Italy proceeds with fashion trade events this autumn.

While many fashion and textiles international professional shows, events and conferences in Paris such as Premiere Vision and Texworld are cancelled this September, Italy is going ahead with the majority of its trade shows as planned, with its textile and fashion organisations joining forces with a strong message this autumn, under the headline #StrongerTogether.

Green Label and BIOLINE laces from Iluna Group which
participates in Milano Unica and has a digital presence in other fairs.

Milano Unica for one opens at the Rho-Pero exhibition centre on September 8-9, hosting some 200 exhibitors, nearly half of its usual number.  The event is launching also a robust digital counterpart, e-MilanoUnica Connect, created with the help of Pitti Immagine’s tech know-how. 

Milano Unica’s virtual show will be active after the end of the physical event, from September 10, and will be operational until the next session, in February 2021.

Meanwhile "The Renaissance and Rebirth": the Dolce&Gabbana High Fashion and Haute Couture events took place in Florence as a special project for Pitti Immagine, trumpeting a new beginning for the city, to showcase the artisans and their extraordinary creations.  The title event began on 2 September with a catwalk show dedicated to Haute Couture at Palazzo Vecchio, in the Salone del Cinquecento. Unique and extraordinary pieces were presented accompanied by accessories and objects realized by the craft workshops.  In total 38 Florentine artisans were showcased. The creations made of terracotta, silk, gold, silver, leather, hide, straw, wicker, crystal, porcelain, glass, wood, brocade, feather, beads, semi-precious stones, marble marquetry demonstrated valuable traditions often handed down from generation to generation, yet still relevant today. The focus on Tuscan artisans will continue from 17 to 20 September at the Giardino Corsini, with the “Artigianato e Palazzo” exhibition that has now reached its 25th edition.  

On September 19-22, the Fiera Milano pavilions will host the Homi Fashion & Jewels show. This will be followed by the footwear show Micam on September 20-23, which from September 15 to November 15 will also stage a virtual version, the Micam Milano Digital Show, on a website developed and run by the NuOrder agency.

TheOneMilano show dedicated to fabric, leather and fur ready-to-wear collections, will be for the first time an integral part of Micam as a ‘Special Featured by Micam’ [sic] event, presenting total looks for footwear brands.

On September 22-23, the Mipel leather goods show will be staged at Fiera Milano, while avant-garde fashion show White Milano is scheduled in the southern part of the city on September 24-27, in parallel with the Milan Fashion Week.  The organisers of White Milano have also launched the "Milano loves Italy" project to bring together leading players within Italy's fashion industry spectrum.

Meanwhile the Italian Fashion Chamber (CNMI) has confirmed the Milan Fashion Week will go ahead on September 22-28 in a phygital format, featuring 28 live catwalk shows.

Leading labels showing include  Fendi, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Versace, Giorgio Armani, Salvatore Ferragamo, Max Mara and Etro will be showing, but not Gucci.  Among others are Boss, Marni, N°21, Calcaterra, Tod's and Sunnei.  Digital additions to the programme will include 24 films, among them those by Missoni, Philipp Plein, Dsquared2, Marco De Vincenzo and GCDS. 

Other European capitals and regions are exercising quarantine measures while Covid-19 cases are on the increase, so buyers and press are curtailing their business travel.  Along with social distancing requirements, this is a very different trading season that would have a long impact on the whole industry and indeed world markets for months to come.

Picture shows a Lace Mask design from the Iluna Group, which recently launched its official website and e-commerce operations as well as  the ilunamasks.com site dedicated to the sale of the exclusive Iluna masks.