From Beijing to Bangkok and Seoul to Singapore, luxury brands are celebrating and welcoming the Year of the Dragon that begins today.
In Chinese culture the Dragon symbolises power, strength and good luck, so no wonder multiple luxury brands reacted in a predictable manner and incorporated the dragon in the limited edition goods, that no doubt will sell like hot cakes to Chinese nouveau riche. Here’s a glimpse of what luxury brand products are currently available for the Asian market.
A jewellery store Chow Tai Fook in Hong Kong currently displays a 24K gold dragon. It’s a nine-tael statue, so if you do the math it adds up to the price tag being somewhere around €15,800.
It may be proudly Swiss, but luxury brand Bally is not about to let its European heritage stop it from marking the Chinese New Year. The fashion house will celebrate the Year of the Dragon with the launch of two capsule collections. Men have the Dragon line while women should look to the Phoenix Collection. The range’s unusual names were inspired by the Chinese proverb which states: “When the dragon soars and the phoenix dances, there is peace and tranquility for all.”
For the Prestige collection limited to 88 pieces each item, luxury brand S.T.Dupont partnered with Philippe Tournaire, who hand sculpted a gold plated Dragon on a Néo-Classique President fountain pen, made in black Chinese lacquer. The iconic Line 2 lighter, matching the solid bronze ashtray, is also decorated with the emblematic creature.
Versace‘s Dragon year gambit is a specially designed jewel handbag, which comes with a gold handle and traditional golden dragon drawings on a black body. The bag is limited to 210 pieces and sold exclusively in Asia. The bag is priced at HK$31,800 (€3,148), while an even more exclusive red python skin version will set you back HK$45,000.
Vertu has launched three new luxury phones: in stainless steel with emeralds, yellow gold with diamonds or ruby with black stainless steel. This limited edition series will feature a four-claw Chinese dragon adorned on the battery cover, which is a 20-stage process and takes 1,5 days to complete. More than four highly-skilled craftsmen are needed to craft the dragon on a single phone, taking a minimum of eight hours for engraving.
Swiss luxury brand Piaget launched 24 Dragon watch models in Beijing at the end of 2011 with prices ranging from HK$193,000 (€19,114) to HK$16 million (€1,5million). Pictured above is Piaget Exceptional Piece. To have this diamond dragon crawling around your wrist will cost you €1.32 million.
After announcing best ever sales in its 107 years of history, Rolls-Royce has probably beaten another record after the company has announced that the Phantom Year of the Dragon has been completely sold out in China in just two months.
The Rolls-Royce Phantom year of the Dragon’s painting has been inspired by the Forbidden City and it comes with gold inserts, plush leather and hand-crafted details, which are very expensive.
The design of Palmer Johnson’s luxury yacht ‘Dragon’ by Nuvolari-Lenard is visually spectacular for the outside…
The interior design of this flamboyant superyacht is a work of modern fine art. The red, white and black theme in rectangular patterns — in the salon, the dinning room and the bedrooms – is an artistic tribute to this 21st century red dragon on the sea.
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