Shoppers snapping up luxury looks while sitting on the sofa each evening have helped online fashion site Net-a-Porter match the sales growth of its stablemates like Cartier and Montblanc at designer brands giant Richemont.

Despite recession in many of its markets, Richemont saw the global appetite for upmarket clothes, jewellery and watches show no signs of waning with a forecast-beating 43 per cent rise in net profits.

Richemont, the world's second-largest luxury goods group behind Paris-based LVMH, is "cautiously optimistic" despite the unstable economic environment.
Growth is so buoyant its South African owners, the Rupert family, announced a share buyback.
Chairman and chief executive Johann Rupert will buy back up to 10 million of its A shares through the market over the next two years.
Profit for the year to the end of March hit €1.54bn (£1.23bn).

It’s not a secret that many closets on the North Shore are filled with upscale, fashion-forward designer garments,

and now, thanks to bundle.com, the nation knows just how trend-setting the North Shore’s fashionistas can be.

The bundle.com report lists Glencoe as the second most fashion-conscious town in the U.S. after Newport Coast,

Calif., with 15.95 percent of residents listed as such. But lovers of all things sartorial from other towns made the

Top 40 as well. Winnetka residents (13.44 percent) enter the list at No. 4; Highland Park at No. 9, (after Beverly

Hills, Calif., at 11.84 percent; Hinsdale and Lake Forest round out the top 12 (11.29 and 10.74 percent

respectively); Deerfield (8.05 percent); Oak Brook (7.91 percent), and Wilmette (7.20 percent) take honors ahead of

the known shopping meccas of Malibu, Calif, and Palm Beach, Fla. For the full list, see bundle.com/article/most-

fashionable-towns-america.

The new site compiles anonymous spending data to compile user reviews for local businesses — using credit card

transactions to create data-driven snapshots of how people spend their money. It aims to give consumers a place to

research local businesses with hard numbers — cost per transaction, loyalty to a particular retailer and how many

customers a business serves — rather than a traditional online forum review site such as yelp.com.

“We defined a segment called ‘fashionistas’ by identifying those households that had at least four transactions

at known high-end merchants in a 30-month period,” CEO Jaidev Shergill wrote in an email.

Deerfield resident and stylist Debra Katz works to keep her clients fashion-conscious and doesn’t find one town to

be more fashionable than the other. “I think there are women in each of these towns who are definitely high-

fashion, who really subscribe [to it] and love it,” she said.

The Possessionista (a k a Dana Weiss, a Deerfield resident, blogger and expert on all things fashion), doesn’t want

her North Shore neighbors to think their fashion consciousness only relates to how much they spend.

“I think that list is a bit deceptive. Being fashionable and having an innate sense of style has nothing to do with

money,” Weiss said.

Mumbai Indians celebrate after winning the IPL Twenty20 cricket match against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the M.

Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on May 14, 2012.
An unbeaten 122-run sixth-wicket partnership in 65 balls between Ambati Rayudu (81) and Kieron Pollard (52) helped

Mumbai Indians beat hosts Royal Challengers Bangalore by five wickets in the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the

Chinnaswamy Stadium here late Monday night.

Chasing a target of 172 in a delayed match due to rain earlier, Mumbai managed 173 for five with two balls to spare

and avenged their defeat by Royal Challengers back home by nine wickets.

The unlikely win kept Mumbai Indians' hopes for a berth in play-offs alive with 18 points from 14 matches. They are

tied on 18 points with table toppers Delhi Daredevils, who have played a match less, but the GMR-owned franchise

stayed ahead on the basis of better run rate.

Though Mumbai too had a disastrous start like the hosts, losing the top three batsmen - including maestro Sachin

Tendulkar for duck, Herschelle Gibbs (2) and in-form Rohit Sharma (5) for just 19 runs in the first four overs of

the power play. But Man-of-the-Match Rayudu and Pollard snatched the game away with a steady innings in middle

orders and hammered a weak bowling attack in slog overs.

Rayudu took time to settle after walking into the middle in eighth over and finished off the game with a four to

remain 81 not out from 54 balls, including four sixes and six fours. The tall Pollard joined the party after his

West Indian team mate Dwayne Smith left for six in ninth over for a cameo knock of 52 in 31 balls that included

three huge sixes and five fours.

With the dramatic victory, Mumbai Indian maintained their all-win record against Royal Challengers in Bangalore.

For Royal Challangers, seamers Zaheer Khan, Vinay Kumar and Harshal Patel and offie Muthaiah Muralitharan shared one

wicket each, while Herschelle Gibbs was run out by Saurabh Tiwary from a long throw by K.P. Apanna.

Earlier, Royal Challengers managed to reach 171 for six wickets in 20 overs, thanks to a rearguard assault by in-

form Mayank Agarwal, who accelerated the score in the last two overs, hitting 35 runs in nine balls, including 24 in

the last over of Munaf Patel, and remained 64 not out in 30 balls, with four sixes and six fours.

Put to bat first, the home team had a disastrous start losing their explosive batter Chris Gayle in the third over

for a paltry six runs of eight balls, followed by a tragic run-out of stand-in skipper Virat Kohli same over for

three when he skidded on the pitch and could not return to the bowling crease as striker Dilshan Tillakartne did not

step out.

Though as other opener Dilshan remained at the crease on one side till 17th over for 47 in 50 balls with one six and

four fours, Agarwal and Zaheer Khan (14) put up 36-run partnership for seventh wicket, even as Tiwary (21) and AB de

Villiers (14) contributed valuable runs.

With seven wins and six defeats from 14 games, Royal Challengers remains at fifth position behind Chennai Super

Kings.

As two-time runners-up, if Royal Challengers have to sneak into play-offs this time, it has to win the remaining two

away games back-to-back against Deccan Chargers and Delhi Daredevils later this  week.

Gucci presented the provocative grand opening of James Franco’s MOCA’s art exhibit ‘Rebel’ this Saturday in Los Angeles, alongside event supporters 7 for All Mankind, Samsung and The Chateau Marmont. In particular, the involvement of Gucci-- a name synonymous with class and good taste -- is shocking, as Franco’s material was unabashedly subversive, and many of these company’s conservative customers are not.

So just how subversive was the show, you ask? Well let me simply list some images I saw at the media-preview of the exhibition.

A film featuring a woman being ejaculated on in a group rape setting, a film featuring a naked female gang stabbing each other to death with swords, a cartoon depicting animals masturbating themselves and ejaculating on each other, a jar of corroding cattle genitalia, and a video depicting animal genital mutilation were just a few of the images on display in James Dean’s honor yesterday, curated by the famous actor who won a Golden Globe for his depiction of James Dean in the 2001 biopic.

‘Rebel,’ blatantly -- err rebelled -- against all the elite connotations that previously defined Franco’s golden image as a powerhouse celebrity, purposefully perverting his image and likeness in vulgar, defiant strokes. The star has made a sub-celebrity career as a performance artist of sorts -- a cultural DJ - who remixes his career in perplexing ways, like when he joined the cast of General Hospital as a serial killer artist, intimately named Franco. "Rebel' combined his Dean experience, with the mind of his General Hospital character, and his own musings on Hollywood in a single multi-media collage exhibition.

Additionally, 'Rebel' aimed to pay homage to Nicolas Ray’s classic film, Rebel Without a Cause by reinterpreting and recreating the dynamics of stars Natalie Wood, James Dean, Sal Mineo and director Nicolas Ray’s thorny love relationships behind the scenes. Franco commissioned collaborations with some of Modern Art's most acclaimed and controversial names including subversive sculptor Paul McCarthy, and criminally decorated filmmaker Harmony Korine.

The exhibit was materially elaborate, and opulently executed – an ode to the big bucks spent by the show’s supporters. The individual films and art pieces were each contained in replicas of The Chateau Marmont’s legendary poolside bungalows, where the original cast of Rebel hung-out during shooting.

However, the tone of the exhibit made me feel like I was stranded in the psychotic maze of a serial murderers madhouse -- as the environment incorporated circus tent colors, street graffiti, and disturbing raw sexual and murderous noises.

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So why would Gucci associate their iconic label with artwork that blatantly degraded the iconic? Franco was not reverential in protecting James Dean’s image, The Chateu’s, the original film’s integrity, or the corporate identity of the companies who sponsored him. So what was Gucci thinking?

Well for starters, James Franco has been Gucci’s poster boy for over a decade, and for good reasons. He is an Academy Award nominated actor, a published novelist, a blockbuster celebrity, and a Yale Ph.D. scholar. So on paper, he is the ideal celeb sponsor for the acclaimed brand.

I was a classmate of Franco’s at UCLA, and personally, I found James to be intelligent, charismatic and friendly – he certainly doesn’t appear to be a socially reckless artist by any conventional terms.

Global investors need to stay focused on the long-term and pick quality export companies to help weather the uncertainties around Europe, says a visiting US expert.

Russell Investment's Matt Beardsley will speak to local investors at a conference in Auckland this morning about global sharemarkets.
Seattle-based Beardsley said although Europe looked challenging from an economic perspective it was still attractive from an investment point of view. He said there were good opportunities in Germany and Switzerland as well as France and the Netherlands. In those countries shares were being priced based on the European woes but many companies were still performing strongly because of their exports to emerging markets.

Beardsley calculated around 80 per cent of the share price was being based on the macro-economic situation.
"It has been really frustrating," he said. "These are really good companies but nobody seems to pay them much mind."
Beardsley said investors should focus on how companies were performing rather than ruling out investment because of the country's woes.
One example was French business Louis Vuitton.

"That is a French company but it is more a play on the luxury goods market."
Beardsley said the company was still seeing high demand for its handbags out of emerging countries such as Brazil and China.
There was some concern last year about demand from emerging markets slowing down because of high levels of inflation but Beardsley said recent official cash rate cuts had helped to lower inflation increasing the spare cash available to consumers.
"I do believe that positive demand will continue to persist."
Beardsley said investors needed to stay focused on the longer term.

HINGHAM --
The Hingham Public Library may not be the first place associated with the words “fashion runway.” But on Saturday, the creativity of local students from the Hingham Sewing School was on display in a fashion show that doubled as a fundraiser for the town’s library.


Local designer Alexis Kletjian teaches children, ages 6 and older, the fundamentals of sewing at her school. The 24 students, all from Hingham, displayed their work in front of about 250 people at the fashion show.


Kletjian said she works with kids of all level experience and artistic ability.
 
“If they can clearly describe to me what they want to make, we can make it happen,” she said.
Eleanor Rentz modeled a pink and green sundress. Emma Peterson was all smiles as she showed off a vibrantly colored orange, pink and yellow patterned top, perfect for this weekend’s warm weather.


With a hand firmly planted on her hip, Morgan Brett walked the runway wearing a blue T-shirt with feminine ruching around the neckline. Caroline Johnson sported a Hawaiian-style summer dress. MaKenzie Brennan worked the crowd, striking a cover-girl pose as she sashayed down the runway wearing her funky sundress.
In addition to the fashion show local band Aldous Collins supplied music. Hingham photographer Kerry Brett shot portraits of moms and their children.


Local artists and vendors also sold everything from needlepoint creations to homemade soap to benefit the library.
 
This was the first sewing school fashion show, but Kletjian said she hopes to make it an annual event.


“You can definitely see how happy the kids are,” she said.
 
Kletjian said it lends the girls a self-esteem boost to wear something they made.
“My whole philosophy is if they can imagine it, they can create it,” she said.

SEATTLE —  Amazon is so serious about its next big thing that it hired three women to do nothing but try on size 8 shoes for its Web reviews. Full time. The online retailer is shooting 3,000 fashion images a day in a photo studio using patent-pending technology. Having wounded the publishing industry, slashed pricing in electronics and made the toy industry quiver, Amazon is taking on the high-end clothing business in its typical way: go big and spare no expense. “It’s Day 1 in the category,” Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s chief executive, said in a recent interview. Though characteristically tight-lipped on bottom-line details, Bezos said the company was making a “significant” investment in fashion as it tried to convince designer brands that it wanted to work with them, not against them.

The traditional retail world — and many major brands that want no part of Amazon — are gearing up to fight for their lives. “It has the latitude to set prices and charge whatever it wants,” Sucharita Mulpuru, an analyst for Forrester Research, said of Amazon. “That is a huge threat for brands.” Amazon has sold clothing for years. But recently it has focused on signing on hundreds of contemporary and high-end brands, including Michael Kors, Vivienne Westwood, Catherine Malandrino, Jack Spade and Tracy Reese, and it continues to prowl for more.

Amazon’s decision to go after high fashion is about plain economics. Because Amazon’s costs are about the same whether it is shipping a $10 book or a $1,000 skirt, “gross profit dollars per unit will be much higher on a fashion item,” Bezos said, and it already makes money on fashion. While its MyHabit site, started last year, uses a flash-sale model to compete with Gilt Groupe, Bezos says the company’s new effort is not about selling clothes at deep discounts but at prices that ensure “the designer brands are happy.” The ramp-up has created buzz as the company has hired models, stylists and makeup artists, started using customer data to personalize brand and size search results, and as it runs the first advertisement campaign ever, in print and outdoors, for the Amazon clothing store. In the retail clothing world, fears are growing that few will be able to compete with a stepped-up Amazon.

Crazy mishmash, clashing colours, and a riot of experiments are being unveiled on the international runway. We’re talking about graphic prints on dresses, tops, shifts, jerseys et al. Surely, the new way to wear print is smart and sophisticated, but at the same time there’s a lot of fun happening there and that’s what helps make a statement. Fluid waist-less and drop-waist silhouettes, complete with cut-outs and low-slung shoulders, in mostly graphic tribal-inspired geometric prints are hot on the international fashion scene right now. These prints are slowly seeping into this summer’s high street pret lines in India as well.


Fashion designer Gayatri Khanna says, “I do a lot of digital prints too. Graphic prints are usually very noticeable and they make you stand out. So going too graphic may not be a great idea because I feel that the wearability might be limited. You could go for them in nice shifts, long maxis, or knee length dresses according to your body type. I personally love prints, and I think they are fun and give you an edge.” She cautions though: “You can wear multiple colours, but remember that stronger the print, the less the wearability.”


Fashion designer Lina Tipnis reasons that prints reflect the state of mind. “And the dyslexic prints doing the rounds on international runway reflect the designers’ thinking as well. Prints speak a lot about who you are. Personally, I don’t prefer intersecting lines; I’m an ‘art for art’s sake’ kind. In India, prints are mostly vibrant floral this season. Large diffused floral prints that create the illusion of foliage are doing really well,” she explains. And how should one wear prints? “It’s tinier prints for petite people, short skirts and a printed top for a person on the heavier side, while a tall person can go all out and wear head-to-toe prints,” advises Lina.


Designer Rimi Nayak points out that though digital print technique has been always there in India, we’re still a bit sceptical when it comes to sporting very bold prints. “Here, the prints will be embraced in tandem with our styles — not too loud. And you can strike a balance by breaking the prints with a belt or a jacket in a solid colour.”

A hip-hop song featuring a rapping Serena Williams was leaked to TMZ on Thursday night, hours before Serena easily handled Maria Sharapova at the Madrid Open.
Last year, Serena was rumored to be in the studio with famed producer DJ Clue. Is this 60-second track a result of that pairing?
Serena sounds pretty good in her eight bars. Her inflection doesn't sound forced and she appears to be enjoying herself, even when the lyrics get a little hokey.
Let's exegesis this historic track:
I ball hard, no tennis racquet/I can see these haters through my Gucci glasses
Not since Snoop rapped about jail, Long Beach, Dr. Dre and going solo in the opening of "Who Am I? (What's My Name?)" has a rapper announced a presence so forcefully.

Who is Serena? She uses a tennis racquet but not when she's balling hard. She has haters and hates on them like Silky Johnson. And she's rich. Gucci rich.
I make hits like battin' practice/Baby, like, 'Serena, is you really rappin'?'
Weird baseball reference there. You wedge in "batting practice" only to rhyme it with "rappin'"?
That's me, thanks for listenin'/schooling all these rappers, they should pay tuition

Which rappers is she schooling? She's definitely talking about Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, right?
I make a lot of money but that ain't yo business/you can tell the people I said this
A few lines after boasting of her Gucci glasses and in the same sentence she brags about how much money she makes, Serena tells us her wealth is none of our business.

She's got that rap delusion thing down.
I win, I really mean it/Swag out this world, you should call me Venus

In this line, Serena says her "swag" (or style) is "out of this world." How out of this world? Literally! Her swag isn't on Earth, but on an adjacent planet!
That's my sister, my name is Serena/on the court I serve 'em up, no subpoena
Oh, I see what they did there. "Venus" not only represented the planet Venus but Venus Williams, Serena's sister. Smooth, ghostwriter. Smooth. The "subpoena" line is nice. Any rap song from a ballerina, a baby eating Farina, someone wearing a pashmina, a native of Argentina or women named Selina, Alina or Fatina are obligated to rhyme those words. It's a union thing.
I cook the track up like a frozen pizza/beats so crazy it might blow your speakers
Serena cooks her frozen pizza with Auto-Tune?I ain't never been a loser and I'm always on top: roofer
Only upside of this line: The possibility that Serena tries to bring back the "raise the roof" celebration.
Final thoughts: Serena's not bad. Sure, we could use some darker imagery in the songs but maybe that's for the second single. How about a line like, "When you see me in the hallway, it's best to hide/Shove these balls down your throat to ugly up yo inside."Eva Asderaki and Shino Tsurubuchi could make cameos in the video.
As long as Serena keeps rapping a hobby for now, we're fully behind this endeavor. But she can't leave tennis alone, the game needs her.

Tom Brady [stats]’s not the only stylish New England Patriot these days — Julian Edelman, Stephen Gostkowski and Brian Hoyer, along with GQ magazine’s executive merchandising director Brett Fahlgren, hosted a celebration of Gucci’s spring/summer 2012 men’s suit collection at the brand’s Prudential Center boutique last night.

“(Tom) has really brought me into the world of fashion — I try my best to keep up with him,” said Hoyer in a crisp navy suit. “It’s hard to keep up with that guy!” addedGostkowski.
Edelman, who arrived fashionably late, was teased by his teammates for trying to replicate Brady’s Met Gala artful swoosh hairstyle and getting delayed.
“We do have the same hairstylist (Pini Swissa), but you can’t copy that!” Edelman said with a laugh. Edelman chose a plaid suit that he said was “Mad Men”-inspired for the season.

Fahlgren said the pairing of the dapper Patriots [team stats] and the iconic house of Gucci was a no-brainer: “The team is made up of such high-character guys. There are no better hosts — they’ve got some really great style.