All ready for Milan Fashion Week. From today, 18 September, and until 24 September, Italy is once again the capital of world fashion. A week in which the most important fashion houses in the world will "fight" with fashion shows, presenting the collections for the spring/summer 2019 season.
The six-day event that opens today will not only be important for Italian fashionistas, but also for the country's economy. On the basis of a study carried out by Intesa Sanpaolo, in fact, the Italian fashion system - that is to say the combination of textiles, clothing and footwear - last year generated an added value of 24,2 billion euros, practically the amount of a finance company.
Milan Fashion Week: the numbers, a record week
They will be presented 165 collections for a total of 60 fashion shows, 80 presentations and 44 events.
Two large locations that will frame the Milan fashion week: the Sala delle Cariatidi of Palazzo Reale and the Spazio Cavallerizze at the Museum of Science and Technology.
As per tradition, they will not be missing big names: from Prada to Armani, from Blumarine to Versace, Etro, Byblos and Philpp Plein. As for the "newcomers", all eyes will be on Tiziano Guardini, winner of the Franca Sozzani award at the Green Carpet Fashion Awards Italia 2017, Agnona, Fila, Ultràchic and Chika Kisada.
Milan Fashion Week: the calendar
The shows will begin the 19, the day in which brands of the caliber of Byblos, Jil Sander, Alberta Ferretti and Moncler will lift the veil on their collections. the 20 instead it will be the turn of Max Mara, Fendi, Prada, Moschino and Emporio Armani.
Friday September 21th we will see the models of Tod's, Iceberg, Blumarine, Sportmax, Etro and Versace on the catwalk. Saturday 22 it will be the day of Salvatore Ferragamo, Roberto Cavalli, Ermanno Scervino and Missoni. Sunday September 23th instead it will be the day of Giorgio Armani, Laura Biagiotti, Fila and Francesca Liberatore. In the end Monday 24 which will be the day dedicated to three young fashion promises: Ultràchic, Chika Kisada and Atsushi Nakashima.
As for the events, those not to be missed include: Thursday 20th within the "Fashion Film Festival" there will be a screening of the documentary on Alexander McQueen; Friday 21 there will instead be the New Opening Cocktail of Herno; Saturday 22nd the Etro exhibition “Generation Paisley” will be inaugurated.
Italian fashion at the top of the world
Talking about fashion in Italy means focusing on one of the engines of Made in Italy. As said, second a report from the Intesa Sanpaolo study centre, value added of the whole system exceeded 24 billion last year, while the trade balance it is positive for almost twenty billion against the negative data that characterize the other nations: United Kingdom (-21 billion), Germany (-19 billion) and France (-13,9 billion).
To understand what we are talking about, just provide two percentages: the system now represents 10% of manufacturing and employs around 500 workers, or 15,5% of the workers employed overall in Italian manufacturing.
These are the most interesting figures from the analysis provided by Intesa Sanpaolo, according to which Italy is worth over a third of the old continent's fashion production. “The data are positive in themselves, but even better when compared with those of other European countries – he explained Gregorio De Felice, chief economist of Intesa Sanpaolo -. We have a record, that of the added value generated by the fashion system in the European Union, equal to 33,9 percent. Almost three times that of the United Kingdom (12,2% of the total), more than three times that of Germany and Spain (10,6% and 8,2%%). Then France is fifth with 7%: these gaps are almost impossible to fill, thanks to the district structure and the specialization in the high-end segment”.
Not only that, looking to the future growth prospects of the sector, for 2018, are almost double those of the Italian GDP: for the current year, in fact, a growth of 2018% is forecast for 1,8 compared to +1% of the domestic product gross.
