Foreign buyers offer lifeline at Milan Fashion Week

MILAN: International buyers have packed out the shows at Milan Fashion Week, offering a lifeline for an industry that is headed for another slump this year as Italy grinds through a painful recession.

"It's a more commercial market than New York or London," Ekaterina Moiseeva, commercial director for Russian fashion chain Bosco di Ciliegi, told in an interview as she took a break from the shows which wrapped up this week.

"Russian women pay a lot of attention to how they dress but most of them are not going to wear anything too eccentric or outlandish, which is why Milan is great," said the immaculately-dressed Moiseeva, a Milan regular.

"I can't get carried away buying pieces I love but which would not translate back to the woman on the street. Our clients aren't fashion victims, they are normal people who may not have the physique to pull off some looks," she added.

Italy's fashion industry is increasingly looking abroad as the sector is predicting a 5.2-percent drop in revenues this year, wiping out a recovery of 5.5 percent in 2011 after the slump seen in the global financial crisis.

Companies like Bosco di Ciliegi, which owns department stores and over 100 mono-brand stores across Russia, from Emporio Armani to D&G, are vital.

Moiseeva travels to Milan and Paris every year to watch catwalk shows and catch new trends, order outfits, woo clients and network at parties. (AFP)