The Milan's Women Fashion Week for autumn

Milan Fashion Week in its new urban format helped the sector in a period of recovery from the global economic crisis by enhancing the city's industrial appeal, local officials said on Tuesday.

The Milan's Women Fashion Week for autumn and winter of 2011 collections started on Feb. 23 and ended on Mar. 1 covering a full seven days instead of a long weekend as it did last year after American Vogue editor Anna Wintour said she could only spare three days for Milan.

Speaking at a press conference, Mario Boselli, the president of the National Chamber of Italian Fashion (CMNI) which organized the week, said that "the seven-day event represented the desire of everyone in fashion to have a strong and competitive fashion week. "

"Milan has got back to be the fashion capital of the world again," Boselli stressed.

Over 2,000 journalists from 40 countries attended the show along with some 15,000 fashion sector players, he said, adding the successful choice to move the show to the city center from its old venue in a suburb will be repeated in next editions.

More than 150 collection presentations, 72 catwalks and hundreds of fashion-related events were held near Milan landmarks such as La Scala opera house and the Duomo Gothic cathedral.

Some big fashion houses organized their shows in renowned iconic locations: Tod's showcased its new collection in Villa Necchi house museum, while Alessandra Marchi's catwalks on a subway train aroused astonished glances of passerbys.

Milan Councillor for Production Activities, Fashion, Design and Events, Giovanni Terzi, told Xinhua that the new format was a successful attempt to draw a generally exclusive sector close to common people enhancing the fashion capital's industrial appeal.

He said that Milan center, with its historical venues and artistic treasures, was the most natural display case for the Italian fashion, whose excellence is due to outstanding perfection of tiny details.

"To Milan, the smallest international city in the world, the so- called "Quadrilatero della moda" fashion district is an immense treasure," Terzi said.

He added that Milan is the top spender fashion city in the world, with an average per capita expense of 1,906 euros (over 2, 600 U.S. dollars) in fashion each year compared to Paris' 648 euros (893 U.S. dollars) and New York's 224 euros (309 U.S. dollars), according to a study commissioned by Milan municipality.

Italy's fashion industry grew by 6.5 percent to over 60 billion euros (about 83 billion U.S. dollars) in 2010, although the turnover was still below the 2007 level, and it would increase to 8 percent this year, according to the National Chamber for Italian Fashion.