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Italian fashion association Camera Della Moda’s CEO Carlo Capasa is calling on New York, Paris and London to consider giving Milan Fashion Week more time, as it announces a packed Spring/Summer 2023 schedule for September including 67 shows.
“This is a positive problem in that it illustrates the vitality of the Italian industry,” said Capasa in an interview. “But also, it is crazy. We cannot have 12 or 13 shows every day on the calendar, plus the presentations. We have had to turn away some brands. I have already spoken with the other fashion weeks and said — with the greatest respect — that we need one more day.”
The provisional schedule for Milan in September, released today, is certainly tightly packed — with Antonio Marras returning on Wednesday morning; and Sunday’s live shows, which include the tentpoles of Giorgio Armani and the recently announced Milan debut of Matty Bovan with support from Dolce & Gabbana. Highlights in between include Diesel’s public show and runway debuts at Etro by Marco De Vincenzo; Salvatore Ferragamo by Maximilian Davis; Bally by Rhuigi Villaseñor and Missoni led by Filippo Grazioli. Another will be the first live group runway presentation by WAMI (We Are Made In Italy), the Michelle Ngonmo-scouted collective of self-described BIPOC designers run in conjunction with the Italian designer Stella Jean and US-born Edward Buchanan, who in the 1990s was Bottega Veneta’s first ever designer.
Stalwarts including Prada, Max Mara, Bottega Veneta, Gucci and Versace remain present and correct. Moncler will hold a special show on Saturday night in order to mark the 70th anniversary of a label that is one of fashion’s few French-founded but Italian-owned and operated companies. Other late night shows include Boss at 9pm on Thursday and Vitelli at 9:30pm on Friday. The Camera’s “Fashion Hub” for new and emerging designers returns, as does its graduate runway show and Sustainable Fashion Awards event.
“Fashion is complex. It is business, and it is art at the same time — it is a cultural industry,” Capasa said. In Italy, that industry is asking for a little more time in which to share its bounteous crop of produce.
The manufacture and export of Made In Italy fashion products generated over €34 billion in 2021, up from €32.2 billion in 2019. Italy is also the source of many luxury goods: over 80 per cent of French luxury conglomerate Kering’s supply chain, for instance, is in Italy. Increasingly, however, the prime source of the global luxury industry’s commodities is finding itself starved of the time it requires to showcase its goods to fashion’s global community of buyers and editors.
“We do not have enough days. That’s not my opinion, just how it is. At the moment we are sandwiched, like London, between fashion weeks in New York and Paris,” said Capasa. “I would like to see New York start a little earlier in the future, to allow us to begin on Tuesday without London losing any time. We also used to run through until Tuesday, rather than Monday, but then our friends in Paris started scheduling shows on that day. We are extremely collaborative and cooperative, and respect the global system, but we have to work it out.”