12 Established 1961 Lifestyle Fashion Thursday, February 25, 2021 A year into pandemic, Milan fashion week stays virtual ashionistas will have to log Fon to soak up the glamour at Milan Fashion Week, which remains online a year after the coronavirus first swept into north- ern Italy. No sharply dressed crowds will attend the extrava- ganza’s opening yesterday: it’s virtual catwalk shows only, with the likes of Armani and Prada pre- senting new women’s collections for autumn and winter 2021-22. The word “coronavirus” was just A model presents a creation by Cameroonian starting to pop up in conversa- fashion stylist Joy Ijeoma Meribe. tions among members of the global style elite as they gathered for the February 2020 edition of Milan Fashion Week. Italy’s first outbreak was taking Nigerian fashion stylist Claudia Gisele Ntsama from the collective “Black Lives Matter in Italian Fashion” poses with her models in hold in Codogno, an hour’s drive Milan during the filming of the fashion show that will open the Milan Fashion Week yesterday.-AFP photos away. That prompted Armani to announce it would present its col- lection behind closed doors-a first in fashion history. Covid-19 would quickly spread across Italy, prompting the first national lock- down in Europe as the crisis swift- ly took on global proportions. A year later, the global luxury sector is in dire economic straits, with few reasons to dress up as com- fort-wear has become the new uniform for the housebound. Milan organizers nevertheless intend the latest Fashion Week, which runs until March 1, to show that the industry can adapt in the face of crisis. And there is hope that the arrival of vaccines will lead to a fashion bounce-back. ast minute touches on a frilly Millions of eyeballs white dress, a final coat of pow- Models present A model presents creation by Burundi’s fash- Italy’s National Chamber of ion stylist Fabiola Manirakiza. der and it’s showtime for the creations by Black Lives Matter-inspired col- Burundi’s fashion Fashion has set up a dedicated L online hub for the week’s events, lective making history at Milan stylist Fabiola Fashion Week. After a years-long battle Manirakiza. which include 68 shows and 65 to improve diversity on the Italian cat- collection presentations. walks, a group of five black designers Yesterday kicked off with “We Are made their on-schedule debut yesterday Made In Italy”, an event by the by opening the women’s Fall/Winter fash- Black Lives Matter in Italian ion shows. All this season’s shows are Fashion collective, which has pre-recorded due to coronavirus, but been pushing for greater diversity AFP was given exclusive access to their in the industry. The next six days preparations last week at Milan’s Circolo will see a parade of online cat- Filologico library, not far from the Scala. walk shows, either live or pre- Is opening fashion week a victory? “I’d recorded, by brands including say it’s a first step,” said Michelle Prada, Moschino, Armani, Dolce Ngonmo, who chose those to include in & Gabbana and Valentino. Kim the debut show. She is a co-founder of Jones, the celebrated British the collective dubbed Black Lives Matter menswear designer of former Dior in Italian Fashion, named after the anti- and Louis Vuitton fame, will also racism movement that swept the United present his first ready-to-wear col- States last year and reached Europe. dreaming about it since I’ve been in fash- lection for Fendi. Longer term, “we have to make the soci- ion,” Fall said. In a nod to his African ori- ‘Work twice as hard’ In the brave new world of virtu- ety we live in understand that the ‘Made gins, his collection-”works of art that I “As a woman and an immigrant in al fashion weeks, the success of in Italy’ label is not a question of skin transpose on clothes”-featured satin lions Italy, I had to work twice as hard to prove the latest Milan edition will be colour but of know-how”, she told AFP. and zebras in gold and red, his favorite that I have the same skills as the others,” measured in terms of how many On an individual level, opening Milan colors. said Joy Meribe, a 43-year-old born in eyeballs it manages to reach. The Fashion Week is a dream come true for Previously, the presentation of the col- Nigeria. Her collection-dresses and skirts last Milan Fashion Week, in the designers, all Italian but born in vari- lections of black designers was confined in 100% organic silk, yellow, Atlantic blue September, reached more than ous African countries. to Afro Fashion Week, which launched in and dark red-was made entirely in Italy, 43 million views on the event’s A model presents a creation by Cameroonian exclusive streaming channel, with fashion stylist Joy Ijeoma Meribe. Claudia Gisele Ntsama, a 29-year-old Milan with a show in 2016. “For years we like all the others. Buchanan, an African- came up against a wall of silence when American who has been in Italy for 25 partners including the New York knocking on the door” of the fashion years and co-founded the collection, Times and China’s Tencent Video chamber, said Ngonmo, the founder of relaying the footage worldwide. Afro Fashion Week. The catalyst for According to analysis by media change was the death last year in US monitor DMR, the shows also police custody of an African-American reached more than 600 million man, George Floyd, an event that trig- users on social media. gered anti-racism protests across the US and the world. Carlo Capasa, head of the Vaccines: saviors fashion chamber, acknowledged that the of fashion? death of Floyd was “an important The Italian fashion sector’s rev- moment of awareness for the whole enues plunged 45 percent in the world”. second quarter of 2020 — the Models present creations Thanks to the collective, “we have height of the lockdown-but losses by Senegalese fashion become more aware of this theme” of for the year as a whole are esti- designer, Pape Mocodou racism, he said, adding: “In fact, we mated at 26 percent. The National Fall, aka Mokodu. could have done more.” The chamber Chamber of Fashion released a now supports the collective through Fashion Economic Trends study tutoring on design and business skills, earlier this month, looking at vari- and finances the five designers’ fashions ous factors that could shape the show and the collections of three of industry’s recovery in the medium them. to long term. In the most opti- mistic scenario, a successful mass vaccination campaign and from Cameroon, admitted being “a little strong support for businesses as nervous” as she fussed with the eco- they emerge from the crisis could friendly looks in pastel tones made lead to growth of around 15 per- entirely from hemp. Nearby, fellow cent, the report predicted. designer Fabiola Manirakiza played with Burundi’s fashion stylist Fabiola Manirakiza, But if restrictions on commer- silk in floral prints for her brand, Frida founder of the fashion house Frida-Kiza, from cial and social life continue until Kiza. “In general, we are ignored, we are the collective “Black Lives Matter in Italian 2022 as authorities struggle to invisible. But this is a rebirth,” exclaimed Fashion” poses in Milan during the filming of stamp out the virus, the bounce Manirakiza, whose parents were killed in the fashion show. back could be limited to six per- 1972 in ethnic violence in Burundi. cent growth, it said. Italy’s brand- said he has experienced racism on a new government, led by former ‘Wall of Silence’ daily basis. He said people often assume European Bank Chief Mario Ngonmo co-founded the collective that he makes T-shirts, or other garments Draghi, is currently weighing the last year alongside designers Edward for hip-hop fashion. best way out of a crisis that has Buchanan and Stella Jean, who has “They find it hard to imagine that I claimed more than 95,000 lives in been the only black member of the work in the luxury sector,” he said. But the country and savaged the National Chamber for Italian Fashion this first official show of the association economy. — AFP since 2016. It participated in Milan’s gives hope to some. “It’s a dream come Fashion Week in September, with a video true,” says Karim Daoudi, 27, a designer featuring the same five designers, but born in Morocco. Of his shoes featured that “was just a teaser,” explained in the show, he said: “I hope they will go Mokudu Fall, 45, from Senegal. “Now around the world.”— AFP we’re on the official calendar, I’ve been Cameroonian fashion stylist Joy Ijeoma A model presents creation by Burundi’s Meribe from the collective “Black Lives fashion stylist Fabiola Manirakiza. Matter in Italian Fashion” poses..