Milan, the city of prêt à porter

Italian prêt à porter, which reached the peak of its success in the 80s, is not a phenomenon which appeared from nowhere, so to speak, as White writes in an important text devoted to the renaissance of Italian fashion (2000:1-7), but has its roots in the post war period, especially between 1945 and 1964, when, also thanks to American funding, the textile-clothing industry started up again at full capacity. While it is right to speak of continuity regarding the capacity to produce clothing - Italian ready to wear definitely certainly did not appear out of the blue, but is the outcome of textile and industrial development –, in terms of the significance which fashion was to assume, it was a radically new phenomenon. In the early 70s, a turning point took place in the history of modern fashion and Milan was at the very centre of this process which gave rise to the prêt à porter of the fashion designers, a fashion system which was to enjoy international commercial and media success.