With 250 brands on show, WHITE – exhibition sponsored by the Municipality of Milan – grows on the pre-collections segment with Semicouture special guest and Vivetta special event. An increasingly international tradeshow: it will see the beginning of the collaboration with Revolver Show in Copenhagen, bringing 12 Northern European brands to WHITE and the Danish Soulland as guest of the project. The Special Guest for the Menswear is the Chinese Sankuanz for the first time in Italy. Important developments also for the WOW project by Highsnobiety and LUISAVIAROMA, arriving in a Milan with FIRENZE4EVER and the capsule collection See now Buy now. Acynetic – the new athleisure project by Adriano Goldschmied – will be the guest for the Sportswear area.
In a time of big changes for the fashion system, where the collections’ sales and presentation formulas are being redesigned, WHITE WOMEN’S PRECOLLECTIONS + MENSWEAR strengthens its identity as the most cutting-edge show in terms of trends, showcasing in June a careful selection of women’s pre-collections and menswear brands thru dedicated areas in Via Tortona 27 (Superstudio) and 54 (Ex Ansaldo area). At its third edition ONLY WOMAN – section exclusively dedicated to women’s collections – grows by presenting 50 brands in the strategic location of Via Tortona 27, so as to support buyers in the research of this specific women’s preview segment, generating significant turnovers. Inside the show the presence of the women’s lines is growing across all the different sections. The Man + Woman formula launched by WHITE turns out to be very successful, as it offers companies the chance to have both menswear and womenswear collections in the same venue: the exhibition thus counts 185 women’s collections on show. Not only an exhibiting format: WHITE’s goal is to offer an off/online multi-channel platform with an increasingly targeted brand mix to meet the buyers’ needs, supported by strategies and international collaborations, ranging from digital media (like the magazine Highsnobiety) to Copenhagen’s Revolver show, down to retailers like LUISAVIAROMA, that will exclusively sell in store and online a capsule created by the designers of the WOW area.
A Special event for the women’s pre-collections is devoted to the designer Vivetta, who will present her collection Resort 17 with an event “Daydream” inspired from a bohemian and refined, but also eclectic and surreal soul, with a non-conventional happening in the gardens of WHITE, as well as a peculiar installation inside the venue. With this project WHITE reasserts its commitment in promoting the pre-women collections during the menswear fashion week in June and January.
Massimiliano Bizzi, WHITE’s founder, has recently stated: “Milan has to develop a strategy for the women’s pre-collections, to make their previews more and more competitive in Europe. Today WHITE is the only Italian tradeshow to have bet on the women’s pre-collections with a dedicated area and a special event that will have the designer Vivetta as protagonist. Moreover, by presenting menswear and womenswear together, we have been the first to offer companies the chance to showcase their women’s and menswear collections inside the same venue, thus optimizing both times and costs thanks to the formula WHITE WOMEN’S PRE-COLLECTIONS + MENSWEAR.”
The very opportunity to showcase menswear and womenswear together proves to be an essential growth factor for the show, that puts together a big number of apparel and accessories brands. WHITE research in Chinese fashion continues with SANKUANZ, brand created by Shangguan Zhe, born in 1984, who is the Menswear section’s Special Guest. The designer is for the first time in Italy with his collection and a dedicated installation with the Chinese artist Xu Zhen entitled “Safe House A”
Thanks to international collaborations such as those with Revolver show in Copenhagen and Highsnobiety, WHITE has recorded a strong increase in both foreign designers and exhibitors and in buyers, also thanks to the support by ICE – Agency for the Promotion abroad and internationalization of Italian companies. The collaboration with Copenhagen’s REVOLVER tradeshow has started in June, bringing to WHITE 12 Northern-European brands, as well as several coveted retailers from the area, who have already confirmed their presence at the exhibition Among them the Danish designer Soulland has been chosen as Revolver Guest and will be offered a special area and a dedicated event entitled “Chaos reigns in the heart of Milan” organized by WHITE, Revolver and Inner story by Claudio Antonioli.
Again with the intent of opening to international markets, the WOW project – White On Web by HIGHSNOBIETY grows in collaboration with LUISAVIAROMA, moving for the first time “FIRENZE4EVER” from Florence to Milan thanks to a capsule collection designed by the WOW designers, which will be presented in preview in Florence inside LUISAVIAROMA store and then in Milan with a special installation at WOW in via Tortona 54 – Ex Ansaldo. The selected brands are: 3.Paradis, Black Rabbit, Nilmance, The Incorporated, ZDDZ, C2H4 L.A, GCDS, Ne.Sense, New Future London (see enclosed Press Release).
WHITE’s scouting does not stop there. On Saturday, June 18th, opening day of WHITE WOMEN’S PRE-COLLECTIONS + MENSWEAR at the Lounge area the 10 finalists of the Time Award project will be presented and the two winners announced. Time Award is a brand accelerator program supported by Lancia Automotive brand for contemporary fashion companies and brands has a double mission: bringing the contemporary concept to a wider audience and be able to trace its identity, as well as giving more visibility and commercial opportunities to those contemporary fashion companies already operating in this market but still need to grow as a brand. Among the important news of Time Award’s second edition the participation of top American buyers, which, also thanks to ICE’s support, will offer the two winners 3 trunk shows abroad to further expand their business.
