Compared to menswear, women’s ready-to-wear seems more complicated especially with trends nowadays moving in the fast lane. Yet, season after season, Italian designers and fashion houses rise up to the challenge, making the Milan Womenswear Show one of the most anticipated event twice a year.

The Italians in general take fashion seriously. They live it 365 days a year and 24 hours a day. To the Milanese, fashion is not just business; it is also a way of life. And, with the apparel business valued of over $1.5 billion a year, it is serious business!

With the majority of the world’s large developed markets such as the US and Japan struggling to contend with reduced consumer spending due to tight economic conditions, developing countries such as China, India parts of Latin America and Eastern Europe are characterized by rapid economic expansion and strong growth in consumer spending, leading to very healthy increases in apparel retail revenues.

With the changing world economy, the Fall 2006 season becomes more important, as fashion houses try to regain lost market share in developed countries, while expanding in the other half of the world.