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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
"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.
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.
Take the profound Japanese respect for tradition, and add to it a mania for novelty. This dynamic has given rise over the last half century to art-craft pieces that are made using age-old techniques, adapted in ways that are unmistakably modern.
Often found at auctions, notable rare books include modern illustrated volumes illustrated by renowned artists or books that are distinguished by unique bindings.
