Always hogging the spotlight aren’t you Milan. Well no longer! Rome is seeking to become a player on the international fashion circuit under the guidance of the city’s new mayor Gianni Alemanno. Alemanno has a vision to transform the ancient city into a modern fashion hub. Long overshadowed by it’s chic northern neighbor Milan, designers in Rome have strived for a more visible fashion scene. Mayor Alemanno wants to manifest that vision.

“I want Rome to become a city of fashion, focusing mainly on young and new designers; seeking a strong and precise character that sets it up as a base for excellence in fashion,” he said on the sidelines of a Gucci fashion show in the city.

“I’m trying to be more concrete, to avoid that this is done — as they say in Rome — just transiently, for just image; for me this must be a fact rooted in Roman creation and production.”

Believe it or not Rome does have a fashion week people.

Well, yes we’re serious!!!

Producers of Rome’s twice yearly AltaRoma fashion weeks have been striving to recruit young, fresh talent to heighten the city’s fashion cache. So far these efforts have been met with mixed results.

“The fashion weeks boast a rotating list of emerging designers from around the globe that attract B-list Italian stars and wealthy Romans to their shows, but politicians and fashion buyers are often conspicuously absent. The big Roman fashion houses like Fausto Sarli have long complained that Italy’s political class — including those dressed by the designers — snub their parades.”

We’ll be watching over the near future to see if these efforts bear any couture fruit.

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