Fashion week runways and business – As always, Milan Fashion Week attracted the interest of the foreign press. There were comments on the menswear collections (for example, Financial Times – Milan menswear show: runway report), and reportson the strategies to revitalize the sector, in particular the intention of the major Italian brands to defend the central role of Milan in the fashion industry (June 23 – New York Times – In Milan, the Titans Meet and Bloomberg Businessweek – Italian Luxury Goods Makers Unite to Promote Milan Fashion Week).
While the New York Times on the sidelines of the Milan runway also wrote a review of the latest edition of Pitti Man (June 23 – In Florence, Color Blooms), other papers published interviews and in-depth articles on the economics of the Made in Italy brand. Bloomberg Businessweek reported on how Ferragamo is insisting on its goals for growth (June 23 – Ferragamo CEO Confirms Guidance as Revenue Growth Maintains Pace), and Le Monde sketched out the global expansion policy of Zegna (June 22 – Luxe : l’italien Zegna à la conquête du monde). Meanwhile, the Washington Post reported on the materials being used for Bottega Veneta’s new line of footwear (June 22 – Bottega Veneta introduces woven leather footwear, but sticks to classic styles), and the Financial Times ran a piece on a new entry in the sector: Lapo Elkann’s Italia Independent, which is about to be quoted on the Milan stock exchange (June 27 – Lapo Elkann’s Italia Independent set for Milan debut).
Tourism, culture, lifestyle – Pointers on places to visit in Italy appeared along side fashion news. The New York Times went to Florence to view the show “The Springtime of the Renaissance” at Palazzo Strozzi (June 27 – The Path to the Renaissance) and included an article in its series “In Transit” to the cocktails of Palazzo Avino, in Ravello (June 25 – In Italy, a Cocktail With a Splash of the Sea).
Italy’s lifestyle, in particular the culture of coffee, were the subject of a video interview with Giuseppe De’ Longhi, published in Bloomberg Businessweek on the success of Europe’s third largest producer of expresso machines (June 24 – De’Longhi Brews Fortune With Coffee Craze).
Finally, there was some interest in Italian literature and the new editions being published in Spain of the thrillers by Giorgio Scerbanenco. El Pais ran an article about the writer who pioneered “Italian style” detective stories, set in Milan during the years of the economic boom (June 23 – Crímenes a la milanesa).
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