Italian Fashion Watch

London’s Dover Street Market has firmly established itself as the epicentre of cool in the capitals’ West End. So no wonder Salvatore Ferragamo, hot on the couture heels of Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent, have decided to launch an exclusive collection at the fashion market, arriving on 19 July.

The collection, Ferragamo Creations, is inspired by the Italian fashion house’s 80-year old archive – Salvatore himself was originally a shoe designer to Hollywood glitterati such as Ava Gardner in the 1920s before returning to Italy to launch his company. It’s no wonder then that the collection includes their “F” wedges (Ferragamo is credited with inventing the wedge) and designs re-worked from those originally created for his Hollywood clients.

This is a real opportunity to get collectables from a style visionary into your wardrobe, but practically ‘objets d’art’ you’ll more than likely want to hang them up as much as wear them.

Italian brand Salvatore Ferragamo celebrated its 80th anniversary in the fashion industry with a star-studded party in Shanghai. Head designer for Ferragamo’s menswear, Massimiliano Giornetti, and creative director of women’s wear, Cristina Ortiz, treated guests to an 80 minute fashion show, showcasing 60 different looks.

The late Salvatore Ferragamo founded the Salvatore Ferragamo Italia S.p.A. company in 1927, having designed for many icons including Marilyn Monroe and Eva Peron, and current celebrities such as actress Jessica Biel and model Irina Lazareanu.

Yesterday an interesting piece of news came up. It looks like the Italian government is onto the big fashion companies, Dolce & Gabbana and Ferragamo who, uhm, forgot to pay their taxes.

How stupid is that? With a company cashing in tens or hundreds of millions of euros, you would expect that eventually, some people from up there will come to check you out and see how well you’re doing and claim their share.

Sounds really stupid, but there might actually be a good and logical explanation to this. You see, any company is always looking to pay less taxes. For large companies that operate on the international market, such as Dolce & Gabbana and Ferragamo, one option was to move their headquarters countries with lower taxes, such as Luxembourg and Holland.

They proceeded and set up companies in those two countries. The plan was good, except they didn’t really operate from there. Although their main office was far abroad, everything the two firms had to purchase in order to design and manufacture their products was done from Italy, and thus, the taxes were supposed to go to the Italian government and not Holland or Luxemburg.

In other words, they screwed up.

Dolce & Gabbana owe about 90 million euros and Ferragamo close to 20.

If they fail to pay that sum, Dolce and Gabbana may spend some time in prison. But I trust they’re gonna find a solution.

Last week Mumbai was studded with glamorous fashion brands, as the global elites like Fendi Burberry and Salvatore Ferragamo displayed their accessory collections at 5-star hotels, attracting Bollywood divas and major designers.

As the growing potential in India, luxury houses are making a beeline into domestic market.

Following the lead of their favorite stars, locals are also getting tempeted for lavish treats.

While jewelry artist Farah Khan Ali is a major fan of Fendi and Louis Vuitton gears, stunning Simone Singh is crazy for Prada, Chloe and Miu Miu footwear.

Koena Mitra loves a LV chocolate and brunette bag, others adore cute little purses.

In all there is no doubt that India is recognizing the essentiality of chic accessories that is making room for global boutiques, who are standing on one feet to grab new opportunities!