If you were ever in doubt about the importance of Italy in shaping fashion today, a new exhibition - which opens in Milan this week - puts it into perspective. ITALIANA, Italy Through the Lens of Fashion 1971-2001, raises the curtain of Milan Fashion Week and celebrates the influence of Italian design, creativity and manufacturing prowess.

Jointly curated by W Magazine editor-in-chief Stefano Tonchi and the critic, curator and professor Maria Luisa Frisa, it charts a hugely influential period when Italian designers defined working women’s wardrobes, redefined male sexuality with form-fitting clothes, democratised luxury fashion and spawned logo-mania.