Milan Fashion Week

Have you ever wondered what Fashion week is all about?!? We always hear about the A listers who sit front row during the big shows in New York, London, Paris and of course Milan. The media highlights all the glitz and glam making anyone envious. Over the years, I have grown curious about the star studded event, however I knew attending was pretty unrealistic considering, I am not famous and I do not work in the fashion industry.

I recently planned a trip to Milan thinking I would just get a couple of days worth of shopping in but to my surprise it turned out I was going to be in town during MFW! I immediately began looking for tickets online but couldn't find any information. So, I emailed the concierge at my hotel asking for help and sure enough, he came to the rescue. He immediately got back to me with outrageous prices from third parties selling tickets. Naturally, tickets to shows for established brands were most expensive and then prices dropped based on pecking order of designers. Not sure if I would ever do another MFW I agreed to hit the big shows!

Now that I had tickets, my next problem was, what do I wear? I didn't even know what the heck to expect??? Again, I google searched and got nothing. I then emailed popular bloggers but again nothing. Finally, I hashtag searched and did my best to use peoples photos as a guideline. This helped but I still wasn't sure if I needed to wear the designers clothes to their show? I settled on wearing black because it is always safe. So, I fly into Milan, totally jet lagged and basically have to turn it around to hit the shows. 

Here is what it is like....every show is spread out around the city and taking a taxi is a nightmare. You are told to arrive at least 30 minutes early but it doesn't even start on time (now I know where the term fashionably late comes from)! The venue has tons of security, and loads of fans trying to catch a peek of a celebrity. It is a mad house. The security at the first gate checks your ticket, and then you head to a second gate where you wait. This time you are waiting with a bunch of wannabes (including myself), buyers, retail workers, friends of someone who knows someone...  everyone is waiting around, sizing each other up, chain smoking, until finally they let everyone inside. 

All of the seats are assigned and luckily the seating is civilized with usually three rows of zigzagged runway accommodating roughly 300 people. Prior to the show, people are walking around, mingling. As soon as the show starts, everyone is ipad or camera in hand, ready to shoot the show. 

I was blown away by the shows. The models are actually pretty which made me wonder why the magazines chose to highlight the weird looking girls in the advertisements? 

This isn't like the Victorias Secret Fashion Show that you see on TV which lasts for an hour with several outfit changes. No, the show is only 10-15 minutes and each girl wears one outfit!

The Versace show was insane! Donatella had, Naomi Campbell, Adriana Lima, Doutzen Kroes, Gigi Hadid to name a few. The only celebrity I saw was Serena Williams.

During the show, everyone has their phones out basically recording the entire time. As soon as the last model turns the corner to end the show, everyone jumps up and is gone in a heartbeat. Outside of the show, photographers anxiously wait to get a photo of the models. While I was standing outside, Gigi and Bella Hadid rushed to their car. They must have been outside for a total of 20 seconds but the pictures from that moment immediately went viral. Crazy!

 I never thought about finding afterparties. I was mostly concerned about the show but next time because there will be a next time, I will have to check those out too. 

On a side note, I had tons of models staying in my hotel which was fun. To answer my original question, "do you have to wear the designers clothes to the show?" No. Unless you are a celebrity, nobody gives a damn about you, lol. 

Versace Fashion Week, Milan

The chaos outside of the Versace Fashion show. Here you can see all of the fans waiting outside. Surprisingly, there aren't any purse checks or metal detectors which is probably a mistake in this day and age.

versace spring 2017

I actually loved almost everything in this collection. It wasn't your typical spring fashion, no flowers, no pastels, no frills. Instead it was bold, sharp and strong. My favorite outfit was probably the jumpsuit Doutzen was wearing. The colors and patterns popped!

Milan fashion week 

This photo is of me prior to the show trying to get a feel of what the real runway is like. The entire auditorium looked like this. The entire room is filled with benches and carpet. Loved all the lighting! Bad for iphone pictures but great for setting the scene!