By Belinda Goldsmith LONDON (Reuters) - From Union Jack booties to "Born to Rule" sleepwear, the British royal family has joined retailers in offering baby products to mark the arrival of the royal heir. Analysts estimate the baby fever could boost the economy by 240 million pounds. A baby sleepsuit modelled on a guardsman's outfit is one of the gifts on sale at palace shops by the Royal Collection Trust, which uses all profits for the upkeep of the royal palaces. ...
By Belinda Goldsmith LONDON (Reuters) - From Union Jack booties to "Born to Rule" sleepwear, the British royal family has joined retailers in offering baby products to mark the arrival of the royal heir. Analysts estimate the baby fever could boost the economy by 240 million pounds ($380 million). A baby sleepsuit modeled on a guardsman's outfit is one of the gifts on sale at palace shops by the Royal Collection Trust, which uses all profits for the upkeep of the royal palaces. ...
By Astrid Wendlandt PARIS (Reuters) - LVMH will throw open the doors of its Louis Vuitton workshops and Hennessy cognac cellars at the weekend in the latest salvo of an advertising war among luxury groups to show off the craftsmanship behind their brands. Starting on Saturday, the world's top luxury group by sales and market value will also offer behind-the-scenes tours of Christian Dior's salons, Guerlain's perfume plant outside Paris and Fendi leather shoe and handbag workshops in Italy. ...
By Neil Maidment LONDON (Reuters) - British luxury fashion group Mulberry defended its plans to move further upmarket, saying it was crucial to expansion plans in Asia, where local shoppers and outbound tourists are still spending heavily on top-end lines. Mulberry, known for its Bayswater and Alexa handbags, makes over 80 percent of its sales in Britain and continental Europe, and has been hit hard recently by weak consumer spending there, as well as cooling demand from Chinese shoppers and tourists. ...
By Victoria Cavaliere WILDWOOD, New Jersey (Reuters) - The bottom line on the boardwalk in Wildwood, New Jersey: Pull up your pants. The Jersey Shore city voted on Wednesday to ban saggy pants on its two-mile stretch of boardwalk. Offenders whose pants hang lower than three inches from the waist could be fined up to $200, and the statute also requires shirts to be worn on the boardwalk between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. Mayor Ernie Troiano Jr. ...
By Sarah Morris and Anna Ringstrom MADRID/STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Cold weather in recession-weary Europe left spring collections on the racks of the world's biggest clothing retailers, Inditex and H&M, while small British rival ASOS beat the seasons with soaring demand for its cost-conscious online offering. Spain's Inditex , which owns the Zara chain, posted its weakest quarterly growth in net profit in four years, and an unusually cold spring and early summer did little for sales of sleeveless minidresses and denim skater skirts going into the second quarter. Its shares slipped 1 percent. ...
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Hugo Boss has signed up designer Jason Wu, a favorite of American First Lady Michelle Obama, as the German fashion house seeks to sell more women's dresses and suits in the United States and China. Hugo Boss, mainly known for its suits for men, gets about 11 percent of its 2.4 billion euros ($3.2 billion) in annual sales from womenswear and has been looking to expand this area. ...
LONDON (Reuters) - British handbag maker Mulberry said Emma Hill, the creative director behind its hit Alexa and Del Rey bags, is to leave the firm. Responding to press reports of her departure, Mulberry confirmed on Monday that the highly-regarded Hill had asked to leave the fashion firm, and she was in discussions over the timing of her exit. Shares in the group fell on the news and were down 9 percent to 970 pence at 11:37 a.m. British time (1037 GMT). ...
By John Ruwitch RANCHO MIRAGE, California (Reuters) - China's photogenic "first lady" Peng Liyuan played steel drums in Trinidad, strolled hand-in-hand with a coffee farmer's daughter in Costa Rica and snapped pictures with her iPhone in the shadow of Mayan ruins in Mexico. But the glamorous and popular wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping stepped out of the spotlight for two days in California while her husband held unprecedented informal talks with U.S. President Barack Obama at a lush retreat in the desert on the last leg of a four-country trip. ...
By Eric Kelsey LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - German supermodel Heidi Klum, who has strutted from the runway to entrepreneur and reality TV host, will now try her hand as a judge on NBC's television competition show "America's Got Talent." Klum, 40, nicknamed "The Body" for her statuesque figure, has carved a career beyond modeling, as the host of Lifetime's fashion series "Project Runway" and "Germany's Next Top Model." For "America's Got Talent," the model stepped out of her role as fashion expert for the first time, to sit alongside former Spice Girl Mel B. ...