Image credit: Getty Images, bancoposta/Flickr
With sales of luxury goods declining in Japan, an article in the Financial Times argues that we might be witnessing an evolution, or at least permanent change, in consumer behavior there. In the article, Michiyo Nakamoto says that Japan became a mass-luxury market in the 80s and 90s where owning a Louis Vuitton bag or Hermes scarf was a middle-class rite of passage – but mow consumers have grown confident in mixing and matching luxury items with cheaper ones:
“This is not a blip. This is a long-term shift in the market,” said Brian Salsberg, the author [...]

Not long ago we wrote about the question posed at the BMW Design Talk, ‘Is modesty the new luxury?’. Louis Vuitton seems to be taking the idea to heart with the opening of their new temporary shop in Tokyo called Louis Vuitton Underground. Forget fancy custom store fixtures, all the bags and accessories are displayed on wood crates and plain shelving. Personally we give them extra points for including a bright yellow tow motor and lots of caution tape.

[via blabber-etcetera]

The Iconic Louis Vuitton Steamer Trunk, which has been featured prominently everywhere from the Darjeeling Limited to your local airport, has just come out with a portable home theater/office complete with DVD player (powered by solar panels) and a coffee maker which runs on a can of petrol. This over-the-top trunk was originally made for a customer from China and appears to be one of kind.
[via Apartment Therapy]

Swine Flu is currently the talk of the town, and while some dismiss the health pandemic as falling into the realm of disease paranoia (like the SARS epidemic a little while back) the numbers don’t lie: 45 school children have come down with the flu and a worker at 5 Times Square was just confirmed as carrying the semi-deadly strain of influenza. To stay positive, Refinery29 have come up with fashionable alternatives to the usual drab surgical mask to make sure your lungs stay flu free. Included is a Richard Prince inspired nurse’s uniform by Louis Vuitton (above) and [...]

QR Codes are the bar codes of the future, linking online and physical graphics to websites and multi-media. For the most part, the codes have still maintained an abstract look akin to their predecessors.
A recently released designer QR symbol, produced by Tokyo based creative agency SET is looking to change all that with a stylized remake of the standard code. Mixing design with technological innovation, SET teamed up Takashi Murakami with Louis Vuitton to create a distinctive code featuring one of the artist’s characters and the classic LV pattern. The agency hopes this will add much needed style and character [...]