Milan has been hosting Fashion and Design Week for many years, an event capable of creating important occasions in the city for the most important international brands with high-level guests, novelties and ideas from all over the world. In its last edition in September 2023, the city hosted 59 fashion shows, 70 presentations and 35 events that attracted tens of thousands of people from all over the world. In the last edition of the Salone del Mobile Milan hosted the exhibition of 2,000 designers and registered 307,418 visitors with 1,200 events organised for the Fuorisalone
But although these events offer the Lombardy capital ample opportunity to put itself in the spotlight by enhancing the city’s reputation and appeal, if not managed properly they can have a negative impact on the environment and society, especially at an urban level.
For this reasonBocconi University in collaboration with MUSA, the Municipality of Milan and Giorgio Armani have decided to hold the Ideathon, an event during which students in disciplines related to fashion and/or design from Milan’s universities will be able to present their projects and ideas on how to transform Milan’s role in the Capital of Sustainable and Circular Fashion and Design, suggesting to Giorgio Armani and the Municipality how to design an event during fashion and design week based on principles of sustainability, inclusiveness and urban regeneration.
There was time to submit your projects to the Ideathon until 8 April, but the deadline has been extended to April 15th.
The lead institution and promoter of the competition is Bocconi University with its team led by Francesca Romana Rinaldi, Elena Scoccianti, Francesca Boni and Nicola Ruggiu with the support of the SDA Bocconi Observatory for Circular Fashion. Among the partners involved are the Politecnico di Milano, the Bicocca University and the State University of Milan. The Ideathon will take place on 10 and 11 May and will see the awarding of prizes to the most deserving projects. The hashtag for the event will be #RefashioningMilan.
Students who want to present their projects are asked to focus on a few points including creating a mental mapping of Milan and finding 5 keywords that refer to Milan as the capital of fashion and design. To answer this task, they are invited to visit Milan and its fashion and design districts. Answers supported by photos taken during the exploratory visit will be appreciated. In addition, they will have to list and explain in detail 3 actions that the municipality, a luxury fashion/design brand and the citizens of Milan can implement to make Milan a sustainable and circular fashion and design capital, elaborating a response that considers services experienced in Milan or in other cities or providing best practices from other cities. After reflecting on the previous tasks, students are asked to create a video content for social networks on the topic in an engaging and potentially viral way. For more details, please consult the competition announcement.
