Gone are the days when house bouncers, trained to spot potential copycats, blocked any unauthorised person who dared snap a picture during a show.
Today's fast-moving media world, using such accounts as Youtube and Facebook, as well as their own sites, designers are encouraging real-time runway interest.
On Saturday both Emporio Armani and Burberry Prorsum ran their shows live on the internet, while Dolce&Gabbana posted a preview of the collection several days ago on their site. Burberry also opened the show to blogging and comments via Twitter.
Dolce and Gabbana also ran a live backstage video on screens on either side of the runway, while the show was going on, as well as projecting scenes from the movie Baaria by Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore on a mega-screen, to underline the Sicilian theme of the collection, all available on their website. On Sunday Miuccia Prada plans to enhance the presentation of her latest menswear with a film by video artist Yang Fudong, which will also be available online on the Prada website.
Judging from the weekend shows, the look for next winter promises to be snug and woolly with the accent on sportswear. Outfits tend to be cut close to the body, with short and slim trousers and tight-fitting jackets. Along with flannel, many fabrics are soft and velvety. Colours are strictly reminiscent of autumn from the dark greys to the rich browns and greens, perked up by an occasional red or shining yellow.
Bulky sweaters are a favourite look, but so are tight-fitting pullovers, and even winter T-shirts. Footwear is definitely sturdy; hairstyles, wavy.
What immediately catches the eye is the scarcity of evening wear, usually a strong point of Italian menswear.
The packed, but short four-day ready-to-wear fashion week features more than 40 shows including such top names in international fashion as Armani, Versace, Dolce&Gabbana, Gucci, Prada, Ferre, and Bottega Veneta.
