MILAN — The emergence of three new creative directions of Italian brands will be among the highlights of Milan Fashion Week, which will be held between February 20-26 with 161 physical and digital fashion shows, presentations and events.
The program will include Adrian Appiolaza’s debut 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 is also returning to Milan after recently adopting a travel format that saw the OTB-owned brand designed by Francesco Risso base itself in Paris, Tokyo and New York.
Other exits will include emerging brands Sagaboi and Feben. The first was founded in 2015 by Geoff K. Cooper and has its roots in Caribbean subculture; the latter is the latest London-based designer brand to be backed by Dolce & Gabbana as part of the duo’s talent endorsement program, having previously supported Karoline Vitto, Tomo Koizumi, Matty Bovan and Miss Sohee.
The shows will officially start on February 21st with names like Iceberg and Antonio Marras. The Diesel show will start at 12:30 TSI and it looks like it will be an exciting event again. It was stated that the brand will again adopt a public format, allowing 1000 people to register for tickets and “attend” the event from anywhere. The brand did not reveal any further details and delayed the release of full access-related information until Friday, but the company will arrange a livestream starting February 18 that will allow people to watch all the preparations for the event, from the cast to the show. to create.
Fendi, Del Core and Roberto Cavalli will also hold catwalk shows that day, and the shows will be closed by Etro. As reported, the brand will opt for a mixed format this time and Marco De Vincenzo will introduce its latest men’s and women’s collections at 20:00 CET.
Max Mara, Prada and Emporio Armani will be among the brands on display on February 22, when Appiolaza’s creative tenure at Moschino will officially begin at 18:00 (CET) at the Museo della Permanente. “Moschino — X anni di Kaos! 1983-1993” celebrates the first ten years of the brand founded by Franco Moschino.
Appiolaza’s debut will be followed by the show of GCDS and Peter Hawkings’ sophomore collection for Tom Ford.
On February 23, Tamburini and Chiapponi will unveil their breakthrough efforts for Tod’s and Blumarine respectively, followed by the likes of Sportmax and Philosophy di Lorenzo Serafini. At 15:00 CET, Sabato De Sarno’s fall 2024 women’s collection for Gucci will be unveiled, followed by Marni, Sunnei, MSGM, Versace and Philipp Plein.
Ferrari, Ferragamo, Jil Sander, Missoni and Bally will hold catwalk shows on February 24, and the shows will end with Matthieu Blazy presenting his new mixed collection for Bottega Veneta.
Feben reserved 25 February for its first concert in Milan, followed by Giorgio Armani’s traditional double show in the historic center on Via Borgonuovo at 10:30 and 11:30 (CET). 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 this edition’s nominees.
On the presentations front, Max Mara Group, Max & Co. and Richard Quinn, Marina Rinaldi by Zuhair Murad collection and Weekend Max Mara by Lucy, will unveil triple collaborations for the three brands under its umbrella. Halo line.
These will be added to the offerings of accessories brands such as Brunello Cucinelli, Loro Piana, La DoubleJ, Fiorucci and MCM, as well as Bulgari, Sergio Rossi, Jimmy Choo, Gianvito Rossi, Borsalino and Mach & Mach.
Among the new names adopting this format, in addition to Khrisjoy, there will be emerging brands such as Cozy Sunday, Jarlzhang, Maison Jajia, Raisa Vanessa.
While Act N.1 also transitions from a fashion show to a presentation, other young names who have ignited the Milan fashion scene in the last few editions are currently still not included in the program; Cormio and Andreadamo are among them.
“There are personal preferences that influence these choices,” said Carlo Capasa, president of the Italian fashion chamber. He highlighted that some brands choose to stage runway shows once a year and may return in September, mentioning the likes of Attico and Patron.
The opening day of Milan Fashion Week will be devoted to a series of press conferences, including 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 startup will connect with Loro Piana.
Other projects to be announced on the day will include the new cultural spaces Galleria and Project Room at 10 Corso Como, as well as the presentation of the exhibition dedicated to Walter Albini at the Museo del Tessuto di Prato museum in Tuscany.
Other events to be circled in red on the calendar include Palm Angels’ “Son of a Beat” project, which presents three club nights with a line-up of international DJs during fashion week, and Juergen Teller’s book signing, which is part of the photo signing on February 24 taking. The exhibition “I Need to Live” opened at the Milan Triennial and will continue until April.
In light of the busy schedule, Capasa answered questions about the repeated selection of far-flung performance venues and the impact this has on the city’s traffic and environmental sustainability.
Capasa pointed out an attitude that “directs fashion in general and on a global scale” and underlined that this is not a problem specific to Milan alone, but is also shared in Paris or globally when brands organize cruise shows in various parts of the world. .
“There is a tendency for companies to choose specific places to tell their stories and prioritize experience over execution methods. This is definitely something we need to think about and understand at a global level if we can find better ways,” Capasa said.
He also expressed the need to add more days to the Milan calendar.
To this end, Capasa emphasized that the timing of fashion events in New York and Paris was more appropriate; because these cities open and close the fashion marathon and have the opportunity to extend the relevant days, while London and Milan have less margin for change.
“I believe we need an extra day, and we have already discussed this with our global partners at other fashion weeks,” Capasa said. “I requested that Tuesday be a day full of demonstrations here. “It works better than the following Monday, because considering that artists like Dior and Saint Laurent are showing in Paris on Tuesday, we won’t even have models in the city as the models will have to fly to Paris for the auditions in the city.”
An extra day will further stimulate Milan’s economy. The local municipality estimates that the upcoming Milan Fashion Week will generate more than 70 million euros in sales in restaurants, transportation, hotels and other services; This means a 10 percent increase compared to the same edition last year and a 22 percent increase compared to 2019.
It also estimates that 65,000 foreign tourists will come to Milan during that week, spending an average of more than 1,000 euros each. This will have a positive impact on small businesses and stores, with sales expected to increase by 10 percent on those days.
Regarding the situation of the fashion industry in 2023, Capasa updated the predictions it shared in December. Sales of fashion and related sectors (including textiles, clothing, leather products, shoes, jewellery, eyewear and cosmetics) are expected to increase by 4 percent compared to the previous year, reaching 102.8 billion euros. In 2022, sales of the general sector increased by 20.8 percent, reaching 98.8 billion euros, compared to 2021, when total turnover also increased by more than 20 percent.
As for exports, they continued to be a significant driver for the industry in the first 10 months of 2023; With an increase of 4.1 percent, there was a growth of 1 percent in the basic sectors (textiles, clothing, leather products, shoes) and 13.7 percent growth. compared to the same period in 2022 in the categories of jewelry, glasses and cosmetics.
According to estimates, the exports of the sector are expected to increase by 4.2 percent in 2023 compared to 2022 and reach 89.9 billion euros.
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