Milan Fashion Week Goes Digital

Traditionally, Milan Fashion Week is a highly attended event, brining many people into the city to see the showcased pieces from the lines of top designers. This year, Milan Fashion Week looks a little different. This year, Milan Fashion Week goes digital, and takes place in your home, local coffee shop, or wherever you have internet access.

The original week in June was pushed back to July 14th-17th, and today began the online fashion week. Though the producer of Milan Fashion Week, Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, hope for the in person show to occur in September, the organization decided that something still needed to happen over the summer. A Vogue writer, Steff Yotka, interviewed Carlo Capasa, the president of the Camera della Moda, and got his thoughts on this digital week. “Everybody can decide their own message. The advantage is that in a digital world, you are completely free,” Capasa says, “You find your way of expression. We said to everybody, ‘You have from one minute to 15 minutes, and you decide what you want to show.’”

This freedom of expression can range from a runway show of sorts, to a short film, to an interview, or to so much more. Capasa notes in the Vogue article that these collections shown in July will be smaller, due to factories being closed all spring. He also insists that these “digital issues” do not replace the in-person shows, but allow Italian designers to be promoted and help with the sales period before September.

Capasa has high hopes for the digital fashion week, hoping it will attract many viewers but that it also “might inspire consumers to be more conscious with their spending and travel and encourage brands to consider using their resources more sustainably” (Yotka).

The complete week schedule can be found on Camera della Moda’s website: https://www.cameramoda.it/en/.

Works Cited:

Yotka, Steff. “Milan Fashion Week to Go Digital With a Special July Edition.” Vogue, Vogue, 6 May 2020, www.vogue.com/article/milan-fashion-week-to-go-digital-with-a-special-july-2020-edition.