After seeing photos from Bagaholicboy and receiving press images from Louis Vuitton, it seems like the two bags below – a tote and a briefcase – are not gonna make it in stores early next year when Louis Vuitton releases its Spring Summer 2010 men’s leather goods and accessories collection.

I think both are the perfect man bags of their kind (didn’t I say that about the Macassar Soft Briefcase, too? LOL). The color is in a pantone class of its own, too. We know that the new range of bags in Taiga leather will come in Grey, Beige and Cobalt Blue, but the press release also mentions that for Spring/Summer luggage will also be redefined in Bordeaux and Dark Green! I haven’t seen press images of any of those yet. Hmmm…

But hold on boys! The butterfly print scarf (1st photo) and the sequined shoes (2nd photo), along with a stunning new array of bags, small leather goods and other accessories, are making an appearance come release time! Stay tuned.

This year’s holiday window display at the Louis Vuitton Oslo boutique features monograms, fleurs, and trunks in bright and colorful light installations. Spotted on display are the Neverfull tote in Damier canvas, Sarah wallet and Gina sunglasses in Pomme d’Amour, and Fluffy Flat half boot in lambskin.

I also spotted the Monogram Miroir Sac Plat in gold inside the store, sitting in all its shining glory inside a glass vitrine. I wonder who’s bringing it home for Christmas?

Tonight I got to see Barack Obama!

The American president is in Oslo for one night only to receive his Nobel Peace Prize. The award is given every year in the Norwegian capital. An event like this certainly creates excitement over the city and not one to miss it, Knut and I headed to the Grand Hotel to witness Barack and Michelle Obama greet the crowd from the balcony. For more than two minutes, they stood there and waved to a 10,00015,000-strong crowd. Imagine being in the same square kilometer as the First Couple. Surreal.

On the way to dinner at a French restaurant, we spotted CNN’s Jonathan Mann reporting from Karl Johan, the capital’s main street. That’s world news broadcast in the making right there!

What a historic night.

So Louis Vuitton Oslo had its exclusive holiday shopping night yesterday. I heard people had a great time. My friend got her very own personalized Mon Monogram Keepall – the first of its kind in Norway. I was invited by my SA but at the risk of spending unnecessarily, I did not go. What’s the point of going when you are not buying, right?  Days leading to the event, I was trying to find something to buy to justify me going. But there was nothing. If push came to shove and I had to really get something, then it would have been this handsome pair called Madison Richelieu (£450) as pictured in the Holiday catalog I got a few weeks ago.

Combining Louis Vuitton’s timeless Taiga leather with smooth calfskin, this business shoe features beautiful curved lines, perforations and Monogram flower stitching on the toe cap. Part of the Summer 2010 collection, I’m not sure whether this is already available in stores. If yes…

Santa I’ve been a very, very good boy this year. Oh, yes!

I WAAAAAANT!

Louis Vuitton Fall Winter 2009

Here’s a photo I took a few months ago for my debut column at Garage. I love how the lighting falls on the Macassar Soft Briefcase and the Damier Stole.

It so happened that I used both today. :)

Here’s a Christmas ornament idea from Norwegian lighting designer Cathrine Kullberg who is known for her range of birch veneer lamps.

Taking off from the success of the Norwegian Forest lamps (which was also featured at the Wallpaper* Guest Editors Karl Lagerfeld/Philippe Starck issue, September 2009) which draw on a classic Scandinavian tradition of using thin birch strips for lighting, Kullberg releases a miniature lamp shade that is perfect as a delicate Christmas ornament for your tree.

Illuminated from the inside, the lamp gives a warm glow as an expertly laser cut motif of a squirrel and pine branches light up. A new design will be launched every winter, so I better start collecting. It’s also perfect as a Christmas gift and each comes flat-packed with easy assembly instructions. A leather string is included for the seam and handle. DIY fun!

NOK 299, available from the following online stores and shops.

Long time readers of my blog would know that I’m a huge fan of the Eurovision Song Contest – that annual musical extravaganza wrapped in glitter, glamour and grandeur where nations and artists across Europe come together and compete to bring home the victory. Next year, it will be extra exciting as the the contest will be held in Oslo, Norway! In the lead up to the ESC 2010, the organizers revealed yesterday next year’s theme art and slogan – SHARE THE MOMENT, created by the award-winning Norwegian design firms Gosu, Handverk and Snøhetta.

About the concept:

More than a hundred million people are watching the same show at the same time, in millions of living rooms. They rejoice with the winner and weep with the losers, investing a wide specter of emotions in the show. Imagine Europe by night, seen from high above. All you can see is the light from all the cities, towns and villages. This is Europe, as a whole – with no visual borders between nations, cultures or groups of people. Now, imagine these flocks of lights not only representing different groups of people, but they show how big and magical a moment can be when we all participate and come together. We lift those lights, we make them elevate and fly, we gather them and make them come together in giant flocks of light spheres which merge, dance and play. It is a magnificent display of thousands, millions of individual elements coming together and participating and sharing the moment. The overall visual identity of ESC 2010 in Oslo are these light spheres, operating in different manners. They spread out to form our slogan, they come together in huge, colorful flocks, they race through the night, they float together in patterns.

The flocks of light spheres are developed also with other types of media and expressions in mind. They are easy to reproduce for usage outside the print and screen media, they can take different sizes and they can easily be put together as flocks in different shapes, or used individually.

Only a few more months to go! I’m so excited.

Concept text and images taken from Gosu Design.

Tomorrow, Acne opens its second and flagship store in Oslo, a 200 square meter retail space at Bogstadveien which will house separate Acne Jeans, Men’s and Women’s departments. This new store development comes at a time of financial crisis when Acne can offer high fashion designs at competitive prices. With a style statement of simple, clean and timeless cuts (very Scandinavian), Acne is a good ally for investment wardrobe shopping.

Acne, along with its fashion house, carries a creative collective that includes an advertising agency, a film group, a web/digital production company and Acne Paper, its magazine published twice a year. And come spring 2010, Acne is also launching a furniture line. Talk about development.

It’s that time of the year when companies in Norway book the best available tables for Christmas dinners. This year, I’ve organized a Christmas dinner (in Norwegian julebord, literally Christmas table) for our department of seven. Instead of going straight to dinner, I’ve arranged for some pre-dinner tapas, drinks and ice-sculpting activity at Oslo’s newest and coolest bar concept. We’re going to Icebar Oslo by Icehotel!

The largest and third Icebar by Icehotel in the world (the other two are in Copenhagen and Tokyo), the bar is made from scratch with 60 tons of ice from the Torne River in Lapland, Sweden. The walls, the furniture and even glasses and plates are all made from the same ice. Kept at a -5° temperature all-year round, the ice will not melt thanks to energy efficient LED lighting. The lighting is in several shades of blue and green reminiscent of the elusive and magical northern lights. The design of the Icebar changes every year, and this year’s theme is “Purity with a twist.”

Afterwards, we are having a three-course menu dinner at Restaurant Eik, I believe one of Oslo’s best and trendiest restaurants. Recommended in the Michelin Guide under the Bib Gourmand category, Restaurant Eik serves a medley of dishes created from the freshest ingredients of the season.

Hmmm, this will be good.

Pop a happy pill of Nordic cool.

For Garage Magazine’s travel and arts issue, I wrote about Norwegian-born fashion brand, Moods of Norway. Founded in the small, picturesque town of Stryn where Moods of Norway still has its headquarters and showroom, the brand has grown into an international name in fashion. With stores in Europe, the US and Japan and a celebrity following, Moods of Norway continues to set men’s fashion on the edge in its sixth year now with fun, frisky use of colors, sheen and outrageous prints.

For its current collections, Moods of Norway offers sharp suits in either tartan or romantic folk prints. The latter seems to get inspiration from the traditional Norwegian art of rose painting – the prints are ornate and rococo. My personal pick would be this bordeaux jacket (pictured upper right corner on the page) emblazoned with tone-on-tone floral patterns and features a contrast piping on the lapel. It looks so lavish and luxurious!

Also captured in this column is the magnificent Norwegian nature - the snowcapped mountains and the fjords. No wonder Norwegians are happy people (but the award went to their neighboring Danes), they are blessed with good looks and a stunning country to live in.

Show some love and get your copy of Garage Magazine’s December/January 2010 issue. It’s available in many newsstands in the Philippines.