Designers shake up Milan's ivory tower

(AFP PHOTO / GIUSEPPE CACACE)

Italy's fashion capital has a reputation for being hard to change: things have always been done a certain way in Milan, and most of the labels showing at the upcoming men's fashion week are the country's well-established, exclusive cream of the crop. But is it all exclusive? Burberry's notoriously online-loving creative director doesn't think so and will bring his show live to fashion fans at home.

Christopher Bailey, who recently made a case for the importance of social media in fashion at IHT's luxury conference in Berlin last year, has announced via YouTube that Burberry Prorsum will livestream its show, taking place January 16 at 6pm Milan time, on live.burberry.com.

Bailey is joined by the equally eager Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, who - longtime fans of Twitter and other social networking media - are sharing the preparations for their show via their own online magazine swide.com and YouTube. The fact that they too will be broadcasting their show (January 16, 2 pm) at dolcegabbana.com/dg/fashion-show wasn't even deemed worthy of a press release.

And Emporio Armani is also jumping on the bandwagon, livestreaming its men's wear show (January 16, 5pm) for the first time ever at live.emporioarmani.com.