Milan fashion week: IED Milano’s Unstage blends fashion, performance, and collective practice

At this year’s Milan Fashion Week, the Istituto Europeo di Design (IED) presented Unstage, a collective fashion show that challenged the conventions of the runway. Staged inside the Galleria Lia Rumma, the event brought together 50 looks from 13 emerging designers, framed not as individual achievements but as a collaborative performance.

The show unfolded as a multi-sensory experience of garments, sound, and movement. Artist Scarlett Rouge opened with a ritual-like performance that set the tone for an evening rooted in experimentation. According to IED Milano’s Head of Fashion School and Art Director of the project, Umberto Sannino, the format was designed to “dismantle the surface to reveal what lies beneath: the making, the thinking, the collaborating.” IED Milano Director Danilo Venturi described it as “both a political and aesthetic act,” reinforcing the idea of fashion as cultural practice rather than commercial product.

The collections reflected a range of themes, from migration and memory to cultural critique, gender, and sustainability. Designers drew on family histories, personal identity, and social commentary, weaving together narratives that connected individual experience to broader cultural currents. The result was a tableau where fragility and resilience, nostalgia and innovation, coexist in a dialogue between art and fashion.

For educators, Unstage suggests how design schools can reimagine the way fashion is taught and presented. By moving beyond the conventional runway and positioning fashion as a site of experimentation and interdisciplinary exchange, the project emphasizes process as much as outcome. It demonstrates the potential of student showcases to serve not only as platforms for visibility but also as laboratories for collaboration, performance, and critical reflection.