MILAN — Keep the vitamins handy.
The Milan Fashion Week calendar is shorter and more intense than ever, with the major houses squeezed into four days — from Thursday to Sunday — because of Yom Kippur, and no letup in the accompanying social events. In addition to the shows, the fetes span from the opening of Prada’s new concept store to Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce appearing at La Rinascente and Stefanel feting its 50th anniversary.
But there clearly are concerns. Most fashion houses decline to talk about a business outlook for spring 2010 because of the ongoing global recession. The weak dollar against the euro is likely to cause U.S. retailers to take an even tougher line on prices for spring 2010 than they did for this fall. And buyers and the fashion press will be counting every lire in hotels and restaurants as they deal with their own budget cuts. Managers at most of the five-star hotels — including the Four Seasons, the Hotel Bulgari, the Principe di Savoia and the Hotel Baglioni — claim to be fully booked but concurred many clients waited until the last minute to confirm their reservations.
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It’s still early to tell whether it will be a high wattage or lackluster celebrity season since the only ones confirmed so far are Mary J Blige at Gucci and Rachel Bilson at Ferragamo.
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There are a few shows today and the festivities kick off tonight with the inauguration of Louis Vuitton’s “Ecritures Silencieuses” exhibition at Palazzo Dugnani, marking the first time the brand has displayed one of its shows outside of Paris’ Espace Culturel. The crux of the show, which runs through Oct. 31, are three inscribed Rongo Rongo tablets from the Polynesian island of Rapa Nui that will be displayed alongside the works of artists such as Barbara Kruger, Giuseppe Penone and Tracey Emin.
On the heels of its show on Thursday, Prada will reopen its Corso Venezia store to unveil a revamped look. The 6,480-square-foot unit is Prada’s first dedicated to a made-to-order service via which customers can personalize their favorite style. For example, there are five jeans styles that can be developed in 14 fabrics and 22 washes and stitched with any color thread the consumer wishes.
The choice for quilted down jackets is between nylon, silk satin and duchesse and wool gabardine in a selection of 100 colors. Ditto on the accessories front, where customers can walk away with a pair of crocodile boots bearing their initials and in a skin they selected from 10 different colorways. Even basic white T-shirts can be personalized with one’s initials. The price range for denim spans from $281 to $1,139.
The store’s decor breaks away from the house’s traditional sage green look to highlight contrasting elements such as butter-colored marble, ebony, pumpkin orange panels, micro perforated steel walls, glass and wooden or etched leather curtains.
The launch of a Prada book, initially scheduled for show week, instead was put off to a later day.
To celebrate its 50th anniversary, Stefanel teamed up with knitwear designers Annalisa Dunn and Dorothee Hagemann of Cooperative Designs. The British duo designed Stefanel 50, a capsule collection of 10 revisited iconic pieces, which will be on display at Galleria Cardi on Thursday.
“We wanted to mark this milestone with a special collection that represents the best of our heritage and encapsulates our vision for the future,” said Gruppo Stefanel chairman Giuseppe Stefanel.
The knitwear maker was founded in 1959 by Carlo Stefanel and opened its first store in Siena in 1980, followed two years later by its first international unit in Paris. In 1987, Stefanel went public and today has partnerships in airport retailing. In 2008, Grupo Stefanel’s sales topped 275.4 million euros, or $407.2 million, with the Stefanel brand generating revenues of 166 million euros, or $245 million.
Speaking of democratic fashion, “Milano loves fashion” is a new multievent spectacle organized by the town hall to bring fashion closer to the masses. It will take place on Thursday in Piazza Duomo and will host the show by C’N’C, Costume National’s diffusion line designed by Ennio Capasa, and rock progeny Daisy Lowe, Pixie Geldof and Tali Lennox are expected to walk the runway.
Flanking the show will be a string of performances, including one by prima ballerina Eleonora Abbagnato, who will dance a new work called “Mammagamma,” and a show by Fanfare Le Snob, a band of French street artists.
“Milano loves fashion” was conceived by Giovanni Terzi, town councilor for fashion, design and events. “We mustn’t forget that fashion generates 21 percent of the city’s GDP and I want people to understand that,” said Terzi. “‘Milano loves fashion’ is also a way to make people move away from the notion that fashion is snobbish and elitist or that it just creates traffic gridlocks during show week.”
Terzi expects at least 40,000 people to flock to Piazza Duomo for what will be the first of a string of events on an annual basis.
Roberto and Eva Cavalli also chose Thursday night to inaugurate their restyled Just Cavalli Hollywood club, which has a new chef, Claudio Marzaglia. Earlier, denim specialist Dondup will unveil its latest undertaking — a pair of silk pants printed to look like ink blue jeans. Thanks to a special printing technique that reproduces seams, rips, belt loops and pockets, Dondup’s new pants look like jeans only they’re lighter and more slimming than their denim counterparts.
The trousers retail for between $370 and $429 and will be sold in 700 sales points worldwide. “Especially in tough times we must remember our fashion mission and be ready to experiment. We owe it to the people that work with us,” said Massimo Berloni, chief executive officer of Dondup.
In 2008, Dondup had sales of 60 million euros, or $88.7 million, a figure expected to climb to 65 million euros, or $96.1 million, this year. Berloni confirmed talks with private equity funds to sell a minority stake in his firm, but declined to disclose names. According to industry sources, L Capital, the private equity fund sponsored by Groupe Arnault and LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, is the lead contender.
On Friday, Gabbana and Dolce will accompany Claudia Schiffer, Eva Herzigova and Naomi Campbell to La Rinascente. The designers and the trio of supermodels, who are the faces of the new D&G Fragrance Anthology scent collection, are scheduled to arrive at the department store in Piazza Duomo at 7 p.m., when they will pose for photos and sign autographs.
Over at Luisa Beccaria, the spotlight will shine on the designer’s signature ruffles, swooshing silks and floral prints, and on her latest undertaking — a romantic version of the Citroën C3 Picasso car she designed.
Those seeking novelty with a rocker edge will likely swing by Antonia, an edgy multibrand store, on Saturday, where owners Antonia Giacinti and Maurizio Purificato are promoting a new brand called MSGM.
Designed by Massimo Giorgetti and an anonymous partner, MSGM is being launched for spring and is produced by Manifattura Paoloni. The collection already has caught the eye of Macy’s, Browns in London and Hong Kong’s Lane Crawford, among others. Five limited edition T-shirts and hoodies, with acid rock pizzazz and bloggers’ sentences splattered over the front, will be on display amid video installations.