The global economic crisis will weed out Italy's jewellery industry and prepare grounds for consolidation in the strongly fragmented sector, jewellers and industry officials said at a trade fair.
U.S. designer Tom Ford admits he is terrified. The man credited with turning around Gucci before launching his own design line has traded fashion for film with his debut feature "A Single Man," starring Colin Firth.
Lacoste presented a collection in white and blue -- only to eventually opt for yellow, while Alexander Wang couldn't decide between sexy culottes and leather shorts: the mood at New York's Fashion Week for spring-summer 2010 was nothing if not tentative.
International designers and stars descended on Moscow, oozing confidence that the glitzy Russian capital famed for its love of excess had got back its groove.
Harry Winston Diamond recorded a loss in the second quarter, as plunging demand cut the diamond miner and retailer's revenues nearly in half, the Canadian company said.
Italian jeweller Damiani expects the Christmas season to be better than last year, its chief executive said, citing signs of some new optimism after a "not great" summer.
The global luxury market has been badly wounded by the financial crisis and will not fully recover for at least another three years, an international conference on the sector heard in Brazil.
Pantaloon Retail in India, the country's largest listed retailer, plans to invest more than 5 billion rupees ($103.5 million) to expand its malls and stores.
World demand for diamonds has improved "significantly" since the start of the year and prices began to recover a few weeks ago, producer Debswana said.
Top jewelry retailer Signet Jewelers Ltd reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit as it cut costs and gained market share.
Revived luxury firm Faberge, whose namesake designed jewel-encrusted eggs for Russian Tsars, plans to sell its first collection of jewellery pieces worth up to $7 million each to the ultra rich on the Web.
Department store group House of Fraser posted a 16 percent increase in first-half profit and said trading was continuing to pick up, providing further evidence the recession may be nearing an end.
South Africa's gold output fell 9.3 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2009, despite being measured against lower gold production in the same period last year when output fell due to a power shortage.
Giorgio Armani sees profits falling again this year, emerging as one of the few fashion houses to give an outlook for 2009.
Upscale retailer Neiman Marcus Inc posted a much wider net loss, as it recorded a noncash impairment charge and faced a steep decline in demand for expensive merchandise.
