Last year's classic suits shifted into lower gear as the menswear collections for next winter hit the catwalks of Milan with decidedly deconstructed touches.

Animal rights campaigners brought a fur seminar at Hong Kong Fashion Week to a sudden halt Monday, January 14th after they hijacked the event, shouting slogans and waving banners.

Fashion house Chanel on Thursday, December 7th paid homage to artisans and craftspeople who make feathers, pearls and silk flower accessories by staging a fashion show in London.

They're young, beautiful, poised and ambitious -and confined to wheelchairs. Meet the new stars of the catwalk, at a modelling competition for the disabled.young women from across Europe joined the competition in the northern German city of Hanover this month.

The heavy winter coat is not only out -- it may be a thing of the past in Australia as temperatures rise and summers lengthen due to global warming. Australian Fashion Week, which kicked off Tuesday, october 9th in Sydney, has ditched the traditional autumn/winter tag in favour of "trans-seasonal" runway shows full of clothes that can be worn year-round.

Elie Saab is understandably popular with the red-carpet crowd because the Lebanese designer celebrates a woman's curves with dresses which flatter and accentuate the figure.

It was a starry, starry night at Karl Lagerfeld's ready-to-wear collection for Chanel on Friday, october 5th, with twinkling constellations and crescent moons the stars of the show.

Prints are shaping up to be an essential part of the wardrobe for next summer, with all the big names in Paris ready-to-wear this week making them a core of their collections.

Italian designer Valentino received a standing ovation from a packed room for his last ever ready-to-wear show in Paris on Wednesday, October 3rd, having announced his retirement after 45 years in the business.

The gaping mouths of giant vacuum cleaner tubes dangling menacingly over the runway at the Issey Miyake show were a clue to the inspiration behind the collection for summer 2008 which designer Dai Fujiawa called "Wind".

John Galliano set the tone for his show for next summer on Monday, October 1st with "An Englishman in New York," a big hit for Sting, who was guest of honour in the front row.

Spanish designer Estrella Archs, who has recently been named creative director at Cacharel, sent out a flurry of pretty but unfussy frocks onto the runway for her own label collection here on Sunday, September 30th, boding well for her new job.

Paris has long been the world's undisputed fashion capital but now it truly is going global, with ever more Asian designers opting to show here to grab a bigger share of the international market.

For the first time two Indian designers are unveiling their collections during the Paris ready-to-wear shows for next spring-summer, which get under way at the weekend.

After one of northern Europe's wettest summers on record, fashion designers showing in Milan this week are confidently predicting more seasonal sunshine next year for their airy, light-as-a-feather creations.