- Words Isabelle Cassidy
With Milan Men's Fashion Week around the corner, we look at the most anticipated shows of the season during a time of uncertainty for the big houses.
In a study commissioned by Design Bundles, the most anticipated runway of Winter 2022 Milan Men’s Fashion Week has been announced. The rankings were formulated based on Google search volumes, website traffic statistics and Instagram follower counts, in order to discover this year’s hottest ticket. When the results came in, it was Prada that came out on top.
Raf Simons’ joining of Prada as Miuccia’s right-hand man saw the September runway for Prada’s SS22 Women’s collection themed around the re-contextualising of the bare essentials of items like trains, corsets and brassieres. The SS22 Men’s runway earlier in the year was summery, and the collection’s skorts created a storm that increased anticipation for the Winter show.
As with most large scale events in the last couple of years, Milan Fashion Week is not going ahead entirely as planned. A number of presentations and events have been cancelled due to rising Omicron rates in Europe, including Giorgio and Emporio Armani, and Gucci. It has been confirmed however that JW Anderson – a brand which has not presented a physical catwalk show since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic – will be showing in the Italian fashion capital.
The runners up on the most anticipated runway list include some big names still showing: Fendi coming in second, fresh off the success of 2021’s ‘Fendace’ collection. There is speculation as to whether the Fendi x Versace collaboration may be returning for this Winter 2022 show.
The councillor for economic development and labour policies for the Municipality of Milan has discussed the significance of this month’s event: “Milan is experiencing a moment of great rebirth after the months of the pandemic that put all its productive sectors to the test […] We have had to imagine a new way of working, of keeping our city’s brand competitive, of reconsolidating at the international level its top position in many sectors, including fashion”.
Milan Men’s Fashion Week 2022 runs from 14th-18th of January.