From the early 1950s until today, Italy has again regained her position as the fashion mistress of the modern world. This shift may have taken place due to the organization of Italian fashion designers in Florence, opening fashion show spectaculars in an attempt to regain the role of fashion leader of the world. Perhaps Italy simply seized the moment after the war ended to get its foot back into the fashion door.
From the 1950s onward, fashion was a luxury that only the upper middle class and the rich to afford to follow. The fashion label inside girls' collars was often inspected by their peers. Cashmere was the rage and Italian fashion was crème de la crème.
By the late 1970s, fashion had become readily accessible to the general public. The shift from stay at home girls' fancy clothing (cotillion, proms and dance hall attire) to everyday work and student chic clothing was reflected by women returning to the work world. All at once, ready-to wear designer jeans, miniskirts, cool designer sweaters produced by Italian based fashion houses deposed snooty Florence from her former pinnacle to Milan as the new, modern woman's fashion Mecca.
