11.   Even Versace, the toney Italian designer, pulled out.

12.   Gone are the days when Italian designers were notorious backbiters, haranguing and goading each other with nasty swipes.

13.   He is registered with the MMG agency there and, in addition to his Armani work, has done fashion layouts for Banana Republic and Italian designer Valentino.

14.   It is Italian designers on whom they have come to depend, if not in reality, at least for inspiration.

15.   Italian designers Gianni Versace and Miuccia Prada and the German design house Joop!

16.   Italian designers have clearly decided to let women choose their own hemlines and are showing every length, from mini to maxi.

17.   Italian designers also are poised to benefit as big carmakers acquire tradition-laden brands to burnish their images of high style and technical prowess.

18.   Italian designers such as Armani, Versace, Prada and Valentino are engaged in a whose-is-bigger hopscotch.

19.   Italian designer Gianni Versace also is seeing blue with monkey-print stretch jeans.

20.   Italian designers produce the transparent blow chair, the first inflatable furniture.