Top 5 questions about Milan Fashion Week

In general – Fashion Week is an amazing experience. Even if you don’t sleep for a few days, running from a show to a backstage, from a meeting to a party, and in between taking street pictures and editing them in the middle of the night. There are a few questions about Milan Fashion Week that I’m being asked continuously and here are the answers to them:

1. Can anyone enter the events of Milan Fashion Week?

No. There are different kinds of events and for each there are different invitations.

• Showroom 

Smaller designers show their collections in showrooms in various places around the city, for example in hotels. They are open only for a few days and usually you can meet the designer or their representatives there, who can explain you the idea for the collection. Clothes are exposed on dummies and rails or on models. Usually in the showroom there is also a small bar. To enter the showroom you have to be on the list.

• Runway show

The invitations for the show are sent by the designer, who decides which influencers, stars and buyers are the most important for them to sell their collection. The shows take place in various locations around the city – some are huge, some much smaller, some are in historical villas, some in galleries, etc. Even if a few shows take place in the same location (on different days, of course), the decorations, lights and music vary so each show is unique.

• Runway show backstage

For backstage there is a separate entrance and in this case you can be invited not only by the designer, but also by the brands who take care of hair and make-up of the models. Entering the backstage doesn’t mean you can enter the show, however quite often it’s possible to sneak into the show (obviously you don’t have the seat reserved, so either you stand in the back row or you’re lucky and somebody doesn’t come). The entrance for backstage is open much earlier than the one for the show (of course).

How to get the invitation? More about it soon. For the moment you can check GPS Radar or try becoming brand’s ambassador.

If you’re invited, don’t come late (I know it can be hard as deciding what to wear is even harder). You’ve probably seen on one of Chiara Ferragni’s IG stories that even her place has been taken because she came late and she had to watch the show from the back row. So come on time!

2. What does the backstage look like?

It’s a mess – let’s be honest. Usually the space is small, crowded and everything’s flying: models are talking to each other while having their make-up done or searching for their clothes, hair stylists are shouting one to another to pass some accessories, stylists are trying to organize the clothes and between all of this there are photographers, influencers and journalists taking pictures, making interviews etc. Absolute mess. A cool and creative mess.

What do the models do when they are ready and waiting for the show or time to get dressed? 1. They chat and laugh with each other, 2. They pose for pictures (especially photographers of the make-up and hair products brands have to deliver good pictures of the ready stylizations) 3. They read 4. They draw 5. They listen to music 6. They eat (I saw Kaia Gerber eating pizza right before the Moschino show, so all the haters out there! No, she’s not starving to look so good).

When the show is about to start…

the temperature gets even higher. There are no changing rooms, so the girls change in front of everybody or just hiding behind the rails. Mua and hair stylists are running around checking every detail of the looks. Photographers get crazy to take pictures of the ready models. On the backstage of Moschino I couldn’t stop laughing when somebody started shouting: ‘Who lost the nail?’ One of the models lost one of the artificial nails that were put on her hands few moments before. Fortunately, the problem has bene fixed quickly. Every detail of the show has to be taken care of.

And when the show starts?

Models are laughing and chatting and the coordinator often has to shout laud to pay their attention and make them move in the right moments. If they have to change the look during the show – the stylists run around like crazy. Photographers are killing each other for the perfect shots (the full description of my experiences as the MFW photographer coming soon).

When the show is coming to an end, and the models start coming back to backstage the party begins. The excitement level is high. The girls often dance, laugh or make funny poses while leaving the runway. After the Moschino show Champaign was served. Photoshoots of the models started and in general, everybody was having a good time. Sometimes the girls have to run for another show, so they undress and remove their make up in hurry.

The backstage of the Moschino show – which I’m mentioning so often – was an unusual one: there was really a lot of space, make-up artists and hair stylists had spacious working stations and all the rails were clearly ordered and there was space for everybody and everything. Usually it’s everything messed together.

Of course, each show is different and the space, model looks and service depend from the designer’s budget.

3. How are the famous models?

My first impression seeing the famous models entering the backstage was: ‘They are so normal’! They really look like normal girls and to be honest, most of them wouldn’t catch my attention on the street. But that is the magic of the professional models who can turn into stars on the runway and in front of the camera. They were all nice, laughing and chatting during the preparations.

4. Did you meet anyone famous?

I was lucky to meet some of the most famous people in the industry during my very first backstage of Moschino show: Jeremy Scott, Gigi and Bella Hadid, Kaia Gerber. Later I also saw Joan Smalls, Doutzen Kroes and Lara Stone.

5. Are the clothes really so cool?

Yes, absolutely! Both on the streets and on the runways. During the MFW the streets are full of bloggers and models. At some point by the famous Duomo there were so many bloggers in amazing dresses that people didn’t know whether to take pictures of the monument or of the influencers. It was so funny!

And the clothes in the showrooms and on the runways? OMG! No words! Visiting backstage and seeing all of the details is unbelievable and later watching how the whole collection comes to live during the show? Breathtaking. I cried during my first fashion show. It was like Fashion TV just live!

 

Do you have any further questions about MFW? Let me know in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer!