PARIS VS MILAN
I just read a piece by my Italian colleague at Alessandro Sicuro Communication, and it hit a nerve: the real gap between Paris Fashion Week and Milan isn’t only about taste, it’s about the machinery behind it. Paris stacks more official moments across the year — women’s, men’s, Haute Couture — and turns each one into global storytelling that converts into business. Milan, even with exceptional product, compresses its power into fewer windows and sometimes assumes quality will speak for itself. In 2025 that isn’t enough; you win when you show the right story to the right audience at the right time.
I’m American, born here, though my parents are Italian and a piece of me belongs to Italy too. Maybe that’s why this conversation matters to me. Italy has the most extraordinary supply chain in fashion: Neapolitan tailoring, Puglia’s workshops, Tuscany’s leather districts, Emilia-Romagna and Lombardy’s manufacturing depth. Those hands power Italian and French labels alike. But without a coordinated narrative, a denser calendar, strong buyer services, and a clear central direction, too much of that value stays invisible.
On this I’m with Alessandro: Italy should do more to do better. It should extend and strengthen the calendar with focused moments that don’t cannibalize the main weeks, invest in professional hospitality for buyers, press, and creators as a true sales lever, and connect creativity with manufacturing through events that show not only how clothes are worn, but how they’re made. Paris monetizes imagination; Italy should also monetize its craft.
This isn’t a coolness contest. It’s about giving Italian artisans — from north to south — the megaphone they deserve. Tell the story more boldly, coordinate the energy, multiply touchpoints through the year, and the distance narrows fast. From where I stand, both as an American and as a daughter of Italian parents, I’m cheering for Italy to lead not only in taste, but in fashion’s business too.
SARA DAL MONTE 