The Italian fashion Chamber and Piattaforma Sistema Formativo Moda, an association gathering the Italian fashion schools, presented the second edition of Milano Moda Graduate, an event aimed to promote young talents’ creativity.
Held on Tuesday and Wednesday at event venue Base Milano, located in Milan’s design-focused Tortona district, the event offered a packed calendar of runway shows, presentations and talks, involving 240 designers from 16 different Italian fashion schools.
Wednesday evening an international jury, including Italian fashion Chamber’s President, Carlo Capasa; Angela Missoni; The Bridge Co.’s director, Katie Rose; British Fashion Council’s ceo, Caroline Rush; Al Ostoura’s creative director, Ramzi Tabiat; Beymen’s chief merchandising officer, Polat Uyal, among others, attended front row the student’s final show in order to assign five awards to the best collections.
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Andrea Grassi of IED (European Institute of Design) and Istituto Marangoni’s Praeploy Sooksawee scooped the prize for the best ready-to-wear collections and won an internship at Salvatore Ferragamo and Missoni, respectively.
Vogue Talents’ Sara Maino assigned an award to Maria Martyashkina of Accademia Costume e Moda and Domus Academy’s Jihye Min, who both got the opportunity to be featured in a story running in the Vogue Italia web site’s “Talents” section.
The second part of the show was dedicated to leather, due to the partnership with international fair Lineapelle. The jury awarded Livian Rachel of AFOL Moda, and Fulvia Bacchi, Lineapelle’s CEO, also assigned a prize to IED’s Youri Choi for his leather pieces displayed with an installation.
Before the final show, Capasa, designers Damir Doma and Angela Missoni, Wallpaper’s editor at large J.J. Martin and journalist Renata Molho discussed creativity, communication and their roles in today’s fashion system.
Capasa underscored the importance of authenticity for a brand, while Martin encouraged students to focus on developing a clear image for their brand. Angela Missoni took the chance to mark the difference between fashion and luxury, recommending young designers not to mix these two aspects. Other suggestions to future generations came from Capasa, who advised students to be assistants for at least four years, in order to “learn how the real world works.” He also shared the recipe for success in today’s fashion industry, made not only of creativity but also of the combination of “a good designer and a good ceo,” in addition to “a good strategy and a good team to follow the strategy.”
Communication was a central element in the debate — Doma recalled the evolution of its role in the business, comparing his beginnings to nowadays. “Today we have to communicate all the time,” he said, revealing that he tries to stay away from social media in order to avoid an image overload and protect his creativity.