MILAN — The unveiling of three new creative directions at Italian brands will be one of the key moments of the upcoming edition of Milan Fashion Week, which will take place from February 20 to 26 with 161 physical and digital fashion shows, presentations and events.
The program includes Adrian Appiolaza’s debuts at Moschino, Blumarine’s first collection under creative director Walter Chiapponi and Matteo Tamburini’s groundbreaking collection for Tod’s.
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Marni also returns to Milan after recently embracing a travel format, with OTB’s Francesco Risso-designed brand hitting base in Paris, Tokyo and New York.
Other debuts include emerging labels Sagaboi and Feben. The first was founded in 2015 by Geoff K. Cooper and is rooted in Caribbean subculture; the latter is the latest London-based designer brand backed by Dolce & Gabbana as part of the duo’s talent endorsement program that previously supported Karoline Vitto, Tomo Koizumi, Matty Bovan and Miss Sohee.
Shows officially start on February 21 with Iceberg and Antonio Marras among others. The Diesel show follows at 12:30 CET and promises to be another vibrant affair. The brand will again embrace an open-to-the-public format, allowing 1,000 people to register for tickets and ‘join’ the event from anywhere, the brand said. Although the brand has not revealed any further details and postponed the reveal of all information about access until Friday, the company will set up a livestream starting February 18 that will allow people to watch all the preparations for the event, from the casting to the show. set up.
Fendi, Del Core and Roberto Cavalli will also host catwalk shows that day, which will be closed by Etro. As reported, the brand will opt for a mixed format this time, with Marco De Vincenzo unveiling his latest men’s and women’s collections at 8 p.m. CET.
Max Mara, Prada and Emporio Armani will be among the brands on display on February 22, when Appiolaza’s creative stint at Moschino officially kicks off at 6pm CET at the Museo della Permanente. The location occupies an important place in the brand’s history, as the “Società per le Belle Arti ed Esposizione Permanente” hosted the exhibition “Moschino – X anni di Kaos! 1983-1993” in 1993, celebrating the first decade of the brand founded by Franco Moschino.
Appiolaza’s debut will be followed by the GCDS show and Peter Hawkings’ second collection for Tom Ford.
On February 23, Tamburini and Chiapponi will unveil their groundbreaking efforts for Tod’s and Blumarine respectively, followed by Sportmax and Philosophy di Lorenzo Serafini. Sabato De Sarno’s women’s collection for Gucci Fall 2024 will be unveiled at 3:00 PM CET, followed by Marni, Sunnei, MSGM, Versace and Philipp Plein.
Ferrari, Ferragamo, Jil Sander, Missoni and Bally will all perform catwalk shows on February 24, ending with the presentation of Matthieu Blazy’s new mixed collection for Bottega Veneta.
Feben reserved February 25 for his Milan debut, followed by Giorgio Armani’s traditional double show at 10:30 and 11:30 CET at his legendary headquarters on Via Borgonuovo. The final day will be dedicated to digital shows – including Annakiki and Laura Biagiotti – and will end with the Pre Black Carpet Awards event, where guests will meet the nominees of this edition.
In terms of presentations, Max Mara Group will unveil a trio of collaborations for three labels under its umbrella, with the collaboration between Max & Co. and Richard Quinn, the Marina Rinaldi by Zuhair Murad collection and the Weekend Max Mara by Lucy are shown. Hale line.
These will add to the presentations of Brunello Cucinelli, Loro Piana, La DoubleJ, Fiorucci and MCM, in addition to accessory labels such as Bulgari, Sergio Rossi, Jimmy Choo, Gianvito Rossi, Borsalino and Mach & Mach, to name a few.
In addition to Khrisjoy, the new names embracing this format also include emerging brands Cozy Sunday, Jarlzhang, Maison Jajia and Raisa Vanessa, as reported.
While Act N.1 also switched from a catwalk show to a presentation, other young names that fueled the Milanese fashion scene in recent editions are still currently missing from the program, including Cormio and Andreadamo.
“There are personal preferences that influence these choices,” says Carlo Capasa, president of the Italian Fashion Chamber. He highlighted that some brands choose to organize catwalk shows once a year and may return in September, mentioning brands such as The Attico and Boss.
The opening day of Milan Fashion Week will be reserved for a series of press conferences, including for the second edition of “Maestri d’Eccellenza”, the project dedicated to local master artisans launched last year by Fendi and its parent company LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton . This time the initiative will collaborate with Loro Piana.
Other projects to be unveiled that day include the new cultural spaces Galleria and Project Room at Corso Como 10, as well as the presentation of the exhibition dedicated to Walter Albini to be staged at the Museo del Tessuto di Prato in Tuscany.
Additional events circled in red on the calendar include Palm Angels’ “Son of a Beat” project – featuring three club nights with a curated line-up of international DJs during Fashion Week – and Juergen Teller’s signing session on February 24, part of his photo. exhibition “I need to live” has just opened at the Milan Triennale and runs until April.
In light of the busy schedule, Capasa answered questions about the recurring choice of show locations that are far apart and the resulting impact this generates on the city’s traffic and environmental sustainability.
Capasa pointed to an attitude that “informs fashion in general and on a global scale”, underlining that this is not just an issue unique to Milan, but also shared in Paris or globally when brands stage their cruise shows in locations organize around the world. .
“Companies tend to favor certain locations to tell their story… and prioritize the experience over the implementation methods. It is certainly something we need to think about and understand if we can find better ways, but at a global level,” Capasa said.
He also addressed the need to add more days to Milan’s calendar.
To this end, Capasa highlighted the more favorable timing of the fashion events in New York and Paris, as these cities open and close the fashion marathon and have the possibility of extending the respective days, while London and Milan have less room for change.
“I believe we need an extra day and we have already discussed this with our global partners from the other fashion weeks,” Capasa said. “I asked Tuesday to be a full show day here. It works better than the following Monday, because when we consider that Dior and Saint Laurent, among others, are performing in Paris on Tuesday, we don’t even have the models in town because they would have to fly to Paris for castings.
An extra day will further boost Milan’s economy. The local municipality estimates that the upcoming Milan Fashion Week will generate more than 70 million euros in sales in restaurants, transport, hotels and other services, representing a 10 percent increase compared to the same edition last year and a 22 percent growth compared to 2019.
It also estimates that 65,000 foreign tourists will arrive in Milan and spend an average of more than 1,000 euros per person during that week. This will have a beneficial effect on small businesses and shops, which are expected to generate a 10 percent increase in sales during that time.
As for the state of the fashion sector in 2023, Capasa updated the forecasts shared in December. Sales of the fashion and related industries (including textiles, clothing, leather goods, shoes, jewelry, eyewear and cosmetics) are expected to grow by 4 percent to 102.8 billion euros compared to the previous year. In 2022, the turnover of the entire sector grew by 20.8 percent to 98.8 billion euros compared to 2021, when the total turnover also increased by more than 20 percent.
In terms of exports, they remained a key driver for the industry in the first ten months of 2023, growing by 4.1 percent, broken down by 1 percent growth in the core sectors – textiles, clothing, leather goods, footwear – and 13.7 percent in the jewelry, eyewear and cosmetics categories, compared to the same period in 2022.
According to projections, exports of the total sector are expected to grow by 4.2 percent to 89.9 billion euros in 2023, compared to 2022.
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