Discarding its usual champagne-drenched extravaganzas, New York's Fashion Week kicked off Friday under a cloud of economic austerity and uncertainty.
With recession ripping a hole in the U.S. retail industry, designers are struggling to come up with clothes women feel they can't do without as they unveil their collections at New York's fashion shows this week.
Whatever color dominates wardrobes this year, the mood will be dark when Fashion Week kicks off in New York this Friday.
Mania over President Barack Obama has reached the catwalks of Rome, where a top haute couture designer showed off a kaftan emblazoned with his face and another dedicated a gown of "hope" to his wife Michelle.
Giorgio Armani's comment that Rome has killed off its fashion scene by parading inept designers has ruffled feathers in the Italian capital.
Free designer dresses, an army of admirers and $15,000 to stroll down a catwalk: no wonder thousands of teenage girls aspire to being a top model.
Berlin is hosting fashion week with a slew of parties, shows and exhibitions as it tries to carve a niche for itself on the global map alongside wealthier rivals like Paris, New York, London and Milan.
In today's despondent climate, it was a reminder of heady days, when top models were fashion's golden girls.
Dramatic blood-red gowns on the catwalk, billowing fur coats in the audience: at the haute couture shows in Paris on Monday the super-rich defied the economic crisis in extravagant style.
Dramatic blood-red gowns on the catwalk, billowing fur coats in the audience: at the haute couture shows in Paris on Monday the super-rich defied the economic crisis in extravagant style.
A chill wind of economic reality blew into the four-day Paris men's fashion shows winding up Sunday as designers went for the wearable to weather recessionary times for Autumn/Winter 2009/2010.
The haute couture shows for spring-summer 2009, which begin on Monday, have slimmed down in response to the global financial crisis, spread over three days instead of four and with fewer catwalk presentations.
The world may be becoming a glummer place with the global crisis, but in Brazil, Latin America's biggest fashion show is showing there's still room for a little happiness in the wardrobe.
Milan's designers showed next winter will mainly be grey and slimmed down for men, with sober creations that seemed to look for comfort in a chilly economic climate but a spat between two top names heated up the week.
Italy's top designers are squabbling over a pair of padded trousers, with Giorgio Armani accusing Dolce & Gabbana of copying him and the duo in turn saying the doyen of fashion has nothing to teach them.