If all goes well, Milan Men's Week 2022, which will take place from January 14 to 18, will be the return of big names and physical fashion shows.
According to the original plan, the official schedule of men's wear week this season will have 47 participating brands, 23 physical fashion shows, 24 Presentations and 9 online launches, most of which can be broadcast live or broadcast to global media audiences through the exclusive online platform of the Italian National Fashion Chamber. Among the most anticipated are the 1017 Alyx 9SM and JW Anderson, who moved to Milan for the first time from Paris, and the new faces 44 Label Group, Frederico Cina, Justin Gall and Jordanluca, who joined the official Milan Menswear Week schedule for the first time.
JW Anderson's Spring /Summer 2022 menswear collection
In addition, five new brands– Ardusse, Anaku, Family First, Dhruv Kapoor and Jet Set – will also make their debuts during this season's Fashion Week. At the same time, the Italian National Fashion Chamber of Commerce will also launch an online brand display platform for all domestic and foreign buyers, providing buyers and media with brand new season series, brand designer interviews, sales dates, event information, and series photos and videos.
Ardusse Fall/Winter 2021 collection
However, the spread of the new wave of the epidemic has disrupted the original schedule and brand launch plan of this season's Men's Wear Week.
The first is designer Giorgio Armani's announcement of the cancellation of the Emporio Armani and Giorgio Armani Autumn 2022 Menswear Show scheduled for January 15 and 17 in Milan, and he also said there will be no online release. Armani said in its statement: "In view of the current deteriorating epidemic situation, we deeply regret to have made this decision. In addition, Giorgio Armani canceled the Spring 2022 Haute Couture Show scheduled for Paris at the end of this month.
Then, on January 10, JW Anderson also announced that it would cancel the physical fashion show and instead show it online for this season's Men's Wear Week. The company told WWD that due to the logistics delays and challenging travel situation caused by the current spread of the epidemic, the brand regrettably can only present the Fall/Winter 2022 menswear collection in the form of a digital show. It is reported that the online show will premiere on the Camera della Moda channel at 8 pm local time on January 16.
At the same time, the company also said that the brand still attaches great importance to Milan Fashion Week and will return in June with a physical show to showcase the Spring/Summer 2023 menswear collection at Milan Fashion Week.
The Pitti Uomo Men's Wear Show in Florence, held a few days before Milan Men's Wear Week, also saw the brand collectively cancel the fashion show due to the epidemic.
1017 Alyx 9SM Spring/Summer 2022 Menswear Collection
Ann Demeulemeester, which became Pitti Uomo's guest guest brand this year, announced the cancellation of a fashion event scheduled for January 12 at the old railway plant in Florence, Stazione Leopolda, due to the pandemic. The event is meant to celebrate the brand's 40th anniversary and is also the brand's first public debut after it was acquired by Italian retailer Claudio Antonioli in 2020.
Thanks to the gathering of several world-renowned menswear brands, Milan Men's Week and the Pitti Uomo Menswear Show in Florence can be said to be the two most important weather vanes in the menswear field. In the fashion world, as long as the "Italian style" is mentioned, it can be reminiscent of the elegant image of italians who envy others. Italian men, in particular, dress in a style that almost men around the world regard as one of the models of formal wear. There is not only Pitti Uomo, the world's most important menswear fair, but also Made in Italy, which makes Italian men proud.
Pitti Uomo Menswear Show
However, after withstanding the heavy blow of the epidemic, the Italian men's wear industry has shown a polarized situation. "Working from home" has caused Italy's proud men's formal wear industry to encounter an unprecedented crisis, and the performance of a number of family-run men's wear veterans is in jeopardy, and the news of mergers and acquisitions has been repeatedly reported; while the previously obscure trend emerging brands have become the object of capital pursuit, from street trends to outdoor functions to brands in specialized fields, all of which have performed well after the epidemic. As a result, Milan Menswear Week and Pitti Uomo Menswear are largely responsible for reviving the Italian menswear industry.
So even as many luxury brands have announced a reduction in the number of fashion shows, merging men's and women's clothing releases or moving to online releases, Carlo Capasa, president of Milan Fashion Week organization Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, said after the epidemic that he hopes that Milan Fashion Week will continue the traditional fashion week cycle four times a year and will make innovations on the agenda.
At the same time, Carlo Capasa also said that men's and women's clothing weeks should be held separately. "The two belong to two different categories, facing very different buyers and retailers, and even in the context of some brands that have announced the merger of men's and women's wear to hold fashion shows, I still feel that Men's Wear Week and Women's Wear Week should be held separately."
After the epidemic, although Milan Fashion Week also faced the collective absence of the brand's physical fashion show, men's and women's fashion weeks still maintained a regular fashion release date, and the Milan Fashion Week organization also took a number of measures to maintain the voice and influence of Milan Men's Fashion Week. These include the promotion of digital communication channels for brand building, online publishing platforms, and cooperation with cultural and artistic institutions in different fields, etc., to extend the global influence of Milan Men's Wear Week. Not changing the traditional system, but reforming the way it is presented, is the logic of the response measures taken by Milan Men's Week to respond to the epidemic crisis.
From last year's point of view, even in the context of the overall improvement of the environment, many brands are still willing to "risk" holding physical fashion shows. The reason is that the digital communication effect of online fashion shows is far from the ideal effect of brands. In other words, while online communication is important, offline fashion shows still have their irreplaceability.
Therefore, in this season, although the epidemic prevention and control has become tighter again, many brands have taken strict epidemic prevention measures to ensure that offline activities can be held safely and as scheduled. For example, Italian luxury brand Brunello Cucinelli plans to hold new season events in Milan, New York and Shanghai at the same time, and will set up a medical testing site at Pitti Uomo to conduct on-site nucleic acid testing for buyer media and invitees.
Brunello Cucinelli's Spring/Summer 2022 menswear collection
Faced with the departure of big names and the lack of voice of new talents, Milan Men's Wear Week is obviously more in urgent need of the recovery of physical fashion shows and offline fashion activities to revitalize the global influence of Italian menswear. Fashion week is inseparable from the physical fashion show, the significance of the fashion show is also that it can help the fashion industry to "dream", is a way to reflect the value of fashion. Milan Men's Wear Week is also rebuilding its voice in the men's wear field through different initiatives on the basis of maintaining fashion weeks, fashion shows and even the entire fashion ecosystem.
Perhaps several important highlights of this season's Milan Men's Wear Week have been "forced to disappear" due to the epidemic, but people may also be able to see the diverse forms of future fashion shows released from its constantly innovative presentation in response to challenges. WWD
Written by Karlie
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