Capital of fashion: Milan overtakes New York City

After five years at the top, Milan has overtaken New York City in the Global Language Monitor’s annual ranking of the world’s fashion capitals. The non-profit group based in Austin, Texas, monitors the occurrence with which words and phrases appear in print, digital media, the Internet and the blogosphere.

The securely-entrenched big five in the 2009 classification are Milan, New York, Paris, Rome and London. The first ten positions also include Hong Kong and San Paolo, with Barcelona and Miami climbing up the ratings. In the subcontinents and regions, Mumbai overtook New Delhi and Sydney is far and away ahead of Melbourne.

“The global economic restructuring has affected the fashion cities just like everything else”, commented Millie L. Payack, director and fashion correspondent of the Global Language Monitor.