Fashion Trends & Tours in Italy

The women’s fashion week in Milan ended Saturday. A few themes and features of the collections fall-winter 2006-2007 showed by Versace, Fendi, and Roberto Cavalli.

- Donatella Versace, showed a collection based on geometric silhouettes, avoiding the fur trimming and embroidery so heavily featured in most of the shows seen in this fashion week. A-shaped high-collared coats belted at the waist, and triangular shaped mini dresses for the daytime, and seductive silk gowns for evening, have mostly underlined the Donatella Versace show.
British actress Elizabeth Hurley was Donatella Versace’s special guest.

- Roberto Cavalli showed a soft feminine collection. The look was well-mannered with the silhouette caressing the body; the colection featured many coats trimmed in chinchilla, and light chiffon gowns decorated with bird feathers and sequins.

- Fendi collection was inspired by 14th century Italian art. It featured voluminous cashmere cape coats, micro-pleated bubble skirts and a swathe of Fendi furs, from chinchilla to ermine, sable and shearling lamb. The famous Fendi bags underlined the luxurious mood of the collection.

According to a survey conducted by the market research company ACNielsen, Giorgio Armani, Gucci, and Versace are the three favorite fashion brands.

The survey was conducted among 21,000 online consumers in 42 countries in Europe, Asia and the Pacific region, the United Arab Emirates, and North and Latin America. It was polled a sample of Internet users in each country who are representative of the percentage of the population who shop online.

Consumers were asked which designer labels they already owned and which they would buy if money were no object.
The study revealed that Armani, Gucci, and Versace were ranked respectively as first, second , and third in the table of most coveted brands. (Source)

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Saturday, February 18 was the kick-off for Milano Moda Donna 2006, the Women’s Fashion shows Fall/Winter 2006/2007 in Milan.

The shows that run through Feb 26, feature 101 women’s fashion collections for Fall/Winter 2006/2007 season.

Below, the complete schedule of the collections will be presented through Sunday, February 26.

Time — Designer —-> Address

Mon Feb 20
09:00 — Debora Sinibaldi —-> Milano Moda Donna - Sala D

10:00 — Blugirl —-> Milano Moda Donna - Padiglione 17

11:00 —

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A conference organized jointly by the Norwegian design institute Norsk Form and Italian Institute of Culture, on interaction fashion & design, will be held in Oslo, during the Oslo Fashion week (Feb15 - 19).

The conference will be featuring three interaction design experts: British Suzanne Lee, author of ‘Fashioning the future’, Italian designer Francesca Rosella and American Ryan Genz, founder of CuteCircuit.

As experts in “wearable technologies” and “interaction design” Francesca Rosella and Ryan Genz will explain a few prototypes of interactive fashion they created. Among them: the ‘hug-shirt’, shirt rendering a huge feeling, and the ‘kinetic dress’, dress changing color based on the emotions of people who wear it. (Source)

In Winter Olympics, as in any other big sport venue, look, fashion, and athletes’ outfits are important to draw the attention of attendance and TV viewers.

Giorgio Armani is outfitting 30 of the Italian athletes featuring in the Winter Olympics of Turin, plus some of NBC’s commentators.

Among the companies outfitting the Olympians, Canadian retailer Roots is in charge of the outfits for the closing ceremony as well as some of the clothing the team will wear while hanging out in the Olympic village.
Michael Budman, Roots co-founder, says:

Our designers drew inspiration from the 1956 Cortina Games. What we came up with is something we call `retro futurism,’ we went back to move forward. The high-tech clothing component is there for performance, but the look, especially the use of white, is definitely retro.”
(Source)

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Versace, after completing the renovation of one of its stores in New York - at 647 Fifth Avenue, has released the figures about the sales increase reported in NYC over the last five months.
Giancarlo Di Risio, chief executive officer of Versace, says:

“Versace has increased its local New York client base by 25 percent over the last five months, even after closing its store at 815 Madison Avenue in 2004. For the month of January, the flagship had a 30 percent sales increase.
We’ve noticed our business with department stores has also increased, especially Saks Fifth Avenue, they’ve confirmed our local clientele.” (Source)

And on the store renovation, he explains:

“It represents a whole new life for Versace in America. We are recapturing a new clientele. That’s what we’re trying to achieve with the change in the style and design of the products and the facelift of the stores.”

Donatella Versace, adds:

“I was looking for a cleaner and fresher image. The store was dated. It was overshadowing the clothes.”

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