new scandal hits John Galliano

The British fashion designer John Galliano, already suspended by Christian Dior for allegedly making anti-Semitic remarks, has been captured on video saying "I love Hitler" and glorifying the Holocaust.

Mr Galliano, 50, was summoned by Paris police yesterday to face three people who accused him of racially abusing them in a Parisian bar in two separate incidents. The fashion designer denies the allegations and has made counter-accusations that a couple on Thursday defamed, insulted and threatened him. However, a mobile phone video posted on the internet shows Mr Galliano making a verbal, racial attack on customers in a Paris bar in December. The Dior creative director, apparently the worse for drink, is captured in mid-argument.

A woman asks: "Are you blond, with blue eyes?" Mr Galliano, wearing a large, felt hat, replies: "No, but I love Hitler, and people like you would be dead today. Your mothers, your forefathers, would be... gassed and... dead."

In the third alleged incident, a woman approached Paris police at the weekend claiming she had suffered anti-Semitic abuse from Mr Galliano in La Perle bar in the Marais district last October.

Christian Dior suspended Mr Galliano pending further investigations after the first allegations last Friday, saying it had a "zero-tolerance" policy on racism and anti-Semitism. The Gibraltar-born designer was to present the Dior autumn-winter ready-to-wear collection at the end of this week.

Mr Galliano's lawyer, Stéphane Zerbib, said yesterday that he knew nothing of the video and his client insisted he was not anti-Semitic. "What matters isn't what's on the internet, what matters are the testimonies and the hearings," Mr Zerbib said. "What's on the internet doesn't have much value."

Mr Galliano was driven to a police station near La Perle bar to meet his accusers. French police often bring plaintiffs and defendants together in private to test different versions of events. Mr Galliano made no comment as he arrived. After news reports of the first allegations, a young woman approached police to tell of a similar exchange with the designer in La Perle bar last October. This appears to have been a separate incident from the one shown on the telephone video.

The woman said Mr Galliano had begun to insult her for no reason. She said that she had thought no more of the incident at the time, assuming he had been drunk. After the reports of his comments to a Jewish and Asian couple in the bar last Thursday, she said she had decided to come forward.

The Jewish and Asian couple brought formal complaints alleging Mr Galliano said "Dirty Jewish face, you should be dead", and "Fucking Asian bastard, I will kill you". They also accused the designer of "mild acts of violence".

Under French law racial insults are punishable by fines of up to €22,500 (£19,000) and six months in prison.

the high point of last week's London season

I suppose I just like the innocent but feisty Brontë governess and the mad woman in the attic as well," the designer Giles Deacon said of his autumn collection, the high point of last week's London season.

"Austere, not austerity. I thought about the 19th-century obsession with female hysteria: buttoned up but at the same time with something completely wild lurking underneath."

In their ultra-strict, black tailoring – waists were cinched to evoke the Belle Epoque line – worn with high-collared white shirts and styled to resemble nothing more than consumptive Victorian maidens, models may indeed have stepped straight out of Jane Eyre were it not for an opulence, and even outright decadence, very much in evidence alongside. Acid-stripped peacock feathers, inky black goat fur, fine Swiss lace, crystal embroideries, and print inspired by Delaroche's unashamedly romanticised painting, The Execution of Lady Jane Grey, and European Art Nouveau were all the stuff of the haute couture atelier, handled by this designer with both imagination and the perfect degree of restraint.

Over the past few seasons, there has been humour at the heart of Deacon's work but this was a more serious and indeed more complex vision. There was a sense of irony to be sure, but the overall effect was as dignified as it was exceptionally beautiful.

There's generally something if not quite wild, then certainly twisted lurking beneath the surface of Christopher Kane's woman. This designer too opted for a more severe view of femininity for the forthcoming autumn with little black dresses a librarian might like to wear were they not trimmed with the finest silk tulle and waved, plastic pockets of oil and glycerine stained with vegetable dye. Kane said the latter was inspired by school children's pencil cases and that's just what it looked like.

While compared to last season's neon lace, this collection was more sober, any frumpiness was undercut by the fact that breasts were bared and the sides of garments cut away to ensure that sex was never far from the agenda. Signature cashmere knits, meanwhile, referenced Victorian baby blankets, only they were far from the bright and breezy colours associated with that style – think instead of sludgy shades of grey, blue and green.

Marios Schwab made his name designing immaculately crafted, body-conscious clothing – principally dresses – and, while in recent seasons he has strayed from this signature somewhat, it was this time once again the show's raison d'être. Here too there was a sexual tension in narrow leather, wool and jersey designs, all finished with corsetry details and harnessing: bondage, and not of the entirely soft variety either. The colour palette was limited almost entirely to black, ox-blood and shades of green; sleeves were long and narrow and black leather gloves and spike-heeled studded sandals were part Allen Jones, part Belle de Jour.

For the past year or so, impressively executed – and gorgeous – floral prints have dominated Erdem's collections. This season 20th-century art – from watery Impressionism to more splashy Abstract Expressionism – was the starting point. Silks and velvets shot through with vivid strokes and daubs of ultra-violet, teal, scarlet, fuchsia and more were less accessible and more interesting for it. Here too the silhouette was predominantly long and narrow, cut close to the body and high at the throat. Sheer sequins were applied onto shimmering silks and fabrics morphed into one another – bouclé wool, say, and black lace – demonstrating a level of technical expertise that is rare.

Of course, hysteria and Alfred Hitchcock's heroines tend to go hand in hand. It was therefore not entirely surprising that Meadham Kirchhoff's show was played out to a soundtrack straight out of Psycho. If Giles Deacon's uptight governess is sexually wanton at heart, then here were the young protégés she would most like to teach. With witches' hats or squares of skewed black lace topping off tangled, platinum-blond ringlets, models wore oversized coats and pinafores over pleated cream blouses and petticoats and even, on the odd occasion, frilly black bloomers. Centre stage was a Mexican-style shrine to punk icons and this high-spirited and unashamedly rebellious creature suited that well: she was, in the end, mad, bad and distinctly dangerous to know.

For Kinder Aggugini, the unlikely pairing, on the face of it, of Sid Vicious and Coco Chanel as embodied by art collector Peggy Guggenheim was the order of the day. "Her father died on the Titanic and she inherited millions of dollars at 21, the perfect age to inherit money," Aggugini told journalists backstage. "You could do anything you wanted: drink, buy a gun – this woman would have done both."

This translated into bourgeois and marginally uptight tailoring only with raw edges and tacking in contrasting thread, luxe cashmere parkas with collars pleated at the neckline, T-shirts printed with "VIVE L'ART" and long black-draped jersey dresses finished with crystal-studded elasticised straps. Any eccentricity was only added to by quite the highest ponytails imaginable, exaggerated still further by witty and pretty millinery courtesy of Stephen Jones.

America was the starting point for Topshop Unique's collection too: perhaps in anticipation of the chain's US expansion, dresses were printed with the names of American cities, Miami and Hollywood to name just two. The appropriately unhinged muse on this catwalk, meanwhile, was Cruella de Vil, in Dalmation-spotted fun furs and black and white dotted shoes. Add to the mix oversized faux fox wraps with orange teddy bear eyes and hair moulded into Mickey Mouse ears and it's safe to say that there was nothing much sane about any of this, which, given the store's youthful and (it is hoped) irreverent customer, is just as it should be.

These days, perhaps thankfully, any madness is not locked behind closed doors and Louise Gray's handwriting is as joyfully strung out and spun out as it is inspiring. "Up Your Look" was the title of this show – and then some. "I took a spot, a stripe and a check and then played around," Gray said, and if that sounds childish, the end result was more sophisticated than that. There may be a homespun quality to gold foil dots, neon paper chains and more Lurex than is strictly tasteful but this is a designer who is pushing at the boundaries of textile technology like few others working in fashion today. Lurid, high-shine boots (sometimes mis-matched) and head pieces designed by Nasir Mazhar that wouldn't be out of place at an alien kindergarten tea party only added to the prettily crazed, technicoloured chaos of it all.

Coromandel screens, Fabergé eggs, Qianlong Dynasty China and Meissen porcelain were the precious inspiration behind Mary Katrantzou's equally precious designs, where the most unlikely print combinations of the week made a dazzling appearance. The richness of koi karp, tiny garlands of leaves, delicate blossom and more were engineered and applied to the surface of perfectly formed little dresses with a lightness of touch that was unprecedented. The designer was thinking of the legendary socialite Marchesa Luisa Casati, who once said: "I want to be a living work of art", and so porcelain bowls were transformed into rounded skirts and curves referenced the lines of antique vases.

Jonathan Saunders is a designer who has made his name with innovative print design and here too this was the story, that and some of the most unlikely colour juxtapositions: turquoise blue and flame; petrol blue and lime. Underpinning such flamboyancy, though, was a rigorous silhouette that was stripped back to the point of minimal: a buttoned-up shirt, teamed with straight, ankle-length skirt; a smart, knee-length coat with round-necked silk blouse and pencil skirt. It made for the designer's strongest collection to date.

Also in London, Paul Smith Women this time concerned itself almost entirely with masculine-inspired clothing (boyfriend blazers, cropped trousers, grandad cardigans and brogues) and looked all the more desirable for it; Burberry focussed on ultra-luxe outerwear showering its glamorous catwalk with snow at the end of the show; Betty Jackson came up with oversized coats, jackets, dresses and knits in rich shades of red; and Vivienne Westwood's collection was as joyfully touched as ever. There's a method to the grande dame of British fashion's madness, it almost goes without saying, which is why her signature voluptuous tartans, tweeds and knitwear are loved by women the world over.

Thursday evening are a nightmare come true

For an industry as paranoid about bad publicity as fashion, the events of Thursday evening are a nightmare come true.

With Paris Fashion Week looming, one of couture's most brilliant exponents finds himself suspended from Christian Dior and facing criminal charges after an allegedly drunken confrontation with a couple in the ritzy Marais district of the French capital.

A man used to making the headlines on the catwalk this time made them at a cafe where he was arrested on suspicion of assault and making anti-Semitic remarks.

Police said that Galliano, the French couture house's 50-year-old chief designer, had drunk the equivalent of up to two bottles of wine when he was held shortly after 9pm on Thursday night.

A police source said: "We managed to break up the disturbance. The man involved was briefly arrested and then released pending charges for assault.

"Witnesses said he swore heavily, using anti-Jewish insults, before attacking a couple. Both have provided witness statements, as have a number of people and staff at the bar."

A Paris police spokesman said that Galliano was facing criminal charges and would appear in court on a date to be fixed. Galliano denies the anti-Semitic remarks – a crime which, in France, is punishable by up to six months in prison.

The Marais has historic associations with Paris's Jewish community and was the scene of Nazi deportation round-ups. Its cobbled streets are now home to fashion houses, luxury boutiques and high-end restaurants. France's Europe 1 radio quoted the couple allegedly insulted as saying that Galliano made "derogatory comments about them with reference to Jews and Asians".

But Stephane Zerbib, Galliano's lawyer, said that the designer "formally denies the accusations of anti-Semitism made against him". Galliano was "not at all in this state of mind (and) will explain later," Zerbib said, adding that "legal action will be taken against those making such accusations".

The lawyer said: "There was an altercation, Mr Galliano was verbally attacked, but at no point did he make any such insults, and we have witness testimony that backs this up."

Dior, part of billionaire Bernard Arnault's LVMH luxury empire, took swift action to limit the damage.

Sidney Toledano, Dior's chief executive, said in a statement: "Dior affirms with the utmost conviction its policy of zero tolerance towards any anti-Semitic or racist words or behaviour. Pending the results of the inquiry, Christian Dior has suspended John Galliano from his responsibilities."

Friends of the Gibraltar-born Galliano, who was reported to have agreed to design Kate Moss's wedding dress, struggled to account for the turn of events. A Parisian colleague said: "Women love John because he has a very feminine side. Reports of this assault are so out of character. I've never seen him being violent towards anyone."

Police, who escorted Galliano to his home after the incident, suggested the outburst was prompted by "stress" over his next major Dior show, the Autumn/Winter 2011 Collection.

It is unclear whether Galliano, who produces six couture and ready-to-wear collections a year, will unveil his eponymous label's collection at an invitation-only event two days later.

John Galliano will create Kate Moss's bridal gown

After weeks of speculation we have finally learned who will design the wedding dress the world has been waiting for – no, not that one – with reports that John Galliano will create Kate Moss's bridal gown.

This week, Vivienne Westwood told journalists that Moss would design her own dress. "She knows about clothes," the British designer said. "She knows what she is doing and she doesn't need my help."

But Moss reportedly revealed at a Topshop dinner this week that Galliano would be petits mains behind her big day in a perfect union between maestro and muse – the Christian Dior designer has been friends with Moss since early in her career.

Moss, 37, is due to marry her rockstar boyfriend Jamie Hince on 2 July. Yesterday's reports come as rumours abound about the designer of the other wedding gown of the season, that of Kate Middleton, who is playing her cards rather closer to her chest.

Galliano, 50, is a Gibraltan-born British fashion designer who grew up in south London before studying fashion design at Central Saint Martin's. His graduate collection, which was called "Les Incroyables" and inspired by the French Revolution helped to launch him into the rarefied world of French couture.

Working as creative director of Christian Dior since 1996, Galliano has become known for flamboyant couture pieces – from enormous origami ballgowns to a collection inspired by the work of Klimt. He also designs ready-to-wear collections for Dior and has his own ready-to-wear label.

Galliano's signatures include bias cut, Twenties-style dresses in silk and lace, often bordered with fringing and beading. "I love women," he has said. "I love their bodies. I'm an accomplice to helping women get what they want."

Moss has worn his pieces before, and is a fan of his art deco-informed aesthetic. Cate Blanchett and Nicole Kidman have worn his dresses on the red carpet, while couture clients have included the late Diana, Princess of Wales.

Galliano famously helped Moss at a Vogue gala dinner in 2007 when her floor-length vintage gown ripped along the back, after Courtney Love stepped on its train; Galliano was on hand to ingeniously roll, tuck and tie the tattered skirt into a chic mini-dress.

Rumours continue as to the provenance of the other Kate's dress: designers in the running are said to include Bruce Oldfield and Daniella Helayel, whose label, Issa, Middleton wore for the announcement of her engagement.

Westwood is one designer who has ruled herself out. "I would have loved to design Kate Middleton's [dress]," she said, "but I have to wait until she sort of catches up a bit somewhere with style."

The event wrapped up with a day devoted to menswear

Boys will be girls, and girls will be dressed by them: that was the confusing message at the final day of London Fashion Week yesterday. The event wrapped up with a day devoted to menswear, but the main trend on the catwalks was, surprisingly, womenswear.

With rumours abounding that cult menswear designer Hedi Slimane may be moving into womenswear shortly, it seems that men's specialists are becoming more comfortable with creating clothes for women.

As creative director of Dior Homme from 2000 to 2007, Slimane is credited with having revolutionised the modern male silhouette in the Noughties and has previously spoken about his desire to design for women. His super-slim and skinny suiting may have been challenging to wear, but it has no doubt informed the modishly narrow tailoring and lanky physique that is still so prevalent in men's fashion. Chanel's Karl Lagerfeld famously went on a strict diet in order to wear Slimane's clothes.

There have been more than a few nods toward the crossing over of disciplines. Raf Simons, creative director at Jil Sander, is first and foremost a menswear designer, but his spring/summer 2011 womenswear collection – which featured long skirts in bright pinks and oranges – has been lauded as one of the best of the season. Sir Paul Smith too, is a designer who reworks his masculine tailoring for female customers.

And Slimane's influence was evident this week. Acclaimed designer Jonathan Saunders showed his first men's pieces, including colourful, textured tailoring, and at Tuesday's Fashion East show, James Long, who also presented his fourth men's collection yesterday, showed a coherent and strong women's range of tasselled Aran knits and chiffon shirts inspired by Joan Baez and Nancy Spungen.

While his womenswear was resolutely androgynous, his men's collection included pink boucle biker jackets and collarless, polka-dot smock shirts.

But it wasn't just clothes for the girls; womenswear influenced the men's ranges too. Christopher Shannon showed clothes that took particularly feminine references and melded them with masculine sportswear tradition: classic grey shirts in anorak fabric and with rows of delicate pink and blue frills cascading down their fronts, while polyester tracksuit bottoms came with giant frills creeping up the legs.

Meanwhile New Power Studio – showing as part of the MAN collective – had female models in baggy T-shirt dresses, adorned with questionable joss-stick bracelets and phallic headgear, which questioned modes of gender dressing.

For those more resolute in their virility, there were more traditional collections from two of the menswear labels of the moment. Revived Savile Row label E. Tautz, now under the direction of Patrick Grant and currently holding the British Fashion Award for best menswear brand, presented a collection of heritage tweed and herringbone wool coats in deep burgundy and gold.

And cartoonish club wear designer Carri Munden of label Cassette Playa chose the ultimate icon of manhood as her inspiration: Ken, of Barbie and Ken, who may turn 50 this year but would no doubt suit Munden's soignee silk dressing gowns and shorts printed with red roses. Her nod to womenswear was a T-shirt dress printed with Ken's muscled torso – that's certainly one interpretation of androgyny.

the designer's work at New York's Metropolitan Museum

London Fashion Week's relentless march into autumn 2011 – and, eventually, your wardrobe – paused yesterday morning to celebrate one of its most illustrious sons.

Alexander McQueen, who died a week before last year's London Fashion Week, was remembered at a launch event for the forthcoming retrospective of the designer's work at New York's Metropolitan Museum.

Vogue editor Anna Wintour and the ubiquitous Samantha Cameron gathered with press at the Ritz hotel, where McQueen showed Taxi Driver, his first collection after graduating, in 1993. Back then, he had but one rail of clothes with him; this time around, mannequins flanked the speakers' podium, dressed in some of his most innovative creations, including the tartan dress from his 2006 collection The Widows of Culloden.

The exhibition will open in May but while McQueen's long relationship with British fashion was cut short, his legacy was visible yesterday as the shows continued at a relentless pace with appreciative nods to the designer's contributions and influence.

It was design duo Meadham Kirchhoff who really captured some of the vitality and subcultural ire that were prominent during McQueen's early years. Their catwalk was littered with large mocked-up shrines, bedecked with written tributes, floral offerings and candles, to the era of punk. "Everything I am is borrowed" read one scrawled tribute, and the show kicked off with a quote from the film The Cement Garden, starring Charlotte Gainsbourg. "For a boy to look like a girl is degrading," her voice intoned over a silent audience, "because you think that being a girl is degrading."

Upon which, an army of models dressed in witches' hats, Salem-style smocking and ragged-edge tailoring, stormed along the walkway, taking Dawn of the Dead-esque synchronised steps. It sent more than a few shivers down the well-dressed spines of those present.

Meadham Kirchhoff are known for tipping fashionably bourgeois styling on its head, and this season was no exception. "Punk meets Chanel with a hint of depression," declared Alex Fury, the fashion director of SHOWstudio.com on Twitter.

Meanwhile Mary Katrantzou's morning show had his hallmark, with digitally manipulated prints on architectural pieces. As did strict and severe dresses with punched leather bodices and harnesses at Marios Schwab.

While Samantha Cameron was at the Kirchhoff show, Anna Wintour was not, despite having praised British fashion's "sense of humour" earlier in the week ("It's something we could afford to have a little bit more of here in the States," she added after the Topshop Unique collection on Sunday). This humour was at its most prominent today, with several young names on the schedule, as well as talent-scouting initiative Fashion East.

Designer Roksanda Ilincic presented a collection of superbly elegant silk and satin gowns that would have looked sophisticated but that they came in howling oranges and vivid cobalt blues, some irreverently trimmed with fun fur in Dayglo shades, raffia and feathers. The result was a surprisingly modern take on red carpet dressing; let's hope the celebs take note.

And at Fashion East, three up-and-coming names explored everything from Joan Baez influences and American colonialism to the work of Louise Bourgeois. One name, Simone Rocha, is familiar to most, thanks to her father John, whose own catwalk show was on Saturday. She showed minimal and deconstructed tailoring, cut sharply and with sheer panelling and fur patches spliced in, to an audience made up of buyers, press and art school kids, reminding us exactly how varied a melting pot of talents London Fashion Week draws from.

The shows continue today, with a schedule devoted to showcasing the best of British menswear, before the fashion pack jet off to Milan to see what the Italian labels have to offer.

Fashionistas and passers-by share London's catwalk

It was a tale of two Christophers at London Fashion Week yesterday as two of the schedule's most talked-about designers unveiled their new collections.

First up: Christopher Kane, London's much-vaunted wunderkind, whose rising stock drew some of the fashion pack's most discerning eyes to the front row. US Vogue editor Anna Wintour took her place alongside her newly installed Parisian counterpart Emmanuelle Alt, while Alexa Chung and Samantha Cameron played supporting roles.

The show opened with leather shell tops decorated with trompe l'oeil crochet prints, which continued on blouses and sweaters with crocheted sleeves. Wool dresses were embellished with curved and sealed pockets of PVC filled with a cocktail of vegetable oil, glycerine and dye that gave them the look of lava lamps.

If Kane – a master of unexpected mixed media – regularly bucks trends, then Christopher Bailey's work for Burberry is an aesthetic regularly under scrutiny from other designers. Already this week we have seen heritage checks and fabrics, leather motocross trousers and biker jackets, all of which Bailey has made his label's signature in recent seasons.

And yesterday afternoon a host of A-listers perched on the leather benches lining the catwalk in Kensington Gardens, while a few miles away in Piccadilly Circus 300 fans surrounded the Eros statue for a live streaming of the new collection on the 32-metre Coke billboard.

The show was an ode to coats, with drop-shouldered cocoons in beige wool and rich red capes, yellow and black plaid sack-back button-downs and, of course, the signature trench – this time spun in lightly padded, spongy knits, tinsel yarn and bonded argyle wool with fur sleeves and skirts. Models took their final walkthrough wearing clear vinyl ponchos in a spectacular blizzard of synthetic snow.

Wintour and Cameron were also spotted at Erdem Moralioglu's show. Both women have championed the Turkish designer, whose latest collection took abstract impressionist prints and smudged them into indistinct renderings across full-length gowns, classic overcoats and sharply tailored trousers. It was a technically complex collection with simplicity at its heart: Erdem is adept at giving his customers what they want.

In his show at the ballroom of the newly refurbished Savoy, Sir Paul Smith presented dishevelled mannish tailoring: shirts, knits and low-rise peg trousers in traditional blues and greys with flashes of humour and colour.

Christopher Kane will unveil his autumn/winter 2011 collection and

London Fashion Week, famed for its youthful talent, has launched the careers of everyone from Rifat Ozbek to John Galliano and from Hussein Chalayan to Alexander McQueen.

All went on to become not only internationally renowned, but also the perfect reflection – in terms of fashion at least – of their time.

Later today, Christopher Kane will unveil his autumn/winter 2011 collection and, like the above names before him, his will be the most hotly anticipated show of the week.

Kane, 28 and from Newarthill near Motherwell, has been drawing in the crowds since his MA show at Central Saint Martin's – a bright and brilliant fusion of metal mesh and lace – in 2006. That same year he set up his label in business partnership with sister, Tammy.

Donatella Versace – who gave him the aforementioned chain mail – employed him as a consultant without delay. Today, they have a more fully-fledged relationship – Kane is responsible for the design of her younger Versus line, to considerable critical acclaim. This year, he became recipient of the second Vogue Fashion Fund, comprising business mentoring and a cash prize of £200,000.

What's special about the designer?

While historically many of the names on the London catwalk schedule have a reputation for raw creativity and an unbridled imagination, Kane's vision is rather more controlled by comparison. His viewpoint is often twisted – even perverse – think S&M Heidi (autumn/winter 2010) or, in his own words, "Princess Margaret on acid" (spring/summer 2011). Above all, though, the designer's followers can look forward to a highly focused affair where the emphasis is as much on hand-craftsmanship as it is technological advancement and the overall effect is tightly-edited fashion perfection.

Because, despite the uplifting and essentially attention-seeking nature of the clothes (and from crystal-encrusted gingham to neon lace they are nothing if not that) the way they are presented is restrained to the point of unassuming. More of a beautiful whisper than a bang, then, and testimony, perhaps, to the sweetly-sophisticated creature the London collections, at their best, have become.

 

fashion advisers to help with your every whim and query

Net-a-porter.com, with its internationally renowned roster of designers and sleek black packaging, has long been the online refuge of the fashion fan, be they privileged or profligate. Launched in 2000, the site offers its wares via a chic internet magazine format, and its signature of ultra-high quality mixed with everyday practicality hasled to astronomic success, both for the company and for its founder, Natalie Massenet.

The brand has had year-on-year profits since its inception and was last year buoyed further by a buy-out from luxury-goods group, Richemont. Now comes Mr Porter, a version of the site for sartorially-minded menfolk, which launches this week.

"Our approach is style, not fashion," explains buying director Toby Bateman. "It should appeal as much to the fashion-conscious man about town as to the more mature guy who wants to look good, but doesn't care about the latest trends."

That's the logic behind the "Essentials" section of the site, which highlights classic wearability to collate a capsule of clothing for the modern gent. "Each season we'll be recommending the 30 'essentials' that every man should own," adds Bateman, "such as a Burberry trench coat, James Perse lightweight T-shirts and John Lobb loafers."

And the site is unique in its specificity – many of the other popular men's e-tailers are satellites to their womenswear counterparts, whereas Mr Porter is a stand-alone venue for both the savvy and the not-so-savvy shopper. Men buy quickly and they buy in patterns; therefore, pieces on Mr Porter are easy to find, easy to re-order and fall beyond the sort of impulse or statement buys that are often so tempting to female surfers.

It's easy to forget that, for some, shopping is less a leisure activity than a necessity, and the simple and easily navigated professionalism of Mr Porter will no doubt appeal to even the most pragmatic of shopaholics.

"It has a very clean, masculine aesthetic," says Bateman. "It has the undertones of a broadsheet newspaper with the attention to detail of a magazine, and makes even those men who are not comfortable with shopping feel completely at ease with how it looks, works and delivers."

This is a very Net-a-Porter sort of vision – the womenswear site currently has photoshoots and featured designers, styling tips and a team of fashion advisers to help with your every whim and query. Likewise, Mr Porter promises "a wealth of information, tips, facts, advice and information".

What's more, the same efficiency associated with Net-a-Porter will also reign on the menswear site – which offers same-day delivery in London and Manhattan, and can deliver within 48 hours to any other global destination, all orders delicately wrapped up in little white boxes, a chic inversion of the womenswear packaging.

It might only be one small step for men, but it's a revolution in their shopping habits. Forget preening dandies and promenading fops, the new man-about-town won't even have to leave his desk.

Venues during Fashion Week are paradoxically grand and imposing

Venues during Fashion Week are paradoxically grand and imposing, while remaining cloistered and unexpected; many designers choose to show in churches, restaurants and civic buildings, and several this season have opted for smaller, more intimate and more couture-oriented salon shows. Either way, if you see a gaggle of cold-looking, over-dressed people in a side street, chances are you've happened upon a show.

This season sees Vivienne Westwood installing herself at the Royal Courts of Justice – hers is a show that is always oversubscribed, with even the sleekest of fashion editors punching ageing punks and rowdy students in the face to ensure their seats do not get taken.

Old Billingsgate Market will be taken over as the Topshop-sponsored NEWGEN venue, where many of the younger designers, including Michael van der Ham and Richard Nicoll, will stage their collections; last season saw the fashion pack sitting on the platforms at Waterloo's old Eurostar terminals to watch the NEWGEN shows.

But the main agora is, of course, at Somerset House on the Strand, which is the headquarters of the British Fashion Council. This is where the biggest marquee is, and it plays host to an exhibition of brands throughout the week. Over 5,000 visitors are expected, including press and buyers – once again, it's invite-only, as the exhibition is essentially a trade show for those in the industry.

The people

It's always fun to do a little people-watching at the shows, whether it's stunned silent gawping at, say, Jude Law – who last season turned up to support his girlfriend Sienna Miller at her Twenty8Twelve catwalk presentation – or sniggering at the hangers-on who get bumped off the front row when someone more important turns up.

There's a whole host of London faces that frequent the shows, from the bright young art college things who turn out season after season, whether they have tickets or not, to the front-row stalwarts at Betty Jackson, who include Victoria Wood and Jennifer Saunders. Last season saw Kerry Katona on the front row at Giles, a collection full of kitschy, glamorous pink. She was overhead telling wolfish press afterwards that she thought the collection was "really nice". British fashion doyenne Twiggy is often in attendance, and this season will doubtless see Samantha Cameron under the spotlights, perhaps alongside her sister, who works for Vogue.

Alexa Chung, Daisy Lowe and Pixie Geldof will be in front of the paps at Henry Holland's show on Saturday, as will his erstwhile muse Nicola Roberts of Girls Aloud. Holland's tickets this season come in the guise of a bingo card, the exclusive party invitation is a bingo pen – three guesses for the inspiration behind this collection...

The shows

The style press fly in from all over, be they from the upper echelons of an American glossy magazine or down-on-their-luck fashion bloggers from the back of beyond. All are welcome – as long as you can blag a ticket.

The pavements outside the pavilions crawl with street style snappers, such as Scott Schuman aka The Sartorialist and his wife Garance Doré, ready to pounce on anyone who has managed to assemble even the least coherent of new-season outfits. Ensembles range from the chic and modish to the eye-catching and macabre: previous favourites include the man who was dressed as a desk fan (complete with metal grill across his face) and his friend, who came as Robin Hood – yes, he had a bow and arrow.

Meanwhile, magazine editors such as Anna Wintour, Glenda Bailey of US Harper's Bazaar and American Elle's Kate Lanphear rub shoulders with their British counterparts, as their assistants rush around behind them, clutching BlackBerrys and schedules, and shouting into phones.

And then there are the online press and newspaper teams, who look a bit stressed because they have to file stories while everyone else is having fun.

The men

The final day of Fashion Week is devoted to menswear – it's about time someone paid attention to the blokes, after all, and the day is now into its fifth season. The 14 shows and seven presentations range from the Topman Design show, to Cassette Playa's quirky, cartoonish street- and clubwear and E. Tautz's modern take on Savile Row luxury.

It's a quieter scene than the womenswear days, but there's plenty going on, including Cassette Playa's homage to Ken (of Barbie fame) who turns 50 this year, and an almighty Topman party at exclusive club Bungalow 8 on Wednesday night.

The parties

Fashion Week wouldn't be fashion week without the parties that take place in and around the main schedule. These range from quiet afternoon teas (where Champagne is compulsory) in swanky hotel lounges – Markus Lupfer is holding a wonderland-themed tea at The Sanderson – to more raucous late-night extravaganzas.

The style set will be elbowing to get into the Mulberry party at Claridges on Sunday, where Bloc Party's Kele Okereke will be DJing – but if your name's not down, you won't be going. Flash your new season satchel perhaps, or hope against hope that the doorman mistakes you for Nicholas Hoult or Fearne Cotton, who have already RSVPed.

Fashion week parties are generally held at tightly guarded locations – members' clubs, for instance, or new nightclubs and bars. Monday night will be busy for the footsore and footloose alike, with Katie Grand's LOVE magazine and Jefferson Hack's AnOther thrashing it out. Grand is hosting an evening at Liberty with designer Alexander Wang, while Hack is taking over new Soho hotspot The Box to celebrate the magazine's 10th birthday.

And for those whose invites (ahem) haven't yet arrived, the bar at The May Fair Hotel is serving fashion week-inspired cocktails, including the 'i-Martini' – created in homage to The Independent. Anyone can have one.

The press

London Fashion Week's 65 catwalk shows are, of course, the centrepiece of the event, with press and buyers gathering as designers unveil their autumn/winter 2011 collections. But there are also 45 salon shows and presentations, which take place over six days. This season, for the first time, highlights will be shown on screens in some London Underground stations, so you can gen up during your commute.

Clothes shown this week won't hit the shops until early September but Fashion Week is where editors and high street designers find their inspirations for the next season.

Hot tickets include Burberry, Giles and Christopher Kane, all on Monday. Burberry will be showing in Kensington Park Gardens, a new venue for this season, and the show will be live-streamed onto the Coca-Cola screen in Piccadilly Circus, as well as 40 stores across the world. Previous shows have taken place inside enormous marquees, one season memorably with projected indoor rain, the next with the interior covered in the label's famous checks.

Giles Deacon, meanwhile, eschews a vast and corporate image, choosing something more light-hearted: his shows have previously been inspired by Pacman and Celebrity Squares, and last season his catwalk featured turns from Kelly Brooke, Abby Clancy and Seventies supermodel Veruschka.

All eyes will no doubt be on tomorrow's Issa show, too. The uptown label is a favourite with Kate Middleton and designer Daniella Helayel is slated to feature heavily in the royal bride's honeymoon wardrobe. Other names to look out for include the vibrant punkish duo Meadham Kirchhoff and the hip Swedish label Acne.

27 years of London Fashion Week - in pictures

London Fashion Week returns on Friday for the twenty-seventh year running.

Founded by the British Fashion Council in 1984, its first show included Betty Jackson, Ghost, and John Galliano's debut collection. The event was organised by London Designer’s Collective founder Annette Worsley-Taylor and PR Lynne Franks.

Since its launch, the event has shocked, fascinated, and influenced fashion around the world. The show has launched the careers of British designers, from Alexander McQueen to Stella McCartney, and introduced models such as Kate Moss and Lily Cole to the catwalk.

From the sculptural hats of Philip Treacy and Hussein Chalayan’s "table-dress", to the more modest designs of Issa, London Fashion Week has always set trends: Mid-nineties "Cool Britannia" made the union jack fashionable. In recent years, designers have popularised military-look jackets, Fair Isle knitwear and maxi-dresses.

The company has said that the successful candidate

US designer Marc Jacobs's CEO Robert Duffy has become a popular Twitter fixture and maybe even a too popular one at that: with more than 90,000 fans following, the brand is now looking for someone to replace Duffy - via Twitter, of course.

"Were looking for someone to come on and take a job heading our twitter acct and social media. Send something clever for a chance at the job!" he tweeted alongside a Valentine's Day goodbye picture showing him and Jacobs with puckered lips.

You read that right: Marc Jacobs wants you to apply per 140-character message. ""Be clever. Smart. Understand our DNA. Say it in one tweet! That is your interview!" Duffy said, later adding: "I just got in trouble from Robert for being arrogant in my tweets. We are being serious. This is a real opportunity."

The company has said that the successful candidate would need to relocate to New York and that the job "pays well." Tweets will be reviewed for the "next few days."

While some brands, such as Dolce & Gabbana, have asked fans to contribute ideas to their collections, this is the first time a prominent fashion label 'interviews' via social media. Send a reply to @MarcJacobsIntl in order to be considered for the job.

repositioning towards a younger audience

Harry Potter star Emma Watson has been announced as the new face of beauty brand Lancôme.

Following the choices of more mature spokesmodels such as Julia Roberts, opting for Watson to represent its products could hint at the brand's repositioning towards a younger audience.

Watson, who has previously starred in fashion ads for Burberry and has worked together with eco-friendly brand People Tree, has tried to distance herself from her role as Hermione Granger in Harry Potter by getting a new pixie haircut and wearing high-fashion brands on the red carpet. Her beauty ads - which will be shot by Mario Testino, no less - are likely to help her get noticed as a woman who's fit for "grown-up" roles.

Lady Gaga has already won a Grammy

Lady Gaga arrived at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards in an egg tonight, hiding her Thierry Mugler (House of Mugler) and Hussein Chalayan ensemble and handbag from the photographers and crowd. Onlookers could see the singer waving at photographers from inside the egg and her bright red lipstick, black leather gloves and large black sunglasses could be seen from the outside.

Lady Gaga’s look was created by designer Thierry Mugler and will be revealed on stage at tonight’s Grammy Awards when she performs for the crowd. Lady Gaga also paired dark platform heels with her ensemble which could be scarcely seen at the front point of the egg while on the red carpet.

Lady Gaga’s egg was carried in by men and women dressed in Roman Empire inspired apparel in the same fashion as Cleopatra would have entered the room.

The Thierry Mugler ensemble, and hopefully Lady Gaga’s handbag, will be revealed during her performance of her new, upcoming single Born This Way on the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards stage.

Lady Gaga has already won a Grammy for Best Female Pop Performance during the awards show tonight.

British women were always more interested in their bust than their bottom

British women were always more interested in their bust than their bottom until Latino curves, as seen on Jennifer Lopez and the supermodel Gisele Bundchen, burst on to the scene in the 1990s.

The US singer of Puerto Rican descent and the Brazilian model were the trigger that led American and European women to shift their attention from their front to their behind, following the example of the Latin countries, according to Luiz Toledo, a plastic surgeon. "Women started turning up in clinics with pictures of Gisele Bundchen saying they wanted to look like her. She started the trend," he said.

Beyoncé Knowles cemented the image of generous buttocks in the public mind, with ever curvier bottoms gracing the covers of magazines.

This week the trend claimed its first British victim when Claudia Aderotimi, a 20-year-old Londoner, flew to Philadelphia for a cut-rate bottom enhancement in a hotel near the airport.

On Sunday she had a silicone injection into her buttocks as a top-up to a procedure carried out last November. The treatment was arranged over the internet and carried out by a practitioner believed to be unqualified. Ms Aderotimi paid a reported $2,000 (£1,200).

On Monday she developed chest pains and was taken to hospital where she died on Tuesday from a suspected pulmonary embolism – a blood clot in the lung possibly caused by the silicone entering her bloodstream.

Dr Toledo, a Brazilian who runs a clinic in Dubai specialising in facial and body contouring, said demand for buttock enhancement was growing. British women are his second biggest patient group after those from the Emirates. His favoured method – the "Brazilian buttock technique" – involved "lipotransfer", in which fat is removed from the stomach and hips by liposuction and pumped back into the buttocks. A member of the International Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, he has lectured on the technique in Britain. "Everyone who comes for liposuction says 'oh maybe you can use the fat to put a little on my buttocks.' They have read about it in magazines. We use this method except when the woman is too lean and we don't have the fat to aspirate.

"In that case there are two options: insert a silicone implant into the muscle of the buttock or inject an absorbable filler such as macrolane. But there are problems with both of these because the macrolane injections are too expensive and as it is reabsorbable it disappears and has to be redone after a couple of years. With the silicone implants you cannot have injections in the buttocks because they will puncture the implants."

Injections of liquid silicone, as reportedly performed on Ms Aderotimi, were widely used in the 1970s, initially without problems. But as larger amounts were injected and the procedure was taken up by non-medically qualified practitioners problems, including deaths, grew. The injections were banned in Brazil, where they had been most widely used in 1982 and later in the US and Europe.

Dr Toledo said the Brazilian fascination with the female behind dated from colonial times. "In the days of slavery, the Africans brought to Brazil came from a region where they had very small waists and big bottoms. The Portuguese colonisers were completely crazy about them and many had children with them – 30 per cent of Brazilians are mixed race."

Cut-rate procedures of the kind offered to Ms Aderotimi were offered in hotel rooms in Dubai, too, carried out by unqualified practitioners, he said.

"I have patients who have come to me to patch up their problems. I ask them 'why would you go to a hotel room?' They say: 'My friend had it and she was all right.'"

David Sharpe, professor of plastic surgery at Bradford University, said: "I had a few women approach me five or six years ago but I wouldn't do it. Dissecting out a pocket in the muscle of the buttocks near the sciatic nerve to take a silicone implant didn't seem like a good idea to me.

"Putting in an implant that you are going to sit on was also going to put it under some stress so it would be likely to wear out quicker. Lipotransfer is becoming more popular – it featured quite heavily at our last scientific meeting."

for the designer that people did not know who it was

The fashion world is desperate to know who Kate Middleton will pick to design her wedding dress when she marries Prince William in April - and the palace's silence is only fuelling the feverish speculation.

"It would be better for the designer that people did not know who it was," said Sasha Wilkins, a fashion blogger known as "LibertyLondonGirl". "Once they announce the name of the designer, that designer's life is going to be hell."

This was the case three decades ago when David and Elizabeth Emanuel were chosen to design the wedding dress of William's mother, Princess Diana, when she married Prince Charles.

"They were stalked, literally," Wilkins says.

This time around, palace officials are giving nothing away, saying that Kate, 29, and her 28-year-old royal fiancee have both agreed to keep some of the details of their big day on April 29 a secret.

But in the absence of any official information, speculation is rife.

A photograph of Kate's sister and mother coming out of the London shop of designer Bruce Oldfield last month was enough to cause the paparazzi to camp outside the boutique day and night in hope of spotting the bride-to-be.

Oldfield was one of Diana's favourite designers and made the wedding dresses of Queen Rania of Jordan and of British socialite Jemima Goldsmith when she married Pakistan cricketer Imran Khan - but he is keeping quiet.

British press speculation meanwhile has covered almost every major British designer, from John Galliano to Stella McCartney and even Victoria Beckham, although Wilkins believes such a big name would overshadow the gown too much.

However, there is little chance that an inexperienced newcomer will be asked to design the year's most talked-about dress, and steady hands such as Philippa Lepley, Jenny Packham, Amanda Wakeley or Jasper Conran - all of them well-known for their bridal gowns - are also likely candidates.

"Whoever designs this dress needs a lot of experience," said Fiona McKenzie Johnston, associate editor of luxury magazine group Conde Nast International.

"They need experience to design a beautiful wedding dress, that's going to stand up all day long, that's going to look amazing when photographed by cameras, on television, that is not going to be dwarfed by Westminster Abbey."

Oldfield - while keeping tight-lipped about any role he may have - predicted that the dress would be reasonably modest, and with a veil.

"I'm sure the dress is going to be modest in terms of coverage, it has to be," he told US television.

"It will have sleeves, it has to have sleeves. You can't walk down Westminster Abbey in a strapless dress. It just wouldn't happen.

"It has to suit the grandeur of that aisle, it's enormous. I can predict she will wear a veil."

The dress must also reflect the times as Britain emerges from a deep recession, and palace officials said after the couple's engagement last year that they were "mindful of the economic situation" in planning the wedding.

Commentators say that Kate is unlikely to pick something similar to the fairytale dress worn by Diana in 1981, made of ivory silk with huge bouffant sleeves and a 25-foot (eight-metre) train.

But it will likely be either white or ivory and most believe it will be made out of natural silk, embroidered by hand - even if the fabric must be imported after the last British silk farm, at Lullingstone, closed in 2004.

One thing that is certain is that imitation dresses will be rolling off the production lines within hours of Kate stepping into Westminster Abbey.

"It will be interesting to see how quickly someone will come up with a version of it. The factories will be making it within seconds," said Peta Hunt, fashion director at You and Your Wedding magazine.

Kate is already on her way to being a style icon - the blue Issa dress she wore when the couple announced their engagement and the cream Reiss dress she wore in Mario Testino's official photograph have flown off the shelves.

interested in a supply of ethically sourced gold

Two-and-a-half years ago, I was approached by two gentlemen from a Dutch NGO asking if I would be interested in a supply of ethically sourced gold. Suspicious of anyone offering me a supply of anything, ethical or not, I was sceptical. The NGO was called Solidaridad. Its business was to identify products that were mined, harvested or grown by the world's poorest people, those who might be able to lift themselves out of poverty if they were helped to deliver their products to the market in a responsible and efficient way. Solidaridad thought gold to be a suitable product and were looking for sympathetic jewellers. Being a sucker for a good story, I signed up.

Up until last year not much happened. Solidaridad kept us informed about the progress of its project. It was working constantly along the supply chain to ensure that by the time the gold reached the consumer it would be 100 per cent traceable. Every now and again we were required to make an adjustment to our business practice. Eventually all the parties, from mines to jeweller, were near to achieving certification. Finally, Fairtrade stepped in.

Best-known for bananas, coffee, cocoa and cotton, Fairtrade is always looking for groups such as Solidaridad to work with. These groups identify and prepare products to the high standards required, then Fairtrade, the most recognised and respected trademark for responsibly sourced products, provides the final level of approval.

It struck me that, as the final link in the ethical supply chain, it would be beneficial to make a trip to the source, thus putting us in a stronger position to enthuse more confidently about ethically mined gold. So my brother and I decided to fly to Peru, for a journey of discovery that has transformed the way we think about the material we have worked with for most of our lives.

The Solidaridad team – Erik from Holland and Gonzalo, Fredrico and Javier from Lima – meet us in the Peruvian capital and take us on a long, very rough minibus trip into the Inca province. This journey alone is an unforgettable adventure: hours of hair-raising driving, from Lima's sprawling, but strangely orderly, slums to dirt roads high in the mountains to the south. But it is the mines themselves, and the people who work in them, that make the biggest impression.

The first mine we visit, Aurelsa, near the village of Relave in the Pullo District, has its entrance high on a bare mountainside. As we approach, we catch sight of a scattering of single-room houses covered in a thick dust that makes them hard to distinguish from the surrounding bedrock, and, dotted among them, red-brick baths where mercury is used to extract the gold from the rock. These villages are attached to mines still working in the traditional way, meaning the unregulated use of mercury, harmful not only to the workers, but also to the community, since the residue finds its way into the water table. We are here to support an alternative way of processing.

The safer way to extract the gold is by extraction through a carbon and cyanide process in sealed tanks that prevent poisonous chemicals entering the environment. It involves a willingness from the people involved, plus organisation and support from bodies such as Solidaridad, who have the expertise and necessary funding.

The Aurelsa mine has been working with Solidaridad for four years to achieve Fairtrade certification. Jewellers such as myself and Garrard, who are prepared to pay a premium for gold mined and processed sustainably, can complete the jigsaw.

But the real heroes can be found in the mines. The chairman of Aurelsa's board, Juan, arrived in this valley 25 years ago as a 15-year-old boy who had heard talk of gold in these hills. There was no settlement then, but over the years more and more prospectors joined Juan, and together they built a school, a medical centre... everything.

Five years ago, with a home, a family and a proper community of which he is an elder, Juan was ready to change the traditional poisonous practices to make the community safer. It was impossible not to feel enthused, listening to this smart, articulate man – who, with minimal education and through hard manual work, had lifted both himself and his workforce (now 87 strong) out of poverty. He talks about his ambitions for them to become shareholders in a small but responsible mining operation – one of just a handful worldwide that merit such a description.

The mine is already processing 100 tonnes of rock per month, up from 30 a year ago. This is not just a question of manpower and willpower. It is about organisation, co-operation and the hiring of a mining engineer – which is just about unheard of with such small-scale mining. Every stage has been improved and monitored by Solidaridad to ensure sustainable business practice.

Our trip includes the terrifying experience of going down the mine. The shaft is about the height of a man, and the width of two, and as we venture into the mountainside we hear the thumps of explosions at the business end of things, hundreds of metres into the abyss. Our equipment consists of Davy lamps and canaries. Deeper and deeper we go with Juan, stopping now and again to stare down another gaping pit where exploratory work is being carried out. Then suddenly, right in front of us, there is a rockfall. It emerges that there is a man working in a parallel shaft above, who is unaware that we are there.

Finally we get to the face. Miners are hammering holes into the rock and inserting sticks of dynamite and joining lengths of white detonator cable. With self-preservation now into overdrive, we feel that we have seen enough.

It is the human element that convinces me that "slow gold" is worth supporting: Juan, for example, whose efforts enabled him to send his children to college; or Jilly, a 27-year-old cook at the mine, who had hitchhiked to Aurelsa from Lima a year earlier with her seven-year-old son, carrying all their possessions in a backpack. She used her savings to rent a single-room corrugated house and earns just $150 a month, but she is hanging on in the hope that, if she sticks at it, a pay-rise might eventually materialise.

Jilly welcomes us into her home, as did Maria, a miner at San Luis, the second mine we visited in Ayacucho, high in the southern Andes. Maria shares her small wooden home with her miner husband, four beautiful children, a tiny black sheep and some chickens. Cautious at first, she is soon laughing and talking animatedly about her hopes for her children and the opportunities they might have in life.

I give the children presents of footballs and coloured pens. Maria's eldest daughter is thrilled with her pens and tells me that her dream is to become a fashion designer – she is learning to make jewellery at school. This reminds me how ridiculously lucky we and our families are. The mountain between this girl (who can't stop smiling) and becoming a fashion designer is monumental; yet she believes, with the inextinguishable optimism of youth, that her dream might come true. And – who knows – maybe she's right.

"How great," I say. "Your mum mines gold, and you can make rings." She corrects me, explaining that she also makes bracelets and pendants. I tell her I gave the first ring I made to my mum. Who will she give hers to? After a second she says her mum also – but not until Mother's Day.

I also meet a young miner at San Luis, Juancesar, who tells me about his concerns for the health of his small daughter. San Luis is so contaminated by mercury that the only way to make the community safe, even when ethical production methods have been fully implemented, is to move the entire village to a new location around 1,000m away. Until then, says Juancesar, the only way to safeguard his family's health is to move his wife and daughter away, commute to the mine, and see them only occasionally.

For me, such conversations turn the idea of ethical gold from a vaguely worthy aspiration to a burning mission. If we can support these mines and miners by using their gold, and by communicating this to our clients and to the press, then I am more than happy to do so. Initially, the Stephen Webster and Garrard brands will be offering specific products – engagement and wedding rings made in London – using ethically sourced gold. Once we get started, we intend to increase the volume of business we conduct using such gold as quickly as possible. Eventually I want it to be 100 per cent of the gold we sell.

There are cost implications in the short term. The cost to us for ethically sourced gold is currently more than 10 per cent higher. We will be absorbing this premium: we don't want price to be the reason for people not to choose a more responsible product. But in the long term I am convinced that, as ethically sourced gold becomes an established concept, so it will become cheaper to produce. Larger mining companies, smelters and investors in mineral commodities will want to invest in small-scale, sustainable projects to show their commitment to responsible business practice. And, as demand grows, small-scale mines will be able to develop a more co-operative way of mining and processing. The yield will grow, generating more money for the miners and their communities; and, as the sustainable mines thrive, so they will be able to offer more competitive prices. All this eventually forcing the miseries of mercury contamination to become a thing of the past. I hope that I am right for the sake of Juan, Maria and Juancesar.