Marras to follow Gucci in staging combined men's & women's catwalk

Italian designer Antonio Marras is joining fashion giant Gucci in combining its womenswear and menswear collections into unified catwalk shows from next year -- in a second blow to Milan's Men's Fashion Week.

"I think it's time, to present men and women collections in a single moment," the designer said in a statement in English on Monday.

"The two collections are becoming more and more the two faces of the same soul, that together can complete each other," he said

The first unified show by the Sardinian will take place at Women's Fashion Week in the Italian industrial capital in September 2017.

Gucci announced last month that it was taking its recent embrace of androgynous looks to its natural conclusion by combining shows.

Fashionistas said the move by Alessandro Michele, the creative director credited with putting Gucci back at the top of the fashion tree, could herald the end of the current system of separate menswear and womenswear weeks in the style capitals of the world.

The moves come as fashion's established calendar is under pressure from the "see now, buy now" trend which has seen some leading brands start releasing their clothes immediately they appear on the catwalk rather than at the start of the season they are intended for.

Antonio Marras said it would not be joining that trend and instead would "keep the choice of following the production schedules in full consideration of the needs of creative and manufacturing processes of the industry".