Milan Fashion Week Fires Up Catwalks Despite Cautious Outlook

The fashion set moves to Italy on Wednesday for Milan Fashion Week, marked by a new designer at Moschino but held amid an uncertain outlook for luxury.

The women's runway shows from Fendi, Prada, Versace, and Dolce & Gabbana, among many others, promise a dose of festivity and froufrou in Italy's northern fashion capital.

Following fashion weeks in New York and London, Milan again has its moment in the limelight, with 56 runway shows through Sunday on its Fall/Winter 2024-2025 calendar.

But they come amid a backdrop of uncertainty in the global luxury fashion market.

Muted growth projections, inflation concerns, an economic slowdown in China and geopolitical risk loom large for the sector expected to expand globally by just three to five percent this year, according to McKinsey's State of Fashion report published in November.

That is below an estimated five to seven percent for 2023.

Italy's fashion sector -- which includes clothing and leather, shoes, jewelry, cosmetics and accessories -- grew four percent to nearly 103 billion euros ($110 billion) last year, according to estimates from the National Chamber for Italian Fashion.

The association's head, Carlo Capasa, said it was too early to know how 2024 will bode for the industry.

"It's a complex year, it will take resilience," Capasa told journalists earlier this month.

"We know there are three wars, European and US elections. It's a year of transition."