoe Boot, Pump and Flat Lace-Up shoe in shades of plum, coffee and grey, that compliment the grunge inspired A/W 08 clothing and accessory collections.


The retail debut will be September 2008, exclusively for Mulberry Retail stores in the UK, USA, France and S E Asia and prices will range from £250 - £550.