The Italian who aims to make China his new stomping ground

DIEGO Rossetti has been spending time with the world's top fashion designers over the past few months, so he knows what they will unveil at the forthcoming autumn/winter 1993 collections in Milan.

After all, what people wear on their bodies will be a clear indication of what shoes they wear, and for the past 40 years, shoes and bags have been the Rossetti business.

As the eldest son of the founder of one of Italy's most successful shoe companies, Fratelli Rossetti, Mr Rossetti knows he has to liaise with the fashion world to ensure his seasonal collections will complement the way people will be dressing later this year.

The shoe version of the Milan collections, MICAM, takes place this week and the new Fratelli Rossetti range will be on show along with leading other names. Mr Rossetti said the look would be distinctly ''retro'' - much like what had been happening in thefashion world - and said this was a major change for the company.

''The heels are thicker, the lasts are wider and overall the shoes are chunkier - it's very 1970s. This is quite a new direction from the sleek and thin look of previous collections,'' he said.

Still, simple and clean lines dominate the collection; Mr Rossetti said his footwear was the Armani or Cerruti of the shoe trade in that an understated and elegant styling dominated the range.

He was in Hongkong on his way to China, where he would examine the possibility of setting up a Fratelli Rossetti boutique.