Ho Ho Haute Christmas Trees. The 16th Les Sapins de Noel des Createurs (all the trees).

above: Louis Vuitton's Christmas Tree for the 16th Les Sapin de Noel des Createurs

The 16th Les Sapins de Noël des Créateurs, an exhibition of Christmas Trees designed by top French Fashion Designers, Architects, Photographers, Interior Designers and other creative personalities, just took place at the Hotel Salomon de Rothschild in Paris.



This is my third year in a row blogging about this charitable event and this year the proceeds from the auction of the trees designed by the likes of Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Stella McCartney and Jean Paul Gaultier will benefit the Association pour la Vie-Espoir contre le Cancer (A.V.E.C.), a children’s cancer charity.


above: a detail of Sonya Rykiel's Christmas Tree

The exhibition at the hotel took place from the 2nd of December through the 7th and featured personal artistic interpretations of Christmas trees by the following (in alphabetical order):

Ali Mahdavi:

Barbara Rihl:

Blind Adam:

Chanel:

Chantal Thomass:

Christophe Josse:

Damien Da Rocha:

Diane Von Furstenberg:

Dior:

Dries Van Noten:

Dsquared:

Elie Saab:

Esmod:

Jean-Claude Jitrois:

Jean-Paul Gaultier :

Jean-Jacques Ory:

Jean-Charles de Castelbajac:

José Lévy:

Louis-Marie de Castelbajac:

Louis Vuitton:

Les Garçons:

Mathilde de L’Ecotais:

Marc-Antoine Barrois:

Maxime Simoëns:

Olivia Putman:

Pierre Hermé:

Rachid Khimoune:


Ruben Alterio:

Sonia Rykiel:

Stéphane Rolland:

Sébastien Parfait:

Smalto:

Stella McCartney:

Thanos Kyriakides:

Trussardi:

Wooyoungmi:


The only participants whose images of trees I do not have are those by Christian Biecher and Christian Ghion.

Images courtesy of Les Sapins de Noel des Createurs,, Journal des femmes, Diane Pernet and Les Petits Bout2fee

•See the designer Christmas trees from the 15th Les Sapins de Noel des Createurs

•See the designer Christmas trees from the 14th Les Sapins de Noel des Createurs

A Christmas Log of Liquor. Bûche de Belvedere Vodka.

Belvedere Vodka has released a specially packaged limited edition of their Belvedere Pure in a metallic Buche de Noel for Christmas 2011. (For those who don't know, a Bûche de Noel is a Yule Log and the name of a holiday dessert made to look like a log)



«It Bûche» Belvedere has an engraved silver chromed metal sleeve embossed with a holly leaf which slides over a real birch log hollowed out to hold a 70cl bottle of their premium vodka.







Presented on an acrylic base, the hollowed out log can serve as an ice holder once the bottle is removed.



Limited to 25. Available in France only, but can be purchased online at Colette.
Buy it here

$280.31 VAT excl.
$335.25 VAT included

Winter Magic. Spellbinding Photographs by Per Breiehagen For Italian Children's Brand Chicco.

I came across these stunning winter landscapes by photographer Per Breiehagen and discovered that they began as a personal project and blossomed into an international ad campaign.




In 2007 Breiehagen photographed his three year old daughter Anja, styled by his wife Lori Evert, as a traditional Nordic elf near his home in Minnesota. The images expertly and magically captured the holiday spirit for his personal Christmas cards.

Several of these images are also available in this lovely children's book, The Christmas Wish.





Encouraged by the feedback, Breiehagen embarked on a much larger project. Born and raised in Norway, his childhood had centered around the fairytales and lore that are rich in Norwegian culture. Stories of elves, trolls and other creatures have inspired his narratives, instilling a sense of magic and mystery in his imagery. “Growing up in a storytelling tradition, these mental images would always be there and certainly influenced my creativity,” he says.





The first round of images went to Getty Images to be used as stock photography. Within a year, the elf girl series had been picked up by agencies in South America, Northern Europe and Asia for a variety of advertising and editorial campaigns, including AT&T. In 2010 ad agency McCann Erickson used the images for Italian baby brand Chicco's holiday campaign.




This year, Breiehagen has worked again with McCann Erickson to shoot his daughter Anja in an exclusive set of images for the 2011 Chicco brand holiday campaign, making the sweet little elf in the red cap the icon for the brand.


above: One of the images as used on Chicco's website.

The images can be seen on billboards, on television, in print and on their web site throughout this holiday season.














Breiehagen and wife Evert are now actively on the hunt for a publisher to create a Christmas book featuring these images. Anja is getting older but Breiehagen hopes her legacy as the little elf girl will continue to represent a timeless holiday spirit.

I have chosen my favorites from his Winter Magic Series to place in this post, to see all the shots, visit Per Breiehagen's site.

To learn more about the props, styling and digital compositing for these beautiful images, read Jacqui Palumbo's detailed article on this project for PDN, here.

all images courtesy of Per Breiehagen