THE worldwide reaction against staging big - and expensive - fashion shows has hit Milan this season. With estimates for the cost of a show starting at £50,000, the trend is towards more casual presentations.
They're called intimate, they come cheaper, and typical of the genre is the offering from Gianni Versace for his Istante line. Although the designer's main collection will be given the big production treatment on Saturday night, Istante was unveiled this week almost as a series of art exhibits with guests circulating around a showroom temporarily transformed into a gallery.
True, there were a couple of models, Shalom Harlow and Kirsty Hume, who drifted by wearing some of the clothes but most pieces were hung on mannequins placed in spotlit alcoves.
The advantage of this approach is that not only can the show start on time but everyone gets the chance to examine items in greater detail.
So at Istante, there was ample opportunity to linger over rib-knit wool polo neck mini-dresses in horizontal bands of purple, maroon and Prussian blue, as well as cool gabardine, wine-coloured cropped jackets with deep raspberry turn-back cuffs. Jersey printed with leaf and rose silhouettes was used for knee-length skirts and shirt-style jackets, as well as amethyst-toned dressed with geometric yellow and black applique detailing.
Istante evening wear came in imperial purple, crushed velvet for shift dresses varying in length from thigh-high to ankle.
Naturally, the traditional show is still very popular, as witnessed by the turn-out for Byblos at midday yesterday. The Italian label, having parted ways with its previous design team last season, made news by hiring Australian-born Richard Tyler, a resident of Los Angeles whose work is scar known on this side of the Atlantic.
Hence the rush to see what would do with Byblos, a name in seemingly terminal decline over the past few years. In the event, Tyler chose to emulate the example of another once devalued Italian company, now one of the strongest names in fashion: Gucci.
No doubt both houses would find comparisons odious, but they, were being made by everyone as a succession of slinky trouser-suits and jersey dresses appeared at the Byblos show.
According to Tyler the really big story for next autumn-winter is that black is back as fashion's' favourite colour. Looking at yesterday's universally monochrome-clad audience, it seemed impossible to imagine black had ever been away.