Milan Ready to Wear Collections: The Inside Story Part Five,

So, the nuts & bolts. We all stay between the Grand et Milan (I stayed here last time but hate it – old school, rococo nonsense, rooms a cat would object to being swung in), the Four Seasons, Principe and Bulgari. The FS & Bulgari are eye wincingly expensive, the Grand and Princh just staggeringly expensive. Anywhere else is considered decidedly déclassé and people staying elsewhere will do anything to avoid telling you where they are being put up.

The place to eat is a fairly dismal looking trad trat called della'langhe on Corso Cormo (I saw skeletal Rachel Zoe propping up the wall outside having a fag this time round). I’ve never got it but it's cult amongst editors, who happily expense gallons of Prosecco and plates of 50 Eur truffled pasta. Da Giacomo is better but I can think of better things to do than eating surrounded by the same people I've been eyeballing across the runway all day. As for drinking, sure some people (network-y publicists and juniors who aren't doing dinners) party and hang out in the Princh bar ‘till god knows when, but I am always drooping with jet lag & desperate for my bed.

I noticed last season that American magazines were seriously trimming their teams. In addition to the editor in chief & fashion director, there are usually the accessories director & fashion market director, maybe the fashion news director too. If a mag has a creative director like Elle & Joe Zee, then they will come too. The publisher will prob swing in for a few key shows - Armani of course, maybe Versace, Gucci too.

If there are any key contributing fashion editors (who just work on specific shoots, not salaried) on the mag who are household names in the industry, the mag may sponsor them too, certainly apply for their tickets. Maybe several of the senior fashion editors too, but times are tough so they aren't around as much.