Milan gets all the fashion news, but we found out that Florence is the heartbeat, the marketing/advertising and creative hub for the fashion industry in Italy. The fashion houses, Italian and non-Italian, have flagship stores here and those stores are close by our apartment.

Kathy is helping me with this post, so that some seriousness can intersect with my zaniness on this subject. Women seem to take fashion a little more seriously than men. We concentrate mainly on the Italian names with a few others thrown in. So here is the fashion take as the stores unveiled their spring flagship windows this week and some even hours ago.

So what did they put in that Louis Vuitton window that we posted them working on late last night?

One purse for all that work! But at 2140E or $2761, I suppose it deserves star attraction.

What are the trends? For starters, monochromatic is in big time. One color displays ruled as illustrated by this window at Gucci.

Guess the price of the red outfit, including shoes and no jewelry–9000E or $11,610. From what I saw, the shoes and belt were coordinated with the purse material wise to make a set, so I suppose sets of accessories are in now. In fact, several displays featured the same scenario. Oh, and by the way, while jewelry was on display it was not on display with the clothes. That means jewelry is not the main item any more and is being downplayed in favor of matching shoes, belt and purse. Since they are so expensive that makes marketing sense to me, jewelry a woman will keep, but when shoes change style, it’s time for new ones. That’s not a chauvinist statement, is it? Not meant to be.

Another trend is pointy shoes for women. Kindof sharp points like the hat on the Wicked Witch of the East in the Wizard of Oz. Kathy isn’t paying attention right now, so I can say what I really think.

Like these at Prada.

And like these at Dior.

Belts for women are in. Almost all displays featured them.

This Dolce and Gabbana belt will set you back 545E or $703.

And chicken legs for women are in.

This photo says it all.

Men’s clothes follow sheepishly behind the women’s, but bags, kindof like purses I must say, are everywhere.

So are monochromatic suits.

And if you want to sew your own clothes with the same cloth as found in the the clothes on display?

One meter will set you back a minimum of 120E or $169 per yard. Some fabric ran as high as $633 per yard.

The rest of the pictures are for your viewing pleasure. WEG with creative consulting of KG