A Nativity scene is seen at the window of a house in the medieval mountain village of Luceram as part of Christmas holiday season, France, December 15, 2016. Luceram presents more than 450 creches (Nativity scenes) from the tiny to the huge yearly in December as part of the Circuit des Creches. (Photo by Eric Gaillard/Reuters)

A skydiver dressed as Santa Claus prepares to leap out of a plane as 155 tandem skydivers set a new Guinness World Record over eight hours, over the Australian city of Wollongong, December 17, 2016. (Photo by Jason Reed/Reuters)

Indians pause to pray after lighting candles as they and other Christians gather to celebrate Christmas at the Sacred Heart Cathedral on Christmas Day, December 25, 2011 in New Delhi, India. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak /Getty Images)

Born 1938 in New York, Melvin Sokolsky was a major figure in the revival of fashion photography from the 1960s. He was only 21 when he started working at Harper's Bazaar for which he produced the “Bubble” series of photographs depicting fashion models floating in giant clear plastic bubbles suspended in midair above the Seine river in Paris. Alongside his steady collaboration with Bazaar, he also worked for publications such as Vogue and the New York Times. Photo: “After Delvaux” – “Paris 1963” – Harper's Bazaar “Bubble” Spring Collection. (Photo by Melvin Sokolsky)

One of the two one-year-old albino alligator is seen in a vivarium at the Tropical aquarium in Paris. The two alligators are the result of a captive breeding program which protect endangered species and will presented to the public in a vivarium. (Photo by Philippe Wojazer/Reuters)

Antonina Petkovic walks the runway during the Jean Paul Gaultier Spring Summer 2016 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on January 27, 2016 in Paris, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

When a French politician remarked that a monument should be raised in honour of American independence at a dinner party in 1865 he probably didn't imagine that the result would become an international icon of freedom. ...