Rising from the ashes of 9/11, the new 1 World Trade Center tower has punched above the New York skyline to reach its powerfully symbolic height of 541m and become the tallest building in the country. Or has it?

The opening look at Victoria Beckham's show was a windowpane plaid coat. She also incorporated more sweaters and knits into her collection, with a nod to mod with some geometric, colourblocked shift dresses. The most unexpected looks were the flashes of bright yellow, including a sleeveless trench; the techno shine she added to pleated skirts that the audience could only see as the models walked; and the long cape-style tuxedo coat. One of the important evolutions for autumn is the softer shoulder, which she used to tweak one of her popular zip-back, slim-fit dress silhouettes. For shoes, she put models in lower kitten heels, made in collaboration with Manolo Blahnik, which was a bit of a surprise for a woman known for skyscraper stilettos.

Claims by New York's newest resident and elusive artist Banksy that the new World Trade Center is a "disaster" have caused a stir in the Big Apple.

A woman and her four small children were 'cut and butchered' with a kitchen knife in New York city - allegedly by her husband's cousin.

As Halloween approaches, Heather Tyler finds some scary treats for travellers in the US.

Non-traditional urban accommodation providers are appealing to travellers in Austria and New York.

Megan Singleton laces up and takes a look at the world's premier marathons worth making the trip for.

As New York City's three-term Mayor, multi-billionaire Michael Bloomberg, reaches the twilight of his 12-year reign over the Big Apple, the fight to fill his shoes entered a nail-biting phase this week.

Life in lower Manhattan resembled any ordinary day as workers rushed to their jobs in the muggy heat, but time stood still at the World Trade Center site while families wept for loved ones who perished in the terror attacks 12 years ago.

The mayor who has helped orchestrate the 9/11 observances from their start will be watching for his last time in office. And saying nothing.

Military touches are shorthand in high fashion for strength and confidence. Gurung added some exclamation points, specifically citing as his muse a woman in combat. There has been much in the news - and Gurung is a newshound - about the Pentagon's decision to open more on-the-ground options to women and also technological advances in women's body armour. "They're redesigning the whole uniform for women because all this while they've been wearing men's uniform,'' he said backstage. That led Gurung to think about women's empowerment, all the way to women he read about from the Ukraine who are coming together in self-defence against human trafficking. There were smart jackets with gold hardware and some with red-and-black brocades, crisp navy suits, and leather harnesses over stretch-crepe dresses with sexy slashes on the bodice and asymmetric peplums and hemlines. There had to be a little femininity mixed in with the aggressiveness, Gurung explained, because it's femininity that gives women their best tool "to rule a man's world.''

It was that easy: Stuart woke up one day thinking about how stylish British model Stella Tennant and her friends were, so Stuart thought she would create a wardrobe just for them. She aimed to dress an aristocratic fashion risk-taker for all those parties at castles in the English countryside. "I was thinking about the beautiful dinners and the charades she and her friends play, and the great performances they see at the end of the night,'' Stuart said backstage. Her offerings include a plum-coloured halter dress covered in satin flowers, a more tailored dress in black wool with more sharply cut flowers, and a white sheer man-tailored shirt paired with black evening shorts and a full-cut long black coat.

Miller's collection was called "Menswear With a Twist: Raiding the Boyfriend's Closet.'' It was the good girl meets bad boy, packing a wardrobe of tough leather jackets, pleated skirts and several fedoras for the adventure. No apologies to mum. There were particularly short knit dresses and a skin-hugging corset dress in a print called "tatooage,'' which looked exactly as it sounds. And there were outfits more in line with what's expected from Miller, including a long dress in a wallflower print with a ruffle front and a stretch-denim dress with sexy net inserts. The black matte-jersey, floor-length dress, with a dropped leather waist and notched V neck, that closed the show was the right high note to leave on. But where Miller saw "golf pants'' on a pair of loose baggy trousers paired with a burned out velvet-and-georgette blouse, the audience might have seen glorified sweats.

Kenneth Cole has returned to New York Fashion Week after a seven-year hiatus.

Nikhil Kumar braves the city's manic streets to put the new bicycle-hire scheme to the test.

We rode in a giddy peloton, three backpackers on bikes at about 3am on a warm June morning. Paris was still, traffic was distant, and the only thing to break the peace was our faux race commentary.

Dance music stars Swedish House Mafia have officially disbanded after playing their final show at Florida's Ultra Music Festival on Sunday.

Welfare benefits will go up by just 0.61 per cent from April 1 because the Government has decided not to give beneficiaries any compensation for higher cigarette prices.

New Zealand rapper David Dallas is one of the Kiwi visitors enjoying the fare at the Dub Pie Shop in New York.

Head to Upper Manhattan for a real taste of New York, writes Charlotte McDonald-Gibson.

Take a look behind the scenes look at the Fall 2013 NY Fashion Week.