The parties at the Democratic convention  were not exactly roof raisers. Aside from the Kanye West show on Wednesday night, almost nothing that happened at night could match the intensity of the speeches themselves. Partly this is because the Democrats appeared to be on edge, with polls tightening between Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama, and a general malaise fomenting among members of the press, who seem exhausted from chasing Obama for months and months and not having their affections reciprocated.Â
the Insiders
August 29, 2008 5:10 PM
Eye, Media
Low Wattage
August 29, 2008 4:49 PM
Eye, Fashion
Denver Dress Code
Don't mess with Texas.
Star child.
August 28, 2008 4:38 PM
Eye
Feeling Unloved
Talaya Centeno
They know, deep down (well, not really deep down, because who in the press is really deep down?), that things have been on an upswing for the Democrats starting with Hillary Clinton on Tuesday and continuing into Wednesday as John Kerry and Joe Biden attacked John McCain in their speeches. They also could not help being excited and surprised at the end of Wednesday night when Obama took to the stage.
August 27, 2008 9:18 AM
Media
Rating Hillary
Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images
August 25, 2008 11:08 AM
Beauty
Paul Starr: More than a Makeup Artist
Rosanna Arquette and Paul Starr.
John Shearer/WireImage
John Shearer/WireImage
In writing an obituary, it¹s often difficult to get anything more than a generic one-liner (to the effect of, "Ms. So-and-so is deeply saddened") from a celebrity's publicist. Not so with Starr.
August 22, 2008 5:18 PM
Beauty, Business
CVS Beauty Revolution
A rendering of CVS Pharmacy's upcoming luxury beauty stores.
CVS Pharmacy -- the 6,800-door, $85 billion drugstore chain that built its business on making things easy for shoppers -- now aims to save consumers a trip to the local department store by putting luxury beauty brands right under their noses.
August 19, 2008 11:27 PM
Eye
Olympic Spirit Lifts as Close Draws Near
Entertainment in between volleyball matches.
The second week of the 2008 Summer Games began with a markedly more cheerful tone, in no small part due to large doses of pure sunshine and relaxed security -- with officials seemingly less worried about attacks and political protests.
August 15, 2008 5:50 PM
Business, Retail
Should Liz Sell Mexx?
When Liz Claiborne Inc.'s stock recovered Thursday by almost the full amount it sank Wednesday after the vendor reported a sizable loss, the word on the Street was that speculation over Claiborne selling Mexx drove the market activity.
After all, it could be argued the sum of Claiborne's parts are worth more than the current approximately $14 stock price would suggest. The company's market cap is about $1.4 billion, plus approximately $760 million in debt, bringing the enterprise value to about $2.1 billion.
August 15, 2008 4:24 PM
Eye, Media
Flipping Out
Shawn Johnson
Bob Rosato/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images
Bob Rosato/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images
But the same cannot be said for the women's gymnastics at the Beijing Olympics, which had me cringing all week long. It wasn't just the obvious physical damage the sport has wrought on its best-known practitioners, whose "gnomish" bodies -- as Guy Trebay put it in the Times Thursday -- are "more muscularly developed and yet at the same time troublingly arrested" than ever.
August 14, 2008 6:20 PM
Eye, Media
Elvis Lives!
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
The King, who died Aug. 16, 1977, has never left his adopted hometown. And that means cash for the local economy, including retail merchants, and never more so than during the annual Elvis Week that began last Saturday.
August 14, 2008 2:58 PM
Eye, Media
Lucky or Unlucky 8?
Hugh McCutcheon, Son-in-Law of Todd Bachman
Cameron Spencer/Getty Images
Cameron Spencer/Getty Images
Police ramped up an already heavy security presence at tourist spots around the capital following the stabbing death of Todd Bachman, 62, the father of a former Olympic gold medalist and father-in-law of the American men's volleyball coach. The news is a black eye for what China promised to be the most spectacular and secure Games ever. Violence against foreigners is rare in China and the murder of a tourist in town for the Olympics stirred shock and embarrassment.
Mary-Kate Olsen and Ben Kingsley at "The Wackness" premiere.
photo by Steve Eichner
photo by Steve Eichner
Things kicked off in July with "The Wackness," in which Ben Kingsley's therapist accepts dime bags in lieu of cash from his dealing patient, played by Josh Peck (hey, a kid's gotta make a living).
August 11, 2008 4:24 PM
Eye
Celebrating the Spontaneous in Beijing
The Angel nightclub in Beijing
Joe McNally/Getty Images
Joe McNally/Getty Images
August 11, 2008 10:34 AM
Eye, Media
Dispatches from Georgia
It all happened so fast. After three weeks in Tbilisi interviewing dozens of Georgians about media relations with the government, my lanky translator, Otar; my steady driver, Murad, and I had become a team. We raced around Tbilisi's reckless streets. Just last Thursday we started talking about a trip to the countryside for fun. But by Friday, all thoughts of our idle romp were blown away by the surge of Russian troops into South Ossetia and the Georgian border.
Michael Kors
August 7, 2008 2:55 PM
Business, Retail
Grand Theft Shoppers
I was surprised by the Justice Department news on Aug. 5 charging 11 people with stealing over 40 million payment card numbers. It turns out the same guys were behind a bunch of data thefts at nine different retailers, including the really big heist at TJX. And, in a Hitchcock-worthy twist, it turned out that the very guy who was helping the FBI solve the case was the alleged mastermind behind the plot. Eek. Oops, that never looks good.
But maybe the biggest surprise is how easy the systems were to break into. The "60 Minutes" special last year pretty much got it right.
August 7, 2008 2:26 PM
Beauty
Lafley and P&G Beat the Odds
A. G. Lafley, P&G chairman and chief executive officer
Despite its size, the consumer products giant proved its nimbleness in the fourth quarter by reporting a 33 percent surge in profits.
As other companies were just starting to gauge the scope of rising commodity and energy costs, P&G had already begun taking price increases on key innovations to help offset the pinch. The bold move helped boost quarterly sales by 10.3 percent to $21.27 billion.
August 6, 2008 11:47 AM
Media, Retail
Sex Sells, Then and Now
One of the controversial ads from 1995.
Calvin Klein had gotten itself into trouble again with its new steamy TV ads featuring Eva Mendes for its latest fragrance, Secret Obsession. The current brouhaha is that the American networks refused to accept the ads because they're too revealing in the bust area.
Personally, it was great to see Calvin pushing the envelope again because it reminded me of the good old days when a big Calvin Klein advertising controversy became page one news.
August 5, 2008 2:09 PM
Business, Retail
Losing in Las Vegas
August 5, 2008 11:55 AM
Fashion
A New Fetish
Eve
I couldn't believe that after three unsuccessful tries, Signature Apparel, Fetish's parent, wanted to give it a fourth shot. Obviously the brand has been troubled since its start back in 2003 with slow sales at retail, only to then be shelved under Marc Ecko. And why would they want to do this again now, when the economy is suffering and they would be reentering an already crowded area with lines like Baby Phat, Dereon and justsweet already dominating?
August 4, 2008 10:22 AM
Eye, Fashion
Reeling in the Years
I had the opportunity to several weeks ago, when I found myself knee deep in the house archives on a research mission. My task -- as it was explained to me by my editor in chief Edward Nardoza -- was to uncover the stories, images, and maybe an amusing fashion trend or two that time forgot, plucked from one of the tens of thousands of issues -- 98 years! -- of Women's Wear Daily.
