Milan Fashion Week is
relocating to the new Porta Nuova district of Italy's financial
capital.
Key events among the 170 scheduled over six days, from
September 23 through September 28, have moved from the downtown
area to the Pavilion designed by Michele Lucchini and the huge
The Mall - "areas of the future", as described by the city
councilor for labor policies and economic development, Cristina
Tajani.
The district that has redefined Milan's skyline will host
the organization's headquarters and a number of happenings,
including a 'fashion hub market' for young designers and shows.
The idea of the city government is 'to promote the area of
Porta Nuova and decongest traffic in Piazza Duomo", explained
Tajani.
The Sala delle Cariatidi at Milan's central Palazzo Reale
will continue to host young designers' shows, organizers said.
And to help foreigners discover the new Milan, Camera della
Moda (Chamber of Italian Fashion) has commissioned an ironic
'Survival Guide' written by fashion journalist J.J. Martin.
Along with new locations, fashion week will also showcase
the debut of fashion designers who will be showing their
collections for the first time during fashion week - Damir Doma
and Daizy Shely, respectively a Croatian and an Israeli based in
Milan.
It will also feature the first collections by top designers
as new creative directors of leading fashion houses - namely
Peter Dundas at Roberto Cavalli, Massimo Giorgetti at Emilio
Pucci and Arthur Arbesser at Iceberg.
Their shows are not to be missed among the 70 in calendar,
scheduled to take place over six days that will also include 105
collection presentations for a total of over 170 events.
Milan Fashion Week events last September were 137.
This year's edition has "a strong energy that can be felt",
said the president of Camera della Moda, Carlo Capasa.
Commercially, 2014 was a good year for the fashion industry
"with a 3.8% increase in turnover from 2013 while a 7% increase
is expected in 2015 with a turnover of 65 billion", continued
Capasa.
"The first six months of the year registered growth in line
with 2014 but, after what happened in China, I don't feel like
confirming a growth forecast of 7%, although it will be a
positive year anyway", he also noted.
Out of the 61 billion euros in turnover last year, 50 came
from exports so the situation in Russia is obviously a concern
for the fashion industry.
"Russia is a market where we export a lot, let's see what
happens, as companies we can only work to give value to Made in
Italy", Capasa explained.
And one of Camera della Moda's strategies is to "strongly
invest in sustainability" with new standards on chemicals as of
October.
By studying the criteria that make an item of clothing
sustainable, the Camera della Moda president said, "we have
discovered that the required standards were already implemented
in Italian companies: we are a more advanced country but often
are unable to communicate this".
The protocol studied with the Italian federation of fashion
businesses Sistema Moda Italia, with the involvement of
Federchimica, which represents the chemical industry, has been
proposed to other international fashion chambers that coordinate
with their Italian counterpart also in terms of international
fashion calendars, explained Capasa.
And as far as fashion month calendars are concerned, Capasa
expressed the hope that an agreement will be found in future to
ensure fashion shows do not coincide with the Jewish festivity
of Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), which this year falls
between September 22 and 23, during Milan Fashion Week.
"I would be the first to sign it", noted Capasa, stressing
however that rescheduling requires a concerted effort.
This year, "it was impossible to move or cancel a day of
shows - with 170 happenings over six days", he concluded.
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