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Kissel Taste page editor Cover: Yangshuo, China (Corbis) email This page (left to right): bidri plate (Design [email protected] Laboratory); Borobudur (Corbis); ? x {t Jung Chang (Ismael Roldan) M83 T-AA LMK33M =GOKE-A -L;-+ 5`hjvt John Webster Kjm ajtd Décolletage at a work dinner . 0h}jjt` .jtmpd hen Michele Royalty ting the look right isn’t as easy as of “The Female Brain,” says human posed skin speaks louder than rev- clothes at business events may wore a simple black people think. What some women behavior won’t rise above respond- enue growth, even to a CEO. be thinking “it’s an empowering T strapless gown to a see as fashion-forward can often ing to revealing clothing anytime Jonscott Turco, a psycholo- thing that they can be sexy and black-tie business dinner for her come across as sexy in a business soon. The cortex in the back of our gist and consultant with Partners professional, but guys don’t see pharmaceutical company, she environment. Women face mixed brains, she says, scans the environ- In Human Resources Interna- it that way. If she’s dressed sexy, says, “I saw the CEO’s eyes drop messages about what they ment for fertile mates—and ex- tional, says women in revealing that’s all they see.” to my cleavage.” should wear to evening events. “Once a CEO is startled by see- Ubiquitous photos of décolletage- ing your cleavage, an image is set revealing celebrities and models in his mind that is not going to photographed on red carpets and disappear,” says Ms. Royalty, runways do their part to encour- who recently retired as an execu- age faux pas. The super-short tive at the company. “I never skirt lengths, low necklines and wore that type of dress again.” body-hugging silhouettes mar- Events like awards dinners keted in stores these days often and client cocktails can blur conjure up the image of a trophy workplace rules—including of- wife rather than an executive. fice dress codes. And since it’s Eveningwear is practically synon- harder for men to embarrass ymous with sexy. themselves with evening wear, Dress is a particular pitfall for it’s often women who reveal too female executives. People aren’t much, leaving their clients or col- knocked off-kilter when a young leagues with indelible memo- office assistant shows up in a re- ries. The results can range from vealing dress. But when it’s the slight discomfort to a huge mis- CEO—or Hillary Clinton—it’s a understanding. different story. “What happens when the sun “If my attorney bills out at goes down is people go crazy,” $1,000 an hour, I want them to says Patty Fox, a stylist and fash- look like a lawyer, not a celebrity,” ion coordinator for the Academy says Jonathan Fitzgarrald, direc- Awards. She says she gives busi- tor of marketing for Greenberg nesswomen the same advice she Glusker, a Los Angeles law firm. gives movie stars: Don’t step out- It’s not just a matter of image; side the bounds of your personal sometimes, there can be real trou- style, even for a special occasion. ble. Lisa Goldstein, an attorney Gail Graham, executive vice and founder of consulting firm president of marketing for Fidel- Rainmaker Trainers in Philadel- ity Investments, the mutual phia, says that during a client din- fund company, watched a re- ner with spouses, a head of a law spected co-worker alter her col- firm was propositioned by her leagues’ impressions of her at a male client and his wife. The cli- recent business dinner. She ent “suggested that they swing to- “showed up in a dress that was gether,” says Ms. Goldstein, who practically backless and showed was informally consulted on how cleavage,” says Ms. Graham, to recover the professional-cli- who later heard male colleagues ent relationship. The lawyer felt talking about the woman—days that her revealing evening dress after the event. “It became the had sent “signals that were misin- story about her. You want the terpreted,” says Ms. Goldstein. story to be about you and your Any rational person should accomplishments.” know better than to proposition “There’s no greater crime” for his attorney. But the reason there a businesswoman, Ms. Graham are dress codes is to limit the sig- adds, with just a smidgen of hy- nals that could go awry—includ- perbole, “than to show cleavage.” ing ones that evoke the irrational. While avoiding displays of déc- Louann Brizendine, a promi- olletage may sound obvious, get- nent brain researcher and author 0vppdbjtf dia, too, from Dubai to Copenhagen to New York. “They just shine for us,” says one New Yorker, Norman Indictor, a retired chemist and former consultant for the Metropolitan Mu- seum of Art, who began assembling a collection of Islamic art with his wife, Rina, more than two decades ago. “In the beginning of our collec- tor days, bidri was quite an undervalued form,” Mr. Indictor says, but to- day it is more sought-af- ter and “taken much more seriously.” A contemporary vase—or, with the stopper in, a decorative flask Bidri’s origins remain rather murky. Most his- torical accounts cite the impact of artisans foreign travelers with limited budgets who migrated from what is now Iran, and baggage allowances. where opulent metalwork was prized. Yet “The craft has to be revolutionized and a distinct style evolved in India. old designs need to be diversified to make “As the floral ornament of the Muslim the craft affordable for the masses,” ar- courts took hold, the native Indian taste for gues freelance designer Richa Gupta, who sculptural form enriched it, giving Mughal led a September workshop for artisans in poppies and irises the rhythm and weight Bidar at the request of the National Centre of goddesses,” wrote Mark Zebrowski in for Design & Product Development in New “Gold, Silver and Bronze from Mughal In- Delhi. Ms. Gupta came up with 42 proto- dia,” a seminal 1997 book that helped spur types for collections with names such as Old bidri is hot, and the new looks are cool the art market to pay “Oriental Minimal,” more attention to antique Places “Urban Strings” and . C`}fv 0vhdt bidri. to see bidri “Street Smart.” The evolution in In- But other designers he brides never wore black. But dia was centered in Bi- think it would be during its heyday, India’s Mogul dar, where royal patron- HYDERABAD smarter to stick with court delighted in wedding age guided a thriving in- A.P. State Museum bidri’s tradition of lux- gifts fashioned from a somber dustry that forged the This often-overlooked museum of- ury collectibles. “I alloy of zinc and copper, black craft’s name. The city, to- fers an outstanding display of bidri think it should be tar- fromM oxidation and brightened with gleam- day a largely impover- —some 50 pieces set against a taste- geted at a boutique au- ing floral inlays in silver, copper or brass. ished corner of Karna- ful backdrop of gray patterned silk, dience,” says Shweta No trousseau was complete without the taka state, is also the with informative captions. The gleam- Vyas, a Hyderabad- full range of noble-household essentials, site of an effort to save ing collection includes hookah bases, based designer who from goblets and flagons to hookahs, betel contemporary bidri betel boxes, candle stands and an un- worked with artisans boxes and spittoons. from “stagnation,” as usual 19th-century decorative plate. in Bidar in 2004 and This form of Islamic metalwork from collector Mr. Mittal puts Public Gardens, Nampally 2005. “There’s a very the Deccan plateau, known as bidri, flour- it, and to boost incomes 10:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.; distinct Islamic aes- ished during the 17th and 18th centuries, for about 400 artisans closed Fridays thetic to it, and that’s only to fall out of favor as European who still work at the 91-40-2323-2267 what makes it bidri. tastes for porcelain and cut glass took craft. At the behest of You can’t just use silver over. The craft never died, though, and state crafts organiza- Salar Jung Museum inlay in straight, sim- the popularity of antique pieces has tions and private retail- India’s largest bidri collection rests plistic lines.” soared: These days some bring prices ex- ers, contemporary de- with this famed museum, but much of Many of the design ceeding $100,000, as private collectors signers have worked it appears dull—apparently a combina- prototypes have yet to and museum curators vie for the few sur- with the artisans in re- tion of neglect and poor lighting.