Dress with $30 million price tag spurns economic crisis
By Niluksi Koswanage
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters Life!) – The world may be cloaked in economic gloom, but the makers of a dress decked with 751 diamonds worth $30 million are confident that the desire to flaunt wealth has not quite been extinguished.
Worth nearly 5 times the top bonus paid out to American International Group Inc [...]
Italian jewelers see gloom in 2009 as crisis hits
By Svetlana Kovalyova
AREZZO, Italy (Reuters) – Italy’s jewelry sector, the world’s top exporter, will see more gloom this year with falling output and export sales, participants at a trade fair said on Saturday.
Italian jewelry used to dominate the world markets, but its market share has shrunk since early 2000 as lower cost rivals from India, [...]
Designers defy gloom, fight crisis at Milan shows
By Marie-Louise Gumuchian
MILAN (Reuters) – Milan fashion week may have begun under an economic cloud due to the global financial turmoil but designers showing off their creations have sought to defy the gloomy mood, with some declaring “war” on the crisis.
Roberto Cavalli, who counts the Spice Girls as fans, took a somewhat aggressive approach for [...]
Financial crisis forces Serena to cut back on glam
By Greg Stutchbury
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Even multi-millionaire athletes are not immune to the global financial crisis, with Serena Williams admitting she was cutting back her spending on designer handbags and glitzy jewelry.
“The bag I’m carrying now is worth $12,” a laughing Williams told reporters at a news conference ahead of the Australian Open on Saturday. [...]
Some find opportunity in Spain’s crisis
By Sarah Morris
MADRID (Reuters) – Beneath the clock in Madrid’s Sol square where Spaniards gather to count in the New Year, it’s an increasingly common sight: men walking around wearing sandwich boards or luminous jackets saying “I buy gold.”
Echoing images of men in sandwich-boards that encapsulated the hard times of the Great Depression, in Spain [...]
Russian pawn shops boom in financial crisis
By James Kilner
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Pawnbrokers in the Russian capital are enjoying the global credit crunch.
The world’s worst economic crisis for 80 years has hit Russia hard. Its stock market has dived by over 70 percent since May and the government has promised to spend $200 billion propping up its main banks and businesses.
But for [...]
Russian pawn shops boom in financial crisis
By James Kilner
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Pawnbrokers in the Russian capital are enjoying the global credit crunch.
The world’s worst economic crisis for 80 years has hit Russia hard. Its stock market has dived by over 70 percent since May and the government has promised to spend $200 billion propping up its main banks and businesses.
But for [...]
WRAPUP 1-Financial crisis weighs on executives’ minds
By Patrick M. Fitzgibbons
NEW YORK, Oct 3 (Reuters) – The most serious financial crisis in decades has caused business executives and government officials around the world to rein in expectations for short- and long-term economic growth and warn investors that business volatility will be around for some time to come.
While different entities [...]
Christie’s upbeat on Chinese art as credit crisis bites
By Miral Fahmy
SINGAPORE (Reuters Life!) – Auction house Christie’s is confident global demand for Chinese and Asian art will remain firm at its autumn Hong Kong sales despite the global financial crisis seemingly cooling sales at rivals Sotheby’s this week.
This week, the troubles roiling world markets put a damper on Sotheby’s major biannual Hong Kong [...]
RPT-FEATURE-Financial crisis scuffs well-heeled U.S. shoppers
By Martinne Geller
NEW YORK, Oct 8 (Reuters) – Susan Coyne had her heart set on a new pair of earrings at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York, a purchase she would not have thought twice about even a few weeks ago.
But on Tuesday, she could not go through with it.
“I felt [...]