A new generation of high-potential fashion labels is blossoming in Italy in spite of a fashion system they say has been slow to provide the support they needed to get off the ground.
Notice: Array to string conversion in /home/delectant/public_html/wp-content/plugins/jetpack/modules/tiled-gallery/tiled-gallery/templates/partials/carousel-image-args.php on line 15Italian fashion is experiencing a “beautiful” moment. That’s how many insiders are describing the attention being lavished on the country’s fashion system. But this moment is happening during a period of intense change. From slowing sales and succession planning to the rise in demand for fashion immediacy, there is much for the Italian fashion industry to sort through.
That a spotlight has turned to Milan and to Italy, as a whole, can be largely attributed to the phenomenal success of Gucci, a brand that has recently emerged from years of decline to report sales growth following the appointment of chief executive officer Marco Bizzarri and creative director Alessandro Michele, who showed his latest collection in a cloud of pink smoke on Wednesday afternoon. Buyers, press and industry insiders have fallen in love with Michele’s radical new vision for the brand, a romantic and dreamy aesthetic that helped it report a sales increase of 7.4 percent in the second quarter of this year, up from 3.1 percent in the first quarter.
But the attention on Gucci has also proved to be a boon to Italy’s younger brands, which are benefitting from the renewed focus on Milan Fashion Week.
“Italy … is now at an amazing point, because we are living in a renaissance,” Massimo Giorgetti, founder of contemporary label MSGM and creative director of Pucci, told BoF. “There are a lot of opportunities. And the meaning of this period is a big deal because we are communicating the importance and value of Italy. So it’s a beautiful message, and it’s a beautiful moment.”
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