Most Popular
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[Exclusive] Korean adoptee sisters meet for the first time in 39 years
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Yoon calls for measures to protect Koreans amid escalating Iran-Israel conflicts
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Signs point to N. Korean troops in Russia-Ukraine combat zone
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Rose's 'Apt.' redefines K-pop's global appeal
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Civil servant’s death linked to workplace bullying
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[Weekender] Walk around Korea to really get to know the country
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N. Korea slams Seoul-Washington joint air exercise
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Two years on, thousands mourn Itaewon tragedy, calling for accountability
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[Herald Interview] K-pop’s 'best years are ahead of us': Spotify’s general manager for Asia Pacific
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Blackpink Rose's 'APT.' hits No. 4 on British singles chart
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Kathmandu architect chronicles a dying culture
KATHMANDU (AFP) ― It is said that the medieval era never really ended in Nepal, its historic towns and architectural jewels blessed by an unbroken continuity of life and ritual that links the present with the past.The lasting image for tourists flying out of Kathmandu is of the multi-roofed pagodas of palaces and temples and the 16th century courtyards, which were once the basic unit of city planning.But much of the capital’s ancient architecture will soon be no more than a memory, according to
Jan. 30, 2012
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Old-fashioned trumps high-tech in a chef’s kitchen
LOS ANGELES ― Chef Suzanne Tracht is quietly elegant; her teenage daughter is beautiful and casually fashionable in black leggings. Their kitchen? Kind of like grandma’s house ― and that’s just how they like it.Tracht doesn’t want to spend her off hours in a modern, stainless-steel kitchen that feels like the kitchens at her restaurant, the Beverly Boulevard chophouse Jar.“I don’t want to come home from work and see that,” she says.The atmosphere was set when she moved to the house in Beverlywoo
Jan. 30, 2012
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Jean Paul Gaultier pays tribute to Amy Winehouse
PARIS (AFP) ― Amy Winehouse. There is no mistaking the look of the first model at Jean Paul Gaultier’s couture show Wednesday, the beehive hair and thick eyeliner, black skirt and brassiere visible under a white top.“Amy Winehouse was a true style icon,” Gaultier told reporters backstage after a show conceived as a tribute to the soul singer, six months after her untimely death.“What she stands for above all, is uniqueness. Both in music and the way she dressed, she mixed a great many influences
Jan. 26, 2012
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Women’s groups: Tabloids portray women unfairly
LONDON (AP) ― Britain’s inquiry into media ethics shifted its focus away from phone hacking Tuesday to look into how women are portrayed in U.K. newspapers.Women’s rights campaigners told the inquiry that newspapers treat women as sex objects and mis-report cases of rape and domestic violence.Anna Van Heeswijk of women’s campaigns group Object said that sexualized images of topless or skimpily clad women in British tabloid newspapers damage the way young women think of their appearances and life
Jan. 25, 2012
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Spider silk outfit goes on show in London
LONDON (AFP) ― An astonishing golden outfit made from the silk of spiders goes on display at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum on Wednesday, the largest example of the material in the world.The four-meter-long hand-woven textile, a natural vivid gold colour, was made from the silk of more than one million female Golden Orb spiders collected in the highlands of Madagascar by 80 people over five years.It was made by Englishman Simon Peers and American Nicholas Godley, both of whom have lived and
Jan. 25, 2012
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Lagerfeld’s retooled brand line debuts online
NEW YORK (AP) ― Karl Lagerfeld’s reboot of his own label is happening entirely online.Starting Wednesday, the Karl collection, with an emphasis on more downtown styles ― including denim decorated with a subtle image of Lagerfeld’s likeness, jersey dresses, T-shirts, shoes and handbags all with a rock ‘n’ roll edge ― are offered exclusively for the first month on the Net-a-Porter website. After that, there’ll also be a Lagerfeld-branded site.Among the offerings are the gloves and collar neck piec
Jan. 25, 2012
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Could neckties be cool again?
PARIS (AFP) ― Now that older men have ditched it to look cool, the stylish young are reclaiming the necktie as their own, with the once-derided accessory making a stealthy comeback on the menswear runways.“I never wear one,” Antoine Arnault, the 34-year-old son of luxury tycoon Bernard Arnault told AFP on the sidelines of the first ever menswear show by the LVMH-owned shoemaker Berluti ― where ties were a full part of the look.“Except on Monday afternoons when I have appointments with my father.
Jan. 25, 2012
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Fasten your seatbelts: Chanel flies couture sky-high
PARIS (AFP) ― Chanel flew the fashion crowd sky-high on Tuesday, conjuring up a life-sized plane as the runway for an all-blue spring collection as it headlined day two of the Paris haute couture shows.Stewards walked the length of the central aisle, offering champagne to Chanel’s guests as they took their seats in the model aircraft, purpose-built inside the Grand Palais exhibition hall.“After the red carpet, the blue carpet,” the house’s silver-haired designer Karl Lagerfeld, in trademark blac
Jan. 25, 2012
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Dior impresses and Versace dazzles in couture
PARIS (AP) ― France may have lost an A in its credit rating, but fashion seems to have won it back with a flourishing start to haute couture week ― from the A-list celebrities to Dior’s 1950s A-line silhouettes.Monday marked the lavish return to Paris couture of Donatella Versace, who wowed spectators with her unapologetic glitz, gold and famous friends.Since haute couture is such an expensive affair ― shows have been known to cost in the millions ― Versace’s decision to show in the French capit
Jan. 24, 2012
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Solid state Swiss Army Knife can save digital lives
LAS VEGAS (AFP) ― Victorinox has pulled from its technology pocket a version of its vaunted Swiss Army knife equipped with a solid state drive capable of holding all of the digital data in a person’s life.A USB drive capable of holding as much as a terabyte of data is folded into a Swiss Army Knife being shown-off at the Consumer Electronics Show that officially opened its doors on Tuesday in Las Vegas.“It fits in the palm of my hand,” Victorinox spokeswoman Renee Hourigan said as she cupped in
Jan. 11, 2012
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Rodarte designers leap into the world of opera
LOS ANGELES ― Rodarte designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy are slated to design their first opera costumes for the Los Angeles Philharmonic production of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” in May, which will be staged by modernist director Christopher Alden.The pair will join a creative team that includes conductor Gustavo Dudamel and architect Frank Gehry, the latter doing the set design. The production will be a homecoming for the Los Angeles designers, who started their label in 2005 and have been recogniz
Jan. 11, 2012
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Hundreds protest at D&G photo ‘ban’ in Hong Kong
HONG KONG (AFP) ― More than a thousand people protested outside a Dolce and Gabbana store in Hong Kong on Sunday after the Italian clothing store allegedly prevented people from taking photographs of its shop front.The protest followed reports that a Dolce and Gabbana security guard had stopped a photographer taking pictures of its shopfront from the pavement outside.More than 13,000 people had protested over the incident on Facebook.People gathered Sunday outside the fashion brand’s flagship Ho
Jan. 9, 2012
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Paint it black? No way! Fashion gets colorful
PARIS (AFP) ― As the economy splutters, fashion will naturally turn to solemn greys and blacks, right? Wrong, according to fabric gurus who unveiled their top trends for spring-summer 2013 in Paris on Thursday.“We don’t believe for a minute that fashion is going to turn all austere, that consumers are going to start dressing all in black,” Pascaline Wilhelm, fashion director at textile fair organizer Premiere Vision, told reporters.From neon pink to deep ochre or metallic silver-blue, and a slew
Jan. 9, 2012
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Shoe clubs are in step
Once a month, you can automatically receive in the mail a bottle of wine, a box of organic fruit and now, a pair of sequined stilettos.In a cyber twist to the traditional monthly sales clubs, shoe membership websites have become a hit among fashion-forward women, who say they bring together the convenience and affordability of shopping online with the personalized experience offered in a boutique.“This is fashion of the future,” said celebrity fashion designer Kimora Lee Simmons, who recently si
Jan. 9, 2012
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Spain’s ailing retailers slash prices to lure shoppers
MADRID (AFP) ― Spanish retailers are offering deep discounts in their post-Christmas sales to try to get cash-strapped shoppers to open their wallets as a sharp economic downturn drags painfully on.Shoppers packed into an outlet of Spanish clothing store Blanco in central Madrid on Monday, the first day of the official sales period, drawn by a 50 percent discount on all items in its winter collection.“It is hard to resist, you can buy much more clothes for the same amount of money if you wait un
Jan. 4, 2012
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Vogue’s vast archives make online leap from paper
WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Bookshelves groaning under the weight of every issue of American Vogue ever published since December 17, 1892, and there have been about 2,800 of them, can now heave a sigh of relief.Two years in the making, an online Vogue Archive is being pitched to fashion designers, photographers and stylists for whom rummaging through musty back issues for inspiration is an everyday part of the job.“That’s about 400,000 pages. It’s everything,” said Matt Dellinger, a writer and multimedia
Jan. 2, 2012
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Fashion’s most relatable new trends arrive early
NEW YORK (AP) ― You’ll find a drop-waist dress when you set off on your first shopping spree of the new year, and you probably already can find a flouncy ruffle attached to a chic, trim jacket or sheath in stores. But for all the talk about fast fashion, few looks move directly from the runway to the real world without some tweaks and adjustments.Designers, manufacturers and retailers use the months between splashy previews and on-sale dates to harness big ideas and turn them into the garments t
Jan. 2, 2012
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Japan’s ‘Lolita’ style: cutesy and disturbing
TOKYO (AFP) ― Outlandish pannier skirts with layers of frilly lace; teenage girls with larger-than-life make-up; a dash of sexuality and lashings of Victoriana are the order of the day for Japan’s Lolita girls.What began as a street fashion two decades ago as youngsters aped the doll-like European styles of baroque and rococo has morphed into a near mainstream movement, with dozens of offshoots.Popular Lolita models such as Misako Aoki were big hits at this autumn’s Japan Fashion Week, showing o
Dec. 21, 2011
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CoverGirl pulls ‘enhanced’ Taylor Swift mascara ad
WASHINGTON (AFP) ― A mascara ad featuring Taylor Swift has been pulled from U.S. magazines following a complaint that it had been digitally altered to enhance the looks of the chart-topping country music star.The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus Claims said Proctor and Gamble, maker of CoverGirl cosmetics,“discontinued the advertisement in question” after it challenged its claims.“The advertising at issue featured a celebrity looking up to highlight her lon
Dec. 21, 2011
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Frugality still prevalent among holiday shoppers
ORLANDO, Florida ― Amy Selleck is a frugal shopper, and the folks on her nice list are reaping the benefits this year.Someone is getting a laptop, purchased with free online credits to a daily deals web site. Others will get a basket of toiletries, candles and other nearly free swag from Selleck’s diligent couponing. Then there’s the closet full of toys purchased at the twice-yearly clearance sale at Target.“It always looks like I spent so much money, and I really didn’t,” the Orlando woman said
Dec. 21, 2011