AP - Rio de Janeiro's winter 2012 fashion week kicked off on a sober note Tuesday, with a utilitarian collection in industrial-strength denims from star designer Alexandre Herchcovitch.

AP - The final day of Paris's spring-summer haute couture week saw Jean Paul Gaultier serve up a cigarettes-and-all homage to late singer Amy Winehouse and Valentino show off the dazzling couture work of seamstresses who toiled for thousands of hours to create a lavish white collection.

AP - An It Girl and an orange spandex blob of writhing humanity capped Rio de Janeiro's five-day-long fashion week Saturday, lending a gimmicky end to the city's otherwise strong winter 2012 collections.