It's all in the (Chanel) bag: Art meets fashion
The exhibition Chanel Mobile Art in Hong Kong until April 5 is showcasing the work of 20 international artists. The show will move to Tokyo in July and New York in September. In 2009, it will be shown in London, Moscow and Paris.

'Marie-Antoinette' at the Grand Palais: A queen of the arts?
An exhibit at le Grand Palais, until June 30, explores the life of Marie-Antoinette with a wide range of images.

Saint-Laurent's Moroccan inspiration
"Une Passion Marocaine" at the Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent in Paris, through August, is dedicated to an exotic world that was both home and a source of inspiration Yves Saint Laurent - Marrakesh and the Majorelle gardens.

Where have all the (normal) trousers gone?
It is tough today to find any traditional pants designed specifically for women. Among the offerings for the spring season are harem pants, ballooning from thigh to ankle; Indian dohti styles with a crotch dropping to the knees; jodhpurs and rompers, or longer, baggy bloomers.

Vanity Fair's iconic images, from soulful to glossy
"Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs 1913-2008" at the National Portrait Gallery in London (until May 26) is a glamorous record of social, political and show business history, with images by photographers from Edward Steichen and Man Ray to Michael Thompson and Annie Liebovitz.

Vuitton's architecture; Lanvin's ribbons
Is the future shackled to the past? Or can fashion move forward without any reference to previous styles or eras?

Born romantics -- Nina Ricci, Alexander McQueen, John Galliano
With sweeping historicism and an embrace of nature, the final days of the autumn/winter 2008 season took a gentle turn, as though graphic modernism and shiny, metallic futurism were being rejected by born romantics.

There will be blood (red) - on the Oscar carpet
Color made its triumphant return at the 80th Academy Awards show, where beige was banished, pale was passé, and nude-colored dresses were a no-no on the red carpet.

Trading places: U.S. designers shift store loyalties
Over the next year, an unusually large group of famous clothing designers, motivated by lucrative new deals, plan to shift their retail allegiances, in many cases abandoning stores and customers who have supported them for years.

Checking the racks around Europe
Whose designs fly off the racks in Liverpool, Mykonos or The Hague? A few of the fashion-forward boutiques around Europe disclose their top sellers

Shanghai: The allure of individualism
Amid the clutter of Shanghai's retail scene, a number of youthful and energetic designers are making their mark by celebrating a personal kind of style.

The platinum queen, Agyness Deyn
Boy-short, peroxide-blonde heads of hair are appearing all over fashionable London, replacing the long and shaggy locks that were the dominant look of the last few years.

Online fashion shopping finally comes of age
According to a recent survey, fashion is second only to books when it comes to shopping online around the world.

Hermes 2007 net rises as maker of Birkin bags opens new stores
Hermes International's full-year net profit rose 7.3 percent as the maker of Birkin handbags and high-end scarves opened new stores, the company said Thursday.

H&M adds new house to its growing stable of labels
Hennes & Mauritz AB, Europe's second-largest clothing retailer, agreed to buy Swedish fashion company Fabric Scandinavien to gain brands including the Cheap Monday denim line sold at more than 1,000 stores globally.

Cavalli continues talking about fashion house's sale
The Italian fashion designer Roberto Cavalli wants more than €1.4 billion, or $2.1 billion, to sell his fashion label, the business newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore reported, citing an interview with Cavalli.

PPR confident about 2008 luxury goods market
The French retailer, which owns Gucci Group, said its net profit rose 35% in 2007, helped by strong results at its luxury and African units as well as its acquisition of the sportswear group Puma.

Milan's fashion houses are moving into high-tech homes
It's "Ciao!" to the palazzo and "Hello!" to high tech for some of the biggest names in fashion.

The Birkin and Hermès
What would you do for a Birkin bag?

The clutch, in the light of day
Thanks to a whole slew of designers - from Yves Saint Laurent to Sonia Rykiel and Michael Teperson to Belen Echandia - the clutch purse is moving from an evening standard to seeing the light of day.

Jelly brand molds Brazil's footwear style
Cheap, cheerful and totally disposable, the plastic jelly shoe is about as ubiquitous as footwear gets. And in Brazil, it's Melissa that dominates the market.

David vs. "David": The battle below the belt in men's underwear
The David vs. "David" standoff marks the moment that underwear has come out of the drawers and off the shelves to become, to men's fashion, the female equivalent of the handbag. It is an accessory - and even a necessity - that can be turned into big bucks.

Turkish-born jeweler masters 24-carat gold
The Turkish-born Gurhan Orhan, who makes jewelry of pure 24-carat gold, says he is making sales inroads in Europe.

Asia to get its first major diamond for auction
A 101-carat, near-flawless diamond may fetch more than $8 million at a Christie's International sale in Hong Kong, the first time a gem of this quality and weight is auctioned in Asia, according to the London-based company.

DeBeers suggests leaving dollar behind when it comes to pricing gems
The diamond industry should consider pricing gems in another currency to the dollar as the world's largest economy slows, said Gareth Penny, chief executive officer of De Beers.

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.

At Meta, furniture artisans of 18th century are reborn with panache
A Fig Leaf Wardrobe is one of seven beautifully crafted pieces which are to be launched by a new furniture company, Meta, at the Milan Furniture Fair next month.

Alice Rawsthorn: Video game, the ultimate design fantasy
Video games create entirely artificial environments where everything is conceived and constructed by the development team, which not only determines how the characters, buildings, landscapes and props will look, but what they'll do, and how they'll do it.

China's new designers: Building on a rich heritage of innovation
An exhibition at the Victoria & Albert museum in London looks at China's history of innovation, and the work of a new generation of designers trying to forge a distinctive style.

Furniture designed by architects: Pricey, impractical and very desirable
A growing number of architects, including Amanda Levete, Zaha Hadid, David Adjaye and Greg Lynn, are producing limited editions of furniture that are increasingly popular with contemporary art collectors.

Women go for watches
One of the strongest trends to come out of the Basel watch fair in Switzerland this past April was a new focus on the women's watch market.

Britain winds up a home of masters again
With London again claiming supremacy, at least in matters of global style and the vogue for all things British, a bevy of contemporary brands, most of them Swiss-made, are resurrecting the British horological tradition.

Soviet meets Swiss: Sturdy utilitarianism "inspired" design
Developing an all-consuming passion for Soviet watches -- from the dawn of the Bolshevik revolution in 1917 to the demise of the Soviet system in the early 1990s.

L.A. Fashion Week takes a celeb-as-designer turn

Just as L.A. Fashion Week took a step forward, the celeb-as-designer trend seems to have sent it two steps back.

Keith Richards the new face of Louis Vuitton luggage
Keith Richards is the new face of Louis Vuitton, the French maker of luxury handbags and luggage.

Survey shows Gucci tops global brand competition
The Gucci fashion label is the most coveted designer brand in the world, according to a survey by market research firm The Nielsen Company.

Madonna, Malawi and Gucci
Madonna, Gucci and a slew of celebs - from an all-smiling, gum-chewing Tom Cruise, through pretty-in-pink Gwyneth Paltrow to Drew Barrymore and Jennifer Lopez - set New York Fashion Week alight.

Never too young for that first pedicure
Cosmetic companies and retailers increasingly aim their sophisticated products and service packages squarely at 6- to 9-year-olds, who are being transformed into savvy beauty consumers before they're out of elementary school.

To shampoo -- or not?
Washing your hair used to be a daily effort but now many people are bypassing it -- and saying the neglect has been good for their hair.

Perfume fades in popularity among Americans
At a time when the number of perfumes on shelves has dramatically increased, consumption of fragrances is declining, industry analysts said.

Bringing a sense of soul back to Estée Lauder
Aerin Lauder brings family sensibility to the beauty company founded by her grandmother.