LuxNotes

Great Shops Go on Sale

Summer clearance at eLuxury.com means savings of up to 50 percent on this spring's designer handbags, shoes, ready-to-wear, jewelry and men's apparel.  New markdowns from Marc Jacobs, Tod's and Emilio Pucci to name a few.

And, just in time for Fourth of July, save up to 20 percent on select table linens, glassware and dinnerware at Sur La Table.

Fancy Old Furniture

A few companies have popped up that are making recycled furniture less college dorm-y and more upscale.  Groovystuff.com has beautiful table-and-chair sets (below).  As the trend toward better antiques has taken off, the company saw a 33% increase in sales in one year, as reported by The Wall Street Journal last week.  Staples Cabinet Makers custom makes sleek furniture out of salvaged lumber for customers' homes.

Sunglass Music

The Oakley Thump is a line of sunglasses with an audio player built right in.  It boasts seven color combinations and 256MB of flash memory that holds 100 songs and allegedly can be on your eyes and in your ears within ten minutes of opening the product box.

LuxNews: De Beers Diamonds Reinventing Itself

De Beers just threw a lavish party to kick off a campaign to join Harry Winston, Tiffany and Cartier as a household name in diamonds.  The 1948 "A Diamond is Forever" slogan is out and "Forever, Now" is in, as reported by the NYT Sunday Styles section.

LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton sought partnership with the De Beers wholesale conglomerate several years ago and has stated intentions of making the retail brand a household name within ten years.  One tactic, at least initially, will be to undersell the competition by, for example, selling a diamond appraised at half a million dollars actually for half a million dollars.

Read the full article.

LuxNews: Higher Prices, Lower Temperatures

Yesterday's NYT SundayStyles section featured an interesting article about how the best retailers (Bergdorf's, Tiffany & Co., Hermes) keep their thermostats set much lower than at those stores housing less pricey merchandise.  Bring a sweater on your next shopping trip!  Read "Shivering for Luxury" here.

Goodies from Manolo Blahnik

At Bergdorf Goodman through July 5, spend $600 on a pair of Manolos and get a Blahnik-designed cosmetics bag.

If you love his collection, buy Blahnik's book of shoe drawings, with collaboration from Anna Wintour.

Compare Cars

Today at MSN you can do a side-by-side comparison of the 2005 Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Bentley.

"Close to Custom Fit" Shirts for Women

With the patent-pending C2C (Close to Custom Fit) technology, Rebecca & Drew Manufacturing has reinvented ladies button-down shirts.  Available by bra size and in two lengths, the 100 percent cotton short- and long-sleeved tops get that often-wrong top button in the right place and eliminate the stretch that other designers use to try to conceal a poor fit.  The line is available at an eponymous NY Meatpacking District boutique and at Neiman Marcus.

in:spa Vacations

The UK-based purveyor of "health retreats" in:spa runs "destination spas" in Morocca, Ibiza, Inda, Spain, France and Thailand.  Massage therapists, nutritionists, chefs, yoga teachers and personal trainers offer varied benefits for each guest, including weight-loss, improved fitness, greater flexibility, stress relief and a heightened sense of well-being.

Jimmy Choo Fall Arrivals

Just in at Saks.com.