From Wednesday 21^st to Sunday 25^th February, numerous fashion houses showed off new pieces from collections prepared for the upcoming autumn/winter season.

The week saw a total of 56 runway shows held in the northern Italian city — with Versace, Prada, and Dolce & Gabbana among the iconic labels represented. It all promised to inject new life into the luxury fashion industry, the outlook for which has become increasingly muted.

In November, a report from McKinsey & Company projected that the sector would grow by just 3-5% worldwide during 2024. However, despite lingering high inflation and China’s recent economic slowdown, the following brands gave Milan Fashion Week observers plenty to talk about.

Fendi

For many high-end companies, one key component of a far-reaching luxury marketing strategy should be reputation management.

To this end, these companies could learn from the adverse publicity garnered by Fendi, one of the only luxury fashion labels still using fur.

Although no fur actually featured in any of the Kim Jones-designed pieces paraded by Fendi on the first day of women’s shows at Milan Fashion Week, this did not stop a woman holding an “Animals are NOT clothing” sign from intruding on the runway before being removed by security.

Maison Yoshiki

Milan Fashion Week has long attracted many Asian fans. In a reflection of this, Japanese rock star Yoshiki Hayashi brought his own label, Maison Yoshiki Paris, to the trade show’s Tuesday evening launch. The artist even sang new songs as part of an onstage musical performance that night.

Nonetheless, many people continued to reserve special praise for the fashion brand’s new A/W24 line, which the 58-year-old Yoshiki himself has hailed as a “feminine but also genderless collection, flamboyant with a rebellious touch”.

Feben

The American plus-sized model Ashley Graham drew attention at Feben’s Milan Fashion Week show on the Sunday. The curvy 36-year-old sported a tight blue midi dress — with a black sheer fabric draped on top of it — as she strolled down the catwalk.  

The look was completed with sheer tights and black stilettos — but Graham was wearing a markedly different ensemble for Feben later in the show. For that occasion, the TV presenter slipped into a classy black a-line midi dress along with a set of sheer baggy gloves.

AVAVAV

Since establishing her label AVAVAV in 2019, designer Beate Karlsson has taken a rather unorthodox approach to fashion — with her catwalk shows often having incorporated performative elements.

This tendency has seen Karlsson subjected to a torrent of hateful online comments, many of which were displayed on screens flanking the runway at an AVAVAV show taking place on the final day of Milan Fashion Week’s A/W24 outing.

In what was meant to be a further reference to the intensity of online trolling, actors planted in the audience threw rubbish at the models as they walked.

If you are keen to give your luxury marketing strategy an impactful and quirky touch that will leave members of your target audience remembering your fashion brand for the right reasons, you are welcome to get in touch with us for our expert thoughts and assistance. You can reach us by emailing hello@skywire.co.uk.