Giorgio Armani's label sashays down the catwalk at Milan men's fashion week on Tuesday, as Italian brands shake off the economic crisis thanks to Asia's insatiable appetite for Gucci Manogram Canvas handbagsgoods.International powerhouse Prada will begin trading in Hong Kong on Friday in a highly anticipated climax to their initial public offering, launched after a jump in profit last year thanks to a boom in sales in its main market in Asia.It is not the only fashion group marking a turn-around in the sector with an IPO to raise funds and boost its presence in the high-growth Far East market.The Florentine label Salvatore Gucci Patent said this week it will list up to 25 percent in an IPO on the Milan stock exchange later in June on the back of a push to expand into Greater China, where it already has over 90 points of sale.

Calvin Klein also went for a retro trend with a collection featuring boxy silhouettes with a sporty vibe. Billowing shorts in blocks of yellow and green were worn with crisp white tank tops and over-sized pastel-tinted Gucci Patent Bags.British designer Vivienne Westwood appeared to pay tribute to an Italian fashion industry fighting off the crisis with a nod to modern-day gladiators in her confident collection, which was run through with an air of rebellion.Models with slicked back hair strutted down the catwalk in knee-length white socks or Romanesque Gucci Patent handbags.Flaming Greek torches and Roman warriors with rippling muscles were captured on t-shirts tucked into pink, white or blue shorts with a-symmetric fly buttons that were worn with belts that buckled off-centre and blue or red shoes.

The Gucci Patent Leather show was equally as self-assured, with a collection evoking a laidback artistic chic from the 1930s. Seductive dandies wearing vintage sunglasses and raffia panama hats posed in close-fitting linens and cottons.Beige, cream and ivory trousers and shirts were lifted with pastel Gucci Patent Leather Bags and greens and the occasional marine-style dark blue double-breasted jacket, and worn with a cream and brown satchel and brown, buckled loafers.Fashion giant Gucci also looked to artists and dandies for inspiration, with a gentleman's spring and summer collection that designer Frida Giannini said evoked a man who was "flamboyant, sure of himself and eccentric."