Plukka.com launched yesterday worldwide and is the brainchild of former Shanghai Tang creative director Joanne Ooi, and the concept is quite exciting for jewellery shoppers.

In a nutshell: Plukka offer stylish, fine designer jewellery at affordable prices to a crowd of shoppers – so if you like something you buy it, but the more people buy it the lower the price goes. And this is great designer looking stuff!

Let’s let Joanne explain how Plukka.com works:

Joanne, what is Plukka.com all about?

Plukka sells own-brand, extremely creative, original fine designer jewelry (18k gold, diamonds, gemstones) priced 70-90% off normal retail price, through a patented social shopping process called the Plukka Value Proposition, all online.

Prices will range from $200 to $20,000, with an approximate median price range of $500-700. The Plukka Value Proposition can be summed up as follows: First, we don’t make a piece of jewellery unless enough people want to buy it. Second, the more of a piece we sell, the less it costs. You can see both principles at work in real time for any open event on our site.

Who is the Plukka customer?

At present, the site is focused on the US market, although we also ship to Hong Kong. We target a very broad swathe of customers, from the woman who buys a special occasion piece once a year from a department store, to the Net-a-Porter customer who’s accustomed to dropping a bomb for the latest must-have handbag.

In both cases, the customers are value-conscious. In the case of the department store customer, she loves jewellery but is held back by price. In the case of the high-end online luxury shopper, she will consider our pieces, which are always precious metals, diamonds and real gemstones, to be “cheap as chips” in comparison to buying the latest designer gear.

What industry is Plukka.com distrupting?

We are disrupting the jewellery industry in a way where it will be very difficult for consumers to ever go back to paying “full” retail price at a conventional retailer.

How has your background at Shanghai Tang and Clean Air Network prepared you for this?

My career has always been about marketing, marketing, marketing and this gig is no different.

You can check out the jewellery offers at Plukka.com and let us know what you think in the comments below.

We will be bringing you deals around Hong Kong.

If you’ve been thinking about getting the Chloe Love perfume which launched last year. Here’s a chance to get the 50ml bottle at 40% off.

Chloe Love Perfume is now HK$480 for 1 month only. The offer is valid till 12 January 2012. 

To enjoy this deal click here:

Deal:

• Valid 12 Dec, 2011 to 12 Jan, 2012
• Valid for one bottle of 100% original Chloe LOVE perfume (50ml), worth HK$795
• Pick up at Marx International Perfumes

Check out this great new brand for kids we’ve just discovered! Kidinc makes cool funky tees for newborns and up to 12 year olds, as well as great little onesies for babies inspired by icons of music and pop culture.
 
According to design graduates Ter and Pat, who are also the owners and creators of the unique line, Kidinc’s mission is to give hip and happenin’ parents a chance to style their babies in the the rock and pop attitude that they know and love. They show that it doesn’t have to be all cutie style as they rock funky graphics, edgy designs and vibrant colours to shake the bland kids clothing market right up. And there’s even adult sizes for those mums and dads who want to rock along with their kids too!

How much?

• Onesies, HK$200 each
• Tees, HK$220 each

Where to buy?

www.kidincstore.com

Lacking inspiration from your regular shopping haunts? Too busy to trek through malls or browse the streets of Soho? Well thanks to the digital age, international style is only a few clicks away – and we’ve managed to find three fantastic fashion sites offering free delivery to Hong Kong. Check them out below!

Topshop.com

Local fashionistas’ favourite rant here is bemoaning the lack of a Topshop, the London favourite that delivers modern fast-fashion without breaking the bank either. Edgy designer collaborations (currently including David Koma, Ann-Sofie Beck and Mary Katranzou), an in-house Unique line showcased at London Fashion Week, clothes so hot even celeb A-Listers are seen in them and a much-beloved range of handbags, shoes and costume jewellery make this an essential shopping destination – and delivery is free once you order over £75. Which is very easy to do.

www.topshop.com

ASOS.com

It used to be the Internet’s best-kept secret yet just about everyone now knows the wonders of ASOS. Stocking an exhaustive range of items (there are currently 1227 different dresses alone) inspired by the latest trends, both branded and designed in-house, you’re sure to find something up your street on the site – although you might lose a couple of hours doing so! Delivery to Hong Kong is currently absolutely free, regardless of total spend.

www.asos.com

Revolveclothing.com

This Californian-based company offers over 400 brands at your fingertips, including diffusion lines (Alice by Temperley, McQ by Alexander McQueen, T by Alexander Wang), renowned designer names (Rebecca Taylor, Alice + Olivia, Catherine Malandrino) and edgier newcomers (Jonathan Saunders, Preen, Edun). They’re particularly famous for their specialty in denim, boasting the likes of Evisu, J Brand, True Religion and 7 For Mankind in their ranks. In short, there’s something for everyone – and free international delivery for orders over USD$100

www.revolveclothing.com

It’s actually possible to go green and look impossibly chic at the same time, as Deux Filles en Fil shows us with their latest range of bags.

Created by French fashion designer, Claire Batardière, the brand uses high quality leather and textile excesses from the luxury fashion industry (so less goes to waste!).

In eco-friendly fashion, bags are sold flat-packed. You’d need some hands-on assembly but it’s easy when you’ve press studs (and we think that’s the fun part anyway). It gets even more exciting as you can adjust the size and shape of your bag so it becomes a messenger bag, cross-body or satchel even.

Available exclusively through www.fromandforearth.com, a new local online store that stocks sustainable and trendy home and fashion accessories.

How much?

• Deux Filles en Fil handbags – HK$360 to HK$2,150

Where to buy?

• From and For Earth: www.fromandforearth.com

If you are looking to shop Versace furniture and don’t know if they are at furniture stores in Hong Kong, well now you can visit their online store.  Versace has put up their iconic Vanitas armchair for sale through their e-shop.

The chair was originally designed by Gianni Versace in 1994 and is the very first piece of furniture to be sold through their new e-commerce shop.

This handcrafted masterpiece boasts intricate carvings and etchings and comes with 24k gold leaf finishing. You can choose from different fabrics for the upholstery – velvet or Baroque black and white print.

Where to buy?

• Versace Home: www.versacehome.com

BB Dakota dress $670, Montauk shirt $510, Gorjana rings $450,
House of Harlow 1960 necklace $590, Stylestalker dress $1080

Basically Nowhere is a new online boutique that has just launched their online store at www.basicallynowhere.com

Basically carries up-and-coming young designer labels from all over the world (Los Angeles, New York, Toronto and Sydney) and because they are based in Hong Kong, there’s no shipping fees for purchases made from Hong Kong (a big plus!)

What you can expect to find are both men’s and women’s pieces that we are describing as casual cool.  We like that Basically offers stylish clothes that don’t try too hard and are made by designers so there’s a certain edge and uniqueness to each of the pieces, and best of all, they are very affordable!

Owner Janet Leung selects stylish labels that are already discovered by those in the know and fashion forward celebrities like Jessica Alba, Gwen Stefani and Mandy Moore. Women’s label they are carrying include – Style Stalker from Australia BB Dakota and Mink Pink.

We especially love the accessories they are bringing in from House of Harlow (Nicole Richie’s fashion label) Archive Jewelry, Ettika (worn by Jessica Alba, Gwen Stefani) and Gorjana (Jessica Alba, Mandy Moore are fans).

Stylestalker dress $1080, Archive necklace $1290, Ettika bracelet $310,
House of Harlow 1960 earrings $230

You can also find well made casual and stylish menswear in Asian sizes from labels like life/after/denim, N4E1 and B: Scott. Tell your boyfriends and guy friends, they will thank you for it as there is such a shortage of cool hip clothing for men in Hong Kong.

Nicole Richie in her own design

Giorgio Armani is officially the first luxury brand to launch their online store in China with emporioarmani.cn. This is a surprisingly fast move from an Italian brand, but then again Armani was one of the first to feature a Chinese person on their ad campaign (Shu Qi in their Autumn 2010 campaign). The site is in Mandarin with a Mandarin customer care team, payment system in Yuan and their own delivery service and special branded shopping bags and packaging for the China market.

What this means is that Chinese shoppers can now purchases from the season’s collections for men and women, the EA7 sports line, a selection from the Armani Jeans collection, as well as accessories, watches, eyewear and jewellery in yuan and speak to a Mandarin speaking person if they run into any problems with their purchases.

Interestingly, the new online store is supported by  YOOX Group, Emporio Armani’s global e-commerce trading partner. YOOX Group offers a comprehensive solution to internet retailing specifically developed for China that includes: technology and interface design, logistics centre and Shanghai office responsible for all related web management and marketing.

Shop Des Createurs.com is an online site that features pieces from designers ranging from ready-to-wear clothing to accessories for women, men and kids. The site currently features 14 designers from Paris and Hong Kong and plans to add more.

Among them, the Parisian designer Marc Gulden (illustrated t-shirts and tank tops), the jewellery and accessories designer Tina Barrat (based in Hong Kong since 1999) and S.Nine, the label of a promising talent from Parsons School of design in New York, Susanna Ngao.

http://www.ShopDesCreateurs.com

The self-described “punk-ass art school student,” Lenka, a former Aussie teen actress who trained with Cate Blanchett now turned solo artist, is teaming up with Graniph after a great performance at this year’s Summer Sonic festival in Tokyo & Osaka to release a limited edition tee. The shirt itself was designed by James Hancock and runs for about HK$210

In addition, Graniph is also teaming up with Good50X70 to create 6 more limited tees. Good50X70 is also known as the “The Social Communication Project”, a team that wants to create awareness and spawn communication through public projects. The t-shirts’ designs are winning entries chosen from 50X70s annual poster design competition. The designs address issues such as human rights, healthcare, nuclear power and endangered species.

Go to the graniph website for purchase information, all shirts are available now and they ship to Hong Kong.