5 Live Menswear Shows Planned for Hybrid Milan Fashion Week

Dolce & Gabbana, Fendi and Etro are planning to stage live runway shows previewing menswear collections next month during a mostly digital Milan Fashion Week.

Ermenegildo Zegna is set to open the five days of previews scheduled for Jan. 15-19. Many top brands already decided to show combined menswear and womenswear collections during the February shows normally dedicated to womenswear.

In all, 37 brands will participate in January, just five with live shows. K-way and Solid Homme will make their Milan runway debuts, rounding out the live participants.

Fashion councils have been struggling during the coronavirus pandemic to maintain runway shows, which are central to the fashion system both for creating excitement around the collections and giving buyers the chance to see the latest looks up close.

The men's previews will be the third mixed digital-physical fashion week organized by the Italian National Fashion Chamber.

"The entire fashion supply chain is suffering the consequences of the pandemic, not only at an Italian level, but also at a global level," Milan's top official for jobs policy, Cristina Tajani, said Thursday. "But we are convinced that (the fashion) sector is one of the fundamental pillars on which to construct the country's relaunch.''