Ballpark Estimate: No charge for invited guests
If you’ve ever been to Milan, Italy, you probably know that the women there have an uncanny fashion sense. No matter where you go in the city, you will find the people to be impeccably dressed. That makes this the perfect place to host top representatives from the international fashion industry and press twice a year for Milan Fashion Week.
A Show of Good Taste
All year round, the residents of Milan seem to be examples of especially good taste. But during fashion weeks, many of them even take things up another notch, trading in already-fashionable high heels for even higher varieties, and donning the very smartest outfits from the most prestigious fashion houses. These well-dressed people are the perfect complement for the wealth of buyers, editors and celebrities that flock to Milan to view the latest collections that are displayed during the exciting week-long high-fashion fashion event.
An International Mix
While Italy has earned its reputation as a mecca of style, not all of the designers who show their clothes at Milan fashion week are actually of Italian descent. In fact, designers from all over the world can display at this event, or at any of the numerous fashion weeks that are held around the world. The top designers, though, usually choose one of the fashion events held at the four most popular destinations, which in addition to Milan include New York City, London and Paris. These four cities are where most of the true trends for the coming seasons are set.
And while designers aren’t limited to show where they live, there is one catch. Rumor has it that each designer can only show his or her line in one Fashion Week location each season (shows are held in the fall and spring), so they must select the one that will suit them best.
The Milan Edge
All of the major fashion week destinations have their own personality and draw, but Milan, in particular, is known for being a mix of creativity and decadence while still maintaining a strong commercial bent. Some of the popular designers who’ve participated in recent events include Armani, Giorgio Armani, Burberry Prorsum, Prada, Moschino, Robert Cavalli, Jill Sander, Marni, Dsquared2 and newcomer 6267.
The list of most well-known attendees includes Naomi Campbell, Gerard Butler and Janet Jackson, as well as many other celebrities from all over the world.
A Range of Collections
Each season there are approximately 100 catwalk shows that give these and a host of other designers the chance to show off their best work. In addition to the ready-to-wear lines for day, Milan also features formal dresses, bathing suits, jewelry, other accessories and footwear. This means that Fashion Week attendees have a full overview of all of the upcoming styles, colors and cuts for all occasions.
Supporting a Healthy Shape
The fashion industry and the government in Italy have very publically taken a stand in the past few years to require designers during Fashion Week to use only runway models with healthy body shapes. This is an important part of a larger campaign to help prevent anorexia and to change the ideals of beauty and body image that are not realistic or safe for people to follow. Other Fashion Weeks around the world are following in Milan’s footsteps by asking designers not to use models who are too thin.
What It Costs to Attend
If you would want tickets to attend an upcoming Milan Fashion Week event, unfortunately your odds of getting in just may be very slim. These shows are by invitations only and are Cost To Attend Fashion Week In Milanexclusively restricted to fashion insiders and VIPs. (While this is the case in all of the major fashion week destinations, it is said that shows in Europe are even harder to infiltrate than those held in the U.S.) That being said, it is expected that some die-hard fashion fans will get all decked out in their best outfits and stand outside the shows in the hopes they will be invited in. Once in a while, they do get lucky. Fashion insiders say that some editors have a tradition of giving away a few complementary tickets to their best dressed fans. Or, you can try to cultivate a relationship with some of the PR agencies that handle the designers’ invitations and see if you can get any spare tickets. This can work once in a great while. You can also enter one of the numerous contests being held that offers a chance to win tickets to this exclusive event. You can search online for such opportunities and then just hope for the best.
But it you don’t want to leave your entry to chance, though, you can do a search online for Milan Fashion Week tickets and also look at some of the international ticket agencies, such as Sold Out Events and Get Me In.
On the very rare occasions that you can find tickets, the prices can be in the $450 to $1,300 range.
Finally, there are occasionally unique opportunities to bid on tickets. Some popular designers donate a few to be auctioned off in order to raise money for a good cause. For instance, the Happy Hearts Fund, which is an organization run by super model Petra Nemcova to support children who have been touched by disasters, recently auctioned off two tickets to the Roberto Cavalli showin Milan during a fundraiser. The event brought in $3.5 million for the good cause. And the Boost Foundation is offering tickets for two to the show, along with airfare, hotel and lots of VIP extras, to the highest bidder, opening with a minimum bid of $5,700.
So a package including two tickets starts at auction for $5,700 and can go on up from there to hundreds of thousands or even millions, depending on who bids.
Admission Isn’t Guaranteed
If you work in the industry or are well connected enough to get a personal invitation to some of the fashion week shows, you can expect each invite one to be an impressive display of creativity. Each designer tries to outdo him or herself with the final results that are sent to the guests.
But it is important to note that just because you have an invitation doesn’t even guarantee admission into these events. In fact, there are several known instances where invited guests (particularly fashion press members who have fallen out of favor with the designer) have actually been known to be uninvited by the designers right before show time. The good news, though, according to those in the know, is that such inevitable squabbles usually don’t last long. Within a season of two, everyone is usually back to being friends. And there’s always next season, to try to attend again.