Normally, we don’t profile concept cars in Lucire: cars that appear at shows but are not available to the public. They usually demonstrate the company’s advanced thinking, but they tend not to be things we can buy for some years.
   However, we’ll make an exception for the Porsche 918 Spyder concept shown at the Salon de Genève. This mid-engined sports car is a hybrid that can see 100 km/h in 3·2 seconds, weighs less than 1,400 kg, and has carbon dioxide emissions at a possible 70 g/km. Excuse the cheesy voiceover, claims of ‘Porsche DNA’ and the soundtrack: the message itself is more important here.

We have more news from several worldwide events. New York Fashion Week news tends to go to print, which is why we are a bit sparing online, though some info will head here. Doug Rimington has shot some lovely photographs for us from London, while Rola Saab will shortly report from Paris and Thomaz from Milano. And we expect to get extra news from De Beers for the Love Ball London, which is being held today.
   By way of preview, the Love Ball is a charity event benefiting the Naked Heart Foundation. The event features an auction, where The Magic Moment Necklace, designed by model Natalia Vodianova and created by de Beers, will be offered alongside art from Marc Quinn, Anselm Reyle and others.
   The Magic Moment Necklace’s central pendant features a 1·1 ct fancy intense pink heart-shaped diamond paired with a 3·06 ct white heart-shaped diamond and hand-set in delicate micropavé. The pendant dances on a chain of white gold studded with white, pink and yellow diamonds (totalling 1·81 ct, 1·65 ct and 1·94 ct respectively); part of the chain is detachable for versatility. The Magic Moment Necklace can be worn either as an intricate statement or a sophisticated pendant, says De Beers.
   Says Vodianova in a release, ‘The Magic Moment Necklace was inspired by that precious instant when two people meet and immediately connect. Two stunning De Beers diamond hearts fit perfectly together becoming one—symbolic of a great love. I was reminded of the famous love poem by Pushkin and of the first playground we opened when I saw the children’s happiness and excitement. That was a magic moment I treasure and I instantly knew that the Naked Heart Foundation would be an integral part of me.’
   For further information about the Love Ball and the Naked Heart Foundation, visit www.nakedheart.org/loveball.

MAC has unveiled its latest Viva Glam campaign, featuring Lady Gaga and Cyndi Lauper. Proceeds from the sale of its Viva Glam VII lipsticks will benefit the MAC Aids Fund.
   The spring 2010 edition sees two new lipstick shades, with a light coral red lustre bearing Lauper’s name and a light blue–pink lustre with Lady Gaga’s.
   The collection hits counters on March 1, retailing at NZ$40.
   The MAC Aids Fund will announce $2·5 million in new donations to fund model programmes that address the vulnerabilities and inequities that place women at increased risk for HIV and Aids, says the company.
   To date, the MAC Aids Fund has already raised over $150 million to combat HIV and Aids.
   ‘I think it’s absolutely insane that some people have fewer rights than others, and I’m grateful that MAC has decided to focus on women while I’m a Viva Glam spokesperson. I have so much to say and so much to share, and I’m going to let my lips and lipstick do the talking!’ says Lauper in a release.
   ‘I’ve been familiar with the campaign and have been wearing MAC since I was 10 years old. To be joining the likes of iconic former Viva Glam spokespeople is an honour. My new Viva Glam lipstick colour is amazing. It’s very me—a bluish pink, great for every day, a little bit ’80s. I hope that women buy this lipstick, and honour themselves and honour the cause,’ says Lady Gaga.

We have already tried the Volvo XC60 with collision avoidance—and in good Swedish tradition, the new Volvo S60 takes the safety idea a step further.
   Newly announced today, with its world première at the Salon de Genève on March 2, the S60’s pedestrian detection, using a camera and radar, has a full automatic brake. It can detect pedestrians who walk into the road in front of the car, warn the driver, and automatically apply full braking power if the driver does not respond in time.
   The car can avoid hitting a pedestrian at under 35 km/h. Over this speed, the car will reduce speed as much as possible to help minimize injuries to the pedestrian. The system will detect children over 80 cm tall.
   The new chassis includes new stability control and traction control measures. Below are videos of the S60 in motion and a full explanation of its party trick.

Left Jean-Luc Colonna d’Istria of Merci. Right Medinge director and MIP dean Pierre d’Huy translates for Dominique Benoît of Pictet et Cie. Below The Brands with a Conscience certificate, designed by UffindellWest.

The Medinge Group had a slightly smaller Brands with a Conscience ceremony today at the Management Institute of Paris, reflecting the international nature of the winners. Many were scattered around the globe and unable to attend the ceremony, though two of the European winners made it to the French capital to collect their awards in person: Jean-Luc Colonna d’Istria of Merci and Pictet et Cie.’s Dominique Benoît.
   Stanley Moss, CEO of the Medinge Group, noted that it was remarkable that in a year of financial crises, there were two winners from that sector that were doing good. Apart from Pictet, the Co-op Bank received a Brands with a Conscience award.
   The seventh annual awards’ programme also honoured Alibaba Group, Marks & Spencer (for its Plan A initiative), SAP and Selco Solar Pvt. Ltd. Muna Abu Sulayman won the Colin Morley Award and a letter from her was read out in absentia by Medinge member Simon Nicholls.
   Medinge founder Thomas Gad noted that the Awards had become so successful that they had spawned at least one imitator.

Muna Abu Sulayman is today announced as the winner of the Medinge Group’s 2010 Colin Morley Award, given to an individual who has contributed to the betterment of society through sustainable, socially responsible and humanistic behaviour. The award is part of Medinge’s annual Brands with a Conscience list, now in its seventh year.
   ‘It is a great honour,’ a delighted Muna Abu Sulayman remarked, when informed of the award last night by Simon Nicholls, of the Medinge Group, who made the nomination.
   In giving this award, the Medinge Group recognizes Muna’s outstanding work in educational development, poverty alleviation and strategic philanthropy; as Executive Director of the Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation, developing and implementing operations for humanitarian assistance across the globe; her role as the first woman in Saudi Arabia to be appointed by the United Nations Development Programme as a Goodwill Ambassador; and for exceptional reporting as co-host on popular MBC-TV social programme Kalam Nawaem, in particular her advocacy of rights for women. As a public and media personality, she speaks about issues relating to Arab society, media, building bridges of understanding between east and west.
   Since 1997, Ms Abu Sulayman has served as lecturer on American literature at King Saud University in Saudi Arabia. She frequently appears as a panellist at the Davos World Economic Forum, Jewish Economic Forum, C-100 of the World Economic Forum, Brookings Institute Conferences and other venues.
   Medinge, an international collective of brand practitioners, meets annually in August at a secluded location outside Stockholm, Sweden, and collaborate on the list, judging nominees on principles of humanity and ethics, rather than financial worth. The Brands with a Conscience list is shaped around criteria including evidence of the human implications of the brand and considering whether the brand takes risks in line with its beliefs. Evaluations are made based on reputation, self-representation, history, direct experience, contacts with individuals within the organizations, media and analysts and an assessment of the expressed values of sustainability.
   Three years ago the group added a unique category commendation, the Colin Morley Award, recognizing exceptional achievement by an individual or NGO. Mr Morley, a member of the Medinge Group, died in the London Underground bombings on July 7, 2005. The award commemorates his visionary work in humanistic branding.

[Cross-posted] I posted this on my Tumblog earlier today but it is worth repeating here:

I captioned it, ‘We probably will keep thinking [climate change] is someone else’s problem till we encounter threats like the Maldives and other places do: if we don’t do something, our country will disappear. But this graphic is a heck of a good reminder.’
   The pic says it all, really.

Volvo showed an electric C30 some time ago. Still a concept, the company is showing more details, with a test fleet promised for 2010. The cars can run on electricity on a single charge for 150 km—which means it suits 90 per cent of European drivers.
   Our video below has comments from Volvo, as well as motoring media veteran Richard Bremner, who feels that desirable electric cars will be a hit.
   The Energimyndigheten, or Swedish Energy Agency, is supporting the project and contributing Kr 150 million to the funding.

Miss Sweden 2009, Azra Duliman, is presently in København to attend COP 15, after being chosen by Green Cross, the environmental organization founded by Mikhail Gorbachev.
   Duliman, a law student, was chosen as Miss Sweden earlier this year based in part on her record of working on human rights’ issues.
   Duliman says in a statement, ‘I am so excited to have received this mission. Global environmental issues have long been a major interest. There is so much I want to say, so much I want to learn, and so many genuine environmental activists I want to meet [including] Mikhail Gorbachev, and Nobel Prize winner Wangari Maathai.’
   She described Maathai as ‘A fascinating woman who has done so much, both for the environment and for women’s rights in Kenya and internationally.’
   Panos Papadopoulos, the founder and owner of the Nya Fröken Sverige pageant, adds, ‘At last the public seems to get what New Miss Sweden idea is really about. Young girls are able to make a difference in the world, using tools like intelligence, driving force and inner strength, and not by just exposing themselves. Not anyone gets a task like this. The whole world has their eyes pointed at København right now, and everyone who is participating must have something very important to say. Azra does.
   ‘The fact that organizations like Green Cross want Azra as their spokeswoman proves that the seriousness of our concept has reached out. It makes me very proud.’

On the main part of the Lucire site today: our Paris and New York correspondent, Rola Saab, interviews Abi Ferrin. Rola purposely sought out Abi because of her environmental concerns, and her latest collection was inspired by the Osa rainforest in Costa Rica. Continue reading here.
   As the UNEP’s first fashion industry partner, we haven’t ignored COP 15. Editor-at-large Summer Rayne Oakes is there, and you can see photographs from the event on her personal blog.
   It’s fair to say that Lucire fully believes we need to do something to help our planet—a quest we began many years ago, which the UNEP itself recognized.
   While the planet is on a natural cooling cycle presently, some record highs are still being experienced—highlighting the extremes in our weather patterns. If we don’t address these concerns now, when Earth returns to a natural warming cycle, we will really feel the temperature rises in a big way.
   There’s still a cynical part in our thinking: many climate change conferences have taken place and politicians too often put rhetoric before action. Outside the climate change arena, we’ve seen Davos become a trade fair some years. It’s why this København conference is important: we have to spur our political leaders—who represent us, not special interests—into action.
   We hope the pressure has helped. We have below a video detailing a tentative first draft of a global climate change agreement by the UNFCCC. In short, developing countries like the text, developed countries and Red China don’t. Debate will follow—and citizens really need to lobby their environment ministers more than ever if we want real action.
   The video features Swedish environment minister, Andreas Calgren, and the EU commissioner on environmental issues, Stavros Dimas. Calgren says that the agreement must be broader and have more commitments.

The family behind Dilmah tea has spent over NZ$27 million on the first stage of a complex in Sri Lanka that will care for abused women, differently abled children and marginalized children from urban slums in Sri Lanka, it was announced today.
   The first phase of the MJF Centre has been opened by Merrill J. Fernando, Founder of Dilmah and Settlor of the MJF Charitable Foundation, at Moratuwa, a large and heavily populated seaside town close to Sri Lanka’s capital city, Colombo.
   The MJF Centre will eventually house four charitable projects. The first, the Centre for Women, has been established in partnership with the Diri Piyasa Trust Fund to offer a much needed residential care facility for abused women.
   The Centre will provide free legal, medical, law enforcement and counselling services to women and their families who are victims of violence. It will provide for their rehabilitation and also perform a wider role in creating awareness among families and communities on the extent of violence and its impact on women and their families.
   Work has now begun on the second and third stages: two centres for differently abled children, including Down syndrome and physically disabled children. Once complete, more than 100 children will enjoy specialized therapy, care and education at the Centres for Children.
   The fourth stage of the project is MJF Kids, a replica of the highly successful MJF Kids programme that already assists over 120 children from deprived neighbourhoods in the suburbs of Colombo. The Moratuwa MJF Kids programme will focus on rehabilitation of vulnerable “street children” by assisting them to excel in their education and in nurturing creativity.
   Dilmah Tea and its associate companies contribute a minimum of 10 per cent of their profits to supplement the contribution that Merrill and his sons make to the foundation. The MJF Foundation designs and implements over 100 different projects each year with the objective of empowering marginalized and underprivileged people in the community in a sustainable and dignified manner. The Foundation’s Small Entrepreneur Programme has been hailed as a model for practical and respectful assistance to the poorest.
   Other areas in which the Foundation is active include education, nutrition and health care, care for the elderly, rehabilitation of tsunami affected communities, empowerment of the differently abled and emergency assistance to marginalized communities.

As the first fashion industry partner of the United Nations Environment Programme since 2003, it always delights us to see the next generation of designers focus on sustainable fashion and corporate social responsibility. On December 2, the Danish fashion industry showed its Innovating Sustainable Fashion collections, with Karin Eggert Hansen, a student at the Danish Design School, entering her rainwear made from recycled plastic bottles.
   The show was organized by the Center for Responsible Design in cooperation with Copenhagen Fashion Fairs, in order to support sustainable fashion in the lead-up to COP15.
   The designs will be exhibited at the Danish Design Center from December 8 until January 31.

It’s been an eventful two weeks here at Lucire. Sunglass Hut invited us to view the new-look stores—in time for the southern summer—along with some of the summer 2010 styles. The Lambton Quay, Wellington branch has the right ambience, and the Ray-Bans (below) are among the picks for the season.


   I don’t think it’s snobbery when I say I preferred some of the fancier name brands such as Prada and Versace—mainly because the colourful frames of Ray-Ban remind me of my very first pair of sunglasses bought for me on a family trip to Palmerston North in 1978. I was fond of them, but if I were buying today, I might fork out for something different.
   Our friend Denis Kenward also visited. Denis has new jewellery work for 2010 as well. While his traditional paua shell necklaces are still available—and he has since moved away from working with bone—he has other designs as well. They can be had with a chain, but I got to see them in a “raw” form.

   Finally, last night’s football game at the Westpac Stadium was notable not so much for the late equalizing goal from Melbourne—but the delivery of the match ball by the Life Flight Trust helicopter.


   There were dramas as the chopper was used for an emergency just prior, and the prizewinners delivering the ball had to be unexpectedly driven to the roof of Wellington Hospital to be collected. Due to the emergency, the landing was a few minutes late, but it did not disrupt proceedings.
   All Whites players Ben Sigmund and Tim Brown—riding a high after the World Cup qualifier—have agreed to become Life Flight Trust ambassadors, and the event at a special lounge at the Stadium celebrated the announcement.
   I was delighted that Miss New Zealand Katie Taylor could attend on my invitation—and complemented the glamour that the Life Flight Trust’s ladies brought to the event.
   The Life Flight Trust saves over a thousand lives a year, and while the helicopter rescue service is associated with it in the public’s mind, it also operates an aeroplane service, which often flies children to Starship Hospital, among other missions. The plane does not receive support from the Westpac bank, and the Trust could do with additional support from the community.

Stockholm leads the way with more common sense when it comes to creating a clean city. Teaming up with Fortum, the energy company, the city plans to make itself one of the cleanest cities in the world.
   In late November, the Eurocities 2009 conference in Stockholm discussed what sustainable solutions could be employed, and electric cars are on the agenda for an emissions-free city by 2030.
   With Fortum, Stockholm is trialling an infrastructure for charging electric cars as well as increasing the use of renewable fuels for heat and power production.
   Videos below demonstrate how charging could take place, and feature comments from the Mayor, Sten Nordin, Fortum’s Marie Fossum and RCA car designer Tue Beijer.

Emporio Armani has shown its products to support Product Red and World Aids Day. The products, including a watch and sunglasses, will be retailed online at www.emporioarmani.com, which turns red for the day to promote the global initiative.
   A percentage of sales go to the Red fund, which finances projects in Africa. In addition to Emporio Armani, American Express, Converse, Gap, Starbucks, Bugaboo, Nike, Apple, Dell and Hallmark are partners.