Where are Milan’s new designers? The question is becoming more insistent with Italy’s famous old guard getting into their dotages. Giorgio Armani turned 80 this year. Miuccia Prada is 65. Donatella Versace is 59. Milan’s enfants terribles Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana are 58 and 51, respectively.
Despite Milan fashion’s obvious appearance of modernity with its twice-yearly parade of new designs, insiders admit Italy’s fashion scene suffers from the same malady as the rest of Italy. A gerontocracy of designers who became world famous two if not three decades ago have left little space for young challengers.
But with Matteo Renzi, Italy’s 39-year-old prime minister, calling for a “scrapping” of Italy’s old elites to keep any international relevance, the country’s fashion industry is starting to show some – limited – signs of renewal.