Milan sets mood for menswear

Designers such as Italian duo Dolce & Gabbana and Belgian Dirk Bikkembergs are hoping to draw shoppers back by staging fashion events in the most popular squares of Milan.

Male models and celebrities will strut catwalks and red carpets in more than 30 shows and dozens of showroom collections during the Milan spring/summer 2011 fashion week, which runs until Tuesday and comes amid timid signs of economic recovery.

Sales of tailored suits, ties and leather shoes dropped 11.3 per cent to €8 billion (Dh36.41bn) in 2009, one of the worst years ever for Italian menswear, said Sistema Moda Italia, a body representing Italy's clothing and textile industry.

Wealthy spenders were back in the shops in the first months of the year and should help lift global luxury sales by more than four per cent in 2010, according to consultancy Bain & Co.

Italy's fashion capital, in competition with cities such as London, Paris and New York, will also get an image boost from the anniversaries of Ermenegildo Zegna and Dolce & Gabbana. The fashion duo celebrated the 20th anniversary of their menswear line yesterday with an exhibition at the City Hall.

"We want as many people as possible at our exhibition, we want Mister Brambilla [a typical Milanese name] to come and see our history," Domenico Dolce said in a news conference with Milan's mayor Letizia Moratti on Friday.

Bikkembergs showed on a big screen in central Duomo square its South Africa-inspired "sport couture" collection. And at the nearby La Rinascente, the American movie star Matthew McConaughey signed autographs to promote Dolce & Gabbana's scent The One.