Canyon Partners LLC, a money manager founded by bond experts from the former "junk"-bond shop Drexel Burnham Lambert, and CQS, a London hedge-fund firm founded by U.K. millionaire Michael Hintze, recently launched new investment funds to take advantage of bargains in distressed mortgage debt.

WSJ: Toxic? Says Who? Taste

But investors aren't being adequately compensated for the risks they are taking, says Martin Fridson, CEO of FridsonVision, a high-yield-bond research shop.

WSJ: Is It Time to Trash Junk Bonds?

British billionaire Laurence Graff, the man jewelry business insiders call the new Harry Winston, swears this story is true: A woman and her husband walk into Graff's shop on London's swanky New Bond Street and ask to see the stunning diamond-and-ruby necklace in the window.

FORBES: King of Bling

The deal calls for expanded production of McQueen's womenswsear and menswear lines by Gucci's manufacturers, a rollout of McQueen boutiques in London (a flagship store on Bond Street), Tokyo and New York (near Stella McCartney's shop by the semi-gentrified meatpacking district) and for Alexander McQueen ready-to-wear collections to be shown in Paris.

FORBES: Fashion's Hard Case

Speaking of men's style, we published this in-depth story on how sites like Park and Bond and CLAD are banking on the stereotype that men don't like to shop in stores to draw an audience for full-priced luxury brands.

CNN: The roundup: New York Fashion Week

The days when any large-ish bank could set up shop, load its balance sheet with debt and become an also-ran in anything from bond underwriting to complex derivatives are over.

WSJ: Wall Street Giants Try a New Business Model