"Arrogant and aggressive" New York and London won't force our hand, say Italy's fashion syndicate.

The Milan fashion syndicate today accused its New York and London counterparts of launching of "an aggressive and arrogant" attempt to force the Italians to back down over the increasingly fractious fashion week clash.

Following its decision today to stick to its fashion week dates for spring/summer 2013 - from 19-25 September 2012 - even though they will clash with New York and London's proposed schedules, Milan today dismissed Anglo/British suggestions that they are the ones at fault.

Milan's Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana issued a press release entitled : "Milan answers back to London and New York". It accuses Harold Tillman of the British Fashion Council and Diane Von Furstenberg of the Council of Fashion Designers of America of falsely suggesting that the proposed Italian dates contravene a pre-existing agreement. The release was attached to an email the Milanese say supports their claim. It concluded (in not the greatest English): "It is therefore rejected to the two Chairmen, Diane Von Furstenberg and Harold Tillman - respectively from the Council of Fashion Designers of America and the British Fashion Council - the accuse addressed to Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana not to have respected the agreements taken. Such and accuse, in addition to representing an aggressive and arrogant attitude towards CNMI, used unfair argumentation in order to impose - in a unilateral way - not shared decisions."

This refers to a letter - printed in full on fashion.telegraph.co.uk - sent by von Furstenberg and Tillman to the members of Milan's Camera early this week. Mario Boselli, who runs the Italian syndicate, has clearly taken an extremely dim view of that attempt to circumvent his organisation. Now he is having his revenge.