POWER
Gianni Versace
takes a break
from prints with
hip-length solid-
colored jackets
paired with
matching stretch
leotards and
unitards. Some
jackets are
cardigan-style;
others are
double-breasted.
N
O
Lions far enough in advance, there's
a chance of staying within the city
limits. Otherwise, it's Brescia, Varese
or some other town on the outskirts.
Milan is bloated with the weight of
its own fashion gravity. Billboards and
posters with the brightest new de-
signers are flashed all over town. But
Armani owns the wall mural that traf-
fic must pass to enter the center city.
He's still the emperor.
This is Market Week in Milan, an
event that consumes the city the way
Mardi Gras grips New Orleans. But
this is a festival of commerce, a
$20-billion industry that has helped
Italy surpass Great Britain in world
exports.
Like German engineering or Japa-
nese electronics, Italian fashion con-
jures images of quality, and stirs pride
and passion among its people. Be it
textile design, manufacture, or gar-
ment design and construction, Italy
is renown for the finest yarns, most
elaborate prints and weaves, and cer-
tainly some of the most flamboyant
designers. In the 1980s, Armani,
Valentino, Versace, Ferre, Ferragamo,
Fendi and Missoni emerged as world-
wide fashion forces, a position they
intend to retain in the '90s.
Market Week occurs twice a year to
introduce the subsequent Spring and
Fall Collections. Journalists preview
the lines and communicate the corn-
ing trends to their readers. Buyers size
up the most salable lines, then calcu-
late how much paper they can place
within their "open to buy." This is
fashion-speak for ordering clothes
within their budget. For anyone who
thinks this is strictly theater and enter-
tainment, just remember that buyers
are evaluated on the success of their
purchases. If it doesn't sell, they won't
be back.
But the glory is in the guts — dis-
covering an unknown designer who
becomes a star. Much like being a
patron of the arts, investing early in
a designer's future ensures priority
shipping, front row seats, and hugs
and kisses in the years to come.
Except for Armani, who stages his
collections in his own subterranean
few-hundred seat theater, the fashion
shows are all held at the Fiera, a
gigantic complex with multiple thea-
ters. Most of Italy's industrial trade
SPRING '91 23