At Met’s Fashion Benefit, Stars Honor Two Designers

By ERIC WILSON

From left: Charles Sykes/Associated Press; Larry Busacca/Getty Images (2,4); Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

From left: model Chanel Iman in a dress made of pheasant feathers molded to her body; actress Emma Stone wore a short pink dress made of plastic; Beyoncé in a gown that was sheer but beaded; Carey Mulligan, the actress who, as a co-chairwoman, wore a stiff gold halter made of shiny gold paillettes by Prada.

The gala, held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, compared Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada, whose work is separated by half a century.

The exhibit will be on display until Aug. 19.

Dream Dialogue Between Schiaparelli and Prada

By SUZY MENKES

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute stages an imaginary exchange between the legendary 1930s designer and Miuccia Prada.

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T Magazine

The Get | Prada Re-Edition Bag

By JANE HERMAN

Pieces from the Prada archive can now be had outside of the Met's Costume Institute, too.

Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s chief executive, says the company’s new effort is not about selling clothes at deep discounts but at prices that ensure “the designer brands are happy.”

Amazon Leaps Into High End of the Fashion Pool

By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD

Amazon is taking on the high-end clothing business in its typical way: go big and spare no expense.

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The Collection: A New Fashion App for the iPad

Get complete coverage of fashion and style and the latest looks from the runway.

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Design Notebook

In Milan, Plush Reality

By JULIE LASKY

Andrea Wyner for The New York Times

Sway lights by CKR for Established & Sons.

This year’s International Furniture Fair was marked by the contradictory pursuits of social consciousness and unrestrained luxury.

A House Tour: Yes, That House

By WILLIAM GRIMES

Kicking off the snooping season with the ultimate Washington address.

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In the Garden

In Praise of the Misunderstood Quince

By MICHAEL TORTORELLO

Quince, once de rigueur in America’s Colonial gardens, fell out of favor over the years. But some growers are still very attached to the fruit.

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Design Notebook

The Carson House in Eureka, Calif., center, is the apogee of Victorian style.

A Country’s Attic, on Display

By PENELOPE GREEN

The relationship between people and their homes is the subject of an exhibition at the National Building Museum in Washington.

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New Design From the Milan Furniture Fair

Highlights from the fair, where pieces made of industrial waste contrasted with deep-cushioned sofas that provide infantile comfort.

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In Seoul, Two Hanoks Make a Modern Home

An art professor and preservationist combined history and modernity in two traditional wooden structures.

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Glass Houses in the Countryside

In England, a modernist villa and a guest pavilion on a 23-acre estate.

Don’t Sing With Your Mouth Full

By DANIEL J. WAKIN

Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

Aleksandra Kurzak as Gretel in a scene from “Hansel and Gretel” at the Metropolitan Opera.

Opera, of all the art forms, is singularly associated with food, whether because of the appetites of well-girthed singers or the sensual pleasures celebrated in its music.

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The author Peter Kaminsky shopping for items that advance his theory that you can eat well by focusing on healthy items that deliver maximum flavor.

Eating Well Without the Flavor of Shame

By JEFF GORDINIER

In his new book, the veteran food writer Peter Kaminsky writes that by maximizing flavor, you can satisfy your food cravings with smaller portions.

Post Your Questions on Healthy (and Tasty) Eating

A Good Appetite

A New Breed of Roast Chicken, Cast-Iron Seared

By MELISSA CLARK

Splaying the bird and roasting it at high heat ensures crunchy, shiny, mahogany skin.

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New Dishes From WD-50

Wylie Dufresne, one of the most influential culinary minds on the planet, unveils dishes from the reinvented menu at his WD-50.

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Café China

Inside the Sichuan restaurant in Midtown that’s meant to evoke Shanghai before World War II.

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Sounds of the Kitchen

For a new generation of American chefs, one of the most crucial ingredients in the kitchen is audible, not edible.

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Steven Blier and James S. Russell

By KATHRYN SHATTUCK

Tina Fineberg for The New York Times

NEW YORK, APRIL 28 James S. Russell, right, puts the ring on Steven Blier. Robert Hughes, center, officiated.

So dismal was the love life of Steven Blier, the artistic director of the New York Festival of Song, he emphatically declared in the summer of 1996 that he was “Not. Dating. Capital N, capital D.”

Allegra Ford and Joshua Thomas

Allegra Charlotte Ford, the daughter of Anne Ford of New York and the late Giancarlo Uzielli, weds Joshua Thomas, with whom she owns a fitness center in Massachusetts.

Kristina Roddy and Earl Hunt II

By VINCENT M. MALLOZZI

The couple met in July 2006, but started dating after crossing paths again 18 months later.

Mary Kathryn Covert and Michael Steel

The bride, a vice president at a consulting firm, and the bridegroom, the press secretary for House Speaker John A. Boehner, marry in Mississippi.

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Field Notes

Jessica Schnaider, 41, spent eight days on a feeding tube, a process that costs $1,500 for 10 days, so she would fit into her wedding gown when she marries in Argentina in June. She had the tube removed early because she was losing too much weight.

Bridal Hunger Games

By LINDA LEE

Wedding photos (if not the marriage) are forever, so brides are increasingly going on crash diets, cowed by the prospect of wearing a revealing and expensive gown.