NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CRYSTALLIZED™ - Swarovski Elements is delighted to join Saks Fifth Avenue, New York, to present the spectacular plans for windows and decor for the Holiday Season 2008. This luxurious partnership will bring the glamour of CRYSTALLIZED™ - Swarovski Elements to the holiday decor of what is one of the world’s most famous retail stores, both in New York City and in other major US cities. The unveiling of the Saks Fifth Avenue holiday windows and the Snowflake sound and light show will take place on Monday, November 24, 2008, just before Thanksgiving to celebrate the beginning of the season.

Glittering partnership

All 26 of Saks Fifth Avenue New York store windows will be branded and decorated with CRYSTALLIZED™ - Swarovski Elements for six weeks of the holiday season. The CRYSTALLIZED™ Holiday windows and decoration will also be on display at the Saks Holiday Season festivities in Beverly Hills, San Francisco, Chicago, Bal Harbor, Boston, Atlanta and Houston. The windows will feature one-of-a-kind, CRYSTALLIZED™ creations from design icons such as Ralph Lauren, Zac Posen, Missoni, Giambattista Valli, Isaac Mizrahi, Oscar de la Renta, Bill Blass, Carolina Herrera, Michael Kors and KaufmanFranco, as well as commercially available products all embellished with CRYSTALLIZED™ - Swarovski Elements.

Designer brands

In addition to announcing what is destined to be a stunning holiday decor collaboration, Saks stores will carry special products made with CRYSTALLIZED™ - Swarovski Elements. An amazing array of designer and brand name pieces, featuring CRYSTALLIZED™ - Swarovski Elements, adorning everything from giftware, cosmetics, shoes and leather accessories, jewelry and Christmas decorations to the entire range of apparel will be showcased. Holiday shoppers will also discover exclusive products made with CRYSTALLIZED™ - Swarovski Elements, ranging from couture dresses by St John to jewelry by Alexis Bittar to fragrance products by Bond No. 9 that will be sure to make their holidays sparkle.

CRYSTALLIZED™ - Swarovski Elements

CRYSTALLIZED™ - Swarovski Elements is the product brand for Swarovski’s precision-cut loose crystals, a source of inspiration to leading designers in fashion, jewelry, accessories, lifestyle and home accessories and interiors. Drawn by their elemental attraction, the elite of the design world enhance their creations using the myriad of shapes, sizes and colors available in the CRYSTALLIZED™ - Swarovski Elements range, recognized as the world’s finest crystals.

Saks Fifth Avenue

Saks Fifth Avenue, first opened in New York City in 1924 is a retailing icon synonymous with world class luxury, steps away from Radio City Music Hall, the Rockefeller Center. The store’s Christmas decorations are a must see for city residents and visitors alike. That the store has decided to partner CRYSTALLIZED™ - Swarovski Elements in 2008 will make this quintessential New York Holiday tradition more glamorous and glittering than ever before.

About Swarovski

In 1895, Daniel Swarovski I, a Bohemian inventor and visionary, moved to the village of Wattens, Tyrol in Austria, with his newly-invented machine for cutting and polishing crystal jewellery stones. From this beginning that revolutionised the fashion world, Swarovski has grown to be the world’s leading producer of precision-cut crystal, for fashion, jewellery and more recently lighting, architecture and interiors. Today, the company, still based in Wattens, family-owned and run by 4th and 5th generation family members, has a global reach, with some 22.000 employees, a presence in over 120 countries and a turnover in 2007 of 2.56 billion Euros. Swarovski comprises two major businesses, one producing and selling loose elements to the industry and the other creating design-driven finished products. Swarovski crystal components, known by their product brand names CRYSTALLIZED™ - Swarovski Elements for fashion and STRASS^® Swarovski^® Crystal for architecture and light, have become an essential ingredient of international design. Since 1965 the company has also catered to the fine jewellery industry with precision-cut genuine and created gemstones, and from April 2008 has strengthened this relationship by revitalising and renaming the product brand ENLIGHTENED^TM - Swarovski Elements. Showing the creativity that lies at the heart of the company, Swarovski’s own-brand lines of accessories, jewellery and home décor are sold through more than 1300 Swarovski stores and concessions in all major fashion capitals, while the exclusive Daniel Swarovski accessories collection has become the company’s Couture signature. The Swarovski Crystal Society has close to 400,000 members worldwide, keen collectors of the celebrated crystal figurines. And in Wattens, Swarovski Kristallwelten, the multi-media crystal museum, was opened in 1995, as a celebration of Swarovski’s universe of innovation and inspiration. The Swarovski corporation also includes Tyrolit^®, manufacturing grinding tools, Swareflex, for road safety reflectors and Swarovski Optik, producing precision optical instruments.

About Saks Fifth Avenue

Saks Fifth Avenue, one of the world’s pre-eminent specialty retailers, is renowned for its superlative American and international designer collections, its expertly edited assortment of handbags, shoes, jewelry, cosmetics and home furnishings and the first-rate fashion expertise and exemplary client service of its Associates. Today, Saks operates 53 full-line stores in 25 states, 3 licensed stores in the Middle East and 1 licensed store in Mexico City, 48 Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5TH stores and saks.com, the company’s online store.

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LaForce + Stevens
Stacy Forgang, 212-242-9353 ext.145
sforgang@lsagency.com
or
Swarovski North America
Cynthia Pino, 212-935-4200 ext.191
Cynthia.pino@swarovski.com