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Luxury designer Hermès has been hit with a class action lawsuit, with plaintiffs claiming they were forced to spend thousands on other goods like scarves and homewares before they could buy a coveted Birkin. Two plaintiffs from California filed suit against the retailer Tuesday after being urged to 'support the business' by buying ancillary products including shoes, scarves, belts, jewelry and home goods. The pursuit of a Birkin is an arduous one. Due to high demand and the painstaking effort needed to craft the leather handbags, they are difficult to produce and expensive to buy.

Hermes International, the renowned French luxury brand, has introduced a reusable paper envelope priced at around $125 (Rs. 10,413) as part of its upscale stationery line. Made in France, the silk-wrapped envelope is available in two sizes, A4 and A5. People's opinions on the item are divided, with some deeming it overpriced and others seeing it as a status symbol.

•Franck Louis-Victor is accused of assaulting his wife at their Michigan home The Frenchman is the CEO of Ford Next LLC and VP of new business platforms •He pled not guilty on Monday and was freed on a $25,000 bond A top Ford executive has been arrested after he allegedly tried to set his wife's designer purses on fire with a butane torch and physically assaulted her during a domestic dispute. Franck Louis-Victor is accused of slapping, headbutting and hitting his wife with a Nest Hub device after he threatened to burn two of her Hermès purses, each valued at...

Shocking video captures the moment a burglar used a hammer to smash the display window of a Manhattan auction house – before he and an accomplice ripped off more than $200,000 worth of Hermès bags from inside, authorities said. The clip, released early Wednesday, shows a white Acura sedan pulling up in front of Heritage Auctions on Park Avenue near East 57th Street in Midtown around 3:50 a.m. March 7. Three men get out – two of whom are toting hammers.

Witches have had a long and elaborate history, even back to ancient Greece. Thanks to Homer and his epic adventure tale the Odyssey, we met Circe, who has often been identified as the first witch in Greek mythology. Circe was one of the most dangerous women a man could come across. She was known for seducing men, luring them to her island, and never letting them go. When men, driven mad by their desire to touch her, visited the island, she caught them off guard and used a spell to transform them into pigs, trapping them forever in their ignominious...

#1. This Ancient Thracian Aristocrat's War Helmet Depicting Trojan War / Iliad Scenes 1st - 2nd century AD, Brestovitsa, Central South Bulgaria Discovered: 2013 A very rare war helmet of a Thracian aristocrat from the 1st-2nd century AD featuring motifs from the story of the Trojan War - made world famous through the Iliad by Ancient Greek poet Homer - was discovered during emergency excavations in Southern Bulgaria in 2013. The Thracian war helmet was found in an Ancient Thracian tumulus (burial mound) known as Pamuk Mogila in Bulgaria's Brestovitsa, and was shown to the public for the first time...

Mama needs a brand-new bag! According to a recent study by Baghunter, the legendary Hermès Birkin bag is a better investment than both gold and stocks. The luxury site compared the returns on the three investments over a 35-year period, and, as it turns out, the value of the Birkin, which starts at $11,000 on Baghunter, has never decreased. In fact, while the values of gold and the stocks have fluctuated, the top-handle tote's value has steadily increased more than 500 percent in the last three and a half decades. That makes for an average annual increase of 14.2 percent,...

FRANKLIN – On Tuesday night, Ken Skowronski (R-Franklin) won the 82nd District Assembly special election in very convincing fashion. With all the precincts counted, Skowronski defeated Greendale Village President John Hermes (D-Greendale) 64.6 to 35.4 percent. The Franklin City Councilman won every single precinct in the 82nd District on his path to victory. When breaking down the results, Ken Skowronski won his hometown of Franklin 70.6 to 29.2 percent. He won all six of the city’s aldermanic districts by comfortable margins. In the City of Greenfield, Skowronski won 61.1 to 38.9 percent. John Hermes was close to winning two precincts...

As the daughter of one of Hollywood's most prolific actor/directors, and star of realty TV show Mrs. Eastwood & Company chronicling the lives of her extended family, Francesca Eastwood is well used to being in the eye of the storm. But Clint Eastwood's 18-year-old daughter is on the receiving end of vicious public outcry after a photographic stunt with her artist boyfriend Tyler Shields backfired. Eastwood and Shields - known for his work with video portraits and celebrity photography - decided to publicly demolish a $100,000 crocodile Hermès Birkin bag by setting it on fire before taking a chainsaw to...

MINNEAPOLIS - A $50,000 settlement has been reached in a case stemming from the police raid of a St. Paul home two days before the 2008 Republican National Convention. Sarah Coffey, Erin Stalnaker and Kris Hermes announced Thursday they settled their case with the city of St. Paul and the federal government. Under terms of the settlement, individual officers and agents are dismissed. Defense attorney Jason Hiveley says insurance companies for the city and federal government will cover the payment. The agencies are admitting no wrongdoing. Hiveley says the case was settled for economic reasons.

Heir To French Luxury Fashion House Hermes Accused Of Grabbing Captain's Crotch On Paris-To-NYC Flight NEW YORK (AP) A passenger on a Paris-to-New York flight has been accused of trying to punch the captain and grabbing his crotch. The FBI says Mathias Guerrand-Hermes has been released on a $50,000 personal recognizance bond after appearing in federal court in Brooklyn on Wednesday. He is charged with interfering with flight crew members.

Michael Tonello didn't grow up wearing Hermès, the venerable French label founded in 1837 by Thierry Hermès as a saddlery. He never coveted Hermès ties or scarves, hallmarks of the upper crust. And the American hairstylist certainly never gave a rat's arse about the world-famous Birkin bag, the clunky, rectangular satchel so elusive that billionaires can't always get their hands on them. For the longest time, Tonello didn't even know what a Birkin was. He just wanted enough dough to live in dreamy Barcelona. But after falling into the resale business, he haphazardly discovered the formula for procuring Birkins. And...

Here’s one set of wheels that is worth a trip downtown: the $2.4 million, 1001-horsepower Bugatti Veyron “Fbg par Hermès” special edition roadster. Volkswagen AG revived the formidable Bugatti brand name three years ago with the original edition Veyron. With a carbon fiber-composite body and a top speed of 250 miles per hour, it’s the fastest production car ever built. The Hermès edition, unveiled this morning at Battery Park Gardens and on display later today at the new Hermès boutique on Broad Street, costs more than twice the original version and recalls the early 20th-century friendship of racing legend Ettore...

Federal agents who raided a Clifton warehouse Thursday weren't looking for the typical heroin mill or pile of laundered money. They were after a more slippery stash. The agents seized about 22,700 gallons of oil after the Food and Drug Administration found that the Hermes and San Giovanni brands had been substituting soybean oil for some of their extra virgin and pomace olive oil. Olive oil is approximately five or six times more expensive than soybean oil, according to the FDA, which estimated the profit of the swap at $105,600. "We will not permit New Jersey consumers to be defrauded,"...

PARSIAN BANK of IRAN OBTAINS US$30 MLN LINE of CREDIT December 14, 2005 TEHRAN, Dec 14 Asia Pulse - The Parsian Bank of Iran was the first of its in the country to obtain on Monday a 25 million euro (US$30 million) line of credit from Germany's 'Hermes' insurance. Parsian can now use financing from first-rate European banks up to a ceiling of 25 million euros, its public relations department said Monday. It has also obtained a medium and long-term financing line from a German bank for 100 million euros with the guarantee by Iran's economy and finance ministry. In...

Hermes president apologizes on-air to Oprah for snub The tabloid war between Oprah Winfrey and French luxury retailer Hermes International ended in a decisive victory for the US talk show diva Monday when the company's president of US operations apologized on-air. Winfrey, who was recently named the most powerful celebrity in the US by Forbes magazine and is considered a cultural icon with an immeasurable influence over her millions of viewers, instigated a boycott after she was turned away from a Hermes store in Paris in June. Tabloids were abuzz with the snub and Oprah's conviction that she was turned...

French luxury store Hermes has apologised to American television celebrity Oprah Winfrey for turning her away from one of its Paris boutiques last week, saying when she came knocking the store was closed for a public relations event. The U.S. talk show host and "an entourage" unsuccessfully tried to enter a Hermes boutique on the posh Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore at 6:45 p.m. on June 14, Hermes said in a statement. "People were in the store and they were shopping. Oprah was at the door and she was not allowed into the store," said Gayle King, a friend of Winfrey...

Not allowed into Paris's chic Hermes By AP PARIS -- Oprah Winfrey is suggesting she was turned away from the Hermes luxury clothing store in Paris because she's black and is calling the incident humiliating. "People were in the store and they were shopping. Oprah was at the door and she was not allowed into the store," Gayle King, a friend of Winfrey who witnessed the incident, told TV show Entertainment Tonight. "Oprah describes it herself as 'one of the most humiliating moments of her life.' " UNLIKELY TO RETURN King said it's unlikely Winfrey will shop there again. "She's...

Oprah Winfrey may be the world's most powerful celebrity, as well as the reigning Queen of Daytime, but apparently those titles hold little sway with Hermes. The luxury goods retailer has issued a red-faced apology after refusing the talk-show host entry to one of its Paris boutiques last week. According to a statement from Hermes, Winfrey and "an entourage" tried to enter the Hermes boutique on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore at about 6:45 p.m. on June 14. Though the store's normal closing time is 6:30 p.m., many high-end retailers routinely make exceptions for celebrities and other VIPs. However, according...

Wired magazine reported recently: "[Mike] Lazzo's trademark is bringing dead toons back to life. He got his big break when he created the cult hit Space Ghost Coast to Coast in 1994 by splicing new celebrity interviews into old animated footage. Last year, Futurama and Family Guy reruns did so well that it's likely both shows (which Fox killed in prime time) will produce new episodes."