Milan Fashion Week going increasingly international

By

Dominique Muret

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Feb 17, 2020

After New York and London, it will be Milan’s turn on the fashion week stage. Starting on Tuesday 18, this fashion week will introduce a well-balanced programme combining leading names and emerging talents, with a strong focus on China, alongside other labels from all over the world. For the Italian Fashion Chamber (CNMI), the event is an opportunity to express its support for China, hit hard by the coronavirus epidemic.
 

A young Chinese designer, Han Wen, will kick off the week with his show on Tuesday February 18. Born in south China's Hainan Island, Wen is passionate about materials research and model-making. He launched his label in 2016 in New York, after moving there to study at the Parsons School of Design.

The week’s opening night also marks the launch of the ‘China We Are with You’ campaign, and of the Fashion Hub Market, a section dedicated to emerging names, which will introduce the work of several Chinese designers. Alongside them, a cohort of emerging labels from Italy, Hungary and Africa will also be featured.

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The Milan Fashion Week, dedicated to the women’s ready-to-wear collections for the Fall/Winter 2020-21, features a rather reduced programme, with just one event on the first day and only two shows on the last day, Monday 24. However, there will be a spate of special events organised in parallel with the official calendar.
 
The programme of off-calendar events includes several shows, notably the catwalk come-back after a three-year absence of Emilio Pucci, which will unveil the collection by French designer Christelle Kocher on Thursday 20. Also worth mentioning, the show by Italian-Chinese label Maryling on Wednesday 19, as well as a collective show by Hungarian designers and the Luisa Spagnoli show, both on Friday 21.
 
Altogether, the Fashion Week’s official calendar will feature 54 shows, as opposed to the 56 of last September. Also on the programme, 96 presentations and over 30 special events, among them the gala evening for the 10th anniversary of N°21, several store openings, including one by Giorgio Armani, the inauguration of the ‘Memos’ exhibition organised by CNMI with the Poldi Pezzoli Museum, and the exhibition dedicated to Peter Lindbergh at the Armani/Silos museum.

Among the week's high points are the shows by the big names of Italian fashion, from Gucci to Max Mara, Prada, Fendi, Moschino, Salvatore Ferragamo and Missoni. Not to mention Dolce & Gabbana, which will once again show off-calendar, and Boss, the main line by German label Hugo Boss, which is showing in Milan since last season.

Italian luxury sportswear label Moncler is making its come-back to the Women's Fashion Week. Not with a catwalk show, but with the third edition of the Moncler Genius project, with a special installation which is set to be unveiled on Wednesday 19. Philipp Plein will instead show on the evening of Saturday 22 with a music performance, and Ports 1961 will show on Sunday February 23.
 
Two emerging Italian talents will be added to the list of new names. The first is Gilberto Calzolari, winner of the Green Carpet Fashion Awards 2018, who will show on Wednesday 19.

The other new Italian label is Vìen, whose show is scheduled on Sunday 23. The label was founded in 2017 by Puglia-born Vincenzo Palazzo, a music lover and event organiser before he launched into fashion, and is characterised by a blend of street culture and couture style. Vìen isn’t exactly a rookie, since it first showed in Milan in June 2018, as part of the menswear calendar.
 
These new names will compensate for the seven that have dropped out of the official calendar this season, starting from Blumarine, whose parent company Blufin was bought last November by the boss of Liu Jo, Marco Marchi, via his Eccellenze Italiane holding company. British label Peter Pilotto and Antwerp-based Chinese designer Shuting Qiu have also left the Milan Fashion Week. Another Chinese designer, Angel Chen, had to drop out because he wasn't able to complete his collection in time, due to delivery problems caused by the coronavirus outbreak. Also not showing this season are Aigner, Tiziano Guardini, winner of the Green Carpet Fashion Awards in 2017, and Italian-Haitian designer Stella Jean, who decided to present her new collection via an awareness-raising campaign against racial discrimination.