Table of Contents:VOL. 158, NO. 4 - September 01, 2008 Special report: The business of style
 King of cool J. Crew's Mickey Drexler reinvented a retailing icon. Now he's launching a new brand called Madewell. Downturns are not for wimps. By John Brodie
The right address Every city has one - a retail thoroughfare that houses the most exclusive stores. Here are some of the world's priciest streets, and the going rate to join the neighborhood. By Beth Kowitt Luxe in flux The $270 billion luxury business thought it was recession-proof. But its growth is slowing, and anxiety is higher than a pair of Jimmy Choo pumps. Is an opulence backlash brewing? By Peter Gumbel
Prada goes shopping - for money The Milanese fashion house plans to raise cash by going public. But at what price? By Suzanne Kapner The style council, 2008 Nothing is more elegant than a fat bottom line, as the moguls, merchants, and master craftsmen in Fortune's second annual luxury portfolio will tell you. By Eugenia Levenson/Photographs by Ben Baker Features
 The bottom line Innovation isn't just for Google. How Kimberly-Clark gave birth to a hot new product. A Fortune 500 Series feature. By Jia Lynn Yang
Looking for trouble Richard Perry, hedge fund superstar, has made a specialty of investing in distress. Now his time has come. By Marcia Vickers
Get a life! Three coaches take our intrepid reporter in hand. By Paul Keegan First
 The Deal How to solve the financial crisis? Play for time, pray for markets to turn. By Allan Sloan
Harvest time Across the Great Plains, American wheat farmers outsource cutting to custom harvesters with fleets of combines. By Ryan Derousseau The box office indicator Strong ticket sales and weak markets go hand in hand. By Michal Lev-Ram The upside of failure A new book, Billion Dollar Lessons, makes the point that failure yields far more wisdom than success. By Jia Lynn Yang
Banking's French twist France's BNP Paribas may be the bank least affected by the financial meltdown. By Telis Demos Value Driven Our easy access to plastic is about to dry up - and with it our ability to fake living the good life. By Geoff Colvin Marketing Programmers are figuring out how to save TV advertising from TiVo: Make commericals seem like content. By Suzanne Kapner Investing
 Fastest-Growing Companies update Diet company NutriSystem, No. 1 on Fortune's 100 Fastest-Growing Companies list in 2007, is stalling in the economic slowdown. By Katie Benner
These stocks are rolling Railroads are benefiting from the global commodities boom - and the fact that trains are more fuel-efficient than trucks. By Paul R. La Monica
Right on your money More people are using reverse mortgages to unlock their home equity for retirement, but the costs are steep. By Eugenia Levenson Technology
 A chip too far Cutting-edge 'multi-core' microchips have gotten so complicated that companies from Microsoft to Apple to Intel say software writers can't keep up. The result could hurt computer sales. By Michael V. Copeland
Genomes 'r' us Pacific Biosciences says it will soon be able to decipher the genetic code faster and cheaper than ever. By Michael V. Copeland |
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