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      Chanel Takes Its Métiers d’Art Show to China, for 1,100 Guests.

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      The house goes all out for its V.I.C.s.What do you do if you are a fashion house possessed of the most coveted open designer job in the business, the subject of manic rumors and speculation, with the world watching every move you make for a hint of announcements to come?If you are Chanel, you hold the first mega-show of a European luxury brand in Hangzhou, China, invite about 1,100 guests, including Tilda Swinton, Lupita Nyong’o, Liu Wen and about 600 local V.I.C.s — very important clients — and get on with business as usual.Meaning, in this case, you offer a bit of glamorous outreach to a customer segment that, after years of explosive growth, has been very publicly slowing down, sending the fortunes of many global fashion brands dropping. Chanel, the second largest luxury brand in the world, with 2023 revenues of almost $20 billion, has not been immune.And if the V.I.C.s — which is to say, clients who spend at least $20,000, and possibly up to $500,000, a year with the company — won’t go to the brand, the brand will go to them.“To come to China after Covid was one of our top priorities,” said Bruno Pavlovsky, Chanel’s president for fashion. “We started seriously to plan it nine months ago. It’s the right time to focus on our Chinese customers.”After all, he acknowledged: “At the moment, we have less customers in our boutiques. We have less what they call one-timers. But we are still very powerful and very successful with our V.I.C.s. And what we are doing here is trying to create a unique experience and a bond.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      A Year Among My Fellow Banned Writers

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      This personal reflection is part of a series called Turning Points, in which writers explore what critical moments from this year might mean for the year ahead. You can read more by visiting the Turning Points series page.Turning Point: More than 10,000 books were targeted for removal from school shelves in the United States in the 2023-2024 academic year.As a kid, I cataloged the books I read each year in a three-ring notebook. I read lots of books, not all of them favorites, but I was proud to read and review each one for my own pleasure, from fairy tales to books on the lives of saints. Even if I didn’t like a tome, I read it anyway. Every book will teach you something, if you let it.Now, as I near 70 years of age, I’ve made it a goal to read books that have recently been targeted for bans in South Texas public schools. In the spring, a church group approached school boards in the Rio Grande Valley and brought certain titles to their attention, saying that some of the content in the books was “extremely vulgar and offensive.” The group specified reasons for requesting each book’s expulsion, though some of the themes it cited — sexual abuse and parental violence — are also found in the pages of the Bible, which could also be labeled offensive if not read in context. The church group didn’t use the word “ban” — they preferred that officials “willingly remove” these books. This raised my curiosity.Earlier this year I thought I would make the group’s list my summer reading project, but with 676 titles to get through, I had to extend my goal beyond one season.A display featuring books that have faced bans at The Lynx bookstore in Gainesville, Fla. Lauren Groff, the best-selling author, and her husband had toyed with the idea of opening The Lynx for more than a decade and said that mounting bans and challenges to books, particularly in Florida, pushed them to do it.Dustin Miller for The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Amazon Sued Over Slow Deliveries to Low-Income Areas

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      The District of Columbia’s attorney general said the company deliberately outsourced Prime member deliveries in certain ZIP codes.The attorney general of the District of Columbia sued Amazon on Wednesday, accusing it of violating consumer protection laws by making slower deliveries to Prime members in historically lower-income neighborhoods.In one of the first complaints of its kind, which was filed with the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb said Amazon had deliberately and secretly stopped its fastest delivery service to the nearly 50,000 Prime subscribers in certain ZIP codes that were lower-income neighborhoods.According to the lawsuit, Amazon has used third parties like United Parcel Service and the Postal Service to make Prime deliveries in those areas for the past two years. That resulted in slower deliveries than those made by Amazon’s own delivery drivers, who serve other Washington residents.Amazon “cannot covertly decide that a dollar in one ZIP code is worth less than a dollar in another,” Mr. Schwalb said in a statement. “We’re suing to stop this deceptive conduct and make sure District residents get what they’re paying for.”Amazon told Mr. Schwalb that it had made the change because of safety concerns in those neighborhoods, the attorney general said. He said the company had violated consumer protection laws by failing to disclose the change to consumers.Amazon said that it disagreed that it had deceived customers and that it had informed Prime subscribers in those areas about each stage of the delivery process. The company said it tried to work with the office of the attorney general to support crime prevention and improve safety for drivers in those areas.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Here’s What Led to Tennessee’s Ban on Gender-Affirming Care

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      Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s announcement of a new transgender clinic in 2018 did little to draw attention to its practice. The four-paragraph news release amounted to a location, hours and the names of two senior staff members.The spotlight came four years later, when Matt Walsh, a conservative political commentator at The Daily Wire in Nashville, published a series of posts and videos about the clinic. Those posts said that a staff member there had privately characterized gender-affirming medication and surgery as “moneymakers,” and used caustic terms to describe the center’s treatments.The medical center, which is separate from Vanderbilt University, pushed back. In a statement at the time, the center said that the clinic’s mission was to serve a “high-risk population for mental and physical health issues” who “have been consistently underserved by the U.S. health system.”The medical center said that it had not provided care to children younger than 18 without the consent of a parent, and that it would not force any employee who disagreed with the care because of personal or religious beliefs to provide it.Conservatives called for an investigation into the clinic, and Republican leaders spoke at a rally Mr. Walsh organized in Nashville in October 2022 in opposition to gender-affirming care for children. When Tennessee legislators convened in January 2023, lawmakers designated a proposed ban on gender-affirming care as Senate Bill 1. The bill passed over objections from transgender people and most Democrats. More

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      Which States Have Passed Bans on Treatment for Transgender Minors?

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      The challenge to a Tennessee law before the Supreme Court this week traces its roots to the spring of 2021, when Arkansas became the first state to pass a law prohibiting gender-transition treatments for minors. Alabama followed in 2022. Tennessee’s was part of a coordinated deluge: Of 28 states where Republicans control the legislature, 24 now restrict doctors from providing puberty blockers, hormone therapies or surgery to transgender minors. Two more, New Hampshire and Arizona, ban only surgeries.Why the flood? In exploring the motivation behind Florida’s ban, one federal district judge, Robert Hinkle, concluded that some of the state’s lawmakers acted on “old-fashioned discriminatory animus.” But Republican lawmakers in many states have said that they are seeking to shield adolescents from a path that has become more common, with consequences they are too young to fully comprehend. Republican strategists, for their part, have said that elevating the issue was a winning strategy leading up to the 2024 election.United States v. Skrmetti, the challenge to Tennessee’s ban, is one of 18 filed over the last three years, with mixed results. The highest courts in two states, Texas and Nebraska, have upheld their restrictions. By contrast, two federal district judges — Judge Hinkle in Florida and Judge James M. Moody Jr. in Arkansas — struck down bans in those states. But their decisions are being appealed, and preliminary injunctions on enforcement of the bans in Alabama and Indiana, each issued by a federal district judge, were reversed by separate appeals courts. Eleven other cases are in various stages of litigation.How the Supreme Court rules on Skrmetti will almost surely affect how lower courts handle the challenges to similar statutes in states across the country. But the outcome may not be universal.“If Tennessee wins, the states will say ‘Skrmetti controls,’ and vice versa,” said Jim Campbell, chief counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal advocacy group that is helping to defend Idaho’s ban on transition treatments for minors. “And then the other side, the losing side, will say, ‘No, it’s actually different, and here’s why.’” More

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      How Can I Show My Boyfriend My Parents’ Filthy Home?

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      A reader dreads the thought of her partner seeing her squalid childhood home, but being honest with her parents about her embarrassment is a nonstarter.I am in my late 30s and in a great relationship. We’ve decided to move in together when our separate apartment leases end. We are both very tidy. But I am a clean freak because I grew up in a chaotic, dirty home. It took me years of therapy and self-help to deal with this. My boyfriend is just the opposite: I’ve visited his parents in the beautiful home where he grew up. Now, I am panicked about taking him to visit my childhood home. My parents are dirty and messy. Think: grime and roaches and leaving open cans of cat food on the kitchen counter for days. Telling my parents that I don’t want to bring my boyfriend to visit because I’m embarrassed to bring anyone there would hurt their feelings — which I can’t do. And when I’ve gone home by myself to clean, it causes arguments with them. What should I do?DAUGHTERFirst, let me applaud you for doing the hard work that was required for you to live differently from the way you were raised. It sounds to me, though — and this is no criticism — that you have not worked through the shame you feel about your parents and your childhood. And I can tell you from experience that there is no magic pill for dealing with shame.Still, one of the great comforts of being in a loving relationship is sharing our darker feelings with a partner and lightening our loads. (And yes, we all have them!) You don’t mention how long you’ve been dating your boyfriend, but I am going to assume that you would not be moving in together, as adults, unless you were serious about each other.So, I suggest postponing your joint visit to your parents’ home until you can talk candidly with your boyfriend about the challenges you faced growing up — and the work you’ve done to overcome them. I know that may be a scary prospect! And you may need to go back to your therapist for help with that conversation. But I promise you that if this guy is the right guy, then sharing your vulnerabilities with him will only invite him to do the same — and deepen your relationship.Miguel PorlanWhen Siblings Say You’re Going Too FarMy sister and her fiancé have planned a destination wedding that is out of reach financially for some of our siblings. She is marrying into a wealthy family, so all of the groom’s siblings will be there. I can afford to go, but I want to refuse in solidarity with my siblings who can’t. I also feel as if I’m being coerced into a four-day vacation that isn’t my style. Still, this is my sister’s wedding, and the R.S.V.P.s are due soon. Help!We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      2023 DealBook Summit Concluded With an Elon Musk Discussion

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      In a wide-ranging interview last year with Andrew Ross Sorkin of The New York Times, Elon Musk opened up about his demons, passions, what drives him and what bugs him.Amir Hamja/The New York TimesThe 2023 DealBook Summit concluded with an interview of Elon Musk that caught even Andrew Ross Sorkin off guard. In a 90-minute conversation, the divisive billionaire didn’t hold back.Mr. Musk accused advertisers that had pulled their money from X, following his endorsement of an antisemitic conspiracy theory, of trying to “blackmail” him. He used an expletive multiple times to emphasize his point. Mr. Musk also shared his concerns about the rapid-fire development of artificial intelligence and OpenAI, the chatbot maker he had co-founded and later left over philosophical differences. That feud has since grown into one of the tech world’s most closely watched lawsuits.Mr. Musk opened up about his demons, his passions, what drives him and what bugs him. He said he wouldn’t vote to re-elect President Biden, but he also expressed misgivings about Donald J. Trump.The world knows what happened next: He became Mr. Trump’s biggest supporter, helping and bankrolling him to victory last month in the race for the White House.Since 2012, the DealBook Summit has brought together the biggest newsmakers in business, policy and culture to speak candidly about the global economy and the forces shaping it. Prominent interviewees have included the Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, the former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and the entrepreneur and social media influencer Kim Kardashian.The one-day conference has also featured interviews with Sam Bankman-Fried, the fallen crypto executive convicted of masterminding one of the biggest business frauds of recent times, as well as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and BlackRock’s chief executive, Larry Fink. More

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      Zelensky Offers $24 One-Off Payment to Win Over War-Weary Ukrainians

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      Citizens will be entitled to a $24 one-off payment this winter, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced, in a move apparently intended to soften the blow of a tax rise to help fund the war effort.After nearly three years of a grueling war with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine faces a difficult balancing act: extracting more financial resources to sustain the fight without overwhelming a population already straining under the conflict’s economic toll.That tension was on full display in recent days as Mr. Zelensky signed into law the largest tax increase of the war while simultaneously introducing a state-sponsored program providing financial aid to Ukrainians during the winter.The government said that every Ukrainian would be eligible to receive a one-off payment of 1,000 Ukrainian hryvnias, about $24 — a modest sum compared to the average monthly salary in Ukraine of roughly $500. But the government has touted the move as a way of demonstrating support for its citizens.“For many families and at the level of the whole country, this is tangible,” Mr. Zelensky said in his nightly address on Monday, saying that more than 3.2 million Ukrainians had already applied to receive the grant.Analysts say the program is a calculated effort by Mr. Zelensky to shore up his popularity among a population that is growing tired of the war. That fatigue has been exacerbated by a mobilization drive this year that exposed divides in society and corruption scandals that tarnished the government’s image.A recent poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, a private think tank, found that while trust in Mr. Zelensky remained relatively strong at 59 percent, it had nonetheless fallen from 77 percent a year ago.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More