MILAN — The upcoming Milan Fashion Week is expected to draw 141,000 visitors to town, half of whom from abroad.
Taking place Sept. 22 to 28, the event is only one of the attractions crowding the Milanese back-to-school, as the month of September alone is set to attract 496,000 visitors, according to estimates shared by Milan’s municipality on Tuesday, when the final schedule of Milan Fashion Week was unveiled.
To be sure, the fashion event will cap off a busy month for the city. It started strong last week via plenty of Formula 1-related activations implemented by brands of different industries eager to get visibility in the lead-up to the Italian Grand Prix, and it will continue to gain steam as the city gears up for the fifth iteration of Milan Beauty Week, running Sept. 16 to 20.
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Camera Nazionale della Moda’s president Carlo Capasa highlighted the city’s momentum, which started to build already with the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics and Paralympics and the attention received by the release of “The Devil Wears Prada 2” earlier this year. As further evidence of the increasing attractiveness of the Italian fashion capital, Capasa pointed to the recent announcement that Formula 1 will host the three-day event “F1 Live Milan” starting Feb. 18, in the lead-up to the women’s fashion week.
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As he underscored the exponential cross-pollination between fields, Capasa shared his hopes that these increasing synergies might be an antidote to the fashion industry’s sales slump.
He shared economic projections that forecast 2026 sales of the fashion and connected industries (including textiles, clothing, leather goods, footwear, jewelry, eyewear and cosmetics) to be down 1.6 percent to 91.4 billion euros compared to 2025.
Although they continue to be a key driver of the Italian fashion industry, exports are also projected to decrease 2.5 percent to 84.5 billion euros versus 2025, while imports are poised to stay relatively flat at roughly 46.2 billion euros.
Earlier this year, first projections for 2026 forecast total sales for the industry are growing 1 percent to 94.2 billion euros, and exports and imports up 2.5 percent and 8.1 percent, respectively, but Capasa addressed the uncertainty related to ongoing geopolitical tensions as a key reason impacting the updated forecast and consumers’ sentiment.
He’s betting on a packed edition of Milan Fashion Week to upend the trend, as this iteration will have a record number of appointments — roughly 218 — across physical and digital shows, presentations and events.
Still, there was no major news in the final schedule compared to the preliminary version shared in July.
As reported, in a surprising move, Prada will be the event’s opener, staging its runway show at 2 p.m. CET on Sept. 22, therefore moving up from its traditional slot on Thursdays. That evening, the brand will also celebrate with a cocktail the Prada Galleria multifloor experience at its historic store in Milan’s landmark shopping arcade.
Golden tickets of the following day will include the reveal of Simone Bellotti’s new collection for Jil Sander and Maria Grazia Chiuri’s sophomore ready-to-wear line for Fendi. Also on Sept. 23 Antonio Marras will invite the public to its fashion show with an open-to-public format held at the Giardino Vincenzo Muccioli garden, while Etro will cap off the day staging its first show since the sudden exit of creative director Marco De Vincenzo earlier this year.
On Sept. 24 it will be the turn of Max Mara, Marni, Alberta Ferretti, Roberto Cavalli and Emporio Armani to present their spring 2027 collections.
Moschino will unveil its new vision under new creative directors and Sunnei founders Loris Messina and Simone Rizzo on Sept. 25. The same day will see the much-anticipated show of Demna for Gucci at 2 p.m. CET and The Attico celebrating its 10th anniversary with an evening runway show, to be followed by after-show parties like Blumarine’s in collaboration with Ugg.
The fashion weekend will see the likes of Ferragamo, Dolce & Gabbana, MSGM and Bottega Veneta parading their collection on Saturday and Giorgio Armani presenting its women’s spring 2027 line at 11 a.m. CET on Sunday.
Brands like N.21 and GCDS are MIA, while Ferrari decided to temporarily decamp from Milan to present its spring 2027 collection in New York, timed with the opening of its new flagship in the city.
Dsquared2 and Brioni will unveil their new collections at their respective showrooms, adding to a packed schedule of presentations and events.
In addition to Milan Fashion Week fixtures such as Loro Piana, Brunello Cucinelli and La DoubleJ, presentations will also include debutants in Milan such as Sézane on Sept. 23 and the unveiling of La Perla’s new chapter on Sept. 26. Other names span from Alanui to Off-White, with the latter staging both a presentation and an event dedicated to its 10×10 creative project on Sept. 23.
The shoe game will be particularly strong in Milan, with Gianvito Rossi celebrating its 20th anniversary, Hogan marking its 40th milestone and Paris Texas debuting on the official schedule. They add to staples such as Jimmy Choo, Giuseppe Zanotti, Santoni, Sergio Rossi and Paul Andrew, most of which all squeezed their presentations on Sept. 25.
On the same day, Marta Ortega Pérez, Luca Guadagnino and Stefano Baisi will celebrate the Baisi Guadagnino for Zara Home collection.
Other celebratory moments will include CNMI’s gala dinner at Palazzo Reale coinciding with the opening of the “Dalí e la Moda” exhibition on Sept. 23; Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren to be honored with an exhibition on their work at 10 Corso Como to open to the public on Sept. 25 and Fondazione Sozzani handing out its inaugural Sozzani Awards on Sept. 26.
