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Milano Fashion Week 2023

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Fall/Winter 23: between reality, wearability and confusion


Milano Fashion Week 2023 shows a fashion recovered from Balenciagitis! The extremely contagious phenomenon that has affected almost every designer so far, seems gone! And finally, brands looked in better shape. However, the number of outfits presented in every single fashion show underlined the blindness of the fashion system towards climate emergency.

Highlights from Milano Fashion Week 23


Gucci: a lot of everything and too much confusion in da house. This show transitions from Alessandro Michele, who destroyed maison’s heritage in favour of a clownish style, to the new designer, Sabato Sarno, whose first collection will see the light in September. Though waiting for the official handover, perhaps it made sense to show 30 archive clothing pieces mixed with accessories. All that confusion from a maison like Gucci was nonsense.

Milano Fashion Week 23


Prada: the collection focused on reality, with well-balanced silhouettes and beautiful origami decorations. Indeed, wearable clothes with a purpose, like the nurse dress, had the intent to offer uniforms for daily life. But what about BOF’s title? “A plea for compassion at Prada.” Talking about compassion for a fashion show seems a stretch. Compassion for what? By the way, we still wonder if Miuccia needs Raf Simons. She can do better than stitching a logo onto a skirt.

Dolce & Gabbana: so many deshabille looks gave the impression of an underwear show. However, when the more “habillé” outfits came out, we finally could see some of the Dolce & Gabbana original designs. Indeed, this one was much better than their latest fashion shows.

Bottega Veneta: precise tailoring cuts highlighted an image of quality and clean elegance. Beautiful textured fabrics gave a sense of unexpectedness. But maybe too many themes make you lose attention.

What do all the brands have in common?


Apart from the circus of most participants at Milano Fashion Week 2023 with zero idea of style or elegance and some indigestible starlets, still everyone showed trillions of outfits. Brands persist on that. Why? Nobody is slowing down. No one hits the brake, creating and suggesting an idea of style and lifestyle in tune with the current times.
The fashion industry (as our economic system) thrives on an overproduction pattern. Even if the world is melting down, no one cares to make a change.

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WAMI and Stella Jean’s Controversy Over Milano Fashion Week

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A lack of inclusion and diversity or a matter of money?


WAMI is the acronym for “We Are Made In Italy”, a collective of BIPOC designers. Stella Jean, an Italian designer of Haitian origin, is at the helm of this group.

Early in February, while Carlo Capasa, president of “Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana”, introduced the Fall/ Winter schedule, Stella Jean suddenly stood up and denounced the lack of inclusion.

“No promises made by the president of Camera Moda have been kept.”

“We were at the opening of the February fashion show calendar but we had to withdraw because, how do we pay for the collections if the designers don’t have the means?”

Stella Jean

Wami, Stella Jean and Camera Moda: the controversy


So, Stella Jean said she dropped out of fashion week because Camera Moda didn’t keep their promise to support BIPOC designers. Also, on the same day, she started a hunger strike. Consequently, Camera Moda’s president replied they’ve supported the BIPOC collective of designers for two years, meaning four seasons. Furthermore, Capasa added they did what they could and couldn’t become entrepreneurs.

Fashion business: a matter of representation or money?


Having a certain knowledge of the fashion field, we wonder how it can be possible to set up a fashion brand in two years. Indeed, the situation is more complex than it seems, and we can identify three main problems:
First, money is the biggest issue. If you can invest in your project, whatever your race is, you’ll find a way to show your collection. Open doors in showrooms, exhibitions or fashion shows.
Second, everything has already been done in fashion, and it’s difficult for new designers to create something new or special which would make them stand out, pushing those in the industry to search for them.
Third, “black lives matter” – inclusion – diversity – disability – sustainability – fluidity – are just buzzwords the fashion industry uses for promotion. Nothing more.

Two-year support to launch a fashion brand: is it enough?


In the complexity determined by money, creativity, and representation, Camera Moda offered WAMI a two-year plan. Is it enough to launch underrepresented brands? It seems tough. Especially now.

In fact, in an oversaturated fashion market, the truth is that there isn’t much space. There are more brands than people who would purchase them. Time for a change!

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Never Too Late To Start

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The extraordinary paintings of Sally Gabori at Triennale Milano


It’s never too late to start may seem like a catchphrase. Usually, we tend to believe that there is a specific path we must follow to find what is possible for us. However, we discovered an artist we didn’t know about, Sally Gabori. Her powerful story and artistic career taught us that it is never too late to start doing something and find your way.

Last week we went to Triennale Milano to attend Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori’s exhibition. It collects 30 marvellous paintings that show intense brushstrokes of colours beautifully paired.

Never too late to start
Sally Gabori exhibition – Triennale Milano – Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain

Considered one of the greatest contemporary Australian artists of the past two decades, Sally Gabori started painting in 2005, around the age of eighty and quickly earned national and international acclaim.
Before her death in 2015, she had a few years of rare creative intensity, developing her unique work with no ties to other aesthetic currents, particularly within contemporary Aboriginal painting.

An extensive canvas, Sally Gabori painting, contemporary art
Sally Gabori exhibition – Triennale Milano – Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain

Sally Gabori’s story

Gabori was born in 1924 on Bentick Island, in the Gulf of Carpentaria, off the northern coast of Australia. She was a Kaiadilt woman who spoke the Kayardilt language. Her name, Mirdidngkingathi Juwaranda, comes from the Kaiadilt tradition by which people take their name from their birthplace. Therefore, her name indicates she was born at Mirdidingki, a small creek south of Bentinck, and her “totem animal” is “juwarnda”, or dolphin.

The Kaiadilt, a population of 125 in 1944, were the last Aboriginal people of coastal Australia to establish lasting ties with Europeans. They had a traditional lifestyle relying on their island’s natural resources.

In 1940, Presbyterian missionaries settled on Mornington Island and tried unsuccessfully to convince the Kaiadilt to join their mission. But in 1948, a hurricane flooded and contaminated their land. So, the Presbyterian led the 63 survivors, including Gabori and her family, to their mission. Once in Mornington, they housed the Kaiadilt in camps on the beach, and the children, separated from their parents, in dormitories inside the mission. Also, they’ve forbidden kids from speaking their mother tongue, detaching them from their culture.

Sally Gabori paintings, contemporary art
Sally Gabori exhibition – Triennale Milano – Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain

The revelation at 80 years old


Around the age of eighty, Gabori visited the Mornington Art Center for the first time, and the contact with painting was a revelation. Indeed, she went there whenever she could, even painting several canvases per day. Six months after her revelation, she had her first solo exhibition.

She left more than 2.000 canvases. Her paintings celebrate different places of her native island, which she had not visited for many years. Indeed, they have deep meaning for herself, her family, and her people.

In 2013, Gabori was invited to present her work at the 55th Venice Art Exhibition. And at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.
In 2022, the “Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain” in Paris presented the first extensive exhibition of Sally Gabori’s work in Europe.

Bright and bold colours on large size-canvases, absolute formal freedom and boundless imagination. Impossible not to feel deep emotions. Stunning! A must-see if you are in Milan until May 14th.

An exhibition and a life lesson: whatever you want to do, it’s never too late to start!

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Community: Understanding The True Meaning

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Valuable insight from Simon Sinek


Now everything revolves around the concept of community. But can you understand the true meaning of it? Simon Sinek had the perfect response.

“A community is
a group of people
who agree to grow together.”
Simon Sinek

Community & growth


According to Simon Sinek, the purpose of a community is not just about having something in common, sharing a culture, heritage or a specific interest. It’s deeper than that. In fact, there’s an element of growth which comes from a journey you enrol in with a group of people. Specifically, growth is the product of a reciprocal process of shared interactions.

Community: making a change together


Fashion to celebrate the value of research and to tell the story of our times: this is a mission we share with people who want to make a change. And it’s a growth process, indeed. Because through our activity, we do more than just fashion. We use our blog and connections to discuss fashion and lifestyle as key to analysing society and promoting climate change awareness. And sustainability against greenwashing.

We started by ordering small productions of international brands and independent designers. An exclusive selection of timeless fashion and meaningful garments without gender barriers. While we are studying how to implement a practice of circular fashion, we shed light on what we consume and how we throw away, bringing about critical discussions.

What we learned


Our planet is an open-air landfill, and we must stop expecting our litter to disappear magically. Furthermore, we cannot move from capitalism to green capitalism just to keep consuming as we did before. We need something different to fight the climate emergency.

Buy less (far less), buy better is how we lead to thoughtful consumption.

Telling stories about fashion, lifestyle and climate change, inspiring and being inspired, we have a positive impact on each other. As a tiny community, we try to change for the better. And so we grow together, open to possibilities.

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