Set designer puts his mark on fashion
Even if you have never seen one of his sets for Marc Jacobs or even heard his name, you will probably recognize Stefan Beckman's work because he has created some of the most memorable fashion backdrops of the last decade.

Is the sixth time the charm? Halston brand is revived again
Though many designers have dipped into Halston's well - few more effectively than Tom Ford in 1996 at Gucci - none of Halston's appointed heirs have been able to create a look that resonates with contemporary audiences. It's one of the great fashion paradoxes.

Denim still works
The market is changing yet again, with designer jeans struggling to hold their own against inexpensive store brands.

On the runway, playing up the U.S. downturn
While America's financial woes could lower business and hemlines at New York Fashion Week, it will also spur some to fashion excesses.

'No season, no reason' - but gorgeous clothes
A mix of seasons and genders and the insinuation of autumn ready-to-wear summed up the spring/summer 2008 couture season.
- The trends: Sea sirens

Valentino says goodbye with flowers
Like a chorus in a Greek tragedy, Valentino's friends and clients, who gathered at the Rodin Museum for the couturier's last and final curtain, started their comments with a single phrase: "It's the end of an era," they all said.
- An interview with Valentino

Gaultier: A mermaid moment
With mother-of-pearl glazes and fishtail skirts, it was a mermaid moment at Jean Paul Gaultier. In one of those serendipitous conjunctions that we call fashion, the shell inspiration that Chanel showed earlier this couture week floated to the surface at Gaultier.

Soft-shell Chanel and Oh, la Lacroix
In an exquisite collection - as delicate as it was romantic - Karl Lagerfeld took Chanel to where even Coco herself had never plunged: the ocean bed.

Dior: Vivid colors to banish doom and gloom
It wasn't John Galliano's most emotionally moving presentation nor his most daring, but it had a mesmerizing combination of puffy-light silhouette with intense decoration.
- Vivier's collage
- Anne Valerie Hash: The form of the fold

Boucheron's 150th: A modern take on Art Nouveau
The kitsch and irony of Jeff Koons seems a long stretch from voluptuous and sensual jewelry. And even if Damien Hirst recently embedded diamonds in a skull, you would hardly expect to see his work alongside a swooping diamond necklace.

Drowning in drama at Dior Homme
'It represents my idea of a man with shoulders back and chest out," said Kris Van Assche, as he realized his dream of machismo for his first Dior Homme collection on the runway.

Alice Rawsthorn: Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec reinvent convention
Whereas most "new" designs are variations on existing ones, the two French brothers, both in their 30s, are among the handful of truly original designers who develop entirely new types of products. They are meant to be flexible and elegant.

Happy 20th birthday, Martin Margiela!
The metallic badge said it all: 20 years of Martin Margiela creating the iconoclastic and fantastic. The Belgian designer has reached a landmark anniversary -- and he celebrated with fine tailoring and inserts of edgy elements.

Aussiebum: Down Under designs in more ways than one
Unemployment and the inability to find a good pair of swim trunks has produced a global multimillion dollar underwear and swimwear company.

Comme des Garçons has the winning mix
All the strong designers for the 2008 winter menswear season are stirring up a mix to get an ironic take on apparently sober clothes. So a shrunken suit turned to show a wacky back at Junya Watanabe and Yohji Yamamoto had classic outfits with manic proportions.

YSL soars high with a virtual show; Louis Vuitton and Jean Paul Gaultier move to the music
The figure floating through the sky in a blizzard of rose petals was not so much a remake of David Bowie's "The Man Who Fell to Earth." It was the soaring imagination of Stefano Pilati at YSL.

Industrial style Calvin
Between the style of a samurai and a sports star, the model's lattice jacket gleamed space-age silver on the runway. Was this a piece of intricate Italian handcraft at the Calvin Klein men's show?

A global campus for Zegna
"A respect for nature" was part of the concept that Gildo Zegna has brought to the company's mighty new 8,000-square-meter, or 86,000-square-foot, headquarters in Milan's Via Savona.
- Haute Moncler
- Soft Ballantyne
- Tod's boot camp

Menswear mantra: 'Do it right'
The search for well-made clothes has never generated so many good ideas. Doing it right has replaced doing it differently as the mantra for the latest crop of talents to emerge on the European scene.

The muse, when it comes to men
Fashion has long been dominated by female muses for male designers. But now that several young female designers are focused on menswear -- what's the male muse like?

Giorgio Armani leads menswear trend for 'normality'
Giorgio Armani's show on Tuesday clarified the mood of the autumn/winter season. Nobility, virility, stability was the message as menswear returns to what Silvia Venturini Fendi describes as "normality."

Burberry pins hopes on accessories
The British luxury goods house, whose brand has been experiencing its biggest revival since its clad British soldiers in trench coats in World War I, is focusing on handbags and accessories as a way to grow in an economically unsure time.

At Prada, sex; Gucci, Russia and rock 'n' roll
The difference between Prada and Gucci is chalk and cheese. Or, in the case of the new Milan menswear shows, priests and partisans.

In Milan: Finger-friendly clothes
The tactile surface is the story of the winter 2008 menswear season, whether it is plush velvet pants, hairy knits or brushed wool jackets.

Youth market gets suited up
While your 20-something son might be giving up his disheveled look, he will likely need to be bankrolled because it is this younger consumer, 25 to 40 years old, who is driving the designer and luxury suit market.

Adam Kimmel and friends at Pitti Uomo
Rather than a conventional catwalk show, Adam Kimmel brought his friends to Florence to wear his clothes and to, well, just hang out during an informal collection preview.

Menswear Milan: Melancholy elegance
Last season it was hedge fund hotties in glitzy gear. But now the luxurious offerings for a male wardrobe have gone from supreme to subprime in just six months.
- Lars Nilsson brings a spark to Ferre
- Costume National's mis-match

M/M (Paris) : Art, commerce and communication, all in one
The work of M/M (Paris) ranges from books, exhibitions and opera sets to fashion branding and music graphics, all shown in art galleries and museums all over the world.

Can Burt's Bees turn Clorox green?
Another small, eco-friendly business is scooped up by a corporation.

Alice Rawsthorn: Farewell to Sottsass and his 2 golden ages of Italian design
Ettore Sottsass's death at 90 seems particularly poignant, because he was among the last of the 20th century design greats.
- Ettore Sottsass, designer, is dead at 90

Home-office life and its discontents
Millions of Americans are now working outside traditional workplaces and have found themselves surprised by how difficult home-office life can be.
- The office, housebroken

Book Review: 'In Defense of Food'
Obsessed with nutrition? That's an eating disorder

Ettore Sottsass, designer, is dead at 90
Sottsass, an éminence grise of postmodern design, was responsible for the familiar bright red plastic Olivetti typewriter.

21st-century design: Judging beauty by what doesn't meet the eye
Today, new construction - like the design for the Olympic stadium in Beijing - is still a goal. But for something to be "good design" it must be something we can use with clear consciences about how it was made and how we'll get rid of it.

Alice Rawsthorn: iPhone's magic touch becomes design's gold standard for 2007
It would have been more surprising if the iPhone had flopped. What's less predictable — and much more interesting — is why it has been so very successful.

Putting on the dog in Tokyo
In Tokyo, dog owners are dressing up their pets in designer garb and attending to their every need, whether it be organic food or massage and grooming sessions at dog salons and spas.
- Who invited the dog?

Partying with the Super Rich at Art Basel Miami Beach
There were ceaseless celebrations by fashion and art bigwigs at Art Basel Miami Beach earlier this month. There were also wingdings hyping British shoemakers (Choo), Austrian crystal (Swarovski), German cars (Audi), French jewelry (Cartier), Bahamian resorts owned by Turkish developers (Dellis Cay) and, of course, the relentlessly bullish globalized market for art.

The tale of a teapot and its creator
Lovely though it is, one teapot's record-breaking price has more to do with the rarity and fetishism that seduce collectors and inflate auction values, than with its merits as an object.

Eco fashion? A world consumed by guilt
After factoring in the fabrics used in clothes and how they were produced, the real benefits of soy versus organic cotton versus recycled polyester may be slight, or confusing, or quite possibly misleading.
- Conscientious consumption: Ethical trend gains in luxury market

Art Miami: Still life with parties and hedge funds
The bucks flow as freely as Champagne amid a ceaseless round of celebrations piggy-backing last week on Art Basel Miami Beach.
- Art Basel Miami Beach: Fashion begins its move into the art world
- Miami: Art by the Beach, but No Sand Castles

Who invited the dog?
The boundaries between humans and animals have been eaten away to the point where devoted owners lose all perspective on the pet's role in their social lives.

Rosé Champagne is riding high
The French wine industry may be in crisis almost everywhere else, but not in Champagne.
- Pairings: What to eat with rosé Champagne

At the heart of truffles, adaptable ganache
Making ganache — the basis for the easiest chocolate truffles — is far easier than it may seem.

For a few dollars more, dining improves on longer flights
US Airways, Midwest Airlines and Delta are among the first carriers to shift their menus in a more nutritional and flavorful direction.

Sicilian artisans turn lava into decoration
Lava hewn from the slopes around Mount Etna is transformed into decorative stone tables and tiles by Sicilian artisans. Lava stone is very resistant and is considered ideal for outdoor use.

Art Basel Miami Beach: Fashion begins its move into the art world
Images that once were considered second-class work for hire have earned their place on the gallery wall.
- Miami: Art by the Beach, but No Sand Castles

A holiday medley, off key
Millions of adults in interfaith marriages face the December dilemma: the annual conflict over how to decorate homes, how and when to give gifts and which rituals to celebrate.

Gloves are back, and not just for women
After years of neglecting cold weather accessories and spurning gloves as a winter necessity, fur at your finger tips is back in fashion.

Romancing the stones
This season designers like Miuccia Prada, Donatella Versace, Dolce & Gabbana and Marni are incorporating metallic plaques, silver studs or faux gems into otherwise simple and streamlined dresses.

Ballerinas! Jewels for dancing
The Royal Ballet is staging "Jewels," a revival of the George Balanchine production, at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. The ballet was first shown in New York in 1967 and was inspired by the Fifth Avenue windows of Van Cleef & Arpels. The jewelry house in turn has just created a new dance collection, called Ballet Précieux.

Viktor & Rolf to design bags for Samsonite
The Dutch design duo of Rolf Snoeren and Viktor Horsting have been tapped by Samsonite to create a Black Label collection for 2009 - following Alexander McQueen, who also created a collection for the iconic travel brand.

Laurence Graff: The king of diamonds
"The Most Fabulous Jewels in the World" tells the rags-to-riches story of Laurence Graff, who rose from being a 15-year-old apprentice to the seller of some of the most famous diamonds in the world, including the Idol's Eye and the Excelsior.

A Chanel home dazzles, again
After being shuttered for more than nine months, Chanel Fine Jewelry on the Place Vendôme in Paris has reopened with a new 450-square-meter interior that stays true to the brand without looking dated.

David vs. 'David': Fashion's underwear battle below the belt
In the pristine world of white male briefs, it's war. On the one side is David Beckham, currently more male icon than soccer hero. One the other is Dolce & Gabbana's version of Michelangelo's masterpiece in a private-collection calendar.

For 2008, more fashion anniversaries, but looking to the future
If 2007 bulged with fashion anniversaries, 2008 is much the same. But instead of looking back to a glorious past, this New Year is about celebrating the future.

Valentino at 45: Painting the town in red
At the Roman Colosseum, with three dancers in red floating like puppets on a string and a golden shower of fireworks, Valentino celebrated more than four decades of fashion history.

Valentino in Ara Pacis
Patrick Kinmonth and Antonio Monfreda - the scenario's joint creators - have used the Richard Meier glass cube framing the Ara Pacis (peace altar) to show Valentino's dresses literally in a new light.

A meld of London rocker and Paris chic sets stage for Chanel show
Karl Lagerfeld rolled out his "Métiers d'Art" collection in London in the show "Paris Londres." Amy Winehouse met Coco Chanel in clothing: mostly long and dark, with flat shoes and highlighted with Gothic crosses, gilded lace gloves or just a fringed front to a maxi tweed coat.

Armani, with attitude
It began with Giorgio Armani's "Rock Symphony" and ended at midnight Wednesday with a barefoot Courtney Love in a Givenchy couture gown belting out "Samantha" until even the wrought iron banisters of the august Paris fashion house were shaking.

3 Russian fur designers stretch the imagination
At Red Square in Moscow, Igor Chapurin's pieces stood out for their modern simplicity: sleek gilets worn over leggings, brief coats and other fur pieces cut on slender lines. His fellow Russian designers, Ekaterina Akhuzina and Helen Yarmak, took a more lavish approach.

Konstantin Grcic's new chair design, the MYTO
Despite the flood of chairs in the marketplace, every so often a new one comes along that is just about everything a chair should be. The MYTO, a cantilever chair made of a strong, flexible plastic, appears to have passed the test.

How Bauhaus was shaped into greatness
The Bauhaus, the German art and design school designed in the mid-1920s by the architect Walter Gropius in Dessau, became a technocratic, meritocratic and modern spirit. An exhibition at Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art in England tells its story.

Lighting of the future
Compact fluorescent bulbs, or CFLs, the miniaturized versions of fluorescent strip lights that are are touted as energy-efficient alternatives have problems with the quality of their light. Though all of the other energy-efficient alternatives to the incandescent bulb are equally flawed.

A shot of frustration at espresso machines
There was a time, not so very long ago, when espresso machines were things of beauty - take the old Gaggia, for example. But the current crop, including most of the Nespresso and Illy designs, seem doomed to be blobby, bulbous and infuriatingly over-complicated.

The inspired past of London Transport design
The newly restored London Transport Museum shows how - once upon a time in the 1930s - a public transport system succeeded in getting all of its design right.

Wistfully pushing the boundaries of design and art
"Wouldn't it be nice..." is an exhibition exploring the blurred boundaries between art and design at the Centre d'Art Contemporain in Geneva. It includes works by Jürgen Bey; the London-based trio, Tony Dunne, Fiona Raby and Michael Anastassiades; Martino Gamper; and Ryan Gander.