Milano Moda Donna ready for startup
“Just a month after Milano Moda Uomo, where there was a 20% falloff in the number of brands compared to a year ago, the fact that there are 10 more Milano Moda Donna collections than usual is an encouraging sign”: that was how Chamber of Fashion president Mario Boselli (in the photo) presented the event yesterday.
“During the event, the fashion Quadrilateral will be resplendent in the evening”, said councilor for culture Massimiliano Finazzer Flory.
From February 25 through March 4, the event will include 92 fashion shows for 83 brands – four of which are not in the calendar -, with an almost fifty-fifty division between those opting for the Milan Fashion Center (40 labels) and those who will show outside it (43). There will be nine double runways, about a hundred presentations for a total of 73 lines, and 75 rendezvous by appointment (see also fashionmagazine.it February 9).
But apart from technical data, Mario Boselli also talked about the forecast for the prêt-à-porter week and the textile-apparel sector, which is “up against an epochal and exceptional crisis”. Boselli talked first about the calendar, stating that “We have made huge sacrifices and have fought with Paris, New York and London about the change from Wednesday to Wednesday rather than Saturday to Saturday: the result is that the majority of the fashion houses want concentration over four or five days”. Boselli did not hide his disappointment, describing the situation as “disastrous” and pointing out that in cases like this the Chamber can suggest but not compel.
“Luckily” – he added – “we have been encouraged by a less oppressive climate than that of a month ago: the situation is still delicate today, but, if nothing else, those extra 10 collections are a positive sign”.
The president of the Chamber closed his speech with reflections on young people “for whom the big names could do more”. February 25 will be a special day dedicated to them with the Next Generation show – an initiative promoted by the Chamber together with the Chamber of Commerce and Lectra, now at its second edition – and the Regeneration show, which will shine the spotlight on proposals from BeeQueen by Chicca Lualdi, Gilda Giambra and Federico Sangalli Milano, who took part in the Fashion Incubator, an initiative in which the Chamber is flanked by the City Council, represented this morning by Massimiliano Finazzer Flory.
In his speech, the new councilor for culture underscored the interaction between fashion and the city, which will take shape end February through a series of initiatives pivoting around the fashion Quadrilateral in the evening, “to send a strong message to those who say that this area is alive during the day, but dead at night”.
There will a period car and motorbike show, a meeting between fashion and futurism (both February 25), concerts in the Church of San Francesco di Paola (February 26 and March 1), extraordinary openings of the Bagatti Valsecchi Museum for ballet and other performances (February 27 and 28) and a futuristic dance show at Palazzo Gavazzi (now Balossi Restelli). Claudia Buccellati, president of the Via Montenapoleone association, reiterated that culture and business cannot be self-reliant, they must help each other “in a Milan that has been penalized by the recent Malpensa and Linate problems”. About synergism, Mario Boselli said that at the Milano Fashion Center March 3 he will sign an agreement with a Spanish entity, similar to our Fashion Chamber, in view of international cooperation that has already led to an agreement with the Paris Chamber signed in 2000 and renewed in 2005.
(Source: Fashion magazine)
