Barack Obama ©Getty From LIFE & ARTS May 17, 2013

Shades of great

Come the summer months, a pair of cool sunglasses are the swim-trunk-suited man’s best friend

Best of the Blogs

Produkty Klasztorne (Monastery Products), which pays Cistercian monks a licensing fee to use their trademark, recipes, and raw material is listing on the Warsaw stock exchange
Gold has a special place in the hearts of the Chinese. So while investors around the world were dumping gold last month, shoppers in China have been lining up in droves outside jewellery stores
This week, the country’s auto retail trade group released numbers showing that vehicle sales rose 25 per cent during the first four months of the year
A gang of teen burglars in Sofia Coppola’s new film 'The Bling Ring', starring Emma Watson (second from left) From LIFE & ARTS May 17, 2013

Rising sunglasses

They are the latest lucrative style statement, with ever more flamboyant designs and prices

Azzedine Alaïa (near right) and Jean Nouvel at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles ©Spencer Lowell From LIFE & ARTS May 17, 2013

Design, set, match

Fashion designer Azzedine Alaïa and architect Jean Nouvel are collaborating for the first time on ‘The Marriage of Figaro’

John Galliano leaves an apartment in New York City dressed wearing a long jacket, hat with his hair curled beneath ©Splash News Vanessa Friedman from LIFE & ARTS May 17, 2013

Vanessa Friedman: Clothes can remake the man

Why the maverick fashion designer needs to dress down

Working Lives: Shop window designer Gary Card. Photograph: Rosie HallamWorking Lives: Shop window designer Gary Card. ©Rosie Hallam Emma Jacobs from MANAGEMENT May 16, 2013

Design therapy for retailers

A stylist who has worked with Lady Gaga wishes all his clients were as daring

Detail of Roy Lichtenstein's ‘Blue Nude’ ©Estate of Roy Lichtenstein/DACS 2 From PERSONAL FINANCE May 16, 2013

Christie’s sets global record with $495m sale

Cash-rich individuals in search of returns pour money into art

L'Oreal costmatics on sale at one of their counters in a department store ©Reuters Inside Business May 16, 2013

Nestlé has time to deal with L’Oréal stake

Arguments in favour of a sale to cosmetics group are enticing

Milan ©Alamy From FINANCIALS May 16, 2013

Qatar buys into Milan property project

Gulf state diversifying away from hydrocarbons

Pebble Technology founder Eric Migicovsky poses for a portrait wearing the Pebble watch, in New York ©AP From TECHNOLOGY May 16, 2013

VC backing gets smart watch ticking

Kickstarter-born company raises $15m

May 16, 2013

Luxury goods sales slow on Asia clampdown

Clampdown in China and spending drought in Europe blamed

From LIFE & ARTS May 16, 2013

Richemont head Rupert to take a year off

Chairman of Cartier parent wants ‘control of his time’

From LEX May 16, 2013

Richemont: clocking off

Swiss luxury goods group’s biggest market is slowing

From RETAIL & CONSUMER May 15, 2013

Rift over Bangladesh textile worker safety

US retailers are reluctant to sign up to the deal

From WORLD May 15, 2013

China agrees trade deal with Switzerland

Move follows Beijing’s accord with Iceland, its first in Europe

From RETAIL & CONSUMER May 15, 2013

H&M calls for increases in Bangladesh pay

Swedish fashion retailer says minimum wage should be revised

From INDUSTRIALS May 16, 2013

Honda set for F1 return with McLaren

Japanese carmaker to supply engines from 2015

From WORLD May 14, 2013

Internet sales flourish in Nigeria

Convenience draws middle class to online shopping

From RETAIL & CONSUMER May 14, 2013

Puma warns on sales and profits

Sports goods group fails to keep up with rival Adidas

From RETAIL & CONSUMER May 14, 2013

Chinese austerity hits Diageo’s sales

World’s biggest distiller’s sales of baiju slump 40%

From RETAIL & CONSUMER May 14, 2013

Amazon hit by old-world strike action

Online retailer’s German employment practices under scrutiny

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