Actress Jane Birkin asks Hermes to remove her name from croc bag

PARIS | Actress and singer Jane Birkin has asked Hermes to remove her name from one of the luxury goods maker’s best-selling bags due to what she called “cruel” crocodile farming and slaughtering practices.

“I have asked Hermes to rename the Birkin Croco until they adopt better practices that meet international standards for the production of this bag,” Birkin said in a statement to the media on Tuesday.

Birkin said she had signed actor Joaquin Phoenix’s Mercy For Animals petition to “shed exotic skins from your wardrobe” in protest against the “millions of reptiles slaughtered each year and turned into shoes, handbags, belts and other accessories”.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, said it had released a video, narrated by Phoenix and which Birkin had seen, showing how live reptiles were skinned or sawed open on farms that supplied luxury brands.

Hermes said the crocodile skins it sourced from a Texas farm in the video were not used for Birkin bags and stressed that it did not own that farm.

The luxury brand also said that an investigation was being conducted into the farm’s practices and that “any breach of rules will be rectified and sanctioned.”

Hermes said it imposed on its suppliers the highest ethical standards regarding the treatment of crocodiles and for more than a decade, had conducted monthly checks on them to ensure that they were respected.

“Hermes respects and shares her (Jane Birkin’s) emotions and was also shocked by the images recently broadcast,” it said in a statement.

“Her comments do not in any way influence the friendship and confidence that we have shared for so many years.”

Birkin agreed to lend her name to the bag after sharing a flight with the charismatic late head of Hermes, Jean-Louis Dumas, in the 1980s.

The crocodile Birkin and the Kelly bag, named after actress Grace Kelly, are among the most sought-after luxury goods — even though the starting retail price is more than 20,000 euros ($22,096) – partly because shops routinely run out of them.

Customers can obtain one either by putting their name on a waiting list or by paying hefty fees to specialized buyers who scout for the bags on their behalf.

A fuchsia Hermes crocodile Birkin bag with a diamond-studded clasp and lock set a record as the most expensive handbag ever sold at a Christie’s auction in Hong Kong last month, fetching $222,000.

source: interaksyon.com

Perfect colorless diamond auctioned for record $23.5M

GENEVA - A new colorless, pear-shaped diamond weighing 101.73 carats raked in a record 23 million Swiss francs ($23.5 million, 18.5 million euros) at a Christie's auction in Geneva late Wednesday.

The price, which does not include tax or commission, is the highest ever paid for a flawless colorless diamond, according to the auction house, which had hoped the gem would go for $30 million.

"Twenty-three million (Swiss) francs! Your last chance! Twenty-three million, sold!" Francois Curiel, the head of Christie's jewelry division shouted, clinching the deal before some 150 people gathered for the auction at a luxury Geneva hotel.

Including tax and commission, the total ticked in at $26.7 million, Christies said after the sale of the stone, which is the largest diamond in its category ever to go under the hammer.

The American Institute of Gemology has handed the gemstone the top colorless grade "D" and the best clarity grade, "flawless", which is characterized by its "absolute symmetry", according to Christies.

In the rough, the diamond was 236 carats when it was extracted from the Jwaneng mine in Botswana, before it was meticulously sculpted for 21 months, Christie's said.

Wednesday's auction marked the first time the rock goes on sale, and the buyer will have the privilege of naming it.

Wednesday's sale marked the highest price ever paid for a flawless colorless diamond at auction.

The previous auction-price record-holder in this category was the 84.37-carat Chloe round diamond, snapped up at a Sotheby's auction in Geneva in 2007 by Guess Jeans founder Georges Marciano.

A diamond merchant sold the new diamond, the centerpiece of Christie's traditional May jewelry and luxury watch sale, but it was not immediately clear who the deep-pocketed buyer was.

In the "colorless, flawless" category, the reigning world champion in terms of size is meanwhile the Cullinan Diamond, a gem weighing 530.2 carats that is part of the British crown jewels.

Last November, Christie's sold the 76-carat Archduke Joseph Diamond, in the initially flawless category a notch below flawless, on auction in Geneva for $21.5 million.

And in May 2011, a heart-shaped 56-carat diamond was auctioned off for $10.9 million.

The Elizabeth Taylor Diamond, which is in the same D-colour category but weighs in at only 33.19 carats, was meanwhile sold for $8.8 million on auction in New York in December 2011.

source: interaksyon.com