Saint Laurent Stripped for Ad, Dressed Up Deneuve: Review

Yves Saint Laurent posed for a photo wearing nothing but his glasses.

The prince of haute couture, who died in June 2008, is the star of a Petit Palais exhibition that has had Parisians standing in line around the block. A year after many of his (and partner Pierre Berge’s) possessions were sold in the biggest single-owner auction of all time, the French designer retains a near-Messianic appeal for some.

(Bloomberg)

As exhibitions go, "Yves Saint Laurent" (through August 29) works well. Museums aren’t usually the best showcase for fashion: Clothes are made to be worn, not hung on mannequins, and they tend to turn pale and tatty with age.

Curators have avoided that faded look by designing the exhibition as if it were a fashion show or a film set. The first big room of Saint Laurent garments has a catwalk-like corridor running down the middle; as you walk up it, mannequins peer at you from either side. The spectacular final room of evening dresses -- a wide, red-carpeted staircase of gowns, plumes and bows -- might be a scene out of "My Fair Lady."

Through it all, the shy man with the fancy initials comes across as a bad boy who taunts the women he clothes. Though he designed mainly for the elite, he kept a close eye on the street, and redefined women’s wardrobes as lastingly as Coco Chanel did before him.

Appointed Dior’s head designer in the late 1950s, he topped off his timelessly elegant collections with a black bomber jacket of mink and crocodile skin (on view in the exhibition) -- a cheeky tribute to Marlon Brando in "The Wild One"(1953).

G20 agrees to delay exit strategies until private sector recovers

Finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of 20 nations agreed Friday to keep stimulus measures in place until the recovery of the private sector is confirmed, Yonhap news agency said Saturday.

The news report said G20 finance ministers and central bank governors also vowed to complete the quota and governance reform of the International Monetary Fund by November, when their leaders gather in South Korea, quoting the communique issued in Washington.

James Flaherty, Canada's finance minister, right, listens as Yoon Jeung- Hyun, South Korea's finance minister, speaks at a news conference during the Group of 20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors' meeting in Washington, D.C., U.S., on April 23, 2010. (Bloomberg)

"The global recovery has progressed better than previously anticipated largely due to the G-20's unprecedented and concerted policy effort. However, it is proceeding at different speeds within and across regions and unemployment is still high in many economies," said the communique read by South Korean Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun during a joint press conference with his Canadian counterpart, James Flaherty. Yoon served as a subcommittee chairman during the Washington gathering.

"We recognize that in such circumstances, different policy responses are required. In economies where growth is still highly dependent on policy support and consistent with sustainable public finances, it should be maintained until the recovery is firmly driven by the private sector and becomes more entrenched," it added.

The communiqué came as debate is growing over the right timing of rolling back stimulus measures taken to fight the global recession in the wake of the global financial crisis in 2008.

Regarding bank levy, Yoon said the South Korean government supports the idea of taking “proper measures” against excessive liquidity expansion of financial institutions.

However, such measures should be carefully implemented not to hurt the real economy, he said.

He projected that G20 finance ministers and central bank governors will discuss details of bank levy in June in Busan.

Korea builds world’s longest seawall

The government yesterday announced the completion of the world’s longest seawall in a reclaimed tidal flat in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, nearly 20 years after launching of the project.

An aerial view of the 33.9-km-long Saemangeum dike on the west coast that was completed Tuesday. (Yonhap News)

Thousands of government officials, lawmakers and diplomats, including President Lee Myung-bak, attended the completion ceremony. The seawall was open to the public shortly afterward. 
The 33.9-kilometer seawall is the first part of the state project which aims to transform the Saemangeum tidal flat, located 280 kilometers south of Seoul, into a large cluster of industrial parks, tourism and leisure facilities, farmland, research centers and international business zones by 2020.
“If the government’s four-river restoration project is a way to give new life to the destroyed rivers, the Saemangeum project is the country’s first comprehensive plan to build a green city,” President Lee Myung-bak said in his congratulatory speech.

Samsung posts record profit

Samsung Electronics Co., the biggest Asian maker of semiconductors, flat screens and mobile phones, reported record profit after rebounding demand for personal computers drove up chip prices.

Bloomberg Photo

First-quarter net income rose almost seven-fold to 3.99 trillion won ($3.6 billion) in the three months ended March 31, from 582.2 billion won a year earlier, the Suwon, South Korea- based company said in a statement today. Sales, including those of overseas affiliates, increased 21 percent to 34.64 trillion won.

Samsung said it expects to boost spending and earnings growth to extend into this quarter, joining technology companies including Intel Corp. and Apple Inc. in signaling a revival in demand for electronics ranging from televisions to PCs. 

Analysts predict Samsung's earnings growth will probably extend until the third quarter, while higher memory-chip and flat-panel prices will help the company post record profit this year.

The likelihood of increased spending "reflects a confidence in demand," said Chang In Whan, president of Seoul- based KTB Asset Management Co., which manages the equivalent to $10 billion in assets. "I think overall the company will post stronger earnings than we previously anticipated.?"

Samsung, which climbed 77 percent last year, rose 1.6 percent to 838,000 won at 10:58 a.m. in Seoul trading, while the benchmark Kospi index gained 0.8 percent. The shares have climbed 4.9 percent this year, compared with the 3.6 percent advance by the Kospi. (Bloomberg)