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LA STAMPA

Giorgio Armani Pummels Prada, Says Fashion Is Now A Slave To Big Banks

Designer Giorgio Armani gave reporters an earful Tuesday following a fashion event in Milan, Italy.

Armani poses with Italian league Olimpia basketball players (br1dotcom)
Armani poses with Italian league Olimpia basketball players (br1dotcom)

Worldcrunch NEWS BITES

MILAN - Top Italian designer Giorgio Armani has denounced the current state of the fashion industry for being "in the hands of" high finance rather than the fashion houses themselves.

Speaking after the last day of Milan's menswear spring/summer fashion week, Armani's comments were also a not-so-subtle swipe at rival Prada, which was recently quoted on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

"I've wanted to say something about this for awhile, and now's the time: fashion is in the in the hands of the banks (and) the stock market," Armani told reporters Tuesday. "It no longer belongs to the owners, but to those above them. I still haven't been able to understand how the banks influence our line of work -- it's a mystery."

Asked if the comments were a reference to Prada's move earlier this month to become the first top European fashion house to be listed on the Hong Kong exchange, Armani, 76, declared: "I don't have debts. Instead, Prada's problem is that they have to pay back the money that the banks spent to build up the brand."

Armani said he preferred to remain independent, and had no plans to sell the company. "There are thousands of ways to make money. But for me, I don't want to wind up having to knock on the door of some Thai managers to explain myself."

He said that Prada chief Miuccia Prada was "ingenious' for her "irony...and bad taste that becomes chic." But he complained that certain collections that are "sometimes ugly" always get positive coverage in the press. "You know why..."

Prada refused comment.

Read the full story in Italian by Antonella Amapane

Photo - br1dotcom

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

Ukrainians In Occupied Territories Are Being Forced To Get Russian Passports

Reports have emerged of children, retirees, and workers being forced by the Russian military and occupying administration to obtain Russian Federation passports, or face prison, beating or loss of public benefits.

Image of a hand holding a red Russian passport.

Russian passport

Iryna Gamaliy

It's referred to as: "forced passportization." Reports are accumulating of police and local authorities in the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine requiring that locals obtain Russian passports. Now new evidence has emerged that Ukrainians are indeed being coerced into changing their citizenship, or risk retribution from occupying authorities.

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Ever since late September, when President Vladimir Putin announced Russia hadd unilaterally annexed four regions in eastern and southern Ukraine (Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson), Moscow has been seeking ways to legitimize the unrecognized annexation. The spreading of Russian passports is seen as an attempt to demonstrate that there is support among the Ukrainian population to be part of Russia.

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