PARIS, Oct 17 (Reuters) – For the first time in its history, luxury conglomerate LVMH has provided a peek into its exclusive workshops, design showrooms and wine cellars — to reveal the hundreds of hands and delicate workmanship behind its expensive brands.

Seeking to “reveal the true nature of high quality,” according to LVMH, the company opened up 25 of its brands to the public on Saturday and Sunday.

Couturiers like Christian Dior and Givenchy welcomed hundreds of the curious in Paris, while in France’s champagne region, top makers from Dom Perignon to Moet & Chandon opened their cellars.

In Italy, Bulgari, Fendi and Pucci participated in the “Private Days”, which also reached Spain, Scotland and Poland.

“These are works of art,” said Beatrice de Plinval of Parisian jewellers Chaumet, referring to the nearly 3,000 diadems — or bejewelled headpieces — the company has produced since it first began serving the French aristocracy in 1780. “This is a profession of passion.”

Worn no less by Josephine Bonaparte, the first wife of Emperor Napoleon, Chaumet’s sparkling creations can require between 500 to 1,500 hours of workmanship. It takes 10 years for a jeweller to develop a “good hand,” said de Plinval, who is curator of Chaumet’s archives and museum.

“Each house has its identity, so it takes time to learn,” explained jeweler Nicolas Tappou, who has worked at Chaumet for 15 years – one of the countless artisans who labour behind the scenes at LVMH’s celebrated houses.

PARIS, Oct 11 (Reuters) – French transport workers went on strike and unions held rallies on Tuesday against measures to curb the public deficit, but the much lower turnout than in last year’s pension reform protests may reassure the government as elections loom.

Five unions, including the CFDT and the prominent CGT syndicate, the two biggest groups, organised about 200 street rallies and strikes across France against President Nicolas Sarkozy’s budget-cutting measures.

Sarkozy is battling to preserve France’s cherished AAA credit rating, as sputtering growth threatens deficit goals, while trying not to irk voters already fed up with economic gloom seven months before a presidential election.

The bulk of the budget-trimming measures — which the government stresses do not constitute an austerity plan – consist of scrapping tax exemptions on everything from private health insurance to real estate capital gains. The plan also includes a new tax on the wealthy.

Unions have urged Sarkozy to focus on growth and called for Tuesday’s action, held during France’s traditional protest month of October.

“We’re fed up with austerity,” said CGT leader Bernard Thibault, who marched with union members in the Mediterranean port city of Marseille.

“They always ask more of workers. They touch our purchasing power … while the most fortunate again find the upper hand in the situation,” he said. “This isn’t a crisis for everyone.”

PARIS/BRUSSELS, Oct 5 (Reuters) – Belgium and France expect to finalise by Thursday a rescue plan for Dexia that would sever the bank’s French lending business and may nationalise its Belgian arm.

Battered in recent weeks by heavy exposure to Greece and problems accessing wholesale funds, Dexia’s shares hit an all-time low on Tuesday, prompting shareholders Belgium and France to come to its rescue.

“I think that tomorrow a solution should be found,” France’s finance minister, Francois Baroin, told RTL radio on Wednesday. He repeated that Dexia could not keep its current shape. “It is indisputable.”

Baroin also said a solution involving its absorption by French state bank Caisse des Depots and Banque Postale, the banking arm of the postal service, would be the most “solid”.

The lender to thousands of French and Belgian towns, which also needed propping up after the 2008 crisis, will see its French municipal financing arm broken off and combined with French state bank Caisse des Depots and Banque Postale, the banking arm of the French post office.

Baroin said such a solution would be “most solid”.

Belgium’s caretaker prime minister, Yves Leterme, said nationalisation of the banking activities, including a large retail operation, was being considered.

PARIS, Oct 4 (Reuters) – With faux feathers and cascades of ruffles, Alexander McQueen brought fantasy and femininity to the runway on Tuesday, while still hewing to the fashion label’s edgy, dark side for spring.

Creative Director Sarah Burton presented a show-stopper in the best tradition of the theatrical brand, mixing up flirty skirts that flounced at the knee with harder-edge military details like epaulets, high collars and armour-like bodices.

Burton — once the label’s head of womens’ design before the 40-year-old McQueen committed suicide last year at his London home — has been riding a wave of notoriety since her design of Kate Middleton’s wedding dress this spring.

The Gothic-inspired ivory satin and lace affair with a 2.7 metre-long train garnered raves and focused an international spotlight on Burton and the Alexander McQueen line.

“What you saw tonight, the brilliance behind the fantasy and the beauty of the show has nothing to do with that,” said actress Salma Hayek after the show, referring to the now-infamous wedding dress.

“I think she’s already moved on from that. It’s gone somewhere else. It was very unexpected. It was amazing.”

Hayek is the wife of the chief executive of the PPR Group , Francois-Henri Pinault, whose stable of brands include Yves Saint Laurent, Gucci, Balenciaga and Stella McCartney.

PARIS (Reuters) – Yves Saint Laurent offered a superbly tailored but tempered collection for spring-summer 2012 on Monday, with designer Stefano Pilati drawing on the past of the famous luxury label without providing any jaw-dropping standouts.

Mint and forest greens, greys and whites were the palette, with trapeze coats, cigarette pants and backless silk tops providing a nod to the 1960s and 70s, the heyday of Saint Laurent.

But the collection was restrained, as a counterpoint to the venue. Inside the opulent Hotel Salomen de Rothschild, models walked a circuitous catwalk that wove through six individual rooms, heavy crystal chandeliers and painted ceilings of angels and cherubs overhead.

The crowd included Australian pop star Kylie Minogue, French actress Isabelle Huppert, and Mexican actress Salma Hayek, who is married to Francois-Henri Pinault, chief executive and chairman of the PPR Group which owns the luxury label.

With insecurity the sentiment du jour, it might be best to show restraint. As the line notes for the show cryptically state, Pilati “forges ahead of the dull obscurities of the moment with a crystalline vision for Yves Saint Laurent.”

LADYLIKE

Whether Yves Saint Laurent considers the global economic malaise to be dull or obscure was unclear. But the Italian Pilati showed none of the over-the-top exuberance seen in the recent shows in Milan, where bold primary colors, fringe, sparkle and shimmer seemed to shout “ciao!” to the euro-zone crisis and general sentiment of gloom.

VERSAILLES, France, Sept 28 (Reuters) – “Let them eat cake,” Marie Antoinette is famously quoted as saying, but the 18th century fashionista, had she lived today, may well have said, “Let them wear Lacroix.”

Frills, foppery and all the delicious excess of 18th century fashion — juxtaposed with contemporary interpretations of France’s Golden Age — are on display at the Grand Trianon at Versailles in the exhibit “The 18th Century Back in Fashion.”

As Paris Fashion Week begins, the dozens of ornate dresses on show, both antique and modern, stitched from endless yards of silk and adorned with sumptuous embroidery and lace, are the antithesis to the politics of austerity on the world’s lips today.

Restraint, sobriety, discipline — these are not the words that spring to mind when viewing the show, and it’s part of its appeal, as global economic stagnation and a potential euro zone collapse are the order of the day.

Christian Lacroix’s mustard brocade gown from 1994 is encrusted with patinated metal, its lavish skirt jutting out dramatically at the hip through use of “paniers,” or side hoops.

Witness the pink confection designed by Vivienne Westwood for her 1995-96 season, a six-year-old girl’s dream with a surfeit of bows, flounces and lace in the color of Pepto-Bismol.

In the hands of the provocative British designer, the saccharine-sweet gown, inspired by King Louis XV’s mistress Madame de Pompadour, is a subversive commentary on femininity and the disheveled, brooding grunge look popular in the 1990s.

PARIS (Reuters) – Former French president Jacques Chirac gave an impassioned defense of his morals on Friday in a statement read out by a lawyer during his trial over the misuse of public funds when he was mayor of Paris in the 1990s.

Chirac, 78, was excused from attending due to his failing memory. He vowed to abide by the decision of the court which is widely expected to dismiss the case.

On the final day of the high-profile three-week trial, the culmination of nearly a decade of legal back-and-forth, defense lawyer Jean Veil read a statement he said was written by Chirac, who has been in poor health since a stroke a few years ago.

“I assert that I have not committed any fault — neither legal nor moral,” Veil quoted Chirac as saying.

“I want the French people to know that there are not two Chiracs … there is only a man made from a block of flesh, blood and principles.”

A few dozen spectators, attorneys and reporters listened to Chirac’s words in a courtroom adorned with yellow silk walls, carved leather chairs and fleur de lys insignias, the same chamber where former Queen Marie Antoinette was condemned to the guillotine during the French Revolution.

Chirac is accused of using public money to create 28 phantom jobs for political party cronies at Paris Town Hall between 1992 and 1995 during his long stint as mayor.

PARIS (Reuters) – The city of glamour, grande cuisine and the ghosts of the guillotined is one of Europe’s most beautiful. Welcoming some 28 million visitors a year, Paris offers everything from some of the most famous museums and restaurants in the world to charming cobblestone alleys and boutiques galore.

Reuters correspondents with local knowledge help visitors get the most out of a visit to the French capital. While 48 hours is not nearly enough for this beloved metropolis, it will whet your appetite for your next visit.

FRIDAY

5 p.m. Why not kick off the weekend with a “verre”, or glass of wine, as the French do, or perhaps a licorice-flavoured pastis aperitif. Paris cafes are the pride of the city, and the most famous are located on the Left Bank. After popping in to the Eglise de Saint-Germain-des-Pres, an ancient abbey with sixth-century roots, enjoy a “pause” at Les Deux Magots or Cafe de Flore. Between the two world wars and immediately after, both cafes welcomed writers, poets and artists from Pablo Picasso and Ernest Hemingway to Albert Camus and Simone de Beauvoir.

8 p.m. Keeping with the literary theme, make your way south to Montparnasse, the neighbourhood where intellectuals and artists flocked at the beginning of the 20th century. Splurge at Le Dome, an Art Deco institution featuring platters piled high with oysters and other fresh seafood. And remember the champagne — after all, it’s your first night in Paris.

10 p.m. You’re close enough to stroll to the Montparnasse Tower for a spectacular view across the City of Light. The 689-foot office tower, completed in 1973, wins no prizes for beauty — until you get to viewing area at the top from where, as Parisians like to note, you can no longer see it.

SATURDAY

PARIS, Sept 16 (Reuters) – The city of glamour, grande cuisine and the ghosts of the guillotined is one of Europe’s most beautiful. Welcoming some 28 million visitors a year, Paris offers everything from some of the most famous museums and restaurants in the world to charming cobblestone alleys and boutiques galore.

Reuters correspondents with local knowledge help visitors get the most out of a visit to the French capital. While 48 hours is not nearly enough for this beloved metropolis, it will whet your appetite for your next visit.

FRIDAY

5 p.m. Why not kick off the weekend with a “verre”, or glass of wine, as the French do, or perhaps a licorice-flavoured pastis aperitif. Paris cafes are the pride of the city, and the most famous are located on the Left Bank. After popping in to the Eglise de Saint-Germain-des-Pres, an ancient abbey with sixth-century roots, enjoy a “pause” at Les Deux Magots or Cafe de Flore. Between the two world wars and immediately after, both cafes welcomed writers, poets and artists from Pablo Picasso and Ernest Hemingway to Albert Camus and Simone de Beauvoir.

8 p.m. Keeping with the literary theme, make your way south to Montparnasse, the neighborhood where intellectuals and artists flocked at the beginning of the 20th century. Splurge at Le Dome, an Art Deco institution featuring platters piled high with oysters and other fresh seafood. And remember the champagne – after all, it’s your first night in Paris.

10 p.m. You’re close enough to stroll to the Montparnasse Tower for a spectacular view across the City of Light. The 689-foot office tower, completed in 1973, wins no prizes for beauty — until you get to viewing area at the top from where, as Parisians like to note, you can no longer see it.

SATURDAY

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – U.S. prosecutors have launched a criminal probe into whether eBay Inc employees misappropriated confidential information from classified ad service Craigslist, according to a copy of a grand jury subpoena obtained by Reuters.

The two companies have been feuding for years in civil court over allegations that online giant eBay used its Craigslist board seat to glean confidential information about the classified ad business as eBay prepared to launch a rival service.

An eBay spokeswoman, Amanda Miller, said the company would cooperate in any inquiry related to the disputes with Craigslist.

“EBay believes that Craigslist’s allegations against eBay are without merit,” Miller said in an email on Tuesday. “We will continue to vigorously defend ourselves, and we will aggressively pursue our claims against Craigslist.”

EBay shares traded at $29.27 on Tuesday in after-hours trading, down slightly from their $29.40 close.

Last year, a Delaware’s Chancery Court judge ruled that Craigslist properly removed an eBay representative from its board. The judge also ruled that Craigslist could not dilute eBay’s 28.4 percent stake in the company.

The subpoena, issued by a federal grand jury in San Jose, Calif., last week on behalf of the U.S. Justice Department, seeks an array of information and documents, including those pertaining to eBay founder and Chairman Pierre Omidyar.