LAST Thursday evening, as dusk fell over Milan, guests started to arrive for cocktails in the first-floor apartment of a palazzo in the city.

As waiters circulated with trays of champagne and canapes, the event had the appearance of a party except young girls kept passing through in a succession of different clothes, on which everyone else volubly commented.

In fact, the cocktail party was a fashion show presented by young American designer, Rebecca Moses, who, like many in her profession, has started to eschew the traditional runway. This is now a worldwide trend, as fashion houses react against the sterility of the catwalk and its spiralling costs.

Even Dublin has not remained immune to the vogue for unusual or quirky locations; last autumn, A-Wear presented new collections by three young designers in Dublin's Smithfield market.

One reason for stopping big shows is cost: between the hire of venue, models' fees, payments to hairdressers and make-up artists, staging a major event can run into hundreds of thousands of pounds. Young designers cannot afford that kind of expenditure. More established names wonder why they should have to do so.

The move towards smaller shows began three years ago when John Galliano, then a famously talented but impoverished designer, unveiled his latest collection in the private home of Paris socialite, Sao Schlumberger, after she offered him free use of the property.

Like most other major cities, Paris now has a purpose-built central location designed for fashion shows, a series of large halls beneath the Louvre. But these are expensive to hire and distinctly lacking in atmosphere. Galliano's example has been much emulated.

Next week the Dior collection - which he now designs - will be shown in the rooms of the Musee Guimet, while other Paris shows are scheduled for old schools, abandoned warehouse (these a particular favourite with designers looking for street cred), and even in one case the gardens of the Palais Royal.

"It has become a real trend," confirms Polly Mellon, fashion editor of the American Elure magazine and an observer of the scene for more than 30 years.

"I think everyone imagines it gives them more of an identity. Small or large, the spot doesn't matter. They're putting their image and concept into a space where they can state more clearly what their vision is."

The urge for an imagined independence from what is being done by the rest of the fashion pack is obviously as much a spur as cost reduction when it comes to choosing location and style of presentation for each season. London's Alexander McQueen, for example, used an old market south of the Thames last week for his show.

Having battled through the evening traffic to get there, guests then had to contend with a stage set including wrecked cars and smouldering fires. McQueen likes to portray himself as fashion's iconoclast, an image somewhat dented now that he is head designer at the ultra-respectable French house of Givenchy. So where and how he shows his clothes matter almost as much as the garments themselves.

Given the enormous and global attention which fashion now attracts, this development has been inevitable. From being the private concern of a relatively small number of women, fashion was transformed during the 1980s into another branch of the entertainment industry.

An indication of popular interest in the subject is the fact that tomorrow evening's show of the latest collection from Giorgio Armani will be screened live on Italian television. The number of programmes devoted to fashion continues to proliferate, as do magazines and other publications devoted to this area. The names of major players in the field will be known even to people who would profess absolutely no interest in fashion.

It suits those major players that such should be the case because fashion is big business, especially in countries such as Italy and France. Publicity is therefore essential in order to generate increased sales and the best way to gain publicity.

Even if a designer's clothes cannot manage to be terribly original the way in which they are displayed may excite comment. Hence the proliferation of events such as Thursday evening's cocktail party.

Not that the old show has fallen from favour just yet. Immediately after inspecting Rebecca Moses's clothes over a glass of champagne, everyone dashed back across Milan to take assigned places at the Gucci show.