Fashion faux-pas

Milan’s high-profile fashion week was a high-speed blur after Italian haute couture stylists decided to pack the runway shows into three days, instead of the usual seven, to accommodate the travel plans of Vogue America editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour. Although Milan’s shows were to run through March 2, Wintour, said to have inspired the main character of the novel and film The Devil Wears Prada, announced that she would be in Milan only from February 26 to 28. According to fashion insiders, she cut her Milan trip to instead be present for Paris Fashion Week and the Oscars on March 7. Enraged members of the Italian fashion industry found voice in the statement of the president of the chamber of Italian fashion, Mario Boselli, who remarked, ‘She’s welcome in Milan but if she only comes for a fleeting visit. Perhaps it would be better if she stayed at home.’