I mean, what can he say to this one? The man on the right is Göran Olofsson. He grew up in the village of Linsell, Sweden where his father, Gösta ran the village gas station. Apparently, his dad was as much artist as businessman- and produced all types of touristy knick-knacks based on his own paintings- to sell from his shop! What a great story (you can read more about it HERE).

Apparently, he had about 1,000 of these scarves printed out sometime in the 1950’s. It bears the name of the village, “Linsell” on the top- and is full of images from the area- the charming little church and local symbols- (including the coat of arms, the two bears and pasque flowers) of the county (Härjedalen).

Anyway, so Göran somehow stumbles upon MJ’s scarf- and is obviously recognized it. I mean- it’s pretty much an exact replica- except that instead of the village name- the scarf says “Marc Jacobs Since 1984″. (Although, I like the border on the original much more). Wow. Very embarrassing- and pretty ironic, if you ask me! (Especially since Louis Vuitton had to apologize for a similar snaffu with the naked ladies just a couple months ago… I blogged about it HERE if you’re interested).

So, apparently Göran has written Marc for an explanation. I can’t wait to hear it!

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Love this clip from the Marc Jacobs & Louis Vuitton film… have you seen it?

Isn’t it fun getting a little glimpse of MJ at work?  If you haven’t seen the documentary- set your TiVO asap! It isn’t too late- it’s showing on the Sundance Channel again on Monday!I know I pointed it out earlier- but I thought I’d bring it up for those who missed it- since we happen to have a fabulous and oh, so limited authentic Louis Vuitton Polka Dot Fleurs Viviane in our FASHIONPHILE.com store right now!

Come check it out!

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We’ve known for a while now that the Sundance Channel had aquired the rights to the Loïc Prigent documentary, “Marc Jacobs & Louis Vuitton”.

What I didn’t know, was the date that Sundance would be showing it… until now!

I was just browsing through my latest Marie Claire magazine, when I stumbled up on this little article… and it’s reminder to:

Check out the Sundance Channel’s documentary Marc Jacobs & Louis Vuitton. Premieres during fashion week, February 4 at 8 p.m. EST.

Wouldn’t miss it… especially with this killer list of “extras”!!!

Anna Wintour (Editor-in-chief of Vogue Mag- but you knew that!), Posh, of course, Demi Moore and her Boy, Lil’ Kim, Sharon Stone, Takashi Murakami, one of his many muses- Sophia Coppola, Catherine Deneuve, Uma Thurman, Naomi Cambell and many more!!!

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Well it looks like Louis Vuitton settled it’s case against Burlington Coat Factory, and a small handful of handbag suppliers.

Here are the bags in question:

Louis Vuitton took issue with these bags, asserting that they infringed on their intellectual properties.  Vuitton was particularly interested in the obvious copy of it’s famous Takashi Murakami Multicolore Monogram and the historical S-Lock closure.

I can’t tell the actual terms of the settlement from the Press Release other than to say that Burlington et. al is prohibited from:

manufacturing, importing, exporting, promoting, advertising, marketing, distributing, displaying, selling or offering to sell

… any infringing item, and is enjoined from:

reproducing, copying, infringing or counterfeiting Louis Vuitton intellectual properties in connection with manufacturing, promoting, advertising, distributing, displaying, selling or offering to sell any unauthorized goods or services

I love the closing remarks from Nathalie Moulle-Berteaux, Intellectual Property Director of LVMH Fashion Group (representative of both Louis Vuitton and MJ):

 This case was a particularly important one in that it involved some of our most famous trademarks — the Multicolore Monogram and the S-Lock closure — and the products in question included both exact copies and infringing ‘look-alike’ bags. We will continue our relentless fight to protect our brands throughout the world, by vigorously pursuing those who engage in any and all forms of infringing or counterfeiting activity.

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You don’t say? It looks like the blue hair is here to stay. Obviously not for as long as his new red “M&M” character tattoo… but it’s permanent haircolor, none the less.

Anyway, the top picture is of course, Marcy Marc with Takashi Murakami at their party at MOCA. You know we bought as much as they’d let us (two items per person!) Here’s one of our purchases:

The ultra limited Edition Murakami Neverfull GM. Keep watching our authentic Louis Vuitton eBay/Murakami listings… we’re keeping some, but listing a bunch too!

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OK… I thought it would be fun to play 6 degrees of Separation!  This is a game that became a spin-off with the 80’s trivia time blower, Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. You know, the test of the truly small world, where you pick any famous person and you have to connect them to Kevin Bacon in film roles in 6 degrees or less.

But, this is a luxe bag blog, so instead of Kevin Bacon, I’ll be connecting to Marc Jacobs in honor of his wildly successful collaboration with Louis Vuitton, and his engenius insight to bring Takashi Murakami into the mix, which has just been celebrated like mad this week in the @Murakami grand opening exhibit this week at MOCA in LA.

I wanted to pick someone who I could think of absolutely no similarities or connections with Marc.  I thought it would be timely to do some of the 2008 Presidential Candidates, as I figured all but H.R.C (who may just  be a close and personal friend, since MJ did a bunch of cool promo pieces for her recently) probably fall into this catagory!

As a nod to the amazing grassroots effort and insane but creative marketing methods put forth by the Ron Paul campaign- I thought I’d start there. I also thought it would be fun to see if I get any of those zainy Ron Paul rEVOLution postings on my blog as a result! Everyone else seems to be shy about commenting… so I thought I’d see if this would bring some comments out of the woodwork!!!

I won’t be using film roles for my connections, but just any pictures of two people together!!!

Here we go: Six Degrees of Marc Jacobs… Ron Paul style!

Here we have Ron Paul & Ronald Reagan on Airforce One in 1976.

Then of course you have Ronald Reagan and Steven Spielberg after the ET showing in the White House.

Steven Spielberg directed Drew Barrymore in ET. Why does it always make me kind of sad to see pictures of her as a little girl?

Drew Barrymore not only starred with Luke Wilson in Home Fries, but they had a little thing going on for a while.

Luke Wilson played alongside Reese Witherspoon in the Legally Blonde movies…

Reese is a big fan of MJ’s. Here she is at Kate Hudson’s Halloween party Saturday night. After seeing the MJ tutu pics, the cheerleading costume is pretty much par for the course.

Well, that was pretty easy. I’d love a challenge! Give me a suggestion, and I’ll try to connect them with MJ!

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Even if you are brand new to Louis Vuitton, you can’t help but to have seen the amazing results of the collaboration between Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs and Takashi Murakami… to name a few:

The Monogram Multicolore line-

The Cherry Blossom line-

And the Cerises Line-

Well, apparently LA’s Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) is featuring a Murakami Exhibition, “© MURAKAMI”, from October 29 through February 11. The exhibition will display 90 of his works in a variety of media.

They got MJ to do a little video introduction… take a peek!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qWbt_Ao_d0]

If you’re in the mood for a little Murakami, we always have a bit on hand. Currently, we’ve got a black Multicolore Noe, a white Multicolore Agenda, and a limited edition white Multicolore Eye Miss You bag on eBay.

On the www.fashionphile.com website, we’ve got a black Multicolore Speedy 30, a black Multicolore Boulogne, a black Multicolore pochette, a black Multicolore Key Cles and black Multicolore silk Scarf.

We also have a white Multicolore Pricilla and a white Multicolore silk Scarf.

If you buy any of these Multicolore pieces this week off the website, mention this blog entry and get free shipping!!!

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I know he’s been looking good for a while now, but I just came across this old pic of MJ before his transformation and all I can say is… wow!

Old Marc (on the left):

Compared to New Marc:

He honestly should write a book. The transformation is remarkeable!

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OK, so by now… we’ve all seen the latest knock-offs. I’m not talking about the bags you pick up on Canal Street- the Jake Spate, Louis Wutton, or Cucci, knock-offs of high street luxury.

I’m talking about the craze that began with Jack Spade’s $85 knock-off of the plastic plaid four dollar flea-market favorite…

And here’s Jack’s:

He explains it all in black and white-

“Inspired by the ubiquitous blue, white and red plaid bags found throughout New York City’s Chinatown, we created a small collection in the same plaid plastic material. The blue, white and red plastic strips are woven into a overlapping pattern then heat-sealed, making them extremely durable and water resistant. To commemorate knocking ourselves off, we created a special JACK SPADE/CANAL STREET/NEW YORK label that is crookedly sewn onto each piece.”

Pure genius, but this is old news. Move forward to Louis Vuitton’s Summer “Braided Leather” collection for 2007. Sure, it’s braided leather… and is great quality! It holds a ton, and is very versatile- a bargain for $1200. Here is the red and blue “Street PM”:

I mean, you’d think that Marc Jacobs would be a little more sensitive to the whole knock-off idea. Especially with the whole Vuitton v. Dooney & Bourke mess in 2004

I mean, what to you looks more similar?

Or:

But I digress… that was just the history. What I REALLY wanted to say with all of this is that WE are stuck in the middle here. I mean the whole Chinatown thing? Who are they using in this little battle to make their point?

Granted… maybe some of us really DID always really think those red and white flea-market bags were cool. Maybe you were already carrying them- and are telling all your friends that you started this whole craze! And I know I’m probably offending at least one of my clients, who will remain nameless But really… I get the feeling that they think they can just throw anything out there- put their name on it, and we’ll buy it!

It doesn’t look like Reese Witherspoon is wearing Jack’s, Louis Vuitton’s or the good old Chinatown special. What is she wearing???

Honestly, I’m just afraid of the Fall 2007 line… made of superior materials, fabulous quality, extremely roomy, easy to carry, and fun, familiar design! A bargain for only $800!

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