From the superpower of the 20th century to the new elite of the 21st and to the paradoxes of the resultant global consumer society. Although Italian fashion has long been created by a transnational elite and distributed worldwide, its image remains bound to its national roots and to the concept of Italianness. The members of the new elite define themselves through a unified, multicultural lifestyle, and they take their cue from their counterparts in the other major cities of the world.