Hermès, which turned basic accessories into modern icons, takes the lid off what's luxe now. Reggie Nadelson reports from 24 Rue Faubourg St.-Honoré. Once upon a time in a suburb of Paris, a guy kissed a bag, though it was no frog and did not really need a kiss. It was at the Hermès workshops in …[Read more]
O.
Out of the Box
Hermès, which turned basic accessories into modern icons, takes the lid off what's luxe now. Reggie Nadelson reports from 24 Rue Faubourg St.-Honoré. Once upon a time in a suburb of Paris, a guy kissed a bag, though it was no frog and did not really need a kiss. It was at the Hermès workshops in …[Read more] 
On the 12th floor of a dull gray office building on Fifth Avenue is Verdura—part showroom, part shop, and part archive. Call it the candy store. Even with the elegant rooms and the ever-so-polite glass cases, there's something intoxicating about Verdura's jewels, something luscious, sensuous, yummy: The vintage bubble-gum-pink topaz bow brooch mounted in gold with diamond ribbons, the fat heart fashioned of cabochon emeralds the color of glazed fruit and wrapped up with strings of diamonds, the