And with new restrictions on parties since the financial crisis, holiday gatherings have been decidedly understated.
Anyone else? "Glamour to me is about remaining graceful and understated," adds Kate Winslet, rather in awe of Audrey, but gathering herself.
Last Thursday, however, he unveiled the first of Apple's new line of mini-retail stores in Palo Alto, Calif., with an understated flourish in front of a small gathering of reporters, cameramen and Apple Computer employees.
The Maestro was deliberate and understated, and spoke with what sometimes seemed like an exaggerated gravitas, gathering his long fingers together like a piece of punctuation.
"Had General Dostum gone to another ticket, my winning would have become theoretical," Ghani said in the conservatory of his understated home in west Kabul, shortly before the Helmand gathering.
It's so elegant, chic and understated; inside are beautiful booths that are perfect for an intimate gathering but the restaurant doesn't feel pretentious or stuffy.
NEW DELHI – The release of Amitav Ghosh's latest historical novel, "River of Smoke," the second in a proposed trilogy about the China-Britain Opium Wars, prompted a celebratory gathering on Friday of Delhi's intellectuals at the understated but oh-so-expensive Aman Hotel here.
But though bringing such hospitals to heel may help in gathering statistics, their previously separate status does not help explain why Beijing's SARS figures were so seriously understated.
After more than a year of gathering evidence about the losses, federal prosecutors and the F.B.I. in Manhattan have concluded that the two employees understated the value of their trades to hide the problem from executives in New York.
