Life

By Emanuella Grinberg, CNN (CNN) — It’s time to break out your beads and get in your last bites of king cake – Mardi Gras time is here. Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday. It’s also called Shrove Tuesday, Carnival Tuesday or Pancake Tuesday, depending on where the celebration is taking place. No matter

By Catherine E. Shoichet (CNN) — Esther Howland isn’t a household name for most Americans. But those who’ve studied the history behind the intricate, hand-crafted cards she started making some 175 years ago argue that she should be. “She was the Martha Stewart of her day. She would have killed it on Etsy,” says Vanessa

By Maya Szaniecki, CNN Paris (CNN) — On a gray winter afternoon, a red carpet is rolled out along the Pont de Bir-Hakeim, a bridge over the River Seine in central Paris. Petals are strewn across it and a glowing sign above reads: “Will you marry me?” The rain doesn’t dampen the spirits of one

By James Imam, CNN (CNN) — Italy has donated a reconstructed Assyrian statue to Iraq in a gesture former culture minister Francesco Rutelli described as a “miracle” of Italian cultural diplomacy. Constructed in the ninth century BC, the 5-meter-tall (16-foot) “Bull of Nimrud” was destroyed by ISIS fighters in 2015, before Italian artisans made a copy

By Nicole Mowbray, CNN (CNN) — Countless creative ideas have been born in the kitchen of Charleston House, the bohemian modernist farmhouse inhabited from 1916 by painters Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell in a rural part of southern England. While the times of Grant and Bell — and the accompanying bohemian “Bloomsbury group” of writers

By Jacqui Palumbo, CNN (CNN) — New York Fashion Week is back, with celebrities seen sitting front row at shows across Manhattan and Brooklyn and arriving at private parties for luxury houses including Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent. Uma Thurman popped up at Tory Burch, Matt Damon at Naeem Khan, Queen Latifah at Thom Browne

By Rebecca Cairns, CNN Hong Kong (CNN) — Thick roots tumble across a dilapidated house, the snake-like trunks of a banyan tree framing where the front door once stood. Its walls have been hollowed by decades of typhoons, monsoons and summer humidity, now little more than loose, moss-covered stones and mortar dust. Vines tease through

By Jacqui Palumbo and Alex Rees, CNN (CNN) — In 1990, photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe led to obscenity charges for a Cincinnati museum. His depictions of men in laced-up leather, collars and belted jockstraps caused a national firestorm by daring to show the bare eroticism of queer men against the backdrop of the AIDS crisis.

By Leah Dolan, CNN (CNN) — Not since David and Victoria Beckham has the relationship between a sportsman and a female musician been so revered by the public. But while Posh and Becks were once known for their highly coordinated matching outfits, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce were poles apart during the Super Bowl last

By Oscar Holland, CNN (CNN) — The Kansas City Chiefs were not the Super Bowl’s only big winners. At an event on par with Hollywood red carpets when it comes to brand exposure, fashion labels now compete for eyeballs during tunnel walks, celebrity crowd shots and the ever-popular halftime show. But it wasn’t Travis Kelce’s sparkling

By Maggie Hiufu Wong, CNN (CNN) — Tourists taking the metro in Suzhou, China, this week could be forgiven for feeling like they’ve traveled back in time a few centuries. Famous for silk production and traditional gardens, this city of just over 10 million people, a 1.5-hour drive from Shanghai, is offering a week of

By Jacqui Palumbo and Alex Rees, CNN (CNN) — Across Manhattan and Brooklyn, designers have been offering enticing twists on familiar dress codes at New York Fashion Week, which concluded on February 14. Perhaps fittingly, there was a lot of fashion to love. Inside the neoclassical Williamsburgh Savings Bank, Peter Do presented the first collection

By Chris Lau, CNN (CNN) — Located in north-central China, the ancient city of Xi’an has long been famous for its 2,000-year-old Terracotta Army, an attraction that draws travelers from all over the globe. But this month, all eyes are on another one of its historic sites – the Xi’an City Wall, said to be

CNN By Maggie Hiufu Wong, CNN Hong Kong (CNN) — Put away those bunny ears and crank up the heat, it’s time to say goodbye to the Rabbit and enter the Year of the Dragon – the only mythical creature among the 12 Chinese zodiac signs. In addition to eating auspicious food and giving/receiving blessings,

By Oscar Holland, CNN (CNN) — In photographer Zhang Xiao’s images of the Shehuo festival, an ancient celebration still observed in parts of northern China during the Lunar New Year, rural life comes alive with something altogether more fantastical. Villagers dressed as cranes, roosters and mythical lions pose for portraits standing amid crops or in

By Issy Ronald, CNN (CNN) — One of the UK’s oldest and most important cathedrals is hosting two ’90s-themed silent discos, a move that has proved popular with revelers but sparked a backlash from some Christians, who say a disco has no place in a cathedral. Bathed in colorful illuminations, clutching glow sticks and wearing

By Leah Dolan, CNN (CNN) — On Tuesday, Zendaya arrived in Mexico City for the red carpet of “Dune: Part Two” in an outfit that looked like the kind of desert cloak we might see her character Chani wear amid an Arrakis sandstorm. The Bottega Veneta Fall-Winter 2023 runway look was customized for the starlet

By Kocha Olarn and Karla Cripps, CNN Bangkok (CNN) — A Canadian man has been arrested in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai after he allegedly opened the door on a commercial plane and triggered the evacuation slide prior to takeoff. According to a statement issued by the Chiang Mai International Airport, the incident

By Issy Ronald, CNN (CNN) — As fat activist Aubrey Gordon delivered a talk at her first ever book signing, her doting father Rusty turned and whispered to the person sitting next to him: “That’s my daughter.” This tender, seemingly innocuous moment, which comes towards the end of the documentary “Your Fat Friend,” could have

By Jacqui Palumbo, CNN (CNN) — For British Vogue’s final issue under Edward Enninful, the outgoing editor-in-chief put not one superstar on the cover, but 40 of them. The Ghanaian-born fashion editor unexpectedly stepped down in June after more than six years at the helm. His outro cover assembles supermodels, Hollywood megastars, pop icons and

By Jacqui Palumbo, CNN (CNN) — Two decades ago, the photographer David LaChapelle staged apocalyptic scenes for the pages of “Vogue Italia” — images that proved so controversial that they nearly became his final editorial shoot. In one portrait, which has become the most famous of the series, a blonde woman (Canadian model Heather Marks)

By Maggie Hiufu Wong, CNN (CNN) — Grab your camera and slap on something flame resistant, it’s time to witness one of China’s most incredible displays – the fire dragon dance. The dragon, a sacred mythical creature in Chinese culture, is often the protagonist in festivities and rituals. Dragon dances have been documented at ceremonial

Photos and interviews by Soeun Kim, Kahyun Lee and Getty Images; Text by Oscar Holland, CNN. Seoul, South Korea (CNN) — The “big four” fashion weeks — New York, London, Milan and Paris — may still dominate the industry’s calendar, but Seoul’s biannual showcase is gaining traction amid an explosion of interest in South Korean

By Hafsa Khalil, CNN London (CNN) — An image of a napping polar bear curled up on an iceberg has captured the hearts of voters to become the winner of this year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice Award. British amateur photographer Nima Sarikhani called it an honor to win the award for the

By Christian House, CNN (CNN) — In 1930 George Hoyningen-Huene pulled off one of the greatest dupes in the history of photography. Taking his large-format camera up onto the roof of the Vogue studio on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, he framed his lover Horst P. Horst and a young wannabe photographer named Lee Miller as

By David McElhinney, CNN Tokyo, Japan (CNN) — When art collective teamLab opened its flagship Tokyo venue, teamLab Borderless, in 2018, the group wanted it to fundamentally change the way we perceive and think about modern art. Whether it achieved this ambition is subjective, but it’s hard to argue with Borderless’ commercial success before it

By Marc Bain, CNN (CNN) — At 78, Norma Kamali isn’t ready to retire. But the celebrated New York designer is starting to think about how the company she built from scratch and has run for more than 50 years will carry on when she eventually steps back. Typically, this kind of succession planning entails

By Ben Jones, CNN (CNN) — Since Russia attacked two years ago, Ukraine has endured ground invasions and relentless missile attacks that have killed thousands and destroyed villages, towns and cities. Yet, despite all the upheaval, violence and chaos, the trains are still running. Ukraine’s rail network, known as Ukrzaliznytsia or UZ for short, has always

By Leah Dolan, CNN (CNN) — The Ukrainian-born beauty queen who sparked a debate on cultural identity by being named Miss Japan has relinquished her title just two weeks after being crowned. Karolina Shiino, the first person of predominantly European heritage ever to win the Miss Nippon contest (which takes its title from the country’s

By Leah Dolan, CNN (CNN) — Tattoos are for life. Unless you buy a heavy duty concealer, as demonstrated by 25-year-old Paris Jackson on Sunday. The model and actor had all 80 of her tattoos expertly covered for the 66th annual Grammy awards, a process that only took her team of two makeup artists two

By Christy Choi, CNN (CNN) — Pop star Miley Cyrus stunned the Grammys red carpet on Sunday by wearing a gown that appeared to be almost entirely made of gold safety pins. Her hair in a Farrah Fawcett-style bouffant, the singer-songwriter — who went on to snag her first ever Grammy awards — was dressed

By Christy Choi and Oscar Holland, CNN. Photo editor: Jennifer Arnow, CNN (CNN) — From the demure to the risqué, it was a night of diverse red carpet fashion at LA’s Crypto.com Arena, where the stars gathered for the 66th Grammy Awards on Sunday evening. The annual ceremony is known for producing bolder, more theatrical

By Alex Rees, CNN (CNN) — It wasn’t until after photographer Rita Nannini left New York that she grew fascinated by the city’s subways. While living in Manhattan’s Upper West Side for some 15 years in the 1980s and early ’90s, Nannini only took short trips on the 1 train for short trips — and

By Maureen O’Hare, CNN (CNN) — In travel news this week: Flight attendants are fed up with unruly airplane passenger behavior, the world’s largest cruise ship sets sail, and Lonely Planet is coming out with a new guide to the world’s most incredible beaches. World-class beaches Touching grass is great, but when it comes to

By Tamara Hardingham-Gill, CNN (CNN) — They met in California back in the 1970s when they were both 18 and went on to marry at the age of 21. Over five decades later, Randy Allen and Cindy Harding Nannarelli from the US are both living in Italy with their husbands. In fact, the two couples’

By Christy Choi, CNN (CNN) — New York’s Rubin Museum of Art, home to one of the world’s largest and most important collections of Himalayan art, announced on Wednesday that it will close its doors in October. The museum, founded by Shelley and Donald Rubin two decades ago, houses nearly 4,000 Himalayan art objects, introducing