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Early cars, fashion on display at the Petersen

Automotivated, a new exhibit at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, traces the evolution of clothes worn in cars--from the bulky circus-tent stuff people had to wear to keep from freezing to death in the jangly, open-topped conveyances of 100 years ago, up to the height of the European Concours in the 1920s and '30s, when what you and your date wore was just as important to winning best of show as the styling of your Delahaye/Delage/Talbot Lago. “In the earliest days of the automobile, you were sitting on the car, you weren't sitting in it,” said Leslie Kendall, curator at the Petersen. So the first section of the exhibit shows people (mannequins dressed as people) in heavy, practical overcoats, scarves and goggles.

Nissan X-Trail N-TEC+ launched

Nissan has launched a new X-Trail model – the X-Trail N-Tec+ – with ‘Sporty’ looks and extra gadgets. Last year we got the Nissan X-Trail Platinum Edition with all the options ticked and a price of almost £30k, and now we get the sporty version – the Nissan X-Trail N-Tec+ – with more gadgets and extra kit at £27,790. Nissan are trumpeting the X-Trail N-Tec+ as the ‘Sporty’ X-Trail (if that’s not an oxymoron) and pitching it between the Acenta and Tekna versions.

Jaguar XJ makes Neiman Marcus Christmas wish list

The Halloween candy is still fresh, but the folks at Neiman Marcus are gearing up for Christmas. And one of the stars of this year's Christmas book from the upscale retailer is the redesigned Jaguar XJ sedan. When wishing for a flat-screen television or Coach purse just isn't dreaming big enough, there's the Jag XJL Supercharged Neiman Marcus edition.