Luxe Life

Legendary gossip columnist Liz Smith announced earlier this week that she's been canned by the
the New York Post . The 86-year-old writer—whose column has been published in the New York City newspaper for the past three decades—isn't about to go gently into her retirement years. In an interview with the Daily Beast, the "Diva of Dish" calls being let go "emasculating" and says that it "makes you feel like you've lost your identity to some extent."

When asked whether or not she saw the layoff coming, Smith said, "No, I feared from the beginning I wasn't [Post's editor in chief] Col Allan's cup of tea. And I didn't hang around the Post. I never sucked up. I didn't go up to Elaine's and hang out." Smith went to the top of the chain and spoke with Rupert Murdoch, chairman and CEO of News Corp., who said that he couldn't overrule Allan's decision.

Continue reading »

The new era of air travel—saturated with exorbitant fees for things like checked baggage or traveling with a child or pet!—will see minor relief from US Airways, which will resume free beverage service on March 1. Gee, thanks!

US Airways' announcement that it will return complimentary sodas, juices, tea, coffee, and water reverses a portion of the à la carte business model the company adopted last August, when it began charging $2 for all nonalcoholic beverages to economy-class passengers on domestic flights. While other carriers instituted this business model, charging consumers for premium seating, pillows, or curbside check-in, US Airways was the only airline to charge for nonalcoholic refreshments.

Continue reading »

If you've ever had aspirations of owning your own town but didn't have the means, now might be the perfect time for you. The ghost town of Albert, which encompasses 13 acres nestled in the Texas hill country, 20 miles east of Fredericksburg, is up for sale. Price: $883,000.

The town's features include an 85-year-old dance hall, an icehouse and beer garden, a creek, a historic limestone schoolhouse (attended by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1920), pecan and peach orchards, and a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home.

Continue reading »

It was only a couple of years ago when analysts considered Russia to be the world's fourth-largest spender on luxury goods, behind the United States, Japan, and China. Big names setting up shop in Moscow included Tiffany, Prada, Versace, and Ferrari. But with today's global economic downturn and decline in oil prices, the most affluent Russians are tightening their grip on their wallets, demand for luxury goods is decreasing, and luxury retailers are closing their doors. With Russia's economy heavily dependent upon energy and commodities, low oil prices pose the biggest threat to the country's economic stability.

Designer brands like Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen, and Lanvin have recently announced that they are closing their stores in Moscow, according to the AP.

I wrote in December about how LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA shelved its plans for a Louis Vuitton flagship store in Tokyo's Ginza shopping district and how Japanese consumers are increasingly trading down for designerlike goods at chain stores such as H&M and Zara. Same appears to go for Russian consumers: "I think the consuming will simply be redistributed," said Anastasia Pyatina, editor of the Russian magazine Cosmopolitan Shopping. "People who can't afford Stella McCartney and McQueen would be buying H&M, and this is not that bad."

Continue reading »