The English label has developed a completely interactive communication campaign which allows users to handle images. The first adverts are just released online.

Swatch Group Chairman Nicolas Hayek, one of Switzerland's most prominent and colorful entrepreneurs, died of heart failure at his workplace on Monday, the company said.

Theo Fennell, the British jeweller favoured by celebrities like Elton John and Naomi Campbell, plans to launch a range of lower-price products, it said on Monday, as it reported a reduced annual loss.

Latin American designers are more and more valued in the United States, which hedges it bets on accessories, gaining ultimately the respect of the fashion industry in such competitive markets as New York.

De Beers, the world's top diamond producer, had a strong first half but remains cautious about further recovery due to global economic risks, a top executive told Reuters on Sunday. The group, 45 percent owned by Anglo American (AAL).

Fashion group Prada, which has been mulling a stock exchange listing for years, is seeking a valuation of more than four billion euros (five billion dollars), an Italian daily reported on Monday.

The man on the street became catwalk star Friday as a host of Belgian designers showed off an urban cool inspired by mundane reality in their spring-summer collections at Paris fashion week.

The huge drapes hanging to form a bright white circle in the middle of a disused warehouse promised a show of contradictions from Dior's new collection Saturday at Paris fashion week.

Nostalgia can also produce vivid creativity and break taboos, Japanese fashion house Kenzo proved Saturday with its new spring-summer menswear collection at Paris fashion week.

The new collections from Dior, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Kenzo and Louis Vuitton at men's fashion week in Paris showed strong trends in cheeky post-crisis optimism tempered by understated elegance.

Small brands can carve out a safe niche for themselves in an overcrowded fashion market, former Valentino chairman Matteo Marzotto said, adding that ideas count more than money in the crisis-hit luxury industry.

Greek jewellery retailer Folli Follie said it had decided to merge with its duty-free unit HDFS and department store operator Elmec to improve efficiency.

A man was convicted on Friday of taking part in Britain's biggest ever gem heist -- a 40 million pound armed raid on a luxury jewellers in London in which shots were fired.

Gucci and Fendi, two of Italy's largest fashion brands are launching their first full children's collections, entering a sector that has weathered the global downturn better than others.

As financial markets recovered last year, the world's millionaires again indulged in their passions for luxury cars, yachts, art and jewelry.