Tans have faded in and out of style as predictably as they do the skin.

Leave it to the fashion industry to remind us of what we can't afford and, like salt in the wound, to create a new buzz phrase to attract international shoppers - "NYC is on sale."

Packaging has long been a marketing tool to lure consumers, but on the PR front it's been more about the product inside around which a PR person drafts the message. Now, in an age where green, organic, and appearance play such a predominant role in the beauty trend category, packaging may be blooming - literally - from trash to a product in of itself for consumers and a tool for PR pros.

The fashion world may finally embrace bloggers.

When it comes to branding, the Versace's are all over the map. While Donatella, trademarked by her bold look and iconic visibility, talks business and purple luggage, her brother Santo talks politics.

The Italian Trade Commission (ITC), in its "Global Travel" effort supporting the Italian textile industry, sponsored a Rhode Island School of Design semester-long Textile and Apparel course, in collaboration with 22 Italian fabric and yarn mills.