When the Czarinas Ruled the Front Row

Around this time just over a decade ago something happened in fashion that was as rare and unexpected as the sight of Kate Moss in a tutu. The front row of the couture shows, that rarefied array that often seems preserved in amber, underwent something of a metamorphosis seemingly overnight. A group of young women…

A Last-Minute Menu for the Fourth

Good morning. I remember a Fourth of July a few years ago when I flew into New York in the evening, and I could see fireworks all over the surrounding counties on the approach to the airport: soundless explosions of twinkling lights, beautiful and maybe even moving. (Emotions are heightened on planes.) When I got…

Claddagh Ring

GALWAY, Ireland — Over the years the Claddagh ring — which shows two hands clasping a crowned heart — has been a love token, a friendship ring and, in modern times, a symbol of Ireland itself. In the Past Rings depicting two hands, called “fede” or fidelity rings, were worn in the Mediterranean region during…

Pearl by Pearl, She Built a Jewelry Career

LONDON — Before her successful, if somewhat niche, career, the Hungarian-born pearl stringer Renata Terjeki was never a fan of pearls. “I never wanted to string,” said Ms. Terjeki, 47, in a recent video interview from her small, windowless, lamp-lit workshop, tucked in the basement of the luxury antique jeweler Bentley & Skinner on London’s…