Milan Fashion Week opens today in an atmosphere of gloom and doom with some 10 fewer shows in the lineup because of the global financial crisis.
While 95 fashion houses staged shows a year ago, this year’s program has attracted only 79. A total of 93 brands showed their summer 2009 collections here in September of last year.
“There are about 10 fewer fashion shows,” the head of the Chamber of Fashion, Mario Boselli, admitted to reporters on the sidelines of a news conference presenting Fashion Week.
Some couturiers are responding to “signs of caution” from buyers planning to skip the shows, Boselli said. “They’re trying to economize.”
Recalling that men’s collections were shown in January “in a crisis atmosphere with 20 percent fewer shows,” Boselli insisted that “all the big fashion names” are in the women’s lineup — such as Giorgio Armani, Moschino, Gucci, Fendi and Versace.
The small fashion houses that are staying away meanwhile balk at admitting financial difficulties.
La Perla, a well-known lingerie brand that launched its ready-to-wear line in 2002, spoke of “strategic and not economic reasons,” while AB Soul admitted that its absence was “more or less linked to budget cuts.”
The Italian clothing sector — including textiles, leather, shoes and so on — has been hard hit by the downturn, raising the alarm last week over falling orders and appealing to the government for aid such as that enjoyed by the auto sector.
“For the past month and a half, all orders have been blocked,” said Michele Tronconi, president of Italy’s Textile and Fashion Federation. “The situation is explosive.”
Italy accounts for between 20 percent and 25 percent of the European textiles and clothing sector, he said, adding that the industry employs some 500,000 people in Italy and has a turnover of nearly US$69 billion.
“We estimate that our sector by itself will account for US$12.5 billion worth of Italy’s trade surplus [in the sector],” he said.
The economic development ministry has called a “roundtable” tomorrow for textile and clothing representatives.
The big guns in Italian fashion seem to be largely spared by the crisis so far.
Giorgio Armani last week inaugurated a huge “concept store” covering 4,000m² on New York’s Fifth Avenue.
Even so, “King” Giorgio told the Italian daily La Repubblica: “I didn’t feel like celebrating [the inauguration] with caviar. You can’t really, these days.”
Florentine designer Roberto Cavalli, for his part, has announced a new five-floor store opening March 7 on Paris’ chic Faubourg Saint-Honore.
“It’s probably crazy while we’re going through this crisis,” he told La Stampa. “But I was really keen on it. It’s been my dream.”
When the Dutch began interacting with the indigenous people of Taiwan, they found that their hunters classified deer hide quality for trade using the Portuguese terms for “head,” “belly,” and “foot.” The Portuguese must have stopped here more than once to trade, but those visits have all been lost to history. They already had a colony on Macao, and did not need Taiwan to gain access to southern China or to the trade corridor that connected Japan with Manila. They were, however, the last to look at Taiwan that way. The geostrategic relationship between Taiwan and the Philippines was established
“Once you get there, you think, that’s a little embarrassing or revealing or scary... but ultimately, I learned that is where the good stuff is,” says Taiwanese-American director Sean Wang about writing indie breakout Didi (弟弟), which debuted at Sundance Film Festival Asia 2024 in Taipei last month. Didi is a heartwarming coming-of-age story centered on the Asian American experience. Not just a 2000s teenage nostalgia piece, but a raw, unflinching look at immigrant families and adolescent identity struggles. It quickly became the centerpiece of the event, striking a chord with not only those sharing similar backgrounds but anyone who’s ever
This Qing Dynasty trail takes hikers from renowned hot springs in the East Rift Valley, up to the top of the Coastal Mountain Range, and down to the Pacific Short vacations to eastern Taiwan often require choosing between the Rift Valley with its pineapple fields, rice paddies and broader range of amenities, or the less populated coastal route for its ocean scenery. For those who can’t decide, why not try both? The Antong Traversing Trail (安通越嶺道) provides just such an opportunity. Built 149 years ago, the trail linked up these two formerly isolated parts of the island by crossing over the Coastal Mountain Range. After decades of serving as a convenient path for local Amis, Han settlers, missionaries and smugglers, the trail fell into disuse once modern roadways were built
“Magical,” “special,” a “total badass:” step forward Kamala Harris, the 59-year-old dynamo who has rebranded her country at lightning speed, offering it up as a nation synonymous with optimism, hope and patriotism. For the rest of us, Kamala’s gift is her joy and vibrancy — and the way she is smashing it just months away from her seventh decade, holding up 60 in all its power and glory. Welcome to the new golden age. Hers is the vibrancy of a woman who owns her power, a woman who is manifesting her experience and expertise, a woman who knows her time has