A lensman always in vogue
In the galleries of the Petit Palais, Patrick Demarchelier, a lensman always in Vogue, has his first major exhibition in his native Paris.

Handbags - big and bigger
Far from the world of the tiny beaded clutch, iconic French bags combine quality and quantity - think the chunky Louis Vuitton Speedy, the spacious YSL Muse or the roomy Hermès Birkin.

Dior: Taming the big game
The colors were out of Africa - orange, yellow and sheltering sky blue. Even the feet were perched on shoes with a Masai fertility carving for the heel.
- A.F. Vandevorst: Dressing like mother
- 'Pets' go Undercover

A fading sweetness at Nina Ricci
Under the creative direction of Olivier Theyskens, Nina Ricci's collection seemed muted in its soft colors and prints.

Looking for a balance
Anne Valérie Hash came back from the brink she reached in her last show, a collection that left many in the audience mystified.
- Michel Klein: Catering to the clientele

A new address in style: Palais Royal
The sleeping beauty of Paris is finally starting to stir thanks to a number of suitors, each with his unique luxury kiss.

Weaving a story in Laotian silk
Anou Thammavong, a French designer of Laotian descent, is creating high-end silks that he hopes will crack the upper echelons of the fashion world.

Lanvin in talks with Qatar investor
Lanvin is in talks to sell a stake to an unnamed investor in Qatar in a deal that could value the French fashion house at around €150 million.

In the wake of the 'venerables,' will young designers stay the course?
Even the "venerables" question the situation for those next in line, while designers in their 30s and 40s ask themselves if, at a time when the pace has quickened so dramatically, they will have the will to continue.

Balmain's Madonna moment
The infectious exuberance of Balmain is the card that the designer Christophe Decarnin plays.
- Pugh: Futurism in a drowned world
- Kris Van Assche: Boxing babies

Web site offers 'all access' to McQueen show
The online luxury retailer Net-a-porter is teaming with the designer Alexander McQueen for a one-of-a-kind catwalk show that will give the Web site's two million customers their own front row seat at a McQueen collection.

Tattoos gain new visibility
Artists with prominent Chelsea galleries and thriving careers, practicing physicians, funeral directors, fashion models and stylists are turning up with more holes in their faces than nature provided, and all manner of marks on their body.

Hong Kong style, with a bit of sparkle
The moment that the Hong Kong singer Eason Chan Yik-Shun started wearing 1980s-style MC Hammer pants at live performances, it seemed inevitable the look would start appearing on the street and in trendy clubs.

Adding muscle to skinny jeans
Men's wear designers at New York Fashion Week look to the world of sports to muscle up their collections.

Japanese linen, out of the closet and into the mainstream
Up until now, linen had been about summer shirts and suits, but these days the subtext is changing from mere summer fashion to year-round lifestyle.

Tokyo hones its vintage clothing market
Tokyo has now reached a point where it's safe to call it P***t Vintage - with its 400-plus shops scattered over the city.

Pope doesn't wear Prada
The devil may wear Prada - but the pope does not.

New Parisian boutiques in all shapes and sizes
While the major players are reaching out to their clientele with larger stores and a more targeted offer, small, innovative boutiques are investing in elegant back streets for a highly intimate shopping experience.

Building fashion empires of their own
Although LVMH, PPR and Richemont shifted their acquisition engines down a gear in recent years, it still is obvious that these multi-tentacled corporations wield a mind-boggling power in the fashion business.

Online fashion studies arrive in Italy
Italian fashion companies have come to recognize the potential of online sales and now one of the country's most highly regarded universities is stepping in to train a new breed of managers for that growing industry.

Dubai to finance Villa Moda growth
Majed al-Sabah, the Kuwaiti lifestyle retailer known in the fashion world as the "Sheik of Chic," has teamed up with the government of Dubai to create a global brand development strategy for his Villa Moda enterprise.

Conquering the frontiers for luxury
A seismic shift has begun in how fashion marketers view the world's mature, emerging and frontier markets, with many to focus on countries that were once on the fringes of fashion.
- Risk prerequisite for profit

A priceless quality: Ability to 'smell a hit'
A generation has found a way of capitalizing on deep industry connections and well-trained eyes: bouncing around big brands that need help in the image or design departments.

Blahnik puts his foot down
Worship at Carrie Bradshaw's feet? Here are your shoes.

HP laptops go high fashion at show in New York
High-tech took on a fashionable twist in New York when the designer Vivienne Tam sent models down the runway clutching slim, red Hewlett-Packard laptops instead of evening bags.
- MTV and HP collaborate on digital art reality show

Magazine or artsy accessory?
Even the purest of messages can be corrupted by the power of a bag.

Fall shoes: Preening pumps and feathered feet
Ornithologists say there are 10,000 species of birds inhabiting the earth. Of course, that doesn't include the feathered and furry, outrageously festooned specimens spotted in the fall footwear collections.

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.

In London, a rocking celebration of jewels
London Jewellery Week was kicked off with spectacular celebrations and included works by Zaha Hadid and Prince Dimitri, while Nadja Swarovski was bringing on the bling at Runway Rocks.

Fulco di Verdura: The elegant beguiler of stars
A friend of Cole Porter, discovered by Coco Chanel, the Palermo aristocrat Verdura was the favorite jeweler in a gilded circle that included Greta Garbo, Katherine Hepburn and the Duchess of Windsor.

Will diamonds lose their sparkle?
With the specter of recession haunting the global economy, is the market for luxury gemstones feeling the pinch?

Padua's goldsmiths: modern masters of form
Over six decades, a school of goldsmiths in northern Italy has created original and important pieces of jewelry works based on Renaissance principles of geometry.

Wanted: Genius designer
As the curtains part, fashion awaits a new hero. Maybe that's the problem.

Creating solutions to a water crisis
"1% Water and our Future," an exhibition at Z33 gallery in the Belgian city of Hasselt, explores our relationship to water, and how design can help us to use it more responsibly and productively.

Philippe Starck is tilting toward windmills
Starck is battling on a new front - developing cheap, attractive, energy-saving products to "introduce everybody to ecology."

Whatever 'design-art' is, it's thriving
"Design-art" is a commercial phenomenon, not a cultural one. It's a label adopted by auction houses in the hope of flogging limited-edition furniture for higher prices than it would muster if relegated to the unfashionable category of "decorative arts." And it has been very effective.

Watch sales slowing down
The emerging markets miracle will not be enough to prevent 2008 from being the year the Swiss watchmaking industry suffers its first significant slowdown in half a decade.

In the world of watches, the line between the sexes is blurring fast
Once upon a time, timepieces with complications were for men only, but the limited edition Diane from Harry Winston seeks to change that.

"Star Trek"-styled watches flash digitally coded time
Tokyoflash Japan creates watches that are meant to be watched, not just looked at. Started in 2000, the company says it is trying to make objects that revolutionize the way time is perceived.

Applying color with steely abandon
Taking inspiration from the traditional cloisonné technique of enameling used to decorate watch dials, watch designer Alain Silberstein has developed a unique method of coloring his steel watchcases, which are proving popular with Russian and Japanese collectors.

Richard Mille breaks fresh ground with new high-technology timepieces
Coinciding with the Salon International de Haute Horlogerie in Geneva, Mille is introducing a glittering homage to Boucheron, in honor of the Parisian jeweler's 150th anniversary, and a modern interpretation of a classic pocket watch.

Identifying fakes by hand
Assuming that you didn't buy the dress in a back alley from some shifty guy in dark glasses, it's often difficult to tell a designer garment from a fake.

Fashion film gets a life of its own
In a digital age, fashion companies are making short films, typically one to five minutes long and produced for the internet.

Dundas to join Pucci
Peter Dundas, the Norwegian designer of colorful, hippie de luxe glamour, will be the new creative director at Emilio Pucci, with an official announcement expected Friday from its parent company, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.

A royal stamp of approval still produces sales
The labels that contribute to the iconic style of Queen Elizabeth II are among the more than 850 companies with Royal Warrants, businesses that are allowed to identify themselves as suppliers to the queen, Prince Philip or Prince Charles.

Fighting fakes with a fake
A couple of years ago, the International Anticounterfeiting Coalition - a trade group whose members include fashion, software, pharmaceutical and other businesses concerned with knockoff versions of their products - decided to take its message to U.S. college campuses.

L.A., a scene that's seen better days
As a result of poor attendance by editors and buyers, many talented L.A. designers have decamped to New York shows or chosen venues on the younger, hipper east side of the city.
- The sun never sets on the runway

DKNY celebrates its 20th anniversary
Donna Karan's DKNY line was born in the 1980s but her 20th anniversary collection looked to the future and the next generation of fashion followers.

Facebook for the kindergarten set
A host of new Web sites, including Totspot, Odadeo, Lil'Grams and Kidmondo, offer parents a chance to invite friends and family to join and contribute to a network geared to connecting them to the baby in their lives.

Can fashion forgive his past?
A designer aims to mend his ways and earn respect while getting hefty financial backing for a comeback.

The prodigal daughter returns: Phoebe Philo signs with Celine

Designer Phoebe Philo returns to the world of fashion as the new creative director at Celine.

It's Michael Kors's moment, (partly) thanks to reality TV
The designer's gig as a judge on the fashion reality show "Project Runway" - plus his knack for catering to client's fantasies - have combined to transform his once modest business into a fashion brand with more than $600 million in wholesale revenues and 60 stores.

Fashion house Jil Sander being sold
Fashion house Jil Sander AG, a maker of luxury ready-to-wear clothing for men and women, will be sold to a Japanese apparel group, the private equity firm that owns it said Monday.

Ready for a closeup
Makeup sellers seeking to make their products stand out on crowded cosmetic counters are expanding into a niche once reserved for people who live under the scrutiny of the camera lens: high-definition makeup.

I'm down here, up to my eyes in cuticles
As fashion brands continue to emphasize luxury handbags and shoes, the perfectly groomed extremity is becoming the ultimate marketing tool.

Garden is a seedbed for Dr. Hauschka cosmetics line
Dr. Hauschka cosmetics born in a German garden

Americans pull back from expensive plastic surgery
Plastic surgeons are increasingly competing with other specialists, and even non-specialists, for a finite pool of beauty clients.