NY journalist takes on Armani

What began as a petty feud between the Italian designer Giorgio Armani and a New York Times fashion writer has escalated into a full-blown off-catwalk catfight. Cathy Horyn was so peeved at being barred from Armani's fashion shows that she dedicated a whopping 1,400 word article to the subject this week.

The trouble began when Horyn wrote unenthusiastically about Armani's Paris show in January. Horyn said that there wasn't anything "subtle or particularly surprising" in the collection, and that "irony and self-reference" were not within Armani's imagination. She also commented that Armani's niece Roberta Armani was sitting next to Hilary Swank and beaming throughout.

Armani was so offended that he wrote to Horyn's editors to complain about her "belittling" and "unnecessarily sarcastic" comments and her "embedded preconception" with his work. His publicist, Robert Triefus, then told Horyn she would not be welcome at Armani's Milan show in February.

Horyn notes that banning is mainly a tactic of "older designers" who see any criticism as a threat to their power. She said she had also been blacklisted by Dolce and Gabbana and recounted how the Guardian fashion writer Hadley Freeman was "banned for life" by Jean Paul Gaultier after criticising a fur cape with flying carcass heads.

And she offered the designers a possible solution. "Two hours after a hot show like Prada or Balenciaga anyone, not just reporters, can pull up images on the internet and post their opinions on blogs around the world," she wrote. "The wonder to me is not why a designer like Mr Armani bans a journalist. Rather it is why he doesn't use the power of digital technology to take his message directly to the public, effectively knocking out journalists who complain that his clothes are out of touch.”