Postage stamps: Miniature artwork with mass appeal
How do you sum up The Beatles on a square inch of sticky paper? That was the challenge facing Johnson Banks, the British graphic design team, after it was commissioned to design a set of postage stamps for the Royal Mail to commemorate the 50th anniversary of John Lennon's first meeting with Paul McCartney on July 6, 1957, at a school fete in their native Liverpool.

Marc rises to a new level
Marc Jacobs, who creates upscale clothes, has left the rock-frock world behind and created an enviable new collection.

The Brit pack can't forget those exhilarating '80s
Perhaps it is the British passion for history, or maybe just the researching methods of Saint Martin's School, but plumbing the past is a never-ending re-source. resource.

Oscar fashion: The story behind "Who are you wearing?"
Before we bewail the decline in celebrity subtlety and mores, it might be nice to know that the Oscars tradition of sartorial opportunism is deep-dyed.

Women's point of view
It may be true that female designers start with their emotions and their bodies, while male designers tend to project a larger vision.

London Fashion Week has a global glow
International brands are sniffing out the city.

Magazines in motion
No print, no censors and no boundaries, yet plenty of movie stars, for the latest in fashion medium: the DVD.

Ralph Lauren goes for the gold
With his calm sense that all is right and orderly with the fashion world, Ralph Lauren sets a gold standard for American fashion — and never more so than on Friday when gilt was his trip.

Combing the New York runways for a certainty of taste
It is hard to believe that the designers who are showing in New York Fashion Week could build a lifelong following from clients. There is just not the clarity of vision or the absolute conviction that gives an indelible signature.

Ralph Rucci, the weightless designer
An exhibition in New York is devoted to 25 years of his work.

Brrrr! Designers are reflecting climate change
When a hip crowd gathered at the Industria Super Studio in downtown Manhattan to support former Vice President Al Gore's project, climate change was on everybody's mind.

New season will put the daring back in fabrics
Fabric prediction: The spring/summer 2008 season will bring a neat, fresh look with intense and radiant colors.

An Indo-Western blend
The Indian kurti, or short tunic, has pushed onto the Indian fashion scene.

When the once-'It Girl' wears thin
Oh, the indignity: Socialites without pedigrees are facing a backlash against overexposure on the fashion circuit.

Modern glamour at New York Fashion Week
Isaac Mizrahi made a runway comeback after a long absence and Oscar de la Renta made it seem easy.

Von Furstenberg and Karan: the softer, stronger women
Volume is now the key to autumn/winter 2007 and although the American shows have picked up on a trend already seen at the spring collections in Paris, there is a big change from pencil thin to something softer and more nuanced.

Marc Jacobs unpeels the layers
A celebrity audience had to wait the requisite hour and a half for Marc Jacobs to reveal the secrets of his fall/winter 2007 collection, and the answer was a surprise.

Tailoring takes over American menswear
The menswear on display at New York's fashion week is undergoing a quiet revolution as easy sports clothes are challenged by an updated version of traditional tailoring.

New aura for Japanese sportswear
In recent years, Japanese sportswear has begun to radiate a different, altogether groovy kind of aura. And manufacturers are determined to continue capitalizing on that change.

With Proenza Schouler, Colette will hit a low-price target
Colette's niche collection will bring Target clothes outside the United States for the first time in the company's 45- year history.

Briefly, New York is indispensable
It seems worth noting that Fashion Week has become as solid a fixture in the New York social calendar as the opening of the opera or horse racing at Belmont were in earlier times.

L.A. kicks back in fleece
No city takes casual chic as seriously as Los Angeles. Whether the style is Havaiana flip- flops on the red carpet or $300 made-in-L.A.

Yen worries luxury companies even more than weak dollar
The dollar's decline against the euro over the past year has led European luxury goods companies to reduce costs and squeeze out savings.

Celebrating the Everychair of chairs, in cheap plastic
These monobloc chairs, usually in white, are so familiar that we barely notice them, but more people all over the world have seen — and sat on — one of those chairs, than any other.

At Dior Homme, an attempt to loosen up the skinny male
In all the discussion of size-0 models, the skinny male has been left out of the equation.
- Hatitude!
- Menswear trends

Hats off to 'displaced elegance'
Traditionally sculpted, but jaunty and youthful, the hat symbolizes the key look of this French fashion season.
- Bow ties and butterflies
- Boudicca's tough chic

High protection: Big knits and techno sheen
Let's call it the "Davos factor" — and not just because Alpine sweaters, worthy of a Swiss resort, filled the French menswear shows.

The designer Newson teams up with Gagosian Gallery
The opening of an exhibition of furniture by in New York demonstrates the new commercial heights 'design-art' is achieving.

In Paris, men's turn at style
Paris is known for its chic women; the men have always slightly paled in comparison, appearing safe and nondescript.

The lowly alpargata steps forward
The alpargata — the canvas shoe that is as Argentine as the tango, prime beef and dulce de leche — is the centerpiece of Toms Shoes. But the venture also has a social conscience.

Thom Browne tales a stroll through history
Thom Browne's jacket, a shape which recalls the collegiate prep of the 1960s, is so precisely cut, one wants to tug at the slim lapels to see if they are real.

For Beijing men, it's in the handbag
The shou bao, a cross between a small attaché case and a purse, is seen as a mark of success.

Menswear, at a whisper
Men have rarely been partial to over-the-top fashion statements, but the current mood is so understated that even a belt can seem a bit too much, and luxury is now designed to be felt more than seen.

A renaissance in men's ties
After a trend in dressing down at the office, classic neckwear is coming back into fashion.

Golden Globes: And Best Dressed goes to ...
There were no faux pas, everyone looked generally polished to perfection — and that was maybe the problem with the Golden Globes red carpet. How nice if more girls just wanted to have fun.
- Golden Globes: 'Babel' and 'Dreamgirls' win top honors
- Golden Globes: List of winners

Turning tailoring over to a computer
In eight seconds, data from 200,000 points all over a client's body are converted into a "point cloud." And by the time the customer dresses and joins the consultant to order a made-to-measure pair of Bodymetrics Bespoke jeans, she already is rotating a likeness around on her monitor.
- Savile Row and the future

A makeover for Manhattan 'street furniture'
New York City is undertaking a new project coordinate the designs of its public toilets, bus shelters and newsstands.

That touch of mink is back in demand
Buoyed by the globalization of trade and the broader reach of the fashion industry, sales of fur garments, trim and accessories were up 9 percent from the previous year, according to the International Fur Trade Federation. Looming over the entire industry, of course, are animal-rights activists.

A luxury face-off at the boutique corral
In New York, two highly successful boutique chains, Scoop and Intermix, are vying to reach ever more young urban women able to afford luxury goods, at least occasionally.

Urban warriors on the prowl for streetwear with cool cachet
Style-conscious young men with an aversion to mall culture and a professed maverick streak, are hot on the scent of the new, the colorful, the inventive and the rare. Their quarry: street-inflected clothing, footwear, caps and jewelry from new little-known labels.

Italian designers agree that bigger may be better
Officials signed a code calling for more robust body imagery at fashion shows and in ads, admitting that they agreed to the self-regulation so that they are not held responsible for the precarious health of models and fans.

Inside the closets of Nan Kempner
A new exhibition, "Nan Kempner: American Chic," opened Dec. 12 at the Met's Costume Institute.

In the lap of luxury: Dogs as little fashion statements
Once toted by fashionable women inside the folds of their gowns, diminutive pets have been the favorites of nobles and remain accessories for celebrities.

Enameled dials: Swiss watch alchemy in miniature
Adepts of a rare art, the artisans who practice "Belle horlogerie" may finish just one watch every year.

Speakers at the Istanbul luxury conference
Front row, from left: Jeff Hakko, vice president of Vakko; Barbara Kolsun, senior vice president and general counsel, Seven for All Mankind jeans; Cem Hakko, president of Vakko; Umit and Cem Boyner, vice chairman and CEO, Boyner Holding; Paola Antonelli, Department of Architecture and Design Museum of Modern Art, New York; Hussein Chalayan, designer; Rosita Missoni, a founder of Missoni Group; Nicole Farhi, designer; Loke Khoon Tan, partner at Baker & McKenzie; Thomas Heatherwick, architect/designer.

In New York, a play with echoes of Bill Blass
In "Regrets Only" opening at the Manhattan Theatre Club, politics of gay marriage take center stage with the fashion designer as a model.

Snapshot: Atlantic City as a runway for the fashion crowd
Peacocks, rockers and fashion world fixtures decend on the unabashedly gaudy Atlantic City.

Looks, luck and a royal star turn
Beauty is luck, and beauty makes luck, and anyone who thinks otherwise ought to meet Jamie Dornan.

In Texas, boots for walking out of the book store
The average Texan is more likely to buy boots from a chain like Cavender's or Sheplers, but for pure Austin theater, nothing beats Allens Boots on South Congress, with its enormous inventory and wild accessories.

A new Helmut line, of sorts
The awaited Helmut Lang clothes will have precious little to do with the man who changed fashion in the 1990s, who spends his days in pseudo-retirement at a Long Island estate minding a brood of pet chickens.

Every month a Halloween
'I just rolled out of the grave," Liz Starin drawled, sounding fatigued.

Decorating your home's air
Back in the 1970s and '80s, only the fashionable rich and the bohemian in America recognized the air as a decorative frontier. But high and low collided more than a decade ago, when potpourri went mass along with decorating.

Black is definitely back for nails
The batch of new black nail polishes appears to be growing in popularity with young professional women who are daring enough to wear it to work, and it is the epitome of chic for night events.

Jean Paul Gaultier turns from Madonna to the Madonna
The bad-boy designer moved from dressing Madonna to dresses inspired by the Madonna, including one with blood-red chiffon trickling over a black dress: "Celestial and a certain serenity," Gaultier said backstage.

Giorgio Armani's Indian odyssey
The fashion designer offers a scent of India in a preview of his spring/summer collection.

Anniversary! White Valentino, vivid Lacroix and pure Chanel
Landmark events and rites of passage are coming thick and fast this couture season: 45 years of Valentino, who celebrated with a snowdrift of a collection inspired by his famous all-white show of 1968. Christian Lacroix, once high fashion's newborn, reached 20 with a fantasia flourish of flowers on Tuesday.

At Dior, Galliano soars with 'Madama Butterfly'
With "Madama Butterfly" soaring on the soundtrack and exquisite gestures of Japanese elegance and embellishment, John Galliano sent out on Monday his most beautiful show yet for Dior.

Elie Saab's flashy fashion
With glaciers of silver sequins sparkling on icy gowns, Elie Saab hit the mountain peak of flashy fashion. No wonder Beyoncé Knowles is following in the high-heeled footsteps of Halle Berry by making the Lebanese-born Saab her designer of choice.

Dries Van Noten's cabinet of curiosities
With its blackamoor statue prancing in the window, its Mongolian rug patterned with dragons, its gleaming Japanese cabinet and its Murano glass chandelier, it could be just another of the upscale antique dealers who line the Left Bank of the Seine.

Hollywood red carpet jump-starts haute couture
The haute couture season opened with a splash here Monday. But for all the parties, store openings, glamorous front-row clients and fabulous dresses, the shows really kicked off two weeks ago in Los Angeles.

In a boy's world, Armani celebrates the man
The bullfighter Cayetano Rivera Ordóñez, 29, rising star of a Spanish matador dynasty, closed Giorgio Armani's show, his torso rippling under a tux.
- Zucchelli on Calvin
- Fendi on Fendi
- Traveling light

Gucci's Alpine romp looks back to 'snow glam'
Imagine the scene: The sexy, young urban male with a penchant for black clothes, heady cocktails and nocturnal clubs, is sent off to the mountains.

Feeling for the future — savage or cyberspace?
You didn't see any celebrity male wearing a silver suit at the Golden Globes? No masculine stars walked the red carpet in a spacesuit? None of them wore yellow fluff as if they were emerging from an egg? There were no Nascar uniform jumpsuits in shiny plastic?

In Gianni's memory, shiny and somber
In sober coats or dark suits, with clerical collars circling their throats, the Versace models marked a fashion moment: 10 years since the murder of Gianni Versace, whose work will be honored posthumously next month. Along with his sister Donatella, the designer will be added to the Rodeo Drive "Walk of Style" in Los Angeles.

Pitti show tailored to the surge in 'su misura'
The British call it "bespoke"; the public says "made-to-measure"; the Italians, "su misura." But in any language, the message is the same: Personal tailoring is back.

Royal Dianistas: Legacy of a princess
A decade after her death, the legacy of Diana's style has been to break the mold of royal dressing and to pass on her look to a new generation of young royals.

A new definition of Italian luxury
The entrepreneur Lapo Elkann is to unveil his vision for ItaliaIndependent.com, a project to make luxury both personal and global.

Cosseting shoppers at Paris's Le Bon Marché
Le Bon Marché, Paris's little "big store" which launched the department store concept more than a century ago, has reinvented itself.

Extreme luxury for the jet set
This is the new buzzword this season to describe objects at a tipping point of price, production and quality that places them well above the mere expensive gifts. It is aimed at a new aspirational category of clients.
- Speech: The 6th International Herald Tribune Luxury conference

This season's glistening new look
Starting on the red carpet last summer, celebrities are sporting clothes with a shiny metallic vibe.

L.A. confidential: A hiding place for luxury
Melrose Place in Los Angeles is fast becoming the destination for luxury shopping.

Breaking the fashion mode
An exhibit in Los Angeles looks at clothes over the years that have been on the cutting edge of design.
- Giles Deacon named Daks designer

Paul Smith opens 3 new stores
The variety of facades and structures at his new boutiques in Paris, London and New York emphasize a powerful new trend: cookie-cutter boutiques are oh!-so-over.

The latest in jewelry news
From Cartier to Van Cleef & Arpels, from Rosa Monckton to Solange Azagury-Partridge, luxury companies and designers are making their mark with jewels.
- For Dream Diamond, all that glitters is liquid gold
- Czars in their eyes: An orgy of opulence
- A personal touch for a Cartier purse
- Stoned by the scent of exotica
- Designed in the name of the rose
- Reviving the peacock male

A creature of the night: Tom Ford bares his soul
Two and a half years after leaving Gucci Group and his starring role, Tom Ford has rekindled the fashion flame.

Masquerade! Creating a Knight to remember
The masks were fabulous, sinister and funky - swoops of crystal mesh, a furry boar's head, a slither of lace or a mirrored shield reflecting the rest of the surreal scene.

The new corporate logo: Dynamic and changeable are all the rage
Google's changing logo is part of a broad trend in so-called dynamic identities: corporate symbols that adopt different guises at different times or in different circumstances.

Sustainability in design moves onto the corporate agenda
The use of recycled materials among other aspects of sustainability are poised to become some of the most important issues in design.

Black is back, but in a superglossy way
The rise of the new black is partly the product of technological change and it reflects a troubled era haunted by war, terrorism and environmental crisis.

Design in 2006: A year of innovation and utility
The growth of design's importance is seen in record-breaking auction prices, economic competition and the need to show social and environmental usefulness.

A designer who marries practicality with a distinctive style
Other designers describe objects in terms of what they symbolize and the stories they tell, but Konstantin Grcic presents his — from Krups coffee machines to Lamy pens — in purely practical terms, because the design of his products is dictated by how they will be used.

At Design Miami, a showcase for limited editions
A new generation of young designers has graduated knowing that they can make a living from limited editions as the focus of their work, rather than a sideline. The second annual Design Miami, which opens on Friday, will highlight their work.

Style, function and the imperfect cellphone
Cellphones have changed the way we talk to each other, revolutionized our jobs and democratized the news media by enabling passers-by to photograph extraordinary events. But in most cases, their design has been sorely lacking.

Taking the pulse of the people: Newest awards by popular vote
What is America's favorite example of good design? The Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York has been asking that question by urging people to vote for their favorites in the first People's Design Awards.

A Dutch duo that rejects function, with flair
Like all designs by Studio Job, the baby Arc de Triomphe is a visually seductive piece, whose function seems incidental and plays second fiddle to its symbolic role.

Apple's quest to put us at ease with technology
With a succession of design coups, Apple has proved that people are willing to pay for an object if it is well designed.

Reviving Dieter Rams's pragmatism
At a time when design is locked in a vicious cycle of sensation-seeking novelty, it's rare to find a product, like Dieter Rams's 620 Chair Program, so intelligently designed that it can be reintroduced years later with minor modifications.