Milan Fashion Week Women, scheduled from February 23 to March 3, promises to be both intense and festive, with a much-renewed show calendar. A dozen labels will give the week a miss, but their absence will be offset by eight new names, like Fiorucci and K-Way, plus several emerging labels, three comebacks – Giorgio Armani, MSGM and Blumarine – as well as show-events such as Fendi’s, celebrating the Roman label’s centenary, and Dsquared2’s, celebrating the label’s 30th anniversary. Also worth mentioning, the presence of French designer Charles de Vilmorin, who will showcase his collection as part of an exchange project with the Italian Fashion Chamber (CNMI).

Fifty-five physical shows (including Emporio and Giorgio Armani both showing twice) are scheduled during the Milan womenswear week, in line with the 55 shows staged last September. In addition, on the week’s closing day, the programme includes six shows in digital format: Tokyo James, Maison Nencioni, Maxivive, Jacob Cohen, Viapiave33, and Neapolitan demi-couture label Saman Loira, for the first time on the Milan calendar. CNMI has listed 153 events in total for this womenswear week, including 65 presentations, 4 invite-only presentations, and 23 special events.

Gucci will kick off proceedings on Tuesday February 25, staging a co-ed show. A formula that many labels have adopted this season, having skipped the menswear week in January. Besides Gucci, the week’s opening day will feature Dsquared2, the label by Dean and Dan Caten, which will close the day with a show and a big party for its 30th anniversary, positioning itself, just for this once, on the womenswear calendar. Also K-Way, which used to show during the winter season’s menswear week only, has moved to the women’s week, and will stage a co-ed show celebrating its 60th anniversary, it too scheduled on the first day.

The same formula for Fendi, which will show the next day, on the evening of February 26, at its headquarters in via Solari. The show will be organised under the supervision of Silvia Venturini Fendi, creative director for the men’s ready-to-wear and accessories collections, who will also design the collection for women’s ready-to-wear, which has been without a creative director since Kim Jones left.

Among the major comebacks on the programme, that of Giorgio Armani, which showed in New York last autumn, and will be back in Milan on Sunday March 2. After skipping a season, Blumarine will make its return on Thursday February 27, under new creative director David Koma. MSGM too will return to the Milanese runways, on Saturday March 1. The label dropped out in September, having decided to show its women’s collection in June alongside menswear, to celebrate its 15th anniversary.

The week will also feature a plethora of new names. The first is Fiorucci, with Francesca Murri in charge of style, which will make its maiden appearance on the official calendar on Saturday March 1, having staged a first off-calendar show last season. Also, there will be plenty of emerging young talent, for example Francesco Murano, 27, with his structured, minimalist silhouettes and sculptural draped looks. Murano grew up near Salerno in southern Italy, alongside an embroiderer grandmother and a seamstress aunt. In 2016, he moved to Milan to study fashion design at the IED academy, and launched his first collection in 2019.

Also from southern Italy, more precisely Calabria, is Giuseppe Di Morabito, 32, who will stage his first-ever Milanese show on February 28. Di Morabito studied at the Istituto Marangoni in Milan, and founded his own label in 2014. His looks are characterised by couture lines, colours, textures, precious materials and sophisticated treatments, for a sexy, contemporary glam style that has won over many celebrities, like Lady Gaga and Zendaya. Di Morabito’s label is distributed via nearly 180 retailers, and in 2023 Italian investment fund Style Capital bought an 80% stake in it, while the eponymous designer still holds the remaining 20%.

Galib Gassanoff, 30, who partnered with Luca Lin for seven years at label Act N°1, parting ways with him in February 2023, is going solo with his new label, Institution, which will show on February 25 and defines itself as a socio-artistic project. Georgia-born Gassanoff, of Azeri language and culture, settled in Milan in 2012 through a scholarship.

On Sunday March 2, Milan will host for the first time Peruvian designer Jorge Luis Salinas, who grew up in Gamarra, home to Peru’s most important textile manufacturing hub. A graduate of the Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science, in 2016 he founded ​​the J. Salinas label, which combines traditional expertise and technological innovation, and collaborates with craft communities in Peru. Chinese designer Susan Fang will show on the same day. She is supported by Dolce & Gabbana, and was included in the calendar last September, but decided to postpone her show to the coming winter session.

Another new feature at Milan Fashion Week will be the first collaboration between CNMI and the French Fashion and Haute Couture Federation (FHCM), aimed at giving greater visibility to one of the associations’ emerging talents. For France, Charles de Vilmorin will present his latest collection in Milan at the Fashion Hub, a space showcasing several creative projects backed by Italian fashion’s institutional bodies. For Italy, Marco Rambaldi, a knitwear specialist who regularly shows in Milan, will have the opportunity to present his work during Paris Fashion Week (scheduled on March 5-11) at Sphère, the showroom managed by FHCM and supported by French public body DEFI.

Among the notable absentees from the upcoming Milan fashion week, a prime name is Bottega Veneta, in the midst of a transition phase following the arrival of new creative director Louise Trotter, who has replaced Matthieu Blazy, now in charge of style at Chanel. She will unveil her first collection next season. Boss, which shows in Milan every other season, will be back in September. Philosophy has dropped out of the calendar, having been subsumed into Alberta Ferretti. The latter’s eponymous designer and founder has retired, ceding her place to Lorenzo Serafini, who used to be in charge of the label’s young line Philosophy, and will present his first Alberta Ferretti collection on Tuesday February 25.

Also not included in the show calendar are: Vietnamese designer Phan Dang Hoang and Chinese designer Mao Bao of the Chiccomao label, which debuted in Milan last season; Tokyo James, which has opted for a video presentation; Federico Cina, The Attico and Andreadamo, three emerging labels which showed in September; and finally, three Milan Fashion Week regulars GCDS, Del Core and Rave Review.

Milan Fashion Week will nevertheless be able to count as always on Italy’s marquee labels: on Wednesday February 26, Jil Sander, Antonio Marras, Marni and Fendi; on Thursday 27, Roberto Cavalli, Etro, Max Mara and Prada; on Friday 28, Moschino, Missoni, with new creative director Alberto Caliri, and Versace, with what is rumoured could be Donatella Versace’s last show; and on Saturday March 1, Dolce & Gabbana and Philipp Plein. Gucci will kickstart the fashion week, and Giorgio Armani will bring it to a close.