After New York and London, it
is now Milan's turn to get into the swing of fashion week as
leading Italian fashion houses prepare to debut their women's
fall-winter 2015-2016 collections from Wednesday through Monday.
And if London felt comparatively warm after the sub-zero
temperatures of New York, with the 1960s and 1970s consistently
rehashed by designers, the fashion pack is now eagerly
anticipating how hot Alessandro Michele's debut at Gucci will be
Wednesday in Milan.
Michele's first foray into women's wear since being
appointed creative director at the megabrand last month follows
the abrupt departure of his predecessor Frida Giannini just a
week before the presentation on January 19 of the men's wear
collection.
Giannini's departure after 10 years at the helm, which has
been linked with falling sales, was supposed to follow the Milan
women's wear shows this week.
Michele, a former head accessories designer at Gucci,
redesigned the entire men's wear lineup in just five days after
Giannini's resignation - showcasing a 1970s-inspired blurred
gender divide and a fresh take on the subcultural music scene
that was a far cry from Gucci's customary jet-set glitz.
The collection received a standing ovation from the front
row.
Wednesday's debut will reveal just how much of the
nonconformist vibe seen in men's wear - an echo of the Hedi
Slimane take on Saint Laurent that has transformed the French
house - will be part of the next Gucci incarnation.
Other leading fashion houses presenting their fall-winter
collections on Wednesday will include Luisa Beccaria, Alberta
Ferretti, Alessandro Dell'Acqua's label N. 21, as well as
up-and-coming fashion stars Fausto Puglisi, Francesco
Scognamiglio and Stella Jean.
Meanwhile, data released on the eve of the Milan shows by
Mediobanca's research and development department revealed that
Italy's fashion sector, spearheaded by luxury clothing groups,
is doing better than industry as a whole, with turnover growing
by 2 to 3% in 2014 and expected to be stable this year.
The report based on a market consensus survey found that
the fashion system is "solid and doing well, even if it slowed
down a bit in recent years".
In 2013, fashion firms saw their turnover increase by 1.4%
on average with big companies' sales increasing by 4% while
turnover in major manufacturing fell by 1.9%, according to
Mediobanca.
The survey was carried out on 135 Italian fashion firms
with turnover of at least 100 million euros in 2013.
Global fashion industry turnover was estimated at 218
billion euros in 2013, which saw average growth rates decline by
3%.
Overall, the firms polled registered a 32.4% growth in
aggregated revenues from 2009 to 2013, reaching 55.2 billion
euros.
Top luxury groups recorded a 43.8% growth worth 14.4
billion led by Prada, which recorded the highest growth rate in
2013 - up 129.8% from 2009 with sales worth 3.6 billion euros -
ahead of Armani with 2.2 billion and Benetton with 1.6 billion.
Italy's Gucci and Bottega Veneta, owned by French luxury
goods group Kering, together totalled a turnover worth 4.6
billion euros.
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