Milan Fashion Week Is Back to Its Pre-Pandemic Glory. Whats Changed? – The Business of Fashion

The Gangs All Back

After two-plus years of globetrotting shows, short films, video games and social media hijinks, the rebellion against fashion week appears to be over. The Milan Fashion Week schedule is packed, with Fendi, Prada, Versace and other mainstays joined by Bottega Veneta, Gucci and a handful of other holdouts that used the pandemics disruption to experiment with alternative forms to the conventional fashion show. Even Armani, which cancelled its January mens and couture week shows during the Omicron surge, is returning to Milan this week.

On paper, then, the schedule is back to its former glory. Will the reception be different though? The pandemic accelerated the transition of fashion week from an industry event to a consumer-facing one. Brands care even more about how a show pops on social media than they did before. The shows that produce a viral moment by casting movie stars as models or conceiving a particularly inventive set are the most successful, sometimes independent of the quality of the clothes themselves. As Diesels Glenn Martens put it to BoFs Tim Blanks last summer, the point of physical shows is to bring a bit of fashion drama.

The Bottom Line: In New York and London, the narrative at fashion week tends to involve plenty of handwringing about the industrys future. Not so in Milan, where the biggest brands are riding a collective hot streak. The most-anticipated shows are all about building momentum for another year of record sales, whether its Martens first Diesel show at Milan Fashion Week, Guccis next reinvention, the next chapter in Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons partnership or Matthieu Blazys debut at Bottega.

Farfetchs Future

Luxury sales are booming, but unfortunately for Farfetch, too many shoppers are opting to buy their Bottega bags and Saint Laurent boots in person. The marketplaces third-quarter results missed expectations, and the company needs a big holiday to prove it has retained all those new customers who started shopping online during the pandemic. Investors are sceptical: Farfetch shares are down more than 50 percent this year, and are closing in on lows not seen since spring 2020. Shopifys recent earnings miss is ominous for other e-commerce platforms, though Mytheresas solid results this past week offer some hope luxury may be at least partially exempt from wider shopping trends.

The Bottom Line: Farfetch is never one to sit still and let itself be buffeted by market forces. It said in January it was acquiring Violet Grey, a deal meant to kickstart a major push into the beauty category. But the real question is over the status of talks with Richemont to take a stake in Net-a-Porter, which would mark a fundamental shift in the luxury e-commerce landscape.

Responsible Supply Chains

While the pandemic shone a spotlight on bad labour practices in fashions supply chain, two years on not much has changed. Thereve been reports of record wage theft, worsening working conditions and mounting risks of modern slavery. At the same time, governments are playing a bigger role in policing supply chains, whether its the US ban on importing goods from Chinas Xinjiang region or pending legislation in New York, putting a greater spotlight on fashion brands manufacturing practices. What fashion can do about those issues will be in focus this week at the OECDs annual forum on responsible supply chains. The digital event will bring together members of government, business, trade unions and civil society to share learnings and discuss best practices.

The Bottom Line: Regulators are demanding big brands take more responsibility for labour rights abuses in their supply chain and the topic of due diligence is only likely to keep moving up companies agendas.

Sarah Kent contributed to this item.

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Milan Fashion Week Is Back to Its Pre-Pandemic Glory. Whats Changed? - The Business of Fashion