Baz Luhrmann designs $785 Champagne sabre

Hollywood film director Baz Luhrmann has released a US$785 Champagne sabre in collaboration with Barneys New York.

The pricey sabre, inscribed with the words “Truth. Beauty. Freedom. Love”, forms part of a Christmas gift collection created for the department store by Luhrmann and his costume designer wife Catherine Martin.

Other items in the Baz Dazzled Holiday collection include a $7,000 backgammon set and a $250 snow globe.

A quarter of proceeds from the collection will go to Room to Read, a charity that supports literacy and gender equality in education in developing countries.

This is not the first time the director has been involved in the drinks industry – this February he collaborated with vodka brand Absolut on a limited edition release: Absolut Oz.

To coincide with the release, Luhrmann created four cocktails designed to showcase the drop: the Tama-Glama, The Hells Bells Beach, the Cable Beach “Stairway to the Moon” and The South Avoca Elevator

Luhrmann shot to fame with the 1992 film Strictly Ballroom and has gone on to direct Moulin Rouge, and remakes of Romeo + Juliet and The Great Gatsby. The 52-year-old Australian was born Mark Anthony Luhrmann.