The U.S. Postal Service Is Getting into the ‘Wearable Electronics’ Business?

Yes, you read that headline right. Strapped for cash and obviously desperate, the United States Postal Service is launching a new line of “‘smart apparel,’ — also known as wearable electronics.” The mailmen-turned-fashionistas will call the new line Rain Heat & Snow, first for men and later for women, and while it’s unclear exactly how smart the apparel gets, reports suggest that you’ll  be able to plug your iPod into your new Postal Service jacket. The agency’s licensing manager, Steven Mills, says that the new line “will put the Postal Service on the cutting edge of functional fashion.” Which is basically true. When was the last time you plugged your iPod into your jacket? That said, when was the last time you used an iPod? Or the U.S. Postal Service?

RELATED: Snail Mail Is Still Too Fast for the U.S. Postal Service

It’s hard to not to give the old USPS a slow clap for this one. It would be one thing if the Postal Service wanted to sell some t-shirts and Dad ties with pictures of stamps on them — they actually tried that back in the 80s, and it didn’t work — but it sounds like they’re actually going after serious outerwear brands like North Face and Burton Snowboards with this one. It’s unclear if the Postal Service can keep up, though. Burton, for one, has a head start, since it partnered with Motorola and released a Bluetooth-enabled snowboarding jacket with a matching, headphone studded beanie back in 2005. The geeks at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) loved it, called it “space age.” The Postal Service, by contrast, opted not to take the fancy brand-name strategy, instead teaming up with the Cleveland-based Wahconah Group. You might know them from their Legends line of men’s clothing, but you probably don’t.

RELATED: The U.S. Postal Service Lost $ 3.3 Billion Last Quarter

The big question remains: Will it work? The Postal Service lost $ 16 billion last year and plans to halt Saturday mail service in an attempt to cut costs and dig itself out of debt. Unfortunately, the drastic measure will cut 22,000 jobs, but it will only save the agency $ 2 billion a year. Suffice it to say that the Postal Service needed to get creative with their revenue streams — and you can’t get much more creative than cyborg jackets. After all, the new ad campaign last year didn’t work, and the Simpson’s stamp venture definitely didn’t work. So why not get into the outdoor gear business? If anybody knows anything about being outside, it’s those letter carriers, right? You know the riff: “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stay these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”

RELATED: Your Pants Are Lying to You

Here’s a little bit of encouraging news. Other companies have tried the apparel route in the past, albeit without the whole sexy wearable electronics angle. Apple released its own clothing line in 1986, and look at where the company is now!

Gadgets News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Mindy McCready: Under Police Scrutiny at Time of Suicide?

By Steve Helling and Mike Fleeman

02/18/2013 at 06:00 PM EST

Mindy McCready and David Wilson

Courtesy Mindy McCready

When Mindy McCready talked to police in recent weeks, her account of how her boyfriend came to be found with a fatal gunshot wound to the head concerned police, a law enforcement source tells PEOPLE.

"At first, she said she hadn't heard the gunshot because the TV was too loud. Then she said she had heard the gunshot," the source says. "So obviously there were a lot of questions, and the Sheriff was asking for clarification."

But before investigators could re-interview her, the long-troubled country singer also would die under eerily similar circumstances, her body discovered at the same Heber Springs, Ark., house just feet away from where David Wilson died.

McCready's death was blamed on what "appears to be a single self-inflicted gunshot wound," the Cleburne County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.

This differed from how the sheriff characterized Wilson's case. His cause and manner of death still have not been established by the coroner. It was McCready's publicist, and not a law enforcement official, who announced that Wilson had died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

After Wilson's death, McCready, 37, spoke to investigators three times, but they didn't feel as if they were through with her.

"At no point did [police] tell her she was a suspect, and she wasn't officially one," says the source. "But she knew that some of her answers didn't stand up to questioning. She was very cooperative, but she just wasn't making a lot of sense."

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Hip implants a bit more likely to fail in women

CHICAGO (AP) — Hip replacements are slightly more likely to fail in women than in men, according to one of the largest studies of its kind in U.S. patients. The risk of the implants failing is low, but women were 29 percent more likely than men to need a repeat surgery within the first three years.

The message for women considering hip replacement surgery remains unclear. It's not known which models of hip implants perform best in women, even though women make up the majority of the more than 400,000 Americans who have full or partial hip replacements each year to ease the pain and loss of mobility caused by arthritis or injuries.

"This is the first step in what has to be a much longer-term research strategy to figure out why women have worse experiences," said Diana Zuckerman, president of the nonprofit National Research Center for Women & Families. "Research in this area could save billions of dollars" and prevent patients from experiencing the pain and inconvenience of surgeries to fix hip implants that go wrong.

Researchers looked at more than 35,000 surgeries at 46 hospitals in the Kaiser Permanente health system. The research, published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine, was funded by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

After an average of three years, 2.3 percent of the women and 1.9 percent of the men had undergone revision surgery to fix a problem with the original hip replacement. Problems included instability, infection, broken bones and loosening.

"There is an increased risk of failure in women compared to men," said lead author Maria Inacio, an epidemiologist at Southern California Permanente Medical Group in San Diego. "This is still a very small number of failures."

Women tend to have smaller joints and bones than men, and so they tend to need smaller artificial hips. Devices with smaller femoral heads — the ball-shaped part of the ball-and-socket joint in an artificial hip — are more likely to dislocate and require a surgical repair.

That explained some, but not all, of the difference between women and men in the study. It's not clear what else may have contributed to the gap. Co-author Dr. Monti Khatod, an orthopedic surgeon in Los Angeles, speculated that one factor may be a greater loss of bone density in women.

The failure of metal-on-metal hips was almost twice as high for women than in men. The once-popular models were promoted by manufacturers as being more durable than standard plastic or ceramic joints, but several high-profile recalls have led to a decrease in their use in recent years.

"Don't be fooled by hype about a new hip product," said Zuckerman, who wrote an accompanying commentary in the medical journal. "I would not choose the latest, greatest hip implant if I were a woman patient. ... At least if it's been for sale for a few years, there's more evidence for how well it's working."

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Online:

Journal: http://www.jamainternalmed.com

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Asian shares listless, yen firmer but near lows

TOKYO (Reuters) - Most Asian shares barely moved on Tuesday as a holiday in the U.S. overnight and a lack of catalysts kept many investors on the sidelines.

Concerns about the euro zone economy, U.S. fiscal talks and Chinese appetite limited gains in commodities and also weighed on the euro.

The dollar's strength against a basket of currencies <.dxy> also weighed on commodities and capped gains in gold.

"Markets have become top-heavy after rallying through early February on signs of economic recovery in the United States and Europe, and investors now await fresh factors to push prices higher from here," said Tomomichi Akuta, senior economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting in Tokyo.

"The broad sentiment is underpinned by a lack of tail risks, but investors are turning to some potentially worrying elements such as Italian elections and U.S. budget talks," he said.

The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.miapj0000pus> was flat after briefly touching a 18-1/2-month high. The index has gained 3.5 percent this year.

Disappointing earnings pushed European shares lower on Monday for a third straight session while U.S. markets were closed for the President's Day holiday.

The risk of an inconclusive outcome in Italy's election this weekend added to concerns while investors kept eyes on Washington where policymakers are discussing a package of budget cuts set to kick in March 1, which analysts warn could hurt the economy.

"We didn't have a lead from Wall St overnight, we also had weakness coming through from European markets overnight, so we were never expecting a strong day," said Juliette Saly, stock market analyst at Commonwealth Securities in Sydney.

Australian shares <.axjo> edged up 0.1 percent as investors focused on local corporate earnings for direction after a three-month rally that has taken the market to 4-1/2 year highs.

The Nikkei stock average <.n225> eased 0.2 percent, after closing up 2.1 percent on Monday to approach its highest level since September 2008 of 11,498.42 tapped on February 6. <.t/>

Spot gold was up 0.3 percent at $1,614.01 an ounce.

London copper inched up 0.3 percent to $8,144 a tonne as Monday's three-week low drew bargain hunting given prospects for a slowly improving global economic recovery. Unease over China's limp return to the market from a week-long break held back upside momentum, however.

U.S. crude fell 0.3 percent to $95.59 a barrel while Brent inched up 0.1 percent to $117.48.

The euro was steady around $1.3344. The currency eased slightly on Monday after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said in a speech at the European Parliament that "the exchange rate is not a policy target but is important for growth and price stability" and that its rise is "a risk."

YEN JITTERY

The yen remained near recent lows on Tuesday, as attention turned to the appointment of a new Bank of Japan governor.

The yen, which has dropped 20 percent against the dollar since mid-November, fell further at the start of the week after financial leaders from the G20 promised not to devalue their currencies to boost exports and avoided singling out Japan for any direct criticism.

The choice of the next BOJ governor and two deputies has drawn attention as a gauge of how strongly Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is committed to reflating the economy. The G20's message was that as long as Japan pursues aggressive monetary easing to achieve that goal, a weaker yen as a result of such domestic monetary policy will be tolerated, analysts say.

"But that means that some other economy's monetary conditions have been tightened," said Barclays Capital in a note.

"Japan hasn't even changed its policy stance thus far, and the effect of expectations of a looser setting have led to limited moves in domestic interest rates, but the sell-off of the JPY has been marked and has clearly caused unease in other economies," the note said.

Market reaction was muted to the release of the minutes of the BOJ's January 21-22 meeting, when the bank set a 2 percent inflation target and pledged an open-ended quantitative easing from 2014. But the yen was bought when Finance Minister Taro Aso told reporters Japan has no plans to buy foreign currency bonds as part of monetary easing, a trader said.

The dollar was down 0.2 percent to 93.73 yen, but remained near its highest since May 2010 of 94.465 hit on February 11. The euro also eased 0.3 percent to 125.05 yen, below its peak since April 2010 of 127.71 yen touched on February 6.

(Additional reporting by Maggie Lu Yueyang and Thuy Ong in Sydney; Editing by Richard Borsuk)

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India Ink: Kalyan Anand, the Sadhu From Madhya Pradesh

Why do millions of Indians, sometimes entire villages, brave the crowds to attend the Kumbh Mela? India Ink interviewed some of the estimated 100 million pilgrims who traveled to this year’s Kumbh Mela at Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, a 55-day pilgrimage during which Hindus take a holy dip in the Ganges River to wash away their sins.

Kalyan Anand, 46, a sadhu from Chitrakoot town of Madhya Pradesh was one among them. This is what he had to say.

Why did you come to the Kumbh Mela this year? Is this your first time?

I have been coming to the Kumbh for 20 years now. I have gone everywhere there is a Kumbh – Ujjain, Nashik, Haridwar and Allahabad. The purity of River Ganges never ceases to fascinate me. I come to each Kumbh to try and make myself as pure as Mother Ganges.

How have you found it so far?

This one is particularly crowded. They have significantly restricted the bathing area for the sadhus to accommodate the common folk. That is a disappointment. But otherwise, the energy in a Kumbh is always infectious.

Describe your journey to the Kumbh. Did you travel alone? How long did it take?

I travel with my ashram wherever I go.

What does religion mean to you? Do you consider yourself a religious person?

Internal cleansing – that is the basis of religion. Our ancestors strived for it. We should all too. It becomes our inherent responsibility. When everyone on this earth is conscious of his sins, imagine how pure the world will become? Just the mere knowledge will ensure you don’t err in the future.

Who do you think is going to win the 2014 election? Have you ever cast a vote?

We are people who are beyond these things. I haven’t cast a vote all my life.

(The interview was translated from Hindi.)

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Pirate Bay reports anti-piracy group to Finnish police for alleged copyright infringement

Give the Pirate Bay this much — they certainly have a refined sense of irony. TorrentFreak reports that the Pirate Bay has asked the Economic Crime division of Finland’s police department to investigate an anti-piracy organization for allegedly copying several of the Pirate Bay’s design aspects for its own website. According to TorrentFreak, the Pirate Bay is upset that the Copyright Information and Anti-Piracy Centre (CIAPC) has allegedly “copied the site’s homepage and the CSS file,” which “is a direct violation of The Pirate Bay’s usage policy which specifically prohibits organizations’ use of any site material without permission.” And yes, for those wondering, the Pirate Bay does understand the irony of what it’s doing.

[More from BGR: Broadband ISPs put to the test: Real data speeds vs. advertised speeds charted by FCC]

“While The Pirate Bay may have a positive view on copying, it will not stand by and watch copyright enforcing organizations disrespect copyright,” writes Pirate Bay blogger Winston. “CIAPC is like an ugly high school bully without friends. It’s time to take a stand. Cyber bullying is a serious matter to us all.”

[More from BGR: We’ll be live from HTC’s press conference tomorrow at 10:00AM!]

For those who don’t recall, CIAPC last year took some heat for pushing Finnish police to raid the home of a 9-year-old Pirate Bay user and seize her “Winnie the Poor” laptop. CIAPC eventually decided to drop charges against the girl and her father, who had allegedly ignored the organization’s request to pay a €600 fine to settle copyright violations.

This article was originally published on BGR.com

Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Downton Abbey's Season 3 Finale: Shocking, Says PEOPLE's TV Critic

Downton Abbey

By Tom Gliatto

02/17/2013 at 10:00 PM EST

Downton Abbey season 3 cast

Carnival Film & Television/PBS

Downton Abbey's third season finale on PBS's Masterpiece was, to say the least, a spoiler's paradise. The episode, which saw the Granthams and servants going on holiday in the Scottish Highlands, started on a joyful note – Lady Mary was pregnant! – and ended with a shock that would have knocked the hat off Lady Violet wobbling head.

SPOLIER ALERT: Major plot points to be revealed immediately.

Cousin Matthew (Dan Stevens) died in a car accident. He was driving back to Downton, so happy he was practically whistling, just after Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) had given birth to their son – the male Downton heir everyone has been so obsessed with since Season 1.

Many viewers probably saw this coming: For one thing, Stevens had said he was thinking of decamping before season 4 started shooting. And after the finale had its premiere broadcast in Britain in December, he blabbed all about it, including for an interview posted online by The New York Times.

Even so, the death was almost sadistically abrupt and arbitrary, especially after the soft tenderness and growing love between Mary and Matthew in recent episodes. Now we saw dead poor Matthew dumped on the cold mossy ground, eyes wide open.

You can never be sure Downton writer-creator Julian Fellowes won't pull some shameless stunt to kick-start a story – in season 2 Matthew, paralyzed during the war, suddenly leaped out of his wheelchair – but he seemed to want us to be sure that Matthew was 100% gone. I wouldn't have been surprised if the car backed over the corpse.

So ended a terribly sad season of Downton.

We already suffered the loss in childbirth of Lady Sybil (Jessica Brown Findlay). Her deathbed scene was unflinching and deeply moving as she gasped for breath and called for help. Her poor mother (Elizabeth McGovern) sobbed in despair, and the doctors couldn't agree on what to do.

Millions of viewers cried, too, and sighed for a long time afterward. Those who didn't are probably evil.

That scene was the heart of the season: Sybil was so beautiful and kind and gracious and spirited, and so different from her fractious sisters. It was if one were to discover a rare, transcendent soul among the Kardashians. Her death robbed the show of a lovely presence, and also brought out the best moments yet from McGovern and Maggie Smith, as Lady Violet.

It never ceases to annoy me, to be honest, that Lady Violet's feeble witticisms are treated as if they were Oscar Wilde one-liners on loan, like Harry Winston jewels. If you want real witticisms, try any contemporary American sitcom, including FX's Archer.

But this season, as Violet grieved, we saw how much depth Smith can invest in a single moment. At one point in the finale, she looked up as dinner was announced, and in her enormous eyes you saw a woman who wished she could just chuck the whole damn thing and dwell on her memories.

I wish I could say I will miss Matthew, but all in all an unattached Lady Mary is better than a married one. She was never sexier than in the first season, when she sneaked off to bed with velvety, sensual Mr. Pamuk, who unfortunately kicked the bucket while they made love.

Mary is a wonderful creation – the show's most original, complex character – capable of bouncing from romance to sorrow to sarcasm. You could say her love for Matthew transformed her, but it also had the potential to dull her.

Matthew was blandly handsome and good and patient and full of improving notions, but not terribly exciting. He was like a Bachelor from a much earlier period.

There isn't much else to say about the finale. Fellowes worked through a number of plots with his usual tangy glibness. The performances were all delightful, tart, full of emotion, humor and regret.

For now, we can look forward to Lady Mary at her most beautiful, because most woeful, in season 4.

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Study: Better TV might improve kids' behavior

SEATTLE (AP) — Teaching parents to switch channels from violent shows to educational TV can improve preschoolers' behavior, even without getting them to watch less, a study found.

The results were modest and faded over time, but may hold promise for finding ways to help young children avoid aggressive, violent behavior, the study authors and other doctors said.

"It's not just about turning off the television. It's about changing the channel. What children watch is as important as how much they watch," said lead author Dr. Dimitri Christakis, a pediatrician and researcher at Seattle Children's Research Institute.

The research was to be published online Monday by the journal Pediatrics.

The study involved 565 Seattle parents, who periodically filled out TV-watching diaries and questionnaires measuring their child's behavior.

Half were coached for six months on getting their 3-to-5-year-old kids to watch shows like "Sesame Street" and "Dora the Explorer" rather than more violent programs like "Power Rangers." The results were compared with kids whose parents who got advice on healthy eating instead.

At six months, children in both groups showed improved behavior, but there was a little bit more improvement in the group that was coached on their TV watching.

By one year, there was no meaningful difference between the two groups overall. Low-income boys appeared to get the most short-term benefit.

"That's important because they are at the greatest risk, both for being perpetrators of aggression in real life, but also being victims of aggression," Christakis said.

The study has some flaws. The parents weren't told the purpose of the study, but the authors concede they probably figured it out and that might have affected the results.

Before the study, the children averaged about 1½ hours of TV, video and computer game watching a day, with violent content making up about a quarter of that time. By the end of the study, that increased by up to 10 minutes. Those in the TV coaching group increased their time with positive shows; the healthy eating group watched more violent TV.

Nancy Jensen, who took part with her now 6-year-old daughter, said the study was a wake-up call.

"I didn't realize how much Elizabeth was watching and how much she was watching on her own," she said.

Jensen said her daughter's behavior improved after making changes, and she continues to control what Elizabeth and her 2-year-old brother, Joe, watch. She also decided to replace most of Elizabeth's TV time with games, art and outdoor fun.

During a recent visit to their Seattle home, the children seemed more interested in playing with blocks and running around outside than watching TV.

Another researcher who was not involved in this study but also focuses his work on kids and television commended Christakis for taking a look at the influence of positive TV programs, instead of focusing on the impact of violent TV.

"I think it's fabulous that people are looking on the positive side. Because no one's going to stop watching TV, we have to have viable alternatives for kids," said Dr. Michael Rich, director of the Center on Media and Child Health at Children's Hospital Boston.

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Online:

Pediatrics: http://www.pediatrics.org

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Contact AP Writer Donna Blankinship through Twitter (at)dgblankinship

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Japan stocks rally, yen resumes fall after G20

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese shares jumped closer to a four-year high as the yen slumped on Monday after Tokyo dodged direct criticism from G20 peers on the aggressive reflation plans that have weakened the currency.

The G20 opted not to single out Tokyo, but committed members to refrain from competitive devaluations and said monetary policy would be directed only at price stability and growth. Japan said this decision is a green light to pursue its expansionary policies.

The dollar soared 0.7 percent to 94.17 yen inching closer to its highest since May 2010 of 94.465 hit on February 11. The euro added 0.3 percent to 125.51 yen, still below its peak since April 2010 of 127.71 yen touched on February 6.

The Nikkei average <.n225> jumped 2.3 percent as exporters and banks led the pack on the softening yen. <.t/>

The market's focus is now on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's nominee for the next Bank of Japan governor. Abe is expected to announce his choice in coming days.

Sources told Reuters that former top financial bureaucrat Toshiro Muto is leading the field of candidates to govern the bank. He is expected to intensify stimulus efforts to energize the economy.

"The G20's message is that monetary easing is OK, but not to imply anything about leading a currency weaker. The G20 effect is already seen in Abe's general comments on forex today which steered away from giving specifics on a preferred level or direction for the yen," said Yunosuke Ikeda, a senior FX strategist at Nomura Securities.

Abe said on Monday that the BOJ's monetary easing is aimed at beating deflation, not at manipulating the forex market and weakening the yen, and said correcting excessive yen rises would be an appropriate policy direction. Previously, Japanese officials have noted that the current yen selling was a correction to the past excessive yen strength.

The yen's weakness weighed on emerging Asian currencies while South Korean shares <.ks11> eased 0.3 percent on concerns about the eroding competitive edge for the country's exporters.

"Japan will keep seeking the current policy. The rest of Asia will not just wait and see. That will put more pressure on Asian currencies," said Yuna Park, a currency and bond analyst at Dongbu Securities in Seoul.

A weaker yen would make other currencies relatively stronger against the dollar and fuel speculation that other Asian countries could step in to curb the strength of their currencies, Ikeda said.

The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.miapj0000pus> eased 0.2 percent. The pan-Asian index briefly hit a 18-1/2-month high on Friday and had its best performance since the week of January 6 with a 1.2 percent weekly gain.

On Friday, MSCI's all-country world index <.miwd00000pus>, a measure of global equity activity, traded down 0.26 percent, while European shares closed lower and U.S. stocks ended flat.

Australian shares rose 0.5 percent as miners gained on hopes that top customer China might start buying after the Lunar New Year holidays, while blue chips Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Telstra Corp Ltd dropped after trading ex-dividend.

Markets in China and Taiwan resumed trading after a week-long holiday.

STOCKS CONSOLIDATE

Data from EPFR Global on Friday underscored that a consolidation was underway in global equities after their recent rally. It showed investors worldwide pulled $3.62 billion from U.S. stock funds in the latest week, the most in ten weeks after taking a neutral stance the prior week. But demand for emerging market equities remained strong, with investors putting $1.81 billion in new cash into stock funds, the fund-tracking firm said.

Demand for commodities will likely be in focus as China returns to the market.

Investors are also expected to focus on fiscal talks in Washington, where policymakers are discussing a package of budget cuts set to kick in on March 1. Analysts say the austerity measures could hurt the U.S. economy.

U.S. crude fell 0.2 percent to $95.63 a barrel but Brent inched up 0.1 percent to $117.81.

Gold rebounded from a six-month low on Monday as bargain hunters resurfaced and jewelers in China returned to the physical market after the Lunar New Year holiday, but a firm U.S. dollar was likely to limit the upside.

(The story corrects Nikkei near 4-year high, not 33-month, in bullet and lead paragraph.)

(Additional reporting by Jongwoo Cheon; in Singapore; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Eric Meijer)

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India Ink: Modern in Mumbai

Cecilia Morelli Parikh is still a woman on a mission. Nearly two years ago, with Julie Leymarie and Aurélie de Limelette, she opened Le Mill, a multibrand fashion and home store, in a converted warehouse in a gritty section of Mumbai, India, which brought a contemporary Western aesthetic to an affluent Indian shopper. Last November, Morelli Parikh and her co-founders (Leymarie is a former L’Oréal executive; de Limelette has designed numerous displays for Hermès) rolled out a second store, this one in the city’s decidedly fancier Breach Candy area. Morelli Parikh describes the first store’s location as the equivalent of New York’s “meatpacking district, 30 years ago,” while the new store’s surroundings are “the Upper East Side.”

At 1,900 square feet, the second Le Mill is much smaller than the 15,000-square-foot flagship store (which, as of next month, will carry only home products, including the store’s own furniture and tabletop lines, designed by de Limelette, as well as European brands like Carl Hansen & Son, Gervasoni and Gubi). In contrast to the flagship’s industrial look — the name Le Mill refers to the building’s early life as a rice mill — the new store is “more polished,” Morelli Parikh says. The entry floor is painted in a gray and white abstract geometric pattern; the cashier’s desk is a shipping container painted glossy white. It’s the perfect backdrop for the store’s sharply focused fashion offerings — from contemporary labels like 3.1 Phillip Lim, Alexander Wang, Erdem and the Row — as well as jewelry by Mawi, En Inde, Shourouk and Tom Binns, among others, and gift items and tableware.

This spare but sensual look — in design as well as fashion — is what Morelli Parikh and her co-founders want to bring to the Indian luxury goods market, which still lags well behind that of, say, China. It wasn’t that long ago that Indian women began to abandon traditional dress for Western fashion, and even then they often chose flashy over fashion-forward. Add India’s high import duties and the fact that affluent Indians, who travel frequently, prefer to shop in London, Dubai and New York, and the women behind Le Mill had their work cut out for them.

But none of this fazes the American-born, London-raised Morelli Parikh, who, after working at Bergdorf Goodman, married Rohan Parikh — who runs the real estate and construction branch of his family’s shipping company, Apurva Natvar Parikh Group, or A.N.P.G. — and settled in Mumbai two years ago. She noticed a lack of multibrand stores, and realized that while many Western fashion and home products are made in India, with its traditions of craftsmanship, those goods — and their contemporary aesthetic — were generally not available there. So she, Leymarie and de Limelette set about “bringing that heritage into the 21st century,” away from heavy and ornate toward a lighter, more modern take on tradition.

It is no surprise that the apartment that Morelli Parikh and her husband share, in an Art Deco building on Marine Road (which has one of the largest concentration of Art Deco buildings in the world), embodies her “more natural, raw, delicate” outlook. The 2,400-square-foot space’s monochromatic restraint is leavened by contemporary Indian artworks and luxurious touches like the master bedroom’s inlaid marble floor. The furnishings are a mix of de Limelette’s understated pieces for Le Mill, Western classics like a Carl Hansen & Son lounge chair and contemporary works like dining chairs by BDDW in New York (available by special order at Le Mill). The look is comfortable and stylish, but modern.

And that is exactly the direction that Morelli Parikh is taking with Le Mill’s second store. Now that younger, less mainstream designers have proven to be successful, Le Mill has introduced fashion from what Morelli Parikh calls “even edgier” labels like Peter Pilotto and Mary Katrantzou. Still, Morelli Parikh explains that there’s a market for more classic clothing, so this month Joseph will join the store’s designer roster. But its biggest move to date will be the addition of Azzedine Alaïa in March. Morelli Parikh explains that the designer already has a following among the store’s core customers, about 50 women who represent a good 60 percent of Le Mill’s ready-to-wear business. “Alaïa is sexy, but it’s so chic,” she says.

Le Mill is forging ahead with plans to open stores in other prosperous Indian cities, like Delhi and Bangalore, and an e-commerce site will make its debut next month: “There is lots of wealth in third- and fourth-tier cities where there are no shops,” Morelli Parikh says. Being a tastemaker in a brave new world is “incredibly challenging,” she adds, “but really fun.”

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