The Prague Post - Fashion set heads to Milan for live shows -- for real this time

EUR -
AED 4.189406
AFN 79.799397
ALL 98.243881
AMD 437.606371
ANG 2.041357
AOA 1045.955617
ARS 1356.067909
AUD 1.755192
AWG 2.046619
AZN 1.932429
BAM 1.956276
BBD 2.306961
BDT 139.633942
BGN 1.956276
BHD 0.428404
BIF 3401.426803
BMD 1.140627
BND 1.469557
BOB 7.894919
BRL 6.344507
BSD 1.142578
BTN 97.82878
BWP 15.285716
BYN 3.739109
BYR 22356.294261
BZD 2.295058
CAD 1.561803
CDF 3285.006289
CHF 0.936917
CLF 0.02769
CLP 1062.596781
CNY 8.200483
CNH 8.197791
COP 4698.939459
CRC 582.441577
CUC 1.140627
CUP 30.226622
CVE 110.291809
CZK 24.789538
DJF 203.459456
DKK 7.459736
DOP 67.446395
DZD 149.383311
EGP 56.363182
ERN 17.109409
ETB 156.014423
FJD 2.567324
FKP 0.842447
GBP 0.842564
GEL 3.113554
GGP 0.842447
GHS 11.710847
GIP 0.842447
GMD 80.984647
GNF 9903.407273
GTQ 8.780134
GYD 239.398192
HKD 8.950063
HNL 29.795242
HRK 7.533954
HTG 149.826419
HUF 403.460444
IDR 18610.474345
ILS 3.995127
IMP 0.842447
INR 97.849278
IQD 1496.763826
IRR 48034.655159
ISK 143.992681
JEP 0.842447
JMD 182.474355
JOD 0.808705
JPY 164.97519
KES 147.677055
KGS 99.74746
KHR 4584.114285
KMF 492.195325
KPW 1026.564541
KRW 1551.477669
KWD 0.349055
KYD 0.952131
KZT 582.721645
LAK 24666.995936
LBP 102372.684264
LKR 341.803084
LRD 227.935405
LSL 20.286431
LTL 3.367976
LVL 0.689954
LYD 6.221512
MAD 10.456342
MDL 19.691787
MGA 5154.252871
MKD 61.549961
MMK 2394.895664
MNT 4082.635278
MOP 9.233744
MRU 45.371029
MUR 51.693175
MVR 17.571372
MWK 1981.181576
MXN 21.788222
MYR 4.822005
MZN 72.95484
NAD 20.286431
NGN 1782.481279
NIO 42.050221
NOK 11.524418
NPR 156.526048
NZD 1.894006
OMR 0.436906
PAB 1.142578
PEN 4.142307
PGK 4.696142
PHP 63.453573
PKR 322.257033
PLN 4.286595
PYG 9121.217142
QAR 4.166813
RON 5.04283
RSD 117.198488
RUB 89.56531
RWF 1617.1931
SAR 4.285142
SBD 9.521261
SCR 16.764875
SDG 684.963904
SEK 10.989493
SGD 1.469704
SHP 0.896354
SLE 25.720962
SLL 23918.383535
SOS 652.958718
SRD 42.137034
STD 23608.681328
SVC 9.99743
SYP 14830.26304
SZL 20.27993
THB 37.286975
TJS 11.295546
TMT 3.992195
TND 3.388624
TOP 2.671466
TRY 44.769936
TTD 7.731879
TWD 34.14205
TZS 3036.33838
UAH 47.316001
UGX 4136.00536
USD 1.140627
UYU 47.481542
UZS 14598.548546
VES 112.226419
VND 29717.902586
VUV 136.34003
WST 3.134419
XAF 656.116486
XAG 0.031688
XAU 0.000344
XCD 3.082602
XDR 0.815998
XOF 656.116486
XPF 119.331742
YER 277.571612
ZAR 20.277969
ZMK 10267.01503
ZMW 28.306881
ZWL 367.281512
  • CMSC

    -0.0700

    22.17

    -0.32%

  • BCC

    -0.7100

    86.8

    -0.82%

  • NGG

    -0.3000

    70.7

    -0.42%

  • CMSD

    -0.0510

    22.184

    -0.23%

  • RIO

    -0.2000

    59.03

    -0.34%

  • BTI

    0.3200

    47.79

    +0.67%

  • SCS

    -0.0250

    10.35

    -0.24%

  • RYCEF

    0.1300

    12

    +1.08%

  • GSK

    0.0550

    41.2

    +0.13%

  • JRI

    0.1100

    13.08

    +0.84%

  • RBGPF

    1.0800

    69.04

    +1.56%

  • BP

    0.2250

    29.29

    +0.77%

  • VOD

    -0.0170

    9.94

    -0.17%

  • BCE

    -0.0850

    21.78

    -0.39%

  • AZN

    0.5300

    72.88

    +0.73%

  • RELX

    -0.0900

    53.68

    -0.17%

Fashion set heads to Milan for live shows -- for real this time
Fashion set heads to Milan for live shows -- for real this time

Fashion set heads to Milan for live shows -- for real this time

The who's who of Italian fashion retakes the runway with the return of Milan women's shows Wednesday, which organisers hope will boost an industry stifled by two years of coronavirus.

Text size:

Back are the leggy models, the paparazzi and the Prosecco-fuelled parties as the international jet-set ready for live shows from the likes of Fendi, Giorgio Armani and Gucci, including a debut for Ferrari.

This season, for the first time since Covid-19 erupted in Italy in February 2020, in-person shows with audiences will outnumber pre-taped shows and films streamed for homebound fashionistas.

Those proved a pale substitute for the runway extravaganzas that are a major advertising weapon for luxury brands. Now, Milan is hoping for an event worthy of the return of hundreds of buyers, journalists and fashion executives to the city.

Carlo Capasa, chairman of Italy's national fashion chamber (CNMI), acknowledged during a press conference last week the "uncertainty" that still weighed over the sector.

But the 58 physical shows and nine digital offerings for Fall/Winter 2022/2023 are "a strong sign of optimism and positivity, which infuses new momentum into the industry", he said.

"Everything is heading towards recovery in 2022."

Attracting the most attention among the ready-to-wear shows is Gucci, today's "It" label, with its green and red stripe. It returns to the Milan calendar after a two-year absence.

Designer Alessandro Michele is fresh from November's "Gucci Love Parade" show that -- replete with satin, spangles and ostrich feathers -- turned Hollywood's Walk of Fame into the flashiest of catwalks.

- Clawing back -

Two years ago this week in Milan, Moschino presented a Versailles-worthy collection of embroidered silk confections on models in towering hairdos. The carefree, "Let them eat cake" vibe was soon brought to a brutal halt by the pandemic.

Since then, after a period of factory closures, plummeting sales and a sea change in how people dress (sweatpants, anyone?), the industry has sought to claw its way back to pre-Covid levels.

"After nearly two years of disruption, the global fashion industry is once again finding its feet," wrote consultancy McKinsey in a December report.

Italy's fashion and related sectors are expected to post revenue of 83 billion euros ($95 billion) in 2021, up 20.9 percent year-on-year, according to CNMI. That is still 7.8 percent shy of 2019 levels, however.

Exports, up 16.4 percent in the first 10 months of 2021, were fuelled by a 50-percent rise in sales to China, and a 31.8-percent increase to the United States.

Chinese buyers will still be absent this week due to restricted entry into Italy, but a government measure intended to spur tourism means foreign buyers who received non-EU approved vaccines, in particular Russia's Sputnik, are welcome.

A surge of Omicron cases resulted in a scaled-down Milan men's fashion week in January, and anxiety continues to hang over the show circuit, which began this month in New York and, following shows in London and Milan, wraps up in Paris on March 8.

In New York, Tom Ford cancelled his highly anticipated runway show, blaming an unfinished collection on Omicron cases among US design staff and Italian factory workers.

- Cars and corsets -

More at home on the racetrack than the runway, Ferrari makes its Milan debut Sunday, eight months after designer Rocco Iannone presented the first fashion collection for the luxury sports car brand, using its assembly line as a catwalk.

Returning to Milan Wednesday is Diesel, marking Belgian designer Glenn Martens' second collection for the Italian denim brand.

Martens, who continues to serve as artistic director of Y/Project, presented a resplendent haute couture collection in Paris last month as Jean Paul Gaultier's guest designer, garnering rave reviews for his deconstructed take on the French designer's signature corseting.

Fashion watchers are also eager for Matthieu Blazy's debut Saturday as new creative director of Bottega Veneta, following the surprise exit of Daniel Lee in November.

C.Sramek--TPP