"I find it interesting to work with precious fabrics for unusual silhouettes, " said Rochas designer Marco Zanini, who offers a gold brocade pantsuit for resort.

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Sitting in his cosy private apartment decorated with gold brocade wall coverings, fine antique furniture and paintings, he explained to me how the Knights are changing.

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Some echo the extravagance of the setting, such as his twisted bronze figures playfully referencing 19th-century sculpture, which provide an aesthetic continuum with the gold brocade curtains, flocked wallpaper and gilded ornamentation that decorate the apartments.

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Every time she stepped on a stage, resplendent in gold brocade or high hats or a sheath of shiny leopard skin, she unleashed the power of music to thrill, shock, elevate, and set men and women free.

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Ushered into the living room by the secretary after a quarter of an hour, Husna gazed around her, as petitioners do, more tense than curious, taking in the worn gold brocade on the sofa, a large Chinese painting of horsemen over the rosewood mantel.

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