The face of Burberry has leapt to his death in Milan.

Tom Nicon, 22, the French male model who has been the front of Hugo Boss, Louis Vuitton, Versace and Burberry campaigns, died after falling from his fourth floor apartment on Friday according to police reports.

Nicon was in Milan as part of the prestigious Milan Fashion Week which began on Saturday, and had attended a Versace fitting just hours before he was found dead outside his building, after his modelling agency, Success, searched for him following his no-show at a meeting.

Sources close to the model have suggested that he had been battling depression since he broke up with his girlfriend, which police described as a complicated affair. Authorities are treating the death as suicide and the organisers of the fashion shows said they would proceed as a tribute to the model.

Nicon’s death is another in string of suicides that have beset the fashion industry over recent months. In February, Alex McQueen, who this week had his ashes scattered in Scotland, took his life while in London after allegedly being unable to cope with the passing of his mother. In May, Noemie Lenoir, the French model who was the UK face of Marks & Spencer, attempted to commit suicide in a Parisian forest before being found by a member of the public. South Korean Daul Kim, 20, who had fronted campaigns for Gap, Chanel, Vivienne Westwood and Karl Lagerfeld, hung herself last year after another apparent battle with depression.

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana showed their predominately black collection at Milan Fashion Week on Sunday afternoon, marking their 25^th year working together. The most famous design duo in Italy returned to their heritage of clothes for sensual women, lifting the black collection with rose and leopard prints.

The Dolce & Gabbana collection was a romantic tribute to the ideal of femininity, which was emphasized with a soundtrack of music featuring “Come What May” from film Moulin Rouge!. The title of the show was “ Sartorialita, Sicilianita, Sensualita”, which refers to the two designers’ abiding inspirations from Sicily, their signature tailoring, as well as the concept “underwear-as-outerwear”, which they pioneered.

A short black and white film started the show, featuring the duo drawing, making and fitting in their studio. It ended with their whole team gathered in front of the camera while the designers took a bow.

Although the Dolce & Gabbana collection was mostly black with splashes of rose and leopard prints, as well as jewel-bright satin, the clothes had a softer, lighter feel that updated the silhouette for women (and girls) compared to their vision in 1985, when they launched their debut. Backstage before the show, Gabbana noted that the clothes were gentle and had no linings. He also highlighted that the new woman can wear a suit and accessorize it with an iPod and headphones, as they did with one of their 75 models.

The finale of the collection reinforced the Sicilian twist of sensual tailoring. It featured variations of a black jacket worn over black satin and lace.

Versace, the high-end Italian fashion house, announced that they will launch a special luxury mobile in order to compete with other rising designer brands entering the mobile market.

The Milan-based brand, which is one of the most well-known worldwide and most chosen by celebrities strutting the red carpet, said Tuesday that the phone would be ready for sale commercially by spring.

The label will hold a private viewing of the new product later this month at a private show during Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week.

 The high-end fashion house is reporting that only select clients will be invited to view the product. Versace which long-ago expanded from clothing to watches, interior design, and jewellery. The company has signed a license agreement with ModeLabs Group to collaborate on the manufacture, design, and distribution of the mobile.

The fashion label, which began with Gianni Versace prior to his murder, has been carried on by his sister Donatella and her brother Santo.

Recently, Donatella’s daughter, Allegra has been working closely with the label as well. Allegra was responsible for presenting the most recent menswear collection for 2010/2011 at the Milan Fashion week taking place this week.

Versace, however, is not the first high end label to launch a mobile phone design. Giorgio Armani revealed a new mobile last October which currently retails for 700 euros. Prada also has a mobile phone which has since been removed from the market.

Emerging on the runway with bedrolls, cardboard boxes, sleeping bags, and other sorts of items, models for Dame Vivienne Westwood’s latest fashion line surpised fashion experts at last week’s Milan fashion week. The show, which featured Dame Vivienne’s latest menswear line, took place at the Museo della Permanente, Milan as part of the city’s famous fashion week taking place this week.

The idea behind the line was hobo-chic with models emerging looking more like rough-sleepers than high-street fashion gods. Westwood’s take on her theme encompasses a much broader viewpoint, however, which she said was inspired by a lawyer friend of her husband’s who works for a charity which centres around the homeless.

Ms. Westwood commented after the show that the line had been her husband, Austrian-born Andreas Kronthaler’s idea. The catwalk was decked out with cardboard boxes while model’s hair was intentionally dishevelled and discoloured.

Despite, somewhat shocked reactions most critics seem to be upholding the move as brave and innovative, with one media outlet saying that the move
was odd, but heroic.

Westwood said that, although she has no lens into the life a homeless person, she was aware of the delicate subject matter. Westwood ended the show by being wheeled onto the stage via an ambulence stretcher to a huge applause from the audience and critics in attendance.