Style

At 31 rue Cambon, Paris, where petites mains make Chanel’s haute couture.

FROM THE ARCHIVE: Every morning, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel walked the few steps to her “office”, where staff, alerted that she was en route, had already sprayed Chanel No. 5 on the staircase. Client fittings happened either in the salon downstairs, or upstairs in the area now occupied by Karl Lagerfeld.

Small obsessions.

You might expect the aesthetic of Gabrielecorto Moltedo, who grew up as a scion of the Bottega Veneta empire, to be one of understated luxury. But although he has tapped into his heritage of exceptional Italian craftsmanship, he is out on his own when it comes to design.

Well-intentioned.

It all begins with water, and the act of giving with no expectations of receiving in return. It was a poignant lesson, delivered by Obakki founder Treana Peake to an audience of 2,500 in Vancouver last month for TEDxVancouver.

A lesson in menswear.

Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne are convinced that timing is everything. The designers behind the award-winning New York menswear label Public School attribute much of their success to being in the right place at the right time.

A stitch in time.

When arbiter of opulence King Ludwig II ruled Bavaria in the 19th century, he was renowned for his extravagant castles and for dressing with a flourish of style. “The dream king,” as he was known, also insisted on wearing Roeckl leather gloves, which helped the brand earn recognition as an official supplier to the royal court of Bavaria.

A crystal empire.

FROM THE ARCHIVE:  Nadja Swarovski, the company’s creative director and vice-president of international communications, is a striking woman. She is also the great-great-granddaughter of Daniel Swarovski I, the man who founded the crystal company more than a century ago.

Stepping up.

“I’m still on cloud nine,” Paul Andrew admits, smiling as he sits in the plush surroundings of a quiet corner of the Room at Hudson’s Bay, referencing his CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund win. “But I can already see so much has changed with the business.”

Rule breakers.

There is a widely disseminated quote by Greek historian Thucydides that states “The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it.”